The Illustrated Key to the Tarot: The Veil of DivinationDe Laurence, L. W. (Lauron William)
Religion
The Illustrated Key to the Tarot: The Veil of Divination
De Laurence, L. W. (Lauron William)
Fortune-telling by cards; Tarot
22. The World, the Universe, or Time. The four living
creatures of the Apocalypse and Ezekiel's vision, attributed to the
evangelists in Christian symbolism, are grouped about an elliptic
garland, as if it were a chain of flowers intended to symbolize all
sensible things; within this garland there is the figure of a woman,
whom the wind has girt about the loins with a light scarf, and
this is all her vesture. She is in the act of dancing, and has a
wand in either hand. It is eloquent as an image of the swirl of
the sensitive life, of joy attained in the body, of the soul's intoxication
in the earthly paradise, but still guarded by the Divine
Watchers, as if by the powers and the graces of the Holy Name,
Tetragammaton,—those four ineffable letters which are
sometimes attributed to the mystical beasts. Eliphas Lévi calls
the garland a crown, and reports that the figure represents Truth.
Dr. Papus connects it with the Absolute and the realization of the
Great Work; for yet others it is a symbol of humanity and the
eternal reward of a life that has been spent well. It should be
noted that in the four quarters of the garland there are four
flowers distinctively marked. According to P. Christian, the
garland should be formed of roses, and this is the kind of chain
which Eliphas Lévi says is less easily broken than a chain of
iron. Perhaps by antithesis, but for the same reason, the iron
crown of Peter may lie more lightly on the heads of sovereign
pontiffs than the crown of gold on kings.
CLASS II
Section 3
THE FOUR SUITS
OTHERWISE, LESSER ARCANA
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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