The Tarot of the Bohemians (Papus) · 112 of 134 · tr. A.P. Morton
Chapter XX (part 1)
CHAPTER XX.
THE DIVINING TAROT IN SEVEN LESSONS.
Introduction : To our Lady Readers--Astronomy--and Astrology--Intuition--Fortune-telling by the Tarot in Seven Lessons.
1 st Lesson : Simplification of the Rules of Fortune-telling by the Tarot.
2 nd Lesson : Minor Arcana-Significations--A good Memory unnecessary for their retention--Key to the Divining Tarot--Sceptres--Cups--Swords--Pentacles.
3 rd Lesson : Major Arcana--Significations from a Divining Point of View.
4 th Lesson : Basis of the Application of this Knowledge--Arrangement of the Cards.
5 th Lesson : Reading the Tarot--Rapid Process--Elaborate Process.
6 th Lesson : Etteila's original and unpublished Method of reading the Tarot (from one of his rarest works): 1st deal--2nd deal--3rd deal--4th deal.
7 th Lesson .
Conclusion--Bibliography.
THE DIVINING TAROT.
INTRODUCTION.
To our Lady Readers--Astronomy and Astrology-Intuition--Fortune-telling by the Tarot in Seven Lessons .
THE first part of our study of the Tarot, full of numbers, of Hebrew letters, and abstract deductions, is not calculated to attract the attention of ladies.
But if women enjoy mystery and idealism, prefer and excuse the flights of a vivid imagination, men exact precision and method in studies of this kind, and I have therefore built this arsenal of technical arguments for them, confining imagination in the narrow limits of deduction; so that, if she has sometimes escaped and scattered the brilliant gems of illusion over the course of my work, the escape was only made with great trouble, and in spite of my efforts to retain her.
It is, however, traditional that the future can be read through the Tarot, and our feminine readers will never forgive me if I ignore their natural curiosity on this point.
I have therefore decided to approach this delicate question, and I hope that the pleasure gained by the fair inquirers will balance the scepticism of sterner intellects.
It is true that I can quote the opinion of all the writers of antiquity, who assert that the Egyptians used the Tarot as a means of predicting the future, and that the Jews also employed it to confirm their prophecies.
But in my opinion an important distinction should be made on this subject.
Unquestionably the Egyptians predicted the future through the Tarot; but they used its astronomical applications only.
Nothing was left to chance.
Thus, knowing that most of the important events which take place upon the earth are determined by the magnetic currents produced by the position of the earth at the moment that the event takes place, these learned men first defined the relations existing between the position of the stars in the heavens, and the circumstances they created upon the earth.
Since the stars accomplish fixed revolutions, that is to say, that they return to the same position at the end of a certain number of years, which are mathematically determinable, the Egyptians thought that the same events would be also reproduced at fixed intervals.
It would therefore suffice to know the movements of the stars, to predict the coming events.
This is why astronomy was only the commencement of astrology .
As the Tarot reproduced the movements of the stars upon a table, we can easily guess bow the ancients proceeded when they read prophecy by its aid.
They drew up the Horoscope of the coming year, according to the position which the stars would occupy during its course, and could then at once predict two-thirds of the events likely to occur.
Fabre d'Olivet in his works shows that one-third of the events are Determined , another third depend upon the Human Will , and the last third is subject to Providence .
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 explicitly states that the Tarot reproduces the movements of the stars upon a table, implying a reflection of cosmic order in the microcosm of the cards.
The Stoic and Plotinian doctrine that all parts of the cosmos are bound by hidden affinities, so that a movement in one part resonates through the whole; the metaphysical basis for astrology, magic, and divination.
The text describes how events on earth are determined by magnetic currents produced by the position of the earth and stars, indicating a hidden affinity between celestial and terrestrial realms.
Pronoia — the doctrine that the divine actively orders the unfolding of the cosmos and human affairs toward intelligible ends, against pure chance or blind necessity.
Fabre d'Olivet is quoted stating that one-third of events are subject to Providence, acknowledging a divine ordering principle alongside determinism and will.
The rule of the stars and planetary powers over mortal destiny — the astrological governors whose spheres bind souls to birth, error, and death; in Sethian gnosis the 'error of the stars' that the savior exposes, and from which the incorruptible generation alone is free. Distinct from cosmic_sympathy (a doctrine of universal affinity) in being a bondage-to-powers claim, and from archons (the rulers as personal beings) in concerning the astral machinery itself.
The passage centrally argues that the Egyptians predicted the future through the Tarot using astronomical applications where stars accomplish fixed revolutions determining events.