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The Golden Dawn Arrangement of Tarot Trumps


Folio 32 from the Golden Dawn's foundational Cipher Manuscript:

cipher key:

GD Folio 32, translated and re-ordered by path #:
TitleSignPathNum.Letter
Fool(Air)110א (aleph)
Magician(Mercury)12I.ב (beth)
High Priestess(Luna)13II.ג (gimel)
Empress(Venus)14III.ד (daleth)
Emperor(Aries)15IV.ה (he)
Heirophant(Taurus)16V.ו (vau)
Lovers(Gemini)17VI.ז (zayin)
Chariot(Cancer)18VII.ח (cheth)
Strength(Leo)19XI.ט (tet)
Hermit(Virgo)20IX.י (yod)
Wheel of Fortune(Jupiter)21X.כ (kaph)
Justice(Libra)22VIII.ל (lamed)
The Hanged Man(Water)23XII.ם (mem)
Death(Scorpio)24XIII.נ (nun)
Temperence(Sagittarius)25XIV.ס (samech)
Devil(Capricorn)26XV.ע (ayin)
Tower(Mars)27XVI.פ (peh)
Star(Aquarius)28XVII.צ (tzaddi)
Moon(Pisces)29XVIII.ק (qoph)
Sun(Sol)30XIX.ר (resh)
Judgement(Fire)31XX.ש (shin)
Universe(Saturn)32XXI.ת (tau)

 Mysteriously Misordered in Folio 32

Included in the esocteric teachings deciphered in the foundational cipher manuscripts of the Golden Dawn, was an authoritative determination that the Fool be placed as the first of the Tarot trumps, before the Juggler, (which in the Golden Dawn Tarot was called the Magician). This advanced all the other Trump associations by one letter, (ex, the Magician now being attributed to Beth, instead of Aleph), which puts the imagery of cards into near perfect alignment with their various zodiacal and elemental attributions as given in the Sepher Yetzirah, save for one more exception to the sequence.
The secret of the initiated interpretation, which makes the whole meaning of the Trumps luminous, is simply to put the card marked “0” in its natural place, where any mathematician would have put it, in front of the number One.
But there is still one peculiarity, one disturbance in the natural sequence. For the card XI is called “Strength”; on it appears a Lion, and it quite evidently refers to the zodiacal sign Leo, whereas the card VIII is called “Justice”, and represents the conventional symbolic figure, throned, with sword and balances, thus obviously referring to the zodiacal sign of Libra, the Balance. These cards, VIII and XI, have to be counterchanged.
As soon as one possesses the true attributions of the trumps, the Tarot leaps into life. One is intellectually knocked down by the rightness of it. All the difficulties created by the traditional attributions, as understood by the ordinary scholar, disappear in a flash.
For this reason, one is inclined to credit the claim for the promulgators of the cipher manuscript, that they were guardians of a tradition of Truth.

--Aleister Crowley

Before:
Path 19TETH LeoJusticeVIII
Path 22LAMED LibraStrengthXI
Adjustment
Lust
After:
Path 19TETH LeoStrengthVIII
Path 22LAMED LibraJusticeXI
Adjustment
Lust
Folio 32 denotes some kind of switch required between paths 19 and 22: the ATUs Strength and Justice - which are curiously mis-ordered in their Roman numerals, and traditionally in previous decks, appeared to have their images (and hence, Titles) swapped.
The trump 'Strength' shows in its picture a lion - the sign of Leo, wheras the trump 'Justice' depicts a set of scales - the sign of Libra, the primary symbol of justice.
This was corrected in the 'rider-waite' deck. First published by William Rider & Son in 1909, it was designed under the direction of mystic A. E. Waite and illustrated by artist Pamela Colman Smith, both members of the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn.
The associated roman numerals were also adjusted to match their natural ordering upon the paths.



(Figure A):
The full arrangement of the Zodiac Trumps
(read counter-clockwise)
  • XIV
  • XIII
  • XI
  • IX
  • VIII
  • VII
  • VI
  • V
  • IV
  • XVIII
  • XVII
  • XV
              • ס
              • נ
              • ל
              • י
              • ט
              • ח
              • ז
              • ו
              • ה
              • ק
              • צ
              • ע
                  • 25
                  • 24
                  • 22
                  • 20
                  • 19
                  • 18
                  • 17
                  • 16
                  • 15
                  • 29
                  • 28
                  • 26
 Switched by the Golden Dawn