Kabbalah and the Tarot have long been widely associated with one another. In fact so much so, that it could be said that these two ancient archaic enigmatic and mysterious knowledge seeking systems merrily dance the Tarot Kabbalah tango together! Chances are that the Tarot is based on the teachings and structure of the Holy Kabbalah and in particular it's Tree Of Life with 10 corresponding spiritual and metaphysical attributes ~ it seems more than coincidental that these 10 attributes correspond almost perfectly with the Minor Arcana cards in the Tarot system.
Kabbalah is an ancient belief system based on mystical interpretations of the Torah, Bible and other religious writings and centres around the fact that there are underlying universal rules and principles that are common to all human beings, regardless of ethnicity or religious or non religious persuasions. Kabbalah stresses the importance of applying knowledge in a practical as well as spiritual way.
Tarot is one of the oldest forms of divination, the pictures depicted on each of the 78 cards correspond to an aspect of life, the 22 Major Arcana cards accord with the bigger more fundamental happenings and the remaining 56 Minor Arcana cards relate to smaller every day matters.
Even though some scholars date the emergence of Tarot cards to round about the 12th century AD, there's nevertheless a strong probability that Tarot goes much further back than that to ancient biblical Egypt and this especially makes sense due to the presumed connection between Tarot cards and the Kabbalah, which also stems from the middle east.
The Kabbalah tree of life has 3 main roots, stems or pillars and these from left to right are the root of severity, the root of harmony and the root of mercy. These branches also consist of stems known as the Sefirah.
1) At the top in the number one position is Keter which is concerned with the cosmos and creation, the ace Tarot cards are also associated with creation and this is often depicted pictorially with a hand offering either a cup, wand, sword or coin!
2) Chocma is the second Sefirah, it's main aspect is primal male energy, this ties in with the two's of the Minor Arcana as well as more obviously the 4 court cards bearing the images of Kings and their all encompassing traditional masculine traits.
3) Binah is third and it is representative of primal female energy and creation. The four queens and also the three's cards main aspects are femininity and creativity.
4) Chesed is the fourth Sefirah, it's energy is characterised by mercy and kindness, the fours Tarot cards incorporate the traits of nurturing and stability and so correspond with this stem.
5) Fifth comes Geburah, this incorporates power and strength, the fives cards indicate the overcoming of problems, for which is often needed strength of character.
6) Tipareth the sixth is all about balance beauty and harmony and the sixes plus the 4 knights are the Tarot cards endowed with this state of being.
7) Seventh is Netzach which is based on steadfastness, triumph and achievement, the sevens cards also reflect these important traits.
8) Hod is the eighth Sefirah and among other things is concerned with grandeur, brilliance and action, the eights cards emphasis similar qualities such as movement and rational evaluation.
9) Yesod is number nine and its important traits are groundwork and the transmutation from theoretical thought to practical application, the nines cards imbue qualities similar to these.
10) Lastly the tenth Sefirah is Malkuth, which is representative of dominion, creation and inspiration, the Pages and also the tens have the comparable essence of kingdom and ideas about them too.
This is just a brief outline of the interplay between Kabbalah and the Tarot but there are many in depth study books about the metaphysical relationship between the two and you can learn @ a leisurely or more intense pace, it's up to you how far down the rabbit hole you want to go, or indeed if you wish to go down the rabbit hole @ all !
Quote By
Anon Kabbalah, the pure impulse of dynamic creation is formless; and being formless, the creation it gives rise to can assume any and every form
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