The
Tarot
Papus
CHAPTER I.
INTRODUCTION TO THE STUDY OF THE TAROT.
Approaching End of Materialism-Synthesis-The Occult Science-The Secret Societies-The
Cultus-The People, Organ of the Transmission of Esoterism-The Gypsies-The
Sacred Word of Freemasonry-Our Work.
"Therefore you must open the book and carefully weigh the statements
made in it. Then you will know that the drug within is of very different
value from the promise of the box, that is to say, that the subjects treated
in it are not so frivolous as the title may imply."-RABBLAIS.
WE are on the eve of a complete transformation of our scientific methods.
Materialism has given us all that we can expect from it, and inquirers,
disappointed as a rule, hope for great things from the future, whilst they
are unwilling to spend more time in pursuing the path adopted in modern
times. Analysis has been carried, in every branch of knowledge, as far as
possible, and has only deepened the moats which divide the sciences.
Synthesis becomes necessary; but how can we realize it?
If we would condescend to waive for one moment our belief in the indefinite
progress and fatal superiority of later generations over the ancients, we
should at once perceive that the colossal civilizations of antiquity possessed
Science, Universities, and Schools.
India and Egypt are still strewn with valuable remains, which reveal to
archæologists the existence of this ancient science.
We are now in a position to affirm that the dominant character of this teaching
was synthesis, which condenses in a few very simple laws the whole of the
acquired knowledge.
But the use of synthesis had been almost entirely lost, through several
causes, which it is important to enumerate.
Amongst the ancients, knowledge was only transmitted to men whose worth
had been proved by a series of tests. This transmittal took place in the
temples, under the name of mysteries, and the adept assumed the title of
priest or Initiate. 1 This science was therefore secret or occult, and thus
originated the name of occult science, given by our contemporaries to the
ancient synthesis.
Another reason for the limited diffusion of the higher branches of knowledge,
was the length and difficulty of the journeys involved before the most important
centres of initiation could be reached.
However, when the Initiates found that a time was approaching when these
doctrines might be lost to humanity, they made strenuous efforts to save
the law of synthesis from oblivion. Three great methods were used for this
purpose-
1. Secret societies,, a direct continuation of the mysteries;
2. The cultus, a symbolic translation of the higher doctrines, for the use
of the people;
3. Lastly, the people itself became the unconscious depository of the doctrine.
Let us now
see what use each of these groups made of the treasure confided to it.
THE SECRET SOCIETIES.
The school of Alexandria was the principal source from which the secret
societies of the West arose.
The majority of the Initiates had taken refuge in the East, and quite recently
(in 1884) the West discovered the existence in India, and above all in Thibet,
of an occult fraternity, which possessed, practically, the ancient synthesis
in its integrity. The Theosophite Society was founded with the object of
uniting Western initiation with Oriental initiation.
But we are less interested in the existence of this doctrine in the East,
than in the history of the development of the initiative societies in the
West.
The Gnostic sects, the Arabs, Alchemists, Templars, Rosicrucians, and lastly
the Freemasons, form the Western chain in the transmission of occult science.
A rapid glance over the doctrines of these associations is sufficient to.
prove that the present form of Freemasonry has almost entirely lost the
meanings of the traditional symbols, which constitute the trust which it
ought to have transmitted through the ages.
The elaborate ceremonials of the ritual appear ridiculous to the vulgar
common sense of a lawyer or grocer, the actual modern representatives of
the profound doctrines of antiquity.
We must, however, make some exceptions in favour of great thinkers, like
Ragon and a few others.
In short, Freemasonry has lost the doctrine confided to it, and cannot by
its self provide us with the synthetic law for which we are seeking.
THE CULTUS.
The secret societies were to transmit in their symbolism the scientific
side of primitive initiation, the religious sects were to develop the philosophical
and metaphysical aspects of the doctrine.
Every priest of an ancient creed was one of the Initiates, that is to say,
he knew perfectly well that only one religion existed, and that the cultus
merely served to translate this religion to the different nations according
to their particular temperaments. This fact led to one important result,
namely, that a priest, no matter which of the gods he served, was received
with honour in the temples of all the other gods, and was allowed to offer
sacrifice to them. Yet this circumstance must not be supposed to imply any
idea of polytheism. The Jewish High Priest in Jerusalem received one of
the Initiates, Alexander the Great, into the Temple, and led him into the
Holy of Holies, to offer sacrifice.
Our religious disputes for the supremacy of one creed over another would
have caused much amusement to one of the ancient Initiate priests; they
were unable to suppose that intelligent men could ignore the unity of all
creeds in one fundamental religion.
Sectarianism, chiefly sustained by two creeds, equally blinded by their
errors, the Christian and the Mussulman, was the cause of the total loss
of the secret doctrine, which gave the key to Synthetic Unity.
Still greater labour is required to re-discover Synthesis in our Western
religions, than to find it in Freemasonry.
The Jews alone possessed, no longer the spirit, but the letter of their
oral or Kabbalistic traditions. The Bible, written in Hebrew, is marvellous
from this point of view, for it contains all the occult traditions, although
its true sense has never yet been revealed. Fabre d'Olivet commenced this
prodigious work, but the ignorant descendants of the Inquisition at Rome
have placed these studies on the list of those prohibited. 1 Posterity will
judge them.
Yet every cultus has its tradition, its book, its Bible, which teach those
who know how to read them the unity of all creeds, in spite of the difference
existing in the ritual of various countries.
The Sepher Bereschit of Moses is the Jewish Bible, the Apocalypse and the
Esoteric Gospels form the Christian Bible, the Legend of Hiram is the Bible
of Freemasonry, the Odyssey the Bible of the so-called polytheism of Greece,
the Æneid that of Rome, and lastly the Hindu Vedas and the Mussulman
Koran are well known to all students of ancient theology.
To any one possessing the key, all these Bibles reveal the same doctrine;
but this key, which can open Esoterism, is lost by the sectarians of our
Western creeds. It is therefore useless to seek for it any longer amongst
them.
THE PEOPLE.
The Sages were under no illusions respecting the possible future of the
tradition, which they confided to the intelligence and virtue of future
generations.
Moses had chosen a people to hand down through succeeding ages the book
which contained all the science of Egypt; but before Moses, the Hindu Initiates
had selected a nation to hand down to the generations of the future the
primitive doctrines of the great civilizations of the Atlantides.
The people have never disappointed the expectations of those who trusted
it. Understanding none of the truths which it possessed, it carefully abstained
from altering them in an way, and treated the least attack made upon them
as sacrilege.
Thus the Jews have transmitted intact to us the letters which form the Sepher
of Moses. But Moses had not solved the problem so authoritatively as the
Thibetans.
It was a great thing to give the people a book which it could adore respectfully,
and always guard intact; but to give it a book which would enable it to
live, was yet better.
The people intrusted with the transmission of occult doctrines from the
earliest ages was the Bohemian or Gypsy race.
THE GYPSIES.
The Gypsies possess a Bible, which has proved their means of gaining a livelihood,
for it enables them to tell fortunes; at the same time it has been a perpetual
source of amusement, for it enables them to gamble.
Yes; the game of cards called the Tarot, which the Gypsies possess, is the
Bible of Bibles. It is the book of Thoth Hermes Trismegistus, the book of
Adam, the book of the primitive Revelation of ancient civilizations.
Thus whilst the Freemason, an intelligent and virtuous man, has lost the
tradition; whilst the priest, also intelligent and virtuous, has lost his
esoterism; the Gypsy, although both ignorant and vicious, has given us the
key which enables us to explain all the symbolism of the ages.
We must admire the wisdom of the Initiates, who utilized vice and made it
produce more beneficial results than virtue.
The Gypsy pack of cards is a wonderful book according to Court de Gébelin
1 and Vaillant. 2 This pack, under the name of TAROT, 3 THORA, 4 ROTA, 5
has formed the basis of the synthetic teachings of all the ancient nations
successively. 6
In it, where a man of the people only sees a means of amusement, the thinker
will find the key to an obscure tradition. Raymond Lulle has based his Ars
Magna upon the Tarot; Jerome Cardan has written a treatise upon subtility
from the keys of the Tarot; 7 Guillaume Postel has found in it the key to
the ancient mysteries; whilst Louis-Claude de Saint-Martin, the unknown
philosopher, finds written in it the mysterious links which unite God, the
Universe, and Man!
Through the Tarot we are now able to discover and develop the synthetic
law, concealed in all these symbolisms.
The hour is approaching when the Missing word will be refound. Masters,
Rosicrucian and Kadosh, you who form the sacred triangle of Masonic initiation,
do you remember!
Remember, MASTER, that illustrious man, killed through the most cowardly
of conspiracies; remember Hiram, whose resurrection, promised by the Branch
of Acacia, thou art looking for in faith!
Remember, ROSICRUCIAN, the mysterious word which thou hast sought for so
long, of which the meaning still escapes thee!
Remember, KADOSH, the magnificent symbol which radiated from the centre
of the luminous triangle, when the real meaning of the letter G was revealed
to thee!
HIRAM-INRI-YOD-HE-VAU-HE! indicate the same mystery under different aspects.
He who understands one of these words possesses the key which opens the
tomb of Hiram, the symbol of the synthetic science of the Ancients; he can
open the tomb and fearlessly grasp the heart of the revered Master, the
symbol of esoteric teaching.
The whole Tarot is based upon this word, ROTA, arranged as a wheel.
INRI! is the word which indicates the Unity of your origin, Freemasons and
Catholics!
Igne Natura Renovatur Integra.
Iesus Nazareus Rex Iudeorum are the opposite poles, scientific and religious,
physical and metaphysical, of the same doctrine.
YOD-HE-VAU-HE (????) is the word which indicates to you both, Freemasons
and Kabbalists, the Unity of your origin. TAROT, THORA, ROTA are the words
which point out to you all, Easterns and Westerns, the Unity of your requirements
and of your aspirations in the eternal Adam-Eve, the source of all our knowledge
and of all our creeds.
All honour, therefore, to the Gypsy Nomad, to whom we are indebted for the
preservation of this marvellous instrument, the synthetic summary of the
whole teaching of antiquity.
OUR WORK.
We will commence by a preliminary study of the elements of the Kabbalah
and of numbers.
Supplied with these data, we will explain the construction of the Tarot
in all its details, studying separately each of the pieces which compose
our machine, then studying the action of these pieces upon each other. Upon
this point we shall be as explicit as possible. We will then touch upon
some applications of the machine, but upon a few only, leaving to the genuine
inquirer the work of discovering others. We must confine our personal work
to giving a key, based upon a synthetic formula; we can only supply the
implement of labour, in order that those who wish for knowledge may use
it as they like; and we feel assured that they will understand the utility
of our efforts and of their own.
Lastly, we will do our best to explain the elements of divination by the
Tarot as practised by the Gypsies.
But those who think that occult science should not be revealed must not
be too angry with us. Experience has taught us that everything may be fearlessly
said, those only who should understand can understand; the others will accuse
our work of being obscure and incomprehensible.
We have warned them by placing at the head of our work-
For the exclusive use of Initiates.
It is one characteristic of the study of true occult science, that it may
be freely explained to all men. Like the parables, so dear to the ancients,
it appears to many only the expression of the flight of a bold imagination:
we need, therefore, never be afraid of speaking too openly, the Word will
only reach those who should be touched by it.
To you all, philosophers of Unity, enemies of scientific, social. and religious
sectarianism, I now address myself, to you I dedicate this result of several
years' study. May I thus aid in the erection of the temple which you are
about to raise to the honour of the UNKNOWN GOD, from whom all the others
emanate throughout Eternity!
Footnotes
4:1 See Jamblichus, Porphyry, and Apuleius.
7:1 See Fabre
d'Olivet, La Langue Hébraïque Restituée.
9:1 Court de Gébelin.-Le Monde Primitif.
9:2 Vaillant.-Les Rômes, Histoire des Bohémiens.
9:3 Eliphas Levi.-Rituel de la Haute Magie.
9:4 Vaillant.-Op. cit.
9:5 Guillaume Postel.-Clavis.
9:6 Vaillant.-Loc. cit.
9:7 Eliphas Levi.-Op. cit.