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
Herein is a summary of the Alchemical Tarot, which—with all
my respect for innovations and inventions—seems to be high fantasy;
but Etteilla had reveries of this kind, and if it should ever
be warrantable to produce a Key Major in place of the present
Key Minor, it might be worth while to tabulate the analogies of
these strange dreams. At the moment it will be sufficient to say
that there is given a schedule of the alchemical correspondences
to the Trumps Major, by which it appears that the Juggler or
Magician symbolizes attractive force; the High Priestess is inert
matter, than which nothing is more false; the Pope is the
Quintessence, which—if he were only acquainted with Shakespeare—might
tempt the present successor of St. Peter to repeat
that "there are more things in heaven and earth, Horatio."
The Devil, on the other hand, is the matter of philosophy at the
black stage; the Last Judgment is the red stage of the Stone;
the Fool is its fermentation; and, in fine, the last card, or the
World, is the Alchemical Absolute—the Stone itself. If this
should encourage my readers, they may note further that the
particulars of various chemical combinations can be developed
by means of the Lesser Arcana, if these are laid out for the
purpose. Specifically, the King of Wands = Gold; the Pages
or Knaves represent animal substances; the King of Cups = Silver;
and so forth.
XXIII
Le Grand Arcane, ou l'occultisme dévoilé. Par Eliphas Lévi.
Demy 8vo, Paris, 1898.
After many years and the long experience of all his concerns
in occultism, the author at length reduces his message to one
formula in this work. I speak, of course, only in respect of the
Tarot: he says that the cards of Etteilla produce a kind of hypnotism
in the seer or seeress who divines thereby. The folly of
the psychic reads in the folly of the querent. Did he counsel
honesty, it is suggested that he would lose his clients. I have
written severe criticisms on occult arts and sciences, but this is
astonishing from one of their past professors and, moreover,
I think that the psychic occasionally is a psychic and sees in a
manner as such.
XXIV
Le Serpent de la Genêse—Livre II; La Clef de la Magie Noire.
Par Stanislas de Guaita. 8vo, Paris, 1902.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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