Loading..

The Tarot

The Kabbalah

The Kabbalah

K

abbalah, according to tradition, goes back to Simeon Bar Yo’hai, who lived in the 2nd century. It is the expression of a hidden knowledge or the secret key, which would allow decoding of the Torah (the ancient testament). The most significant books in it are:

   The Sepher Ha-Bahir : the book of clarity ;
   The Sepher Ha-Zohar : the book of Splendor ;
   The Sepher Yetzirah : the book of Creation.

 

 

Simplistically, we could say that the Kabbalah, which means reception or to receive, is a speculative science that allows one to understand how God created the universe, and how man, who is its reason, can return to the primordial Light. This philosophical Kabbalah gave birth to the practical Kabbalah. Since Man is made in the image of God, he can then create like God or at least take charge of his destiny and become the creator of a life devoted to God. This practical Kabbalah also deals with astrology, chirology, pentacles, magical incantations, mantras (power of the Word) and prophecy. Prophecy? But isn’t that divination ?

 

Divination ? Some people think that the Bible condemns clairvoyance… but everything is a matter of points of view. What is a prophet, if not a person who announces forthcoming events ? The Bible condemns the use of spiritism or channeling to predict the future.

 

These two Kabalistic approaches find themselves today in the Tarot :

   It is a book of reflection allowing following a spiritual path ;

   It is a royal art, helping one to take charge of one’s destiny by divination.

 

It is obvious that the divination practiced today has nothing to do with the art the medievalists used with the Tarot, to reflect upon their daily preoccupations. One day we will surely have the opportunity to share with you the game of labyrinth, practiced in the Middle Ages, without having to draw cards.

 

 

The Basis of the Kabbalah

 

They are many. Let us group them in two categories :

   The letter and the number ;
   The Tree of Life of the Kabbalists.

 

 

 

The Letter and the Number

 

For the Hebrew, a letter is a number and a number a letter.

 

The Hebraic alphabet is composed of 22 letters, as the Tarot is composed of 22 major arcanas.

 

These 22 Hebrew letters subdivide into 3 categories :

 

•  3 mother letters: aleph, mem and shin.

•  7 double letters: beth, ghimel, daleth, kaph, pe, rech, and tav.
(According to their pronunciation, the express opposing notions. For example, the letter beth symbolizes wisdom, but also its opposite, madness.

• 12 simple letters: he, vav, zain, heth, teth, yod, lamed, nun, samech, ain, tsade, and quof

 

To understand the simple symbolism of the Tarot, we should know that the Kabbalah tells us that God made everything with the first three mother letters. They symbolize the three alchemical elements of nature:

 

1. Aleph (1st letter): air ;

2. Mem   (13th letter) : water ;

3. Shin    (21st letter) : fire

 

Kabbalah says these 3 mother letters combined together to make the fourth element : earth.

 

 

 

The Tree of Life of the Kabbalists

 

In the Sepher Yetzirah, the book of Creation, manual of the Kabbalists, it is said that when God wanted to manifest Himself, it was by a bolt of lightning which created 10 spheres out of the void (or sepheroth).

 

In fact, this lightning forms, by its zigzag shape, an extension and a contraction defining the work of creation between two poles, or pillars. The right pillar is called the pillar of mercy (extension) and the left pillar, the pillar of rigor (contraction). Naturally, the centre becomes the pillar of equilibrium.

 

The Tree of Life was also subdivided vertically in four large parts, which indicate four worlds forming the basis of a tarological structure :

 

• The first world is called Atziluth. It is made of the three sepheroths Kether, Hokmah and Binah.

• The second world is called Briah. It is made of the three sepheroths Chesed, Geburah and Tiphereth ;

• The third world is called Yezirah. It is made of the three sepheroths Netzach, Hod and Yesod ;

• The fourth world is called Assiah. It is made of the last sepheroth: Malkuth.

 

 

The dazzling lightning and the four worlds in the Tarot

 

 

What are the key points we should remember about the study of the symbolism of the Tarot ?

 

Indeed the four worlds :

 

• The world Briah symbolizes the world of creation ;

• The world Atziluth symbolizes the world of essence or emanation ;

• The world Yezirah symbolizes the world of formation ;

• And the world Assiah symbolizes the world of action.

 

These four worlds have, for different reasons, been symbolized in different ways.

 

Hence for the Kabbalists, these worlds represent the four parts of the vision of Ezekiel, when he described the Chariot of God (Ez. 1-4) :

 

The Angel emanation ;
The Eagle creation ;
The Lion formation ;
The Bull action.

 

These four elements are constantly found in the arcanas of the Tarot. The most significant ones are: THE WORLD (arcana 21), STRENGTH (arcana 11), TEMPERANCE (arcana 14) or THE CHARIOT (arcana 7). They indicate on which plane should the arcana be interpreted. Curiously, it should be noted that the Horse in the Tarot, does as well, replace the Bull.

 

The 4 elements reunited: the Angel, the Eagle, the Lion and the Horse

 

For the Alchemists, these four worlds represent as well the principles of the four elements held in these four worlds :

 

Water lthe essence of everything, symbolized by the angel ; 
Air the eagle flies in the sky ;
Fire the lion symbolizes the energy of fire ;
Earth the bull works the earth (the horse in the Chariot).

 

Let us remember that the Christians associated these four worlds with the four evangelists:

 

Saint Matthew  The Angel ;
Saint John The Eagle ;
Saint Mark The Lion ;
Saint Luke The Bull.

 

Next page