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Tarot Hermeneutics

Exploring How We Create Meaning with Tarot

Outline of Survey Tree of Life and Tarot

Most important to cover:

Tsimsum

4 worlds; correspondence to the YHVH

10 Sephiroth (Spheres)—these relate to the pip and court cards of the Tarot

22 Paths—these relate to the Major Arcana 

Important, but not the end of the world if we don’t get to them:

3 Pillars

Lightning Flash path of enlightenment through the 10 Sephiroth

Path of Redemption: climbing back up the tree via the 22 Paths  

  1. Tsimsum
    1. The contraction of G-d when he desires to create something
    2. The line is the ray of light from G-d into the darkness that resulted from his contraction
    3. Each of these developments (line to worlds to sephiroth, etc) has to do with the Divine and his 1) desire to interact with the material world of his creation and 2) how he steps his energy down into forms that no longer are him but only, often inaccurately, reflect him, but that we can more easily understand and work with
    4. Has qualities of the esoteric Fool, but not necessarily associated directly with the Tarot—rather this concept gives us the why behind the how—learning to use the tarot for our personal process of manifestation
    5. The kabbalah defines a process of connecting with the Divine; the Tarot gives us a tool for working with that system
  2. 4 Worlds
    1. YHVH
    2. Fire, Water, Air, Earth
    3. Suits
  3. 10 Sephiroth
    1. Titles (Kether, crown; Chokmah, wisdom; Binah, understanding; etc.)
    2. There is a system of correspondences that expands on the symbolism of the Sephiroth, we’ll focus on the just the titles today
    3. Pips
    4. Placement of YHVH on the Sephiroth (Chokmah, Binah, Tiphareth, Malkuth)
    5. Courts correspond to YHVH as placed over the Sephiroth
  4. 22 Paths
    1. Paths are a negotiation between the two Sephiroth that they link
    2. Majors
  5. 3 Pillars
    1. Define contexts and relationships between the Paths/Majors
  6. Lightning Flash Path
    1. Follows the 10 Sephiroth – process of enlightenment (Divine coming down to us)
  7. Path of Redemption
    1. Follows the 22 Paths – process of study (working up towards the Divine)
    2. We’ll use this as our primary approach if you stay with us for the series of classes