Tarot Overview
History
Tarot evolved as a card game in Italy in the 15th century. Originally known as trionfi, “triumphs”, it built on earlier Egyptian card sets by adding what would come to be known as the “trump” cards and later “major arcana”. The number of trumps varied in early decks before settling on twenty-two cards ranked in a hierarchy, though not all sets agreed on the cards or ordering.
In the mid 19th century the trumps of the tarot gained an important new meaning and relevance for occult philosophy. In 1854-1856 Éliphas Lévi published Dogme et Rituel de la Haute Magie [The Doctrine and Ritual of High Magic] in which he associates the twenty-two trumps of the major arcana to the twenty-two letters of Hebrew and so to the Hermetic Qabalah. This is further developed in 1889 by Gérard Encausse, writing under the pseudonym “Papus”, in his Le Tarot des Bohémiens [The Tarot of the Bohemians]. An exemplar of perennialist occult philosophy, Lévi and Papus make bold speculative claims about ancient origins of the tarot in their works and lay the groundwork for further occult system building.
This syncretic association made the tarot central to Western occult philosophy. It both added significant depth to the interpretation of the trumps as well as providing new names and rich symbolism to the paths of the Qabalistic tree of life. Despite the fantastic claims to ancient wisdom lineages made by these influential authors, those that followed would completely rework the correspondences into the common form we now find.
In the early 20th century another major development in tarot was the development of the Rider-Waite (aka Waite-Smith) tarot. Published in 1909 with iconic art of Pamela Colman Smith, it was developed according to symbolism of the Order of the Golden Dawn, taking inspiration from Gérard Encausse, Éliphas Lévi, and others. This deck actually completely remapped the Qabalistic associations suggested by Gérard Encausse. Whereas Encausse associated the first Hebrew letter, א (aleph) with the trump number one, the Order of the Golden Dawn associated with the fool, numbered either zero or unnumbered in earlier sets. This throws off the associations of all subsequent cards by one letter. They also went on to change the ordering of trumps VIII and XI, Justice and Strength, to match astrological significance.
Most modern tarot decks follow the Rider-Waite ordering and symbolism, most without reference to the Qabalah and other work of the Order of the Golden Dawn which produced it. Other decks retain the original ordering of Justice and Strength, which brings us to the next major development.
Aleister Crowley, a one time member of the Order of the Golden Dawn, would go on to design his own highly influential tarot. The Thoth Tarot was developed by Aleister Crowley with artist Lady Frieda Harris and completed in 1943. Crowley published a book, The Book of Thoth, detailing its associations and with the Qabalah and other occult philosophy. Crowley returned Justice and Strength to their original order and renamed them “Adjustment” and “Lust”. He also switched the Qabalistic attributions of VI Emperor and XVII Star. He renamed World to “Universe” and completely replaced Judgement with a new card associated with this system of Thelema and named it “Aeon”.
A final interpretive key was added by Eden Gray in the 1950s. Gray introduced the Fool’s Journey, an interpretation of the major arcana as a narrative journey of the individual through life. From the Fool as the soul before incarnation through life experiences enduring trials and gaining wisdom through finally returning to the Fool. This insight brings the major arcana into a thematic unity.
All this is to show that associations, interpretations, ordering, and even number of the trumps in the major arcana has changed over time. In the present work we take inspiration from the work that has gone before while rejecting the perennialist and syncretic aspects of earlier work. Instead of claiming authority based on a supposed ancient tradition, we trust you to judge for yourself based only on whatever you may find useful, and, instead of attempting to map and distort all traditions to fit one master system, we provide a flexible framework that you may adapt to your particular use.
Major Arcana
As discussed in Emanation, the major arcana are defined by the paths and order of the Fool’s Journey.