The Cosmic Tarot - Tree of Life - Card Correspondences

La Force

The Cosmic Tarot - Tree of Life - Card Correspondences

I have found some discrepancies in using the Cosmic Tarot with the Tree of Life in the Kabbalah System. I felt it to be important for those who wish to use Kabbalah study with this deck. The Cosmic tarot doesn't follow with lets per-say the traditional guide lines as RWS (Waite) or Thoth (AC) Golden dawn system, it has its own, why you ask as did I, the answer is unclear to me at present. Below I will just post the Cards and their correspondence, I will also include with relation to Waites and AC correspondences as comparison. Which you will find very helpful in understanding this deck and how to use it.

The Hebrew Alphabet

here I have listed the Hebrew Letter sequence, you will notice that there are two that are in wrong placing, which AC (Thoth) corrected. however this does affect the Cosmic Tarot, as you will see below.

1 Aleph
2 Beth
3 Gimmel
4 Daleth
5 Heh
6 Vau
7 Sain
8 Cheth
12 Lamed
10 Yod
11 Caph
9 Teth
13 Mem
14 Nun
15 Sameck
16 Ayin
17 Pe
18 Tsade
19 Qoph
20 Resh
21 Shin
22 Tau

I will only list where the changes are; Here you will notice the card follow the Thoth/Marseilles number sequence for these cards, yet the Hebrew letter don't match.

Card--------------------------------Cosmic------------Waite--------------Thoth
VIII. (8) Justice/Adjustment---------12 Lamed---------12 Lamed-----------9 Teth
XI. (11) Strength--------------------9 Teth-----------9 Teth-------------12 Lamed

What gave it away to this slight noticeable problem

On VIII. (8) Justice - symbol of Libra on the steam of the scale (Lamed = ox goad) Also her crowns symbolism (Lamed = Coition/Cognition) 4 doors/windows/pillars - To the tree of knowlege (Higher learning/wisdom)

Note: Remeber there were 2 Trees; Tree of Life and Tree of Knowledge in the garden of Eden.

on XI. (11) Strength - symbol of the Cobra / serpent on the crown (Teth = Snake) also you will notice on her brow a symbol for a device used for Sound (Teth = Hearing)
 

La Force

Court Cards - Tree of Life Correspondences - Kabbalah

Court Cards - Tree of Life Correspondences - Kabbalah

Here we have a huge discrepancy, not sure what to make of this, but it does lead to a problem when working with the study of Kabbalah and tarot, in accordance with traditional application of correspondences to the cards.

Pay close attention to the Kings and especially the Queens, for this changes where the cards go on the the Tree of Life in each of their traditional Sephirot.

Cosmic Tarot ----------------------------Thoth-----------------------Waite

Wands:
King of Wands ----- Aries ---------- Knight --- Sagittarius ----------King ------Leo
Queen of Wands --- Sagittarius ----- Queen ---- Aries -------------Queen ----Aries
Prince of Wands ---- Leo ----------- Prince/King --- Leo ---------- Knight ----Sagittarius

King of Cups ------- Cancer -------- Knight -----Pisces ------------ King -----Scorpio
Queen of Cups ----- Pisces --------- Queen ----Cancer ------------ Queen --- Cancer
Prince of Cups ----- Scorpio -------- Prince/King ---- Scorpio ------- Knight ---Pisces

King of Swords ------Libra ---------- Knight ------Gemini ----------- King ------Aquarius
Queen of Swords ----Gemini -------- Queen ------Libra ------------- Queen ----Libra
Prince of Swords ----Aquarius ------ Prince/King --- Aquarius -------- Knight ---Gemini

King of Pentacles --- Capricorn ----- Knight ------Virgo -------------- King ----- Taurus
Queen of Pentacles ---Virgo ------- Queen ----- Capricorn ---------- Queen --- Capricorn
Prince of Pentacles ---Taurus ------ Prince/King --- Taurus ----------- Knight --- Virgo

Cosmic Tarot

Kings (Cardinal) - Air ----------- Prince (Fixed) - Fire ---------- Queens (Mutable) - Water

Wands = Aries -------------------Wands = Leo-------------------- Wands = Sagittarius
Cups = Cancer ------------------ Cups = Scorpio ------------------- Cups = Pisces
Swords = Libra ------------------Swords = Aquarius --------------- Swords = Gemini
Pentacles = Capricorn ----------Pentacles = Taurus --------------- Pentacles = Virgo

Note: so here we start to see the second part to the problem. The Princes - Fire (Fixed) Chochmah in the of Atziluth, and Then the Kings - Air (Cardinal) are in Tiphereth in the world of Yetzirah ?????, Then we move on to The Queens - Water (Mutable) in the sphere of Binah, in the world of Briah, at first think this is ok, well it's not, as you will see in the conclusion.

(Cardinal)-------------------(Fixed)--------------------- (Mutable)
Aries------------------------- Taurus ----------------------- Gemini
Cancer ------------------------ Leo -------------------------- Virgo
Libra ------------------------ Scorpion --------------------- Sagittarius
Capricorn -------------------- Aquarius ----------------------- Pisces

Note: The Zodiac signs in the Cosmic Tarot of the King and Queen are switched, different From the RWS and Thoth. example; (cosmic Tarot) Queen of Wands = Sagittarius in Both (RWS & Thoth) Queen of wands is Aries. However once you look at the (Cosmic Tarot) King of Wands he is Aries.

Deck -----------(Cardinal)---------------(Fixed)---------------- (Mutable)

Cosmic --------------Kings-----------------Knights ------------------Queens
Thoth ------------Queens ---------------- Princes ----------------- Knights
Waite ------------ Queens ---------------- Kings ------------------ Knights

Now we know that RWS and Thoth did a switch with the Kings/Princes and the Knights/Kings. It really doesn't affect with placement on the Tree of Life.

Final Conclusion

RWS and Thoth - Tree of Life -------------------------Cosmic Tarot - Tree of Life

Chockmah = Kings ------------------------------------------- Princes = Chockmah
Binah = Queens ---------------------------------------------- Kings = Binah
Tiphereth = Knights ----------------------------------------- Queens = Tiphereth
Malkuth = Pages -------------------------------------------- Princess = Malkuth

so know your really wandering how I figured that out. Well looking at the wheel of Fortune card on reading in the book there was a hint (Queen of Cups - Solar plexus - sixth sphere beauty on the tree ).

All I can say is WOW this is going to make working the Tree a bit of a challenge, but hey I'm in for it. just another ways to view the cards and the tree of life.


La force
 

Richard

Binah is the Supernal Mother: The Empress, Isis, Mary of Magdala, Mary Mother of Jesus, Queen of Heaven, however you wish to visualize her. The Queens must go in Binah. There is a continual flow of creative energy from the Supernals to the other Sephiroth, so the solar plexus will still get plenty of influence from the Queen of Cups. Note that Tiphareth is connected directly to Binah by the Zain path (The Lovers). Tiphareth itself, however, is the home of the third letter of the Tetragrammaton, Vau/Air, so that's where the Air courts go. Also, its planetary attribution is the Sun, which is not an appropriate abode for watery Lunar entities, such as the Queens.
 

La Force

Binah is the Supernal Mother: The Empress, Isis, Mary of Magdala, Mary Mother of Jesus, Queen of Heaven, however you wish to visualize her. The Queens must go in Binah. There is a continual flow of creative energy from the Supernals to the other Sephiroth, so the solar plexus will still get plenty of influence from the Queen of Cups. Note that Tiphareth is connected directly to Binah by the Zain path (The Lovers). Tiphareth itself, however, is the home of the third letter of the Tetragrammaton, Vau/Air, so that's where the Air courts go. Also, its planetary attribution is the Sun, which is not an appropriate abode for watery Lunar entities, such as the Queens.

I completely agree, and with all my Kabbalah studies, that is what I know, so then as I started working with the deck I discovered that the card weren't matching up, To what I had learned about the Tree of Life.

That is why I posted this Thead, cause the deck left with the big HMMMMMMMMMM. especially when it made refernces to the queens in Tiphareth, I was then left scratching me head, and Hmmmmmm (WTF) read below in bold in my Quote.

Note: so here we start to see the second part to the problem. The Princes - Fire (Fixed) Chochmah in the of Atziluth, and Then the Kings - Air (Cardinal) are in Tiphereth in the world of Yetzirah ?????, Then we move on to The Queens - Water (Mutable) in the sphere of Binah, in the world of Briah, at first think this is ok, well it's not, as you will see in the conclusion.



Thank you for your help.

La Force
 

Richard

I am also suspicious about the Queens being mutable. I hope it is not because of the silly myth that women are more prone to change their minds than men. The feminine cards are indeed changeable according to the Lunar cycles, but this is cyclical change, which implies periodic new beginnings, i.e., cardinality. I really like the Golden Dawn (and Thoth) system, in which the Queens are primarily cardinal, but they also partake of the previous mutable sign. The Queen of Wands, for example, rules from 20° Pisces to 20° Aries, i.e., one decan of Pisces and two decans of Aries. Actually, like the Queens, all of the courts (except the Princesses) preside over the transitions from one sign to the next. This reflects the fact that the change from one sign to another is usually a smooth, imperceptible transition. This applies even to seasonal changes, such as from Fall to Winter, which involves the transition from Sagittarius to Capricorn, ruled by the Queen of Pentacles. The Queens rule over all seasonal changes.
 

La Force

Cosmic Tarot and the Tree of Lives (hodge podge Tree)

I am also suspicious about the Queens being mutable. I hope it is not because of the silly myth that women are more prone to change their minds than men. The feminine cards are indeed changeable according to the Lunar cycles, but this is cyclical change, which implies periodic new beginnings, i.e., cardinality. I really like the Golden Dawn (and Thoth) system, in which the Queens are primarily cardinal, but they also partake of the previous mutable sign. The Queen of Wands, for example, rules from 20° Pisces to 20° Aries, i.e., one decan of Pisces and two decans of Aries. Actually, like the Queens, all of the courts (except the Princesses) preside over the transitions from one sign to the next. This reflects the fact that the change from one sign to another is usually a smooth, imperceptible transition. This applies even to seasonal changes, such as from Fall to Winter, which involves the transition from Sagittarius to Capricorn, ruled by the Queen of Pentacles. The Queens rule over all seasonal changes.

That is so why I love the Thoth. nice smooth transition from one sign to the next, The Cosmic is running from a non transitional tree of life. I have it best so far with The Gra Tree of Life model. however the Hebrew letters and what is depicted in the imagery doesn't match. It seem to be a cross breed of 3 Trees of Life. weird. Still trying to make sense of it. I may just have to throw it out the window. or Convert it to be the Thoth. heheheheheheh. I have a big jiffy pen. lol

Check this out:

Magician - Mercury
The High Priestess - Moon
The Empress - Earth (Pierre Piobb - 1908) spanish varient
The Emperor - Aries
The Hierophant - Taurus/Mercury
The Lovers - Venus
The Chariot - Cancer/Moon
Justice - Libra
The Hermit - Virgo/Jupiter/Sun
The Wheel of fortune - Capricorn/Jupiter
Strength - Leo
Death - Scorpio/Saturn
The moon - Pieces
The Sun - Sun


Now try and relate that to the Hebrew letters, it will take a mix of 3 trees. I took a pen to my cards and wrote on them. Realistically I am not able to assign a Hebrew letter to each of the cards cause then you get duplicated and don't match.

I am kinda disappointed that these cards didn't come with proper correspondences in either the LWB or His Book. Let alone that it follow the tree of lives. some card match RWS and Thoth, then Some match Pierre Piobb - 1908 - Hebrew letters.

So I am going to make up a new tree for this deck, "hodge podge Tree of Life, using Gra Tree of Life as basic grounds. cause it seems to be the closest so far unless someone speaks up and says otherwise.

La force
 

Richard

......So I am going to make up a new tree for this deck, "hodge podge Tree of Life, using Lunatics Tree of Life as basic grounds. cause it seems to be the closest so far unless some speaks up and says otherwise.......
Half of those attributions don't make any sense. I would not try to correlate them with the alphabet.

Here's the deal with the alphabet. Every single version of the Sepher Yetzirah is in agreement on the following:

The 3 Mother Letters (Aleph, Mem, Shin) always refer to the 3 Elements (Air, Water, Fire).

The 7 Double Letters (Beth, Gimel, Daleth, Caph, Peh, Resh, Tau) always refer to the 7 Planets (Saturn, Jupiter, Mars, Sun, Venus, Mercury, Moon), but different versions use different orderings for the Planets.

That leaves the 12 Simple Letters, which always refer to the Zodiac signs, starting with Heh (Aries) and continuing through the Zodiac, in strict alphabetic order, all the way to Qoph (Pisces), with no deviation from the natural order of the signs.

3 + 7 + 12 = 22, so that's all. I don't believe it is possible to assign the letters to the Cosmic Trumps in a way that is consistent with the Sepher Yetzirah. If you are going to deviate (substantially) from the SY Letter attributions, then there is no point in trying to correlate them with any version of the Tree, as far as I'm concerned, simply because doing so will not afford any advantage in interpreting the cards.

If I were hell bent on aligning the cards with the Tree, I would toss out the official Cosmic attributions and go with the Thoth or Golden Dawn correspondences, take your pick. Failing that, I might use the Gra with the Levi attributions, but it is commonly thought nowadays that Levi was misleading in the attributions because of a secrecy oath, since they don't make any sense at all, and Levi was a lot smarter than that.

Why not just go treeless with the Cosmic? My choice would be either to go treeless or else toss the deck, and I would more likely go with the second alternative.
 

La Force

Half of those attributions don't make any sense. I would not try to correlate them with the alphabet.

Here's the deal with the alphabet. Every single version of the Sepher Yetzirah is in agreement on the following:

The 3 Mother Letters (Aleph, Mem, Shin) always refer to the 3 Elements (Air, Water, Fire).

The 7 Double Letters (Beth, Gimel, Daleth, Caph, Peh, Resh, Tau) always refer to the 7 Planets (Saturn, Jupiter, Mars, Sun, Venus, Mercury, Moon), but different versions use different orderings for the Planets.

That leaves the 12 Simple Letters, which always refer to the Zodiac signs, starting with Heh (Aries) and continuing through the Zodiac, in strict alphabetic order, all the way to Qoph (Pisces), with no deviation from the natural order of the signs.

3 + 7 + 12 = 22, so that's all. I don't believe it is possible to assign the letters to the Cosmic Trumps in a way that is consistent with the Sepher Yetzirah. If you are going to deviate (substantially) from the SY Letter attributions, then there is no point in trying to correlate them with any version of the Tree, as far as I'm concerned, simply because doing so will not afford any advantage in interpreting the cards.

I found a very interesting book, that you may already be familiar with; scroll down to pg 271. - pg. 133 and pg 153. bottom table.

http://www.slideshare.net/UnitB166ER/stephen-skinner-the-complete-magicians-tables

This is where I can with my nice black fine tip permant pen will come in handy, and follow this method, and write on the cards the correspondence ( only 7 cards would need swapping of Hebrew letters). As you stated above. This is opinion 1.

If I were hell bent on aligning the cards with the Tree, I would toss out the official Cosmic attributions and go with the Thoth or Golden Dawn correspondences, take your pick. Failing that, I might use the Gra with the Levi attributions, but it is commonly thought nowadays that Levi was misleading in the attributions because of a secrecy oath, since they don't make any sense at all, and Levi was a lot smarter than that.

Why not just go treeless with the Cosmic? My choice would be either to go treeless or else toss the deck, and I would more likely go with the second alternative.

I am most comfortable with the Thoth, That is the whole Idea why I waited 10 years to finally get this deck. The Imagery speaks to me in a very thothy way. it's indescribable. However with the emperor and star switch, that will be a problem with this deck due to imagery. However their is a neutral ground between the 3 trees, that is RWS with the exception of some cards due to imagery depiction, ie; empress as earth, the others I can lie to myself like death, devil, cause they can be easily manipulated. This is option 2

Option 3;

scrap it and as you say go treeless :)

ETA:

I might use the Gra with the Levi attributions, but it is commonly thought nowadays that Levi was misleading in the attributions because of a secrecy oath, since they don't make any sense at all, and Levi was a lot smarter than that.

This is bang on, I agree with you. I did find that the Gra Tree of Life was pretty close, however after trying it out with Levi's stuff it still didn't match up at all. in researching I found the Tree of Life model that did work, it is somewhat close to the Gra Tree of Life Model, yet quite different.

Basically if it wasn't for the Gra Tree of Life, and searching up Levi's stuff, I wouldn't have found The Lurianic Tree of Life, which I tripped across in researching. Thanks LRichard, I so appreciate all the help.

La force

The Lurianic Tree of Life is the one that fits the bill.
 

La Force

Option 1 - Sepher Yetzirah - The LURIANIC TREE OF LIFE

Option 1 - Sepher Yetzirah

1 Aleph - AIR - The Fool
2 Beth - Saturn - The World
3 Gimmel - Jupiter - The Wheel of fortune
4 Daleth - Mars - The Tower
5 Heh - Aries - The Emperor
6 Vau - Taurus - The Hierophant
7 Zain - Gemini - The Lovers
8 Cheth - Cancer - The Chariot
9 Teth - Leo - Strength
10 Yod - Virgo - The Hermit
11 Kaph - Sun - The Sun
12 Lamed - Libra - Justice
13 Mem - WATER - The Hanged Man
14 Nun - Scorpio - Death
15 Sameck - Sagittarius - Temperance
16 Ayin - Capricorn - The Devil
17 Pe/Peh - Venus/Earth - The Empress - (Peh) - Estoteric meaning; Cosmic Mother, Immortality, Opening up, etc.
18 Tsade - Aquarius - The Star
19 Qoph - Pisces - The Moon
20 Resh - Mercury - The Magician
21 Shin - FIRE - Judgement
22 Tau - Moon - The High Priestess

--------------------------------------------

The 3 Mother Letters
1 Aleph - AIR - The Fool
13 Mem - WATER - The Hanged Man
21 Shin - FIRE - Judgement

The 7 Double Letters
2 Beth - Saturn - The World
3 Gimel - Jupiter - The Wheel of fortune
4 Daleth - Mars - The Tower
11 Kaph - Sun - The Sun
17 Peh - Venus/Earth - The Empress
20 Resh - Mercury - The Magician
22 Tau - Moon - The High Priestess

12 Simple Letters
5 Heh - Aries - The Emperor
6 Vau - Taurus - The Hierophant
7 Zain - Gemini - The Lovers
8 Cheth - Cancer - The Chariot
9 Teth - Leo - Strength
10 Yod - Virgo - The Hermit
12 Lamed - Libra - Justice
14 Nun - Scorpio - Death
15 Sameck - Sagittarius - Temperance
16 Ayin - Capricorn - The Devil
18 Tsade - Aquarius - The Star
19 Qoph - Pisces - The Moon

After setting up the Cards like this, to my amazement the card (imagery) hit it bang on. Holy Smokes, WOW!!!!!!!

Looks like I have a Tree of Life to Follow (LURIANIC TREE OF LIFE) Once I laid out the Cards according to this Tree the imagery of each card nailed it, how fitting. :).

Example;

The Fool - When place on the 2 horizontal line Geburah - Chesed, Matches beautifully, as in the imagery, the fool is dancing between Kether and Malkuth.

The Star is on Path (Geburah - Tipheret) - the imagery matches look at the star in top left is shooting a beam of light at the same angle as the placement (Diagonal line), the you see a beam shooting to or from the star to or from the Moon, is on the same horizontal line as Alpeh The Fool. The Pink Flamingo is a clue or symbol for (Tipereth)

Flamingo: is of the Heron family.
Heron: is of the crane family. (Heron: not to be afraid of love, but embrace it. Dissociation.)
Crane: is a symbol of justice and wisdom, and is the image of Thoth Hermes.

Flamingo: Elegance and wealth, A fresh new start after depression. New experiences, New situation, Community, Cooperation.
(Negative); overly concerned with physical appearance.

(pink): heart chakra, healing, love, emotional center, find balance with emotions and urges.

Also The Hermit so match's up as well.

the Hermit, Path (Tipheret - Netzach). The imagery tells you where he is positioned on the tree of life. take a look beam of light from the moon (I'm going to call it the sun now) shoots along (Path of the Fool) over to the star which is (Chesed), then down to the lantern, which Netzach, the Stars in the lantern shoot out and up the thigh (leg) of the hermit in a diagonal towards (Tipheret). The Pink Cherry blossom tree, is the symbol for (Tiphereth)


I definintly suggest others who have this deck, and try laying out the cards, and analysis the imagery to this tree. would like to hear your thoughts.

La Force
 

La Force

Justice & Tower placement on the LURIANIC TREE OF LIFE

I just wanted to Notify: That I made some changes to the LURIANIC TREE OF LIFE

I moved a couple cards around, I found, with working the Tree last night, I noticed that these cards where best placed on these path/lines of the Tree. I swapped Justice and the Tower card.

Middle Pillar (pillar of Equalibrium/Balance/tree of life, Starting from Kether - Mulkuth

between Kether, (Da'at) and Tipheret - Justice
Between Tipheret and Yesod - Magician
Between Yesod and Malkuth - The High Priestess

The reason why? Look at the imagery on the Card Ie: Justice, is best place on this vertical line Kether, (Da'at) and Tipheret. Her crown (Kether) represents higher Knowledge (Da'at) and her scales represent Balance (middle Pillar), the Base of the stem, of the Scale sit on the Rose (Tipheret).

Keywords;
Kether - (Crown) - Wait/waiting, Surround, Encompass, etc.
Da'at - (Knowledge) - Insight, wisdom, Intuition, Understanding, Higher influence
Tiphereth - (Beauty) - Grace, Glory, Honor, Maginficence, etc.

Justice - (Lamed) - learning, Teach, Sacrifice, Studied, etc

As you can see Justice fits nicely into this position.

Now here is The Tower

I placed The Tower, on the path/line (Diagnal) - Hod to Yesod. when you look at the imagery and the meaning of the card it fits. you have the Eye of God coming down from the Middle Pillar, Destroying the Tower that is a structure (world of Yetzirah - Formation).

Hod is on the Pillar of Severity/Tree of Evil, Feminine, Negative.

Hod - (Glory/Splendor) - Acceptance, Majesty, Renown, Intellect, Fame, etc.
Yesod - (Foundation) - Righteousness, Principle, compilation, Ground, Base, etc.

The Tower - (Daleth) - Authority, Imagination, Knowledge, Portal, Gate, etc.

As you can see this fits nicely in this position, for you need to go through this on you ascend back to god consciousness, from Malkuth, (Path of the Serpent). tip of the serpents tail (malkuth) - first loop path between (Hod and Yesod).

now the path from Malkuth, (is the tail of the serpent moving up to make first loop) - Yesod is The High Priestess. Now when you put it together it makes sense.

If this makes any sense to you.

Here is link to my Drawing up of the Lurianic Tree of Life, with the cards above in postions for you to view, hope this link works.

I leave this up to you to decide for yourself, and what works best for you.

Hope this helps you.

La Force