Tarot keys and Hebrew letters
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What is the correct association of each Tarot key to each Hebrew letter, assuming that there is one? I ask this because there are also planetary and further astrological attributions to the Trumps, which follow no logical pattern as far as I can make out when the Trumps are placed in the alphabetic order that has been given.
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@Mobs Consisten said
"What is the correct association of each Tarot key to each Hebrew letter, assuming that there is one? I ask this because there are also planetary and further astrological attributions to the Trumps, which follow no logical pattern as far as I can make out when the Trumps are placed in the alphabetic order that has been given."
The pattern has been discussed in numerous threads over the years. Here is the table:
Aleph - 0 The Fool - Air
Beth - I The Magus - Mercury
Gimel - II The Priestess - The Moon
Daleth - III The Empress - Venus
Heh - XVII The Star - Aquarius
Vav - V The Hierophant - Taurus
Zayin - VI The Lovers - Gemini
Cheth - VII The Chariot - Cancer
Teth - XI Lust - Leo
Yod - IX The Hermit - Virgo
Kaph - X Fortune - Jupiter
Lamed - VIII Adjustment - Libra
Mem - XII The Hanged Man - Water
Nun - XIII Death - Scorpio
Samekh - XIV Art - Sagittarius
A'ayin - XV The Devil - Capricorn
Peh - XVI The Tower - Mars
Tzaddi - IV The Emperor - Aries
Qoph - XVIII The Moon - Pisces
Resh - XIX The Sun - The Sun
Shin - XX The Aeon - Fire (Spirit)
Tav - XXI The Universe - Saturn (Earth) -
That's what I mean
The GD's association of each Tarot key to each Hebrew letter (or rather AC's) seems spurious to me when Beth for example is tacked on to the Magician trump that corresponds to Mercury. The letter Beth more often than not corresponds to the planet Saturn, even though there are differences between the various versions of the Sefer Yetzirah. I get the impression that the GD made the letters fit their understanding of the Trumps and in by doing so they ignored a few thousand years of Judaic understanding, and in turn made a pig's ear out of the planetary and zodiacal attributions. Nonetheless, I admit I have always used AC's correspondences, though I am ever boggled
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This has been discussed extensively here. Please see other threads. I hear your intellectual objections, but they seem to be just that - intellectual theory.
Your reference to Beth and Saturn is from a couple of the later versions of Sepher Yetzirah. There is a lot of variation of the actual attributions in different SY editions. But if you take the earliest editions of the SY, the planetary correspondences to the double letters is the same as in the G.D. etc.
The G.D. didn't "make" anything about this - they received the attributions in the Cypher Manuscripts. So your remarks should be aimed at whoever their actual predecessors were.
Your reference to a "few thousand years of Judaic understanding" is based on wrong information. At most, you would mean a couple of hundred years of very late Rabbinical custom. What we use is a match for the oldest versions of the SY, and thus the oldest Hebraic tgraditions, while the Ari-influenced attributions are not. (I speak in most cases of the Short Version.)
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@Jim Eshelman said
"But if you take the earliest editions of the SY, the planetary correspondences to the double letters is the same as in the G.D. etc."
I've run across several versions of SY, but I've never seen one that had the same planetary attributions as the GD. Is there a book or web site where I can find this edition?Thanks.
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@gmugmble said
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@Jim Eshelman said
"But if you take the earliest editions of the SY, the planetary correspondences to the double letters is the same as in the G.D. etc."I've run across several versions of SY, but I've never seen one that had the same planetary attributions as the GD. Is there a book or web site where I can find this edition?"
All or most of the attribution tables in the Short Version are the same. You can, of course, get my translation of S.Y. for the notes on this. I have a beautiful volume with all the main versions in the Hebrew original, but I doubt you can find a copy (it was a gift, and I don't think a cheap one!). I think Kaplan gave a complete or partial of the Short Version in an appendix to his work, but I'm going from memory on that.
PS - You might find some interesting details in my Foreword to SY published on this forum here: www.heruraha.net/viewtopic.php?t=2816
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I guess what I meant when I said that none of the historical versions of SY has the same planetary attributions as the GD was that none of the historical versions of SY has the same planetary attributions as the GD. Your own introduction -- a very fine short history; I enjoyed reading it again -- even supports this. Here is an interesting table that illustrates what I meant: www.psyche.com/psyche/yetsira/sy_planetaryattributions.html
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I'm not sure where that table is getting its information. The Short Version had Beth, Gimel, Daleth, Kaph, Peh, Resh, Tav attributed, respectively, to Mercury, Moon, Venus, Jiupiter, Mars, Sun, Saturn. I'm racing to get out the door right now, but will try to dig out more on this later.
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@Jim Eshelman said
"The Short Version had Beth, Gimel, Daleth, Kaph, Peh, Resh, Tav attributed, respectively, to Mercury, Moon, Venus, Jiupiter, Mars, Sun, Saturn."
I am curious: are these correspondences based on the (Raavad) Short version, or a translation of the Short version, or a version I am not aware of? I would appreciate as much information on this as possible--from any one--because I can neither make head nor tail out of the planetary associations to the Hebrew letters. To me, the GD's planetary correspondences appear contrived.