Anthony Louis - Tarot Beyond the Basics

Llewellyn Publications

Woodbury, Minnesota

Copyright Information

Tarot Beyond the Basics: Gain a Deeper Understanding of the Meanings Behind the Cards 2014 by Anthony Louis.

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First e-book edition 2014

E-book ISBN: 9780738740256

Book design by Bob Gaul
Cover design by Ellen Lawson

Cover images: Universal Tarot by Roberto De Angelis Lo Scarabeo

Editing by Laura Graves
Interior art: Tarot Cards Classic Tarot by Barbara Moore and Eugene Smith Llewellyn Publications
Dame Fortunes Wheel Tarot by Paul Huson Lo Scarabeo
Llewellyn Tarot by Anna Marie Ferguson Llewellyn Publications
Lo Scarabeo Tarot by Mark McElroy and Anna Lazzarini Lo Scarabeo
Robin Wood Tarot by Robin Wood Llewellyn Publications
Universal Tarot by Roberto De Angelis Lo Scarabeo
Astro charts and other art Llewellyn art department

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Acknowledgments

Sincerest thanks to Steve Lytle, Catherine Chapman, Jane Stern, and Barbara Moore, who reviewed early drafts and offered invaluable feedback. Their suggestions and insights greatly improved the presentation of ideas in this text. Paul Hughes-Barlow and Douglas Gibb were generous in answering questions about material on their websites. In addition, this book would not exist were it not for the contributions of the many authors who have written about tarot and whose names appear in the bibliography. Special mention goes to artist Pamela Colman Smith, whose spirit continues to guide us through the beautiful images she painted for Arthur Edward Waite. I am especially grateful to my family for putting up with my mumblings about esotericism and Greek philosophy for the past couple of years. Finally, my gratitude extends to all who allowed me to read their cards and whose readings appear in this book.

Contents

: Reflections on the Celtic Cross

: Astrology 101 for Tarot Readers

: The Topsy-Turvy World of Tarot Reversals

: The Role of Intuition in Divination

: Number Symbolism and the Tarot

: The Four Elements

: The Elemental Personalities of the Court Cards

: The Major Arcana

: The Anatomy of the Four Suits

Appendix A:
Keywords for the Suit Cards

Appendix B:
Waites Original Conception of the Celtic Cross

Appendix C:
Elements, Timing, Pips, and Court Cards

Introduction

Man seeks to form for himself in whatever manner is suitable for him, a simplified and lucid image of the world, and so to overcome the world of experience by striving to replace it to some extent by this image. This is what the painter does, and the poet,
the speculative philosopher, the natural scientist, each in his own way.

Albert Einstein

Much time has passed since Tarot Plain and Simple saw the light of day in 1996. I am deeply gratified by the reception that book received from the tarot community. It was a labor of love that chronicled my journey in learning the cards. The content was largely dictated by the cards themselves as they appeared in countless readings and gradually revealed their shades of meaning. Since then, I have continued to use the tarot along with my other great interest, astrology, for meditation, reflection, understanding, and enjoyment. My experience of the cards has been similar to that of Rachel Pollack, who wrote: When we really need to know something, the Tarot speaks to us with absolute clarity.

In 2010, perhaps in resonance with the transiting planets and my natal Virgo Sun, I felt an urge to delve more deeply into the Western occultist symbolism that underlies both tarot and astrology. I wanted to understand what goes on in the mind of a tarot reader during the process of divining with the cards. At that time, the planet Neptune was transiting my fifth house of creativity where it was stimulating Mars in the ninth house of higher learning, publishing, and divination. Neptune, the modern ruler of Pisces, is a mystical planet closely linked to the tarot, intuition, and to trump XII, the Hanged Man, who contemplates existence from a unique perspective as he dangles by one foot from a tau cross.

These two disciplines, tarot and astrology, serve to stimulate our intuition and provide fresh perspectives as we journey through life. In Jungian terms, the symbols of tarot and astrology connect us with archetypal images of the collective unconscious, the same images that pervade myths, literature, and spiritual traditions. The tarot per se is a product of the Renaissance. As Juliet Sharman-Burke and Liz Greene of The Mythic Tarot emphasize, Greek myth seized the mind of the Renaissance and peeps from behind the often mystifying imagery of the Tarot

The more I study tarot and astrology, the more aware I become of how much they have in common. Whether or not tarot readers realize it, they use astrology in their practice every day. The divinatory meanings of the Waite-Smith and Crowley-Harris tarot decks derive in large measure from the Golden Dawn astrological associations. The commonalities between astrology and tarot, their historical origins and symbolic significances, are the focus of this book. A deeper understanding of their shared symbolism will take the skills of the intermediate tarot reader to a higher level.

My first contact with tarot was in the 1970s. I became intrigued when an astrologer friend showed me her cards. Shortly thereafter, while browsing in a Manhattan bookstore, I came across a paperback entitled A Complete Guide to the Tarot by Eden Gray. This book was clear, well written, and to the point. I later learned that Rachel Pollack, a grande dame of tarot, also came to tarot through Eden Gray, whom she calls the mother of modern Tarot. I could not agree more. Many of the card meanings we use today come from Grays writings and are not found in the tarot literature prior to the 1960s when Gray began publishing.

The tarot has a long and fascinating history. Unfortunately, many authors repeat tall tales and historical inaccuracies about the tarots origins. To set the record straight, I will present a brief but reasonably accurate history based on current historical findings. Playing cards could not exist until paper was invented in China some two thousand years ago. Initially the Chinese used rolls of paper for writing purposes but eventually they progressed to using sheets of paper, which fostered the development of cards. Around the ninth century CE, the Chinese created card decks with four suits for playing games. Chinese playing cards subsequently spread throughout Asia and to countries along the trade routes connecting China with the Middle East.