"“the Sephirotic attributions [number cards] . . . are especially remarkable . . . [and] certain secret schools have developed their scheme of symbolic interpretation to a very high point.” HCHG.
They key is in "The Metrical Romance of Joseph of Arimathea" by Robert de Borron as
retold by A.E. Waite in
The Hidden Church of the Holy Graal. Waite saw this story as the core & origin of the Grail myth as it developed from the 12th century on.
Waite explained: “The root-matter of the story can be expressed in a few words, and may be so offered to simplify the issues which are important to our purpose.”
I believe the following will demonstrate that he gave these “few words” to Pamela Coleman Smith who was professionally trained to illustrate stories. Her task was to
integrate this Grail Romance with the divinatory meanings that Waite had compiled from several other sources (Etteilla, Mathers, Golden Dawn, Chambers, etc.)—a job she completed masterfully. Please look at the RWS Cups cards, in numerical order, as you read through this.
So, here is Robert de Boron's story of Joseph of Arimathea
as told by Waite - USING HIS OWN WORDS! - as related to the cards in the Suit of Cups. [Summaries of details I’ve omitted are in brackets.]
Intro/Ace. It sets up the Grail as the theme of the story:
The vessel in which Christ prepared His sacrament [at the Last Supper] was delivered into the hands of Pontius Pilate. [Pilate gave Joseph permission to take the body of Jesus after the Crucifixion] and gave him in addition the vessel. In that vessel Joseph received the Blood, which was still flowing from the wounds of Christ. [The Jews then imprisoned Joseph in a tower.]
(PKT: The Ace of Cups is “an intimation of that which may lie behind the Lesser Arcana.” HCHG: “The correspondence of certain Tarot symbols with those of the Holy Graal . . . [have a] consequence.” (Note five streams coming from the Cup in the Ace and five wounds of Christ.))
2 - Christ came to Joseph in the tower, brought him the Sacred Vessel and communicated to him certain secret words which were the grace and power thereof. Joseph remained for forty years in his prison and was sustained by the Blessed Vessel as if in a condition of ecstasy. [The Emperor's son Vespasian eventually rescued Joseph from the tower.]
(PKT: Love, passion, . . . union, concord, sympathy, . . . that desire which is not in Nature, but by which Nature is sanctified.” (Remember the card has to also conform to traditional fortune-telling meanings.))
3 - Joseph collected his relatives and many companions who had embraced Christianity at his insistence, and by the the will of God the party started westward, carrying the Holy Grail. At first they were in a state of grace.
(PKT: “With cups uplifted, as if pledging one another. . . . Happy issue . . . healing.”)
4 - They took possession of a certain district and placed it under cultivation. At length a part of the company fell away from grace through the ’sin of luxury’.
(PKT: “Discontent with his environment. Weariness, disgust, aversion . . . as if the wine of this world had caused satiety only. Another wine . . . is now offered the wastrel but he sees no consolation therein.” Crowley calls this card, “Luxury.”)
5 - The result was a famine in the company.
(PKT: “It is a card of loss. . . . Patrimony, transmission, but not corresponding to expectations.)
6 - Alain, son of Brons, youngest of all, who chose a life of celibacy, was taken by Joseph into his heart after a special manner. To him was revealed knowledge of the Holy Graal, although not the Secret Words.
(PKT: “Memories, looking back on childhood.” And, “New knowledge.”)
7 - And Joseph invoked the Son of God on his knees in the presence of the Grail, reciting the petition of his people, who were in need of bread and meat. . . .
Speaking from the Graal, Christ said to Joseph: ‘Tell him [Brons] how God did communicate unto thee the Holy Words, which are sweet and precious and gracious and piteous, which are properly called and named the Secret of the Grail.’
(PKT: “Strange chalices of vision.” Note the veiled, Christ-like figure in the center cup.)
8 - The Divine voice of the Graal directed that Brons should repair to a certain water and there angle for a fish. The first which he caught must be brought straightway to Joseph, who, on his part, should place it upon the Graal table. Between Joseph and Brons there was left a vacant seat corresponding to that which had been made void by the defection of Judas Iscariot.
(PKT: "A man of dejected aspect is deserting the cups of his felicity . . . or previous concern.")
9 - Joseph was told to expose the Sacred Vessel openly in the presence of the brethren, on a table similar to that of his own Last Supper, and place the fish upon the Grail table over against the Sacred Vessel. By this means the sinners will be discovered speedily. The people were then to be summoned and informed that if they were true believers, who had kept the commandments and followed out the teachings of Christ, they would be welcome to sit down at the table.
(PKT: “A goodly personage has feasted to his heart’s content.”)
10 - The vessel was invoked, and it separated the good from the evil within the ranks of the people.
The good people experienced all spiritual delight and inward refreshment, but the evil were not filled, and they could not even see that which was in full view, the Holy Vessel. Whosoever was seated thereat had the
accomplishment of his heart’s desire. They were fed from within rather than from without. Joseph commanded that they should return day by day to partake of the grace administered.
(PKT: “contentment, repose of the entire heart.”)
King - Brons received the title of the Rich Fisher, for having caught the fish. [i.e., The Fisher King.]
(Note the fish around the neck of the King.)
Page - The company was divided further to continue the journey westward in successive parties, as ordained by Christ Himself, speaking from the Grail. And: In the sight of the Graal . . . true believers experience as much satisfaction as a fish, which, having been taken by a man in his hand, has contrived to escape therefrom and again go swimming in the sea.”
(PKT: “A fish rising from a cup to look at him. . . . News, message; reflection, meditation.”)
Try taking the de Boron story and making correspondences to any other suit or to the Major Arcana. How well does it work? Or take a combination of any cards, except those from the suit of Cups, and see if you can tell the story as well.
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