Chapter XV (part 1)

PART III. APPLICATIONS OF THE TAROT. CHAPTER XV. GENERAL KEY TO THE APPLICATIONS OF THE TAROT. The Principle and the Forms--The Twenty--first Card of the Tarot is a Figure--principle--The Tarot--The Year--The Month--The Day--The Human Life. GENERAL KEY TO THE APPLICATIONS OF THE TAROT. WE have already stated that the twenty-first card gives the key to the construction of the Tarot. The utility of this arcanum does not end here; we shall now see that it is the key to every application of the Tarot. Some explanation may be necessary as to the manner in which a symbolical figure can be applied to conceptions of very different orders, without undergoing the least transformation. Let us take one very simple example, chosen in the realm of experimental science, by applying the analogical method to its study. Let us represent the well-known phenomenon of the decomposition of the white light by the prism. We place the prism, indicated by a triangular figure, in the centre; the white light, represented by parallel lines, enters it on one side: from the other the colours issue. [paragraph continues] They are represented by the refracted and more or less oblique lines. The words Prism , White Light , and Colours , indicate all the phases of the phenomenon. If, however, we reflect that after all it is only a general force (the white light) which undergoes various changes, according to the quantity of matter with which it comes in contact (the different thicknesses of the prism), we shall easily grasp another aspect of the figure. In fact the work of Louis Lucas, unconsciously continued by contemporary scientific men, proves by evidence the unity of force in action throughout Nature. The different physical forces, heat, light, or electricity, are only representations of this unique force differently modified, according to the quantity of matter with which it comes in contact. Thus the white light in contact with the large amount of matter at the base of the prism becomes violet in the same way the unique force coming in contact with much matter becomes heat, or placed in contact with little matter becomes light or electricity. We can therefore represent this new phenomenon without changing the form of our figure in any way; only the words need vary-- Here the different quantities of matter are represented by the different thicknesses of the prism, the unique force corresponding with the white light by the parallel lines, the various physical forms responding, to the various colours by the refracted lines. If any one should consider that these two examples belong to the realm of physics, and are therefore insufficient to generalize a phenomenon to this point, we can answer by another instance quoted from physiology. Physiology teaches us that all the organs in man act under the influence of the blood. Thus the latter, acting upon the salivary glands, produces the saliva, acting upon the stomach the gastric juice is secreted, upon the liver in certain cases it produces bile, etc., etc. In short, this physiological phenomenon reduces itself to one unique agent (the blood), acting upon the different organs (the salivary glands, stomach, liver), and producing secretions of equally different natures (saliva, gastric juices, bile). Can we not therefore represent the different organs by the different thickness of the prism, the different transformations of the unique force by the refracted rays, and the unique force itself by the parallel lines? The correspondence is exact on all points, and the same figure can be used once more-- Thus the figure has never changed: only the words applied to its different parts have varied. The basis of all occult science and of the analogical method resembles this example: one fixed and invariable figure, which is always the same (Ex.: the figure), to which various orders of phenomena can be successively applied.