The Tarot of the Bohemians (Papus) · 72 of 134 · tr. A.P. Morton
Chapter XIV (part 3)
An indeterminable and unnamable principle, of which we are content to assert the existence only-- 2.
This synthetic principle, when analyzed , is found to consist of a Trinity thus constituted-- Neuter ∞ SYNTHETIC PRINCIPLE Negative - NEGATIVE PRINCIPLE 2 Positive + POSITIVE PRINCIPLE 1 If we would use a common but very suggestive image, we should say-- The constitution of God is thus defined by the Tarot-- The Spirit of God, or God the Father .
The Soul of God, or God the Son .
The Body of God, or God the Holy Spirit .
* * * We must now prove that the conclusions which we have reached through the Tarot agree in all points with those of every author who has treated the question on a higher level and with all the superior theogonies of antiquity.
1.
THE PRINCIPAL AUTHORS WHO HAVE STUDIED THIS QUESTION.
We have chosen from amongst the authors who have studied this question of first principles, two writers who, starting from different points of view, support the conclusions of the Tarot: Lacuria and Wronski.
F.
G.
Lacuria .
This eminent writer, in his book on the Harmonies of the Being expressed by Numbers , starts in his deductions from the three words used by St.
John: Vita, Verbum, Lux .
He analyzes each of these words, establishes the connection that exists between it and the Christian Trinity, and defines each of the elements in this trinity-- "Here is the Trinity: the Father, who is life or immensity; the Son, who is word or form.
and distinction or variety; the Holy Spirit, who is light and love, or unity.
And these three persons are only one God.
Their unity is not only in the external fact of their existence, but in the essence of things, for they are inseparable in the thought of man ; no one can imagine one without the others." (p.
43).
"In the commencement was the BEING, the being is not undetermined, but it is distinct from the NON-BEING; it sees that it is the being, and these two points of view, participating in the unity of the substance which they affect, produce by their Union THE CONSCIENCE, which is also light or harmony" (vol.
ii.
p.
333).
+ THE BEING The Father The Life - THE NON-BEING The Son The Word ∞ THE CONSCIENCE The Holy Spirit The Light First principles of Lacuria.
_______________ Henri Wronski .
This author interests us doubly, for his conclusions not only agree with the data given by the Tarot, but they also throw great light upon them.
Let us therefore listen to him ( Apodictique , p.
5)-- "Thus the reality of the absolute, REALITY in itself or reality in general, is unquestionably the first determination of the very essence of the absolute, and consequently the first principle of reason.
Without it as an indispensable condition, as we have just admitted it to be, every assertion made by reason would be valueless.
And it is upon this fundamental principle of reason, upon this indestructible and in every way indispensable condition, that we shall now establish absolute philosophy itself with the same infallibility.
"In the first place this reality of the absolute, which we now recognize so profoundly, produces or creates itself; for, as we have already irrevocably concluded, the absolute, this indispensable term of reason, is that which is BY ITSELF.
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 passage aims to prove that Tarot conclusions agree with other authors and superior theogonies of antiquity.
Narratives or doctrines of cosmic origin — how heaven, earth, and the primordial deities first came into being. The Kojiki's deities born alone on the Plain of High Heaven, Voluspo's Ginnungagap, Genesis's tohu wa-bohu, the Timaeus's Demiurge fashioning the Receptacle, the Hesiodic Theogony, the Kalevala's egg-cosmogony, Egyptian Nun-and-Atum. Distinct from emanation_hierarchy (structural-ontological cascade), letters_of_creation (mechanism of creation), and apocatastasis/frashokereti (end-state restoration); cosmogony is temporally-narrative beginning.
The text discusses first principles and states 'In the commencement was the BEING,' addressing the origin of existence.
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 unity of the Trinity is described as existing 'in the essence of things,' suggesting divine pervasion.
The Hermetic doctrine that a masculine-feminine generative principle operates on every plane of being, not only the biological — present at all times as a structural feature of creation itself. Distinct from divine_marriage (a specific reunification event or symbol) and aeons (paired divine beings arranged in syzygies, not a universal structural claim).
The divine principles are labeled with masculine terms (Father, Son) alongside a Neuter principle.
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 constitution of God is presented as a balance between Negative, Positive, and Synthetic principles.
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 structure is defined by opposing principles: Negative and Positive, Being and Non-Being.