The Visconti Tarot

The card Strength is usually explained as an allegory of the cardinal virtue Fortitudo. Important thinkers like Plato, Aristotle and Thomas Aquinas have come up with four important virtues that man should pursue:

1. Prudentia (caution – sensibility – wisdom)
2. Iustitia (justice – righteousness)
3. Fortitudo (courage – strength)
4. Temperantia (moderation – temperance – self-control)

That the Visconti Di Modrone card, from the 15th century (right), also represents a spiritual proces, becomes clear when we study the details. The woman’s mantle has a curly pattern, similar to the lion’s hair. This mantle is lined with white (= purified) fur. The woman’s hair has the same color as the lion’s hair. These are three indications that the energies of the lion (the lower nature) and the woman (the divine) have merged.

We can deduce the sublimation (deification) of the animal drives from the following details: the crown, the golden color of the lion, and the dark blue color of the mantle of the woman. Dark blue (indigo) is the color of the sixth chakra, where the SACRED MARRIAGE (click here) takes place. The lion holds one paw up; a reference to the ‘oneness’ of the divine.

Click here for ONE LEG as a symbol of the SACRED MARRIAGE

The woman’s golden hair strangely floats in the air, not hindered by gravity. This symbolizes the kundalini energy that flows from the pelvis to the head. The woman holds the lion’s mouth open and sits on him: she has control over him.

Goddesses standing or riding on a lion is an existing theme in iconography, that has the same deeper meaning as the card Strength (below). With all the goddesses below we also see the theme of (the visibility of/raising) one leg: they are rooted in the oneness of the divine.

The Tarot of Marseille

The Tarot of Marseille (a collective name for tarot decks of different designers, over a certain period of time, in a specific geographical area) emphasizes the mystical experience of oneness even more. The hat on the woman’s head is now a combination of a crown and a lemniscate (below).

The symbol of the lemniscate stands for infinity. Esoterically, it refers to the fusion of the opposites: the sacred marriage. The duality of physical creation merges into divine oneness. Our higher and lower nature are also polarities that merge. The hat of the Magician (tarot card no. 1) also has the shape of a lemniscate.

Click here to read more about the SACRED MARRIAGE

That the woman and the lion form one source of power is communicated on the Jacques Veiville card (below left) by the tail of the lion that is curled around the woman’s foot. On the card by Francois Chosson (below center), the entire lower body of the lion has disappeared under the mantle of the woman. Chosson has also added feathers to the woman’s hat. This is a reference to the kundalini symbol the caduceus.

Click here for the CADUCEUS as a hidden kundalini symbol in Christian painting.

A curious detail on some Marseille cards is the woman’s bare foot. Jacques Viéville’s card even shows a completely bare lower leg. Because the woman is otherwise fully dressed, including a hat, you feel that this must have a specific meaning. Like the raised front leg of the Visconti lion, this refers to the (inner) merging of the polar energies; to divine oneness.

Click here for ONE LEG as a symbol of the SACRED MARRIAGE

On this woodcut from the alchemical manuscript Azoth by Basil Valentinus (1613), the LEMNISCATE is associated with the fusion of the polarities sun and moon, as well as the sublimation of the animal drives: a LION swallowing a bird.

An illustration of the Magnum Opus (completed process of God-Realization) of the alchemist, the symbolism of which has the same meaning as tarot card Strength. The POLAR ENERGIES (king and queen) are fused. This is also the meaning of the two SERPENTS that have become one (in the foreground). Mastery over animal nature (the LION). The tree with suns symbolizes the seven CHAKRAS that have been purified and activated by the kundalini energy. (Johann Daniel Mylius, Philosophia reformata, 1622)

Also in Christian painting, showing only one leg has been used to communicate veiledly that Jesus had experienced a kundalini awakening. Below are three examples.

Read about Jesus’ kundalini awakening in my book ‘John the Baptist Who Became Jesus the Christ’.

The six-pointed star (HEXAGRAM, click here) refers to the sacred marriage (2=1). Jacopino di Francesco (pseudo), 14th century.

Francisco de Zurbaran, 1661.

Francesco Squarcione, 15th century,
National Museum of Art of Romania.

In later tarot decks, such as the Italian Liguria-Piedmont from 1840 (right), the lion is even more one with the woman. The placement of the lion’s head at the height of her belly makes it even clearer what the animal stands for: the energies of the emotions and the libido. These forces are controlled by the woman (with her hands).

The occultists

Oswald Wirth (below left) has not changed the card much. The manes of this lion are fiery red, a reference to the ‘burning’ desires and emotions that the lion represents. The long tongue of the animal also resembles a large flame.

The mosaic of Châteaux des Avenières (below right), that is based on Wirth’s tarot, contains three additional elements to clarify the other symbolism: an active volcano, a pool of water, and a tree with a serpent. These are all classic metaphors for a kundalini awakening. They are interconnected on the mosaic (the volcano is reflected in the pool of water); a confirmation that they represent the same thing.

Chateaux des Avenières (1917)

A subtle change is that on the mosaic of Châteaux des Avenières the woman seems to close the lion’s mouth with gentle hands, while on all cards from previous centuries an opposite action takes place: the lion’s mouth is kept open. Closing the mouth symbolizes calming the inner stirrings. This makes no major difference to the meaning of the card. In both cases the woman controls the animal, and they (the higher and lower nature) are connected.

We also see this calming of the lion on the card of Rider-Waite-Smith (right). Arthur Waite has swapped the Strength and Justice card, making Strength number 8 in his deck.

The woman is wearing a white dress, a reference to the purity of the divine. She is connected to the lion by a long wreath of flowers, which is wrapped around her waist and around the animal’s neck. This connection tell us that together they form one power source. The choice of a floral wreath – and not, for example, a rope – means that the woman exerts her power with meekness and love (the red roses). The placement of the wreath around her waist refers to the control of the emotions and the libido (which the lion represents).

Rider-Waite-Smith Tarot (1909)

The wreath of flowers symbolizes an open crown chakra.

The orange color of the lion could be a reference to the second chakra, which is connected to the sexual urges. The floral wreath around the woman’s head is a universal symbol of an open crown chakra. We also see this in, for example, Christian saint iconography (above right). The RWS card shows that the animal energies have been purified and have been brought to the crown. The RWS card Cups Two (right) uses different symbols to convey the same.

Conclusion

Tarot card Strength gives a glimpse into the inner world of the spiritually awakened person. We are born in a body with animal instincts, but in us also burns a divine flame. Throughout our lives, our higher and lower nature compete with each other. Sometimes we are selfish (the animal in us), and other times we are more altruistic (divine).

Our spiritual mission is to overcome our animal impulses (symbolized by the lion on this tarot card) and realize our divine potential. We cannot achieve the required purification and sublimation alone. The kundalini energy is the CEO in this process. She is personified by the woman on the card. Our task is to support her work with the right way of living: purity in thinking and doing, and using our WILLPOWER (the STRENGTH of our will: the theme of this card) to choose the divine, again and again.

This tarot card shows how this opens the way for the merging of the energies of our higher and lower nature, and their combined power transforms us and (re)connects us with the divine.

RWS Cups Two

Right: this illustration communicates the same as tarot card Strength, with different symbolism. The yogi has conquered his animal instincts (he is sitting on a TIGER skin) and has transported these energies from the lower to the higher chakras (the color ORANGE of the tiger can also be seen on his forehead). His inner world is quiet and peaceful (he is in meditation). His BLUE color refers to deification. The ascend of the awakened KUNDALINI energy, through the chakras, is shown schematically. The yogi’s CROWN CHAKRA is fully opened. His heart is awakened (the heart chakra behind him).

Left: an alchemical illustration. The raised tail and crown refer to a successful SUBLIMATION of the animal energies. The polar energies (sun and moon, the eyes of the lion) are fused (HEXAGRAM) in the forehead.

The Visconti-Sforza Chariot

On a second card that has been preserved from the 15th century, the Visconti-Sforza Chariot (right), the two white horses have golden wings. Because of this you can no longer ignore a spiritual meaning. Wings represent the ability to ascend to the divine dimensions. The designer of this card was probably inspired by images of the god Apollo in his solar chariot (below left).

There are also similarities with the way in which the Assumption of the prophet Eliah is depicted. The Bible says that Eliah was taken to heaven by a fiery chariot with fiery horses (2 Kings 2:11). This is a metaphor for the final stage of a kundalini process. Read more about this in my book ‘John the Baptist who became Jesus the Christ’.

Below right an icon of the Assumption of Eliah. The eight-spoked chariot wheels here also refer to the kundalini symbol the eight-pointed MORNING STAR (click here). The flames around Eliah have the (pinecone) shape of the PINEAL GLAND (click here), which plays a major role in the kundalini process and the God-experience.

The Visconti-Sforza Chariot, 15th century.

Apollo on his chariot, by Pinturicchio, circa 1509.

Ancient icon of the ascension of the prophet Eliah in a ‘fiery chariot with fiery horses’.

The woman on the Visconti-Sforza card sits on a throne, between two spiral shaped pillars, that are a reference to the two polar energy channels that flow on both sides of the spine and that keep us connected to duality (the ida nadi and pingala nadi).

Spiraling pillars were also used in Christian art of the time to communicate (veiled) that Jesus had gone through a kundalini awakening. The paintings below are two examples. Read about the kundalini process of Jesus in my book ‘John the Baptist who became Jesus the Christ’. 

Jesus discussing with the scribes. He points up to the SPIRAL PILLAR (click here) and with his other hand to his PELVIS, the abode of the kundalini. (Garofalo Benvenuto Tisi, 1520)

Jesus stands between two SPIRALING PILLARS (click here). With both his hands he makes the sign of the SACRED MARRIAGE (click here): two fingers together, 2=1. (Bernardino Passeri, 1593, Bowyer Bible)

The platform on which the Visconti-Sforza woman sits is hexagonal: the hexagram is the universal symbol for the fusion of polarities. Her dress also has hexagons on it.

A globus cruciger (circa 1879)

The woman is wearing a crown and she is holding a scepter and a globus cruciger (a globe with a cross on it). As we saw when discussing the The Emperor, a globus cruciger stands for the victory of spirit (the cross) over matter (the globe). The wings of the horses are an additional element to express that the animal drives have been sublimated (transformed).

Remarkably, on both Visconti cards a woman is depicted, while in the centuries that follow we only see victorious men, which corresponds to a triumphal procession traditionally being for army commanders.

An explanation for this could be that the cards are a tribute to certain women from the Visconti family. Another reason could be that it is a reference to God’s (Holy) Spirit, or the kundalini energy, which is considered feminine in most spiritual traditions, and which is the active divine power in a spiritual awakening. Comparable to the tarot cards The High Priestess and The Empress .

Hermes/Mercury

That a kundalini awakening is the underlying theme of the tarot card The Chariot can also be deduced from two of the very first printed copies: the Rothshield deck and the Tarot of Bologna (on the right). Only uncoloured, uncut printed sheets of the Rothschild deck have been preserved.

Both decks have replaced the woman on the Chariot with a man with wings on his helmet; a reference to the Greek god Hermes (Mercury to the Romans), whose serpent staff the caduceus is the classical symbol for a kundalini awakening (below).

Rothschild deck (circa 1500)

Tarot of Bologna
(circa 1600)

The Tarot of Marseille

On The Chariot from the Tarot of Marseille we see a man in military clothing, with a scepter and a crown, standing in a wagon that has the shape of a cube. The roof above his head rests on four pillars. Both the cube shape and the four pillars refer to matter / the physical dimensions: in numerology four is the number of the earth (four elements, four cardinal directions, four seasons, etc.).

Tarot of Marseille by Jacques Viéville (1650)

Tarot of Marseille by Jean Noblet (1659)

Tarot of Marseille by Nicolas Conver (1760)

In symbolism, the moon, with its ever-changing shape, stands for duality and the impermanence of creation. This meaning is confirmed by the faces of the moons on the shoulders of the driver: one looks happy and the other one looks sad.

There are also differences between the various Marseille cards. The two horses on Jacques Viéville’s card (above left) have a man’s head with a crown. The meaning of this is that the human will is controlling the animal drives. The horses on the Jean Noblet (above center) card have different colors: blue and red – the colors of the feminine and masculine. The horses of Nicolas Conver (above right) are both blue in color; a reference to the “deification” of the animal drives.

On two cards (Viéville and Conver) the horses have no hind legs, but are attached to the chariot with their bodies. This symbolizes that the horses and the chariot cannot be viewed separately. The chariot represents the body of man (vehicle of the soul) and the horses represent the animal instincts, which we experience through the body – a consequence of our animal origin. The man on the Viéville card has two suns on his chest; a reference to the divine (kundalini) energies that flow through him.

The scepter on the card of Nicolas Conver is enriched with the symbols for the sun, the moon and (probably) the earth. The symbols are partly overlapping: the polar energies (sun and moon) are fused. The scepter partly coincides with one of the spiral shaped pillars: a reference to the kundalini energy.

The SCEPTER (click here) and the PILLAR (click here) are both a symbol for the awakened spine.

The philosophies of Plato have probably served as a source of inspiration for the Chariot of the Marseille decks. In his work Phaedrus Plato uses the metaphor of a wagon with two horses, for the forces at work in man. One of the two horses is white in color, noble, obedient and immortal; the other horse is black, deformed, stubborn and mortal.

Nicolas Conver, detail.

Sun symbol

According to Plato, two forces (horses) are active in us.

Plato describes the dichotomy in man: we all have a higher, divine nature, and also a lower, animal nature. The white horse wants to ascend to heaven. The black horse pulls the other way, towards the earth. The mind of man (the charioteer) must get these contradictory forces in the right direction.

This DICHOTOMY in man can also be found in the Bible. Read more in my book ‘John the baptist who became Jezus the Christ’.

The bodies of the horses on the Marseille Chariot are in opposite directions. However, their heads look the same way: the charioteer has managed to keep a course on the divine. Oswald Wirth and Arthur E. Waite incorporated this theme into their decks, as we will now see.

The Oswald Wirth Tarot

Oswald Wirth’s Chariot stays close to the Tarot of Marseille. The two horses have become two sphinxes, in a dark and a light color, to emphasize the duality they represent. A sphinx – a lion’s body with a woman’s head – represents control over the animal drives. Just like the two moons on the man’s shoulders, the sphinxes also have different facial expressions.

On Wirth’s card the wheels have six spokes; a reference to the hexagram. He brings back the roof with the stars from the Visconti di Modrone Tarot. The stars are all five-pointed: a pentagram stands in the tarot for the perfected human (see tarot card The Magician). At the top of the scepter we see a triangle on a circle; this symbolizes the victory of spirit (the triangle) over matter (the circle).

On the front of the car a winged sun disk is depicted; a symbol from Ancient Egypt that refers to deification. The figure under the winged sun disk is a variant invented by Wirth on the yoni-lingam symbol from the Tantra tradition, which stands for the fusion of masculine and feminine (energies). The small yellow DOUBLE CIRCLE (click here) on the front of the car’s roof is a symbol from alchemy, which also symbolizes the merging of the polar energies. We also see this double circle along the roof of the chariot on Jean Noblet’s Tarot of Marseille card (above).

Oswald Wirth Tarot (1889)

Illustration by Oswald Wirth,
from ‘La Clef de La Magie Noir’, circa 1920.

Above right, the charioteer is depicted in a different way, but with the same symbolic meaning as the tarot card The Chariot. It is an illustration by Oscar Wirth from the occult book ‘La Clef de La Magie Noir’. The charioteer sits atop (mastery) a tilted square (the earth) consisting of a white triangle with the Hebrew letters YHWH (God), and a black triangle with an image of the devil. The two triangles represent respectively the higher and lower nature in man. They also represent the polar energies (duality) in general. They are the two triangles of the hexagram. These are fused into a square in this image. At the bottom lies the Fool from tarot card number 0. The Fool represents the person who does not know about God, or who rejects Him. The Fool too has been conquered by the charioteer: he has realized the divine.

The Rider-Waite-Smith Tarot

Artist Pamela Colman-Smith added a number of new elements to the Chariot. It is no longer the two sphinxes / horses that are part of the chariot, but the charioteer himself. The chariot, which also has the shape of a cube, seems to rest on the ground. The charioteer rises up, as it were, from the cube. This is symbolism that traces back to Ancient Egypt (see below center) and refers to victory over matter (the cube).

Rider-Waite-Smith Tarot (1909)

Amun priest Hor (Ancient Egypt)

From: The Magus, or Celestial Intelligencer (Francis Barrett, 1801)
Source: www.fromoldbooks.org

The laurel wreath that the man wears stands for his achieved spiritual victory. The eight-pointed star on his crown is the MORNING STAR (click here) and refers to a kundalini awakening (see also tarot card The Star). On the belt, around his waist, are (probably) the signs of the zodiac. Below the belt, on his clothing, are geomantic symbols (see illustration below right). These were used for magic rituals by members of the occult group The Golden Dawn, of which Arthur E. Waite and Pamela Colman-Smith were members.

The two sphinxes – not visibly attached to the cube – hold the tip of their tail between their front legs. This is a reference to the ouroboros, the serpent that bites its own tail: a symbol from alchemy that refers to the oneness of everything. The alchemical illustration below on the left, makes a connection between a square (cube) and the ouroboros. Similar symbolism can be seen in a rare depiction of Al-Buraq, the divine mount of the prophet Mohammed (below right). 

From the alchemical manuscript
“The Crowning of Nature”

Al-Buraq (in this illustration from circa 1775) is the ‘animal with the female head’ on which the prophet Mohammed made his famous Night Journey through the seven heavens (read: chakras), an event that we may take as a metaphor for a kundalini awakening.

With the hand with which he holds his scepter (symbol for his awakened spine), the RWS charioteer makes the sign of SACRED MARRIAGE (click here): two fingers together, 2=1.

Behind the chariot is a river: the charioteer has made a successful (spiritual) crossing. He has left the city, in the background, a symbol for ‘the world’. Leaving a city is also in the Bible a metaphor for a departure from a materialistic lifestyle. Read more about this in my book ‘John the Baptist who became Jesus the Christ’.

Château des Avenières

The charioteer on the mosaic of Château des Avenières (below left) wears the atef crown of Osiris; the Egyptian god who stands for resurrection and renewal (below center). A uraeus cobra is placed at the front of the crown; the Egyptian symbol for the kundalini energy. The two red feathers on the side of the crown symbolize, just like the wings of the caduceus, the completion of a kundalini process.

Château des Avenières (1917)

The Egyptian god Osiris
with atef crown, heka and nekhakha.

The Egyptian god Ptah
with was-scepter
(Hermitage Museum)

The shepherd’s staff (heka) in the hand of Osiris symbolizes the spine with the kundalini energy in it, and refers to “herding” the inner animal. The flail (nekhakha) refers to the suffering that accompanies a kundalini awakening. Dismantling and discarding the ego (the old man) is rarely painless. The three ribbons on the flail represent the three energy channels involved in a kundalini awakening. The charioteer has in his left hand both a heka and the nekhakha. They are placed on the serpentine belt that the man wears. We may see this as a confirmation of our interpretation that both represent the kundalini.

Click here for the FLAIL as a symbol for the purifying effect of the kundalini.

On the roof of the car we see gold- and silver-colored pentagrams: the colors that are connected to the polar energies (sun and moon). The chariot rests on a globe: the charioteer has gained mastery over matter.

The corners of the chariot (left) refer to the was-scepter with which rulers (gods, kings, priests) in Ancient Egypt were depicted (see Ptah, above right). It is not clear which animal it is on a was-scepter (and on the chariot), and this ambiguity is intended. This so-called “Seth-beast” represents the animal in man. The was-scepter stands for power over the animal drives. The bottom of the scepter is often forked (two-pointed); this referes to duality that, together with the animal drives, has been mastered.

Conclusion

The Chariot stands for victory: the spiritual aspirant has mastered the temptations of the world (money, status, power, fame, etc.) and the animal impulses of the body. The image of a chariot indicates that a battle had to be fought.

This is the subject of the Bhagavad Gita, the holy book of the yogis. The Gita is a dialogue between prince Arjuna and Krishna, who are sitting in a chariot together. Arjuna is about to fight against his own family (read: himself), with his army, to get his rightful place on the king’s throne (the Kingdom of God).

The Bhagavad Gita is about the fight in man between his higher and lower nature. Arjuna is advised by Krishna (God), who also controls the horses of the chariot. In the ultimate battle with our demons and animal drives we are helped by God.

Though thousand times a thousand
in battle one may conquer,
yet should one conquer just oneself
one is the greatest conqueror.

– The Buddha (Dhammapada, verse 103) –

Arjuna and Krishna go to battle (Bhagavad Gita)

Traditional meaning

Traditionally, the wheel of fortune stands for the instability of prosperity and social success; everything you have achieved in life you can lose again. The oldest images of a wheel of fortune date from the early Middle Ages. In most cases we see the Roman goddess Fortuna (Tyche with the Ancient Greeks) who turns a large wheel (Rota Fortunae), with several people clinging unto it. Because of the rotation there is a constant dynamic of changing positions: some are on their way up, others are on their way down. At the top of the wheel is – temporarily! – the lucky person: the king or another ruler. Sometimes Fortuna is blindfolded. This is a reference to her arbitrariness: she seems to be distributing prosperity and setbacks without personal regards.

The Visconti Tarot

On the very first Wheel of Fortune card, that of the 15th century Visconti tarot (below left), both the person moving up on the wheel, and the one at the top, have a pair of large donkey ears. The designers of this card want to make it clear to us that those who are concerned with status, power and money, are donkeys. These worldly things are fleeting, and you are at the mercy of Lady Fortuna, as the image of the wheel of fortune shows. Of lasting value is inner wealth, obtained through a God-centered life.

The Tarot of Marsseille and family

From the 16th century on, the rotating wheel on tarot card The Wheel of Fortune, represents the circular (spiraling) movement of the kundalini energy. The upward movement represents spiritual ascension: growing in consciousness from the material / animal to the divine. The downward movement stands for spiritual descend: the way back to an unconscious, “animal-like” life.

Tarot of Bologna (Giacomo Zoni, 1780)

Liguria-Piedmont Tarot (1860)

The designer of the Marseille Payen-Webb card (above left) has placed the wheel on a body of water (the “kundalini well” in the pelvis). On the right side we see a dog, wearing a collar and a skirt, on the way to the top of the wheel. This dog in human clothing symbolizes the spiritually unconscious person living an animal-like life. The collar refers to controlling the animal drives, a prerequisite for the process of God-realization. The choice of a dog has to do with the tamed nature of this animal. It is a pet that no longer lives fully according to its instincts, but has learned to obey man.

On top of the wheel of the Tarot de Marseille card is a sphinx-like creature – a human head on an animal body – that symbolizes the person who has mastered his animal nature. We can deduce this from the crown on the head of the sphinx and from the wings (symbol of sublimation) on the animal body. The red sword represents the driving force behind this spiritual process: the kundalini energy.

On the way down, back to a spiritually unconscious life, there is a figure with a tail of fire. The awakened kundalini energy in this person has not ascended to the crown, but is dwelling in the abdomen and feeds the lower chakras (sensory pleasure and ego aspects). This is the central theme of tarot card 15 The Devil.

Also on the Tarot of Bologna card (above center) a dog in human clothing is on the way up, and there is a sphinx-like figure, with crown, scepter and wing, on top of the wheel. That the rotating wheel represents the spiral movement of the kundalini, is made clear by the pillar with the large flame attached to the wheel.

On the Liguria-Piedmont card (above right) it is even clearer that the body of water, under the wheel, represents the kundalini in the pelvis: water also flows around the wheel – poorly colored, yet clearly visible.

The “kundalini goddess” Shakti as a female figure in a bowl (the pelvis, the Holy Grail) with divine fire, and as a coiled serpent (gouache from Rajasthan, India, 19th century).

Man as a hybrid being: partly human and partly dog ​​/ wolf. These two halves want to go in opposite directions, which gives us continuously inner struggles. Illustration from: The Chronicle of Nuremberg, Hartmann Schedel, 1493.

On the left a drawing of “the serpent pillar” from Delphi, on the right the current state of the pillar, erected in 447 BC.

Below three illustrations from the spiritual tradition of alchemy with references to the circular movement (spiraling of a serpent) of the ascending kundalini.

The four birds represent phases in the alchemical process of the Magnum Opus. (The Ninth Key, Basil Valentine, 1625)

The ears of the hares form a TRIANGLE: the symbol for (kundalini) fire. The goddess VENUS is a personification of the kundalini shakti. (Basilius Valentinus, Chymische Schrifften, Hamburg, 1717)

The man looks blissful and makes the sign of the sacred marriage (2=1) with his right hand. (Buch der heiligen Dreifaltigkeit, Munich, early 15th-century)

In Christian art the circular/spiraling movement was also used to refer to the kundalini awakening of both Jesus and Mary Magdalene. Below two examples. Read more in my book ‘John the Baptist who became Jesus the Christ.’

Christ Disputing with the Doctors, Bernardino Butinone, circa 1490.

The Ascension of Mary Magdalene, Madeleine church, Paris.

Oswald Wirth Tarot

Both the tarot deck of Oswald Wirth and the Rider-Waite-Smith deck are influenced by the ideas of the French occultist Éliphas Lévi. Lévi has never designed a complete tarot deck himself, but in his book “La Clef des Grands Mystères” (The Key to the Great Mysteries, 1861) a number of cards are depicted, including The Wheel of Fortune (below center).

Oswald Wirth Tarot (1889)

Wheel of Fortune, “La Clef des Grands Mystères”, Eliphas Levi, 1861.

Hermanubis (Vatican Museum)

The sphinx at the top of the wheel of Lévi wears an Egyptian nemis: a striped headscarf that only Pharaohs were allowed to wear and which underlined their divine status. The nemis gave the head of the pharaoh the contours of a standing cobra with a spreaded hood: the serpent that is a symbol of the kundalini energy in several spiritual traditions. The false beard that Pharaohs wore represented the body of the snake. The sphinx’s lifted tail, on Lévi’s card, stands for the same as the sword. As we have seen with tarot card No. 8 Justice, the sword is an esoteric symbol for the kundalini energy.

Click here for the SWORD as a symbol for the kundalini.

The death mask of Tutankhamun

A standing cobra

Instead of a dog in human clothing, Lévi chose Hermanubis: the god who is a combination of the Egyptian god Anubis and the Greek god Hermes (above right). The human body with a head of a jackal / dog and a nemis is derived from Anubis, the god of mummification and guide of the deceased (below left). The staff in the hands of Hermanubis is the caduceus of the Greek god Hermes, that stands for a kundalini awakening.

Living on after death was associated in ancient Egypt with a KUNDALINI awakening. On this image we see the god Anubis with the mummy of Pharaoh Seti I. The bench on which the mummy is lying is decorated with a lion’s head and TAIL. The curled tail touches Anubis at his PELVIS, the dwelling place of the kundalini. (Tomb of Sennedjem, Deir el-Medina, Egypt)

The Greek supreme god ZEUS shoots his lightning at TYPHON. The lightning symbolizes the KUNDALINI energy. Depiction on an old Chalcidian amphora (water pitcher) from about 540 BC.

On the way down, at the wheel of Lévi, there is a devilish figure, called Typhon by Lévi himself: the serpentine monster from Greek mythology who is defeated by the supreme god Zeus after a major battle (above right). Typhon represents everything that stands between us and the divine, in particular our animal instincts. The trident on Wirth’s card symbolizes the three energy channels involved in a kundalini awakening. In the hands of Typhon this energy flows down to the lower chakras.

Lévi placed the words Azoth, Archée, and Hyle next to the three figures on the wheel. Azoth is a term from alchemy for the kundalini, or God’s (Holy) Spirit. Hyle is Greek for matter. Archée refers to the soul. In alchemy, the element sulfur stands for the soul. On the Oswald Wirth tarot card we see the symbol for sulfur – a triangle with a cross underneath – above the head of the sphinx, instead of Lévi’s Archée.

The double wheel, according to Wirth, stands for the dual energies in humans, which constantly move in opposite directions (“the good and the bad”, Hermanubis and Typhon). The two serpents under the wheel also represent these dual energies. The yoga tradition speaks of the ida and pingala nadi. According to Wirth, the seven spokes on the wheel represent the seven (classical) planets. These planets, in turn, correspond to the seven chakras, in the tradition of alchemy .

Right: on the mosaic of Château des Avenières (1917), that is based on the tarot of Oswald Wirth, Typhon has been replaced by a CROCODILE: the animal that represented in Ancient Egypt our most primitive (animal) drives. The six spokes of the wheel form a HEXAGRAM; just like the double wheel of Wirth, a reference to the (fusion of the) polar energies.

The Rider-Waite-Smith Tarot

On the RWS card we also see the influences of a second diagram from the books of Éliphas Lévi: his interpretation of the Wheel of Ezekiel (below). In the Old Testament we read about the vision that the prophet Ezekiel has of four living beings with four faces (a man, an eagle, a lion and an ox), and four wheels on the ground next to it (Ezekiel 1:5-15).

In the Catholic Church, these four faces have come to represent the four evangelists of the New Testament. They symbolize, however, the four aspects of man: the mind (eagle), feelings / emotions (lion), the body with the animal instincts (ox) and the soul (face of man / angel). Pamela Colman-Smith, the designer of the RWS deck, has placed these four aspects in the four corners of this card. We will also see the same four images on the last card of the major arcana: 21. The World. It is these four aspects of man that are transformed during the process of spiritual awakening.

Read more about the symbolism in the Bible in my book ‘John the Baptist who became Jesus the Christ’.

Rider-Waite-Smith Tarot (1909)

The second chakra, the abode of the kundalini

The Wheel of Ezekiël from: Dogme et rituel de la haute magie, by Éliphas Lévi (1854)

Instead of Typhon, Colman-Smith has opted for more straight forward symbolism: a (kundalini) serpent, on its way down. Hermanubis has a more stylized appearance on this card and is orange in color, just like the wheel itself: the color of the second (svadhisthana) chakra where the kundalini resides when she is still ‘sleeping’ (above right). Unlike the cards of Lévi and Wirth, Hermanubis on the RWS card covers both the position at the bottom of the wheel and the rising position. This confirms our interpretation of the orange Hermanubis: the kundalini rises from the bottom of the spine – from the second chakra – up to the crown (top of the wheel).

The RWS Wheel contains the symbols of the three primary building blocks of the alchemist: salt (left), mercury (top) and sulfur (right). The esoteric meaning of these chemical elements is: the body with the animal drives (salt), the Spirit / kundalini (mercury) and the soul (sulfur). Just like Lévi, Colman-Smith added a fourth element at the bottom of the wheel: the symbol for water. How this fourth sign relates to the other three elements, and to the Wheel, is not clear. Different interpretations are possible. Written on the outer edge of the RWS Wheel is the name YHWH in Hebrew, and the letters TARO, which can also be read as ROTA (Latin for wheel), TAROT, and TORA(H).

Conclusion

Traditionally, the Wheel of Fortune stands for the impermanence of wealth and power. The image of a blindfolded goddess spinning a wheel, with people clinging to it, stems from a pessimistic and fatalistic philosophy: prosperity in life depends to a large extent on being lucky, and you may lose it any time.

The Wheel of Fortune has a completely different meaning in the tarot. A better name for this card would be: the Wheel of Spiritual Evolution. The evolution from ‘ape-man’ to ‘god-man’. The goddess that spins the wheel is not Lady Fortuna, but Sophia/the kundalini shakti. She is the driving force behind the process of spiritual awakening. The way up on the wheel represents the rising of the kundalini energy. The position at the top of the wheel represents God-realization: the inner animal has been conquered and integrated. The way down is a “fall into matter” (the “fall of man” of Adam and Eve).

Right: An alchemical emblem that associates Lady Fortuna’s cornucopia with a kundalini awakening. (George Withers, A Collection Of Emblems Ancient And Modern, 1635)

Almost all spiritual traditions know the wheel as a symbol for the kundalini. In BUDDHISM the WHEEL is explained as representing the dharma (the teachings of the Buddha). However, if you dig deeper into the writings and iconography of Buddhism, you will come to the conclusion that this official reading is not the only meaning of the wheel. The FLAME on the Buddha’s head is one of the pointers. (photo: M. Lang via Pixabay)

Krishna (God/the kundalini) is about to kill Bhishma, the (inner) opponent of his protégé Arjuna, with a chariot WHEEL. (Scene from the Mahabharata, a religious and philosophical epic from India)

The Pope

Card number 5 of the tarot was originally called The Pope. Arthur Waite replaced The Pope for The Hierophant in his Rider-Waite-Smith deck in 1909 and almost all of the tarot decks that followed hereafter took over. However, the deeper meaning of the card has always remained the same. Even when the card was still called The Pope, it represented the person in whom the sacred marriage had taken place.

On the Pope card of the 15th century Visconti-Sforza Tarot we see three references to the holy marriage: the two raised fingers of the Pope; the Greek cross (a cross with equal arms) at the top of its staff; and the hexagonal pattern on its garment, a derivative of the hexagram – the universal symbol for the union of opposites.

Click here for more examples of the HEXAGRAM as a (hidden) symbol in Christian painting.

The Pope, like the Papess (card number 2), wears a pontifical (papal) tiara: a triple crown. Officially, the three crowns represent the triple power of the pope: priest, teacher, and king. Esoterically, a tiara stands for mastery over body, feeling and thinking (see alchemical illustrations below).

The Pope of the Visconti-Sforza tarot (1454)

Hexagram

Octagon

An illustration of the sacred marriage from the alchemical Book of the Holy Trinity (15th century). Man and woman are fused into an androgynous figure. The three crowns around the belly, chest and head represent mastery over the body (the animal instincts, the lower abdomen), feelings (heart) and the mind.

An illustration from the alchemical manuscript Speculum Veritatis, which is located in the library of the Vatican. The alchemist (left) has acquired a triple (the three crowns) kingship (mastership) over earthly matters. The triangle with the point up (the symbol for fire), with the fire in it, stands for the kundalini fire, which has purified the alchemist’s body, feeling and thinking (the three arrows), through which he has achieved this kingship. On the right we see an alchemical oven; symbol for the alchemist’s pelvis and spine, with the fire of the kundalini flowing in it. The three rings on the pipe and the three arrows on the flag represent body, feeling and thinking that are purified in the”oven”.

Charles VI tarot

The Charles VI, or Gringonneur, deck is also from the 15th century; designed for King Charles VI of France (right). The Pope card of this deck contains symbolism that refers to a kundalini awakening.

Two energy channels run along the left and right side of the spine. They are called ida and pingala nadi in the yoga tradition. During a kundalini awakening, these energy channels fuse at the height of the forehead. During this process the pineal gland – in the middle of our head – is activated. The two cardinals next to the Pope symbolize these two energy channels. Their crossed hands represent the fusion, just like the two keys (of the Kingdom of Heaven), which the Pope holds upright against each other.

Outside of the tarot, too, artists used the attributes of saints to covertly refer to a process of kundalini awakening. Below, on the left, is an example. A painting of the apostle Peter, who is seen by the Catholic Church as the first pope, with alchemical symbolism.

Charles VI deck (15th century)

Pope Leo VII
(pope from 936 to 939, image from 1842)

The pineal gland

Above: Asclepius Relief, Lepcis Magna Museum. The spine as a PILLAR (click here) with the PINEAL GLAND at the top.

Left: The two KEYS against each other represent the fusion of the polar energies. This is confirmed by the CORD around the two middle fingers: 2=1. The FLOOR refers to the three phases of the alchemical Magnum Opus: NIGREDO (black), ALBEDO (white) AND RUBEDO (red), click here. (Fiorenzo di Lorenzo, 15th century)

The PINE CONE (click here) as a reference to the PINEAL GLAND and the kundalini process of Jesus. (Gasparo da Pesaro, 15th century)

The designer of this card did not opt ​​for the papal tiara with three crowns that was common at the time, but for one of the very first variants, which was worn until the 12th century, with only one crown. I think because this crown – even more than the tiara – emphasizes its pineal gland shape. It has also given the artist the opportunity to add a pine cone pattern to the crown.

Click here for the PINECONE as a (hidden) symbol for the PINEAL GLAND in Christian painting. 

Probably not coincidentally also, is the color of the clothing: red (clothing cardinals) and blue (clothing pope). These two colors are traditionally associated with, respectively, the male energies (heat, fire, the sun) and the female energies (coolness, water, the moon) in humans.

France 17th century

From the 17th century onwards, to reinforce the symbolism of the union of opposites, two pillars were added in the background to the Pope card, and two lower-ranking clergymen in the foreground. Their shaven crowns depict a merger of two alchemical symbols. The double circle symbolizes the fusion of the polar energies, and a circle with a dot in the middle is the symbol for the sun/gold/the divine. The hat on the back of the figure in the lower left corner also refers to the symbol the double circle. 

Tarot de Marseille, Pierre Madenié (1709)

The alchemist has completed the magnum Opus (THREE CROWNS). In him the polar energies (SUN AND MOON) are fused into the oneness of the divine.  (Johannes de Monte-Snyder, Metamorphosis Planetarum, 1663)

The left figure on the foreground of the Pope card of Jacques Viéville (below left) makes, just like the Pope himself, the sign of the sacred marriage (2=1).

The Pope of the Italian Rossini (below right) has a decoration on his chest that refers to the kundalini symbol the eight-pointed Morning Star. His staff, which symbolizes the awakened spine, is topped by a flower, an esoteric symbol for an open crown chakra.

Click here for the STAFF as a (hidden) symbol for the kundalini in Christian painting.

The eightpointed Morning Star

Tarot de Paris, Jacques Viéville (1650)

Tarot anonyme de Paris (17th century)

Italian deck by Rossini, Turin, 2nd half 17th century.

The so-called “Tarot anonyme de Paris” (above centre) has, for that time, the most daring version of the Pope. An enormous key is placed on his lap and reaches to the tip of his tiara. This symbolizes the awakened kundalini energy in his spine: the “key” to the Kingdom of God. Two fingers – the sign of the sacred marriage – rest on his staff. On his gloves is the symbol the double circle. The Pope looks at a sphinx and a small pyramid next to him. A sphinx – a lion’s body with a woman’s head – symbolizes mastery over the animal instincts.

The Oswald Wirth Tarot

Oswald Wirth lowers the two pillars behind the Pope, giving the composition of the card – Pope, two pillars, and two figures in the foreground – the shape of a pentagram; the symbol for the “completed person”. On this card also, the figure in the lower left corner makes the sign of the sacred marriage (2=1) with his hand.

Click here for references to SACRED MARRIAGE in Christian painting.

Oswald Wirth (1889)

From H. C. Agrippa’s Libri tres
de occulta philosophia

The Rider-Waite-Smith Tarot

Arthur Waite changes the name of tarot card number 5 to The Hierophant, but the image remains largely the same: a pope with tiara, two pillars and two lower-ranking clergymen (below left). New are the elements from alchemy that refer to the sacred marriage – the union of the red king and the white queen: the color red and white of the pope’s canopy, and the roses (red) and lilies (white) on the clothing of the figures in the foreground.

Click here for the LILY as a symbol for a kundalini awakening.

The Rider-Waite-Smith Hierophant (1909)

Pope Gregory I (540-604)

The king in this image symbolizes the alchemist who realized the divine. The ROSE and the LILY, like the sun and the moon, symbolize the polar energy channels that merge during the kundalini process. (Basilius Valentinus, 1613)

A 17th century etching with alchemists who are working diligently in their (inner) garden. The six flowerbeds represent the first six chakras (at the sixth chakra the sacred marriage takes place). In the back stands a (KUNDALINI) TREE from which water (energy) flows to the rest of the garden. A garland of RED and WHITE ROSES is spiraling around the tree (the upward movement of the “kundalini serpent”). RED and WHITE are the colors of the alchemical marriage.

Mary is visited by the Holy Spirit, in the form of a dove (left). Because of this, according to the Bible, she will become pregnant with Jesus. Artist Dante Gabriel Rossetti (1857) wants us to know that this story is a metaphor for a kundalini awakening. Maria is portrayed in an unusual way: working in the garden, caring for RED ROSES and WHITE LILIES, like an alchemist. The WATERING CAN standing next to her is decorated with a sun (symbol of the divine), and an upward stream of water: the kundalini energy. Her long RED HAIR (the color of fire) hangs down to her pelvis, the place where the kundalini energy is located.

The RWS Hierophant wears a blue robe under the chasuble, so that the card also contains the meaningful color combination of red-blue (male-female). The Y on the back of the two men in the foreground stands for the merger of the opposites. In the illustration from Symbola Aureae Mensae (below left) we see an androgynous figure, or rebis, who holds a letter Y in one hand and makes the sign of the sacred marriage with the other hand. The RWS Hierophant is also rather androgynous: it is not immediately clear whether this is a man or a woman. Other elements that refer to the fused duality are the black and white checkered strips on the floor, and the crossed keys in the foreground.

Click here for the LETTER Y as a (hidden) symbol for the SACRED MARRIAGE in Christian painting. 

The staff of the RWS Hierophant is much shorter than usual (see painting of Pope Gregory, above) and rests on his / her knee. We may take this as a confirmation of our interpretation that the staff of the Pope / Hierophant represents the spine. The triple cross at the top of the staff has the same meaning, esoterically, as the three rings on the pipe of the alchemical furnace (see above): body, feeling and thinking are purified by the kundalini fire in the spine. The three crossbars are getting shorter towards the top, so that they form a triangle pointing upwards: the symbol for the element of fire.

Right: the spiritual aspirant (warrior) receives three laurel wreaths for his victory over his animal drives (the three-headed monster), that controlled his body, feeling and thinking. An engraving from Discours Philosophique, S. Stuart de Chevalier, 1781.

An engraving from Michael Maier’s Symbola Aureae Mensae (1617)

Click here for the LETTER Y as a (hidden) symbol
for the SACRED MARRIAGE in Christian painting. 

Joseph has placed his Y-SHAPED STAFF next to the PELVIS of Jesus, the abode of the kundalini. Jesus points at his SPINE. (Boccaccio Boccaccino, before 1523)

The Tarot of Château des Avenières

The Hierophant of Château des Avenières (below left) wears the crown of the Egyptian god Amun-Ra. This crown consists of a red sun disk and two raised, stylized feathers. These feathers are a variant on the universal theme of two wings: a symbol for expanded consciousness (like, for example, the caduceus).

The two kneeling women next to the Hierophant, like the pillars, stand for duality, which is emphasized by their different skin color. The colors red and blue of the pillars  and the Hierophant’s clothing represent the masculine and feminine energies respectively.

The woman on the right points to the Hierophant’s staff. It is a special staff, to which a chain is attached with decorations, including Ankhs.  This chain defies gravity. This symbolizes the ability of the Hierophant to initiate others, with the awakened kundalini energy in his spine (the staff). On the far right we see a mural from the temple of Seti I, depicting an initiation, with a similar staff, including a horizontally floating chain.

Château des Avenières (1917)

Wall painting from the temple of Seti I
in Abydos, Egypt.

Conclusion

The name of the fifth card of the tarot changed a century ago from Pope to Hierophant, but the deeper meaning has always remained the same: spiritual completion.

The pentagram is a symbol that – also in the tarot – is used for the realized person. That this card has been given number 5 will therefore not be a coincidence.

Staff and triple crown – the attributes on most Hierophant cards – represent mastery over body, emotions (heart) and thinking (head).

The Hierophant is androgynous: the sacred marriage has taken place. The inner duality (the male and female energies) has melted into divine oneness. The outer duality (matter) has lost its grip. This is symbolized by the two humble and obliging clergymen on the card.

This article was published in Paravisie Magazine (juni ’19). Copyright Anne-Marie Wegh 2019

Anne-Marie Wegh is the author of the book: Kundalini Awakening in the Bible

Illustrations from the tarot decks, reproduced by permission of U.S. Games Systems, Inc., Stamford, CT 06902. c. by U.S. Games Systems, Inc.  All rights reserved.
Foto’s Châteaux de Avenières: http://hermetism.free.fr/Avenieres

Caduceus

The two wings at the top of the caduceus represent an expansion of consciousness. The staff itself has the same meaning as the scepter in the hand of the Emperor: the spine with the divine kundalini flowing in it. The two serpents that spiral upward on the staff represent the duality that merges into oneness during the awakening process. This aspect has been subtly incorporated into the legs of the Emperor.

Click here for the STAFF/SCEPTER as a (hidden) symbol for the kundalini in Christian painting.

On the Visconti di Modrone card (above left) we see the Emperor depicted with crossed legs. On the card above right, only one foot shows. These are references to the inner sacred marriage (2=1). The theme of the crossed legs will be carried over to the Tarot of Marseille, and many other decks to follow.

Click here for ONE LEG as a symbol of the SACRED MARRIAGE

The Buddha at a young age

The god Ganesha

In Hinduism, gods and saints are depicted with just ONE FOOT on the ground to express that they are no longer connected to duality, but are rooted in divine ONENESS.

In christian art Jezus is depicted with only one leg showing to indicate he experienced a kundalini awakening. Below three examples.
CLICK ON THE IMAGES TO ENLARGE

Benedetto Diana, 1486.

Giuseppe Cesari, 1593.

William-Adolphe Bouguereau, 19th century.

The so-called globus cruciger (a globe with a cross on it) in the hand of the Emperor has, just like the scepter, both a worldly and a spiritual meaning. In the hand of a ruler (a “possessor of the world”), the globus cruciger stands for spreading Christianity as a dominant doctrine of faith. Esoterically, the globe with a cross stands for spirit ruling over matter.

Below two emblems with the alchemist who completed the Magnum Opus, depicted as a reigning king/emperor.

‘Attaining Wisdom’ (in text) is a veiled reference to the Gnostic SOPHIA (Greek for Wisdom), the personification of the KUNDALINI. (George Wither’s Emblem Book, 1635)

The king in the water represents the DIVINE IN THE SUBCONSCIOUS, that has to be ‘saved’ (realised). (Splendor Solis, 16th century)

The Tarot of Marseille

All decks that have appeared under the collective name “Tarot of Marseille” show the Emperor in profile. With this body position he expresses the number 4, which is in symbolism the number of earth/matter. This interpretation is confirmed by the extra number 4 that is placed on some decks below the Roman numeral (IIII) of the card  (below center). The Emperor is the only Marseille card that has this double numbering.

The Tarot of Marseille,
by Jean Noblet (circa 1650)

The Tarot of Marseille, by Jean Dodal,
with an extra 4 (1701-1705)

An alchemical illustration of the Magnum Opus: king (red) and queen (white) are merged into an androgynous figure (rebis). The tight BELT around waist of the naked body, and the SCEPTER placed in his genital area, symbolize the SUBLIMATION (bringing to the higher chakras) of the sexual energy.

The globus cruciger has been moved to the top of the scepter. The Emperor is holding his belt with his free hand. This symbolizes control over his sexual impulses (the energy of the lower abdomen): the Emperor is lord and master of his animal nature. Matter (the number 4) and the body have no hold on him.

Left: the alchemist, depicted as a warrior, is standing in the transforming fire of the kundalini. The six trees represent his six chakras that are being purified. Next to him stands the god Hermes with his staff the CADUCEUS, the classic symbol of a kundalini awakening. Hermes raises the GLOBUS CRUCIGER in his hand: a reference to the SUBLIMATION (deification) of the lower (material) energies. (Philosophia Hermetica, Federico Gualdi, ca. 1790)

Another new detail is the red feather on the crown of the Emperor. In combination with the other symbolism, it is likely that this feather stands for a kundalini awakening. Red is the color of the first chakra, where the kundalini resides. Red is also the color of a completed Magnum Opus in alchemy. The feather refers to, and has the same symbolic meaning as, the eagle on the hat of the Visconti Emperor. The red feather also features on three cards of the Rider-Waite-Smith Tarot: The Fool, Death and The Sun.

Feathers as a symbol for a kundalini awakening can be found, among others, in the iconography of Ancient Egypt. Below three examples.

The goddess Ma’at

The god Osiris with two ostrich feathers on his crown.

The goddess Renenutet. She was depicted as a cobra, or as a woman with the head of a cobra.

In Christian art of that time, the red feather has been used as a symbol to communicate that Jesus had experienced a kundalini awakening. Three examples below.
CLICK TO ENLARGE

RED AND WHITE (the two feathers, click here) represent in alchemy the polar energies/duality, which merge into one. The SPIRAL ROD (click here) refers to the kundalini. The SCORPION (flag, click here) represents the death of the ego. (Jörg Breu Sr., 16th century)

The three feathers refer to the three phases of the Magnum Opus: NEGREDO (black), ALBEDO (white) AND RUBEDO (red), click here. Only ONE LEG of Jesus is depicted. This refers to the SACRED MARRIAGE (2=1), click here. (Michael Pacher, c. 1470)

Giovan Battista Moroni

Double headed eagle

A compelling indication that the eagle on The Emperor (and The Empress) has a spiritual significance is the double-headed eagle variant of some decks. The double-headed eagle is an alchemical symbol for a completed Magnum Opus (process of God-realization). The two heads represent the fusion of the polar energies/duality (see emblem on right).

The earliest Emperor with a double-headed eagle can be found in one of the very first printed decks, the so-called Budapest-Metraopolitan deck, of which only an uncut, uncoloured printed sheet has been preserved (below left).

The two cards below, center and right, are of a later date. On the Italian card (below right), a double-headed eagle is placed on top of the Emperor’s scepter. There is also no longer an eagle on a shield, but it is now a life size bird next to the Emperor. We may take this as a second indication that the eagle on tarot card number 4 represents spiritual realization. 

From: Medicinisch Chymisch und Alchemitisches Oraculum, 1755.

Budapest-Metropolitan deck, 16th century.

The Tarot d’Epinal, a reproduction of a French deck from 1830.

Italian deck, Serravalle Sesia, 1880.

Alchemy regarded Jesus as an alchemist who had successfully completed the inner Great Work. Below on the left a remarkable illustration of Christ as a double-headed eagle.

Also in Christian painting, the symbol of the double-headed eagle has been used to refer to the kundalini process of Jesus. An example of this below on the right.

Click here for the DOUBLE HEADED EAGLE as a (hidden) symbol for a kundalini awakening in Christian painting.

Christ depicted as an alchemist who completed the Magnum Opus (the DOUBLE-HEADED EAGLE). From the alchemical manuscript: ‘Book of the Holy Trinity’.

Titian, Palazzo ducale di Urbino, 1544.

Oswald Wirth Tarot

Oswald Wirth has placed his Emperor on a cube with an eagle. In alchemy, a cube symbolizes earth (the three dimensions). Both the eagle and the fact that the Emperor sits on the cube refer to his supremacy over matter. The lyre on the eagle is an attribute of the Greek sun god Apollo; an additional element to confirm to us that the Emperor represents the spiritual aspirant who has realized the divine.

The sun and moon on the chest of the Emperor represent the duality that he has conquered. The two energy channels that flow along his spine, and that form the energetic blueprint for our inner duality, have merged into one.

On the top of his scepter (symbol for the spine) a fleur-de-lys, or “French lily”, is placed; an esoteric symbol for the pineal gland. See the alchemical illustration on the far right.

Oswald Wirth Emperor (1889)

An alchemical illustration of the process of kundalini awakening. The scepter with fleur-de-lys symbolizes the spine with the pineal gland at the top.

Château des Avenières

The Emperor in the chapel of Château des Avenières is an Egyptian version of the Oswald Wirth Emperor. The 4 x 4 squares on the cube is (probably) a reference to the 4 elements. The eagle has been replaced by a phoenix: an element that emphasizes the overall symbolism of spiritual awakening (an eagle can still be seen as heraldry).

The Emperor wears a so-called Pschent: a double crown representing the union of the two sub-regions Upper Egypt and Lower Egypt. According to the historiography, several pharaohs had the task of uniting the two halves of their land into one kingdom.

Anyone who delves into the details of the history of Egypt, and is familiar with spiritual processes, cannot escape the impression that the stories about Upper and Lower Egypt contain a symbolic layer. These two realms also represent the higher (divine) and lower (animal) nature in humans. In a kundalini awakening, it is the spiritual aspirant’s task to unite both natures. The inner struggle that accompanies this, is represented by the war between the two Egyptian sub-regions.

The Emperor in mosaic from Château des Avenières (1917)

The PSCHENT (center) is composed of two crowns: on the left the goddess Wadjet with the red crown of Lower Egypt and on the right the goddess Nekhbet with the white crown of Upper Egypt.

On the Emperor’s crown we see a so-called uraeus: a stylized, upright, Egyptian cobra; symbol of the awakened kundalini energy. At this place in the head – at the height of the sixth chakra – the fusion of the opposites takes place; which includes the union of the lower and higher nature.

Rider-Waite-Smith Emperor

The RWS Emperor is dressed in red. This is, as we saw during the discussion of the previous card, the Empress, a reference to the alchemical royal couple (red king and white queen) that merges during the Magnum Opus. The red and white stones in the Emperor’s crown represent this sacred marriage. The mountains in the background symbolize an expanded consciousness.

Click here to read more about the colors RED AND WHITE and the SACRED MARRIAGE.

The ram’s heads on the throne have a double meaning. Where the RWS Empress is connected to the female energy of the planet Venus, the Emperor is connected to the male energy of the planet Mars. The zodiac sign for Mars is Aries.

The ram is also a symbol of the animal nature that the Emperor has conquered. This becomes even more apparent when we put two other decks, that were also influenced by the philosophies of the occult group The Golden Dawn, next to the RWS card (below).

On the Classic Golden Dawn card, one foot of the Emperor is on a ram. On the Builders of the Adytum card, the Emperor sits on a ram-headed cube. Both standing and sitting on something symbolizes dominion over that object.

Rider-Waite-Smith Emperor (1909)

Classic Golden Dawn Tarot (2004)

Builders of the Adytum Tarot (circa 1950)

The Classic Golden Dawn-Emperor also has a scepter with a ram’s head at the top. This means that the energy from the animal drives (the lower chakras) is sublimated (brought to the higher chakras).

The scepter of the RWS Emperor communicates the same thing, with different symbolism. The RWS scepter is a derivative of the Ankh, the Egyptian symbol that stands for eternal life (below left). An Ankh is a stylized representation of the spine with the pineal gland at the top, similar to the caduceus. The Ankh scepter of the RWS Emperor is placed on top of one of the ram heads. This means that the Emperor has led the energies from the lower abdomen, through the spine, to the pineal gland.

The Egyptian god Ptah with an ANKH on his staff (4th-3rd century BC)

Left: Jesus as the “King of the Universe”, with the devil, in the form of a dragon, under his foot. The deeper meaning of this is comparable to the “spiritual emperorship” of tarot card number 4. In the words of Jesus: “MY KINGDOM IS NOT OF THIS WORLD …” (John 18:36).

Thoth Tarot

The Thoth Emperor looks to the left, to the Thoth Empress, with whom he forms a pair. Both cards have a shield with a double-headed eagle.

Aleister Crowley has not incorporated many elements from christianity into his deck. At the bottom right of his Emperor card we see one of the exceptions: the victorious Lamb from the Book of Revelation, with the visions of John. From the following quote we may deduct that the Biblical Lamb on this card is the counterpart of the sexual energy that the ram stands for:

¹ Then I looked, and behold, the Lamb was standing on Mount Zion, and with Him one hundred and forty-four thousand, having His name and the name of His Father written on their foreheads.
⁴ These are the ones who have not been defiled with women, for they have kept themselves chaste. These are the ones who follow the Lamb wherever He goes. These have been purchased from among men as first fruits to God and to the Lamb.
(Revelation 14:1 en 4)

The Thoth Emperor (1969)

“…having His name and the name of His Father written on their foreheads” are those who have completed the sacred marriage at the height of the sixth chakra. “They have kept themselves chaste …” . It can hardly be stated any clearer!

The number 144,000 is also meaningful. The sum of the “petals” of the first six chakras is 144 (4 + 6 + 10 + 12 + 16 + 96). The number of petals of the seventh chakra is a symbolically large number: 1000. One hundred and forty-four thousand refers to the opening of all chakras after a completed kundalini awakening.

Read more about the symbolism in the Bible in my book ‘John the Baptist who became Jesus the Christ’.

According to Aleister Crowley, his Emperor expresses the alchemical symbol for sulfur (a triangle with a cross underneath) with his body posture. Sulfur is one of the three primary elements involved in the Magnum Opus.

Right: a colored engraving by Giovanni Lacinio, from 1714, of the Magnum Opus, with many elements that we also see on the various Emperor cards through the ages. The symbols on the tree trunk (spine) are the three primary alchemical elements: salt, sulfur and mercury. The two LIONS represent the animal drives that, sublimated (the wings), provide the force necesary to complete the process of God-realization. The symbols above the lions are the FOUR ELEMENTS: fire, earth, water, and air. The GLOBE (orb) with cross, on top of the tree trunk, stands for spirit ruling over matter (four elements). The SUN and the MOON, at the top of the illustration, represent duality. A small sun and moon are also depicted in the globe: the duality has merged into oneness. The white EAGLE symbolizes the completed process.

Conclusion

Together with card number three, the Empress, the Emperor forms the alchemical couple that merges during the Magnum Opus. The Tarot Emperor also represents the person in whom this sacred marriage took place: for the spiritual aspirant who has gained mastery over matter and his animal drives.

His crown and scepter came at a price. He had to go through a lengthy and painful process of cleansing and detachment. On the engraving of Sabine Stuart de Chevalier, from 1781 (right), we see this arduous path from the alchemist to “spiritual emperorship” in beautiful symbolism.

This article was published in Paravisie Magazine (June ’19). Copyright Anne-Marie Wegh 2019

Anne-Marie Wegh is the author of the book: Kundalini Awakening in the Bible

Illustrations from the tarot decks, reproduced by permission of U.S. Games Systems, Inc., Stamford, CT 06902. c. by U.S. Games Systems, Inc. All rights reserved.

Foto’s Châteaux de Avenières: http://hermetism.free.fr/Avenieres

Visconti Di Modrone deck

Visconti-Sforza deck

Coat of arms of the Visconti and Sforza families

Alchemy

In the tradition of alchemy, which had its heyday in the 15th century, an eagle – the king of birds – represents the completion of the process of God-realization.

On the engraving of Jacob de Heyden from 1615 (right) we see an eagle balancing on two pillars. These pillars represent the inner duality, which must be merged into (divine) unity. They are connected by a rope with a wedding ring; a reference to the sacred marriage.

Click here to learn more about the SACRED MARRIAGE as an aspect of a kundalini awakening process.

To express the merger of the polar energies, alchemy uses the image of a king and queen uniting. The illustration from Rosarium Philosophorum (right) is an example of this. We see a royal couple lying in the water, which means that this process takes place in our subconscious. The wings symbolize the completion of the process of unification. One hand of the king lies on his genitals: the sexual energies must be preserved in order to experience the divine.

These powerful primal energies in our lower abdomen must be lifted to the higher chakras. In many spiritual traditions the challenge of gaining mastery over the sexual impulses is symbolized by a powerful dragon that must be conquered (see illustration below right).

From: Rosarium Philosophorum (circa 1550)

The flask symbolizes the alchemist himself. The queen/empress and king/emperor represent the masculine and feminine energies that merge during a kundalini awakening. From: Johannes Conradus Barchusen (1666-1723), The Symbolic Treaty of the Philosopher’s Stone (Elementa Chemiae).

The Magnum Opus of the alchemist (illustration from around 1400). The king and queen are fused into one figure, also called rebis or hermaphrodite. The conquered dragon lies at their feet. The three serpents in the cup represent the three energy channels involved in a kundalini awakening. The wings, and the ouroboros in the king’s hand, refer to a completed kundalini process and the resulting inner oneness.

Tarot of marseille

With the ages it becomes clearer that the cards number 3 and 4 of the tarot – the Empress and the Emperor – represent the alchemical royal couple that merges during the process of God-realization. The Empress of the Tarot of Marseille (17th and 18th century) sits on a throne with a backrest that suggests two wings; the symbol for spiritual completion. This reinforces the symbolism of the eagle on the card.

The Tarot of Marseille,
by Jacques Vieville (circa 1650)

The Tarot of Marseille,
by Jean Dodal (1701-1715)

Double headed eagle

A compelling indication that the eagle on The Empress (and The Emperor) has a spiritual significance is the double-headed eagle variant of some decks. The double-headed eagle is an alchemical symbol for a completed Magnum Opus (process of God-realization). The two heads represent the fusion of the polar energies/duality (see emblem on right).

The earliest Empress with a double-headed eagle can be found in one of the very first printed decks, the so-called Budapest-Metropolitan deck, of which only an uncut, uncoloured printed sheet has been preserved (below left).

The two other cards below are of a later date. Carlo Della Rocca (below right) has partially hidden the alchemical symbol under the Empress’ hand. The good viewer, however, sees that there must be a second head on the bird. The Empress confirms its meaning by the sign of the sacred marriage (two fingers together: 2=1) that she makes with both hands. The fact that the eagle’s second head is hidden indicates that it was a controversial symbol at the time.

Figuarium Aegyptiorum Secretarum (18th century)

Budapest-Metropolitan deck, 16th century.

The Tarot d’Epinal, a reproduction of a French deck, 1830.

Classic Tarot, Carlo Della Rocca.
(early 19th century)

Alchemy regarded Jesus as an alchemist who had successfully completed the inner Great Work. On the right a remarkable illustration of Christ as a double-headed eagle.

Also in Christian painting, the symbol of a double-headed eagle has been used to communicate that Jesus had experienced a kundalini awakening. An example of this is on the far right.

Click here for the DOUBLE HEADED EAGLE as a (hidden) symbol for a kundalini awakening in Christian painting.

Christ depicted as an alchemist who completed the Magnum Opus (the double-headed eagle). From the alchemical manuscript: ‘Book of the Holy Trinity’.

Quentin Matsys, circa 1510, Rijksmuseum.

Oswald Wirth

The Empress of the occultist Oswald Wirth (below left) has real wings. Wirth has enriched the card with elements that refer to a vision of the apostle John, from the Bible book of Revelation: a crown of stars and a crescent moon under her foot (below right).

THE WOMAN, THE CHILD AND THE DRAGON
¹ A great sign appeared in heaven: a woman clothed with the sun, and the moon under her feet, and on her head a crown of twelve stars;
² and she was with child; and she cried out, being in labor and in pain to give birth.
³ Then another sign appeared in heaven: and behold, a great red dragon having seven heads and ten horns, and on his heads were seven diadems.
⁴ And his tail swept away a third of the stars of heaven and threw them to the earth. And the dragon stood before the woman who was about to give birth, so that when she gave birth he might devour her child.
⁵ And she gave birth to a son, a male child, who is to rule all the nations with a rod of iron; and her child was caught up to God and to His throne.
(Revelation 12:1-5)

Oswald Wirth Tarot (1889)

This is a vision of a kundalini awakening that John is going through. The woman represents his soul who is about to “give birth” to the divine. John has undergone a purification process of many years for this to happen. The crown with twelve stars stands for spiritual completion. The divine light flows through him unhindered (his soul is “clothed with the sun”). He has conquered duality / matter (the moon).

The divine birth is threatened by a big red dragon. Here also, a dragon stands for the animal instincts. The color red refers to the first chakra, the energy of our most basic (read: animal) needs. The iron staff with which the Child will rule, represents John’s spine with the kundalini energy flowing in it.

Read more about kundalini and the Bible in my book ‘John the Baptist who became Jesus the Christ’.

The birth of this divine child is the result of the sacred marriage. Alchemy also uses the image of the birth of a child, as an aspect of the Magnum Opus (below left).

Alchemical illustration of the Magnum Opus (18th century)

Chateau des Avenières (1917)

The Empress in the chapel of Château des Avenières (above right) largely resembles the Empress of Oswald Wirth. On the shield in her hand we see a phoenix instead of an eagle. This mythical bird, rising from its ashes, represents in alchemy the process of spiritual rebirth. The Empress has placed her staff on her lap/pelvis, the abode of the kundalini. In the esoteric tradition, the staff is a symbol for the awakened spine.

Click here for the STAFF as a symbol for a kundalini awakening.

The Rider-Waite-Smith Empress

Arthur Waite and Pamela Colman-Smith have added elements to the Empress that also give her a macrocosmic meaning. The RWS Empress is God the Mother: the feminine aspect of God, who can be found not only in man (the kundalini in our pelvis), but also in the outside world. It is the supporting, nourishing energy that makes up the universe.

The placement of the Empress in nature refers to her macrocosmic meaning. The grain in the foreground is an attribute of Demeter, the Greek goddess of agricultural crops and the harvest.

On the dress of the Empress pomegranates are depicted. As we saw on the card of the High Priestess, pomegranates, because of their red color and many seeds, are a symbol of the kundalini: the ‘divine seed’ in our pelvis, at the height of the first chakra (color red).

The pomegranate plays an important role in the well-known Greek myth about the abduction of Persephone, the daughter of Demeter, by Hades, the god of the underworld. A story that is seen as an explanation for the changing seasons, but that stands at a deeper level for a kundalini awakening.

The Rider-Waite-Smith Empress (1909)

Persephone (the kundalini) is taken against her will by the god Hades to the underworld (the kundalini is “locked up” in the pelvis). Demeter is inconsolable and goes into mourning, as a result of which all the greenery on earth stops growing (spiritual aridity, no longer experiencing a connection with God). Zeus, the father of Persephone, orders Hades to bring her back. Hades, however, tempts Persephone to eat six seeds (at the sixth chakra the sacred wedding takes place) of a pomegranate. As a result she has to return to the underworld for a few months every year. Persephone is freed from the underworld (the pelvis) by the god Hermes, the god with the caduceus, that stands for a kundalini awakening.

Artist Frederic Leighton has incorporated the deeper meaning of this myth in his painting from 1891 (right). We see Hermes with one hand holding the caduceus and his other arm is around Persephone. This depicts the merging of the inner masculine and the feminine. This interpretation is confirmed by both hands of Persephone, that make the sign of the sacred marriage (2=1).

“The return of Persephone”,
Frederic Leighton (1891)

Detail

Click here for the POMEGRANATE as a symbol for a kundalini awakening in Christian painting.

The transparent scarf of Mary runs from the pomegranate, which lies on the lap of the baby Jesus to the head, the path of the kundalini energy to the crown. (Neri di Bicci, 1450)

The RWS Empress is sitting on an orange-red cloth and leans against an orange cushion. These colors refer to the dwelling place of the Empress (the kundalini) in humans: in the pelvis, at the level of the first and second chakra (red and orange respectively)..

This interpretation is confirmed by the contours of a serpent on the pillow, rising from the pelvis.

The Empress detail

Kundalini-slang

The Empress detail

The pineal gland

On the right-hand side of the card we see a stream of water flowing from a tree, that is shaped like a pine cone, to the feet of the Empress. This water symbolizes the kundalini energy that flows from the pelvis to the pineal gland.

The color white of the dress the Empress wears represents the feminine. In alchemy, the colors white and red represent the opposites of duality that must be brought to a unity. Often the metaphor is used of a marriage between a queen dressed in white and a king dressed in red (see above).

Click here to learn more about the colors WHITE AND RED for the SACRED MARRIAGE.

The RWS Emperor

From the alchemical manuscript Aureum Vellus (1598)

The heart shape of the shield on the RWS card, and the symbol of the planet Venus (on the shield, on the black pillow, and the pomegranates), are elements that refer to duality, of which the Empress represents one half:
Empress – emperor
Female – male
Venus – Mars
Heart (feeling) – head (thinking)

The RWS Empress also represents a complete spiritual awakening: the scepter, the crown with twelve stars, and the laurel wreath on her head, express this. A scepter stands for authority / mastery. The scepter on this card has a globe at the top, which refers to dominion over matter. The stars on the head of the empress have the shape of a hexagram (six-pointed star); the symbol that expresses the merger of the polarities.

Click here for the the HEXAGRAM as a symbol for the fusion of the polar energies/duality.

The laurel wreath (a wreath of laurel branches) refers to mastery over the sexual urges. This meaning is derived from the Greek myth of Apollo and Daphne. The god Apollo pursues the river nymph Daphne (a name that means Laurel), driven by lust. She desperately calls on the help of her father, the river god Penues. He turns his daughter into a laurel tree, through which she escapes Apollo’s persistent advances. Apollo turns the branches of the laurel tree into a wreath, which then becomes a symbol of chastity.

The moral of this myth is that the kundalini energy can only awaken and grow into a “tree of life” that reaches to the crown of man, if the sexual energy is preserved. A laurel tree is green all year round. This symbolizes the immortality of man after a completed kundalini awakening..

The Thoth Empress (1969)

Thoth Tarot

The Thoth Empress is also full of symbolism. According to Aleister Crowley, the Empress stands for both the lowest level of creation (matter) and the highest, spiritual level. Her throne of water spirals represents her birth from water; a reference to the goddess Venus. Water is a feminine element, just like the moon. At a deeper level, birth from water refers to a kundalini awakening.

The lotus flower in the right hand of the Empress is a classical symbol for spiritual perfection. The blue lotus was seen as the holiest of all flowers in Ancient Egypt. In his Book of Thoth, Crowley calls her “the blue Lotus of Isis, a symbol of the feminine.”

On the shield at the feet of the Empress we see a double-headed eagle. Usually the heads are shown turned outwards. Crowley has chosen to turn the heads towards each other, and to put a fusion of sun and moon between them, thereby reinforcing the symbolism of unification.

The pelican who feeds her young with her own blood, on the bottom of the card, is also a classic metaphor, from alchemy and Christianity, among others. Crowley herself explains this as Mother Nature who feeds her children (us). In Christianity, the self-wounding pelican stands for Christ’s self-sacrifice for the salvation of humanity. In alchemy, the pelican stands for the self-sacrifice of the spiritual aspirant: the sacrifice of the ego – and the suffering that comes with it – to realize the divine.

Conclusion

As a feminine aspect of God, the Empress resides in our pelvis (the kundalini energy) as well as in creation. When we look around us, everything that we can see, and everything that grows and flourishes, is “the Empress.”

The Empress also stands for the “completion of nature”. The tradition of alchemy sees nature / man as not “finished”. A process of sublimation (deification) is still needed (the Magnum Opus). The crown and scepter of the Empress represent a completed process of transformation, and mastership over matter and the animal instincts.

Brighid, the mother goddess of Ireland.

This article was published in Paravisie Magazine (May ’19). Copyright Anne-Marie Wegh 2019

Anne-Marie Wegh is the author of the book: Kundalini Awakening in the Bible

Foto’s Châteaux de Avenières: http://hermetism.free.fr/Avenieres

The Popess,
Visconti-Sforza Tarot (1454)

The Pope,
Visconti-Sforza Tarot (1454)

Both the Pope and the Popess of the Visconti-Sforza tarot represent the spiritually perfected person. The official reading of the church is that the pope is Christ’s representative on earth. A person in this position is implicitly expected to have a great spiritual maturity. Ideally, the person with the highest degree of spiritual perfection becomes the leader of the rest. The fact that it does not always work this way, unfortunately, does not interfer with the suitability of the pope to serve as an archetype for spiritual completion. His attributes underline this.

A tiara, a triple crown, stands for the spiritual perfection of body, thinking and feeling. In the Bible we also find this division. For example in the parable of the leaven:

Another parable he spoke to them; The kingdom of heaven is like leaven, which a woman took, and hid in three measures of meal, till the whole was leavened. (Matthew 13:33)

The leaven is the kundalini energy or Holy Spirit. It permeates body, feeling and thinking – the three measures of flour – causing the bread to rise (metaphor for an expansion of consciousness). We will further explore the meaning of a tiara when discussing the Pope card.

Read more about the symbolism in the Bible in my book ‘John the Baptist who became Jesus the Christ’.

The staff of high-ranking clergy – an outward sign of authority – is at a deeper level a symbol of the spine with the awakened kundalini energy flowing in it. We often find decorations on the staff that refer to the process of spiritual awakening: a serpent or pine cone (the pineal gland), for example. In this case we see at the top the staff of the Pope a Greek cross; a cross with equal arms. In the esoteric traditions, this cross is a symbol for the merging of the opposites. For fusing duality into divine oneness; the end result of a kundalini awakening.

What stands out, when studying the Visconti-Sforza card, is that the woman has the attributes of a pope, but not the matching clothing. She is dressed like a simple nun. Her clothing expresses that she has renounced all her possessions and leads a life dedicated to God. This emphasizes that her crown and staff do not stand for a dominant position within the church, but for her spiritual level.

Click here for a STAFF as a hidden symbol for the awakened spine in Christian painting.

Tarot of Marseille

On the Tarot of Marseille, about two centuries later, the clothing of the Popess is adapted. She too is now dressed as a high-ranking official, just like the Pope. However, the deeper meaning of the card has not changed. The Popess still stands for spiritual perfection; for transcending duality and realizing the divine “oneness.” The staff with Maltese cross of the Visconti-Sforza card has been replaced in the Jean Noblet Tarot by two crossed bands on the chest of the Popess, which in turn are decorated with crosses, to emphasize the symbolic meaning of the bands. (The same meaning as the two raised fingers of the Pope: I made the two into one)

The Tarot of Marseille, by Jean Noblet (1650)

Click here for tarot card number 5
The Pope / Hierophant

The Tarot of Marseille,
by Jean Dodal (1700-1715)

With this interpretation we also find the answer to the pressing question that has left many tarot connoisseurs puzzled. Why did Jean Dodal (also belonging to the Tarot of Marseille) not call his Popess card La Papesse, like his colleagues, but La Pances (left)? Nobody knows. It is an unknown word that resembles – and sounds very similar to – the French word for belly: panse. I think that Dodal with the title La Pances refers to the kundalini energy in the belly of the Popess!

Click here for more examples of (hidden) KUNDALINI SYMBOLISM in Christian painting.  

Jesus makes the sign of the SACRED MARRIAGE 2=1 (click here) with his right hand and points to his PELVIS, the abode of the kundalini energy. Pietro Perugino, Vatican Palace, 1507.

The keys of the Kingdom of God

The two keys with which the Popess is depicted on some decks are the two keys of the pope that give him authority on earth and in heaven. The church derives this meaning from the Bible passage in which Jesus says to the apostle Peter (who is therefore seen as the first pope):

“I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven; and whatever you shall bind on earth shall be bound in heaven, and whatever you shall loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven.” (Matthew 16:19)

The two fingers that the Popess is holding up on the card to the right is seen by most as a gesture of blessing. In the esoteric tradition this is what I call ‘the sign of the sacred marriage (2=1)’, which stands for the merging of the polar energy channels/duality. So the same meaning as the cross on the chest and the crossed keys.

Click here to learn more about the SIGN OF THE SACRED MARRIAGE.

The Tarot of Bologna (17th century)

Some explain the Popess card as an allegory of the Roman Catholic Church, because the church (“ecclesia“) is sometimes allegorically depicted as a woman with a tiara and two keys (see below left). But this is not the meaning of the Visconti-Sforza card, because the church is never depicted in a habit.

“Allegory of the church”, chapel of St. Peter’s Basilica in Rome

Right: Both Jesus and Peter make the SIGN OF SACRED MARRIAGE 2=1 (click here) with their fingers. Peter holds the keys of GOLD AND SILVER (the colors of the polar energies/duality in alchemy) against each other. Carlo Ceresa, circa 1653.

The real meaning of a card – and of the symbols used in it – only comes to light when it is seen in conjunction with its developmental history and with the other cards of the major arcana. The esoteric meaning of the cards had to remain hidden from the general public. The designers have certainly succeeded in this!

The Etteilla Tarot

In a time frame of about a century, three Etteilla decks have appeared, with striking differences between them. Etteilla decks do not have a Popess card, but Etteilla III is the first tarot deck with a card called The High Priestess. That this card represents a kundalini awakening can also be deduced from her predecessor in deck I. Etteilla I has a card “La Prudence” (Caution) on which is depicted a woman who almost stands on a serpent (below left). At first glance “La Prudence” seems to refer to looking out for danger in the outside world. The caduceus (symbol for a kundalini awakening) in her hand, however, gives the card a completely different meaning: make sure (caution) that you lift the (kundalini) serpent (up to the crown), instead of allowing him to bite you (i.e. use the kundalini for the satisfaction of the lower chakras) …!

Etteilla I (1788)

Etteilla III, French version (circa 1870)

Etteilla III, English version

The La Prudence card of Etteilla III also shows clear kundalini symbolism. A woman is holding a mirror with a serpent (above center). The mirror stands for self-reflection / self-knowledge (the “Know thyself” on the temple of Delphi). The path of the kundalini serpent from the pelvis up to the pineal gland is expressed by the serpent and the mirror, as well as by the pinecone pattern on the woman’s dress. An English version of this card is suddenly called The High Priestess (above right). A surprising adaptation that had a major effect: The Popess was replaced by The High Priestess in almost all tarot decks that followed.

Click here for the PINE CONE as a hidden symbol for the pineal gland in Christian painting.

The veil of Isis

The Tarot from Oswald Wirth (below left) appears at almost the same time as the Etteilla III Tarot. Wirth’s card is still called Popess, but he does introduce a number of new elements that will prove to be permanent. A moon symbol is added to the tiara, making the meaning of this crown more universal (less Christian). Behind the Popess are now two large pillars with a curtain between them. The pillars represent duality, just like the two keys, and the black and white checkered floor. We may deduce from the moon symbol that the curtain refers to the ‘veil of Isis’, behind which the Greater Reality is hidden.

The meaning of the card shifts to the energetic dimensions. The Popess no longer represents the perfected human being, but rather the divine energy that brings about this perfection. She is known by many names. The Eastern traditions call her the kundalini-shakti. Mystical Judaism speaks about the Shekinah. In Ancient Egypt she was a powerful goddess with multiple faces and associated names, including Isis and Hathor.

The High Priestess in the chapel of Château des Avenières (right) wears the crown of Isis. Her face is partially hidden behind a veil. This has the same meaning as the curtain behind her. The kundalini can be found both inside, and in the outside world; she is also the divine energy from which the physical reality, as we perceive with our senses, is built. However, what we perceive is an illusion, according to many spiritual traditions. The Eastern traditions call this Maya. Through Maya, or the veil of Isis, we can not see the Greater Reality. During a spiritual awakening, this veil is “lifted”.

Click here for the PILLAR as a (hidden) symbol for a kundalini awakening in Christian painting.

Oswald Wirth (1889)

Château des Avenières (1917)

The Rider-Waite-Smith Tarot (1909)

Rider-Waite-Smith Tarot

Arthur E. Waite continues with his deck on the themes introduced by his predecessors. The pillars are now colored dark and light (duality), and marked with the letters B and J; a reference to the pillars Boaz and Jachin of the temple of King Solomon. On the canvas behind the High Priestess we see date palms and pomegranates. Below we will discuss their symbolic meaning.

The tiara has been replaced by a crown consisting of two crescent moons and a full moon; a reference to the lunar cycle, which in turn stands for a spiritual resurrection or rebirth. Pamela Colman-Smith, the designing artist, has placed an extra crescent moon under the feet of the High Priestess.

With two fingers the High Priestess makes the “sign of the sacred marriage”, which means the same as the Greek cross on her chest: the union of the opposites (the pillars B and J). The Bible has been replaced with a scroll with “TORA” on it, which she partially hides behind her robe. In the background we see a calm sea. All these new elements point in the same direction: a kundalini awakening!

Tree of Life

Almost every spiritual tradition has, in one form or another, a “tree of life”: a mythical tree that forms a bridge between our world and the world of the gods. The type of tree can differ, just like the legends attached to it, but in all cases it is an inner tree. An energetic tree with its roots in the pelvic area, and the branches with (often special) fruits are located in the head.

On the veil, behind the RWS High Priestess, we see references to two of these “kundalini trees”. The pomegranates are placed according to the sefirots of the Kabbalistic Tree of Life, which are a schematic representation of the inner world of man (right). The upward movement through the Tree of Life – the way back from matter to the divine – is called “the path of the serpent” in the kabbalah.

The date palm, also on the veil behind the High Priestess, was already regarded a sacred tree in Ancient Egypt. And later, in Judaism and Christianity, this tree kept its special status. This can be traced back to a number of specific properties of the date palm, which make it very suitable as a metaphor for a kundalini awakening. First of all, like most trees of life, it is green all year round, a reference to “eternal life”. Her long bare trunk, with only leaves at the top, is a beautiful representation of the spine. In addition, palm branches have a special feature: the lower leaves deform into spines, so that the lower part of the palm branch resembles a spine (see right).

Furthermore, dates – the fruits of the female palm tree – resemble the pineal gland in terms of shape. Pamela Colman-Smith has emphasized this symbolic value of the date by adding a yellow date to the center of the crown of the palm trees, in addition to a few hanging red dates. The Latin name of the date palm is also significant: Phoenix dactylifera. “Phoenix” confirms that in ancient cultures the date palm was associated with the process of spiritual rebirth.

Both the figure of the High Priestess herself, and the tree of life, represent the kundalini energy. Water is another universal kundalini metaphor. The lower part of the dress of the RWS High Priestess looks like flowing water, and a calm sea extends in the background of the card.
On the wall painting from an Egyptian tomb (below) we see the deceased man drinking from a water source near a date palm.

Click here for the PALM TREE as a symbol for a kundalini awakening in Christian painting.

The Kabbalistic Tree of Life

Branches of a date palm
(Phoenix dactylifera)

Mural painting in the tomb of Irynefer (TT 290), Luxor, Egypt.

Saint Bruno, by Hieronymus Wierix, 16th century.

To attain eternal life with God, the ego must first die. On the engraving with Saint Bruno (left) we see an unusual crucifixion scene: Jesus hanging on a palm tree …! The artist Hieronymus Wierix knew, and wanted to communicate, that the crucifixion and resurrection of Jesus, on a deeper level, stand for the death of the ego and a spiritual rebirth. By placing the palm tree with Jesus on a skull, Wierix also indicates where this process takes place: in the head. With the middle fingers of his right hand he makes the sign of the sacred marriage (2 = 1) that took place in Jesus.

Read more about the symbolism in the Bible in my book ‘John the Baptist who became Jesus the Christ’.

The pillars Boaz and Jachin

In the Bible book 1 Kings we read about the legendary temple that King Solomon built for God. This story is not about a real building, but about making yourself into a “temple” for God to live in. One of the indications that we should not take the story literally is the curious fact that no sounds were heard during the construction of the temple:

The house, while it was being built, was built of stone prepared at the quarry, and there was neither hammer nor axe nor any iron tool heard in the house while it was being built … and they would go up by winding stairs to the middle story, and from the middle to the third. (1 Kon. 6:7-8)

The temple of Solomon with the pillars Jachin and Boaz

The side rooms are accessible by a spiral staircase; a beautiful metaphor for the spiral movement of the rising kundalini. It takes Solomon seven years to construct the temple, referring to the opening / activation of the seven chakras. He has two huge copper columns placed against the entrance hall of the temple and gives them names: Jachin and Boaz. The two pillars represent the two energy channels (named ida nadi and pingala nadi in the yoga tradition), that connect us to duality, and that flow on the left and the right side of the spine. It is these two pillars that must be unified (the sacred marriage) by the spiritual aspirant to complete the kundalini process.

Click here for the PILLAR as a (hidden) symbol for a kundalini awakening in Christian painting.

Pomegranates

In ancient cultures the pomegranate represented fertility, abundance, rebirth and eternal life. It is a fruit full of seeds, so associations with fertility and abundance are easy to understand. The pomegranate also stands for the “divine seed” dormant in our sacrum. Partly, she owes this to her red color, which corresponds to the color of the first chakra, where the kundalini is located. This explains her symbolic meaning of rebirth and eternal life.

Pomegranates

The RWS Fool

The baby Jesus has a pomegranate in his hand and points to his pelvis, where the kundalini is locataed, with his other hand. Mary also points to the pelvis of Jesus. Pietro di Domenico, 15th century. Click here for the POMEGRANATE in Christian painting.

Pomegranates are also depicted on the clothing of the RWS-Fool (above). An additional element – in addition to the discussed red feather, the symbol for ether, and the eagle – that refers to the spiritual potential of the first card of the major arcana.

On tarot card number 19 The Sun, the child wears a wreath of pomegranates (right). The deeper meaning of this is that the kundalini energy has successfully been lifted to the crown chakra.

Click here for the POMEGRANATE as a symbol for the kundalini in Christian painting.

RWS The Sun

The woman with the moon under her feet from the Book of Revelation.

The woman with the moon under her feet

The crescent moon under the feet of the High Priestess refers to a quote from the book of Revelation, which contains the visions of the apostle John:

A great sign appeared in heaven: a woman clothed with the sun, and the moon under her feet, and on her head a crown of twelve stars; and she was with child; and she cried out, being in labor and in pain to give birth.
(Revelation 12:1-2)

The woman is clothed with the sun, the text says. The sun stands for the divine, for immortality. The ever-changing moon represents physical reality, duality, mortality, the illusion of matter. The woman has the moon under her feet: she has gained mastery over matter / duality. Her crown with stars stands for an opened crown chakra and the number twelve symbolizes spiritual fullness. Colman-Smith has used this twelve-star crown for the next card of the major arcana: the Empress.

John’s vision are images of the kundalini awakening that he is experiences. The child who is about to be born is the divine child who is born in his soul. With the addition of the crescent moon under the feet of the High Priestess – a new element – Colman-Smit wants to emphasize what this card stands for: a kundalini awakening!

Read more about kundalini symbolism in the Bible in my book ‘John the Baptist who became Jesus the Christ’.

Conclusion

The High Priestess represents the divine mystery in our pelvis. The knowledge regarding the kundalini energy has always been hidden anxiously from the general public, to prevent abuse. This is the meaning of the only partially visible Torah role on the RWS High Priestess. Both in the Bible (in which the Torah is included) and in art, this knowledge is covered by symbolism.

Only for those who sincerely long for God and live a pure life, will the High Priestess lift her veil.

The righteous will flourish like a palm tree…
(Psalm 92:12)

This article was published in Paravisie Magazine (April ’19). Copyright Anne-Marie Wegh 2019

Anne-Marie Wegh is the author of the book: Kundalini Awakening in the Bible

Foto’s Châteaux de Avenières: http://hermetism.free.fr/Avenieres

Visconti-Sforza Tarot (15th century)

Caduceus

Velum

This interpretation is in line with the way the Magician holds his staff. Both the staff and and the outstretched middle finger represent the spine with the awakened kundalini flowing through it.

Click here to learn more about the STAFF as a symbol for a kundalini awakening.

The symbol of the extended middle finger is also frequently seen in Christian art from that time, as a veiled reference to the kundalini process that Jesus went through. Below are three examples (click on the images to enlarge).

Click here for more examples of the extended MIDDLE FINGER as a symbol for a kundalini awakening in Christian art.

Giovanni di Francesco del Cervelliera, 1460.

Domenico Feti (after), begin 17e eeuw.

Bartholomäus Spranger, 1580.

The Tarot of Marseille

To express the merging of the two polar energy channels (the two serpents of the caduceus), i.e. the inner realization of the oneness of the divine, the Magician’s hat in the Tarot of Marseille (right) is in the form of a lemniscate (infinity sign). Tarot card 11. Strength uses the same symbolism.

The Magician’s right hand is on his lower abdomen where the kundalini energy is located when it is not yet awakened. With his left hand he holds up his staff – symbol for the spine: we are urged by him to raise our own kundalini energy to the head.

The six buttons on his tunic represent the six chakras that the kundalini passes on its way to the crown, where man is (re)connected to God.

Tarot of Marseille,
by Stefano Vergnano Tarot (1830)

Italian Tarot, Carlo Della Rocca, 19th century.

Instead of his staff, Carlo Della Rocca’s Magician (above right) – who has the appearance and tools of a shoemaker – raises a glass of wine to his head. Wine is a metaphor for the kundalini in the Bible. An alchemist of the time would have associated the glass of wine with the coveted red ‘Elixir of Life’, which is also a metaphor for the kundalini energy.

Read more about the symbolism in the Bible in my book ‘Mary Magdalene, the discipel whom Jesus loved’. 

The Etteilla Tarot

The Magician of the Etteilla Tarot (1890) is dressed as a Jewish priest, a reference to the high priest Aaron, the brother of the prophet Moses, from the Old Testament. Moses and Aaron both had a special staff that could turn into a serpent; a biblical metaphor for a kundalini awakening.

When a priest is to be chosen from twelve tribal chiefs, God instructs all candidates to give a stick to Moses. “And the staff of the man whom I choose will blossom,” says God (Numbers 17: 5).

The next day Moses entered the tent of the testimony and saw that Aaron’s staff, representing the house of Levi, had sprouted, formed buds, blossomed, and produced almonds!
(Numbers 17: 8)

The blossoming and bearing fruit of the staff is a apt metaphor for a spine in which the awakened kundalini energy is flowing. This “sprouting” of Aaron’s staff is a theme that has found its way into the tarot. In many decks we find staffs with buts and leaves attached to them, something that is not common for a staff that is used for walking or sheep herding.

Click here for the STAFF as a symbol for the kundalini in Christian painting.

Grand Etteilla tarot (1890)

“Moses and Aaron before the Pharaoh”
(16th century, Metropolitan Museum of Art)

Aäron’s staff blossoms

The ten coins, or tokens, on the table of the Magician of the Etteilla deck, are organised in the pattern 1-2-3-4, a reference to the tetraktys of Pythagoras (right). The philosopher Pythagoras, who lived around 500 BC, saw the tetraktys as the foundation of the cosmos and as an expression of the divine. Ten, the sum of the numbers one, two, three, and four, is a sacred number for the Pythagoreans; symbol for harmony and perfection.

The title Maladie (illness) does not refer to the Magician, but to the meaning that, according to Etteilla, the card has in a tarot reading.

Oswald Wirth Tarot (1889)

The Oswald Wirth Tarot

Oswald Wirth’s Magician has three symbols of the minor arcana on his table: a sword, a cup and coins. In his hand he has the fourth symbol: a staff.

The coins have a double edge. The double circle is an alchemical symbol that stands for the merging of the opposites / polar energy channels.

All coins have a symbol that also stands for the fusion of the opposites / polar energy channels: a hexagram, an equal-armed (Greek) cross, and an eight-pointed ‘Morning Star’.

The Magician’s staff has a blue and a red knob. Blue and red are the classic colors for the feminine and masculine respectively. Another reference to the merging of the polar energy channels.

Château des Avenières

On the table of the Magician in mosaic in Château des Avenièreswe see a saucer and two coins with hexagrams, consisting of a white and a red triangle. In alchemy RED and WHITE (click here) are the colors of the polar energy channels/sacred marriage. The sword on the table is decorated with a gold and a silver crescent moon. Gold and silver also refer to polarities in alchemy. The kundalini is associated with moon goddesses in many traditions.

Click here for the SWORD as a symbol for a kundalini awakening.

The staff of the Magician  is placed on his hip/pelvis; the abode of the kundalini. An intriguing detail is the small stream of water that meanders between the feet of the Magician. This is a metaphor for the kundalini-energy, derived from the Old Testament. As the people of Moses roam the wilderness looking for the Promised Land, they get thirsty and start to complain. Moses then hits a rock with his staff – the one that can also turn into a serpent – and water starts pouring out (Exodus 17: 6). Jesus calls this “living water” in the New Testament. Water that will quench your (spiritual) thirst forever:

But whosoever drinks of the water that I shall give him shall never thirst; but the water that I shall give him shall be in him a well of water springing up into everlasting life (John 4:14)

Detail

Moses hits a rock with his staff and water pours out.

The Rider-Waite-Smith Tarot

The Rider-Waite-Smith Magician

The RWS Tarot makes a link between the Magician and an alchemist. Red and white – the Magician’s clothing – are the colors that represent in alchemy the two poles of duality, which must be fused into a (divine) unity. On an energetic level, these colors refer to the two energy channels, running along the spine, which in the yoga tradition are called ida-nadi (the feminine, white) and pingala-nadi (the masculine, red). They are also the two serpents that spiral upwards on the staff of the god Hermes.

Alchemy often uses images from nature, such as flowers. On the illustration from the manuscript of Basilius Valentinus (below left) we see a king – symbol for the alchemist who has realized the divine – standing wide-legged between a rose (red) and a lily (white). These are the same flowers that we also see on the RWS card of the Magician.

Click here for the LILY as a symbol for a kundalini awakening.

He is holding a sun and a moon in his hands. These are also symbols that express duality. The alchemical emblem with the mythical figure Hermes Trismegistus (below right) illustrates that the fusion of these poles takes place through the action of (the kundalini) fire.

The lemniscate, above the head of the RWS Magician, is a universal symbol that expresses this fusion. Around the Magician’s waist we see a so-called ouroboros; a serpent that eats its own tail. The ouroboros is an ancient symbol, also from alchemy, that with its circular shape stands for the cyclical nature of creation, and its underlying divine unity. This ouroboros as a belt symbolizes that the animal drives (the lower abdomen) must be mastered in order to experience the divine. The serpent is also a universal symbol of the kundalini-energy.

With his arms, one pointing up and one pointing down, the Magician expresses the connection of heaven and earth. His raised staff tells us how this connection can be established: by raising the kundalini. The staff has two small knobs, a subtle reference to the fusion of the polarities that must be achieved.

The king in this image symbolizes the alchemist who has realized the divine. The ROSE and LILY, like the sun and the moon, symbolize the polar energy channels that merge during the kundalini process. (Basilius Valentinus, 1613)

The fusion of the opposites, symbolized by the sun and moon, takes place through the action of the KUNDALINI FIRE. (Viridarium Chymicum, D. Stolz von Stolzenberg, 1624)

Colman-Smith has added an additional clue for tarot researchers to clarify the deeper meaning of this card (right). On the rim of the table, on the right, we see a rising bird. This is the dove of the Holy Spirit. However, we read in the Bible that the Holy Spirit, in the form of a dove, descends on Jesus:

Now when all the people were baptized, Jesus was also baptized, and while He was praying, heaven was opened, and the Holy Spirit descended upon Him in bodily form like a dove, (Luke 3:21-22)

Bartolomeo Passarotti, 16th century.

In Christianity the kundalini energy is called The Holy Spirit. The Bible is written in the language of symbolism (see my book). Inner processes are explained by using images that the masses could understand. A dove that descends represents the kundalini energy that rises. Colman-Smith knew this and hid this esoteric knowledge in the card of the Magician.

We can also find this deeper meaning of Bible stories in paintings. Always subtle, because esoteric knowledge could not be dispayed, or spoken about, openly. The painting of Bartolomeo Passarotti (left), from the 16th century, creativily connects the dove of the Holy Spirit, the rising kundalini serpent, the resurrection of Jesus, and the Holy Grail. An in-depth analysis of this subject can be found in my book: John the baptist who became Jesus the Christ.

The pentagram

The pentagram, on the RWS card the Magician, is a symbol that is almost as old as humanity itself. In many traditions it is a highly valued esoteric sign. Among other things because of its special mathematical properties, the five-pointed star stands for the perfect human being; for the person who has realized the divine (see illustration below left).

Over time, the inverted pentagram, pointing downwards, acquired the meaning of satanism. Nowadays, with one point up, the star stands for the divine dominating over matter (the four elements). With two points up it is the lower, animal drives (satan) that rule.

From: ‘The Alchemy of the Freemason’, by François-Nicolas Noël, early 19th century.

From: “Le Barbier Medecin ou les Fleurs d’Hyppocrate”, by Jean Michault, 1672.

The Greek goddess Hygieia with pentagram, staff and serpent.

On the illustration from Jean Michault’s book the letters YGEIA are added to the pentram (above center). This refers to the Greek hugieia which means wholeness / health, and to Hygieia, the goddess of health and purity (hygiene). As an attribute, Hygieia, like her father Asclepius, the god of medicine, has a staff with a serpent (above right). The deeper meaning of this is that a kundalini awakening leads to (spiritual) wholeness and purity.

The dragon depicted on Michault’s illustration represents the animal drives that pose a threat to God-realization (‘hugieia‘).

The symbols of the minor arcana

With his tarot deck, in 1909, Arthur E. Waite is the first to illustrate all the cards of the minor arcana. The cards of pentacles (or coins), cups, rods and swords, were already associated with the four elements – earth, water, fire and air – before this time. Now this connection is made visible in the illustrations of the Rider-Waite-Smith (RWS) deck.

The symbolism, however, does not stop with the classical four elements. The four symbols of the minor arcana, on the table in front of the magician, also refer to the divine and various aspects of a kundalini awakening. The four aces of the deck, with the Hand of God holding the symbols, are an example of this (below).

The aces of the Rider-Waite-Smith Tarot

Colman-Smith was inspired by the Tarot of Marseille (below) for these illustrations. The sword, the staff, and the cup are ancient symbols that are used in many traditions to refer to a kundalini awakening. Surprisingly enough, even in the 17th century Tarot of Marseille. We see a divine hand and divine (kundalini) fire on the Aces of Swords and Rods.

The aces of the Tarot of Marseille (17th century)

The castle-like top of the chalice on the Ace of Cups (above left) refers to the Kingdom of God. The mysterious liquid that flows over the rim of the chalice in three small waves represents the divine energy that flows to body, heart (feeling) and head (thinking); a classical tripartite division of man, which we also see in Biblical symbolism (read more in my book: Mary Magdalene, the disciple whom Jesus loved)

Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I fear no evil, for You are with me;
Your rod and Your staff, they comfort me
You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies;
You have anointed my head with oil;
My cup overflows.
(Psalm 23:4-5)

Cups Seven from the RWS deck (right) is also very interesting in terms of symbolism. Each cup on this card shows a characteristic of the kundalini energy:

• A serpent => a classic symbol of the kundalini energy
• A dragon => if the kundalini energy is used to feed the animal instincts, it is a dragon that must be conquered
• The head of an angel => an angel is a metaphor for the (divine) kundalini energy
• A castle on a mountain => the Kingdom of God
• Jewels => the inner wealth / abundance that the divine brings
• Someone hidden under a cloth => the purifying effect of the kundalini energy makes one invisible (ego-less)
• A laurel wreath with a skull (on the chalice itself) => victory over death

Click here for a CUP/HOLY GRAIL as a hidden symbol for the kundalini in Christian painting.

Like the staff, the sword is also a metaphor for the spine with the kundalini energy flowing in it (see illustration on right). The image of a sword refers to the inner battle and the cleansing – the “cutting away” of everything that prevents a connection with God – that is part of the process of awakening.

Click here for the SWORD as a hidden symbol for the kundalini in Christian painting.

The staff of Hermes

Tarot decks that originate from, or are inspired by, the 19th century occult grouping The Golden Dawn (below) relate the Magician to the Greek god Hermes (Mercury to the Romans). By touching them with his serpent staff, the caduceus, Hermes could put people to sleep and wake them up. In other words: he could awaken spiritually unconscious people.

Classic Golden Dawn Tarot (2004)

Knapp-Hall Tarot by Manley Hall (1929)

Hermetic Tarot by Godfrey Dowson (1980)

Thoth Tarot by Aleister Crowley (1969)

On the Classic Golden Dawn card (above left), the Magician has a caduceus on his chest. With his hands he makes the figure of a triangle with one point upwards – the symbol for the element fire – at the height of his pelvis. This is a reference to the “kundalini fire” at the sacrum. This card is without color. Traditionally, members of the Golden Dawn were supposed to color their own tarot cards.

Click here for the TRIANGLE a symbol for the kundalini

The spear on the table is a reference to the ‘Lance of Longinus’, with which Jesus was pierced on the cross (a kundalini metaphor). The cube stands in alchemy for matter/man. The four objects on the table are placed in the shape of a pentagram.

On the Knapp-Hall Tarot card (above, second from left), the Magician’s staff is a caduceus. Geoffrey Dowson (Hermetic Tarot, above, third from left) has chosen to depict the entire figure of Hermes / Mercury. The Magus of the Thoth Tarot (above, right) is, as it were, a caduceus himself. Behind him a long staff is placed and at the height of his head spiral two serpents. The wings of the god Hermes are connected to his feet. At the top of the card we see a small, descending dove.

Click here for the CADUCEUS as a (hidden) symbol for the kundalini in Christian painting.

The three energy channels involved in a kundalini awakening. They are symbolized by the two serpents and the staff of the caduceus.

Conclusion

Tarot card The Magician stands for spiritual transformation and self-realization. The Magician is an alchemist. His Magnum Opus is creating the inner gold (the divine). His staff, with which he works magic, is the staff of Hermes/Mercury: his spine, with the Holy Spirit of God flowing in it.

This article was published in Paravisie Magazine (March ’19). Copyright Anne-Marie Wegh 2019

Anne-Marie Wegh is the author of the book: Kundalini Awakening in the Bible

© of images belong to Lo Scarabeo.
Foto’s Châteaux de Avenières: http://hermetism.free.fr/Avenieres

Visconti Sforza deck (15th century)

Charles VI deck (15th century)

D’Este deck (15th century)

Feathers have been inserted into the hair of the Fool on the Visconti-Sforza deck (above left); a reference to the lightness/emptiness of his mind. This interpretation is confirmed by the empty gaze with which he stares into the distance. The Fool of the D’Este deck (above right) carries a flag with the colors black and white: he is connected to the duality of matter, and not to the oneness of the divine

The explicit nudity of the Fool on the d’Este deck, in combination with the children pulling down his pants, would definitely not be acceptable nowadays. And apparently even in the 17th century it was thought that innocence and madness should be portrayed in a different way, because on the Tarot of Marseille (below left), the tarot deck that laid the foundation for all contemporary decks, we see that the children have been replaced for a cat (or is it a dog?) that jumps to the genitals of the Fool.

Tarot of Marseille, Jean Noblet
(± 1650)

Etteilla Thoth Tarot (early 19th century)

Oswald Wirth Tarot (1889)

The Etteilla Thoth Tarot by Jean-Baptiste Alliette (above center), from the early 19th century, is the first deck to visibly incorporate esoteric symbolism. On the Fool’s card we see a jester with his hands over his eyes. The card communicates ignorance, ‘not wanting to see’. The jester is a ‘fool’ who does not follow the road to the Kingdom of God. The basis for this interpretation are Bible quotes such as:

Because you say, “I am rich, and have become wealthy, and have need of nothing,” and you do not know that you are wretched and miserable and poor and blind and naked.
(Revelation 3:17)

The fool says in his heart: “There is no God.” (Psalm 53:1)

For the wisdom of this world is foolishness with God … (1 Cor. 3:19)

Left page translation: Foolish are those (as the psalmist writes) who say in their hearts that Jesus Christ is not the Messiah, David is so sorry that he has written against them in several places.
(Hans Holbein’s Icones Historiarum Veteris Testamenti, 1547)

Oswald Wirth (above right) adds a crocodile and a fallen obelisk to the Fool’s card in his tarot deck (1889). Two themes that will be incorporated by many other decks to come. Both the crocodile and the fallen obelisk refer to spiritual unconsciousness.

Crocodile

In many spiritual traditions, a crocodile represents our most primitive drives; the instinctive impulses from our “reptile brain” (that part of our brain that is also active with reptiles). Symbolically, being eaten by a crocodile means being spirtually unconscious; being driven by animal instincts instead of by the heart or soul. Living a materialistic and indulgent lifestyle.

An important demon in Ancient Egypt was Ammit, or Ammut, the “Devourer of the Dead.” Ammit was depicted as a composition of the three most dangerous animals in Egypt at the time: a crocodile, a lioness or leopard, and a hippopotamus. Ammit devoured the hearts of those who had led a bad / sinful life.