Guide to The Pythagorean Tarot - Softcover

John Opsopaus

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1567184499 ISBN 13: 9781567184495

Publisher: Llewellyn Publications, 2001

Synopsis

Just as ancient Greek civilization forms the bedrock of Western thought and culture, the brilliance of Pythagoras underpins much of Western esoteric tradition. Now, his vision of universal order based on numbers joins with another venerable system of magic and divination―the tarot.

The Pythagorean Tarot represents a level of research and scholarship rarely seen in the study of tarot, alchemy, or numerology. This unique system applies authentic Pythagorean numerology and aspects of Jungian psychology, alchemy, and mythology to the living symbolism of the tarot.

The result is an authentic tarot that the ancient Pythagoreans themselves might have designed, based on a Graeco-Roman metaphysical model and incorporating the immediate, timeless power and relevance of archetypal images. The Pythagorean Tarot kit includes 78 full-color cards and a 480-page companion book.

About this title

About the Author

John Opsopaus (Tennessee) is a practicing Neopagan in the Hellenic tradition who has been an active magician and diviner for thirty years. He is also a university professor with more than twenty-five years' experience reading ancient Greek and Latin.
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Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.

BACKGROUND
Why a Pythagorean Tarot?

Many Neopagans (especially those following non-Celtic and non-Wiccan traditions) are dissatisfied with traditional tarot decks, which are based on the theology, esotericism, and iconography of the late Renaissance; they feel as though they are seeing a pagan esoteric system in a glass darkly. The Pythagorean Tarot remedies this by providing a system of tarot interpretation, with an accompanying deck, that is firmly rooted in ancient Greek paganism and esoteric doctrine.
Twenty-seven hundred years ago, the Pythagoreans formed an esoteric society built on the traditions of the Orphics, Babylonians, Phoenicians, and Egyptians, among others. Their teaching and practices made a major contribution to other esoteric traditions, including alchemy, Qabalah, Hermeticism, and Gnosticism. The Pythagorean Tarot reconstructs a tarot such as the Pythagoreans might have used, had they known the tarot. It is based primarily on the archetypal numbers, which are central to Pythagorean philosophy, as well as on classical pagan religion, mythology, magic, and philosophy.
In all cases the Pythagorean Tarot looks to the oldest historical records in an attempt to separate the archetypal numerological structure of the tarot from the accidents of its more recent history. In this way we can reconstruct a tarot compatible with ancient Pythagoreanism. The resulting Pythagorean Tarot illuminates deep patterns in mythology, the archetypes, paganism, alchemy, and numerology.
The Pythagorean Tarot is unique in using authentic Pythagorean numerology as the principal interpretive framework for both the Major and Minor Arcana. It is also unique in that it uses the Ferrarese sequence, the oldest documented order of the tarot trumps. However, much of the interpretation is independent of the order, so this book and deck will be useful if you prefer to use the more familiar sequences. Finally, this book is also unique in relating the tarot to systems of dice divination from which it probably originated. Thus, the Pythagorean Tarot will deepen your understanding of the structure and meaning of the tarot, no matter what deck you use.
Some of the specific features of the Pythagorean Tarot include:
•analysis of Major and Minor Arcana based on authentic Pythagorean principles (i.e., Pythagorean philosophy as attested in ancient texts).
•analysis of the Majors and Minors through the symbolism of the numbers as understood through archetypal (Jungian) psychology.
•presentation of the roots of tarot symbolism in classical and Renaissance iconography.
•exploration of related symbols and themes from classical mythology (Greek, Roman, Mesopotamian, Hindu).
•use of the earliest documented order of the trumps (although the deck and commentary can also be used with the better-known orders).
•citation of the sources or reasons for all interpretations, so you can make your own informed decisions. Therefore, the Guide to the Pythagorean Tarot has over 1,600 citations, many more than one typically finds in a tarot book; you can ignore them unless you are interested in a source.
•clear explanation of the logic of the Minor Arcana.
•practical suggestions for your use of the tarot for divination, meditation, and personal development.
•exploration of the relation of tarot to dice divination.

Pythagorean Numerology

The Pythagorean Tarot is based on Pythagorean numerology, which explains the spiritual dimension of the numbers. Since the Pythagorean Tarot is based in the Greek cultural milieu, you can think of it as my idea of what a tarot designed by Pythagoras might have been like. However, it also draws from a number of other sources, including Mediterranean mythology, alchemy, Jungian psychology, other divinatory systems, and traditional tarot interpretation. I hope this web of symbolic structures will help illuminate the mysteries hidden in the tarot; however, since the primary organizing principle is Pythagorean numerology, I will begin by discussing the archetypal significance of numbers and their role in divination.
The Numbers as Archetypes
Jung's elucidation of the archetypes of the collective unconscious is now familiar to many people, and it is apparent that the images of the tarot are archetypal. A number of tarot commentators (e.g., Gad, Nichols; see bibliography) have applied Jungian analysis to traditional tarot decks, and several recent decks (e.g., Wang's Jungian Tarot, Guiley & Place's Alchemical Tarot) make explicit use of archetypal imagery as described by Jung and his colleagues. The archetypes also underlie the symbolic system of alchemy and mythology, so I have drawn on these as well in my interpretations and designs for the Major Arcana (comprising 22 obviously archetypal images). What is less well-known, however, is that the numbers themselves are archetypes, and it is the structure of these archetypes that is expressed in Pythagorean numerology, the system of Sephirot in the Qabalah, and the number mysticism of many other cultures. An understanding of these archetypes illuminates the Minor Arcana (comprising four suits, with four court cards and ten pip cards each), as well as shedding additional light on the numerological structure of the Major Arcana. (The best source for understanding the numbers as archetypes is von Franz's Number and Time; Schimmel's Mystery of Numbers is a good source of number symbolism; and Fordham's Introduction to Jung's Psychology is the most concise, yet accurate, introduction to Jung's thought with which I'm familiar.)
The archetypes may be explained as follows. We experience existence in two quite different ways: physically (or materially) and psychically (or mentally). Nevertheless, one reality―which Jung calls the Unus Mundus (One World)―underlies both kinds of phenomena. The collective unconscious comprises all those unconscious structures and processes that we share with other people; some of them derive from our human brains, but other, deeper ones derive from our biology and even from the laws of physics on which our biology is based. "The lowest collective level of our psyche is simply pure nature" (von Franz, N&T, 7). The archetypes are active structures in this shared level of the unconscious that predispose us toward certain patterns of psychic response to given situations, which in turn can manifest in many specific ways. An archetype appears in consciousness as a subjectivereality, but because of its origin in the collective unconscious, it represents an objective reality. (von Franz, N&T, 4–7, 15, 31, 54–5)
Jung became convinced that the most basic archetypes are numerical and that number is the key to the relation between the psychical and physical realms. This is because number is "a constituent of nature, both without and within" (von Franz, N&T, 13); it "preconsciously orders both psychic thought processes and the manifestations of material reality" (von Franz, N&T, 53). Jung wrote (von Franz, N&T, 9), "I have a distinct feeling that number is a key to the mystery, since it is just as much discovered as invented. It is quantity as well as meaning."
Number is both quality and quantity, both meaning and measurement. In the historical, conscious development of number, the West has favored the quantitative and abstract structural aspects, which has led to the development of modern science, whereas the East has favored the qualitative and affective (feeling-toned) aspects. That is, the West has emphasized the material pole and the East the mental pole, although both are essential aspects of the Unus Mundus. The Pythagoreans, however, viewed numbers as cosmic principles with both material and spiritual aspects. This perspective is the basis of the numerology found in many cultures. (von Franz, N&T, 39, 215)
When the qualitative aspects are included in our conception of numbers, they become more than simple quantities 1, 2, 3, and 4; they acquire an archetypal character as Unity, Opposition, Conjunction, and Completion. They are then analogous to more familiar archetypes, such as the Mother, the Wise Old Man, the Maiden, and the Shadow, which are more obviously represented in the Major Arcana.
Divination
If we understand physical and psychical phenomena as two aspects of the underlying Unus Mundus, then Jung's idea of synchronicity becomes clearer. A synchronous event can be defined as a meaningful coincidence, that is, a coincidence that has symbolic significance to someone experiencing the event. "By a synchronistic phenomenon Jung understands the coincidence in time of two or more psychic and physical events which are connected, not causally, but by their identical meaning" (von Franz, N&T, 6n2). The meaning is revealed in an image constellated by an archetype manifesting simultaneously in the physical and psychic realms. Synchronistic phenomena are important because they provide a glimpse of the Unus Mundus in its wholeness; the eternal archetypes break through into the world of ordinary time, and inner and outer aspects of experience move in harmony. (von Franz, N&T, 199, 242–3)
Synchronistic phenomena are usually spontaneous, but in divination we arrange for a synchronistic event to take place. This is not a simple mechanical matter, for synchronicity usually requires that an archetype be "activated" in the unconscious, which in turn presupposes an emotion-laden, tension-charged situation. Thus divination is most successful when undertaken for a serious purpose; under these conditions divinatory techniques can "draw archetypal material into the center of the field of observation" (von Franz, N&T, 223–4).
The method ofscience may be contrasted with that of divination. In science one makes a conscious "cut" in the world, separating the phenomenon of interest from the rest of existence. In divination, on the other hand, one makes an unconscious "cut," by isolating a qualitative moment in time, which retains the fullness of its participation in both the physical and psychic aspects of all existence. Numerical procedures, such as cutting a tarot deck, rolling dice, or dividing yarrow stalks, are used to determine the Kairos, the "key moment," for the constellation of a unique synchronous phenomenon. With proper preparation, so that an archetype is already activated by a sufficiently high "charge" of psychic energy, the divinatory act can create a "hole" in the "field of consciousness through which the autonomous dynamism of the collective unconscious can break in" (von Franz, N&T, 227). (von Franz, N&T, 44, 199)
By bringing the eternal archetypes into temporal consciousness, the divinatory act creates a "hole in time," the alchemical Fenestra Aeternitatis (Window to Eternity). The alchemists also called this hole though which autonomous spirit passes the Spiraculum Aeternitatis, or Airhole to Eternity; it corresponds to the smokehole in the top of shamans' tents, through which they ascend to the heavens and later return to the mundane world. (von Franz, N&T, 260–1)
Throughout history there have been many ways of using numbers for divination. For example, the I Ching is a well-known Eastern method of divination, which was studied by Jung and his colleagues, and is now quite popular in the West. In a fundamental sense it is based on numerical archetypes since, as many have observed, the hexagrams (composed on yin and yang lines) correspond to binary numbers (composed of 0s and 1s). Similar binary divination systems have been used in the West since ancient times, including geomancy in Europe and Arabia, and the related Ifa divination system in Africa. (Similar binary methods can be used for selecting tarot cards; see Opsopaus, "Tarot Divination without Tarot Cards.")
Some of the most common numerical divination systems use dice: the combination of pips in the roll, or in some cases their sum, is used to consult a table of "oracles." Such methods were common in the ancient world (many temples had a dice table for consulting the gods) and are still in use today. Divination with dice is especially relevant to tarot, since there is some evidence that when playing cards were introduced into Europe from the Orient in the fourteenth century, methods of dice divination were transferred to cards. (See the "Introduction to the Major Arcana" for more on this.)
So much for the theory of divination; see "Divination and Other Practical Aspects" for practical suggestions (spreads, etc.) on the use of the Pythagorean Tarot for divination, meditation, and other purposes.
Pythagoreanism
Pythagoras, who was born in Samos (an island off the coast of Asia Minor) and lived in the sixth century b.c.e., is the fountainhead of most later Greek philosophy, both esoteric and exoteric. Although it is difficult to separate fact from legend, we may say that he believed in metempsychosis (reincarnation) and that numbers are the foundation of the universe. Further, he founded in Krotôn (modern-day Crotone, Italy) an initiatory society (open to women as well as men) that taught a way of life devoted to escape from the wheel of reincarnation through knowledge. Their practice included self-examination, vegetarianism, purity, and silence, as well as the study of esoteric mathematicsand music. Pythagoras is thought to have written nothing down, but his followers did, and they attributed their works to him. (OCD, s.v. "Pythagoras")
According to ancient biographies (Diogenes Laertius 8.1–15)―which might not be entirely factual―Pythagoras, when a young man, became an initiate of all the mysteries in Greece; he studied with the Phoenicians, learned Egyptian and studied with the priests there, and then went to be initiated into the mysteries on Crete. He claimed that in a previous life he was a son of Hermes, and that his divine father had granted him the gift of keeping his memory from one incarnation to the next. Pythagorean doctrine was kept secret until Philolaus (born c. 470 b.c.e.) published three books of it. It has many connections with the Orphic mysteries, although their exact relation is not clear. (For a scholarly study, see Walter Burkert's Lore and Science in Ancient Pythagoreanism.)
According to Iamblichus' Life of Pythagoras, Orpheus taught Pythagoras that "the essence of the gods is defined by number," and from these Orphic doctrines Pythagoras produced a system of numerological divination. When Abaris the Druid came to study with him, Pythagoras taught him to use this purer method in place of the traditional method, which used the entrails of sacrificed animals. (Iamblichus, Vita Pythag), chs. 19, 28; Guthrie, 81, 93-4)
It is apparent that Socrates (who wrote nothing) and Plato (c. 429–347 b.c.e.) were both Pythagoreans, and, according to Diogenes, Plato bought copies of Philolaus' books for 100 minas (about 100 pounds of silver) as soon as they were available. Certainly some of Plato's dialogues, such as the Timaeus, are filled with Pythagorean esoterica.
A Neopythagorean revival began in the first century b.c.e. and continued until it developed into Neoplatonism in the third century c.e. It remained the dominant pagan philosophy until the emperor Justinian ordered the pagan schools closed in 529 c.e. Among its more famous proponents were Numenius, Plotinus, Porphyry, Iamblichus, Proclus, and Hypatia (the most famous female philosopher of antiquity). It is from these philosophers that most of the numerology of the Pythagorean Tarot is drawn. (For a comprehensive collection of Pythagorean writings, see Kenneth Guthrie's Pythagorean Sourcebook and Library. David Fideler's introduction to the Phanes edition of the Sourcebook is an insightful and sensitive introduction to Pythagoreanism. Two excellent sources for Neopythagorean numerology are Robin Waterfield's translation of The Theology of Arithmetic [attributed to Iamblichus] and Thomas Taylor's Theoretic Arithmetic, which is drawn from many sources.) (OCD, s.vv. "Neoplatonism," "Neopythagoreanism")
The Neopythagoreanism of second-century c.e. Alexandria was also one of the principal sources of Gnosticism, the group of esoteric religions that flourished in that culture, which also gave us the Hermetica (the writings attributed to Hermes Trismegistus), the Chaldean Oracles, and a number of other esoteric texts. This was also the cultural breeding ground for Plutarch's theosophical writings, Zosimos' alchemical work, and Numenius' Neopythagoreanism (which was, in turn, influenced by Gnosticism). (OCD, s.v. "Gnosticism")
Later, in the fifteenth century, when Plato and the Hermetica were first translated into Latin, a new efflorescence of Neopythagoreanism nourished the Renaissance at the Platonic Academy of Lorenzo de Medici. Indeed, Renaissance art is saturated with Pythagorean and Hermetic symbols, and this is the cultural context in which the tarot was born. A later, seventeenth-century efflorescence merged with the alchemical tradition, influencing philosophers such as Isaac Newton, Thomas Taylor, and John Dee, and artists such as William Shakespeare, Edmund Spenser, and William Blake, for Hermetic and alchemical themes are apparent in many of their works. (See Edgar Wind's Pagan Mysteries in the Renaissance for the influence of Neopythagoreanism and Hermeticism on the Renaissance. The works of Dame Francis Yates, such as Giordano Bruno and the Hermetic Tradition and The Occult Philosophy in the Elizabethan Age, are a good introduction to seventeenth-century Hermeticism.)

Alchemy

From a modern perspective, one of the weaknesses of Pythagoreanism is its one-sided exaltation of the mind and knowledge and its corresponding denigration of the material world and body. In this respect, the alchemical perspective is more balanced, for it sees spirit embodied in matter, and matter as a means of purifying and ennobling the spirit. This is expressed in the well-known alchemical maxim, "As above, so below." The masculine knowledge, Logos and spirit―the dry solar consciousness―requires its complement, feminine compassion, Eros and soul―the moist lunar consciousness. (In this respect alchemy has some similarities with Tantric Buddhism.) The wisdom of the alchemical tradition is especially needed in our time.
Alchemy perhaps began in the secret lore of the first metallurgists. Their view was that metals were born out of the womb of Mother Earth, and that Nature caused them to develop toward ever greater nobility (manifested in gold); the earliest alchemists viewed their work as cooperating with Nature to hasten this process. Because early alchemists sought their goal through a combination of technology, magic, and divine aid, in many cultures we find stories of an early generation of smith-gods and divine metallurgist-magicians (e.g., the Cabiri in Greek myths). Typically, they are also teachers of ecstatic dance and initiators into sacred mysteries of transformation. (See Mircea Eliade's Forge and Crucible.)
The doctrine of the four elements (Earth, Water, Air, and Fire) is a central principle of European alchemy, which is rooted in Greek philosophy. The elements appear first in the writings of Empedocles (c. 493–433 b.c.e.), who was a Greek shaman (iatromantis―"healer-seer" in Greek). Closely connected is the idea of the opposed qualities (Warm/Cool, Moist/Dry) that give the elements their character, which was an outgrowth of Pythagorean speculation. Plato and Aristotle explained the relation of the elements and the qualities, and refined the theory into the form that it took in all later European alchemy; they also added the fifth element, the Quintessence, which is critical to the alchemical process, since it is the celestial principle that reconciles opposing mundane qualities. (See A. J. Hopkins' Alchemy: Child of Greek Philosophy. For a summary, see Opsopaus, "Anc. Grk. Eso. Doctr. Elem.," a series of four articles; for a scholarly treatment, see Kingsley, APMM.)
As alchemy developed after the Renaissance, alchemists became increasingly explicit in stating that their goal was not so much the transformation of metals as the transformation of the alchemist; they sought a "higher gold" than the common metal. This view has been confirmed by the well-known investigations of Jung, who has shown that the symbolical literature, emblems, and procedures of alchemy are manifestations of the archetypal structure of the process of psychological individuation (becoming psychologically whole). Thus the alchemical worldview, which is closely allied with the Neopythagorean, becomes a valuable perspective from which to understand our growth and development as materially embodied spirits. Since at least the time of the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn (late nineteenth century), alchemy has been a basis of tarot design, which effectively transcends the dualism of the ancient Neopythagorean tradition. (Aside from Jung's own works, e.g., Psychology & Alchemy, Mysterium Coniunctionis, Alchemical Studies, and Aion, which are quite readable, there are now numerous selections and explications of his alchemical writings, e.g., von Franz's Alchemy and Edward Edinger's books.)

Qabalah

It is certainly suggestive that there are 22 Major Arcana and 22 letters in the Hebrew alphabet, and one of the major traditions of esoteric tarot interpretation is based on Qabalistic interpretations of the Hebrew alphabet and the ten Sephirot. However, it appears that Court de Gébelin (1781) was the first to associate Qabalah and tarot, and so it seems to be a comparatively new tradition (Decker, Depaulis & Dummett, 62). As we will see, there are historically more plausible reasons for there being 22 Major Arcana than the alleged esoteric connection with the Hebrew alphabet. (Indeed, the tarot had been extant for about forty years when in 1486 Pico della Mirandola introduced the Qabalah to Christian Europe; see Decker, Depaulis & Dummett, 14, 38.) Furthermore, different tarotists have assigned the letters to the trumps in different ways, none of which are likely to be very old, since they do not depend on the oldest order of the trumps. Therefore, I have abandoned assignments to the Hebrew alphabet (which has no special significance from a Pythagorean standpoint) and replaced it with assignments to the Greek letters, which are esoterically significant in Pythagoreanism. Tarotists will have to judge for themselves the success of the new assignments; of course, there is nothing to stop you from using the Pythagorean Tarot with the Hebrew alphabet if you want to do so. (Hall, 129–30; Kaplan, I.15–6)
Another Qabalistic idea that has been important in esoteric tarot interpretation is the doctrine of the paths between the Sephirot on the Tree of Life, a symbolically rich structure relating ten divine emanations, connectedwith the numerology of the numbers 1 through 10. However, historical scholars of the Qabalah, such as Gershom Scholem (Kab. & Sym., 167) have said that the Sefer Yezirah, one of the principal Qabalistic texts, was written by a Jewish Neopythagorean (third to sixth century c.e.) and that much of the later Qabalistic tradition incorporates a very large dose of Neopythagoreanism; there is even evidence that some of the specialized terms of Qabalah were translated into Hebrew from Greek (Scholem, Kab. 27). Therefore it seems less anachronistic, in a Pythagorean Tarot, to go back to the apparent source of these numerological ideas, rather than to try to retranslate the doctrine of the Sephirot backinto a Hellenic idiom. Nevertheless, whether Qabalah borrowed from Neopythagoreanism (or vice versa), or both borrowed from a common source, or whether they are independent developments is, I think, unimportant from a practical standpoint, for the numbers are archetypes, and therefore, underneath their cultural trappings, they are the same for all humanity.
Finally, we have to consider the Qabalistic use of gematria: the esoteric interpretation of Hebrew words by means of the numerical values of their letters. This is not a major part of traditional tarot interpretation, but it is a standard esoteric technique, so I have used it to reinforce the symbolism of the trumps. However, since I have used isopsephia ("Greek gematria") rather than the better-known gematria based on the Hebrew alphabet, a few words of explanation are necessary. There are several reasons for this choice.
First, an analysis based on the Greek alphabet is more appropriate to a Pythagorean tarot than one based on the Hebrew alphabet, since, presumably, that is the alphabet Pythagoras would have used for isopsephia. Second, there is considerable evidence that the Hebrew practice is later than the Greek practice and probably derived from it. I'll discuss the evidence briefly.
First, the Greek use of their alphabet for numeration goes back at least to the end of the fourth century b.c.e., whereas use of the Hebrew alphabet for numeration goes no earlier than the end of the second century b.c.e. (Ifrah, chs. 16–17). Indeed, Fideler (75) argues that the standard spellings of the Greek gods' names were formulated according to isopsephic principles under the influence of the Pythagorean League, c. 500 b.c.e. He further argues (216–9) that many Greek temples, such as the Parthenon (447 b.c.e.) and Apollo's temple at Didyma (300 b.c.e.), were constructed isopsephically. The Greeks may have learned the idea from the Babylonians, who as early as the eighth century b.c.e. constructed buildings according to an isopsephia based on their syllabic writing system.
Second, the word gematria derives from the Greek word gametria, which is an alternative spelling for geômetria, "geometry," but literally, "land surveying" (LSJ, s.vv. "gametria," "geômetria"; OED, s.v. "gematria"). This is suggestive of its use (in Greece, Babylonia, and perhaps other places) for laying out temples and other important buildings.
Third, the archaic Greek alphabet had 27 letters; thus it divided naturally into three Enneads (groups of 9), which were assigned to the numbers 1–9, 10–90, and 100–900 in order.
A B G D E V Z E Q
I K L M N X O P J
R S T U F C Y W `
The later alphabet dropped one letter from each group (V J `), resulting in three Ogdoads (groups of eight), which was also considered to be esoterically significant. However, the three Enneads were retained for writing numbers, which is the basis of isopsephia. In contrast, the Hebrew alphabet had only 22 letters, so there were no numerals for 500, 600, 700, 800, or 900. (The use of the final forms of the letters for these numbers cannot predate their appearance in the Square Hebrew alphabet of the first or second century b.c.e.; Diringer, 135–7.)
How much significance should be attached to isopsephia? We cannot fail to be astonished when we discover that a square around Apollo's temple at Didyma has a perimeter of 1,415 Greek feet, and that 1,415is the numerical value of O QEOS APOLLWN (ho Theos Apollôn, The God Apollo); or that a hexagon inscribed in the same temple has a perimeter of 1,061 feet, which is the numerical value of APOLLWN (Fideler, 216–7). But should we consider these facts "mere coincidences"? Here Jung's concept of synchronicity is helpful, for we realize that if the coincidence is symbolically meaningful, then it is a synchronistic event bridging the physical and psychic worlds. Therefore, if these isopsephic connections are significant to you, then they are ipso facto meaningful. For this reason the Pythagorean Tarot includes symbolism based on the principles of isopsephia.

Edition details

• Publisher: Llewellyn Publications
• Publication date: 2001
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 1567184499
• ISBN 13: 9781567184495
• Binding: Paperback
• Illustrator: Rho
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 480