Introduction to the Study of the Tarot

• Full Title: Introduction to the Study of the Tarot
• Author: Paul Foster Case
• Print Status: out-of-print
• Publisher: Azoth publishing company (1920)

Quotes

Headings have been added to give context to the extracts.

The initial emanation from Ain Suph is Kether, the Crown, identical with the Supernal Source in all but name, the Creative Principle in the beginning. The inherent mental quality of the Supernal Originating Principle is implied through the Qabalah. Its primary expression, therefore, cannot be other than some form of Will; and the first conceivable manifestation of that Will in beginning the creative process would be the selection of a particular point in space at which to start. Hence Qabalists call Kether the Primal Will, and sometimes refer to it as the “Small Point.” The point corresponds geometrically to 1, which represents what Eliphas Levi terms “the relative unity, manifested, possessing duality, the beginning of numerical sequence.” The student should note particularly that the number 1 possesses duality. This idea is a key to many occult truths.

The duad is Chokmah, Wisdom, the number of science, since all scientific knowledge is based upon comparison; of Woman as the wife of Man., of antagonism, opposition, and polarity; and also of equilibrium. The duad is the especial symbol of Memory, because every recollection duplicates an original experience. Perfect memory is required to continue a creative process springing from a Limitless Absolute and begun by an Infinite Will; and this perfect recollection of every stage of development is the essence of that Wisdom by which, says the Bible, the Lord founded the earth. Whosoever can understand the saying, “God creates by remembering Himself,” is very near to the real meaning of the duad. He will understand, moreover, why the full significance of this number must be concealed from the profane.

In some respects, Chesed, the fourth Sephirah, is a repetition of Kether, because its number, 4, is 10 by extension ( 1 +2+3+4), and the reduction of 10 (1+0) is 1. As Kether is “The Crown,” so is Chesed sometimes called Gedulah,, or “Majesty,” Mercy, or Benevolence, the self-imparting aspect of the Primal Will, is the fundamental meaning of this number, which the Tarot symbolizes by The Emperor.

As the last of the integers, the number 9 really completes the series of simple mathematical ideas from which all others are derived; but in the scheme of the Sephiroth the number 10 is included. It is assigned to Malkuth, the Kingdom, declared by Qabalists to be the Shekinah, or divine halo which encircles all the other nine Sephiroth, and encompasses the whole in its presence. The number 10 represents the combination of the Manifest (1) and the Unmanifest (0), the particular and the universal, the Primal Will (Kether) and the Limitless Absolute (Ain Suph). It is a sign of the totality of existence, of the perfection and consummation of all things. As the extension of 4, it is the sum of the monad, the duad, the triad, and the tetrad, and so combines all the fundamental mathematical conceptions of the Sacred Science.

The Magician Tarot Card

The primary manifestation of Spirit is Will, of which Attention-the wand-is the essence, and to which Memory-the wallet-is closely linked. Wisdom, having for its essence Imagination-the rose-is the secondary expression. Upon the progress of this vital principle in humanity depends the advancement of the sub-human forms, represented by the dog.

As Heh of Yod, the Magician is passive to Ain Suph, hence he is a symbolic antithesis to the Fool. He is God the Creator in the Beginning, in contrast to God the Principle before all beginnings. He is Kether, the Primal Will which initiates the creative process by selecting a particular point in space at which to begin.

The Magician’s left hand points toward the High Priestess. It is as if he were the medium through which the Limitless Light finds expression in Chokmah. This gesture also denotes concentration, and the selective action of Creative Will. The same selective action is also suggested by the table, which implies definite location, and is, in one sense, a symbol of the material universe. The emblems of the Tarot suits lying upon it are the elements used by the Magician in his work.

Because even the Primal Will is a limitation of Ain Suph, it possesses some degree of the quality of darkness. Hence the Magician’s hair is black; but a golden band surrounds it, to show that the Darkness is held in cheek by Light. Here is the antithesis to the Fool’s yellow hair and his green wreath.

The High Priestess Tarot Card

The High Priestess is the archetypal formative principle, Vau of Yod, which combines the potency of the Originating Yod (The Fool) with the initiative and selection of the Creative Heh (The Magician). The Fool may be represented as a circle, the Magician as the center, and the High Priestess as the diameter, dividing the circle into two equal parts. The circle is Infinite Intelligence; the center is the Primal Will, and the extension of that Will toward the limitless circumference is the Line, the geometrical correspondence to the number Two. This is Chokmah, the Sephirah of Perfect Wisdom. The High Priestess is the feminine Chokmah, personified in proverbs as a woman, passive in her relation to Kether.

From the pillars hangs a veil, embroidered with palms and pomegranates. The palms are masculine emblems, and the pomegranates are feminine. The latter are so disposed upon the veil, that, although but seven can be seen, three more would be shown were not the High Priestess in the way. The basis of this design is the Qabalistic “Tree of Life.” Qabalists will notice that the crown of the High Priestess has its horns in Chokmah ,and Binah, and its orb in Daath (Knowledge). The lower point of the solar cross on her breast touches Tiphareth; and her seat, the Cubic Stone of Salt and of the Material Universe, is in Yesod, the Foundation, and Malkuth, the Kingdom. Lack of space forbids a more extended explanation of this arrangement; but the keys to it are already in the possession of readers who have mastered the elements of the preceding chapters, and it will be even more intelligible as we proceed with the interpretation of the other major trumps.

The Emperor Tarot Card

The name of the Path assigned to Gedulah suggests the same thought of passivity. It is the Measuring Intelligence, which “arises like a boundary to receive the emanations of the higher intelligences which are set down to it. Herefrom all spiritual virtues emanate by the way of subtlety, which itself emanates from the Supreme Crown.” These phrases of medieval Qabalism convey the same idea of self-impartation that is implied by “Beneficence,” and intimate that this free gift of Its powers is part of the very essence of the Primal Will.

Strength Tarot Card

Strength, then, symbolizes control of the Astral Light by Understanding; and because it is Vau of the formative world, it shows that such control is the equilibrating activity in all formation. In that world desire (the Lovers) takes the initiative; will (the Chariot) is the determinative principle, corresponding to the letter Heh; and subconscious modification of the Astral Light (Strength) maintains the balance between desire and will. Here is a great truth, expressed in simple emblems. Happy is he who can apprehend it, and happier he who has courage and patience to apply it!

Hanged Man Tarot Card

Hence we see the Hanged Man bound, as a type of sacrifice, and as a symbol of the doctrine that personality is absolutely dependent upon the totality of manifestation. This doctrine, at first glance, appears to support the philosophy of determinism; but really it does nothing of the kind. What it does declare is that personality is not the source of Will, but the vehicle of the Divine Initiative. The corollary of this doctrine is that the Perfect Law Affords adequate support for personal existence. Hence we may safely surrender the whole of our life, from hour to hour, and from day to day, to the guidance of the Supreme Spirit, which is the true I AM, the “Ego seated in the hearts of men.”

Temperance Tarot Card

The water that is poured from cup to cup has been dipped up from the pool of Universal Life, and the long path leading from the pool to the mountain-peak in the distance is the same as that which brought the Fool to the peak whereon he stands before descending into the Abyss of Manifestation. The end thereof, above which shines a crown, a symbol of Kether, the Primal Will, is the height attained by the Hermit. It is union with the Supreme Spirit, the Goal of occult study and practice. We shall meet with this symbol of the Path again in the eighteenth Key. Need I say that it refers to the doctrine of reincarnation, and that the little stream of Water from the pool, which the angel pours from cup to cup, is an emblem of a single life?

The Moon Tarot Card

“When a plateau of arrested progress has been reached, the faint-hearted become discouraged and quit. However, the knowledge that their experience is a normal one should give them resolution to keep on. When a plateau has been reached, further progress depends mainly on the ability to hold one’s self to the task by sheer force of will, until the new knowledge is assimilated, the new habits are formed, and the new skill is developed.” Psychology for Business Efficiency. George R. Eastman. p. 30.

On one side of the Path is a wolf, on the other a dog. In Egyptian mythology these are the jackals of Anubis; but they have another meaning, of great practical interest to all who seek to follow the Ancient Way. The dog and the wolf are of the same genus, but the wolf is wild, while the dog is a domesticated animal. The wolf represents natural conditions; the dog denotes the same conditions, transformed by the intelligent application of the human will. Broadly speaking, therefore, the wolf is a symbol for Nature, and the dog a symbol for Art. The Path lies between, to show that true progress depends upon the maintenance of a proper equilibrium between the crudities of uncontrolled Nature on the one hand, and the over-refinements of artificiality on the
other.

The Sun Tarot Card

In contrast to it, the nineteenth Key shows the direct, steady radiance of the Sun. Mr. Waite’s version of this trump is a variant given by Eliphas Levi, who interprets it as “the will of the adept,” and connects it with the following passage in the Chaldean Oracles of Zoroaster: “Let us go further, and affirm the existence of a Fire which abounds in images and reflections. Term it, if you will, a superabundant light which radiates, which speaks, which goes back into itself. It is the flaming courser of light, or rather it is the stalwart child who overcomes and breaks in that heavenly steed. Picture him as vested in flame and emblazoned with gold, or think of him naked as love, and bearing the arrows of’ Eros.” History of Magic. Translated by A. E. Waite. p. 56.

Because 19=10=1, the Sun corresponds to the Magician, or Kether; and since Kether is the goal of the Path in the Moon, the child of the nineteenth Key represents the realization of personal identity with the Primal Will which is the end of conscious development. It is in this sense that the child is “the will of the adept.” His horse, a domesticated animal, symbolizes the solar force, after it has been specialized and adapted to the realization of purposes determined by the selective power of the adept’s will.

The World Tarot Card

“Enshrined in this light is a Form radiant and glorious beyond all power of expression. For it is ‘made of the Substance of Light’; and the form is that of the ‘Only Begotten,’ the Logos, the Idea, the Manifestor of God, the Personal Reason of all existence, the Lord God of Hosts, the Lord Adonai. From the right hand upraised in attitude indicative of will and command, proceeds, as a stream of living force, the Holy Life and Substance whereby and whereof Creation consists. With the left hand, depressed and open as in attitude of recall, the stream is indrawn, and Creation is sustained and redeemed. Thus projecting and recalling, expanding and contracting, Adonai fulfils the functions expressed in the mystical formula Solve et Coagula. And as in this, so also in constitution and form, Adonai is dual, comprising the two modes of humanity, and appearing to the beholder alternately masculine and feminine according as the function exercised is of the man or the woman, and is centrifugal or centripetal.” The Perfect Way, Lecture IX, 49, 50, 51.

External Links

• Introduction to the Study of the Tarot online version (PDF)