The Tarot of the Bohemians (Papus) · 36 of 134 · tr. A.P. Morton
Page 14 (part 1)
THE JUGGLER THE JUGGLER .
1.
א 1st Hebrew letter (Aleph).
ORIGIN OF THE SYMBOLISM OF THE FIRST CARD OF THE TAROT.
The Aleph hieroglyphically expresses Man himself as a collective unity, the master principle, ruler of the earth.
From this hieroglyphic meaning are derived ideas of the Unity and of the principle which determines it , ideas which give to Aleph its value as the sign of Power and Stability.
Man, or the Microcosm, the Unity and the Principle in all the worlds, is the meaning of the primitive hieroglyphic, which, as we see, exactly renders the general ideas which we have established.
But attentive consideration of this first card of the Tarot will enlighten us still further.
Symbolism of the First Card of the Tarot .
THE JUGGLER.
If you take the first card of the Tarot and examine it attentively, you will see that the form of the juggler depicted upon it corresponds in all points with that of the letter Aleph.
If we now apply to the study of this card the principles of the elucidation of symbolism, according to the Traité Élémentaire de Science Occulte , we at once find new explanations of it.
The top of the figure is occupied by the divine sign of Universal Life ∞ placed upon the head of the Juggler.
The bottom of the figure represents the Earth ornamented with its productions, the symbol of Nature.
Lastly, the centre is occupied by the Man himself, placed behind a table covered with divers objects.
The right and left of the figure are occupied by the hands of the Juggler, one of them bent towards the Earth, the other raised towards Heaven.
The position of the bands represents the two principles, active and passive, of the Great All, and it corresponds with the two columns Jakin and Bohas of the temple of Solomon and of Freemasonry.
Man with one hand seeks for God in heaven, with the other he plunges below, to call up the demon to himself, and thus unites the divine and the diabolic in humanity.
In this way the Tarot shows us the rôle of universal mediator accorded to the Adam-Kadmon.
If we wish to make a summary of the meaning of the symbol, so far as we have now deciphered it, we can represent it in this way-- Top Divine Head RIGHT LEFT ( Arm lowered) CENTRE Human Body ( Arm raised ) Necessity Liberty Evil BOTTOM Natural Feet Good Yet the symbolism of this first card of the Tarot does not end here.
The Juggler holds the wand of the Mage in the left hand, which he raises, and the four great symbols of the Tarot are placed before him.
The Cup, the Sword, the Pentacles or Talisman, which, as we have already seen, exactly correspond with the letters of the Tetragrammaton-- Sceptre or Yod , symbol of the active Principle preeminent, and of God.
Cup or He , symbol of the passive Principle pre-eminent, or of the Universe.
Sword, Cross or Vau , symbol of the Equilibrist Principle pre-eminent, or of Man.
Pentacles or 2nd He , the cyclic symbol of Eternity, which unites the three first Principles in one Whole.
From the human point of view these symbols correspond with the four great human castes.
The men of Yod , or the Inventors, the Producers.
The Nobility of Intellect.
The men of He , or the depositaries of the great truths discovered by the men of Yod: the Savants, the Judges.
Professional nobility.
The men of Vau , or the guardians and defenders of the former: the Warriors.
Nobility of the sword.
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 relies heavily on symbolic correspondence, mapping the card's structure to cosmic principles (Heaven/Earth), Hebrew letters to Tarot suits, and human castes to divine attributes.
The doctrine that the divine is present within all things and the universe itself, pervading creation rather than remaining solely transcendent above it. Distinct from unity_of_being (the general claim that all existence is one substance, agnostic about whether that substance indwells its parts) and from kingdom_within (the divine present specifically IN THE INDIVIDUAL human, accessible without mediation) — divine_immanence is the general pervading-presence claim applied to all of creation, not a human-specific indwelling.
The text states Man is the 'Unity and the Principle in all the worlds', suggesting the divine principle pervades the human microcosm.
The twenty-two Hebrew letters as the building blocks through which God creates and sustains all existence.
The passage centers on the Hebrew letter Aleph and the Tetragrammaton letters (Yod, He, Vau) as the foundational symbols determining the meaning of the card and the suits.
The balance of two contrary forces as the structural law of cosmos and operation — Lévi's equilibrium, expressed in Kabbalah by the senary: the will of God in its first cause, liberty in man, mathematical equilibrium in matter; the twofold vibration required to direct the Astral Light safely.
The text describes the Juggler's hands representing 'active and passive' principles and explicitly mentions 'Equilibrist Principle' regarding the Sword/Vau.
The human being as a small-scale image of the entire cosmos; the body, soul, and intellect mirroring the structure of the heavens and the divine — distinct from correspondence in that it makes the human the privileged mirror.
The passage explicitly defines Man as 'the Microcosm, the Unity and the Principle in all the worlds' and structures the card to reflect cosmic levels (Heaven, Earth, Man).
The absolutely simple, undivided first principle from which all multiplicity and existence flows.
Aleph is described as expressing 'Man himself as a collective unity' and the 'master principle', aligning with the concept of a singular first principle.
The Hermetic doctrine that apparent opposites are identical in nature but differ in degree — two extremes of the same scale (hot/cold, love/hate) — such that one pole can be shifted toward its opposite by a change of degree ('mental transmutation'). Distinct from opposites_transcended (a completion-state marking the path's end, not this doctrine's active technique) and magical_equilibrium (balance held BETWEEN two forces, not identity-by-degree of what looks like two forces).
The text discusses the 'two principles, active and passive' and the union of 'divine and diabolic', reflecting the Hermetic doctrine of polarity.
A vertical structure connecting cosmic levels — a tree, pillar, mountain, or ladder linking heaven, earth, and underworld around which the cosmos is organised. Yggdrasil binding the Nine Worlds in Norse cosmology, the Kalevala's Sampo as world-pillar, the Mayan ceiba, the Vedic Aśvattha, the shamanic central tree of Eliade's analyses. Cosmic-structural in character: distinct from sefirot_tree (a kabbalistic emanation diagram) and emanation_hierarchy (an ontological cascade); world_tree_axis is the cosmos's spine rather than the divine's outflow.
The card is structured vertically with Top (Divine), Centre (Man), and Bottom (Earth), creating a vertical axis connecting cosmic levels.