Tarot University ArkLetters

ArkLetter Articles and Essays - 2005-2011

All ArkLetter Essays by Christine Payne-Towler

• Architectonic Soul of Nature
• Awake to Intuition
• Body as Cosmos
• Book Review: Dai Leon, Origins of Tarot
• Calendar Thoughts
• Can Esotericism Rescue Mankind?
• Christian Cabbalist Alchemical Magic
• Continental Tarots, Part 1
• Continental Tarots, Part 2
• Continental Tarots, Part 3
• Courtly Love, Initiation, and the Carey-Yale Visconti Tarot
• Divinatory Tarot and the School of Etteilla
• Divine Feminine in Tarot
• Elus Cohen and Martinist Program
• Eros Magic and the Magical Image
• Golden Apple of the Alphabet
• Gordion Knot of the Alphabet
• Greco-Muslim Esotericism
• Illuminism, the Grand Orient and Egyptian Masonry
• Magic in the Early 1500's
• Major Arcana - The Trumps of Tarot
• Masonic Martinist Tarot
• Mind of the Magus
• Minor Arcana: Coins
• Minor Arcana: Cups
• Minor Arcana: Swords
• Minor Arcana: Wands
• Modern Magic
• Music and Magic among the Renaissance Magi
• Navigating our Cultural Singularity
• Open Secrets of the Early Renaissance
• Outer Planet Retrogrades, 2006
• Pointers to Esotericism in the Early Tarots
• Psychocosm of the Renaissance
• Reading and Writing Your Own Mysteries
• Shem Angels, Clues to a Lineage
• Sophia, Holy Word
• Spreads: 5-Card Variation
• Spreads: World Server's 3 card
• Stoicheion-Somata Tarot
• Tarotlogy: History is Destiny
• Tarot of the Spheres and Muses
• Tarot Resources
• Tarot.com: Why does it work?
• Ten Essential Tarots
• Theogenesis

Calendar Thoughts

By Christine Payne-Towler
ArkLetter 65, August 9, 2010

My mother came to visit me recently and challenged me to say certain things as minimally and bluntly as I can.  She's a straight-shooting Aries while I'm a circumambulating, over-explaining Libra, so we have this challenge every few years. But this year she asked me to explain what the Mayan calendar is about. 

Mom was gazing at a handmade wooden tabletop version of this calendar that hangs over my fireplace. She and her husband brought it back from one of their cruises years ago.  It hung for years over her fireplace in Eastern Washington, before they moved to their current domicile, at which point this gorgeous occult talisman came to live with me.  Now, finally, she's curious to know what it "means"!

Questions like this are loaded in the extreme. I was instantly plunged ass-over-teakettle into an ocean of global astrological traditions. The only 'dry land' in this mental vista was provided by the tips of the ancient stone temples, the henges, pyramids, ziggurats, and observatories of global history.  It was all I could do to mentally paddle from one to the other, pointing out the common features, so she could have a context for humanity's astral drama in the first place.  This is the only way I can talk about the Mayan calendar, or any calendar for that matter.  It is an artifact from a global conversation that has taken place across the millennia, despite the amnesia that regularly affects human culture.

Tarotlogy - History is Destiny

By Christine Payne-Towler
ArkLetter 64, July 11, 2010

For an introduction to Tarotlogy, see ArkLetter 62

Here we are dear friends, in the thick of the issues that this year’s cosmic alignments have been inexorably driving us towards. The FullMoon Eclipse of late June provided a perfect trigger for the abrupt and intense lock-up that is now hardening around us like plaster in the sun. 

My prayer is that we’ve individually been making every effort to create lives that reward us and nurture us above and beyond our bottom-line economic situation. There has never been a better moment than now to unhook from the rat race and peel off, at least in your own mind, from the herd hypnosis that beams out at us from all directions via our mass media sources.

 Attentive readers will note a continuing change in my tone and the references I am making. There is no doubt that I am personally engaged with the energetic shifts that are breaking around us from multiple fronts.  Speaking as a pattern-recognition person, times like these are hypnotically arresting and demand attention no matter what grid or scale of measure a person is using.

As an astrologer, an esoteric psychologist, a magician and an historian, I can’t help but stand in awe of the converging pressures that are defining our collective moment. Furthermore, as a spiritual alchemist, it seems to be my duty to undergo whatever I am analyzing, and analyze whatever I am undergoing. 

The Personal, Collective, Cosmic: a three-level analysis in Tarotlogy

By Christine Payne-Towler
ArkLetter 63, June 12, 2010

This month we will be looking into our new Tarotlogy spread using the fascinating three-level analysis that comes forward from at least the time of Ficino (the early Italian Renaissance), and quite likely much earlier (Pseudo-Dionysius, c. AD 500; Meister Eckhart, AD 1260-1328).  By this I mean the analysis of reality in three scales; the personal, the collective, and the cosmic.

When we started our World Server’s series, we suggested a number of threesomes that are classic to the Tarot.  For the sake of our new Tarotlogy approach, our focus is now bending towards a triplicity of socio- economic considerations, giving us a glimpse into our own private lives, the business/investment world, and the Archetype level from which all these developments emanate.

Tarotlogy

By Christine Payne-Towler
ArkLetter 62, May 13, 2010

Without burdening you with all the whys and wherefores, this column announces a change in our program. Tarot University is shifting, moving to the next stage of our development. The pack of cards I am making with partner Michael Dowers is nearly complete, which will lift us to a new plane of functionality here at the site. 

New research in the history in the Continental Esoteric Tarot is pouring in thick and fast as well.  I promise you, the best is yet to come, dear readers!  We have faithfully wrestled our demon-lover through the long dark night; now the dawn is currently and unmistakably breaking, and the adversary stands revealed as a shining Angel of Light!   

In the meanwhile, looking outward to the world at large, it seems the energy-body of Earth is both causing and reflecting distress from increasing dysfunction, tension and depletion. Each of us has to be feeling some part of this in the microcosm of our own bodies.

Greco-Muslim Esotericism

Greco-Mulsim EsotericismBy Christine Payne-Towler
Tarot ArkLetter 56
October 17,  2009

It is well known that the Tarot pack as we know it now represents two card-sets spliced together.  First we see the Mamluk pack (sometimes called the Minor Arcana), which came into Europe from the south and east as a 52-card game. Afterwards, the Trump set (sometimes called the Major Arcana) was created to accompany those, first appearing in Northern Italy.  It is most often assumed that the Mamluk game pack was not invested with the degree of symbolic and esoteric implications that seem to have grown up around the Trumps, no matter at what point those implications became public.  But since no source has been found to explain the cards or the game that is played with them, we are forced to rely on informed guesses and observation of their similarities with other card games of the era.

Book Review: Dai Leon, "Origins of the Tarot"

By Christine Payne-Towler

ArkLetter 55, September 18,  2009 
Book Review:  Origins of the Tarot

I have been very excited at the publication of Origins of the Tarot; Cosmic Evolution and the Principles of Immortality, by Dai Leon.  I give it the highest recommendation to all my students, with the understanding that it's a long, slow read.  Many different cultural paradigms are introduced and discussed here, some of which might seem new in the context of Tarot. Ideas from our ancestors, both ancient and more recent, are rubbed up against each other, hopefully to throw sparks into the inner life of the thoughtful reader.

There is nothing I like more than a rich, meaty ride through the thought-streams of a sophisticated thinker.  But I am not the norm, so be advised.  That said, anybody who can read what I write (on the subject of Tarot, at least) should be able to follow this too. 

Awake To Intuition

By Christine Payne-Towler
ArkLetter 52 -- June 22,  2009 

There are a couple of things going on in this essay.  First I want to review some new books that have come into my hands.   There's always a lot to talk about now that the textbooks of Western Esotericism are being written and the discipline is filling out.  But there's no way I can keep up with the barrage of new works, much as I love to keep a tentacle in the water, testing the stream. Excitingly, certain things that I have been watching out for have begun to make themselves apparent in the intellectual marketplace -- there are some very positive developments showing up. I'm going to skip lightly through these things and give them to you in the short form, rather than write my usual labored connect-the-dots article. My hope is always that readers will have their interests ignited and will seek out the relevant researcher's works rather than just trust my personal, opinionated summations.

The Architectonic Soul of Nature

By Christine Payne-Towler
ArkLetter 48 -- February 24,  2009 

In the esoteric arts, there are always specialized vocabularies to deal with. For one thing, there's the ancient mystery of the names of all things, wherein somehow the letters spelling the words manage to indicate the invisible reality standing behind the labels. There exists also an entire canon of ratios, proportions, and harmonic relationships that, in their many literal instances throughout art and architecture, consistently reference specific allegorical and archetypal values.

Navigating Our Cultural Singularity

By Christine Payne-Towler
ArkLetter 45 -- November 27,  2008

I have been having a feeling very strongly the entire month of November, as if we were in the trough of a retrograde.  There's a sense of standing still and grinding gears, but in fact we are turning around internally to face an entirely new direction. A more active analogue could be drawn to the alchemical process of putrefaction, meaning the disassembly of old forms before re-assembling them anew. It's a messy, imprecise, challenging process, certainly not a job for sissies. Whew!  No wonder it has been nearly impossible to concentrate on 'normal stuff'!

Reading And Writing Your Own Mysteries

By Christine Payne-Towler
ArkLetter 42 -- August 30,  2008

In my early ArkLetter articles I was focusing in on the overlaps between esoteric disciplines in the milieu of Tarot's time of origin. The goal was to highlight the vocabulary, imagery, and techniques of early Renaissance magical activities, and show this worldview's close proximity to the earliest Tarot designs. I was also anchoring our definition of magic and magus, using concepts and testimony from the esoteric theories animating Tarot's context and core assumptions. Those articles were compilations of discussions that happened during the early 2000's, while I was an active participant in the online Tarot discussion groups.  (See Open Secrets, Pointers to Esotericism, and Christian Cabbalist Alchemical Magic ).

By Christine Payne-Towler
ArkLetter 42 -- August 30,  2008

In my early ArkLetter articles I was focusing in on the overlaps between esoteric disciplines in the milieu of Tarot's time of origin. The goal was to highlight the vocabulary, imagery, and techniques of early Renaissance magical activities, and show this worldview's close proximity to the earliest Tarot designs. I was also anchoring our definition of magic and magus, using concepts and testimony from the esoteric theories animating Tarot's context and core assumptions. Those articles were compilations of discussions that happened during the early 2000's, while I was an active participant in the online Tarot discussion groups.  (See Open Secrets, Pointers to Esotericism, and Christian Cabbalist Alchemical Magic ).

Courtly Love, Initiation and the Cary-Yale Visconti Tarot

By Christine Payne-Towler
ArkLetter 39 -- June 3,  2008

The study of Tarot is a lot like the study of myth, or that of the human psyche -- because of the everywhere-ongoing process of development and maturation happening on every front, one can never dip one's toe into the same river twice. The human observer doesn't remain the same day in and day out, year in and year out, so how can any subject under study maintain a unified face?  There are as many Tarots as there are users, it seems.

By Christine Payne-Towler
ArkLetter 39 -- June 3,  2008

The study of Tarot is a lot like the study of myth, or that of the human psyche -- because of the everywhere-ongoing process of development and maturation happening on every front, one can never dip one's toe into the same river twice. The human observer doesn't remain the same day in and day out, year in and year out, so how can any subject under study maintain a unified face?  There are as many Tarots as there are users, it seems.

Divinatory Tarot and the School of Etteilla

Astrology for Initiates, By Christine Payne-Towler
ArkLetter 36 -- March 7,  2008

In the presence of the new translation of Papus' Divinatory Tarot from Aeon Books (2008), I am in bliss. Finally!  It seems I have been waiting for this to be translated from my early years as a Tarot reader.  It is a gift to us all and I'm extremely grateful to Aeon Books for bringing it forward after all these years...

Astrology for Initiates, By Christine Payne-Towler
ArkLetter 36 -- March 7,  2008

In the presence of the new translation of Papus' Divinatory Tarot from Aeon Books (2008), I am in bliss. Finally!  It seems I have been waiting for this to be translated from my early years as a Tarot reader.  It is a gift to us all and I'm extremely grateful to Aeon Books for bringing it forward after all these years...

Stoicheion-Somata Tarot

By Christine Payne-Towler
ArkLetter 33, December 9,  2007

I participated in a most interesting conversation a few weeks ago.  It encapsulated phenomena that have appeared over and over in my life, but never in quite such sharp focus. Perhaps because I've gotten older now, this unique perspective is becoming more available to me.

My friend, who is a very culturally attuned, multidimensional person, was telling me that Astrology is based on science (meaning carefully recorded observations gathered over time), but that it was at this point mired in a morass of ancient superstitions that are holding it back. ...

Tarot of the Spheres and Muses

By Christine Payne-Towler
ArkLetter 30, September  2007 

One of my ongoing fascinations with the origins of Tarot is focused on the set of Tarot Trump emblems created by Lodovico Lazzarelli (1447- 1500).  In 1468-1469, Lazzarelli completed De Gentilium Deorum Imaginibus [On the images of the pagan gods]. Along with the poems were created a set of 27 images, 22 of them being explicit Trumps like those of the Tarot. These images directly reference (by title and image) two full rungs of the Mantegna emblem series, linked by two other icons from the same series (Music and Poetry), thus rounding out the count to 22. The illustrations also include five extra images (named Pallas, Juno, Neptune, Pluto, Victoria), which depart from both the Tarot canon and the Mantegna subjects. [see image lists at the bottom of this article]

Body as Cosmos

By Christine Payne-Towler
ArkLetter 27, June  2007 

Over the course of the Christian era, as the royal bloodlines and initiatory societies grounded in pagan antiquity were tamped down across Europe, a shift began to happen regarding both the goals of magic and the locus of the magical effect. 

Sophia, Holy Word

By Christine Payne-Towler
ArkLetter 26, May, 2007

In this investigation I am searching out definitions and commentary regarding the historical lore of Sophia. The goal is to expose root-concepts, those old enough and well known enough to have survived the long and winding road linking the ancient Semitic and Greek Goddesses to the Divine Feminine hidden within the Catholicism imbuing our earliest Tarot magi. This will give us a way to examine the traditional chain of associations, the internal conceptual framing supporting the Sophia myth in human history, so we can know what we are looking at, should a glimmer of this tradition flash out of our Tarot cards.

Modern Magic

By Christine Payne-Towler
ArkLetter 25, April 2007

What is the usefulness of magic today? Having done a lot of thinking and reading on this topic for many a moon, there still seems to be a core set of questions that lack fully-articulated answers. Do not mistake me for saying that there are no answers for these questions! But through the long seasons of search, it seems the verbal and cognitive spheres are still challenged to catch up with the experiential.

The Shem Angels; Clues to a Lineage

By Christine Payne-Towler
ArkLetter 24, March 2007

One of the foundational characteristics of the Continental Esoteric Tarots is the zodiacal and astronomical alignment of the pips pack with the kabalistic angels of the Shemhamphoras (one of multiple possible spellings).  This name is alternately used by Cabbalists to designate a single divine name of 72 letters, as well as the sequence of 72 angels whose names are derived from three consecutive 72-letter verses of the Old Testament book of Exodus... 

Masonic/Martinist Tarot, or Was Etteilla an Initiate?

By Christine Payne-Towler
February, 2007

Among the Tarot decks made in Continental Europe from the late 1700's until into the early 1900's, there is a very strong thread that can be classed as Martinist Tarots.  This stream was publicly inaugurated by Etteilla, is epitomized in the Papus tarot, and has been supported in print by commentators from de Gebelin and de Mellet (le Mond Primitif) through Paul Christian, Levi, Papus, Wirth, Tomberg (writing as 'Anonymous'), Zain, Valcourt-Vermont (writing as Saint Germain), Mouni Sadhu, Haich and Hall...

Illuminism, the Grand Orient and Egyptian Masonry

Illuminism, The Grand Orient and Egyptian Masonry
By Christine Payne-Towler
January, 2007

In the history of Tarot, there exist fuzzy periods, when it is unclear exactly how the pack was being employed or by whom. One such period is the time between the awakening of the Rosicrucian movement (in the early 1600's) and the popularization of Tarot via Le Monde Primitif by de Gebelin and the new "divinatory" pack by Etteilla (in the late 1700's).  This essay will outline the main lines of Secret Society associations that were cultivating Tarot esotericism during this time.

The Gordian Knot of the Greek Alphabet

By Christine Payne-Towler
December 2006

To understand the provenance of the AAN (Astro-Alpha Numerology) that Etteilla and then Levi passed along to present times, we have to address the Gordian knot of the Greek Alphabet.  To do this we will go way back in time to the beginnings of written language in Mesopotamia, and then trace the various changes these sacred alphabets undergo in their progress forward through time.

Continental Tarot Closure (part3)

By Christine Payne-Towler
[Originally published in July of 1999; abridged and revised for TarotUniversity in August 2006, part 1 , September 2006, part 2, and November 2006, part 3]

In the last segment of this article, special focus was placed on the importance of having a correct grasp of the Doctrine of Correspondences when undertaking the traditional operations of magic. The commonly held understanding of how magic works (which we have explored in some depth across multiple ArkLetters) did not allow for the modern sense of creativity and free association. Instead, classical sources were mined and collated to standardize a grid of connections that a magus could trust to be both coherent with prior tradition, and sanctioned by the contemporary Church.

The Elus-Cohen and Martinist Program

The Elus-Cohen and Martinist Program
By Christine Payne-Towler
Condensed from early conversations at TarotL, the online Tarot Forum

Over the course of the discussion about esoteric correspondences to Tarot in the times previous to Eliphas Levi, there has been a tone of skepticism which takes the stance that Levi may well have imposed his own invention of Hebrew letter/Trump correspondences onto the Tarot. This kind of skepticism is so common in America that it even sounds logical, in a way that it never could to someone raised with Continental Tarot sensibilities. So I would like to put some points in perspective for the discerning TarotL subscriber.

Continental Esoteric Tarot, Part 2; Divination: Highest Expression of the Magi's Art

By Christine Payne-Towler
[Originally published in July of 1999; abridged and revised for TarotUniversity in August 2006, Part 1 and September 2006, Part 2]

Ioan P. Couliano, in his sublime Eros and Magic in the Renaissance, analyzes the categories of magic made by Giordano Bruno in the late 1500's (Couliano p. 157-8):

"Of the categories of magic in the Renaissance, the most interesting is undoubtedly that of Giordano Bruno. He lists nine categories: sapientia, magia naturalis (medicina, chymia), praestigiatoria, a second form of natural magic, mathematica or occulta philosophia, a magia desperatorum, which is demonomagic, also called transnaturalis seu metaphysica or theourgia, necromantia, maleficium (of which veneficium is a subcategory), and divinatio or phophetia (De Magia, III, pp. 397-400) ...

The Continental Tarots, Part 1

By Christine Payne-Towler
[Originally published in July of 1999; abridged and revised for TarotUniversity in August 2006]

The sequence currently employed to govern the Trump appears to be quite old. The oldest pack which shows this ordering is the French set by Catelin Geofroy, from 1557 (Kaplan, Vol. 1, p. 65). We can see the continuance of this sequence in the Anonymous French Tarot, made in the first half of the 1600's...

............Tarot.com's Instant Reading Text ............. by Christine Payne-Towler

How Do Tarot.com Computerized Tarot Readings Really Work?
Read Christine's explanatory article here

Music and Magic among the Renaissance Magi

By Christine Payne-Towler
June 25,  2006

(Made from a selection of posts written at TarotL from 2000-2004)

In the paradigm inhabited by the Renaissance Magi, 22 is not just "a number." Historically 22 stands for "a circle", and 7 is "the diameter," in the time-honored shorthand of arithmosophy. Therefore the mathematical phrase 22/7 was a solid object in the cultivated medieval mind -- an educated person would recognize it as a staple in the Geometry of Nature, also known as the Religion of the World.

The Psychocosm of the Renaissance

By Christine Payne-Towler
May 26, 2006
In the world-view of Europe in the early 1500's, the external world of planets and elements was believed to be a faithful mirror and representation of God's eternal Being, reflected in flesh.  Just so, the interior universe of the magus was expected to match and mirror the external world in mind.

The Mind of the Magus

By Christine Payne-Towler
April 27, 2006

The primary function of the magus in history, whether the exemplar is Hermes, Jesus Christ, Faust or Paracelsus, is to open a path between Heaven and Earth, and then lead worthy human souls along it, back to our origins in God.

Magic in the Early 1500's; Testimonies of the Times

By Christine Payne-Towler
March 28, 2006

Despite the fact that Trump #1 did not receive the name "The Magus" before the writings of Eliphas Levi, the connection between the Bagatto and "magic" of various types goes very far back in time...

Divine Feminine in Tarot -- From the Queen to the Virgin of the World

By Christine Payne-Towler
February 27, 2006

The original packs of cards that entered Spain and perhaps Italy with the Moors, known as Mamluk cards, possessed no female figures.  There were no figures at all, to be exact, because in the cultures where this pack was common, the Koran was followed literally regarding the injunction against representational art.

Jupiter, Saturn, and Outer Planet Retrogrades 2006

Jupiter: Heads up, readers!  Jupiter is going to start into a retrograde cycle on the 4th of March. Those of you who are strong in the water signs have probably been enjoying the transit of Jupiter through Scorpio, since he's making either a trine or a conjunction with whatever you have got going....

Eros Magic and the Magical Image

By Christine Payne-Towler
January 21, 2006

Attempting to understand the worldview of the culture from which Tarot emerged leads the modern mind into wonderful territories of vision and imagination. Study of the magical arts and architecture bequeathed to us from the High Middle Ages lets us know that from the beginning, the Trumps existed on more than the superficial layer of their standard forms and overt subject matter.

Theogenesis

By Christine Payne-Towler
December, 2005

In last month's essay, the role of Esotericist was explored relative to what such a person can contribute to their times and their society. But the question was not asked, much less answered, regarding how a person makes the leap from interest to accomplishment in this area. What are the steps, one might ask, what is the progression necessary that a person undergoes to become an Esotericist?

http://noreah.typepad.com/tarot_arkletters/2005/12/theogenesis.html#initiation

Can Esotericism Rescue Mankind?

By Christine Payne-Towler
December, 2005

A dear friend asked me this question, and I am trying to answer it in this venue. The way it was first framed to me was:"How can esotericism rescue mankind from the asphyxiation of materialism"? ie: how can all this stuff  make a difference in the observable shape of things, and give humanity new hope?"

Pointers to Esotericism in the Early Tarots

by Christine Payne-Towler.

This essay presents some of the symbols, numbers, arrangements and other clues which, added together, make a strong suggestion that even the earliest Tarot decks were made with esoteric considerations in mind.

Open Secrets of the Early Renaissance

by Christine Payne Towler

As I have mentioned in earlier articles (for example ArkLetter Sep '05), the Trumps of Tarot emerged at a time and in an environment when the collective imagination was evidencing a mass "outing" of previously closely held knowledge. The cultural awakening of the mid-1100's through the 1300's had prepared the ground for a pouring-forth of...

Christian Cabbalist Alchemical Magic and The Trumps of Tarot

by Christine Payne-Towler
for the Tarot Arkletters; September 2005

One of the ongoing controversies associated with the Tarot is whether or not the cards (the Trumps alone, or both Trumps and pips) partake in the esotericism or magical consciousness of the times in which they first appeared. Are modern users projecting our desire for magical and esoteric correlations onto the cards, or is it possible that the Triumphs were built with some inherent, interior worldview to which we have currently have lost the key?

Golden Apple of the Alphabet

by Christine Payne Towler

Hebrew Letters are the main method by which astrological correspondences are justified on the Major Arcana of esoteric Tarot. These letters provide the logic for saying "The Magus is Mercury" or "The Magus correspondends to Primal Air." So the relation of the letters to the Arcana is of vital interest to occultists, magicians, and those interested in the psychology of the Arcana in astrological terms.

How Do Tarot.com Computerized Tarot Readings Really Work?

How Do Tarot.com Computerized Tarot Readings Really Work?

At least once a month, I am e-mailed this question by one or more of the folks who get computer-based readings at Tarot.com, where I wrote the divinatory text.. They are wondering what creates this amazing effect, that an impersonal machine without a soul can deal out anonymous Tarot readings that cut to the quick of people's very specific issues?

Tarot Interpretations: The 5-card Spread and its Variants

 

Many of you found Tarot University, and this weblog, through Tarot.com, where I've written all the divinatory text for the last 5 years, so it would not be amiss to give a short tutorial on how to use the spreads and readings pages at Tarot.com as a learning aid in your journey with the cards...

Suit of Wands - The Minor Arcana Reviewed

by Christine Payne Towler

Key words for the suit of Wands include energy, will, desire, and charisma. The wand symbol is, at its most primitive, a rough club of wood, sometimes showing sprigs of new green growth emerging from its weathered grain, occasionally aflame like a torch. A more refined version shows a magical wand or staff, collecting and focusing lifeforce according to the user’s will.

Like a conductor’s baton, this symbol leads and directs the unfolding action, and the participants instinctively know to follow the one who holds this symbol of authority. Because the element connected with Wands is fire, the qualities of boldness, ambition, drive, competitiveness, and initiative are highlighted. Whenever a Wand card appears, actions are being taken or suggested, change is in the works, and a challenge to the will is implied.

Suit of Cups - The Minor Arcana Reviewed

In the majority of European esoteric Tarots, the suit of Cups refers to the element water. The suit symbol is usually a large drinking cup or communion cup, like the mysterious Grail chalice, occasionally shown pouring forth with holy water or other sacred fluids. Associations with this cup include the Holy Grail; a fountain of love; the Cornucopia, containing all good things that make us happy; the Krater, stone cup of the Mysteries, containing Soma, psychedelic elixir of mushrooms and cannabis pollen; communion cup of the Catholic Mass; the Pomegranate cup of the Egyptian cult of Isis and the old Hebrew mysteries.

Suit of Swords - The Minor Arcana Reviewed

by Christine Payne Towler

The symbol of the sword, dagger, scimitar, or knife represents the world of mind, the realm of thought and ideation where we frame beliefs and values, personally and socially. It points to the rational mind, that faculty which compares, contrasts, balances, and names the processes governing relationships and exchanges, from economic to romantic.

Suit of Coins - The Minor Arcana Reviewed

by Christine Payne Towler

The suit of Coins, usually symbolized by a solid gold coin, represents first and foremost, your body, health, vigor, and genetic heredity. It can be seen as the capacity to “ground” and relax, attuning to the rhythms of Nature within and without. Emotionally, the coin symbolizes a feeling of abundance, security, safety and general freedom from threats to survival. When you feel safe, you are free to be creative, not hampered by fear and reactivity. The theme of prosperity is not limited to a financial experience. Even the poorest person can be enriched and increased by the experience of a golden moment, contact with goodness, or beauty.

The Major Arcana

This review of the historical sweep of Trump titles and illustrations will help you better understand the roots of these archetypal Ideas despite the (in some cases) radical departures we are confronted with in the modern Tarots.

Essential Tarots - Ten European Decks in the Classical Edition of Tarot Magic

...Reviews of a few Tarot decks at the philosophical heart of Christine's collection.
Tarot ArkLetter 1
Deck Reviews:

     Rider Waite Tarot
       Stairs of Gold Tarot
       Tarot of the Stars
       Ibis Tarot
       Oswald Wirth Tarot
       Marseilles Tarot
       Medieval Scapini Tarot
       Etteilla Tarot
       Tarot Esoterico
       Pierpont Sforza Tarot
       Dali Universal Tarot

Tarot Resources

Visit the Tarot Resources Page in the Tarot University Library

http://noreah.typepad.com/library/2005/02/study_resources.html

One of my goals with this Arkletter and my website is to make available
a number of resources for the Tarot student who has the capacity to
self-educate.  I want this site to grow into an enriched environment
where Tarot students of all levels can find sustenance for further
expansion.  Nothing would be more pleasing to me than to offer a
comprehensive introduction to Tarot for the growing worldwide tide of
users.