My last post (literally the last, if you click the right pointing arrow at the bottom of the page you'll see it) may have sounded rather negative about my study of the Qabalistic tarot with specific regard to the Order of the Golden Dawn. I mentioned the pathways between the sephiroth and the way they have Hebrew letters attributed to them. This isn't just a label, each Hebrew letter has a significance in itself and they are the building blocks of reality in Kabbalah. I see that I have wrestled with this for some years. In 2014 I wrote this about the letters and positioning of the Fool, and in 2018 I expressed a preference for a different method of attributing Hebrew letters to the pathways, from the Golden Dawn one. I have concluded that there isn't a single, correct way of doing this, but also don't want to get more confused so have shifted to the Golden Dawn attributions for simplicity. Don't mention Crowley, that's a further complication we don't need.
My rough guide to the Hebrew letters and trumps is further down below and I never fail to be impressed by how the meanings of the letters fit with and illuminate the trumps, even with changing between systems.
Which leaves Aleph, the first letter of the Hebrew alphabet, available for attribution to the Fool. Which is a happy attribution because in the tarot the Fool either doesn't have a number or else is numbered zero. In the game of tarot this is because the fool can be placed literally anywhere, as a wild card.
In the tarot this fits perfectly because of the kabbalistic tradition that Beth rather than aleph is the first letter. The pious reason is that Beth begins bereshit, the first word of the Hebrew bible, meaning 'In the beginning'.
Aleph also fits the zero numbered Fool, which occultly means nothing, potential, or that which precedes, in another way. It is not right to compare Aleph to our letter A, it is quite different. A has its own sound, but Aleph doesn't have a sound. In itself, without vowel symbols it is soundless.
Kindof a potential letter, just like the Fool is a potential card, which incidentally often refers to silence.
The Hound's Rough Guide to Golden Dawn Hebrew Letter Attributions
The Universe - Tau - Cross - At the centre of the Cube of Space so the key to all because it's where all energies from which manifestation come, cross.
Judgment - Shin - Tooth - Indicate sharpness, hardness and biting, the teeth which chew before ingestion of energy into the system. Can also be taken as killing the perception of the Personality as separate.
The Sun - Resh - Head. Highest path of human intelligence.
The Moon - Qoph - Back of head - the head is the Sun so the back of it is what is before the bright intellectual awareness of the Sun. I only reflects the light of the sun.
The Star - Tsaddi - Fish hook. The hook is the hook of meditation and other exercises which we cast into the universal sea of consciousness seeking to hook an understanding of the very processes of life and death.
The Tower - Peh - Mouth. Peh double letter with tho directions of passage i.e. taking nourishment in and speech.
The Devil - Ayin - Eye. The Devil represents most people's misperception of reality and the eye indicates that the lesson of this path is a new vision and reorganisation of reality.
Temperance - Samekh - Prop. References the womb of the Great Mother which supports (Props up) life.
Death - Nun - Fish. The fish is an alchemical symbol of First Matter and it is on this path we begin to develop the tools of creative imagination necessary to make the transition to the Higher Self.
The Hanged Man - Mem - Water. Water symbolises consciousness and thinking, which underlies everything.
Justice - Lamed - Ox goad. Related to Aleph (Ox/Fool). Maintains the balance of the Tree so that the Outpouring of the Fool will operate within the confines of a natural system.
Wheel of Fortune - Caph - Fist. Closed hand which symbolises grasping comprehension, completion of an activity or the closing of a circle.
The Hermit - Yod - Hand. Open hand - power/innocence, receptivity. Yod basis of all Hebrew letters.
Strength - Teth - Snake. Fundamental, concealed power, the animal energies in the rational human.
The Chariot - Cheth - Fence, Enclosure. The chariot is a wheeled enclosure which holds the Spirit in its movement through all planes. It is also a hedge serving a protecting function.
The Lovers - Zain - Sword. Sword of perception which cuts to the the core of things and defines clearly. The conjunction seems to be a death. It separates to allow a conjunction.
The Hierophant - Vav - Nail. The hierophant links microprosopus with macrosprosopus, the Great Universe and manifestation.
The Emperor - Heh - Window. Window into inner vision and constitutes law (as Constituting Intelligence) in place of darkness.
The Empress - Daleth - Door. The Empress is the universal womb and the door which is the transition from One into Many!
The High Priestess - Gimel - Camel. The path itself carries us over the path of the Abyss.
The Magician - Beth - House. Symbolises that which builds the house, i.e. directs and ecloses the One Spirit symbolized by the Fool.
The Fool - Aleph - Ox. Ox means rooted in earth and the motive power in agriculture and civilisation.
I was very lost at the beginning of this and could not feel my way through it, but your "rough guide" at the end is useful and interesting. I like these interpretations. I can't relate to things if I can't feel my way through them.
ReplyDeleteThank you! To be honest, writing this gave me real problems and I'm actually quite dissatisfied with it because I couldn't get it more transparent!
DeleteI think it's a genuinely very abstract subject, which has a completely theoretical map of reality which is unrelated to the ways we normally talk about stuff.
I keep feeling about it the way you did and some things are just way beyond my grasp at present.
I wasn't sure about the rough guide so I'm very glad you liked it!