The Illustrated Key to the Tarot: The Veil of Divination Flashcards
L. W. (Lauron William) De Laurence · Public domain edition · 71 cards · 19 chapters
L. W. De Laurence argues that the Tarot is a symbolic system tied to divination and a hidden tradition, and he proposes his own method of reading the cards. The deck covers his account of the Greater and Lesser Arcana, the suits, card-reading methods, and his historical claims.
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Chapter 1 · Question
How does the author describe the Tarot's symbolism and its relation to divination?
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Chapter 1 · Answer
The author argues the cards contain a very high symbolism, interpreted according to the Laws of Grace rather than by the pretexts and intuitions of what passes for divination. He acknowledges they are found amid the debris of the so-called occult arts, yet insists they belong in themselves to another region.
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Introduction4 cards
How does the author describe the Tarot's symbolism and its relation to divination?
The author argues the cards contain a very high symbolism, interpreted according to the Laws of Grace rather than by the pretexts and intuitions of what passes for divination. He acknowledges they are found amid the debris of the so-called occult arts, yet insists they belong in themselves to another region.
Chapter 1
What does the author say about the Tarot's treatment by cartomancists and prior exponents?
The author argues the subject has been in the hands of cartomancists as stock-in-trade, and on historical and interpretative sides it fared no better, brought into contempt for those with philosophical insight or appreciation of evidence. He states it is time it should be rescued, which he proposes to undertake once and for all.
Chapter 1
How is the treatise divided, and what does each part cover?
The author divides the little treatise into three parts: the first deals with the antiquities of the subject and connected matters, not as a contribution to playing-card history; the second treats symbolism in its higher aspects and introduces the rectified Tarot; the third terminates the thesis with the divinatory part, drawing a harmony of meanings from published sources.
Chapter 1
What does the author say about the new divinatory method he presents?
The author considers the divinatory part a fact in the history of the Tarot. He drew from all published sources a harmony of meanings attached to the various cards, and gave prominence to one method of working not previously published, which he says has the merit of simplicity and universal application, and may replace the cumbrous systems of larger hand-books.
Chapter 1
PART III3 cards
How does the chapter divide the Tarot into Greater and Lesser Arcana?
The chapter distinguishes the Greater Arcana from the Lesser Arcana as two separate classes of cards. The Lesser Arcana is described as the four suits of Tarot cards: the Suit of Wands, the Suit of Cups, the Suit of Swords, and the Suit of Pentacles. The Greater Arcana are treated separately, with their own divinatory meanings, in a later section of the outer method.
Chapter 2
What are the four suits of the Lesser Arcana?
The chapter names the Lesser Arcana as the four suits of Tarot cards: the Suit of Wands, the Suit of Cups, the Suit of Swords, and the Suit of Pentacles. These four suits together constitute what the text calls the Lesser Arcana, as distinct from the Greater Arcana whose divinatory meanings are given in a separate section.
Chapter 2
What methods of reading the cards does the outer method section list?
The outer method section lists several approaches: the Art of Tarot Divination, an Ancient Celtic Method of Divination, an Alternative Method of Reading the Tarot Cards, and a Method of Reading by Means of Thirty-five Cards. It also covers the recurrence of cards in dealing and additional meanings of the Lesser Arcana.
Chapter 2
Section I4 cards
What does the author claim the true Tarot is, and what does it speak?
The author argues that the true Tarot is symbolism: it speaks no other language and offers no other signs. Given the inward meaning of its emblems, they become a kind of alphabet capable of indefinite combinations and making true sense in all. On the highest plane it offers a "Key" to the Mysteries in a manner that is not arbitrary and has not been read in.
Chapter 3
What does the author say about the Tarot's history before the fourteenth century?
The author argues that the history of Tarot cards is largely of the negative kind, and that once reveries and gratuitous speculations are cleared away, there is in fact no history prior to the fourteenth century. He says deception and self-deception about an origin in Egypt, India, or China put a lying spirit into the mouths of the first expositors, later writers merely reproducing that false testimony.
Chapter 3
What does the author say about a Secret Tradition regarding the Tarot?
The author argues that a Secret Tradition exists regarding the Tarot, held by a few who transmit it under pledges and cannot betray their trust. He warns that any revelation will contain only a third part of the earth, sea, and stars in respect of the symbolism, since neither in root-matter nor development has more been put into writing, so much will remain to be said after any pretended unveiling.
Chapter 3
What Albigensian interpretation of Tarot cards does the author propose?
The author suggests the Tarot might have done duty and even originated as a secret symbolical language of the Albigensian sects. He proposes the High Priestess as the Albigensian church, the Tower struck by Lightning as the desired destruction of Papal Rome, and the Pope or Hierophant as a secret Albigensian patriarch. He calls these possibilities numerous and persuasive, yet admits they almost deceive the inventor.
Chapter 3
SECTION 24 cards
What does the author say about the Magus card's true symbolic meaning versus fortune-telling use?
The author argues the Magus is a caster of dice and mountebank only in the vulgar colportage interpretation, which corresponds to the real symbolical meaning as fortune-telling does to mystic symbolism. He notes independent students produce individual meanings that are sometimes suggestive but not the true lights, citing Eliphas Lévi's view of unity as mother of numbers, others' Divine Unity, and one French commentator's will.
Chapter 4
What does the author say about the Empress being shown full face while the Emperor is in profile?
The author states that some have tried to ascribe symbolical significance to this distinction, but it carries no inner meaning. The Empress has been connected with ideas of universal fecundity and, in a general sense, with activity. The Emperor is by imputation her spouse and is occasionally shown wearing stars or ribbons of an order of chivalry, which the author cites to show the cards mix old and new emblems.
Chapter 4
According to the author, which cardinal virtue is missing from the Trumps Major and why?
The author says the Tarot has its Justice, Temperance and Fortitude, but owing to a curious omission offers no type of Prudence. Commentators felt compelled to discover the missing fourth emblem at all costs. Court de Gebelin tried a tour de force, believing he extracted Prudence from the Hanged Man, but the author says he deceived himself. The Hermit's isolation may give a high counsel regarding the via prudentiæ.
Chapter 4
How does the author describe the eighteenth-century Lovers card and its Cupid emblem?
The author says the eighteenth-century form is really a card of married life, showing father and mother with their child between them. The pagan Cupid above, flying his shaft, is a misapplied emblem, representing love beginning rather than love in its fulness and guarding the fruit thereof. The card is said to have been titled Simulacrum fidei, the symbol of conjugal faith, for which the rainbow would have been more appropriate.
Chapter 4
SECTION 34 cards
Which modern suits do the four Tarot suits correspond to?
The chapter states Wands or Scepters are the antecedents of Diamonds, Cups correspond to Hearts, Swords answer to Clubs, and Pentacles—also called Deniers and Money—are the prototypes of Spades. The comparison is presented as part of the archaeology of the subject, linking old and new suits.
Chapter 5
How do Tarot court cards differ from modern court cards?
In the old as in the new suits there are ten numbered cards, but the Tarot has four Court Cards per suit: a Knight in addition to King, Queen and Knave. The Knave is a page, valet, or damoiseau—most correctly an esquire, presumably serving the Knight. Certain rare sets make the page a maid of honor, pairing the sexes in the tetrad.
Chapter 5
Where does the symbolism of the Lesser Arcana reside, according to the author?
The author argues that the distinctive pictures differ—the King of Wands is not exactly the King of Cups—but the symbolism resides in the court cards' rank and in the suit to which they belong. The smaller cards, never before issued pictorially in modern days, depend on the particular meaning of their numbers combined with the particular suit.
Chapter 5
How does the author organize his treatment of the Lesser Arcana?
The author reserves the details of the Lesser Arcana until the second part of the rectified and perfected Tarot accompanying the work. The consensus of divinatory meanings attached to both the greater and lesser symbols belongs to the third part. So this chapter introduces the suits and court structure rather than giving card-by-card meanings.
Chapter 5
SECTION 44 cards
What are the Baldini cards, and why does the author reject linking them to the Tarot?
The Baldini cards are a fifty-card set in five denaries of ten, attributed by tradition to Andrea Mantegna but generally rejected, dated about 1470 with few copies extant. The author argues they were not used for games or divination, that their emblematic designs carry no profound symbolic meaning, and that fantastic attempts to extract complete Tarot sequences from the denaries have no place in reality.
Chapter 6
What does the author conclude about Court de Gebelin's Egyptian origin theory of the Tarot?
The author credits Court de Gebelin, in his Monde Primitif before the French Revolution, with first making the cards known and with a real contribution on questions of fact, including how the game was played and the divinatory meanings. But the author rejects his hypothesis that the Tarot contains pure Egyptian doctrine, calling it a delusion excusable then but inexcusable now.
Chapter 6
What is known about the Gringonneur cards made for Charles VI of France?
In 1393 the painter Charles Gringonneur designed and illuminated cards for the diversion of Charles VI during his mental ill-health. Seventeen cards survive at the Bibliothèque du Roi in Paris, beautiful and unnumbered with gold backgrounds and silver borders. They include Tarot Trumps Major, but the ascription to Gringonneur was disputed as far back as 1848 and is not apparently put forward today.
Chapter 6
How does the Bolognese Tarot differ from other Tarot packs?
The Bolognese Tarot, sometimes called that of Venice, has the Trumps Major complete but transposes numbers 20 and 21, and omits the 2, 3, 4 and 5 of the small cards, leaving sixty-two cards in all. It is said to have been invented or modified about the beginning of the fifteenth century by an exiled Prince of Pisa. Its use for play is suggested by St. Bernardin of Sienna preaching against card playing in 1423.
Chapter 6
SECTION I.3 cards
According to the chapter, what is the 'secret doctrine' the Tarot is said to contain?
The author argues the Tarot embodies symbolical presentations of universal ideas containing secret doctrine: truths imbedded in the consciousness of all but not expressly recognized by ordinary men. This doctrine is held to have always existed, excogitated in the consciousness of an elect minority, perpetuated in secrecy, and recorded in secret literatures like Alchemy and Kabalism and in Instituted Mysteries such as Rosicrucianism and Craft Masonry.
Chapter 7
How does the author distinguish the Tarot from Alchemy and other occult literatures?
The author argues the Tarot is perhaps the earliest example of expressing Secret Doctrine in pictures and the most catholic, since it is not a derivative of any one occult school — not Alchemy, Kabalism, Astrology, or Ceremonial Magic. He notes the Mutus Liber and Book of Lambspring are later (seventeenth and sixteenth centuries) than the latest date assignable to the general distribution of Tarot cards in Europe.
Chapter 7
What did Mathers and Papus each propose about the Trumps Major?
Mathers suggested the twenty-two Trumps Major, in numerical order, form a 'connected sentence' — a moral thesis on the human will enlightened by science (Magician), manifested by action (High Priestess), realized in mercy (Empress) and beneficence (Emperor). Papus, in Tarot of the Bohemians, gave an elaborate scheme of numerical sequence showing interrelation in the Divine World, Macrocosm and Microcosm — a spiritual history of the soul. The author finds Papus nearer the right track but confusing in method.
Chapter 7
SECTION 24 cards
What do the Magician's raised wand and earth-pointing left hand signify?
The dual sign shows the descent of grace, virtue and light drawn from things above and derived to things below. The card therefore suggests the possession and communication of the Powers and Gifts of the Spirit. The four suit symbols on his table signify the elements of natural life, which lie like counters before the adept and which he adapts as he wills.
Chapter 8
How does the High Priestess differ from the Hierophant in what each represents?
The author argues she is the prevailing genius of the esoteric, withdrawn power, while the Hierophant is the ruling power of external religion. The Hierophant gives the ecclesiastical sign of esotericism distinguishing manifest from concealed doctrine, but the High Priestess makes no sign. Her partly covered scroll Tora shows some things are implied and some spoken.
Chapter 8
What does the Chariot symbolize, and what are its stated limitations?
He is conquest on all planes—in mind, science, progress and certain trials of initiation—and above all triumph in the mind. But the author states his conquests are manifest or external, not within himself; the sphinx's question concerns a Mystery of Nature, not the world of Grace; and at the High Priestess's pillars he could not open the Tora nor answer her.
Chapter 8
What does the chain of flowers in the Strength card signify?
The author argues the woman's beneficent fortitude has already subdued the lion, which is led by a chain of flowers. The chain intimates in a concealed manner the sweet yoke and light burden of Divine Law when taken into the heart of hearts. The card concerns confidence in those whose strength is God (Nature), not self-confidence in the ordinary sense.
Chapter 8
SECTION 34 cards
Why does the author decline to adopt the Hebrew alphabet attributions for the Trumps Major?
The author gives two reasons: first, it would serve no purpose in an elementary handbook; second, he asserts that nearly every attribution is wrong. He also declines to rectify the cards' positions relative to one another, so the Zero appears after No. 20, while the World or Universe is numbered 21.
Chapter 9
How does the compiler of the Manual of Cartomancy divide the cards, and does De Laurence adopt this?
The compiler treats the cards under three headings: the World of Human Prudence, the World of Conformity (the life of religious devotion), and the World of Attainment, described as the soul's progress towards the term of its research. He also gives a triple process of consultation. De Laurence offers no such process, preferring individual reflection on each Trump Major.
Chapter 9
What does the author say the Fool signifies, and what do the dim signs on his wallet mean?
The author calls the Fool the most speaking of all the symbols. He signifies the journey outward, the state of the first emanation, and the graces and passivity of the spirit. His wallet is inscribed with dim signs, indicating that many sub-conscious memories are stored up in the soul.
Chapter 9
On what plane does De Laurence say he treats the cards, and why not the three worlds?
He states that no attempt was made to present the symbolism in the three worlds — Divinity, the Macrocosm, and the Microcosm — since a large volume would be required for such developments. Instead he takes the cards on the high plane of their more direct significance to man, who in material life is on the quest of eternal things.
Chapter 9
SECTION 14 cards
How does the author distinguish the Greater from the Lesser Arcana?
The author argues the Trumps Major belong to "the divine dealings of philosophy," while the Lesser Arcana belong to fortune-telling, having never been translated into a language transcending divination. The court cards serve as a bridge of conventions between the two, lacking the living-picture symbolism of the Greater Arcana.
Chapter 10
What role do the court cards play between the two Arcana?
The court cards—King, Queen, Knight, and Squire or Page—supply the bridge between the Greater and Lesser Arcana. The author says they are a "bridge of conventions" with no especial idea connected on the surface, forming a transition to the numbered cards that follow.
Chapter 10
What does the author say about Papus's approach to the Lesser Arcana?
The author calls Papus's efforts in The Tarot of the Bohemians strenuous and deserving after their own kind. Papus recognizes Divine Immanence in the Trumps Major and seeks to trace it through the lesser cards, but the author argues he only produces an arbitrary scheme of division and ultimately falls back on a common scheme of divination.
Chapter 10
How does the author regard pictures on the numbered Lesser Arcana?
The author says all numbered Lesser Arcana except the Aces are furnished with figures illustrating, without exhausting, their divinatory meanings. Where pictures exceed conventional meanings, they should be taken as hints of possible developments along the same lines—not as higher, extra-divinatory symbolism—and they help intuition, being like doors opening into unexpected chambers.
Chapter 10
SECTION 24 cards
According to the chapter, on what does the veridic nature of divination depend?
The chapter says the records of the art are, ex hypothesi, records of past findings based on experience, serving as a guide to memory; those who master the elements may give interpretations on that basis, an official and automatic working. Alternatively, those with intuition, second sight, or clairvoyance supplement past experience with their own faculty and speak of what they have seen in the oracles.
Chapter 11
What are the divinatory meanings of the King of Wands, upright and reversed?
Upright, the King of Wands signifies a dark man, friendly, a countryman, generally married, honest and conscientious. The card always signifies honesty and may mean news concerning an unexpected heritage to fall in before very long. Reversed, it means good but severe, austere yet tolerant. The King is described as dark, ardent, lithe, animated, impassioned, and noble, and connects with the lion on his throne.
Chapter 11
What does the Ten of Wands chiefly signify, and what happens if the Nine of Swords follows?
The chapter calls it a card of many significances whose readings cannot all be harmonized, setting aside the connection with honor and good faith. Its chief meaning is oppression simply, but it is also fortune, gain, and success—then the oppression of these things—and a card of false-seeming, disguise, and perfidy. Success is stultified if the Nine of Swords follows; in a lawsuit there will be certain loss.
Chapter 11
What does the chapter say about the Two of Wands and its two alternative readings?
The chapter states that between the alternative readings there is no marriage possible: on one hand riches, fortune, magnificence; on the other, physical suffering, disease, chagrin, sadness, mortification. The design suggests a lord overlooking his dominion and contemplating a globe, likened to the malady, mortification, and sadness of Alexander amid the grandeur of this world's wealth. Reversed: surprise, wonder, enchantment, emotion, trouble, fear.
Chapter 11
SECTION 34 cards
What does the chapter say the Magician card signifies upright and reversed?
Upright, the Magician signifies skill, diplomacy, address, subtlety, sickness, pain, loss, disaster, snares of enemies, self-confidence and will; it also represents the Querent if male. Reversed it signifies Physician, Magus, mental disease, disgrace and disquiet.
Chapter 12
What does the chapter say about the Star card's upright meanings?
The Star's upright meanings are given as loss, theft, privation and abandonment; the chapter notes that another reading says hope and bright prospects. Reversed it signifies arrogance, haughtiness and impotence.
Chapter 12
How does the chapter describe the Death card's meanings, upright and reversed?
Upright, Death means end, mortality, destruction and corruption; for a man, loss of a benefactor; for a woman, many contrarieties; for a maid, failure of marriage projects. Reversed it means inertia, sleep, lethargy, petrifaction, somnambulism and hope destroyed.
Chapter 12
What is the author's overall opinion of assigning fortune-telling meanings to the Trumps Major?
The author argues that, except where surface meaning gives an irresistible suggestion, what the divinatory art extracts from the Trumps Major is artificial and arbitrary in the highest degree. He distinguishes the mysteries of light from those of fantasy and calls allocating a fortune-telling aspect to these cards a prolonged impertinence.
Chapter 12
SECTION 44 cards
How do the additional Lesser Arcana meanings relate to the cards' pictorial designs?
The chapter observes that these additamenta have little connection with the pictorial designs of the cards, since those designs correspond with the more important speculative values. It further notes that the additional meanings very often disagree with those previously given, and that all meanings are largely independent of one another, being reduced, accentuated, modified, or sometimes almost reversed by their place in a sequence.
Chapter 13
What does the chapter say about canons of criticism for these meanings?
The author states there is scarcely any canon of criticism in matters of this kind. He supposes that in proportion as any system descends from generalities to details it becomes naturally the more precarious, and that in the records of professional fortune-telling it offers more of the dregs and lees of the subject.
Chapter 13
According to the author, when are intuition-based divinations of practical value?
The author argues that divinations based on intuition and second sight are of little practical value unless they come down from the region of universals to that of particulars. Yet in proportion as that gift is present in a particular case, the specific meanings recorded by past cartomancists will be disregarded in favor of personal appreciation of card values.
Chapter 13
What does the chapter say about the Ace of Pentacles and its reversed meaning?
Among the additional Pentacles meanings, the Ace is called the most favorable of all cards. Reversed, it signifies a share in the finding of treasure. The chapter presents these as speculative readings added to the earlier meanings, noting that such additional meanings often disagree with those previously given.
Chapter 13
SECTION 54 cards
In the natural position, what do 4 Kings, 4 Queens, and 4 Knights signify?
According to the chapter's table, 4 Kings in the natural position mean great honor, 4 Queens mean great debate, and 4 Knights mean serious matters. These are the four-of-a-kind recurrences listed for each court rank, distinct from the three and two combinations that follow them in the same list.
Chapter 14
What do 4 Pages and 4 Aces mean when reversed?
In the reversed position, the chapter lists 4 Pages as privation and 4 Aces as dishonor. These reversed meanings differ sharply from their natural-position counterparts, where 4 Pages signify dangerous illness and 4 Aces signify a favorable chance. The table pairs each four-of-a-kind with a separate reversed reading.
Chapter 14
What does the chapter assign to 3 Eights and 4 Eights in the natural position?
The chapter states that 3 Eights in the natural position mean marriage, while 4 Eights mean reverse. Both appear in the natural-position list, where the number of repeated cards changes the reading. The reversed list gives different values for the same cards: 3 Eights become a spectacle and 4 Eights become error.
Chapter 14
How do 2 Twos and 4 Twos differ in the natural and reversed positions?
In the natural position, the chapter lists 2 Twos as accord and 4 Twos as contention. When reversed, 2 Twos mean mistrust and 4 Twos mean reconciliation. The table thus reverses the tone of both combinations, pairing accord with mistrust and contention with reconciliation depending on whether the cards fall upright or reversed.
Chapter 14
SECTION 63 cards
What simpler divination method does the author offer before the Oracles of Julia Orsini?
The author first offers a short process used privately for many years in England, Scotland and Ireland, which he does not think has been published, certainly not in connection with Tarot cards. He believes it will serve all purposes, and adds the French Oracles of Julia Orsini only as a variation.
Chapter 15
Why does the author set aside the more involved modes of Tarot operation?
The author sets aside the more involved modes because persons versed in such questions believe that the way of simplicity is the way of truth. He also sets aside the operations republished in the 'Divining Tarot' section of The Tarot Of The Bohemians, recommending it to readers who wish to go beyond this handbook's limits.
Chapter 15
What is the Oracles of Julia Orsini described as in this chapter?
The author presents the Oracles of Julia Orsini as what used to be known in France, offered in the second place by way of variation after the short English, Scottish and Irish process. He does not detail its procedure here; it serves as an alternative to his first method.
Chapter 15
SECTION 74 cards
How are Significators chosen by age and sex in this Celtic method?
A Knight represents a man of forty or older; a King any male under that age; a Queen a woman over forty; and a Page any female of lesser age. The Diviner first selects this card to represent the person or matter of inquiry, and it is called the Significator.
Chapter 16
What do the four Court Card suits indicate about a person's appearance?
Wands signify very fair people with yellow or auburn hair, fair complexion and blue eyes; Cups, light brown or dull fair hair with grey or blue eyes; Swords, hazel or grey eyes, dark brown hair and dull complexion; Pentacles, very dark brown or black hair, dark eyes and sallow or swarthy complexions. The author says temperament can override these.
Chapter 16
What do the first six cards of the spread signify?
Card 1 covers the Significator, giving the general influence or atmosphere. Card 2 crosses it, showing obstacles. Card 3 crowns it, the aim or best achievable. Card 4 is beneath, the foundation already actualized. Card 5 is behind, influence passing away. Card 6 is before, influence coming into action in the near future.
Chapter 16
What do the seventh through tenth cards represent, and what if the tenth is dubious?
Card 7 signifies the Significator's position or attitude; card 8 his house or environment; card 9 his hopes or fears; card 10 the final result, on which the Diviner should concentrate intuition. If card 10 is dubious, the operation may be repeated using it as the new Significator. A Court Card there means the matter falls to that person.
Chapter 16
SECTION 84 cards
How are the forty-two dealt cards rearranged into six lines of seven?
After six packets of seven are dealt face up, the first packet is laid in a row right to left, with the remaining packets placed upon it, forming seven packets of six. The top card of each is shuffled into the first line, the next two cards into two lines beneath, and the remaining twenty-one into three more lines—six lines of seven, read right to left from the top line's No. 1 to the bottom line's No. 7.
Chapter 17
How is the Querent's significator card handled in this method?
The Querent is represented by the Magician if male and the High Priestess if female, but the card is not removed until all forty-two cards are laid out. If it appears among them, it is taken out and placed to the right of the first line, with a card drawn at random from the undealt thirty-six filling the vacancy; if absent, it is sought among those thirty-six and placed there, keeping forty-two cards on the table.
Chapter 17
When is this alternative method recommended, and how should timing be handled?
The author recommends this method when no definite question is asked—when the Querent wishes to learn generally about the course of his life and destiny. If the Querent wants to know what may befall within a certain time, that time should be clearly specified before the cards are shuffled.
Chapter 17
What role does intuition play, and what should be done if it fails?
The author argues intuition and clairvoyant faculties are assumed in divination; where present or developed, the fortuitous card arrangement links the Diviner's mind to the subject's atmosphere. Where intuition fails or is absent, concentration, intellectual observation and deduction must be used to the fullest extent. Intuition, even if apparently dormant, may be cultivated by practice; if in doubt about a card, place a hand on it, refrain from thinking what it ought to be, and note the impressions arising.
Chapter 17
SECTION 93 cards
In the thirty-five card reading, how are the cards divided into packets?
The thirty-five cards are shuffled and cut as before, then dealt into six packets: Packet I takes the first seven cards, Packet II the next six, Packet III the next five, Packet IV the next four, Packet V the next two, and Packet VI the last eleven cards.
Chapter 18
When is the thirty-five card reading used?
It is used after a reading by the previous method when something remains doubtful, or when it is desired to carry the question further. The undealt cards left over from the first operation with forty-two cards are taken up for this purpose.
Chapter 18
How are the leftover cards and the Querent arranged before this reading?
The undealt cards remaining over, not having been used in the first operation with forty-two cards, are taken up. The forty-two cards already used are set aside in a heap, with the Querent card placed face upwards on the top of that heap.
Chapter 18
VI. V. IV. III. II. I.3 cards
In the six-line deal, what does each line represent?
The first line stands for the house and environment; the second for the person or subject of the divination; the third for what passes outside, events and persons; the fourth for a surprise or the unexpected; the fifth for consolation, which may moderate what is unfavorable in preceding lines; the sixth elucidates the enigmatic oracles of the others and has no importance apart from them.
Chapter 19
How are the dealt cards read, and what do the Trumps Major add?
The cards are read from left to right, beginning with the uppermost line. The chapter states that no method of interpreting Tarot cards is inapplicable to ordinary playing-cards, but the additional court cards and above all the Trumps Major are held to increase the elements and values of the oracles.
Chapter 19
Which Trumps Major does the author say contain the legend of the soul?
The author argues that a mystic should consider separately and in combination the Magician, the Fool, the High Priestess, the Hierophant, the Empress, the Emperor, the Hanged Man and the Tower, then the Last Judgment. These contain the legend of the soul; the other Trumps Major are details and, as one might say, accidents.
Chapter 19
Source and licence
Text used: Project Gutenberg eBook #43548 (Public domain in the United States). Generated from the full text; cards paraphrase the source.
Version: Public domain edition. Retrieved 2026-10-29. Cards reviewed 2026-10-29.
These cards paraphrase the text for study. They are not a substitute for reading the book, and they do not reproduce long passages.
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