The Tarot of the Bohemians (Papus) · 31 of 134 · tr. A.P. Morton
Chapter IX (part 5)
But the labours of Court de Gébelin , and above all of Fabre d'Olivet , are the most remarkable in this respect.
In his Langue Hébraïque Restituée , this learned Initiate established the existence of primitive hieroglyphic signs from which the Hebrew letters are derived.
All these writers, starting from very different points, agree in their conclusions, and this gives us a strong argument in favour of the truth of their inquiries.
But it matters very little to us whether these 16 primitive signs are the direct origin, either of the Hebrew, Sanscrit, Chinese, or Greek letters.
The identity of source tends strongly to identity of results, and any one of these derivative alphabets will answer our purpose.
The Hebrew alphabet, composed of 22 letters, seems preferable to us, on account of the concordance between the number of its letters and that of the Arcana in our Tarot.
We shall therefore adopt, as the starting-point of our study, the Hebrew alphabet of 22 letters, derived from the 16 primitive hieroglyphic signs.
This conclusion is scarcely reached, when fresh light shines upon us from all sides.
Guillaume Postel reveals to us the connection between the Hebrew letters and the Tarot; Van Helmont fils , Claude de Saint-Martin , Fabre d'Olivet , all confirm our opinion; lastly, Eliphas Levi also throws the weight of his marvellous learning into the question.
But we are more surprised to find that the Sepher Yetzirah , an old book of the Kabbalah, which contains a study upon the formation of the Hebrew alphabet, arrives at a division of the letters which exactly corresponds with the astrological data contained in an old manuscript in the Vatican, upon which Christian based his horoscopic works.
One single and identical conclusion arises from all these different points of view: the value of the Hebrew letter as a symbol.
In it we possess a real symbol, of which we can ascertain not only the meanings, but also the origin.
We could then make a Tarot exclusively composed of Hebrew letters and of numbers, but this is not our object; we are seeking to discover in the symbolism of the Hebrew characters the symbolism of the Tarot, and we shall thus realize our intention of ascertaining deductively the value of the figures of the Tarot and the reason they have been chosen.
THE HEBREW LETTERS AS THE BASIS OF THE SYMBOLICAL TAROT.
We shall now study the Hebrew letters one by one, in determining successively-- 1st.
The hieroglyphic value of each one of them according to its origin (Fabre d'Olivet, Barrois), 2nd.
Its symbolic value derived from this hieroglyphic (Fabre d'Olivet, Eliphas Levi, Christian); 3rd.
Its astronomical value (Christian and the Sepher Yetzirah .).
Once acquainted with these data, it will be easy for us to deduce from them the application of the letters to the symbols of the Tarot.
But before we enter upon this study, it is necessary to say a few words upon the Hebrew alphabet in general and its constitution.
The alphabet of the Hebrews is composed of 22 letters; these letters, however, are not placed by chance, one after the other.
Each of them corresponds with a number according to its rank, with a hieroglyphic according to its form, with a symbol according to its affinities with the other letters.
As we have already said, all the letters are derived from one amongst them, the yod .
The yod has generated them in the following manner (see Sepher Yetzirah )-- 1st.
Three mothers: The A (Aleph) א The M (The Mem) מ The Sh (The Shin) ש 2nd.
The Hermetic axiom that the structure of the cosmos is reflected at every scale — 'as above, so below; as within, so without' — making each level a legible map of the others.
The text is fundamentally about establishing correspondences between Hebrew letters, Tarot Arcana, hieroglyphs, and astrological data ('identity of source tends strongly to identity of results').
A historical or mythical chain of transmission for secret wisdom from master to disciple across time and cultures — the credential of the teaching, not merely its content. Distinct from oral_tradition (the spoken-not-written modality of transmission, which a lineage may or may not use) and hidden_sayings (the concealment-for-readiness of a teaching's meaning, independent of who transmitted it or in what unbroken chain).
The author cites a chain of initiates and writers (Gébelin, d'Olivet, Postel, Van Helmont, Saint-Martin, Levi) to validate the teachings.
Esoteric teachings reserved for those ready to receive them; outer meaning conceals an inner liberating truth.
The text discusses uncovering the 'symbolic value' and 'hieroglyphic value' hidden within the letters, implying an esoteric meaning beneath the surface.
The twenty-two Hebrew letters as the building blocks through which God creates and sustains all existence.
The passage explicitly centers on the Hebrew letters as the basis of symbolism and creation, referencing the Sepher Yetzirah's study on the formation of the alphabet and stating 'the yod has generated them'.