The Masonic Tarot got here out in October 2022, created and illustrated by Chilean artist and tutorial Patricio Diaz Silva, and it’s within the high 10% of essentially the most well-done tarot decks in recent times. The illustrations for the Main Arcana are beautiful, as are the court docket playing cards.
Do notice, nevertheless, that this deck has elected to go together with non-narrative illustrations for the pips, which works for the Masonic Tarot given its ceremonial leaning functions.
The deck is designed as a “gateway into the key mysteries of the soul” integrating the sacred symbolism of Freemasonry. The premise melds collectively the arcana of the tarot with fashions from Masonic rites, with heavy emphasis on alchemy.
The Main Arcana within the Masonic Tarot are distinctly categorized as both feminine playing cards or male playing cards, day vs. night time playing cards, optimistic vs. destructive, energetic vs. passive, and so the core metaphysical premise right here is that of an outlined binary.
The Idiot, as an illustration, regardless of being the cardboard and not using a quantity “outdoors the system” who signifies the avant-garde that breaks the mould (notes the guidebook), is nonetheless outlined as feminine, night time, and of the ingredient Water (relatively than the extra popularized Golden Daybreak affiliation with Air).
The Magician is male, day, related to the ingredient Fireplace, symbolized by gold. The Excessive Priestess is feminine, night time, related to the ingredient Water, symbolized by the chalice. And so forth and so forth.
I liked going via every card one after the other with the little white e book, which packed in a variety of data into the tiny booklet. Take, as an illustration, The Hanged Man. “The Hanged Man is a prisoner of exterior circumstances and the need of others. He’s subjugated, uncovered to humiliation, and depreciated. . . . This card represents dependence, submission, and lack of freedom. It’s inaction, castration, the non permanent cancellation of all its capabilities. . . . The one optimistic side attributed to this arcana is the concept that the submission of the Hanged Man could possibly be a voluntary act, an act of giving, sacrifice, sustained confidence in religion and love.”
The setting of this illustrated Hanged Man card corresponds to a Masonic temple, the place the determine is carrying the white gown and apron of an Apprentice, legs intertwined ready taken by candidates throughout initiation earlier than the altar of the Lodge. By way of that core binary, The Hanged Man is feminine, night time, and related to the ingredient Air, right here symbolized by the Sword of Damocles.
Taking magnifying glass to illustrations, particularly within the Majors, is such a delight. The steps main as much as The Satan, the seat of the Worshipful Grasp, reads: Sectarianism, Intolerance, Conspiracy, Betrayal, Greed, Anger, and Lies– these are the Seven Lethal Sins of a Lodge. The 2 chained characters within the foreground symbolize the columns of Apprentices and Fellows. The determine to the left exhibits his venomous tongue; the determine to the precise is the bureaucrat.
The Minor Arcana on this deck are subdivided into two our bodies, one referred to as the Hierarchies of The Aristocracy and the opposite the Masonic Numbers, whereby every are grouped by the 4 alchemical parts.
The ingredient of Earth is represented by the mallet, a device utilized by Masons to symbolize work on stone, the laborious layer of the earth.
The swimsuit of Mallets is the densest of the 4 parts, with its nature being concrete and materials. It’s stability, introversion, and quiet, expressive of those that are usually extra methodical. The defining assertion of the Mallets is, “I exploit.” The 9 of Mallets (corresponding with the 9 of Pentacles), as an illustration, represents the silence and perseverance that ends in the Perfected Work.
The ingredient of Water is represented by the chalice, which accommodates the transubstantiation of wine into blood, symbolic of the emotional realm.
Water is the second densest of the weather after Earth, with a delicate, altering nature. It expands the physique with any stimulus, and it’s the mirror that displays gentle and shade. Water invades. Water brings instability. It’s sentimentality, and due to this fact brings with it moodiness and a temperamental nature. The journey this swimsuit represents is that of, “I really feel.”
The ingredient of Fireplace is represented by gold, whereby steel reaches its magnificence by purification via hearth.
That is the stage of transformation and consumption– it’s quick, unforgiving, it’s about reaching one’s peak. That is fearlessness and independence, and the ambition for management. The defining assertion of the swimsuit is, “I’m.”
Playing cards like Two of Gold publicizes an alliance between two folks pursuing a typical aim, and predicts financial success; Three of Gold is the interior hearth that tasks ardour and braveness, in a position to information and encourage others.
Air is represented by the sword, symbolic of ideas and concepts. Of the 4 parts, Air is the one one that’s invisible and soundless. It strikes and invades with out being seen. There’s a coldness and emotional detachment right here. The defining assertion for the swimsuit is, “I believe.”
Playing cards just like the 9 of Swords represents the highest masters impressed by the information of the occult, and religion within the transcendental. This can be a card that conveys safety and protection. Whereas the Eight of Swords represents steadiness and order. The Ten of Swords on this deck doesn’t fairly have the that means sometimes related to its RWS counterpart– right here, it’s symbolic of legislation and justice, and represents the multiplication of forces to defend a typical trigger.
The court docket titles are the Knave (he), Knight (he), Queen (she), and King (he), and on this deck are definitively ascribed character traits.
So, as an illustration, the Queen of Swords evokes ethical conduct and honest steadiness between rights and duties, selling conservation of manners, self-discipline, and order. The King of Swords is intelligence and eloquence, a gatekeeper of legislation and custom, whose sword represents readability of thought, and separation of fine and evil.
Within the Masonic initiation ceremony, the provoke is blindfolded and led into the temple, guided via varied trials of symbolic purification related to these 4 alchemical parts.
Because the provoke presents their oath, they’re given a symbolic illustration of the sunshine of consciousness, thereinafter forsaking the ignorance of the secular world and accepting the provoke’s new function as an apprentice.
The primary stage of that ceremony begins with earth, the place the blindfolded candidate is positioned in a darkish room, dimly lit by a candle. By means of confinement on this darkish chamber, the candidate attunes to the character of Earth — the attributes of isolation and silence resulting in self-realization.
After that’s the Three Journeys of Thriller, journeying via Water, Air, and Fireplace. The primary of the Three is in impact a baptism, ritual purification by water. The second of the Mysteries is purification by Air via the ceremonial conflict of swords. The third is purification by Fireplace, the place the provoke runs their hand over the tongues of the flame. Then lastly, the candidate drinks from the “cup of bitterness,” a ritual of purging.
Because the ceremony involves its shut, the provoke holds the Holy Guide in a single hand and a compass in one other, saying the oath. “What do you most need proper now?” the Masons ask the provoke. The provoke then responds, “To see the sunshine.” That’s when the blindfold is eliminated and the candidate is illuminated by the glow of the ceremonial hearth.
The mallet, the chisel, the extent, and the apron change into the Apprentice’s instruments for studying the artwork of constructing the Nice Work.
In Freemasonry, symbolism is the idea of data. It’s how that information is handed from era to era of Masons. The symbolism in tarot follows an analogous precept. To assist combine the 2 methods into one once you work with this deck, the guidebook features a very useful Glossary , which I completely love and suppose we should always attempt to normalize as a vital a part of each tarot guidebook. =)
The structure design jogs my memory of Lon Milo DuQuette’s Tarot of Ceremonial Magick. Should you just like the style of esoteric tarot decks, such because the AlcheMystic Woodcut Tarot, Dame Fortune’s Wheel Tarot, Earth Magick Tarot: Hermetic Prophecies, Kabbalistic Tarot, Tarot of Magical Correspondences, or Secrets of the Rose Tarot, then you definitely’re actually going to take to Patricio Diaz Silva’s Masonic Tarot.
The manufacturing high quality is high notch, printed in Torino, Italy, with actually luxe, heavy-duty cardstock, although there’s a high-gloss end I’m not totally a fan of. General, superbly completed with a formidable consideration to element. I’m positively now a giant fan of Patricio Diaz Silva’s art work.
FTC Disclosure: In accordance with Title 16 of the U.S. Code of Federal Laws Half 255, “Guides Regarding Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Promoting,” I acquired this deck from the writer for potential assessment. Every little thing I’ve stated right here is honest and precisely displays my opinion.
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