Tarot, Ancient Symbols, and the Qabalah

Sometimes people wonder how the Tarot corresponds to the Qabalah Tree of Life (also spelled in derivations of "Kabbalah," for the Jewish system, and "Cabala," for the Christian brand).

Here is an easy visual to explain:

If you'd like to read more, there is a pretty good overview here.

The illustrations on modern day Tarot cards all incorporate elements of myth, alchemy, astrology, astronomy, practices and rites going back to ancient times. Look at the Magician card, number one in the major arcana, for example:

He represents Hermes Trismegistus, the ancient Greek's god of magic and communication melded with the Egyptian Thoth. He is for whom Hermeticism, or practitioners of occult Qabalah, take their name. Hermes holds his wand to the heavens and his hand points to the ground, representing the Hermetic principle, "As above, so below." He is the number one, so he is the initiate, learning. The tools on his table represent the four elements of the earth (and the four suits of the tarot): air/swords, water/cups, fire/wands, and pentacles/earth.

Another example of ancient symbolism is the High Priestess card:

She is the Egyptian Isis, the most powerful and spiritual woman in the Tarot deck. She sits between King Solomon's pillars of Mercy and Severity ("Boaz" and "Jachin"), written of in the Bible. Behind her is a veil, representing the occult (meaning "hidden"), and pomegranates, the fruit Persephone ate that kept her in Hades for one dark season of winter (this myth representing the triple goddess of maiden, mother and crone). Isis sits with her foot on the crescent moon, as the moon's 28-day cycle reflects the feminine on earth.

There are many other legends and symbols built into Tarot cards, with the idea being that these, like Jung's universal archetypes that touch the collective unconscious in us all, open intuition and understanding of one's self and others.

While it's true that Tarot started as a card game, the evidence shows it to be much, much greater than that.

Thanks for reading. Feel free to send me your questions and I will blog on them as I have time.





© Julia Gordon-Bramer 2012

Sylvia Plath Symposium 2012

I am absolutely delighted to announce that I will be presenting on the poem "Ariel" at the Sylvia Plath Symposium 2012 at Indiana University, October 25-28.

Here is my abstract:

Plath’s “Ariel”: The Feminine Arrow into the Apocalypse
By Julia Gordon-Bramer


“Plath’s ‘Ariel’: The Feminine Arrow into the Apocalypse” explores the fifteenth and title poem from Ariel, examining its numerical correlative Tarot card, Temperance, as the poem matches with Temperance’s meanings and symbols. Excerpted from Fixed Stars Govern A Life: the mystic reinterpretation of the work of Sylvia Plath, the poem “Ariel” is matched directly to the six facets of Qabalah: Hebrew/Tarot correlations; alchemy; mythology; history and the world; astrology and astronomy; and arts and the humanities. Plath’s genius with language is still mostly unrecognized, as a single poem such as “Ariel” contains so much complex detail. This presentation will take the reader line-by-line to reveal the Hebrew, gematria, and numerological correspondences, as well as an occult initiation rite. Plath wove in details of classical literature such as King Arthur and The Little Mermaid, and Irish Medieval, Celtic, Norse, and Babylonian myth in celebration of female power and fire. Astrologically, the poem “Ariel” explores the Age of Pisces as it moves into Aquarius, and the Mayan prediction of the end of the world in 2012. Perhaps most impressively, however, is the juxtaposition of the real-life history of the World War II bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, and the sideline tales of American fighter pilots and female foreign correspondents. Incredibly, these thirty-four lines do it all.

Most have understood the poem “Ariel” to be about a wild ride on a runaway horse. And that might still be true—as one small and less-significant meaning. We have always known that “Ariel” is one of Plath’s greatest poems. Now, it is time to understand why.