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The Book
of
Thoth
A Short Essay on the Tarot
of the Egyptians
Being
The Equinox Volume III No. V
by
Part One
The Theory of the Tarot
III
The Tree of Life
I.
This figure must be studied very carefully, for it is the basis of the
whole system on which the Tarot is based. It is quite impossible to
give a complete explanation of this figure, because (for one thing) it is
quite universal. Therefore it cannot mean the same to any one person
as to any other. A's universe is not B's universe. If A and B
are sitting opposite each other at table, A sees the right side of the
lobster, and B the left. If they stand side by side and look at a
star, the angle is different; although this difference is infinitesimal,
it exists. But the Tarot is the same for all in the same way in
which any scientific fact or formula is the same for all. It is most
important to remember that the facts of science, though universally true
in the abstract, are still not precisely true for any one observer,
because even if the observation of any common object is made by two people
of identical sensory reactions from the same spot, it cannot be done
directly at the same time; and even the smallest fraction of a second is
sufficient to move both object and observer in space.
This fact is to be emphasised, because one must
not take the Tree of Life as a dead fixed formula. It is in a sense
an eternal pattern of the Universe, just because it is infinitely elastic;
and it is to be used as an instrument in one's researches into Nature and
her forces. It is not to be made an excuse for Dogmatism. The
Tarot should be learnt as early in life as possible; a fulcrum for memory
and a schema for mind. It should be studied constantly, a daily
exercise; for it is universally elastic, and grows in proportion to the
use intelligently made of it. Thus it becomes a most ingenious and
excellent method of appreciating the whole Existence.
2.
It seems probable that the Qabalists who invented
the Tree of Life were inspired by Pythagoras, or that both he and they
derived their knowledge from a common source in higher antiquity. In
any case, both schools agree upon one fundamental postulate, which is as
follows: Ultimate Reality is best described by Numbers and their
interplay. It is interesting to note that modern Mathematical
Physics has been finally driven to some similar assumption. Further,
the attempt to describe Reality by a single definite term has been
abandoned. Modern thought conceives Reality under the image of a
ring of ten ideas, such as Potential, Matter, and so on. Each term
has no meaning in itself; it can only be understood in terms of the
others. This is exactly the conclusion which appears earlier in this
essay, with regard to the way in which the planets, elements and signs
were all dependent on each other, and composed of each other.
But the further attempt to reach Reality led the Qabalists
to sum up the qualities of these rather vague and literary ideas by
referring them all to the numbers of the decimal scale.
Numbers, then, are the nearest approach to
Reality which is shown in this system. The number 4, for instance,
is not so specially the result of adding one to three, or squaring two, or
halving eight. It is a thing in itself, with all sorts of moral,
sensible, and intellectual qualities. It symbolises such ideas as
Law, Restraint, Power, Protection and Stability.
In the Qabalistic system
the original idea is Zero, [It is intentional to repeat here, in other
language, the ideas explained already in this essay.] which appears under
three forms, rather as (in Chinese philosophy) the Tao becomes manifested
little by little through the Teh, or as (in the best of the Hindu systems)
the god of Destruction and Annihilation, Shiva, becomes manifested through
the Infinite Energy, Sakti. The system begins therefore with Ain--Nothing,
Ain Soph--Without Limit, and Ain Soph Aur--the Limitless Light.
One may now proceed to imagine any point in this
"light", to select it for observation; the fact of doing so
makes it Positive. This gives the number I,
which is called Kether, the Crown. The other numbers arise by reason
of the necessity of thought, as explained in the following table:
The
Naples Arrangement
[So called because first worked out in that city.]
6I=0.
6I+146=0 as Undefined (Space).
6I+146+207=0 as basis of Possible Vibration.
I. The Point: Positive yet indefinable,
2. ,, ,, Distinguishable from I other.
3. ,, ,, Defined by relation to 2 others.
The Abyss--between Ideal and Actual.
4. The Point: Defined by 3 co-ordinates: Matter.
5. Motion (Time)--Hé, the Womb; for only through Motion and in Time can events occur.
6. The Point: now self-conscious, because able to define itself in terms of above.
7. The Point's Idea of Bliss (Ananda).
8. ,, ,, ,, ,, Thought (Chit).
9. ,, ,, ,, ,, Being (Sat).
I0. ,, ,, ,, ,, Itself fulfilled in its complement, as determined by 7, 8 and 9.
It will be seen from the above that by means of these ten positive
numbers, but not by any lesser number, one can arrive at a positive
description of any given object or idea.
So far, the argument has been erected on a rigid,
mathematical basis, with only the slightest tincture of philosophy to give
it form. But it is at this point that, for the purpose of describing
the objects of Thought and Sense, one is compelled to join hands with the
astrologers. The problem now is: to assign to Pure Number the
moral ideas which go with it. This is partly a matter of experience,
partly of tradition derived from older experience. It would be
unwise to discard tradition with complete contempt, because all thinking
is bound by the laws of the mind itself, and Mind has been formed through
thousands of years of evolution in each man by the thoughts of his
ancestors. The cells of all living brains are just as much the
children of the great thinkers of the past as the development of the
organs and limbs.
There are a very few people to-day who have heard
of Plato and Aristotle. Not one in a thousand, perhaps ten thousand,
of those few have ever read either of them, even in translations.
But there are also very few people whose thinking, such as it is, is not
conditioned by the ideas of those two men.
In the Tree of Life, therefore, is found the
first attempt to connect the Ideal with the Actual. The Qabalists
say, for example, that the number 7 contains the idea of Venus, and the
number 8 that of Mercury, that the connecting path between I
and 6 refers to the Moon, and that between 3 and 6 to the Sign of Gemini.
Then what is the true meaning, in the category of
the Real, of these planets and signs? Here again one is faced with
the impossibility of exact definition, because the possibilities of
research are infinite; also, at any moment in any research, the one idea
merges into the other and clouds the exact definition of the images.
But this, of course, is the objective. These are all blind steps on
the way to the Great Light: when the Universe is perceived as one,
yet with all its parts, each necessary and each distinct.
The beginning of this work is, however, easy
enough. One requires no more than elementary classical
knowledge. Roughly speaking, for a start, the nature of the planets
are described by those of the gods after whom the actual bodies in heaven
were named, according to the old astrological ideas of their influence on
the affairs of men. The same is true, to a less extent, of the Signs
of the Zodiac. There is not so much information available about
their natures; but it is helpful to note which planet rules which sign,
and in which sign which planets are exalted. The individual Fixed
Stars do not enter into the system of the Tarot.