Thelemic Waves Currents

What is the Art and Science of Tarot?

It has been said that Magick is the art and science of causing change to occur in conformity with Will. Adopting this same motto, I have stated that my reading style is the Art and Science of Tarot.

The science of tarot lies in its ancient associations with Astrology, Qabalah, and Alchemy. The cards of a tarot deck are each linked to some aspect of those very ancient sciences. Each card is assigned an attribute or combination of attributes belonging to those schools of discovery and self-exploration.

For instance, in the Qabalah, the number Five belongs to the realm of Severity, the place where the rules are hard and this is also where things begin to crumble (I always remember the Law of Entropy here).

The Suits of the Tarot belong to one of the Four Worlds of the Qabalah - quite simpy, Wands work in the World of Archetypes, the realm of imagination and invention. Cups belong to the World of our Feelings, and Swords to thoughts/words/ideas. Disks themselves are the final product of this development, the real world physical things.

So a Five of Disks is when the physical world begins to crumble apart. It is when the blocks of our buildings begin to decay, when the body gets weary and tired - maybe even sick.

But that is only the beginning.

If you put the Minor Arcana cards (minus the court cards in this case) in a certain order, in the shape of a wheel like an astrology chart, you have 36 cards each corresponding to one of the 10 degree segments of astrology called Decantes. Each Decante (or Deacon) is ruled by a specific planet colored by the qualities of a specific sign, and has given to it in astrology a very specific definition of its nature. So not only does the Five of Disks belong to the sphere of Severity in the Real World (aka Decay), but also to the decan of Mercury in Taurus.

Mercury is a very mental planet and easily movable, but Taurus is slow, sometimes slothful, and sometimes by way of being stubborn. You can possibly see here the similarity of the Qabalistic thought of God's Severity in the physical world as showing us why things decay, and the Astrological idea of Mercury's high rate of vibration in a place governed by a highly physical sign that often refuses to be budged. Crumble indeed! (Just picture a tightly wound spring in a freshly baked piece of clay.)

So there you have a hint of the science applied to tarot. It's a system and a complete system at that of numbers, philosophical concepts, astrological associations and (in cases with the Major Arcana), alchemical structures. A blog is too limited to go into it fully.

But what is the Art of Tarot that I speak of? The Art is the portion that requires talented blending and understanding of the way the cards will work together. It is like a pallet in a portrait painter's hands. The artist mixes the colors together in a way that generates the color that the artist was looking for or needs to understand. And this is something that can only be learned through experience and practice.

Now, in magickal temples and similar socieities, the method of teaching the Art of the tarot is not by way of the written word. Reading a book does not give you the experiences nor will you fully integrate the lessons into your self. No, the way it is done is to enter the Temple of the particular Diety (or Planet or Energy) being explored. Here the student actually meets and greets the experience being explored, including a full spectrum of associated colors, sounds, ideas, scents and every thing else. And the true Tarot Artist isn't reading the cards per se, but reading back into their realm of experiences, including life experiences that have been attached over time to these temple realms, and seeing and being in these ancient realms. Then comes the task of blending these experiences and the asnwers they bring into your life as a seeker, into the question to which you have sought your answer, and drawing forth from a deep well of inspiration all the details that best serve your aims.

Thank you for reading my article, I  hope this helps make things clearer for you and I look forward to performing an enlightening reading for your service.