Tarot and Freemasonry

Tarot and Freemasonry, two traditions with deep roots in the Western tradition, fascinate us with their rich symbolism. Although they are two very different realities, the Tarot and Freemasonry share common symbols and both lead us towards the search for knowledge, initiation and personal transformation. This article will explore the connections between the Tarot and Freemasonry, showing how the Arcana of the Tarot can serve as a mirror to Masonic teachings, revealing hidden truths about the human soul and its path to enlightenment. We will also discover that Freemasons played a role in the development of the Tarot as an esoteric practice, and that their contribution went far beyond the confines of Freemasonry.

The origins of the Tarot

The Tarot as we know it today originated in Europe in the 15th century, but its roots can be traced back to earlier influences, particularly those of Mamluk Egypt.

The Mamluks, a military dynasty of mainly Turkish and Circassian origin, ruled Egypt from 1250 to 1517. Their cultural and economic influence was significant, particularly through trade and cultural contacts between Europe and the Islamic world. This led to a circulation of ideas, symbols and practices between these regions.

It is generally believed that card games introduced to Europe from the Indo-Muslim and Persian worlds were influenced by the card games used by the Mamluks. The Mamluk cards, called 'naïb' or 'karuta', featured motifs and symbols that seem to have inspired the earliest forms of tarot.

 

Tarot is first documented in Italy, where it was originally used as a simple board game. The oldest known tarot decks, commonly known as 'tarocchi', were made in Italy in the 1440s. It should be noted that they were sometimes called "naibi", a clear reference to the Mamluk "naib".

The first Tarot decks usually consisted of 56 cards of four suits (Clubs, Cups, Swords and Deniers) and 22 trump cards called 'Trionfi'. These trump cards became more elaborate over time, and their symbolism evolved. The four suits are known as the Latin suits and are still used today in Spanish and some Italian card games. Because of their use for divinatory and esoteric purposes, the 56 suits are now known as the minor arcana, while the 22 trumps are known as the major arcana.

 

Divinatory and Esoteric Tarot

Originally a simple board game, the Tarot seems to have been used for divinatory purposes as early as the 15th century, as suggested by authors such as Pico della Mirandola (1463-1494). But this use seems to have been limited to high society during the Renaissance.

Tarot has never ceased to be a parlour game, especially in France, where it remains one of the most popular card games. It is played with specific modern cards which, apart from their number, no longer correspond to the old tarots and use the French suits (Hearts, Diamonds, Clubs and Spades).

Cartomancy revived in France at the end of the eighteenth century, more precisely in the twenty years before the Revolution. It became popular in the 1770s thanks to Jean-Baptiste Alliette, nicknamed Etteila (1738-1794), about whom little is known : depending on the source, he was a hairdresser, a wigmaker, a grain merchant or a print merchant. He printed a deck of 32 divination cards (the Petit Etteila) and published several works on cartomancy. Having discovered the Tarot through the work of Court de Gébelin, he published his own version (the Grand Etteila) in 1788.

 

Although cartomancy in general became popular as early as the 1770s, it was the pastor Antoine Court de Gébelin (1728-1784) who gave the actual Tarot its letters of nobility. His father, also named Antoine, was a pastor in Nîmes who had fled to Lausanne in Switzerland to escape the persecution of Protestants which had been reignited by the revocation of the Edict of Nantes in 1685. In 1729, Antoine Court senior was the principal founder of the French Seminary in Lausanne, a theological school for future French pastors that operated alongside the Lausanne Academy, founded in 1537. His son attended the Academy and, after becoming a pastor, taught at the French Seminary before leaving Lausanne in 1763. He returned to France and devoted himself to defending the rights of the Protestant community. In 1778, he became a Freemason and joined several lodges, including the famous Les Neuf Sœurs, where he was particularly active. Court de Gébelin's main work, which he began publishing in 1775, had nothing to do with Protestantism : it was 'Le Monde primitif analysé et comparé avec le monde moderne', a monumental work of which only the first nine volumes were published, in which he set out to decipher the allegories hidden in all the mythologies known at the time.

It was in the eighth volume, published in 1781, that Court de Gébelin became interested in the Tarot. He saw it as a kind of Bible in pictures, a secret book that would transmit to us the wisdom of the ancient Egyptians. In fact, he did not hesitate to call it the Book of Toth, after the Egyptian god of wisdom and words, compared to the Greek Hermes. But it should be remembered that, although ancient Egypt was particularly fashionable in the Masonic world of the 18th century, the only descriptions of it known at that time were those of Greek authors. The Rosetta Stone, discovered in 1799, was not translated until 1822, and anything written about the Egyptian tradition before then is obviously open to question. As we saw above, the Egypt from which the Tarot seems to have originated was not the Egypt of the Pharaohs, but the medieval Egypt of the Mameluks.

Although he was certainly not the inventor of cartomancy, Court de Gébelin was the propagator of the Tarot in the modern era. His research into the Tarot has been continued by various authors from the 19th century to the present day, many of whom were Freemasons.

Some examples of Masonic Tarot

For a long time, the most widely used traditional Tarot was the Tarot de Marseille, known simply as the Italian Tarot before 1830, but illustrious Freemasons and members of esoteric orders created their own cards, which are still widely used today.

The first that comes to mind is the Tarot, created in 1889 by the Swiss freemason and esotericist Oswald Wirth (1860-1943) at the request of Stanislas de Guaita (1861-1897). Wirth was a theorist of esotericism and his work on the Tarot is deeply influenced by his interests in these fields.

 

The originality of Oswald Wirth's Tarot lies in its symbolic and philosophical approach. He sought to reinterpret the 22 major arcana of the Tarot by incorporating esoteric and cabalistic meanings, as well as alchemical symbols, while retaining a structure that allows for traditional reading. His Tarot, which is graphically very close to the Tarot de Marseille, is characterised by symbol-rich illustrations that aim to evoke universal archetypes and spiritual lessons. Wirth published two books on the Tarot, 'Le Livre de Thot comprenant les 22 arcanes du Tarot' (1889) and 'Le Tarot des imagiers du Moyen Age' (1927), in which he explained his concepts and his interpretation of the cards.

There is also the Rider-Waite-Smith Tarot, which is one of the most popular and influential tarot decks in the world. Its origins date back to the early twentieth century, when it was created by illustrator Pamela Colman Smith (1878-1951) and mystic Freemason Arthur Edward Waite (1857-1942), both members of the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn, an initiatory Masonic-Rosicrucian order founded in England in 1888.

Waite, a Freemason and member of the Societas Rosicruciana in Anglia, was Grand Master of the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn from 1903 to 1914. He was a writer with a deep knowledge of mystical and esoteric traditions. In 1909 he decided to create a new tarot deck that would reflect the spirituality of his order. He chose Pamela Colman Smith, known as Pixie, an artist and illustrator, to design the illustrations. Pixie was also a member of the Golden Dawn and had a unique approach to art, incorporating symbolic elements into her illustrations.

 

The Rider-Waite-Smith Tarot was first published in 1909 by Rider & Co. in London. The deck consists of 78 cards, including 22 Major Arcana and 56 Minor Arcana, each illustrated to capture profound meanings and esoteric concepts. What distinguishes the Rider-Waite-Smith Tarot from other tarot decks is that the minor arcana cards are illustrated, not just the major arcana cards. This has enriched the symbolism of the minor arcana and made them more intuitive to read.

The Rider-Waite-Smith Tarot had a considerable influence on subsequent Tarot decks, especially in the English-speaking world. Many modern decks continue to draw inspiration from its distinctive iconography, imitating, parodying or appropriating it. The Rider-Waite-Smith Tarot represents a synthesis of art, mysticism and psychology, and remains an essential reference in the world of modern tarot decks.

The twentieth and twenty-first centuries saw the birth of several other Masonic Tarot decks, including that of Jean Beauchard (1988) and that of Patricio Diaz Silva (2016). The distinctive feature of these tarot cards is that they explicitly incorporate Masonic symbolism into their iconography.

Tarot and Freemasonry, two complementary approaches

The Tarot and Freemasonry are two distinct realities, each with its own history, symbolism and dynamics. However, they have come together in the course of their respective histories, and many Freemasons have recognised in the Tarot an organised symbolic system compatible with their own. Freemasonry and the Tarot both operate in the world of universal symbolism, and both draw on the inexhaustible depths of the collective unconscious and its archetypes.

 

The Freemason will quickly feel that he is on familiar ground when he approaches the Tarot. He will hardly be surprised to find familiar symbols. The Sun, Moon and Star will inevitably remind him of the symbols he contemplates in his Lodge. He will easily recognise Strength and, if he is a member of the Rectified Scottish Rite, he will be pleased to find two other cardinal virtues, Temperance and Justice. The hanged man, upside down and losing the pennies in his pocket, will remind him of the renunciation of metals, and the hermit with his feeble lantern will remind him of his descent into the Chamber of Reflection and his discovery of V.I.T.R.I.O.L. And let's not forget the four colours or signs of the minor arcana: they symbolise the four elements, the cups for water, the staffs for fire, the swords for air and the coins for earth, all elements that will seem familiar to him.

Tarot and Freemasonry are not the same, but can offer complementary paths for seekers of the Light, as Tarot is not only used for divination, but also as a tool for personal development and reflection. The cards can be seen as a mirror of the soul, allowing users to explore their subconscious and gain spiritual or psychological insights into their lives. This applies to everyone, whether they are a Mason or not.