Raymond Lulle--Cardan--Postel--The Rosicrucians--Court de Gébelin--Etteila--Claude de Saint--Martin--J. A.--Vaillant--Christian--Eliphas Levi--Stanislas de Guaita--Joséphin Péladan--The Platonist--Theosophical Publications--F. Ch. Barlet--Oswald Wirth--Poirel--Ely Star--H. P. Blavatsky--Ch. de Sivry--Mathers.
SOME ACCOUNT
OF THE AUTHORS WHO HAVE SPECIALLY INTERESTED THEMSELVES IN THE TAROT.
RAYMOND LULLE (1235-1315), an eminently learned man, the founder of a system of philosophy, but chiefly of logic, entirely based upon the application of the Tarot; this is the Ars Magna.
CARDAN (JÉRÔME). Born in Paris in 1501, died in 1576. Professor of Mathematics and Medicine at Milan and Boulogne.
Travelled through Scotland, England, and France, working miraculous cures.
His treatise On Subtility (1550) is entirely based on the keys of the Tarot.
POSTEL (GUILLAUME). Born at Dolerie (diocese of Avranches)
in 1510. Sent to the East by Francis I., he brought back some valuable manuscripts, and was appointed Professor of Mathematics and Oriental Languages in the College of France. Died in the Convent of Saint-Martin des Champs in 1581.
One of the greatest Initiates of the sixteenth century. He discovered the key to the Tarot, but did not disclose the secret, in spite of the promise given in the title to his work, The Key to the Hidden Mysteries (1580). A list of his works will be found in the index.
THE MYSTERIOUS FRATERNITY OF THE ROSICRUCIANS (1604). La Fama Fraternitatis Rosæ Crucis (1613) shows the Initiate that the Rosicrucians possessed the Tarot, which is described thus--
They possess a book from which they can learn everything that is in the books already written and to be written.
We must not forget that the Rosicrucians are the Initiators of Leibnitz, and the founders of actual Freemasonry through Asmhole.
COURT DE GÉBELIN. Born at Nîmes in 1725, died at Paris in 1784. An illustrious scholar, who discovered the Egyptian origin of the Tarot. Consult his Primitive World (1773-1783).
ETTEILA (1783). We have given a summary of his work upon Fortune-telling with the Tarot, and upon the application of this work to the Kabbalah.
CLAUDE DR SAINT-MARTIN. The unknown philosopher. Born in 1743 at Amboise, died in 1803. The disciple of Martinez Pasqualis and Jacob Bœhm, the founder of the So-called Martinist order. His book, the Tableau Naturel des Rapports qui existent entre Dieu, l'Homme et l'Univers, is based upon the Tarot.
J. A. VAILLANT. Lived many years with the Gypsies, and received a great many of their traditions orally: these are contained in his works--
[paragraph continues] Les Rômes, Histoire vraie des vrais Bohémiens (towards 1853).
La Bible des Bohémiens (1860).
Clef Magique de la-Fiction et du Fait (1863).
CHRISTIAN. Librarian of the Arsenal. Has published an occult manuscript upon the Tarot, blending with it his personal reflections upon astrology in--
L'Homme Rouge des Tuileries (1854).
ELIPHAS LEVI. Amongst contemporary Masters of Occultism, he had the greatest knowledge of the Tarot. His work Dogme et Rituel de la Haute Magie (1861, 2 vols., 8vo.) is based upon the keys of the Tarot. Eliphas Levi had a most romantic life, and died in 1870, leaving a son (I believe).
STANISLAS DE GUAITA. Contemporary Kabbalistic scholar. He made several applications of the Tarot to the Kabbalah. We have given one extract of them already. Consult also, Au Seuil du Mystère (1886), and Le Serpent de la Genèse.
JOSÉPHIN PÉLADAN. A clever novelist and eminent Kabbalist. He often wrote upon the Tarot in his works (1885-1889).
"THE PLATONIST" (1888). Review of American Occultism. It contained a poor study upon the application of the Tarot to horoscopy. This essay has been reproduced in the
Theosophical Publications. Small pamphlets called "Siftings," No. 14 (London 1888) (7, Duke Street).
F. CH. BARLET. One of the most learned and most highly-esteemed authorities amongst French Occultists. The summary of one of his works on the Tarot Initiatique (1889) is quoted in extenso, page 253.
OSWALD WIRTH has studied the astronomical Tarot (see Chapter XVI.), and has carefully reproduced the twenty-two symbolical figures, according to the most recent information obtainable upon Symbolism (1889).
E. POIREL. Occultist. Editor of the Tarot d'Oswald Wirth (1889).
ELY STAR. An author known by his interesting work upon Astrology, the Mystères de l'Horoscope (Dentu, 1888). It contains a chapter upon the Tarot.
H. P. BLAVATSKY. This author, rendered eminent by her works upon Theosophy, mentions the Tarot in her books (Isis Unveiled and the Secret Doctrine), but very superficially and without any synthetic basis.
CH. DE SIVRY. A very talented occultist, chiefly known by his works upon music. To his kindness we owe the summary of a Tarot Bohémien entitled--
Extract from the sacred book of the Opâchti tribe, the primitive family, which adored Otchâvâtri representing the only God Otchawatra. This tribe lived at the foot of the Himalaya.
This book describes the symbolism of the twenty-two arcana, according to the Gypsies, with interesting details upon esoterism.
MATHERS, an English author, has recently published a short account of the Tarot, which contains nothing very original: it is rather a summary of the principal authors who have studied the question. It is chiefly written as an aid to fortune-telling by cards.
This closes the list of authors whose books we have heard of, and who have alluded to the Tarot or used its keys. We may have omitted some of them, if so we must beg them to excuse us.