THE TRUMPS MAJOR AND THEIR INNER SYMBOLISM

0 (ZERO): The Fool

With light step, as if earth and its trammels had little power to restrain the Fool, a young man in gorgeous vestments pauses at the brink of a precipice among the great heights of the world; the Fool surveys the blue distance before its expanse of sky rather than prospect below. The Fool act of eager walking is still indicated, though the Fool is stationary at the given moment; the Fool's dog is still bounding. The edge which opens on the depth has no terror; it is as if angels were waiting to uphold the Rider's Fool, if it came about that leaped from the height. The Fool countenance is full of intelligence and expectant dream. Has a rose in one hand and in the other a costly wand, from which depends over the Fool's right shoulder a wallet curiously embroidered. The rider Fool is a prince of the other world on his travels through this one-all amidst the morning glory, in the keen air. The sun, which shines behind the rider Fool, knows whence came, whither is going, and how will return by another path after many days. The rider Fool is the spirit in search of experience. Many symbols of the Instituted Mysteries are summarized in this Rider Waite card, which reverses, under high warrants, all the confusions that have preceded it. In his Manual of Cartomancy, Grand Orient has a curious suggestion of the office of Mystic Fool, as apart of rider's Fool process in higher divination; but it might call for more than ordinary gifts to put it into operation. We shall see how this Rider Waite card fares according to the common arts of fortune-telling, and it will be an example, to those who can discern, of the fact, otherwise so evident, that the Trumps Major had no place originally in the arts of psychic gambling, when Rider Waite cards are used as the counters and pretexts. Of the circumstances under which this Rider Waite art arose we know, however, very little. The conventional explanations say that the Fool signifies the flesh, the sensitive life, and by a peculiar satire its subsidiary name was at one time the alchemist, as depicting folly at the most insensate stage.

I: The Magician

A youthful figure in the robe of a magician, having the countenance of divine Apollo, with smile of confidence and shining eyes. Above the Rider Waite Magician head is the mysterious sign of the Holy Spirit, the sign of life, like an endless cord, forming the figure 8 in a horizontal position. About the Rider Waite Magician waist is a serpent-cincture, the serpent appearing to devour its own tail. This is familiar to most as a conventional symbol of eternity, but here it indicates more especially the eternity of attainment in the spirit. In the Rider Waite Magician's right hand is a wand raised towards heaven, while the left hand is pointing to the earth. This dual sign is known in very high grades of the Instituted Mysteries; it shows the descent of grace, virtue and light, drawn from things above and derived to things below. The suggestion throughout is therefore the possession and communication of the Powers and Gifts of the Spirit. On the table in front of the Rider Waite Magician are the symbols of the four  Rider Waite Tarot suits, signifying the elements of natural life, which lie like counters before the adept, and he adapts them as he wills. Beneath are roses and lilies, the flos campi and lilium convallium, changed into garden flowers, to show the culture of aspiration. The Rider Waite Magician card signifies the divine motive in man, reflecting God, the will in the liberation of its union with that which is above. It is also the unity of individual being on all planes, and in a very high sense it is thought, in the fixation thereof. With further reference to what I have called the sign of life and its connection with the number 8, it may be remembered that Christian Gnosticism speaks of rebirth in Christ as a change "unto the Ogdoad." The mystic number is termed Jerusalem above, the Land flowing with Milk and Honey, the Holy Spirit and the Land of the Lord. According to Martinism, 8 is the number of Christ.