The Oral Tradition of the Tarot

The Tarot first appeared in Italy in the mid 15th century. During this time the Gnostics, Jews and Muslims were sharing knowledge on maths, science and the esoteric world. The Kabbalah was being openly shared and the Gnostics connected with the Tree of Life as they saw the Trinity in the Sephirot of Keter Chokmah and Binah. It was late in the Renaissance period and it seemed that anything was possible. There was very little fear of persecution for ones beliefs allowing a free and open exchange of information. The Catholic Church was not happy about the continuation of the Renaissance as it felt it was losing control of peoples souls. So the Inquisition was formed and the fear of torture and death caused the end of the Renaissance.

To avoid being caught with documents and manuscripts of the Esoteric the Gnostics took the knowledge of the Tree of Life and turned them into picture cards. If one was caught by the Inquisition with manuscripts then there could only be trouble. But if one was caught playing cards then the chances are that all would be well. So the Kabbalah once again went underground but in a new guise. At first there was only the Major Arcana, which reflects our spiritual growth over many lives. Soon after the Minor Arcana appeared as an extra to help the Initiate walk the path of self knowledge in a single lifetime and therefore accelerate their spiritual growth. This article is an introduction to the Minor Arcana.

The Minor Arcana was introduced to show the initiate how to transform the lower or animal self into a spiritual vehicle. If you are thinking of Alchemy, then you are heading in the right direction as that is exactly how the Minor Arcana works. The transmutation of lead into gold was depicted into picture form to allow the teachings to be passed on from teacher to initiate. The minors provide knowledge about our psychological self in the mundane world. The court cards are the guiding forces for each suite. They provide the momentum and attitudes needed to progress along the given suite or path. Each of the suites is aligned with a “body” of which in the Kabbalah there are 4. Swords are physical, Cups is emotional, Pentacles is mental and Wands is the spiritual body.

Exoteric Tarot depicts Swords as the element air and Pentacles as earth. The oral tradition differs in that these two suites are reversed. An easy way of understanding this is to look at the cards themselves. If you have the Rider Waite deck, take out the 10 of swords and the 10 of pentacles. If you don’t have a deck then the internet is an easy place to find some images of these cards. The 10 of swords in the Rider Waite deck shows a person lying on the ground pierced by 10 swords. The red sash lying diagonally across the body is symbolic of blood or our life force. In this card the life force is leaking through the solar plexus chakra. The body of this person is in a state of pain. So much pain that the intellect simply turns outward as looking within is too difficult. This is a person whose head and heart have no connection at this time. The Ace of Swords reflects a person’s body that is now open and clear of any blockages. 

In comparison the 10 of Pentacles shows an old man sitting beside an arch. Over his head we see scales depicting the front and rear brains and the crown chakra that tries to balance them. The grapes around the man show intoxication of the mind i.e. conditioning. The man (intellect) is not paying any attention to the mind at all. This is to show that the mind and the contents of the mind are not the same thing. The woman (emotions) is partly aware and the child (spirit) is held back from interacting with the mind. The dogs (instincts) are very aware of the power of the mind. But at this point our subject is unconscious about the conditioning within their mind and has never looked nor had the desire to look at why they are the person they are. The path of pentacles is about clearing the mind of its conditions and allowing it to be the empty vessel it should be. The ace of pentacles shows that once the mind has been cleared of any negative conditioning then it becomes a gateway to other experiences.

Let’s now look at the way we spiritually progress along a given path. The majority of people in society find they progress from the 10 to the 6th card. They usually then find themselves following their karma unconsciously and fall back towards the higher numbered cards and repeat the cycle. Some don’t even move at all. However the initiate will at some stage find themselves at the 5 card. As an exercise, take some time to reflect on all the 5 cards. The 5 of each suite shows a large turning point has been reached. At this time there are huge changes about to take place. The initiates life has reached a cross road. Often there is a big pause here and the person finds themselves not being able to move forwards or backwards in their life. Some people are able to cross over very quickly and yet others will wait at this stage for years. Once our spiritual evolution has moved us forwards then we find ourselves having crossed an abyss. A good exercise here is to lay out the 5 of each suite and place them next to the corresponding 4 of the suit. The 5 of Swords, Cups, Pentacles and Wands each shows a situation of struggle. Swords are seen as using ones pain to go out and fight others. This can be useful but may also be potentially dangerous due to the suffering it can cause. The 4 of each suite in turn shows a much different situation reflecting a huge change in ones life. The 4 of swords shows that the initiate has given up fighting externally, has truly let go and gone within to find the truth.

          With more work over time our initiate reaches the Ace on each of the paths. This would be experienced as an “enlightenment” of some form. Again it may not be permanent but the experience is never forgotten. This change could manifest as an epiphany, ken sho or sartori i.e. where the initiate has had a life changing experience. This sort of change is never truly lost even though the initiate may find themselves going back over old ground. In the Kabbalah they may find themselves interacting with the World of Creation. This is where archetypes and symbols first manifest and is far cleaner than the Astral Plane from where many spiritualists get there information.

If this article has interested you and you wish to learn more, I run my school of Kabbalah every year and pass on the Oral Tradition of the Tarot.

Peace be with You

24 Oct 2010

Last Update: 5 Mar 2011