The Major Arcana

A youthful figure in the robe of a magician, having the countenance of divine Apollo, with a smile of confidence and shining eyes. On the table in front of him are the symbols of the four Tarot suits, signifying the elements of natural life. This card signifies the divine motive of man, reflecting God, the will in the liberation of its union with that which is above, and the unity of individual being on all planes.

She has the lunar crescent at her feet, a horned diadem on her head, with a globe in the middle place, and a large solar cross on her breast. The scroll in her hands is inscribed with the word Tora, signifying the Greater Law, the Secret Law, and the second sense of the Word. She is the Secret Church, the House which is of God (nature) and man. She is the Moon nourished by the milk of the Supernal Mother.

A stately figure, seated, having rich vestments and royal aspect, as of a daughter of heaven and earth. Her diadem is of twelve stars, gathered in a cluster. The symbol of Venus is on the sheild the rests near her. A field of corn is ripening in front of her, and beyond there is a fall of water. The scepter which she bears is surmounted by the globe of this world. She is the inferiour Garden of Eden, the Earthly Paradise.

He has a form of the Crux ansata for his scepter and a globe in his left hand. He is crowned monarch - commanding, stately, seated on a throne, the arms of which are fronted by rams' heads. He is executive and realization, the power of this world, here clothed with the highest of its natural attributes. He is the virile power, to which the Empress responds.

He wears the triple crown and is seated between two pillars, but they are not those of the Temple which is guarded by the High Priestess. In his left hand he holds a scepter terminating in the triple cross, and with his right hand he gives the well-known ecclesiastical sign. At his feet are the crossed keys, and two priestly ministers in albs kneel before him. He is the ruling power of external religion.

The sun shines in the zenith, and beneath is a great winged figure with arms extended, pouring down influences. In the foreground are two human figures, male and female, unveiled before each other, as if Adam and Eve when they first occupied the paradise of the earthly body. Behind the man is the Tree of Life, and the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil is behind the woman. This is in all simplicity the card of human love. 

On the shoulder of the victorious hero are supposed to be the Urim and Thummim. He has led captivity captive; he is conquest on all planes - in the mind, in science, in progress, and in certain trials of initiation. He has thus replied to the Sphinx, and two sphinxes thus draw his chariot. He is above all things triumph in the mind. He is not hereditary royalty and he is not priesthood.

A women, over whose head there broods the same symbol of life which we have seen in the card of the Hierophant, is closing the jaws of a lion. Her strength is God (Nature), and has found refuge in Him. There is one aspect in which the lion signifies the passions, and she who is called Strength is the higher nature in its liberation.

This is a card of attainment, and to extend this conception the figure is holding up his beacon on an eminence. His beacon intimates that "where I am, you also may be." The card signifies to the truth that the Divine Mysteries secure their own protection from those who are unprepared.

This is a card that stands for the perpetual motion of a fluidic universe and for the flux of human life. The Sphinx is the equilibrium therein. The transliteration of Taro as Rota is inscribed on the wheel, counterchanged with the letters of the Divine Name - to show that Providence is implied through all.

The figure is seated between pillars, like the High Priestess, and on this account it seems desirable to indicate that the moral principle which deals unto every man according to his works differs from that of the spiritual realm.

The gallows from which he is suspended forms a Tau cross, while the figure - from the position of the legs - forms a fylfot cross. There is a nimbus about the head of the seeming martyr. He expresses deep entrancement, not suffering. The figure, as a whole, suggests life in suspension, but life and not death.