What is Tarot ~ Really?

Let's do my favorite thing, and turn to the word itself to answer this question:

When the word tarot is written backwards in a circle, important and telling words become evident, pointing us to what the tarot really is:

• Rota = wheel - as in the circle of life, a wheel that is ever turning. We must learn how to stay balanced, in the CENTER of the wheel as a spoke, instead of being thrown about in the midst of constant change.

• Orator = a speaker, from same origin as oracle and Ora.

• Ora = a mouth, or opening.

• Or = an alternative.

• Tora = learning, law, instruction - better known as 'Torah' Judaism, the first 5 books of the Hebrew Bible.  The entire body of Jewish religious law and learning, including both sacred literature and oral tradition. Notably, there are 22 letters in the Hebrew alphabet, each with it's own mystical and sacred meaning corresponding to the Tree of Life... and the Tarot has 22 Major Arcana cards, each representing an archetypal life lesson we all must learn. These 22 Hebrew letters are mentioned in the Bible, making up the content of Psalm 119.

• Taro = ROOT - as in cause or source. The tarot gets to the root of the issue... to why things are taking shape the way they are, and offers an alternative way of looking at the situation.

Tarot Mapped on the Tree of Life:

Below is mapped upon the Tree of Life, the original intention of the Creator all the way to its realization through man and Accelerated Thought:
 

KETER
(Crown of the head/brain)
The Divine Plan

Keter, while it doesn't always represent the infinite in the absolute sense, it does represent the infinite within the framework of any given system. The framework represented here, is the cosmos. Keter - crown - represents the total intention of Creation by the Creator. The successful realization of the Creator's plan is, by definition, guaranteed.

This infinite factor is implicit in the image of the Creator in which we are cast. We have an aspect of infinite light and infinite receptacle within ourselves. Keter represents the infinite and includes everything in existence. Existence is infinite.

Keter, Chochmah and Binah are the supernal Sephirot.
This is the realm of the transcendent, all of which, in relation to the temporal, is infinite. Any level, compared to the level below it, is infinite and there are many levels. Seen from below, the level, above, is seen as "light." Seen from above, the level, below, is "matter." These "higher mind" qualities within us, through contemplative efforts of submission and individual initiative (creativity), help us access the transcendent.

Keter symbolizes the infinite because it is essence - a seed - and a seed is infinite. A seed is the whole entity and yet it is nothing - yet. It is potential.

That's why it is called Keter - crown - because a crown, while representing the infinite seeking expression, is not exactly light (a symbol) and not exactly clothing (a receptacle). It could be thought of as being half light and half receptacle. This is a key feature that distinguishes it from the other Sephirot and a crown from other garments.

In Keter we have an infinite intention to create unlimited good - unlimited abundance - total realization. Why? Because the Creator is infinitely merciful and his intention includes nothing but good. An infinite Creator does not give paltry or limited gifts. He gives only infinite gifts. That we encounter restriction as we descend the tree is because there's a process taking us from infinite seed to infinite realization or fruit - from Keter to Malchut.

The seven lower Sephirot represent the world of manifestation including the temporal. Manifestation is temporary as is our suffering. In contrast with the ultimate, infinite gift we are going to receive, all suffering is insignificant and will be obliterated.

CHOCHMAH
(Wisdom/vision, eyes)
Divine Reality

Chochmah is the active father, initiating principle. Chochmah includes the total idea universe of the cosmos. It is the fertilization of Keter's infinite potential. It is the beginning of all form, yet it is still formless. It is the cosmic computer and, having been fertilized, is dynamically alive. It is moving towards the manifestation of vision. It is the thought of existence and includes the entire idea universe of existence. It reflects the Mind of the Creator that contains everything. This is the great cosmic computer including the terminals for accessing it. We are those terminals destined to manifest the vision - the thought of Creation.

BINAH
(Understanding/hearing, appreciation)
Divine Nurture

Binah is the accommodating mother - the intention to give birth, to nurture and eventually realize all of cosmic potential contained in Chochmah. Binah gives birth to the temporal - the world of manifestation beginning with it's highest temporal expression - Chesed. Of the three supernal Sephirot, only Binah can (partly) descend into the temporal with impunity.

DA'AT
(direct knowledge)

For the moment, we shall skip over Da'at because it is not really a Sephira but rather the Sephira of Yesod of the tree of a higher tree/world peeking into the one below. The Book of Creation, Sefer Yetzira, is adamant about there being only 10 Sephirot and Da'at would make eleven. We'll come back to it in connection with Yesod, below.
 

CHESED
(Compassion, giving/right arm)

Chesed is a reflection of the infinite compassion of the Creator and the devotion of Binah. In the realm of the lower Sephirot, Chesed is Keter. It is our compassionate intention to emulate the Creator - our prime mover - to do good - to realize the Creator's plan. We have a good impulse, a good intention, a vision aspiring to reveal a key aspect of His Creation through some discovery or invention to which we are committed. If our intention is valid, the source is Chochmah. Lower down, in Tiferet, this impulse will become an unwavering conviction and, in Nezach, a concerted effort of contemplation.

GEVURAH
(Rigor/left arm)

Gevurah is the determination to focus upon and realize the good intentions of Chesed. This includes loyalty to our vision originating in Chochmah. It is the discipline to resist temptations, to contain excesses and avoid distraction. It is here that we narrow our options and commit to the direction that direct, intuitive knowledge from Da'at may have reinforced in us.

TIFERET
(Beauty/the heart)

Tiferet is the center column. It says, "I know it is going to happen and I see what is required for its realization. I feel it can happen." Tiferet is self-contained. It is a beautiful experience of presence that can tend to beatitude. Tiferet means "beauty," the beauty of balance and symmetry foreshadowing success. We can taste success long before it is achieved, which generates the energy and even elation of anticipation. The experience of being centered is the validation of our intention, the springboard for action. "I'm balanced and poised for action. I know what I want and I know what's required."

Tiferet is the balance between and synthesis of Chesed and Gevurah. Through intention, through determination, I now arrive at the conviction that my discovery/invention will take form. Tiferet is a place of silence, a warm place, a place of confidence and feeling, rather than conventional, reactive, emotional, fragmented feeling. It is the subjective knowledge that this will be realized. I know, emotionally, that realization is now possible and even probable.

NETZACH
(Eternal Present/right leg)

This is the impulse to move forward, right foot first - action and effort. Thanks to Tiferet we can now mobilize our intellectual, emotional and physical energies in an efficacious effort of contemplation to confront the obscurity that Creation presents to my as yet unclarified mind. If my faith is strong, if I don't waiver in my effort, my contemplation, erratic as it may be at first, will begin to lock onto the eternal present and allow me to be infused with energy to illuminate the elements of the problem I am addressing. Every cell in my body, collectively configuring the image of the Creator, will become a facsimile of the whole, and start resonating in Hod and manifesting the image of the Creator that encompasses my whole body as Mind.

HOD
(Reverberation, configuration/left leg)

That resonance starts to become encompassing as we become saturated with energy tracing the form and providing the substance of our search. It's a process of the passive side of the tree. It's not something I'm doing, its no longer guided from intention which is now inherent in the process, but rather by the energy generated by the concerted attention/intention transmitted through Nezach circulating in the image of the Creator that is the nascent mind that I am to temporarily become. It is passive in that it elaborates within myself, guided by the essential form in which I am cast and the terms of reference of my search that I specified in both Chesed and Nezach. I no longer think but, rather, thought, governed by the form and content of my contemplation in Nezach, elaborates within me, while centered in Tiferet, I observe.

It reverberates and integrates until an abundance of complete and coherent vision starts to become evident. When the knowledge for realizing abundance materializes, I am in Yesod. Direct, elaborated knowledge pertains to Yesod that connects with Da'at of the tree below where it manifests as intuition.

YESOD
(Foundation, abundance/sex)

Yesod is where abundance comes from, an abundance of seeds. It is the dynamic expression of creativity. When I get here, I am in an all-engrossing creative state elaborating within myself. This is Accelerated Thought. We could call it objective consciousness. We have become objective because now we have direct, coherent knowledge of the world. Yesod manifests a rectified, coherent abundance of ideas, vision, knowledge - an ordered idea universe. I have become one with what I have contemplated. This is the accomplishment of original intention in Keter leading to practical manifestation in Malchut.

MALCHUT
(Kingdom, accomplishment/entire body)

Malchut is the realization of Keter (divine plan), Chochmah (divine reality) and Binah (divine nurture). This is accomplished through the elaboration of these supernal intentions into manifest reality through human intention emulating divine will. Unlimited bounty is thus materialized in this world through discovery and invention, science and technology. As the Creator's partners in Creation, we reveal the Creator's infinite gift to us and, in the process, are relieved from all forms of limitation.

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