Qabalistic Tarot in 2021

[TheLoracular]

I just wanted to get a feel from the community if there are people here who would be interested in discussing conventional Qabalistic Tarot.  I don't mind kickstarting these discussions off, using Robert Wang's book and my own studies as a foundation.  While I don't work with the conventional (Kircher) Tree of Life glyph in my personal practice any more, I feel like learning it is the best place for students of Qabalistic Tarot to start.  But I wanted to make sure this would be a topic of interest to at least 2-3 other people before launching.  

[WildWoman71]

I don't have the deck - but I'm drawn to the Qabala and it's teachings in general - I wouldn't mind studying the deck as you pull cards - if you don't mind.

[and_it_spoke]

I'll try and keep up. I've done a fair share of Qabala reading, and some about the connection with Tarot. But they've always been separate enterprises in my mind. I think exploring connections would be interesting.

[TheLoracular]

@WildWoman71  This wouldn't require any specific deck.  I don't have Wang's own deck either but his book does a really good job of playing out what Qabalistic philosophy is and how tarot cards as a whole have been integrated into it.  So you'd be able to use Wildwood or any deck of your personal choice!

@and_it_spoke  wonderful.   🙂

Okay then, I will launch something tomorrow morning.   I have a blog article I've been hammering at on behalf of Jack Chanek  who is taking some backlash on Facebook for his upcoming book "Qabalah for Wiccans".  I'm going to finish polishing and publish today which relates just enough that I might link it in here, then go from there into Qabalistic tarot as a tarot philosophy and system. 

[WildWoman71]

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Okay then, I will launch something tomorrow morning.

Can't wait

[SilverLeaf]

@TheLoracular, also interested in this, thank you!

[blue_crow_laura]

I'm also interested. I have Wang's book but haven't really dived into it much yet. I look forward to it.

[TheLoracular]

Qabalistic Tarot:  An Introduction

 

Something I started to do back in the 1990s was to spell (קָבַל kaf, bet, lamed) in English as Kabbalah in reference to the Jewish mystical tradition, Cabala in reference the Christian that started in the Renaissance with Giovanni Pico della Mirandola (1463–1494) and Qabalah in reference to the tarot-centric Western occult tradition that began with Éliphas Lévi and the publication of Dogme et Rituel de la Haute Magie in 1864 and 1856.  When I simply call something QBL, I'm talking about something that involves all of them. 

The Qabalah was still exceptionally mystical and spiritual but it started to rapidly stray from purely Judeo-Christian mysticism to become one big "open to any flavor of spirituality including humanism" amalgamation.  

My Biblical Hebrew is very POOR nowadays.  The website I am using to refresh myself on re-learning Biblical Hebrew is Ancient-Hebrew.org and the free Learn Biblical Hebrew course there.  

The most important thing to know about Hebrew is that it is written/read from left-to-right.  The Hebrew alphabet is so intrinsic to conventional Qabalistic tarot that learning to recognize the 22 letters on sight is a good idea, even if don't learn to write them. 

In QBL, the 22 Hebrew letters are assigned a number of traits including the 12 zodiacal signs, 7 classic planets, and three modalities that originated in a short piece of Jewish mystical literature called the Sefer Yetzirah (Book of Formation) which I've linked in an English pdf copy of with the commentary of the famous Kabbalist  Saadia Gaon (882-942 CE). 

The most important thing to know about the Sefer Yetzirah as someone new to the Qabalah?  This is where a lot of the odd things that get attributed to Major Arcana cards in classic tarot books come from.  Because William Wynn Westcott, one of the founders of the Golden Dawn did his own translation of the Sefer Yetzirah and a closely related mystical writing called the 32 Paths of Wisdom.   Borrowing from that and from the writings of Elphias Levi and others,  Golden Dawn members who came and went created the Qabalistic tarot tradition via four tarot decks: 

The Golden Dawn tarot which Robert Wang restored by painting the cards based on photos taken of Israel Regardie's copy.  The original paintings may have been done by Mona Matthers.  

The BOTA tarot authored by Paul Foster Case with Jessie Burns Parke as his commissioned artist.

The Rider-Waite-Smith tarot authored by A.E. Waite with Pamela Coleman Smith as the artist.

The Crowley-Harris Thoth tarot authored by Aleister Crowley with Lady Frieda Harris as the artist.

More recently created Qabalistic tarot decks include (just as two more examples)

The Haindl tarot created by artist Hermann Haindl with Rachel Pollack authoring its companion book (originally sold in two volumes).

The Tarot of the Sephiroth created by Dan Staroff with Josephine Mori and Jill Stockwell authoring its companion book.  


In 2020+, my personal flavor of Qabalism relies a whole lot more on psychological astrology, mental alchemy, archetypal psychology than on spiritualism.  But I love listening to and interacting with people who embrace sacred texts as personal truths of their own.  I gain a lot of insight from them that are still applicable to me as a loving, compassionate person who wants to live in a world where all human beings have access to the same quality of life that I do.   

So if my own posts are more academic than a lot of Qabalistic authors and websites, it's just that.  I find it a lot easier to talk through all the pieces of the Tree of Life using the language of astrology and the four tarot suits first.   Christian Cabala really focussed a lot of its energies on the Tree of Life glyph (more than Jewish Kabbalah does).  The 22 Major Arcana cards as representations of the same concepts as the Hebrew Letters, the association of the 1-10 pips with the 1-10 spheres on the Tree began with Elphias Levi and then got expanded on in the Golden Dawn.  

Having read a lot of A.E. Waite, Crowley, and Paul Foster Case?  I think they all found a lot of different personal truths about the Qabalah and everyone finds a lot of different personal truths about the Qabalah.  I love sharing some of mine and listening to those of others.

On Pinterest, I have collected about 200 pictures of the Tree of Life, (linking that collection) most of them versions of the conventional (best known as the Kircher Tree of Life) used in modern QBL studies.  The one I picked to include here today is originally from the Bridgetopeace website.   

My thoughts were to maybe make this specific thread about Qabalistic Tarot in general and then we branch out into other threads to talk about more specific topics?   Its all Esoteric Tarot so it fits the current subforum perfectly 🙂 

So this is just kickstarting the conversation off.  I'm really excited.  

 

 

[vulprix]

Count me in 🙂 

[WildWoman71]

thank you for starting us off @TheLoracular.  And as there are 22 paths  connecting each Sephirah to another - there are 22 Major Arcana

 

So if we start with the beginning of the journey...

Fool - or 0 in our deck of choice....the Fool is the path that connects Kether (the crown) and Chokmah (wisdom)

Edited January 29, 2021 by WildWoman71

[WildWoman71]

The Fool - Path 11

 

The Path between Kether (Crown ) and Chokmah/Wands (Wisdom)

Associated with the Upper World 

Element: Air

Planet: Uranus

Number: 0 

Zero representing the endless possibilities - limitlessness

 

The Fool is pure Spirit -on this Path - moving from Kether to Chokmah is his first step - from NOTHING (pure Spirit) to SOMETHING.   - moving to create -  he does not come emptyhanded - he has lifetimes of baggage that comes with him -ruled by Uranus - a planet of idealism, fresh starts, change - a planet of extremes willing to destroy to make room for the new - but once again he endless possibilities but no experience - perhaps a bit naiive - At this point he has the tools he needs to create - but he does not have the awareness yet (Major Arcana 1) - which could very well warn of problems down this path he is not aware of - doesn't know how to resolve yet - causing heartache that comes with failure - he needs to rely on faith - trust in the Universe - and being open to whatever life brings on this path

 

The Aces are connected to Path 11 - pure potential 

Ace of Wands is the pureness of Fire, and also the first flame of the idea.

The Ace of Cups is the pureness of Water, the source and the spring. 

The Ace of Swords is the pureness of the air, the first wind of the mind,

Ace of the Disks is the pureness of Earth, like the first little sprout that will later be a tree.

 

Edited January 30, 2021 by WildWoman71

[SilverLeaf]

I'm interested in this topic, but I am already lost (I may be alone, so I don't want to hijack the thread). Is there a more basic "A, B, C's" to this, because having 22 paths corresponding to the Major Arcana doesn't mean much to me, if I don't know why these paths are connecting (and from what to what)? I'm ok if this feels like too much spoon feeding, I'll just wait for another time when I can overcome the resistance to what feels just impossibly dense at the moment.

[WildWoman71]

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 Is there a more basic "A, B, C's" to this, because having 22 paths corresponding to the Major Arcana doesn't mean much to me, if I don't know why these paths are connecting (and from what to what)? 

 

I responded to you on the other thread - link below.  Unfortunately I don't see anything basic about the Tree of Life - I think the point of dissecting each path and card would be as basic as we could get.

 

Responded to you here

[vulprix]

3 hours ago, SilverLeaf said:

I'm interested in this topic, but I am already lost (I may be alone, so I don't want to hijack the thread). Is there a more basic "A, B, C's" to this, because having 22 paths corresponding to the Major Arcana doesn't mean much to me, if I don't know why these paths are connecting (and from what to what)? I'm ok if this feels like too much spoon feeding, I'll just wait for another time when I can overcome the resistance to what feels just impossibly dense at the moment.

Personally, I would recommend reading a book on basic Qabalah in order to orient yourself.  The Qabalah is a system originating from Jewish mysticism, and the Tree of Life is a glyph demonstrating the relationships between different "spheres," states, of being.  These states of being are something like looking critically at genesis, at the unfolding of life, from God to man and from man to God.  It is a little more complicated to explain than that, but that's the gist of it.

 

The paths run between the "spheres," the sephiroth.

 

The first book on the Qabalah I read was Dion Fortune's, but Lon Milo DuQuette's The Chicken Qabalah seems friendly to start with (have never read it, but have read other Lon Milo DuQuette).

 

I will say that the glyph of the Tree of Life's rigidity does bother me a little, but it is a useful tool for contextualization 🙂

[SilverLeaf]

@vulprix
 thank you!

[vulprix]

You're very welcome @SilverLeaf 🙂 Good luck on your journey!!

[blue_crow_laura]

Here's another thumbs up for Chicken Qabalah! I have reread it many times, if for nothing else than that it's an enjoyable read. I wish all knowledgeable esoteric writers were as approachable, funny, and insightful as DuQuette is in this book. 

 

It's pretty basic, too...definitely the one I'd recommend to most first-timers. I started out years ago trying to puzzle my way through David Hulse's Eastern and Western Mysteries as my only introduction to Qabalah, and (understandably perhaps) I gave up. It wasn't until I found DuQuette's book that I truly started warming up to the subject.

 

I'm still a beginner too, by the way. I look forward to hearing what others have to say about Qabalah and how it actually applies to circumstances, a life path, a spiritual arc. Correspondences I can list all day long, but putting it all together in a sort of meaningful narrative or cohesive system is proving to be trickier. 🙂

[WildWoman71]

Today I ran across a completely different correlation of the paths on the Tree of Life.  I have to say this makes much more sense to me - that I start the Journey from the bottom (Malkuth) the ordinary world- and work my way up to the ultimate highest spiritual level I can attain - instead of working myself down the Tree

 

Paul Foster Case in his Tarot book says the first group of seven cards represents "powers and potencies" . This description of the first seven cards suggests that they represent the inherent powers or functions within us that we need to develop on our spiritual path.

 

As kings and queens in the world of Malkuth, - human society - we each begin our quest with our own strengths and weaknesses, awareness and shadows, life experience - and soul contracts. 

 

 

[TheLoracular]

I have been really quiet the last couple of weeks and apologize. 

Last month's snow and cold front triggered my fibromyalgia to crippling proportions.  I lost the ability for pain-free typing and fog-free thinking for a bit.  Thankfully, thankfully, everything fell into place for me to get into a swimming pool and start working with a personal trainer again.  So now I'm physically and mentally better, but have to figure out how to juggle being out of the house Mon-Fri from 8:30-11:30 am with all my passions like esoteric tarot and this forum.   🙂

Expect to hear from me on the actual topic sometime over the next couple of days.   I have missed it all immensely.