June 20, 2008

• Tarot and Esoteric Initiation

  Esoteric:

  designed for
  or understood by the specially initiated alone [1]

  Arcane:

  known or knowable only to the initiate
  [2]

  Occult:

  not revealed; not easily apprehended or
  understood; hidden from view [3]

  Initiate:

  a person who is undergoing or has
  undergone an initiation; a person who is instructed or adept in some
  special field [4]

  The
  exoteric, out-in-the-open, non-secret use or purpose for Tarot cards is
  for divination.  They work quite well for that purpose, and
  even in the hands of a novice can produce readings that are impressive
  in their accuracy.

  Divination is considered by some
  to be a low and profane use of the Tarot.  The higher use, the
  sacred purpose, of the symbolic system embodied in the Tarot is
  initiation.  The 22 Major Arcana of the Tarot are believed to
  have originated as murals painted in a Hall of Initiation in ancient
  Egypt, to serve as guides along the initiates’
  path.

  I intend, in a series of posts here, to
  symbolically, metaphorically, walk the initiate’s path.  Come
  with me if you will.  The deck I will be using throughout is
  the I Am One Tarot, Maya Britan’s rendering of the progressed
  symbolism channeled in the 1960s by John Cook, first painted by Rosalind
  Sharpe, and originally published as The Book of T: New Tarot for the
  Aquarian Age.

  I will also show examples of other
  decks which use the old symbolism, for contrast, and we can discuss how
  the symbolism has evolved as we move from Pisces into Aquarius. 
  We can discuss any aspects of Tarot and/or initiation that you’d care to bring up. 

  The starting point, entry upon the
  path:

  
  Arcanum 0 or 22:  The
  Fool

  For some he has no number, because
  he is the beginning and the end.  Others assign #1 to
  him, and still others number him #22.  In my deck, he wears
  nothing, and all he carries are a bunch of scrolls, one of them opened
  and partially read, the others untouched, still to be
  revealed.  Under a brilliant sun, he moves from a barren area
  of rocks, into a field of growing, blossoming flowers, with the spider
  of intuition overhead, guiding him, “spinning the web of
  destiny.”

  

  In older
  decks, he was called The Fool, and he was often dressed as a
  jester.  My first Tarot deck, in 1969, was the Marseilles
  deck, above.  [For an informative article tracing origins of
  the various versions of that deck, see Hunting the "true" Marseilles
  Tarot by Robert Mealing.]   Le
  Fou, I learned back then, was a heedless, clueless innocent, driven by his passions and baser
  instincts, as symbolized by the animal biting him in the butt
  there.  Some artists render it as a cat, some as a dog, and
  others in various ways.  The authors of The Book of T gave the
  animal two heads, dog and cat, and set it quietly in the foreground, no
  longer driving us, but keeping us company and making life
  interesting.

  Below is the Fool from Aleister
  Crowley’s Thoth Tarot.  Let me know if you’d like to discuss
  the Fool further before we move on to the Magus.  I’m in no
  hurry, and it might be fun to compare the ways different artists and
  initiates view the Arcana.  What is your favorite
  deck?  If it isn’t the Rider-Waite, can you find images from
  it online, or scan some in?

  

  

  • 8:57 pm
  • 23 Comments