Moongold
John Opsopaus, the creator of the Pythagorean Tarot, puts the Major Arcana in a different sequence to that which is accepted today. He bases this choice on historical fact and the apparent congruence of the earlier number sequence with Pythagorean number theory.
Supported by Kaplan (Encyclopedia Of Tarot Volume 1, pp2 –3) Opsopaus states that the oldest list of standard trumps was contained in a sermon against gambling in 1500 and was a follows;
Opsopaus does explain why the above arrangement is more congruent with Pythagorean number theory and to be honest I don’t really understand this yet but I’m curious to know why and when the sequence changed, especially in relation to the first six trumps.
When Kaplan speaks about the other decks. Particularly the Italian decks a little ,later in the century, he reports them to be in the familiar sequence we generally acept today, noting the old Strength/Justice issue.
.
I understand there are a number of theories as to how the structure of the Major Arcana was established. The structure and sequence seems to be really important to some philosophical systems and I wonder whether anyone knows why the sequence changed from the one first recorded. Was it just an idiosyncratic list? How did things actually fall into their current form? I did an Aeclectic search but could not not find anything really.
Thanks for any information ~
Moongold
Supported by Kaplan (Encyclopedia Of Tarot Volume 1, pp2 –3) Opsopaus states that the oldest list of standard trumps was contained in a sermon against gambling in 1500 and was a follows;
- 1. Magician
2. Empress
3. Emperor
4. High Priestess
5. Pope or Hierophant
6. Temperance
7. Lovers
8. Chariot
9. Strength
10. Wheel of Fortune
11. Hermit
12. Hanged Man
13. Death
14. Devil
15. Arrow (Tower)
16. Star
17. Moon
18. Sun
19. Angel (Judgment)
20. Justice
21. World
22. Fool.
Opsopaus does explain why the above arrangement is more congruent with Pythagorean number theory and to be honest I don’t really understand this yet but I’m curious to know why and when the sequence changed, especially in relation to the first six trumps.
When Kaplan speaks about the other decks. Particularly the Italian decks a little ,later in the century, he reports them to be in the familiar sequence we generally acept today, noting the old Strength/Justice issue.
.
I understand there are a number of theories as to how the structure of the Major Arcana was established. The structure and sequence seems to be really important to some philosophical systems and I wonder whether anyone knows why the sequence changed from the one first recorded. Was it just an idiosyncratic list? How did things actually fall into their current form? I did an Aeclectic search but could not not find anything really.
Thanks for any information ~
Moongold