• • ALL THINGS ARE NUMBERS • •
• INTRODUCTION •
A Story
One day, while visiting with a friend, I had an experience that changed my life. It happened a long time ago. We were sitting around her tiny little apartment, having a rather benign conversation, when I decided to stretch my legs and look around. It was the first time I had ever seen her place and I was a bit curious.
As I wandered about, examining my friends books, knick-knacks, photos and posters, I noticed a deck of tarot cards peeking out from under a pile of debris, on an exposed shelf of an open closet. What caught my eye was how they seemed to be permanently tucked away, as if never to be used. I asked my friend if I could look at them. After hesitating for a moment, she reluctantly took them down from their hiding place and handed them to me.
I intended to look at them from the point of view of an artist. I have always found symbolic imagery intriguing, and was especially interested in examining the style of this particular deck, it looked different than any I remembered seeing before.
As I began my investigation, I asked my friend why she hesitated so much before allowing me to see her cards. She said the cards scared her and she didn't want to treat them lightly by letting just anyone handle them. Without questioning further, her motives for fear, I assured her I would be careful and that my interest was genuine, so she allowed me to continue.
Later, after looking the cards over for a while, I asked my friend if I could take them home with me to study them more, in detail. Suddenly she became nervous again and said "No, the cards must never leave my possession." I asked her why, and she went into an explanation about proper care and handling, and the implanting of spiritual vibrations. None of that made any real sense to me, so I simply said "That's OK, I'll just buy my own deck." However with that she paused for a moment, giving me a look of objection. I asked her "what's wrong now?" She said "It's bad luck to buy your own deck." Again I asked why, but this time she didn't know, someone just told her that you are supposed to receive them as a gift. "You mean I can't buy my own deck!?". "No" she said. So without hesitation, I irreverently asked her to buy me a deck herself, and give it to me as a gift - I would pay her back! But no, that wouldn't work, it had to be a spontaneous act from an unsolicited source. . . . . needless to say, I was getting frustrated.
As our conversation continued, she went on to tell me about all kinds of other rules too, such as not letting anyone touch them (which was why she was so nervous), wrapping them in silk and keeping them in a high place (like a closet shelf), using silk tablecloths during a reading and even about the candles and incense some people require during these readings.
Gradually I became interested in learning more. But as I continued to query her as to the origin, meaning and need for such rules, she was sadly ill-equipped to answer my questions. Apparently, for her, no explanations were needed or currently being sought, so she became a limited source of information, unable to satisfy my mounting curiosity.
Because of my friends limited knowledge, and her insistence that I follow her rules of possession and handling, in spite of adequate explanation, our conversation quickly came to an impasse in beliefs. Her 'little bit of knowledge' was causing a lot of problems for me, and I began to feel a need for real answers. I felt like she was putting all kinds of restrictions upon me (not to mention herself) without knowing how or why these beliefs came to be. As this realization came to me, I began to feel trapped in a web of superstition. And the more influenced I felt by superstition, the more compelled I became toward the goal of finding answers. I wanted to 'get to the bottom of this.'
The next day I went to a local book store to find a deck of cards I could buy. The ones I found however were not like the ones my friend had, or even like the ones I remembered seeing years ago. Because of this, I began wondering just how many different decks there are and how they differed.
I found a deck, but I didn't buy it right away. First I left the store and stood outside talking to myself about whether I was going to let my friends superstitions keep me from buying this deck of cards. Finally, after a few ridiculous minutes (ridiculous being how I felt), I mustered up my courage and bought that deck!
A Lesson in Occult
Originally my interest in the cards was purely artistic. I felt it would be an interesting challenge to try and draw my own deck. Of course to do this I needed to know more about the cards than my friends superstitions were telling me. I needed to find out exactly what it was these cards were symbolizing, so I could accurately illustrate the messages they were supposed to convey. The deck my friend had, came with a book that was a helpful start. Later I found a book that had reproductions of other decks. From this I could get an idea of what had already been done in the area of deck design, and at least approach an answer to the question of how decks differed in their artistic style. But, as far as identifying the primary inspiration for the symbols, I was still lost.
The books I encountered had all kinds of interesting theories about history. Unfortunately, some of those theories were based on occult beliefs... and, after examining the influence of the occult, where leaders compete with each other using tactics that involve deliberate misinformation, I decided that maybe an occult approach wasn't for me. The more I looked into the highly religious world of the occult, the more I confirmed this feeling of going down a wrong path. The further down this path I went, the more uneasy I began to feel about the implications behind occult thinking. In fact the very definition of 'occult' seemed unappealing to me. It seems that in addition to "mysterious" and "beyond understanding," the word occult also means "deliberate masking, disguising, clouding or hiding of information meant to be kept secret." That cult-like, hyped-up, ultra-religious atmosphere of deliberate deception definitely did not appeal to me.
Because of the ambiguity of history and mystery, I left them behind. Continuing on, in the bliss of ignorance, I was left to figure things out on my own - a Vision Quest! The content of this site is the result of that Vision Quest.
A Definite Goal
From the muddled atmosphere of the occult, I began my pursuit of an original design. What I had in mind was to find a definitive, primordial, transcendental, archetypal design, detached from man made images, that could explain all decks. As I ignorantly examined various decks, I began to see patterns that had not been brought out by any of the authors I had read up to that point. This bit of insight intrigued me. And so it came to pass, that my interests changed once again. This time from that of occult, to a pursuit of patterns in nature. Believing, as I do now, that patterns in nature are a more definitive source of archetypal inspiration than occult folklore, mysticism and religion, this seemed an even more appropriate level of inquiry toward the goal of an original design. I thought that if I could find patterns in nature that I could relate to existing decks, I could theorize a common archetypal influence.
As it was, this pursuit of patterns in nature was a welcome relief from what I found to be a confused, opinionated and contradictive environment. Occult, as a way of life, did not suit me. But don't get me wrong, I think the romance of mystery, and the power of myths and icons is a lot of fun, and I would not want to do anything to destroy or deny the traditions they uphold. But for me, the years and years of occult influence surrounding tarot left me frustrated. So, as I pursued my patterns in nature approach, I decided to make every effort possible to steer clear of mystical rhetoric, as well as cultural myths, icons and any and all occult devices of obfuscation. I decided to approach the subject of tarot and the idea of an original design logically to see if I could make the necessary connections to definitive, primordial, transcendental, archetypal sources that would allow me to substantiate a claim of TRANS-cultural influence.
A Logical Approach
History says that tarot started out as a game, with a logical game-like structure to its design, including suits that were considered "good" and "bad" with ascending and descending rank of value. Without even knowing this fact, I decided, on my own, to base my design upon a similar approach - a logical patterns-in-nature approach. I chose this path because I believe that what is needed, to accomplish the task of constructing a deck that is based on TRANS-cultural influences, is to uncover a 'Rosetta Stone' of sorts, that would reveal to us the underlying patterns that are common to all, or most, decks. I believe that once such a system of patterns is found and understood, it could be applied to the tarot, and in doing so clarify archetypal meanings, much like the discovery of the real Rosetta Stone enabled people to lay to rest all speculation and actually read hieroglyphics for the first time. This is the major goal of this book, finding these patterns and using them to decipher the archetypal message of tarot symbols.
To achieve this goal, this book will attempt to find and explain that system of patterns in a special way, using the scientific method of constructing a model to test theories and observe results. A model, constructed from steps of logic, a few observable laws of nature, and depending as little as possible on leaps of faith, superstition, or symbols and icons from the past that promote cultural, ethnic, or religious bias.
Of course to some, the idea of applying a scientific or logical mind to a subject like tarot may seem ridiculous. Traditionally, tarot is taught in a very emotional environment. It's fun to learn tarot this way because in each card, you get to meet another interesting character, examine another emotion, and ponder another philosophical or moral question. In many ways the deck becomes your own private 'soap opera' world, and the symbols and icons are like a secret code only you and other tarot people can read. In fact, a lot of people are not even interested in the fortune telling aspects of tarot, they simply use tarot images to explore their emotional depths and release creative potential.
Because of this 'soap opera' approach, and the emotional bond that so many people make with tarot, defining these images with cold hard logic may seem sacrilegious! But I believe that logic has a place in the study of tarot. I believe that there is more to tarot than what survives on the surface of the cards, and I think logic can be a useful tool for exploring what lies beyond. To me, looking beyond the surface of tarot is like taking the back off the T.V. set to see where the projected image comes from. To me, each tarot image is like a picture on the T.V. screen. That image may speak to you in may ways. It may also speak to someone else in a different way, different people react to symbols differently depending on their subjective point of view and what they need to express about themselves. But where do these man made images come from? For many the answer to this question lies in the study of cultures and history. For me the answer lies behind the projected image of each card, in the realm of 'divine mechanics.'
Divine Mechanics
Divine mechanics is what you find when you take the back off the T.V. set of tarot. To me, divine mechanics means primordial, archetypal patterns in nature that transcend man-made images. Because divine mechanics implies a mechanical nature, I have chosen a logical path to describe its form. For some, a logical in-depth study of divine mechanics may sound tedious and boring. However for me, the discovery and understanding of divine mechanics proved more exciting than tarot itself! Because of this I spend a lot of time describing its form, and speculating on how it applies to life in general.
Because I spend so much time discussing divine mechanics, some may feel led astray or even betrayed, as I wander away from the subject of tarot at the surface, and examine at length, the numerous patterns that make up this awesome device. Hopefully you are not one of those people, and will appreciate a concerned approach. I know that when I was reading books on tarot, I always felt betrayed by the superficial brevity, mystical rhetoric and occult ambiguity that invariably came with conditional interpretations of surface images and resulting conflicts in opinion. And I quickly became bored with the inevitable catch phrases and buzzwords of the trade that seemed designed to convey more of a subjective feeling about images, than objective observations about the subject.
That, is why this book is not for people who want to use tarot, but for people who want to understand tarot. This is a book for people who look beyond the surface of things. It is a book for all those people who got yelled at after Christmas for tearing apart their talking doll to see where the voice came from, and for all the graduates of Mr. Science who want to know the physics behind that magic trick. This is a book for people who want to know what makes an automobile engine run, instead of just having someone point to the gas pedal so they can 'go'.
And finally, the meticulous construction of a model, from steps of logic, is for people who want to 'learn to fish for a lifetime' by understanding the elements of divine mechanics, instead of just having someone 'catch them a fish for a day,' with superficial, transitory, mystical rhetoric.
A Cloud and A Rock
There is a tremendous bias within the world of tarot toward the vilification of things like logical, rational thinking. By expressing a preference for answers to things normally considered "mysterious" and "beyond understanding," I have, in the past, been accused of trying to turn a cloud into a rock! "Why is it," I am asked "do you need to have everything explained to you, do you not believe in the idea of faith or intuition toward things that cannot be explained? Why do you insist on turning a cloud into a rock?"
Of course the implication in this statement is that tarot is in fact all cloud and no rock, and to try to make it a rock would be pure folly. As it turns out, this question of tarot as either mysterious cloud or definable rock has become the primary focus of this book, as I attempt to demonstrate how a study of tarot can include both a rock and a cloud.
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Turning a cloud into a rock, or a rock into a cloud is not as ridiculous as you may think... git it a try! Why not?
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Because of the density and multitude of occult layers that have accumulated over years and years of deliberate, as well as unintentional obfuscation, looking for a rock of knowledge within the mysteries of tarot has become a great challenge. The layers of obfuscation designed to hide a rock of knowledge from the uninitiated has succeeded. And I believe that by perpetuating occult beliefs around a subject with malleable theories of origin and deliberate blinds of deception, the cloud of mystery that surrounds tarot has been faithfully maintained, while the knowledge of the rock within has been polluted. So it has now become the task of this study to find and explain this rock of knowledge in the most NON-occut way possible. I believe the nature of this 'rock' can be explained through the clear and obvious patterns-in-nature approach of divine mechanics. I believe that as this 'rock' of patterns is revealed, it will prove to be the TRANS-cultural design, Philosopher's Stone or Rosetta Stone that we seek - the infinite design of divine mechanics.
What is uncovered in this study may not look like the same rock of knowledge the occultists have kept hidden for all these years. To some that might be a problem. To me it is a blessing, as what follows becomes a new tarot paradigm that is NOT rooted in obfuscation and deception. What follows is a paradigm designed to be as simple, clear, straightforward and obvious as possible.
• ACROSS A UNIVERSE •
A Map
My own realization of a "rock" of definable patterns, within the "cloud" of tarot's mystery, was more or less an accident resulting from persistent inquiry along a path of logical reason. In order to explain what I found, I will try to recreate the various steps I took along the way as they in fact represent the diminishing level of mystery that accompanied me as these patterns of nature were revealed.
In mapping our journey, I will attempt to follow a path of discovery that will carefully lead us from the "cloud" of mystery to the "rock" of definable patterns, and back again. Here's how this path works. First, by combining the scientific process of building a model with purity in design, I will propose a connection between tarot cards and numerology, as each card carries with it a particular number of significance. I will then conclude that numerology is in fact the result of more definitive patterns in nature. In describing these patterns, a visual model of three dimensions will result that will explain the nature of all numbers. When these numbers are returned to the tarot cards, the patterns of the model will connect, through them, to explain the essence of each cards design.
Finally, as the arrangement of numbers along a line is used to represent a three dimensional model, so too will it reveal the design of the overall deck. As each card is shown to express a particular number along a line, it will become apparent that the deck itself is designed around a configuration of multiple number lines. Collectively, these number lines will be seen as a pathway across a universe of connecting patterns. The tarot deck will then be seen as cultural expression of this universe of patterns.
Mental Gymnastics
This may seem like a lot of information to absorb for something as simple as tarot, and as we progress, the multitude of individual ideas and connecting patterns, may seem complex and cobweb-like at first. But in the end, after the initial confusion of being introduced to a foreign system of thought, it should become apparent that within this cobweb of complexity, a very simple and basic form will be found.
In describing this form, we will quickly observe how its component parts are in fact only five-fold in number and that the number line used to describe this form will have only nine numbers to its form. If any confusion occurs along the way it will undoubtedly be caused by the painstakingly meticulous logic that gets us to these five stages and nine numbers, and the universal ramifications and incarnations of form that result. This becomes the real challenge of our journey. Painstaking logic and subsequent analysis of conclusions can be a tedious process for those impatient for results relating to tarot. This becomes the real reason why this book is not for people who want to use tarot, but for people who want to understand tarot - completely....inside and out!
If you choose to continue with this study, let's begin the creation of a wisdom system. First, a few more words about how I view the tarot of today, and how it lead me to depart from tradition to create a whole new wisdom system. Then, the construction of a model of ideas.
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