Cabalistic Tarot

Cabalistic Tarot
Ikarial, 1992

This deck is one of the most beautiful in my collection. Despite its name, this is not technically a Tarot deck but a pack of 72 sequentially numbered cards with astrological signs and Hebrew names. It was published by Éditions Bussière, Paris. The small but thick booklet for the deck is written entirely in French, and I’ve never wanted to understand the language as much as after having bought these cards so that I could read all that the artist has to say about them.

These wonderful paintings are by Ikarial. Many of the scenes may look familiar, though, because they are based on works by major artists. In card 12 above, we can recognize the 1863 work Beata Beatrix by Dante Gabriel Rossetti. Card 64, shown at bottom, is also derived from Rossetti’s The Girlhood of Virgin Mary. Doré’s image of The Souls of Paolo and Francesca can be recognized behind card 48, and his Dante and Beatrice Translated to the Sphere of Mars can be recognized on card 9, both sources originally appearing as illustrations for Dante’s The Divine Comedy. Ikarial’s version of The Gleaners, Jean Francois Millet’s painting from 1857, is shown on card 31 below.

Many of the paintings depict mythological and biblical imagery. Card 53, shown at bottom, depicts the figure of Sagittarius; other astrological signs are illustrated in the deck as well. There are allusions to Old and New Testaments, and the figures of Moses, Jesus, and various saints can be seen in the deck. Card 28, shown at bottom, portrays the angel guiding Lot and his wife away from a chastised Sodom and Gomorrah. Card 29, below, illustrates the story of Jacob and the Ladder from Genesis 28. Even the detail of the setting sun, which is mentioned in the text, is shown. The Lord stood above the ladder and told Jacob that he and his descendants would inherit the land beneath him. The Hebrew letters upon the cloud are Beth, Resh and Aleph, spelling Briah which means to create or form.

But why, we might wonder, is this deck called Cabalistic Tarot? It is because the deck is based upon the Shemhamphoras, the 72-fold name of God. This is only one of many ‘names of power’ which cabalists have extracted from the Pentateuch, but it is generally considered by tradition to be the most complete and the most powerful. It goes back at least to the 16th century, where it can be found in the works of Trithemius as well as in The 6th and 7th Books of Moses, where its magic seals appear. The Shemhamphoras is a cabalistic permutation of Exodus 14:19-21. Even the English translation carries power:

19. And the angel of God, who had been going before the camp of Israel, moved and went behind them; and the pillar of cloud moved from before them and stood behind them.
20. So it came between the camp of Egypt and the camp of Israel; and there was the cloud along with the darkness, yet it gave light at night. Thus the one did not come near the other all night.
21. Then Moses stretched out his hand over the sea, and the Lord moved the sea back by a strong wind all night, and turned the sea into dry land, so the waters were divided.

In the original Hebrew, each of these verses contain exactly 72 letters. Cabalists arrange the letters of the first verse from left to right; beneath these, the letters of the second verse from right to left, or ‘as the ox plows’; and finally, the letters of the third verse again beneath and from left to right. The result is 72 columns of 3-lettered names, each describing a facet of the Godhead. When these 72 names are joined together, we have the full Shemhamphorash – believed to hold the key to that power which Moses wielded to part the Red Sea.

By adding el or yah to the end of each 3-letter name, we derive the names of angels by which these aspects can be invoked. These are the 72 angels of the Shemhamphorash, whose names appear in gold at the bottom of each card.

The Cabalistic Tarot uses each card to represent one angel and his astrological dominion. These astrological rulerships were arrived at long ago by dividing the 360 degrees of the zodiac into 72 sections, which results in each angel reigning over exactly 5 degrees. This 5 degree section is called a quinance. Since each astrological sign contains 30 degrees, this works out to 6 angels per sign. So cards 1–6 are for the angels which rule Aries, cards 7–12 are for the angels which rule Taurus, and so on.

These correspondences are very old, and charts of these angels can be found in only a few sources. Most of the modern sources, however, duplicate a set of correspondences which were altered in their entirety by the Order of the Golden Dawn at the end of the 19th century. This magical order believed that the astrological year began at Leo rather than Aries. They thus assigned the first angel to the first quinance of Leo, while cabalistic tradition assigns the first angel to the first quinance of Aries. The result of the Golden Dawn alteration is that every quinance is assigned the wrong angel. Their correspondences can be found in Israel Regardie’s The Golden Dawn, and in Godwin’s Cabalistic Encyclopedia which includes the seals of these angels. These sources are useful, especially if one transposes the order of angels so that the first angel Vehuiah begins at Aries instead of Leo. This deck follows the original correspondence, which can be found in Llewellyn’s Three Books of Occult Philosophy or Francis Barrett’s The Magus.

None of these sources, unfortunately, include descriptions of the angelic functions; such descriptions apparently remain untranslated into English. At least one such source is La Kabbale Pratique by Ambelain. Also, this deck’s booklet itself seems to be derived from a fairly extensive source. But I have found one immediate recourse for the French-impaired: a web page by Aaron Leitch, who came by chance upon a source for these 72 angelic aspects. In light of that information, let me briefly quote a few descriptions which clearly provide some explanation for Ikarial’s choice of images.

Card 4, shown at top, shows the power of Elemiah to ‘dominate sea voyages and influence discoveries’. Hahaiah (card 12) is able to ‘protect against adversity, help in need, dominate dreams, and influence spiritual people’. Lauviah (card 17) grants ‘refreshment at night and protection against sadness’. Yeiaiel (card 22) ‘protects against storms and shipwrecks, and influences business trips.’ Reiyel (card 29) ‘aids and protects against all enemies visible and invisible, dominates mystic feeling and sacred philosophy’. Lecabel (card 31) ‘casts light on one’s job, dominates vegetation, and influences astrology’.

Seheiah (card 28) ‘protect against fire, ruin, and collapse, dominates health and longevity, influences prudence.’ Mehiel (card 64) ‘dominates the learned, orators, and authors, and influences the press and books’. Nanael (card 53) ‘brings enlightenment, dominates the higher sciences, influences teachers and men of law’. Nethahiah (card 25) ‘brings wisdom and revelation in dreams, and dominates occult Sciences and the Wise’. These descriptions are abbreviated from the entries on Leitch’s page, and even these are far from exhaustive considering the length of text in French sources. The original Hebrew letters can be referenced in the above sources.

Further correspondences have been made between these angels and the nine choirs. Since the zodiac can be equally divided into 9, each choir would rule 40 degrees. The angels 1–8 are therefore designated as Seraphim, 9–16 are Cherubim, 17–24 are Thrones, 25–32 are Dominations, 33–40 are Powers, 41–48 are Virtues, 49–56 are Principalities, 57–64 Archangels, and 64–72 Angels.

Ikarial’s booklet gives another cabalistic arrangement. This assigns the angels 1–24 to the spheres of Kether, Chokmah and Binah which (according to Ikarial) influence our moral personalities; angels 25–48 are assigned to the spheres of Chesed, Geburah and Tipareth which influence our emotional personalities; angels 49–72 are assigned the spheres of Netzach, Hod and Yesod which influence our mental personalities. I would suggest that these connections could be taken further, assigning the angels 1–18, 19–36, 37–54 and 56–72 to the archetypal worlds of Atziluth, Briah, Yetzirah and Assiah respectively.

I like this French deck a lot, for its beautiful paintings as well as for its magical tradition. You may be able to find it through Yves Daniel, a wonderful merchant for French decks.

Review by Mark Filipas, 10/13/00