The Symbolism of the Tarot : Philosophy of Occultism in Pictures and Numbers

Although represented as a pack of cards the Tarot really is something quite different. It can be read in a variety of ways. As one instance I shall give a metaphysical interpretation of the general meaning or of the general content of the book of Tarot that is to say its metaphysical title which will plainly show that this work could not have been invented by illiterate gypsies of the fourteenth century. The Tarot falls into three divisions: The first part has twenty-one numbered cards; the second part has one card 0; the third part has fifty-six cards i. e. the four suits of fourteen cards. Moreover the second part appears to be a link between the first and third parts since all the fifty-six cards of the third part together are equal to the card 0. Now if we imagine twenty-one cards disposed in the shape of a triangle seven cards on each side a point in the centre of the triangle represented by the zero card and a square round the triangle (the square consisting of fifty-six cards fourteen on each side) we shall have a representation of the relation between God Man and the Universe or the relation between the world of ideas the consciousness of man and the physical world.P. D. Ouspensky