Numerology for the pips

stella01904

I've been posting this here & there, it's very stripped down, kind of a mnemonic device for getting started reading the whole deck. I didn't invent it, I cribbed it from Jodorowsky, so credit where credit is due. This is ALL of the rote memorization I've found necessary, since TdM yields something fresh every time you look at it. :heart:


Here are the ten keys:
1) Beginning of a new cycle, everything in potential
Aces, Trumps I and XI

2)Accumulation, preparation for action
II's, Trumps II and XII

3) Creative explosion, profound transformation
III's, Trumps III and XII

4)Equilibrium, stability
IIII's, Trumps IIII and XIIII

5)New ideal, desire to go further, bridge, middleman
V's, Trumps V and XV

6) Opening, pleasure, doing what one enjoys
VI's, Trumps VI and XVI

7) Hard action, activity
VII's, Trumps VII and XVII

8) Perfection, receptivity
VIII's, Trumps VIII and XVIII

9)Positive crisis, new construction (like a baby in the 9th month)
VIIII's, Trumps VIIII and XVIIII

10)End of cycle, completion of the experience, new beginning
X's, Trumps X and XX

Now just remember the suits:
Epee: Intellect, frontal cortex, brow level stuff
Coupe: Emotions, heart level stuff
Coins: Material, belly level stuff
Batons: Creative/sexual, groin level stuff


Le Mat is an outside, transitional card. He strips the energy from the card he is leaving behind and brings it to the card ahead of him. I think that might be what he has in the bag. :cheekywink:
Le Monde is also outside. LeMonde is totality, it is the culmination of the whole deck.

The Cups suit corresponds to the Angel, the Swords to the Eagle, the Batons to the Lion, and the Coins to the Bull. The Trumps are the woman, the dancing female figure of the alchemists.
The four creatures are the four fixed signs (with the eagle as the higher emanation of Scorpio), the four Apostles, etc. etc.
Now, Jodo uses this card as a kind of key to the whole deck. The creatures on the top, the Angel and the eagle, are sky creatures, and those on the bottom are earth creatures. The figures on the left-hand side are feminine or at lest androgynous and therefore receptive. The creatures on the right-hand side are male - lionesses don't have manes. And the eagle on the Jodo-Camoin has a... (how shall I phrase it, in this venue? Kickstand?)

The Bull is receptive Earth, the Angel is receptive Heavens, the Lion is active earth, and the Eagle is active Heavens. (Jodo uses "active" and "receptive" rather than the usual "feminine" and "masculine" - not to be overly PC, but because he sees it as more accurate - women can be active, men receptive.)

Valets encompass II and III.
Reynes encompass IIII and V.
Roys encompass VI and VII.
Cavaliers encompass VIII and VIIII.

Valets encompass both 2 and 3, the passive, receptive preparation to act and the creative explosion. They are immature and indecisive: "I want to talk to someone I'm attracted to/get a job/go on stage etc. etc. but I'm scared, I can't decide..." Even their feet point in two different directions!
Valets stand at the "door of the castle", trying to get up the nerve to enter...

Reynes encompass 4 and 5, both the stability and the desire to go further. They are "inside the castle", they embody the energies of the suit.

Roys encompass both 6 and 7, both the luxury of doing what one wants and the hard action in the world. They stand "on the roof of the castle" looking out over the kingdom, surveying the realm. When you see a Roy, a change is often approaching. What card is the Roy's glance directed at?

Cavaliers encompass both 8 and 9, perfection and positive crisis. They "ride out from the castle". The King may be the Cavalier's boss, but the Cavalier advances beyond the King.

Hope that made sense.
 

Bernice

A very comprehensive post Stella :).

This is a great way to tie the Majors to the Minors if it's the approach you're looking for. I've had a reading from Stella, so I know where-of I speak. :D

Bee.
 

Melanchollic

More From the Big Boys

Here's Paul Marteau's Number meanings (from pages 103-104) for the curious.



  1. Represents the point of departure and as a synthesis, summarising the meanings of the 9 following numbers.

  2. The symbol of passivity, of polarity, and of gestation. Being passive polarity, it is without effect, but as gestation it is the substance of all developments.

  3. 2+1, introduces activity in the passivity of the 2, which gives direction to its gestation.

  4. Produced by 2x2, contains a cristallisation and, as an intermediary between 3 and 5, a transition. Therefore it represents relative stability and, as a consequence, things that fall in to place and tend towards a consolidation of themselves - towards security.

  5. A number of transition, of passage from one plane to another, because it is composed of 1+4, 4 being a complete number, to which is added a unit (1), that is, a beginning. The base of 4, on which it depends to create the next number, gives it a sense of multiplicity and diffusion by radiation.

  6. Represents a harmonious balance, being formed of 3+3, that is, two tertiaries that oppose each other, and of 2x3, implying the simultaneity of these tertiaries, and by consequence, their balance. In its basic sense, it means a latent power, a potential, that is, the reserves from which we can draw.

  7. 6+1, indicates, by the presence of the unit (1), strength, action that utilises the power contained within the 6. It puts it in motion, while maintaining its harmony, and therefore shows completion with success. It is a number of synthetic realisation.

  8. 4+4 brings together the cross and the square, that is, stability in the material plane balanced with inner life of the divine plane. It is not an abstract balance, like the 6, but it marks an ending, because it does not need to be animated by other currents. It is the symbol of the infinite, being formed by two circles together, which, when traced in the same direction, grow one into the other indefinitely.

  9. Represents the abstract turning towards the concrete. The first eight numbers showed matter animated by the divine; in the 9, which is 8+1, we oblige the 8, which is a perfect number, to take on another unit (1), that is a new action, and therefore to start a new cycle. This implies that strength penetrates anew into matter, similar to what happens when a virtually conceptualised universe becomes material, in order to experience its own evolution.

  10. While 1 synthesised in all their principles the numbers it precedes, the 10 condenses them in itself, because it takes part in all of them through its zero, which links them in their potentials and orients them towards a new cycle through the 1 that accompanies the zero. It is, furthermore, the number of reason and of calm, because, while in the 9, the abstract met the material, in the 10 it is now balanced in that material, because 10=2x5.





buggypano.jpg


"Let nature be thy guide"
 

Melanchollic

Hi stella01904,

Jodo's correlations of the court cards to the pips reminded me of this model, which is one of the more interesting ones I've bumped into over the years. Very orthodox to Platonic and Pythagorean tradition, and very tidy. (Keep in mind, the numbers can either ascend, as shown, or descend, ace on top, on the triangle. Both arrangements have their relative strengths and weaknesses.)




TheTetractysandtheMinors.jpg






Verse:

[size=+1]
The triangle by ten points be made,
Pythagoras did sing.
In four lines the points are drawn,
Page, Knight, Queen and King.

The Solar King highe atop,
Bestows consolidation.
The Lunar Queen his light reflects,
Drawing out his adoration.

The Airy Knight doth mediate,
Whilst mounting his crusade.
The Earthy Page to errands keep,
Thus the Courts foundation laid.
[/size]




Notes:

The four suits of the Tarot each contain fourteen cards. The fourteen cards are divided into two types; ten pips, and four courts. The easiest way to induce esoteric meaning onto this structure, is simply to use this structure itself. A set of 10, and a set of 4, related yet different.

So, in this model, the 4 court cards are the 10 pips, on a higher level.

1+2+3+4 = 10

The Tetractys is the mystical arrangement of 1 - 10 in Pythagorean number mysticism. They believed that all knowledge was contained within this 4 = 10 arrangement. Empedocles called the tetractys, "The fount which holds the roots of ever flowing nature". Iamblichus wrote, "Everything in the universe turns out to be completed in the natural progression of 1 to 4, in general and in particular, as does everything numerical - in short, everything whatever its nature."

The numbers are configured in a triangle which has four planes (levels). For convenience let's call these planes A, B, C and D.


......10..............D
.....8...9............C
...5...6...7..........B
1...2...3...4........A



or, alternatively:


.......1..............D
.....2...3............C
...4...5...6.........B
7...8...9..10......A




(Borrowing heavily from Aristotle, Theon of Smyrna, Mead and others...)

Plane A represents the mundane, the physical, the nature of the Tetrad (4), completion, consolidation, stability, and the element of Earth. This plane is represented by the Valet.

Plane B represents the psychic, the planetary, time, change, process, the nature of the Triad (3), and the element of Air. This plane is represented by the Knights.

Plane C represents the ethereal, the spiritual, the nature of the Dyad (2), duality, separation, and the element of Water. This plane is represented by the Queens.

Plane D represents the Unis Mundi (One World), the Anima Mundi (World Soul), the nature of the Monad (1), unity, impulse, and the element of Fire. This plane is represented by the Kings.






buggypano.jpg


"Let nature be thy guide"
 

Bernice

Kudos Mel. Thank you for the post.

One of the models I have been experimenting with is a triangle. and then you go and post one! But mine didn't/doesn't relate to the court cards.

Bee :)
 

eugim

-Please my friend M ...
Don t bring to us Jodo here please.
The Osho attempt to TdM,common brother best greatest dancer...
 

Melanchollic

Well eugim,

I haven't read up on Osho, but I do believe that any discussions concerning Mr. J would be correctly done in the TdM forum, as he is a TdM 'person', although it was not I "bringing Jodo here". I was bringing Pythagoras here. stella01904 however was "bringing Jodo here", as is totally appropriate and appreciated by me, and probably other curious folk. Jodo's opinions are just as worthy of consideration as anyone else's.





buggypano.jpg


"Let nature be thy guide"
 

frelkins

speaking of Jodo, many of his meanings seem indebted to Freud to me in some way. Like, take his 5s from his "L'ART DU TAROT," strange mix of Lacan & cartomancy:

"CINQ DE BÂTON : désirs d'obtenir quelque chose de nouveau sans pour autant abandonner ce que l'on possède déjà.
Desire to obtain something new without however losing what one already possesses
CINQ D'ÉPÉE : Lutte pour pénétrer dans les sphères supérieures, nouveau point de vue, jalousie, les amarres matérielles embarrassent la réalisation des idéaux.
Struggle to penetrate into higher spheres, new point of view, jealousy, material ties obstruct the realization of ideals
CINQ DE COUPE : Ouverture du coeur, euphorie, déséquilibre, se tromper soi-même.
Opening of the heart, euphoria, disequilibrium, self-delusion
CINQ DE DENIER : Nouveaux intérêts pour la matérialité, dépassement.
New interests in material things, going beyond the usual"
 

eugim

M...
1-All that Jodo said was stolen all from Tchalai Unger and never mentioned her on his bored books begining with LA VIE DE TAROT.
2-I choose to hear M instead of him even if I m not agree sometimes...

Gryphon