Gematric Tarot

starting over...

Hi guys. I'm back from a L-O-N-G strange trip... and now I'm beginning again. After losing Laurel's input at the half way point of our Tarot of the four Worlds, I've stepped back and regrouped.

A project that's been almost 30 years (where does the time go?? ) in the workings is finally falling into place real fast.

The deck is called the Gematric Tarot and is a part of an entire majickal system I'm compiling. The deck is structured like a 'traditional' tarot deck. There are four suits of 14 cards named wands, swords, cups and pentacles; ten number cards and 4 court cards. Wands are associated with fire, swords with air, cups with water and pentacles with earth. The 22 card major arcana is titled a la RWS. Standard structure.

The differences?

1. The cards will be hexagonal. They'll tile together a make patterns for your layouts. A simple 3-card spread can be patterned 30 different ways... In fact, the entire deck forms a triangle with 12 cards on the bottom row.

2. The cards are ordinal rather than cardinal. In other words, the 4 of cups is called the fourth cup. Each suit can be considered as a group of ten ordered objects; each card depicts one of them. So rather than, say, the ten of wands which has ten wands pictured, I'll have the tenth wand with only one wand-- the tenth. Artistically less cluttered.

3. The court cards are King, Queen, Prince and Bride. This assures a continuity. Prince marries Bride. They become King and Queen and produce a Prince Who marries a Bride and become King and Queen...

4. Kabala and astrology are built right into the system. Each card has three titles, one tarot, one kabalistic and one astrological. For example, the five of swords is the 'fifth sword', the 'severity of creation' and 'mars in libra'. The Golden Dawn has similar titles-- they were considered in the making of the RWS and Thoth decks.

5. cards will be unnumbered, titleless and unboardered. Each card will be a strict visual experience.

6. The card images are gematrically derived. (Gematria is a Hebrew numerology) From the gematric values of the cards titles, a word/concept pool is generated. this is used to create a verse. The visual interpretation of the gematric verse is the tarot card... For example, here is a rough draft of the first wand:




first wand

Behold!
the first wand emerges

The vision of the Spirit of Fire
the All-in-all

The journey begins with the understanding
that there are no debts

No fault. No blame.

And so the tree shall blossom,
the flower sweet and precious--
the triumph of hope

Travel upon the path of
the Great Work,
ascending the ladder of lights

And there,
betwixt space and dreamtime,
the majick of the deed shall be
fulfilled.



And so I ask: tarot or notarot??

fly well
raven

Hey Steve!

Good to see you back! Also nice to hear that you are contining with the Gematric Tarot, you know how I just love the gematria.


Marie

Hi Steve, I'm also glad to see you've continued working on the Gematric Tarot.

I've split your post out of the "where do you start" thread because you deserve a thread of your own.

oooh. i was wonderin where you've (and that gorgeous hexagonal deck) gone. glad to see yer back on track. really novel concept ya got there.

thanks all...

Good morning guys.

Thank you Tom for the consideration. I've had a real bad time the last few months. I really appreciate the boost-- it's a needed one.

Marie-- is that you?? FearfulSymmetry.... Somehow I can't picture you as fearful anything LOL!!

How goes your project? and your daughter's? I've been out of touch too long...

and to you blue fusion-- unfortunately that gorgeous deck may never get finished. Laurel seems to have had a REAL bad experience and has pulled back from most everything. I haven't heard from her for months. so they remain in memory. though if you'ld like, I could burn you a CD of them-- sort of a visual unfinished symphony.

and so I continue on, back on the path again. I plan on writting all the verses before I begin drawing out cards. Depends on how much the images clammer for attention.


fly well
raven

that'd bee cool. i really do hope you still get to finish it, though. i find the concept of a hexagonal deck really ingenious, (as well as the methods ya deviced for it, like card meanings when they're not totally reversed, etc).

little update

Well...

Things are moving along pretty well here. I've got what I consider a 'complete' English Gematria dictionary (which I term Book 126) and I'm working out the manuscript that deals with the system.

The basic outline is finished. I just have to write the text for all the metaphysics and math that goes on behind the scenes of the tarot deck.

Then I get to write the poetry and do up the cards.

I move out of a Lovers year (and yes, there have been an AMAZING amount of decisions that I have made-- some choises that have involved drastic changes...) and into a Chariot year on the summer solstice. Sounds like the ideal time to get moving on production.

I'll be reporting in now and again-- let everyone know where things are at. I'm really anxious to get back to the drawing board, but at the moment it seems that the keyboard is my place of production

fly well
raven

considerations

hi guys--

it's almost time to start setting down some images. One thing that I think we all consider-- whether it be consciously or not-- is the order in which we will create the cards.

Since I'm dealing with numbers, numbers, numbers, it occurred to me to let the gematria show me the order. Numerical ordering is my basis here.

The first card up is...

DEATH

What a way to start!! Funny thing-- one of the words associated with 'death' is 'alpha'. It's nice when your system agrees with you.

fly well
raven

What an intriguing concept this is, and I'm really looking forward to seeing your deck. I had wondered where you were -- we Aeclecticians come and go for shorter or longer periods of time, like friends wandering in and out of rooms at a gathering. It's good to see you back and to hear how positively and productively you are proceeding with your deck, and through personally difficult times.

DEATH to start off with...

It sure took me long enough.

I'm working on the deck and a new system all tangled together. What follows is an excerpt from my in-progress book-- the text that goes along with DEATH.

Each card gets a set of development notes and a verse plus any other factors for the card. This'll let you peek into my head to see what makes the deck tick...

And, of course, after the text is the card. First in a series of 78. Collect all of them folks...



CARD NOTES

DEATH (38 106 56)

Connects: Understanding and Beauty
Letter: Q
Kabalistic association: 21st path—Intelligence of conciliation
Astrological association: Scorpio

The shape of the letter 'Q' resembles a circle (cycle) that has reached a block, or possibly a level change. Whatever the case may be, DEATH is a disruption...

Death is gematrically equivalent to ‘change’. Therefore we can substitute the concept of death with that of change. All associations with death hold true with change and vice versa.

Death lies upon the 21st path connecting Understanding with Beauty. One association with Understanding is Saturn—old man time with his scythe; one association with Beauty is that of the risen god. Therefore the Death card represents transcendence.

‘Anima’, ‘bride’, ‘marriage’ and ‘glorious’ point towards Understanding being depicted here as the shining fertile earth maiden rather than showing her darker side.

‘Balance’ and ‘evolve’ – change must be a careful forward motion.

There is also the word ‘ninth’. I took this to mean Death was a turning over point to a new cycle.

Scorpio is the only sign of the zodiac to have a triple nature. You will find this expressed here as the scorpion’s sting of death the serpent of transformation and the eagle-winged figure of transcendence.

Through the gematria, Death is also associated with the sense of smell. Anyone who has visited someone near to death may have noticed a peculiar semi-sweet odor. The smell of death is not one to be forgotten.


The Verse

Death—
the mystery of mysteries
barrier, yet boundless

It is the Foundation of Creation—
for there can be no Life
without Death

Be most careful of the change;
though it marks the cycle’s end,
the spiral shall appear—
glorious and golden.

Thus the quest is on—
but be thou aware that,
though all seems dual,
the balance must remain the same.


Even though I had considered all things gematrically involved with DEATH, I was having problems with the central figure of the bride. I had drawn her up many times over, but I was not satisfied with any of my renditions. So, as I do usually do when I come across an impasse, I went back to the gematria. I thought of her as the ‘bride of death’; that’s the phrase I used.

bride of death ( 97 35 62)

The total value, 97 gave me:
eighth cup serpent Capricorn son of man

I had wanted the bride to hold something in her hands—here ‘bride of death’ was equivalent to ‘eighth cup’. I had already included the serpent (the 2nd form of Scorpio). The male figure that is transformed could be considered the ‘son of man’. Capricorn suggested to me a head dress of goat’s horns for the bride.

The inner value 35 had:
gate of life Justice crayfish hermaphrodite mystical

I had the balance of Justice already placed on the DEATH card. Crayfish are related to scorpions. The bride as the Gate of Life suggested to me that she should be pregnant. Hermaphrodite reminded me that we all eventually wed Death.

The outer value 62 listed:
tenth phoenix bridegroom demon queen equilibrium

As Death is ninth, the bride as tenth pushes the cycle through completion as starts it on a higher level. ‘Death’ equals ‘fire’; therefore the bride becomes the phoenix rising. The bride being also the bridegroom reinforced the concept that we all marry death. ‘Demon queen’—this brought up some visuals that tied in well with Capricorn. Finally, equilibrium was a reminder of the importance of balance through the process.

And so the bride was created…

next up-- the Fool..

larger version in next responce...


fly well
Raven