Esoteric Tarot Part 4
In the fourth part on the esoteric movements that have influenced Tarot, we explore Freemasonry and the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn
Over the centuries, Tarot has evolved into the multi-faceted divination tool we use today. Many traditions and ideologies have helped to shape its development along the way. We have previously looked at the influence of ancient Mystery Schools, Secret Societies, the Renaissance, the Enlightenment, Hermeticism, Rosicrucianism and the Kabbalah. Here we will explore Freemasonry's links to Tarot.
Divine Architecture
Whisper the word 'Freemasonry' and various images might be conjured up in your mind - cloaked figures, secret handshakes and strange initiations. But what is Freemasonry and why are so many conspiracy theories and romantic notions attached to it? How is it connected to Tarot and why do we find its symbols in Tarot decks?
Freemasonry is a fraternal organisation. Its many 'lodges' are brotherhoods that are essentially secret societies. There are two types of Masonic organisation - the 'Speculative' and the 'Operative' - and it is important to understand the difference between the two.
Operative Masons were architects, builders and stone workers. They organised themselves into masonry guilds in medieval times, perhaps even earlier. These were the men who built grand European cathedrals and architectural wonders that still exist today.
These stone workers organised into trade guilds, using secret signs and rituals to safeguard the profession, as was important to do in feudal society. Because of their specialised skill, masons were not tied to the land and beholden to the ruling King, as were most European serfs. This meant they could travel to where the work was.
Speculative Masonry, meanwhile, is typical of modern Masonic lodges. It evolved in the late 16th century as a path of spiritual and moral development based on the pre-existing signs and rituals used in Operative Masonry. However, Speculative Masonry is comprised of people who are not builders, architects or stone workers.
The emergence of Speculative Masonry did not spawn the first esoteric ideas of the movement. In fact, Operative Masonry included a belief in the divine nature of geometry and mathematics. Masonry itself may have roots in the Sufi mystic practices in some forms of Islam.
So why and how did a path of spiritual and moral development spring from a group of architects and builders? No one can answer this question with absolute certainty, but it probably has something to do with the fact that masons were charged with creating the 'sacred spaces' of the medieval world.
As they erected the grand European cathedrals, chapels, churches, temples and mosques, they applied spiritual principles to the construction of these 'houses of God' and the other sacred spaces.
Magical Thinking
In the 19th century, despite notions of religion and magic falling somewhat out of favour, people in Europe and America began to partake in rituals that were essentially magical, although they did not recognise them as such. Masonry's popularity exploded as trade unions and other specialist groups began adopting mason-like rituals.
People participated in such rituals as part of lodges and secret societies but viewed these societies as social and charitable rather than magical. This explains the proliferation of famous Freemasons at the turn of the 20th century. Among their ranks were Winston Churchill (1874-1965), Sir Arthur Conan Doyle (1859-1930), J Edgar Hoover (1895-1972), Harry Houdini (1874-1926) and Theodore Roosevelt (1858-1919).
Why did Freemasonry have such a significant impact on the history of Tarot? Until Masonic ideas exploded, most ritual magicians and alchemists worked from old grimoires - magic textbooks that typically included instructions on how to create objects such as talismans and amulets and perform spells, charms and rites. Using these grimoires, occultists performed lengthy and solitary procedures to evoke their powers.
With Masonry came a systemised structure of ritual and initiation in which grades and rites were laid out. Esotericists could bring a group of like-minded people together and apply any magical system on top of the Masonic structure. In London in 1888, three high-ranking Freemasons came together to form the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn. They were Dr William Robert Woodman (1828-1891), William Wynn Westcott (1848-1925) and Samuel Liddell MacGregor Mathers (1854-1918).
The order prescribed a curriculum of teachings encompassing Kabbalah, astrology, alchemy and Tarot. Other influences on the Golden Dawn's practices included Christian mysticism, hermeticism, ancient Egyptian religion and Renaissance grimoires.
Birth of Modern Tarot
By the mid-1890s, the Golden Dawn was well established in Great Britain, with membership rising to more than a hundred people and drawing from every class of Victorian society. Among its members were Arthur Edward Waite (1857-1942) and Pamela Colman Smith (1878-1951), who would go on to make a significant contribution to the evolution of Tarot.
In time, the order splintered into factions and Waite went on to create his own order, the Fellowship of the Rosy Cross. In 1909, he collaborated with Colman Smith to produce the Rider Waite Tarot, which has become the most influential modern Tarot deck.
Sacred Geometry
Although mathematics isn't often associated with the divine, 'Sacred Geometry' has long been used by archaeologists, anthropologists ann geometricians. The term describes the religious, philosophical and spiritual beliefs that have sprung up around geometry in various cultures.
A brief examination of Sacred Geometry leads to understanding how the contemplatiion of outer spaces, such as buildings and other structures, can inspire us to look into our inner space. Similarly, the esoteric and mystic study of Tarot can be viewed as the desire to unravel this inner, spiritual space through the outer 'architecture' of Tarot's 78-card structure.
Updated
20 January 2025 at 22:24:44