CHAPTER VII
THE PIPS OF THE TAROT PACK.
The numbered or what are technically known as the pip cards of the Tarot pack are divided like those of more modern ones into four sets, called by English-speaking people “suits.” These are headed by four court, or “coate,” cards, namely, King, Queen, Cavalier, and Knave, making one more than usual to each suit, or fifty-six in all. Besides this royal family, there are the cards numbered from one to ten. In some of the games two or more of the pip cards are dropped, but this was the original pack. In Germany there are only three court cards, like the French ones, but there is no female in the set. The German suits are Herzen, Grünen, Eicheln, and Schellen; the Spanish, Bastos, Otos, Coppas, and Espadas; the Italian, Bastoni, Danari, Coppe, and Spade, and English, Rods, Money, Cups, and Swords. These pips are emblematically displayed through appropriate symbols, and, besides, each of them represents an idea and a number, all of which are valuable assistants when grouping the cards, in order to divine their hidden meanings that are almost lost to us, although quite decipherable by those who held the key to the ancient mysteries.
The reason for invariably having four suits would be incomprehensible were it not recognised that there were four emblems that were peculiar to and always represented Mercury, namely, his Caduceus, his Money, his Chalice, and his Harpé or Sword, which also typify the four grand divisions into which the classes of people were divided all over the known world of the day, particularly in Egypt, for they were Workmen, Merchants, Churchmen and Soldiers, who were easily recognised through the symbols. If any man of one of these castes wished to consult the oracle he selected the emblem of his class and in this way communicated to the god his status in the community.
Since four was not a favorite number among the mystics, there could have been no other reason for selecting that number for dividing the pack into suits, and none other has been suggested by students. As it stands, it shows that it was arranged scientifically and with a decidedly well-considered purpose that met all the requirements of the worshippers at the temple of Mercury.
That the pips have this interpretation seems natural, for if it had been intended to select lucky devices common at the time it is more probable that a swatzka, a circle for immortality, or a wheel or perhaps an ankh, that were favourites among the Egyptians would have been chosen, since all these devices are quite as old and significant as the ones adopted, being closely connected with mysticism, it seems to be sufficient proof that the ones selected were taken because they represented Mercury, so these pips must be considered valuable links in the chain connecting them with his worship, even if they stood alone and were not supported by every card in the Atout part of the Tarots.
That the religions, superstitions and deities of Asia, Africa and Europe have mingled from time to time there is no doubt. E. Levi, in his “Dogme et Ritual” (Vol. II, page 230), says: “Passing from India to Egypt with its occultism, and then to the Hebrews and their theosophy, the stick (or the wand) corresponds with the Phallus of the Egyptians and the Yod of the Hebrews that is used to point to the sentence read from the Scriptures. Thus the vase (or cup) of Mercury is the Cteis, and the primitive He, the Sword, is the conjunction of the Phallus and the Cteis represented in Hebrew anterior to the captivity by the Vau, while the Circle or Money that may be vulgarly considered the emblem of the world is the final He of the divine name. Thus we have Jod-He-Vau-He, or conventionally pronounced Jehovah.”
The wand or staff of the Tarots represents the cards as they were originally used for divination, when a bundle of arrows, of rods, of straws or of sticks were gathered together and cast down before the images in the temple, so that their direction might be noted and inferences drawn as to the wishes of the gods.