Masonic Spread

Hi everyone. This is my first post, and I'm a neophyte to Tarot cards and reading, but I have a question, and my own research has come to a dead end, so I thought I'd ask the learned members on this board.

I recieved a packet from my Masonic Lodge of Research no too long ago, and a fellow had written extensively about Tarot, and the connections between Tarot and Freemasonry.

On one page, he'd included a reproduction that said "The Masonic Spread of Oswald Wirth" with the subtitle "Also known as the crosswise spread".

I've searched Bro:. Wirth, the Masonic Spread, and the Crosswise spread, and come up empty. I've tried to find an electronic copy of "Tarot of the Magicians", even in french, but have been unable to.

The spread goes like this:

Position 1 = Elements that favor the question
Position 2 = Elements that oppose the question
Position 3 = elements that judge or consider the question
Position 4 = The solution
Position 5 = The card which corresponds to the sum of the other four cards numerical values. If the sum is more than one digit, it shall be reduced to one digit.

The spread is a cross. The first card is the left arm (as the dealer faces the cross), the second is the right arm, the third is the head, the fourth is the feet, the fifth is the center of the cross.

This is the only reference to this spread I've been able to find, and I don't understand how position 5 works, why it's called masonic, or where Bro:. Wirth was going with it.

So, my questions are:

1) has anyone else heard of this spread, under either name?
2) Does anyone use this spread?
3) Does anyone know the history of the spread?

I'll be contacting the brother who wrote the paper in a short while, so I may have more information.

Thanks for your help,

Scott

In his book _Le Tarot des Imagiers du Moyen Âge_, Oswald Wirth doesn't give the spread (the "method") a name. He credits Stanislas de Guaita, who in turn was apprised of it by Joséphin Péladan.

Oswald Wirth, Stanislas de Guaita and Joséphin Péladan were Rosicrucians:
http://www.rosicrucian-order.com/revista_artsani.htm
http://www.vialarp.org/GD/background_7_french_rosicrucians.html

I don't know offhand if any of the three were Masons.

In 1888, Papus, and de Guaita joined with Joséphin Péladan and Oswald Wirth to found the Kabbalistic Order of the Rose-Croix."

Click to expand...

http://www.vialarp.org/GD/background_7_french_rosicrucians.html

To add to my post above:

It's not clear from Wirth's book where Joséphin Péladan obtained the method (described in Scott's post), i.e., whether he devised it himself or learned of it from someone else. Wirth only mentions that de Guaita learned of it from Péladan.

Oswald Wirth, Mason

http://www.trosch.org/bks/rvw/poncins.html

This link lists him as Brother Wirth, but doesn't say what branch or order he was in.

http://www.gldf.org/rubrique.php3?id_rubrique=70

This link, by Allen Roberts, lists Wirth as a famous mason. I'd believe Roberts, as he was a meticulous historian.

http://www.freemasonry.org/psoc/Attacks on PSOC.htm

Last but not least, this article, By Michael Poll, a mason with whom I've had some contact, lists him as the Grand Secretary of the Grand Lodge of France, so I'd definitely say he was a Mason.

However, occult initiations flowed like water in his day, so I'm sure he was a Rosicrucian, as well as a member of 15 other initiatory groups.

5th position

Rusty,

Do you have any idea how to get the fifth position complete? I'm at a loss as to how that works.

-Scott

another spread

I know of an Eliphas Levi spread. I can send the link to you if you want. I will also ask my grandfather who is a mason if he knows of this spread.

Hello srgnosis

You are referring to the Quintessential number.

It's the sum of the cards in the spread. For example, if you had:

7 of Coins
3 of Cups
10 of Batons
Ace of Swords

The Quintessential number would be 21 and therefore the Major Arcana card would be The World. Some would reduce it further (as suggested in the spread) to one digit, and in this example would be the number 3, (The Empress). Personally I don't do this because it limits the number of Majors to only being numbers 1-9.

Many people use the Quintessential card as the overall card of the spread, but also to be considered with the others.

Scott,

The computation and meaning of the fifth card is pretty much as mentioned by Moonbow*. Wirth calls the fifth card the Synthesis card. As for computation, Wirth only reduces numbers far enough to bring them to 22 or below.

He uses only major arcana cards in the method; i.e., no minor arcana (although there's certainly no reason you couldn't use the majors and minors and calculate as Moonbow* indicates). To this very day, the bulk of tarot card readers in francophone countries who use the Tarot de Marseille use only the major arcana cards for readings (but would generally use all 78 cards if they're using a Rider-Waite or a deck based thereon).

having an interest in freemasonry (it's sort of a hobby of mine learning about it) this is a very informative spread and i can't wait to try the spread

thanks to all for sharing your knowledge