Category: Tarot
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The Hanged Man – The Tarot
Early decks often refer to this card as the traitor. Eliphas Levi supposes that this is the prudence card. As I have said before, in the decks which include the prudence card, the Popess is distinctly absent she is also commonly depicted with a book, just like prudence, and is the appropriate gender. The way…
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Justice – The Tarot
This is one of the 4 cardinal virtues which govern society. Plato placed Justice above all the others. Temperance was needed by the farming class who had to temper their animal instincts while governing the food for the nation, prudence was needed to guide the ruling class and strength was needed by the warrior class…
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The Wheel of Fortune – The Tarot
This was an interesting card. When it first appears in Bembo’s deck it appears to concern itself more with the rise and fall of kings. Often the goddess or angel of fortune is blind folded and turning the wheel behind herself so she does not see what she is doing. Someone is climbing up the…
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The Hermit – The Tarot
The Hermit is a very simple card featured in nearly all tarot decks. Early renditions of the card feature an older man gazing at an hourglass and using a walking stick. The card was often called “il vecchio” which means old man or sometimes “il tempo” meaning time. If I were to translate that into…
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Strength – The Tarot
Strength is one of the cardinal virtues. What is a cardinal virtue? Well, when I first came across them I wondered if it was like the cardinal directions, maybe you could navigate by them and in a way you can navigate the field of ethics. The four cardinal virtues come from a theory where all…
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The Chariot – The Tarot
Traditionally this card is a chariot drawn from one side of the card to the other but in Waite’s deck the chariot is facing forward. The card has always been associated with victory. Some early deck show a female charioteer and sometimes the horses are winged. Waite’s Understanding Waite perceives this card as the king…
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Roses and Lillies in the Smith-Waite Tarot
These flowers show up multiple times in the Smith-Waite-Rider deck. You perhaps will have noticed them on the Magician card. They also appear on the robes of the tonsured monks at the bottom of the Hierophant card. This is mostly likely a symbol from the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn. They initiated Waite and…
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The Lovers – Tarot
Originally, this card featured a couple of young children about to be struck by Cupid. The children are probably the offspring of the Visconti and Sforza families who are arranged to be wed before long. Those were the families that commissioned the deck. Early interpretations of this card include marriage. Later the Marseille and Italian…
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The Hierophant – Tarot
This is the 6th trump and is associated with the number 5. Traditionally this card is called the pope and sometimes the High Priestess Card is called the Papess (or female pope). I think I’ve seen one pack that even calls this the High priest, but that feels like some Wiccan stuff. Gébain changed the…
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21st Atu – The Universe – Thoth Tarot
This card symbolises the 32nd path on the Tree of Life, the path associated with the Hebrew letter Tau. This is the path that connects Yesod to Malkuth. It is associated with Saturn. This article is an attempt to analyse the pictures and symbols that appear on The Universe card of the Thoth Tarot Deck.…