In my last post, I mentioned how one of my tarot decks had correspondences to the angels of the shem-ha-mephorash. In responce to this, I received a question: if there are only 72 angels, what about the other 6 cards? Well, the thing is, it's not as simple as having one angel per card. Infact, The only card with shem-ha-mephorash correspondences are the minor arcana, numbers 2 - 10! here's how that works:
There are 78 cards in a tarot deck, 22 major, 56 minor. Within those 56 minor cards, 4 are aces, 4 are pages (or princesses), 4 are knights (or princes*), 4 are queens, and 4 are kings, totaling to 20 "irregular" cards. The 36 remaining cards are the corresponcence cards.
Now where else does 36 fit into this? well, what's 36 times 2? the answer is 72! That, if you've been following, is the number of angels in the shem-ha-mephorash. But that's not all: if you know about astrology, you'd know that the zodiacs each have three deacons (each zodiac has three corresponding planets**). Well, 3 (the number of deacons per zodiac) times 12 (the number of zodiacs) allso turns up as 72! Theirfore, each "regular" card corresponds to one zodiac, one planet, and two angels. This can be put onto a diagram :
93/93 and LVX,
Frater R.'.I.'.M.'.R.'.
ps: I found that image, I didn't make it. here's where I found it: http://2012forum.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=15&t=23298&start=45
I found it via a google searh, I don't go on that sight. (mind you...)
PPS: there's a better diagram in the fiction book Andromeda Klein by Frank Portman.
* Sometimes replaces king, not knight. See Thoth tarot.
** Correspond isn't realy the right word. What's a better word? (leave a comment to answer)
93
ReplyDelete** correspond would be quite fine. One also speaks of 'correspondences. I mean one could say related, (as in relationship)but the map is not the territory. Correspondences are the map, whereas the active work with theoretical content is the territory. And its hard to have a warm relationship with a map, and one certainly doesnt look at a map and reflect on how beautiful it is.
I do enjoy a good struggle for the 'symbolically' correct word. This is where my struggle brought me, Do what thou wilt
93/93
93/93
Great post, well done!
ReplyDeleteAs for credit, I made this image some years ago for my web site (tarot.org.il) about twenty years ago. Learned the hard way I should have put my name & URL in the first place.