This article is taken from the November 2020 issue of Fraternal Review titled, “Freemasonry, Tarot and The Tree of Life”.

In his History of Magic, P. Christian, the mouthpiece of a certain French secret society, presents a fantastic account of a purported initiation into the Egyptian Mysteries wherein the 22 major Tarots assume the proportions of trestleboards of immense size and line a great gallery.

Stopping before each card in turn, the initiator described its symbolism to the candidate. Edouard Schure, whose source was similar to that of Christian’s, hints at the same ceremony in his chapter on initiation into the Hermetic Mysteries. (See The Great Initiates.)

THEORY OF THE EGYPTIAN TAROTS

While the Egyptians may well have employed the Tarot cards in their rituals, these French mystics present no evidence other than their own assertions to support this theory.

The validity also of the so-called Egyptian Tarots now in circulation has never been satisfactorily established. The drawings are not only quite modern but the symbolism itself savors of French rather than Egyptian influence.

SYMBOLISM & SEQUENCE

The Tarot is undoubtedly a vital element in Rosicrucian symbolism, possibly the very book of universal knowledge which the members of the order claimed to possess.

The Rota Mundi is a term frequently occurring in the early manifestations of the Fraternity of the Rose Cross. The word Rota by a rearrangement of its letters becomes Taro, the ancient name of these mystical cards. …

Many symbols appearing upon the Tarot cards have definite Masonic interest. The Pythagorean numerologist will also find an important relation to exist between the numbers on the cards and the designs accompanying the numbers.

The Qabbalists will be immediately impressed by the significant sequence of the cards, and the alchemist will discover certain emblems meaningless save to one versed in the divine chemistry of transmutation and regeneration.

As the Greeks placed the letters of their alphabet—with their corresponding numbers—upon the various parts of the body of their humanly represented Logos, so the Tarot cards have an analogy not only in the parts and members of the universe, but also in the divisions of the human body. They are in fact the key to the magical constitution of man.

UNIVERSALITY

The Tarot cards must be considered (1) as separate and complete hieroglyphics, each representing a distinct principle, law, power, or element in Nature; (2) in relation to each other as the effect of one agent operating upon another; and (3) as vowels and consonants of a philosophical alphabet.

The laws governing all phenomena are represented by the symbols upon the Tarot cards, whose numerical values are equal to the numerical equivalents of the phenomena. As every structure consists of certain elemental parts, so the Tarot cards represent the components of the structure of philosophy.

Irrespective of the science or philosophy with which the student is working, the Tarot cards can be identified with the essential constituents of his subject, each card thus being related to a specific part according to mathematical and philosophical laws.

“An imprisoned person,” writes Eliphas Levi, “with no other book than the Tarot, if he knew how to use it, could in a few years acquire universal knowledge, and would be able to speak on all subjects with unequalled learning and inexhaustible eloquence.”

Excerpted from Manly P. Hall, “An Analysis of the Tarot Cards,” in The Secret Teachings of All Ages, (Los Angeles, CA: Philosophical Research Society Press, 9th Ed., 1947), CXXIX-CXXXII.

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