Veracity of the Kabbalistic Visions Tarot

EmpyreanKnight

At which point it has occurred to me that there is no card numbered XXI; it's direct from XX Sun to XXII World. If that means anything to anyone ?

That's the same numbering scheme for my Gran Tarot Esoterico - XX for El Ciclo (Judgement) and XXII for El Mundo (The World). In that deck though, El Loco (The Fool) is unnumbered, and since there is no XXI card, it seems like The Fool there lies between Judgement and The World. It even states so intl the Aeclectic page for that deck:

http://www.aeclectic.net/tarot/cards/gran-tarot-esoterico/

Only very few decks have this arcana order. I wonder though, The Fool card in the Kabbalistic Visions has a definite 0 at the top. Pedantically though, the concept of Zero did not exist in Ancient Rome, so there is no Roman Numeral 0 per se, but I digress.
 

kwaw

It's curious that Crowley doesn't mention this diagram in his summary of the original Golden Dawn rituals. While his version was edited and abridged in places (*snip* 'wordy speeches' *snip*), it is still complete in it's description of what is shown to the candidate during his/her initiation. Neither is the diagram included among the various illustrations. I find it odd that he and J.F.C. Fuller went out of their way reproduce all the other diagrams, but forgot to include that one. Assuming it was there in the first place...

I have a copy of Pat Zalewski's, Inner Order Teachings of the Golden Dawn (Zelewski's own creation with bits and pieces of Mathers unfinished work). In the first chapter he reproduces the alternate version of Tree side by side with the regular version. The former he calls the Perfected Tree, and the latter is the Restored Tree. He adds nothing to the question of origins, but his comments on the diagrams may be of interest.

To summarise: The Perfected Tree (alternate Tree) is a model of creation before the Fall. Then the Fall, interpreted as the emergence of self consciousness, takes place and the Tree is 'restored' to the regular Kircher Tree we all know and love. This tree is the Path of Return.

The 'perfected' tree seems to have been conflated with aspects of the 'Eden before the Fall' diagram and concepts in the WR --

A problem with Pat's explanation is that the tree clearly has both Daath and Malkuth, with paths - so to say that 'in the Perfected tree, Daath was a sephirah and Malkuth was not attached' does not seem to actually describe what the diagram represents!?

Nomenclature between differing groups is a bit confusing - the Cordovero/Kircher tree is called the 'Tree of Emanation' in Judaic traditions, and the Luria/Gra tree is called the 'Tree of Return' -
 

Aeon418

The 'perfected' tree seems to have been conflated with aspects of the 'Eden before the Fall' diagram and concepts in the WR --
Pat essentially says as much and that's how I see it too.
A problem with Pat's explanation is that the tree clearly has both Daath and Malkuth, with paths - so to say that 'in the Perfected tree, Daath was a sephirah and Malkuth was not attached' does not seem to actually describe what the diagram represents!?
I agree. But maybe the 'Perfected Tree' diagram is meant to represent the moment before fuse blew - Shevirat haKeilim.
 

EmpyreanKnight

Thanks to all the comments here. One of our local collectors has a copy of the Kabbalistic Visions. It shall be in my hands by next week. I'm so excited.
 

EmpyreanKnight

It's a curious thing, but Marini and Scapini have also just collaborated on another Kabbalah project, and this time it's an oracle. It's the Kabbalah and the 22 Paths of Healing, and it was just released last week. If I deeply like the Kabbalistic Visions when I get my hands on it, I just might order this one too.