Septenaries of the Major Arcana

JackofWands said:

Thanks to everyone for the replies. I tried reading through the Tarot of the Bohemians at one point in the not-too-distant past, but found it rather obtuse and ended up abandoning the project. Perhaps now would be a good time to return to it.

Thanks also to Rodney Lucas, and Richard for pointing out other ways of grouping the Major Arcana. The "seven stations" model is a bit less my taste, but I appreciate seeing the variety of ways that the Arcana can be meaningfully restructured.

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Hi Jack of Wands......I am glad to see you have a wide-open mind....much to your advantage. I bought the "Tarot of the Bohemians" back in the 80s and gave up on it as well. When I bought it at a second hand store, I almost decided not to get it because it was solid, and I mean solid black underlining with a thick black ink....like a jumbo felt tip. I couldn't make heads or tails of the complicated method he was talking about and put the book away on the back shelf for the next 30 or so years. About a year ago I took the book down and opened it up and shook my head in unbelievable wonder........it was totally clean....no black underlining at all. The only thing I can figure is that it was a temporary ink. Anyway, the message I got from that was to try again. So I did just that. This time I got serious with a couple of carpenter's horses and a big sheet of plywood, bought a beautiful red twin blanket at Walmart for $ 10 and set it all up in a corner of my painting studio. I then proceeded to follow his instructions like an inch worm, laying the Major Arcana cards out one by one in the formation and numerological pattern according to his instructions. The understanding I reaped from that effort clarified the tarot in a major way for me. The Fool's journey is not an arbitrary path. If you want to see the three worlds he travels through in his transformation, it becomes obvious in this layout.

Another facet of this interesting layout is the relationship among the triads: for example the yod (ones) over the He and the Vau, which become the opposing forces at the base of the triangle when the second He becomes the Yod of the next triangle in the trining of the square. For instance, you begin to see such things as how the High Priestess is the negative side (unconscious) of the Empress which is the positive side (conscious) over which the Magician presides at the top of the triangle. Same with Death presiding over Temperance and The Devil....it prevails through all the Septenaries and is a real eye opener in understanding the intricate relationships between and among the cards.

I find the use of septenaries interesting, but I can't see the logic in them. In fact, I don't see any "paths" in the Major Arcana at all. The numbering is useful for ordering them in a way that organizes them, and I believe there may be numerological intent in the numbering as well, but while the Fool's Journey is useful as a teaching tool, I don't see it as necessarily meaningful.

Therefore, I simply don't personally buy the angle of separating the Majors into arcs. They're all so individually important and variously important throughout one's life that sticking them into isolated boxes doesn't make intuitive sense to me. Of course, my way is simply one way!