Llewellyn's Complete Book of the Rider-Waite-Smith Tarot
Page 8
Here we are in the inky darkness. We can’t even hear the arcade music anymore. It’s like we are cut off from the world. No thing. Blackness falling like a curtain. A glowing light pierces the dark. This singular light appears in the center of the room, bright white but not blinding. It is warm and pulsating and you feel yourself drawn to it. The glowing circle has the word Kether (Crown) written above it. You move toward the light, intrigued and relieved to find something to look at. You bump into something cold and metallic. It hits you at your waist and hipbone. As you feel it with your hands, you realize you are standing against a giant pinball machine. The glowing light is a bumper beneath the glass of the game.
The circle, the light in the dark, is divine presence. The word Kether is its Hebrew name. The word Crown is its English translation because the word Kether means crown. It aligns with your crown chakra. The light looks like the eyeball of a god opening up. However, this circle is more than an eyeball looking at you and me. The circle is like a funnel or a waterfall. Divinity pours out like a fountain. This space allows Divinity to unfold its consciousness in this particular place and in this particular context. The material world, the human idea of darkness, gives a “thing” a context in which to exist; otherwise the thing or divine presence would be invisible. Divine consciousness appears just as you appeared when your consciousness unfolded.
A giant electric sign appears with an electric buzz and flash across the top board of the pinball machine. It says “Sepher Yetzirah (Book of Creation).” Sepher Yetzirah is the theme of this pinball machine. In real life, the Sepher Yetzirah is the title of an ancient Hebrew text created circa 200 CE. Sepher Yetzirah is the Hebrew title; it is also called the Book of Creation. The book explains how the Tree of Life operates. William Westcott, a founding secret chief of the Golden Dawn, wrote a translation of the Sepher Yetzirah in 1887 that was used as a primary text for the group.
The Sepher Yetzirah is a simple and concise manual explaining how divinity manifests in the world. How can an event as monumental as divine presence appearing be so simple? Think about it for a moment. The essence of all dogmatic and religious principles usually boils down to a few essential concepts. How people integrate, understand, and work with these concepts is where massive texts and years of study, work, and contemplation begin.
The nature of religious and mystical texts echo the occultist’s statement “as above, so below.” What is complex is actually simple, and what is simple is complex. Cool, isn’t it? It is just like us. We appear simple to an outside observer. Most of us usually come with one head, two arms, and two legs, yet the deeper you look into us, the more complex we become. Each of us is as unique as a snowflake, imprinted with personal memories, experiences, talents, preferences, and emotional makeups. Spiritual dogma reflects the humans who craft it. Therefore, spiritual dogma, like humans, is both simple and complex.
Back to our pinball machine—I promise you’ll be playing in no time, and I brought plenty of quarters. Don’t be shocked or offended that I am taking ancient rabbinical, mystic, esoteric studies and reducing them to a pinball game. This is a starting point. Tarot is complicated enough without throwing Hebraic mysticism on top of it. Here is the Tree of Life in simple terms. You can pursue a deeper practice on your own.
The game is currently dark below the glass, except for the Kether (Crown) circle. It’s glowing away, like divinity is apt to do. I plug the game into an outlet to show you the nine other circles, called Sephiroth (singular Sephira). Bells clang and lights flash as the entire pinball machine springs to life. Ten glowing bumper circles appear, including Kether. The glowing yellow circles are emanations on the Tree of Life. Each one has a different name, a different function, and a different number, one through ten. Kether (Crown), at the top of the game, is the highest, holiest, most sacred Sephira you will ever encounter. Everything begins and ends here. It is important to keep in mind that the energy of the tree moves down toward the material world, the same way a silver pinball moves down between bumpers or glowing circles until it slips through the flippers and back into the game.
Kether (Crown) is the highest point of the tree and is connected to pure divine energy. The Kabbalistic tree is upside down compared to our earthly trees. Because the Tree of Life is divine in nature, it is rooted in the highest spiritual place “above.” Our earthly trees grow their roots at the base in soft soil and gather nutrients from the ground. Earthly trees reach upward like steeples, temples, and holy architecture pointing upward toward the divine nature above us. The Tree of Life takes its nutrients from the Divine. The Tree of Life sprouts opposite to earth—it grows, spirals, and reaches down toward us. As above, so below.
The entire tree funnels into a single lone Sephira circle. It stands alone at the bottom and is numbered ten and called Malkuth (Kingdom). This is where you stand leaning against the corner of the pinball machine. Malkuth represents everything in the material world. It aligns with your root chakra. This is the place our bodies live, love, and exist in. It is the physical world around us. Every other Sephira exists in the invisible spiritual world. They are unseen by normal human eyes. Divinity pours out of Kether and moves through each Sephira until it emerges in the material world inside Malkuth.
It may feel counterintuitive or uncomfortable to know most of the Tree of Life is invisible to the human eye. At first, it can feel like a lot to swallow until we consider the tarot deck. The tarot, too, is mostly invisible to the human eye. It is made up of the major arcana and the four suits of the minor arcana. The four suits represents emotions and feelings (cups), thoughts and calculations (swords), passion and spirituality (wands), objects and people (pentacles), and archetypes (majors). We observe emotions in others and in ourselves, but we can’t hold them. We think thoughts and see others making calculations, but you can’t smell a thought. Our bodies experience and express passion, but passion itself is tasteless. Even pure archetypes of the major arcana are impossible to find in their entirety in daily life. There are only fourteen cards in the tarot deck that you can see, feel, touch, smell, and taste with your bodily senses, and that’s the suit of the material world: pentacles.
Tarot and the Tree of Life reflect life’s unseen qualities. Our experience of life occurs inside our minds and inside the individual’s experience. Our consciousness springs from deep inside us, our body and our mind. Life is experienced through personal perception. It is completely subjective. One person sees a glass half empty while another sees the glass half full. Once we know, understand, and integrate this truth, we have the opportunity to become powerful beings. We dictate our experience of life. Life does not define us. Technology is clever at tricking us into thinking we are having an authentic experience when we are not. To become grounded in the self, walk or move through nature. It will put you in touch with you. Nature, like tarot, will open doors of perception you didn’t realize existed if you pay attention closely.
The Sefer Yetzirah explains two Kabbalistic concepts intimately connected to tarot. The ten glowing circles on the tree called Sephiroth and the twenty-two letters of the Hebrew alphabet. Can you see the connection between the Sephiroth and tarot? If you figured out there are ten cards in each suit of the minor arcana, excluding the court cards, I’m running to the snack bar to buy you a cherry slushy. Esotericists connect the ten Sephiroth to the ten cards of the minor arcana.
Did you realize the twenty-two Hebrew letters match up to the twenty-two major arcana cards? I’m treating you to an order of french fries with extra ketchup. The Sephiroth reflect and direct divine awareness. They are arranged like glowing circle bumpers on a pinball machine. The Sephiroth are connected by paths. Each path is like the straight line a silver pinball takes as it shoots through the game. The paths on the Tree of Life reflect energy moving from one Sephiroth to the next. All the Sephiroth are connected. It’s just like the veins in your body. Instead of pumping blood, the Sephiroth and its paths pump divine energy. All this circu
latory energy winds up on earth in Malkuth (Kingdom). The paths are straight and specific.
I’m going to show you how they work by releasing a ball into the pinball machine. Ready? Pop in your quarter. A silver ball appears with a slew of ringing bells. You pull back and release the spring and send the ball to the top of the game. The ball moves in straight lines between the first and second Sephiroth. This is the Fool’s path. It moves between the first and second Sephiroth, Kether and Chokmah, back and forth. Here is the Magician’s path between the first and third Sephiroth, Kether and Binah. As I said, there are twenty-two paths on the tree. There are twenty-two major arcana cards. Each path is connected to a major card, but guess what? There are also twenty-two letters in the Hebrew alphabet. Each path connects to a card and to a Hebrew letter.
Observe the Sephiroth’s pattern. The tree is constructed in a trio of triads. The three triangles funnel down into the tenth Sephira, Malkuth (Kingdom). The top triad is important, especially in regard to the tarot deck. The top triad is called the supernal triad. The word supernal means celestial or heavenly. Triad, as you know, means three. This celestial trio relates to all divine trinities found in religions across the world. It coincides with the trinity of Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. It relates to the Wiccan Maiden, Mother, and Crone. The Tree of Life’s supernal triad contains Crown, Wisdom, and Understanding. Keep your eyes peeled—you’ll see many graphic representations of the supernal triad and larger versions of the tree inside the RWS deck.
Ancient scholars considered the Hebrew language to be infused with divine energy. The letters of the alphabet help divine energy manifest in the world. This concept holds true of any language that sculpts, shapes, and informs the nature of reality. Remember when your mom told you that your words count? According to the Tree of Life, words really do matter. Each letter holds an additional meaning or metaphor inside the letter itself.
Here’s a cheat sheet for the Hebrew letters, tarot associations, and letter meanings:
Aleph
The Fool
Ox
Beth
The Magician
House
Gimel
High Priestess
Camel
Daleth
The Empress
Door
Heh
The Emperor
Window
Vau
Hierophant
Nail
Zain
The Lovers
Sword
Cheth
The Chariot
Field/Fence
Teth
Strength
Serpent
Yod
Hermit
Hand
Kaph
Wheel of Fortune
Palm
Lamed
Justice
Teach
Mem
Hanged Man
Water
Nun
Death
Fish
Samekh
Temperance
Peg
Ayin
The Devil
Eye
Qoph
The Moon
Back of the Head
Resh
The Sun
Face
Shin
Judgement
Tooth
Tau
The World
Signature
Numerology and the Tree of Life
Each Sephiroth contains a number, one through ten. Align the Sephiroth numbers to their corresponding tarot numbers to bring rich and deep meaning to the cards. Look and see how they enhance the meaning of each card:
One: Crown/Kether (Tarot’s Aces)
The Godhead appears. Perfect wholeness. One is the spark. Beginning. Something out of nothing. Consciousness. Possibility exists. Options become available. The blank page contains a mark, a spot. A figure appears on the horizon. It is one. It is you. It is awareness. It is a thing. It is the most sacred act of manifestation. It is the Primal Force. It is the root of all thought. It is ultimate creativity. In The Doctrine and Literature of the Kabalah, Waite tells us that
Kether contains all things, is it the egg in which reposes the germ of the universe, to borrow the symbolism of another system. In particular it contains the remaining Sephiroth, which are the sum of all things.
The Tree of Life grows exactly like an earthbound tree except it springs from above. It is a reflection of what is found on earth; as such, it is opposite to earth. Imagine a tall green tree in your backyard or local park. Imagine a giant hand appearing out of a cloud like a tarot ace. It holds a huge mirror over the tree. The reflection of the tree is oppositional to how the tree grows on earth. This is exactly how the Tree of Life grows. Its roots are at the highest point of the universe. It grows down and points toward the earth. This is why the root of the tree is located at the top and called Crown. This is why the root of the tree is called Kether and translates into the word “crown.” One single thing.
Body part: crown of head
Two: Wisdom/Chokmah (Tarot’s Twos)
Energetic duality reflects the churning engine of life. Force and energy is expansion with no end until there is two. Rather than radiating into infinity, energy now has something specific to react to. Yin and yang appear. Dark and light. Sun and moon. Day and night. The recognition of oneself and a mirror. The definition of the “other.” The masculine and feminine. Mother to child. Lover to lover. Dancer and stage. Writer and page. Bees and flowers. Two white towers. Reflection. In The Doctrine and Literature of the Kabalah, Waite reminds us that “Chokmah is described in the ‘Book of Formation’ as the Breath of the Spirit of God.”
The High Priestess is numbered two, and she is drawn in the RWS deck as the card through which tarot’s water flows. Water moving through the tarot deck is an apt metaphor for emotional compassion and love. It also reflects the nature of energy in motion, a here and there. It is ultimate intuition and ultimate paradox. A paradox is a concept feeling counterintuitive. A paradox is seemingly contradictory, yet it sees and feels true. The number two is the wellspring of complexity allowing diametric opposition. Can a single thing, being, or consciousness hold duality? Is it possible to hold two oppositional things equally? Yes, it is possible, and this remarkable intelligence is why Chokmah translates to the word “wisdom.” Two is duality.
Body part: right side of the head
Three: Understanding/Binah (Tarot’s Threes)
Triplicity is the ultimate creative act. The pairing results in a third. Two react to each other and a third appears. A result springs from the duo. The soul responds to the Divine, causing the Divine to respond in ecstatic manifestation. This is the ultimate act of creativity found in the trinity, the most powerful shape and form in the universe. In The Do
ctrine and Literature of the Kabalah, Waite tells us that “Binah, Intelligence or Understanding, is…the highest Sephiroth with which man can establish correspondence.”
It is beauty but also elements of the mind. Archetypal patterns are formulated here. The ability to communicate is born. Pattern and structure appear. A blueprint has emerged, and it makes logical analytical sense. All creative acts make sense in their context. The third element is often the integration and combination of the first two points, and this is why Binah translates to “understanding.” You can understand something when you see yourself in it. In the number three dual elements combine equally, and understanding is born. Three is creativity.
Body part: left side of the head
Four: Mercy/Chesed (Tarot’s Fours)
The number four fosters stability. Maturity is achieved. A groundwork and foundation is laid. Structure endures, and systems are placed. A house is built. A book is outlined. The plan is hatched. The recipe’s ingredients are gathered. The spell is plotted. Structural components line up. This is where spiritual essence moves toward manifestation. In The Doctrine and Literature of the Kabalah, Waite tells us that “it expresses the eternal love and compassion, connecting with life and vitality.”
Devotion explodes from this Sephira like a parent’s love for their child. Deep compassion is born. Kindness is fostered. Forgiveness is offered. The empathetic qualities inside of a four’s structure is why Chesed translates into the word “mercy.” The material world and its blueprint is now a distinct possibility. A map is there. The plans have emerged. The future is foreshadowed. Four grounds the world.