help! [which Hebrew letter correspondence?]

Philip

That there exists 22 Major Arcana and 22 Letters of the Hebrew Alphabet, given to the world by the Angel Metraton, I understand that there is a definitive answer to this question, even if there are many different opinions on the matter.

Aleph is the Magician because, as you can see any almost every deck, the Magician holds one hand up in the air, and points one at the ground. This is Aleph, within one Iod in the air, and one Iod in the ground, connected by a Vav, or the spinal column of the Magician.

Any deck that does not have the Magician in such a pose... well, I don't think it should be considered of any value.

Compare these images:

a01.png


alephB.jpg




Aleph, number One "God is triune" Aleph symbolizes The Absolute unity of the three primary forces of God which contain the secret image upon which man must be created.

Aleph is formed by two Iods (letter symbol of Kether). One stands on the upper right and the other hangs on the lower left, joined by a diagonal Vau. The two Iods represent the creative power of God in the higher Eden in Daath and the lower Eden in Yesod. The letter Vau between both Iods is man made into the image of the Spirit of God that moves within both Iods (the creative power of God). So, the Spirit of God that moves in the upper Waters of Daath and the Spirit of God that moves upon the lower waters of Yesod is the source from which the heavenly man, which is the firmament in between them emerges.

The upper Eden is first mentioned in the first day of Genesis: "And the spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters.” These waters are the Akasa Tatwa that belongs to upper Eden.

Within the true magician, the Innermost, the fire of the Holy Spirit (the spirit of God that moves upon the face of the waters) within the higher and lower Edens are interchangeable by means of the priesthood of Yesod, Hod and Netzah. This interchange is made when we separate the waters from the waters through Initiation, the innermost performs this in the second day of Creation; he separates the two superior ethers from the Akasic waters and creates the second living creature, the consciousness of the man that develops in the firmament or Sephiroth between Daath and Yesod.

The higher Eden contains the superior Akasic waters of the Holy Spirit, which grants the soul the experiences of Samadhi (to be one with God) while in the lower Eden the inferior Akasic waters of the Holy Spirit are mingled with the Fires of Desire, here the soul experiences independence or being far from God.

I hope this helps!
 

Aeon418

Philip said:
That there exists 22 Major Arcana and 22 Letters of the Hebrew Alphabet, given to the world by the Angel Metraton, I understand that there is a definitive answer to this question, even if there are many different opinions on the matter.

Aleph is the Magician because, as you can see any almost every deck, the Magician holds one hand up in the air, and points one at the ground. This is Aleph, within one Iod in the air, and one Iod in the ground, connected by a Vav, or the spinal column of the Magician.
So you are suggesting that the hebrew alphabet is the sole basis for Tarot symbolism? History would suggest otherwise. The correlation between the hebrew alphabet and the Tarot happened a long time after the Tarot was originally created.

Adding the hebrew alphabet to the deck in a certain way encodes it with different ideas depending on the intention of the deck creator. But these ideas are symbolic of a subjective perception. To suggest that there is one true order is the same as saying that the Tree of Life is the framework of the universe, which is absurd.
 

Fulgour

Boring

Aeon418 said:
Fulgour, aside from the childish nature of your comments (which is revealing in it's self ;)), might I suggest that instead of spouting endless torrents of narrow minded and dogmatic opinions, you refer back to Ross's previous comments on this subject...
Where do you get off being so all high and mighty?
 

Fulgour

Philip said:
That there exists 22 Major Arcana and 22 Letters of the Hebrew Alphabet, given to the world by the Angel Metraton, I understand that there is a definitive answer to this question, even if there are many different opinions on the matter.
Thank You :) Philip! Welcome to Aeclectic Tarot!
Your post greeted me this morning and I loved it!
 

Aeon418

Fulgour said:
This was not said or implied or suggested.
You are being deliberately rude. tsk! tsk!
I thought I was flippant? ;) Make up your mind, if it isn't set already that is.;)
The only person who has been rude so far is YOU.
Fulgour said:
Truth begins as Truth and remains as Truth.
Oh please! LOL That is so laughable. Which "truth" are you refering to? Your's, mine or someone else's? I thought the notion of absolute truth went the same way as the dinosaurs.;)
 

kwaw

Lady Orchard said:
Thanks. I have decided in the 1st instance to take the Fool as Aleph.

The letter Alef in the Sefer Yetzira is attributed to the Ruach, a Hebrew word which can be interpreted as spirit, wind, air or breath according to context and is also the name of one of the three aspects of the soul according to Safed.

Symbols to be found on the fool cards of various decks include such symbols that are related to the concept of air as toy windmills, balloons, a bird or the butterfly [a symbol of both air and the soul], which is particularly common on Italian decks [many of which also actually number it zero]. The word zero itself derives from the arabix sifr, transliterated into Latin zephyr or zephyrus, the name of the "west wind" and thus also became associated with 'air'.

The etymology of the word 'fool' itself through its roots in Latin via Old French is connected to the concept of air and wind:

Here is a quote for example online dictionary here:
http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?term=fool

Fool: 1275, from O.Fr. fol "madman, insane person," also an adj. meaning "mad, insane," from L. follis "bellows, leather bag," in V.L. used with a sense of "windbag, empty-headed person"... Cf. also Skt. vatula- "insane," lit. "windy, inflated with wind."

Meaning "jester, court clown" first attested 1370, though it is not always possible to tell whether the reference is to a professional entertainer or an amusing lunatic on the payroll… Feast of Fools (c.1320), from M.L. festum stultorum) refers to the burlesque festival celebrated in some churches on New Year's Day in medieval times… Fool's paradise "state of illusory happiness" is from 1462… Foolosopher, a most useful insult, turns up in a 1549 translation of Erasmus.

Here is another quote from online dictionary here:
http://www.bartleby.com/61/39/F0233900.html

ETYMOLOGY: Middle English fol, from Old French, from Late Latin follis, windbag, fool, from Latin follis, bellows... WORD HISTORY: The pejorative nature of the term fool is strengthened by a knowledge of its etymology. Its source, the Latin word follis, meant "a bag or sack, a large inflated ball, a pair of bellows." Users of the word in Late Latin, however, saw a resemblance between the bellows or the inflated ball and a person who was what we would call "a windbag" or "an airhead." The word, which passed into English by way of French, is first recorded in English in a work written around the beginning of the 13th century with the sense "a foolish, stupid, or ignorant person."

I note some others correspondences between the symbolism of Alef and the Fool in my journal here:
http://journals.aol.co.uk/kwaw93/MyDovemysimpleone/

Kwaw
 

Fulgour

Letter 22 Tav ~ Saturn

kwaw said:
The word zero itself derives from the arabix sifr, transliterated into Latin zephyr or zephyrus, the name of the "west wind" and thus also became associated with 'air'.

The etymology of the word 'fool' itself through its roots in Latin via Old French is connected to the concept of air and wind...
As letter 22 and corresponding to Saturn we have The Fool
workably as both AIR and Westerly: Saturn exalted in Libra.

Aleph does not diminish The Magician ~ on the contrary! :)
 

kwaw

Fulgour said:
As letter 22 and corresponding to Saturn we have The Fool
workably as both AIR and Westerly: Saturn exalted in Libra.

Aleph does not diminish The Magician ~ on the contrary! :)

The west wind connection was through the etymology of zero rather than aleph [and though it was the name of the god of the west wind it also was used to refer to winds in general]. So you accept fool as zero, what is the connection between the letter Tau, its numeration 400 and zero?

We may note prior to the 19th century and in the oldest versions of the SY the letter Tau is attributed to the moon, and the ox is frequently 'odd' one out in not being shown with a halo when the others are, and that Taurus is the odd one out of the four creatures and their attribution to the kerubic signs in being the only one of the four fixed signs to have an exaltation, the Moon. Many have commented also on the resemblance of the dancing central figure also to fortuna, often sharing attributes with the moon. Also the name Tau means a sign, an 'x' shaped cross, the pattern of which is present in the quincunx design of the world card [if to note the presense or not of resemblances to letters such as aleph-bateleur, we may also note the letter shin like pattern in the three figures of the judgement card].

But anyway I have no wish to 'diminish' aleph magician correspondences, it is one tradition and if people wish to explore it without having to go through these endless and pointless debates there are threads dedicated to it such as the one you started yourself here:

http://www.tarotforum.net/showthread.php?t=55825&highlight=aleph+magician

kwaw
 

Philip

Aeon418 said:
So you are suggesting that the hebrew alphabet is the sole basis for Tarot symbolism? History would suggest otherwise. The correlation between the hebrew alphabet and the Tarot happened a long time after the Tarot was originally created.

Adding the hebrew alphabet to the deck in a certain way encodes it with different ideas depending on the intention of the deck creator. But these ideas are symbolic of a subjective perception. To suggest that there is one true order is the same as saying that the Tree of Life is the framework of the universe, which is absurd.

My dear friend Aeon, the Tarot and Kabbalah are immutable objective sciences that have no place in the subjective spheres of the intellect. The intellect did not create nor can it actually modify these divine objective sciences, even if thousands of intellectuals have stated otherwise throughout history. It is as if you are saying that you can modify the value of numbers, or that someone invented the hebrew alphabet in some random, nonsense order that just happens, by some remarkable accident, to fit perfectly within Tarot. You are free to believe whatever you wish, but of course, to think in such a way is totally absurd in my opinion.
 

Aeon418

Philip said:
It is as if you are saying that you can modify the value of numbers, or that someone invented the hebrew alphabet in some random, nonsense order that just happens, by some remarkable accident, to fit perfectly within Tarot. You are free to believe whatever you wish, but of course, to think in such a way is totally absurd in my opinion.
My dear friend Philip, I said nothing about altering the value or order of the hebrew alphabet. I'm not sure how you came to that conclusion actually. My point is that the attribution of the letters to the Tarot is open to interpretation. (If it wasn't we wouldn't be talking about it would we?) And interpretation is subjective.

If you wish to use one particular interpretation and find it useful and meanigful, fine. But there is still a lot of room for other interpretations that are just as valid and meaningful.