About reading the Pips again

Philosopher

Hi folks!

This month, I was studying Kabbalah and the Crowley tarot to better understanding the Minor Arcana. Normally I read with a RWS, that deals with the same tradition that Crowley (The Golden Dawn). Well, I’ve got very upset with my conclusions... I don’t agree with some correlations presented by the Kabbalists between Tarot and Astrology (Saturn and the World card, for example). Maybe it just need more attention by my side or maybe it just doesn’t fit for me.

So I pick my Marseilles deck and decide to understand how to work with that kind of minor arcana: The pips.

The core thing in the Minors is that they are a more especific kind of energy than the Majors. Each suit dealing with an especific area (you know them), each number dealing with a step of a cycle and each court card representing an archetype.

Now the real question of this tread: What is this “steps” represented in each number? And How to discover them?

I find here in the forum a tread about this. The Lees method to read Pips as trumphs. I though this very good, because, as Lee saids, you don’t need anything outside the tarot . I wish to highlight the contribution of our friend teomat:

I sometimes use the pip-trump method, but use trumps XI-XX for the reversed pips. And I think there CAN be a connection between the two (some of which can be very thought-provoking, almost as if they are meant to be connected):

I (Magician) and XI (Strength) - mental strength and physical strength, mind over matter/matter over mind etc
II and XII - knowledge and ignorance
III and XIII - life and death
IV and XIV - rigidity and fluidity
V and XV - speaks for itself!
VI and XVI - union and break-up
VII and XVII - war and peace
VIII and XVIII - clarity and confusion
IX and XIX - introvert and extrovert
X and XX - life's uncertainties and life choices

The Fool and World are special and stand alone. Not sure about how the courts play into this, but I do like the idea of it being a self-contained system and not reliant on 'outside' meanings (numerology, astrology etc).

I agree with our friend teomat in his attempt to include more cards to the Minors meanings. If the numbers in the minors are steps of a cycle... Well guess what is this to? The whole set of Major Arcana! So it’s totally right for me bring all the deck in this task. But I also agree with teomat when he put the World and the Fool apart, they represent the extremely begin and end. The Magician and the Judgement can handle this perfectly good in a more tangible way.

Nevertheless, I would add a point on this theory. His name is Oswald Wirth, a swiss esoterist of the XIX century. He figure out same relations between the cards by place them in a wheel form. Look.

http://www.clubedotaro.com.br/site/imagens/m/wirth-roda.jpg

Funny how doing this the Fool is in the beggining AND in the end of the cycle. No more discussions between 22 or 0 LOL.

After the wheel form, he made pairs putting together the cards the was in a symetric position on the wheel. Look.
1-0
2-21
3-20
4-19
5-18
6-17
7-16
8-15
9-14
10-13
11-12

My only disagree was he starts the pairing process with Fool-Magician, when I think he would starts with Fool-World. In my opinion it would be like this.

0-21
1-20
2-19
3-18
4-17
5-16
6-15
7-14
8-13
9-12
10-11

Notice that my pairs still follow the wheel form, I just starts by another side that I think more logical. Now we need to figure out the meanings for each pair and associate them for each number.

So, I need some help here:
0-XXI: The very beggining and the great conclusion. Not include in minors.
1)I-XX: The first step or restarts, re-thinking begining
2)II-XIX: The inside and the outside.
3)III-XVIII: Protection or Be abandoned
4)IV-XVII: Leadership or Be guided, Establishment
5)V-XVI: Paradigmas or their Breakdowns
6)VI-XV: The choices made or be a slave of your desires
7)VII-XIV: Do or wait
8)VIII-XIII: ?
9)IX-XII: What you really wants or really needs
10)X-XI: Things that you can’t control or things that you can (yourself)

Thats all for now. I would really appreciate your comments and adds.

Cheers!

Oh! The link for the Lee's Tread: http://www.tarotforum.net/showthread.php?t=165645
 

Marcus R

Very interesting that your pairings each add up to 21. Something to think about.
 

AnemoneRosie

So, I need some help here:
0-XXI: The very beggining and the great conclusion. Not include in minors.
1)I-XX: The first step or restarts, re-thinking begining
2)II-XIX: The inside and the outside.
3)III-XVIII: Protection or Be abandoned
4)IV-XVII: Leadership or Be guided, Establishment
5)V-XVI: Paradigmas or their Breakdowns
6)VI-XV: The choices made or be a slave of your desires
7)VII-XIV: Do or wait
8)VIII-XIII: ?
9)IX-XII: What you really wants or really needs
10)X-XI: Things that you can’t control or things that you can (yourself)

VIII - XIII: Stay or go? Do you push through the difficulties and challenges to see if you can get through them or do you cut your losses and walk away before it gets too all-consuming?