Why the Eilat Tarot Uses a Different Tree

If you know the Tree of Life used in Golden Dawn tarot, the Tree that appears on the Eilat Tarot cards may look slightly wrong. Some paths connect different sefirot. The Hebrew letters are in different places. Malkhut is connected to the rest of the Tree by a single path. These differences are deliberate.

The Tree familiar to many tarot readers descends from an arrangement published by the Jesuit scholar Athanasius Kircher in his Oedipus Aegyptiacus in 1653. It is often called the Kircher Tree. This arrangement of ten sefirot and twenty-two connecting paths was taken into Western Hermetic Qabalah and eventually became the Tree used by the Golden Dawn.

A great deal of meaning has gathered around this Tree. The High Priestess offers a good example. In the Golden Dawn system, she is associated with the Hebrew letter Gimel, traditionally understood to mean “camel,” and with the long path running from Tiferet to Keter. That path crosses the region separating the lower sefirot from the supernal triad of Keter, Ḥokhmah, and Binah. In later Hermetic interpretation, the camel became an image of the traveler able to cross the desert of the Abyss and reach the supernal realm. It is a beautiful interpretation. It also depends upon a particular Tree.

Bet from the Eilat Tarot

The Kircher Tree became the framework into which the Golden Dawn fitted its elaborate system of correspondences.

The Eilat Tarot begins somewhere else. It is an attempt to create a dialogue between Kabbalah and tarot, and more particularly between the Sefer Yetzirah and Pamela Colman Smith’s images. Because the Hebrew letters are fundamental to the Sefer Yetzirah, I wanted them to remain fundamental when they were placed on the Tree.

The Sefer Yetzirah itself contains no Tree of Life diagram. It opens with thirty-two “wondrous paths of wisdom,” then speaks of ten sefirot b’limah and twenty-two foundation letters. Kabbalists found various ways to diagram the sefirot before the Tree became the familiar form.

Jewish kabbalists began creating elaborate diagrammatic representations of the sefirot, known as ilanot, or trees, during the Middle Ages. The Ilanot Project at the University of Haifa has now documented more than seven hundred examples. There has never been only one way to draw the relationships among the sefirot.

Kircher’s Tree belongs to this much longer history, but Kircher was not preserving Jewish Kabbalah. He was a Jesuit who reshaped Jewish material within his own Christian and syncretic system. He drew upon earlier Jewish and Christian Kabbalistic sources while incorporating them into his own Christian synthesis. The Tree later inherited by Western esotericism is therefore one historical interpretation of Kabbalah, not a Tree contained in the Sefer Yetzirah itself.

The Eilat Tarot instead uses the arrangement Aryeh Kaplan calls the Natural Array in his commentary on the Sefer Yetzirah, together with the path assignments he presents according to the GR"A, the Vilna Gaon.

The reason becomes visible when we look at the Hebrew letters. The Sefer Yetzirah does not treat its twenty-two letters as a single undifferentiated alphabet. It repeatedly divides them into three groups: three Mother Letters, seven Double Letters, and twelve Simple Letters. These groups are central to the structure of the book.

The Golden Dawn retained this division. Its three Mother Letters, Alef, Mem, and Shin, are associated with Air, Water, and Fire. The seven Double Letters are associated with the seven classical planets. The twelve Simple Letters are associated with the twelve signs of the zodiac.

But the Golden Dawn did not use these three classes to determine where the letters were placed on its Tree.

On the Golden Dawn Tree, the letters proceed through the network of paths in alphabetical order. Letters appear indiscriminately on horizontal, vertical, and diagonal paths.

Something different happens in Kaplan's Natural Array. The three Mother Letters occupy the three horizontal paths of the Tree. The seven Double Letters occupy the seven vertical paths. The twelve Simple Letters occupy the twelve diagonal paths.

The Mother Letters, Alef, Mem and Shin, arranged
 on the horizontal paths of the Natural Array

Once I saw this arrangement, the name “Natural Array” made sense to me.

The letters do not have to be fitted onto the Tree without regard to the categories that structure the Sefer Yetzirah. Their placement makes those categories visible.

The Double Letters, Bet, Gimel, Dalet, Kaf, Peh, Reish, and Tav,
arranged on the vertical paths of the Natural Array

This is especially striking with the twelve Simple Letters. In the Gra manuscript, the Sefer Yetzirah describes them in relation to twelve “diagonal boundaries.” Kaplan understands these as the boundaries of a three-dimensional universe. On the Natural Array, there are twelve diagonal paths waiting for the twelve Simple Letters.

Both the Golden Dawn Tree and the Natural Array contain three horizontal, seven vertical, and twelve diagonal paths. The difference lies in what happens when the letters are placed upon them. Both systems preserve the 3-7-12 structure as a system of correspondences. The Natural Array used in the Eilat Tarot makes that structure visible in the Tree itself.

Hei, Vav, and Zayin on the
diagonal paths of the Natural Array

Ḥet, Tet, and Yud on the
diagonal paths of the Natural Array

Lamed, Nun, and Samekh on the
diagonal paths of the Natural Array

 

Ayin, Ẓadi, and Quf on the
diagonal paths of the Natural Array

 

There is another feature of the Natural Array that I find satisfying. Malkhut, hanging below the rest of the Tree, is joined to it by a single path through Yesod. In later Kabbalah, Yesod gathers what precedes it and transmits it into Malkhut. The diagram gives that idea a simple visual form. Malkhut receives what comes through Yesod.

None of this means that the Natural Array is the original Tree of Life, or the one correct Tree. There is no Tree of Life diagram in the Sefer Yetzirah.

Nor does the Eilat Tarot need the Golden Dawn Tree to be wrong. The Golden Dawn was creating an immense synthesis of tarot, astrology, alchemy, ceremonial magic, Hebrew letters, and other traditions. The Tree it used became a framework capable of carrying that system, and generations of tarot readers have found meaning there.

The Eilat Tarot is asking a different question: What happens when the Sefer Yetzirah and Pamela Colman Smith’s tarot images are allowed to speak to one another?

For that conversation, the Hebrew letters cannot be incidental marks placed along the paths. They are among the building blocks of creation described by the Sefer Yetzirah. The Natural Array lets us see them that way.

The images accompanying this post show the pattern one layer at a time. The first shows the three Mothers crossing the Tree horizontally. The second shows the seven Doubles running vertically. The remaining images show the twelve Simple Letters filling the diagonal paths.

Seen together, they reveal something very simple:

Three Mothers,
Seven Doubles,
Twelve Simple Letters.

The Eilat Tarot does not use the Natural Array because it claims that this is the one ancient or correct Tree of Life. It uses the Natural Array because its geometry allows one of the central structures of the Sefer Yetzirah to remain visible.

Eilat Writers Guild

The website is now up! It's an exciting milestone!

Eilat Writers Guild, L.L.C.

My favorite writing implement? The eraser!

I just deleted 10 pages of my guidebook and replaced it with a clearer introduction. Real progress!

If you're curious, the footnote says: "Throughout this guidebook, I’ve italicized Hebrew titles and terms such as Sefer Yetzirah and sefirot. Quotations from authors such as Aryeh Kaplan retain their original formatting."

Poll Time! Help Me Choose a Title for My Tarot Guidebook

Vote! Select a letter below to help me choose a title for my LWB, "little white book." 📖

I’m still deep in the writing process, maybe halfway there, but I’d love your help choosing a title. It's for a guidebook to my Eilat Tarot, a Jewish deck that draws on the Sefer Yetzirah, the Hebrew calendar, the Land of Israel, and the symbolism of numbers and letters.

Which title do you like best? Feel free to vote for more than one, or suggest your own twist!

A. The Eilat Tarot: Little White Book
B. Eilat Tarot: A Tarot of Sunlight, Stone, and Water
C. The Eilat Tarot: Numbers, Letters, and the Land

D. The World Was Created With Letters: A Jewish Tarot Companion
E. Path of the Desert Letters: A Mystical Guide of Desert, Voice, and Vision
F. Letters of Light: A Kabbalistic Tarot Guide

G. Voice in the High Places: The World Was Created With Breath and Speech
H. The Tarot of Returning: A Tarot Guide Through Soul, World, and Time

I. The Tarot of Formation
J. Letters of Formation: The Tarot of Creation According to the Sefer Yetzirah
K. Formed in Silence: A Tarot Guide Through Soul, World, and Time

Thanks for helping me shape this journey! Your feedback means a lot. 💙

I’ll post updates as the project continues!

א Breath

A breath of cool air flows from the east just before the sun rises over the red hills of Edom. The Fool, filled with hope and renewed strength, sets off on a journey. No longer bound by fear or grief, she embraces her true identity, unaffected by the opinions of others. Experience has made her wise, not despondent; she carries no wounds or resentment. Her inner ear is attuned to divine guidance, and her voice is powerful. With spontaneity and playfulness, she embraces life's delights. She finally recognizes that her encounters with darkness truly were valuable gifts and lessons on her path. Angels guard each step she takes and her heart is free. This image of rebirth is assigned the Hebrew letter Alef, which represents the divine breath of creation according to the Sefer Yetzirah.

The Fool, as represented in the Tarot, has evolved from symbolizing a crazy person, driven out by society and plagued by delusions, to embodying a wise wanderer. This transformation connects two powerful traditions: the holy fool, touched by God, and the court jester, having no fixed place in society but free to speak truths others did not dare.

This evolution of The Fool in the Tarot raises a connection between homelessness and foolishness. The saying of Chazal, "A man who has no home is not a man," underscores the vital importance of having a home and family, providing a sense of belonging, purpose, and a foundation for serving and taking action in the world. Without these essential elements, one's words and actions lack grounding and significance, rendering them fleeting and inconsequential. Therefore, the concept of homelessness serves as a metaphorical reminder of the importance of rootedness and connection in our lives.

Images from Tarot Yehudi and the Raziel Tarot:

In the Tarot Yehudi by Betzalel Arieli, The Fool card is associated with Keter, the first sefirah, symbolizing freedom, lightness, and untapped potential. When the card appears reversed, it may suggest instability and a lack of grounding.

The Raziel Tarot, created by Rachel Pollack and Robert Place, depicts The Fool as a young and androgynous Yosef the Diviner before maturity, whose eventual journey saved his family and played a vital role in the Israelites receiving the Torah at Sinai after generations of suffering. The Fool's story highlights divine plans and the eventual fulfillment of a purpose.

Rachel Pollack offers insightful meanings for The Fool. Upright, it represents innocence, openness, and limitless possibilities. It embodies freedom, gentleness, and a lack of anger or grudges. It signifies divination and psychic abilities used selflessly. It reflects beauty and androgyny, a harmonious blend of masculine and feminine. However, it also warns of unrecognized danger, especially in conjunction with aggressive cards. Reversed, it calls for caution, self-consciousness, and hesitation. It highlights an over-awareness of social attitudes or the opinions of others, particularly when paired with the reversed Hanged Man. It acknowledges the importance of recognizing potentially dangerous situations.

Betzalel Arieli writes that the upright card suggests freedom, lightness, inspiration, creativity, and a new beginning. The reversed face indicates instability or a lack of grounding.

By engaging in focused reflection, we can gain insights into the kind of Fool we currently are and cultivate an awareness of our strengths and weaknesses. Embracing the essence of The Fool means acknowledging both our virtuous qualities and our flaws. Through this recognition, we can consciously work on transforming our negative traits into positive ones, and harness our strengths to become better individuals. It is through this process of self-discovery and growth that we embark on a profound journey towards personal evolution.

Tarot is not Kabbalah (and a brief review of The Raziel Tarot)

Many tarot decks show Hebrew letters on the Major Arcana cards. This supposedly indicates a long-standing connection between tarot and the Jewish mystical traditions of Kabbalah. In fact, the two traditions are distinct and arose in different cultures and periods.

Tarot emerged in fifteenth-century Christian Europe as a set of playing cards, which only later took on esoteric meanings. Kabbalah, by contrast, is an ancient and still-evolving Jewish mystical tradition.

There is no historical connection between Kabbalah and the creation of the tarot. The relationship was constructed centuries later by European occultists who grafted superficial elements of Jewish mysticism onto the tarot.

From its beginnings, Christian culture has appropriated and altered some aspects of Judaism. For more information about the origins of European interest in Kabbalah, read The Rape of Jewish Mysticism by Christian Theologians by Robert Wang.

By the the mid-nineteenth-century, faux Kabbalah had become a part of Western occultism. Éliphas Lévi posited a link between the Major Arcana cards and paths on the Tree of Life. Other occultists had created sets of astrological correspondences to the cards. Relying on those correspondences and their own quirky translation of the Sefer Yetzirah, the Golden Dawn developed their own system of tarot correspondences.

However, the Golden Dawn adopted planetary correspondences for the Double Letters that differ from those found in the Gra-Ari version of Sefer Yetzirah. For example, the Golden Dawn associated the Hebrew letter Dalet with Venus and The Empress, while the Gra-Ari version associates Dalet with the Sun. The Sefer Yetzirah, of course, makes no mention of tarot cards, which had not yet been created when that text was composed.

Jewish mysticism is not an intrinsic part of tarot, but today, Jewish tarot writers such as Isabel Radow-Kleigman and Rachel Pollack, are bringing authentic Jewish ideas and Jewish spirituality to the tarot. I appreciate that, and I want to explore the possibilities that connecting the two traditions might offer. So, although I am doubtful that including Hebrew letters on the cards is a meaningful exercise, I am willing to explore the idea.

French occultist Jean-Baptiste Alliette, aka Etteilla, numbered the Major Arcana cards in his 1789 occult deck 100 years before the Golden Dawn systematized Hebrew letter correspondences. The Golden Dawn ascribed first Hebrew letter, Alef (א), to The Fool, the first card of the Major Arcana. and the last Hebrew letter, Tav (ת), to The World, the last card of the Major Arcana.

When I first encountered these correspondences, they seemed arbitrary to me. Tav has a numerical value of 400, not 21, and Hebrew has no letter representing zero for The Fool. While I understand that the letters were intended symbolically rather than as Hebrew numerals, I remain unconvinced that placing them on the cards adds anything meaningful to the tarot.

Since astrology was a significant part of the Renaissance culture in which tarot began, the development of correspondences between astrological symbols and the Major Arcana cards of tarot does seem reasonable. However, the fact that the Hebrew letters are also associated with planets and regions of the zodiac is not a good reason to slap the Hebrew letters onto the cards. It is a step away from the intentions of earlier tarot designers. It is certainly leagues away from the intentions of the authors of the Sefer Yetzirah, a work Aryeh Kaplan interprets as a manual of meditative practice.

Although the Sefer Yetzirah was composed during a period of intense syncretism between various Mediterranean cultures, religions, and philosophies, there is no link between that text and the much later Renaissance European culture which produced the tarot.

Furthermore, it seems unlikely that teachers of the meditation techniques presented in the Sefer Yetzirah intended a literal connection between the letters, days, organs, planets, or other items mentioned in the text. They were describing a mystical vision of creation in which breath and language allowed divine unity to become the multiplicity within the cosmos.

If literal correlation had been intended, each version of the text would link the same planets to the Double Letters. In fact, different recensions of the text list different correspondences. For example, Dalet is linked to the Sun in the Gra-Ari version and to Mars in three other versions of the Sefer Yetzirah. The Golden Dawn later associated Dalet with Venus in order to retain the traditional order of the tarot Majors and the order of the planets from fastest to slowest.

The Sefer Yetzirah does not teach anything about tarot cards, which were created centuries after the Sefer Yetzirah was composed.

There is no demonstrable connection between the Sefer Yetzirah, or other Jewish mystical traditions, and the tarot. So if we do wish to place Hebrew letters on the Major Arcana, we might first examine the attributions developed by European occultists.

Four versions of the Sefer Yetzirah, as well as the Christian-influenced Golden Dawn, agree on the associations of the Simple Letters with the regions of the zodiac and of the Mother Letters with the three celestial elements of Air, Water, and Fire. (See the chart below.) For now, then, let us accept the Golden Dawn’s further association of those letters with particular tarot cards.

However, a difficulty arises connecting the Double Letters with celestial bodies. There are several different sets of correspondences between the Hebrew Double Letters and the seven planets. Section 4.8 in the chart shows correspondences names in the Gra-Ari Version of the Sefer Yetzirah, in the Short and Long Versions of the Sefer Yetzirah, and in Donald Tyson's revised Golden Dawn correspondences.

Summary of attributions for Mother Letters, Double Letters, and Simple Letters

In the next few paragraphs, I'll show you how correspondences based on different versions of Sefer Yetzirah radically alter the traditional progression of the tarot Majors. Then I'll show you how the amended Golden Dawn system more closely maintains the traditional progression of the cards as well as the order of the Hebrew letters.

Gra-Ari Version: If we relied on the correspondences from the Gra-Ari version of the Sefer Yetzirah, the result would be the following series of cards with planetary correspondences:

Priestess (Moon - Bet)
Tower (Mars - Gimmel)
Wheel (Sun - Dalet)
Empress (Venus - Kaf)
Magician (Mercury - Peh)
World (Saturn - Reish)
Sun (Jupiter - Tav)

In nineteenth-century occult thought, the High Priestess card was connected with the moon. In the Gra-Ari version of the Sefer Yetzirah, the moon is mentioned in connection to the letter Bet. Thus, according to the Golden Dawn's rationale, the Hebrew letter Bet should be associated with the High Priestess card of the tarot deck.  

Short and Long Versions: If we used the correspondences of the Short Version or the Long Version of the Sefer Yetzirah, the resulting order of the planetary cards would be as follows:

World (Saturn - Bet)
Sun (Jupiter - Gimmel)
Tower (Mars - Dalet)
Wheel (Sun - Kaf)
Empress (Venus - Peh)
Magician (Mercury - Reish)
Priestess (Moon - Tav)

In these versions of the Sefer Yetzirah, Saturn is linked to the letter Bet. In nineteenth-century occult thought, Saturn is connected to the World card. Thus, according to the Golden Dawn's rationale, the Hebrew letter Bet should be associated with the World card of the tarot deck.

Tyson’s revised Golden Dawn system keeps the Double Letters in Hebrew alphabetical order while preserving most of the familiar progression of the Major Arcana. Among the planetary cards, it exchanges The High Priestess and The Magician, corresponding to the Moon and Mercury. Tyson also exchanges Temperance and The Chariot, corresponding to Cancer and Sagittarius.

Priestess (Moon - Bet)
Magician (Mercury - Gimmel)
Empress (Venus - Dalet)
Wheel (Sun - Kaf)
Tower (Mars - Peh)
Sun (Jupiter - Reish)
World (Saturn - Tav)

The Fool as the
Biblical Yosef,
a fool and a visionary.

Since the connection between the Hebrew letters and the cards is tenuous, I see no compelling reason to make any changes to the letter attributions presented by Donald Tyson in his book, Portable Magic: Tarot is the Only Tool You Need.

Astrology is not part of my practice, so I am not concerned with the astrological correspondences of the cards. It would be more interesting to consider other associations from Sefer Yetzirah, such as the pairs of qualities associated with Double Letters, the months and tribes associated with Simple Letters, and the celestial elements associated with the Mother Letters.

These are pairs of qualities associated with the Double Letters:

• Bet - Wisdom and Folly
• Gimmel - Wealth and Poverty
• Dalet - Seed and Desolation
• Kaf - Life and Death
• Peh - Dominance and Subjugation
• Reish - Peace and War
• Tav - Grace and Ugliness

The Raziel Tarot: If you are interested in obtaining a tarot deck created specifically with Jewish ideas in mind, consider obtaining the majors-only deck, The Raziel Tarot, by tarot greats, Robert Place and Rachel Pollack. Sefer Raziel is a medieval Jewish magical and kabbalistic text that incorporates materials from several earlier traditions. In the Raziel deck, Hebrew letters appear on the following Major Arcana cards:

• א appears on The Fool
• מ appears on The Empress (the Golden Dawn placed it on The Hanged Man)
• The Mother Letters, אמש, appear on The Lovers and on Temperance
• The root צדק appears on Justice
• A portion of the word שָׁלוֹם appears on Strength
• The letters י and ב appear on the pillars Boaz and Yachin of The High Priestess, and the garment worn by her contains numerous letters, including some final forms

The Raziel Tarot shows only two of the mother letters: Alef (א) for air and Mem (מ) for water. Pollack and Place did not choose to include the penultimate letter, Šin/Śin (ש), which is associated with creative fire. I wonder which Major Arcana card could be linked reasonably with the third mother letter ש. What do you think?

The Empress as Miriam the Prophet, whose life
included many events associated with water.

Esoteric Tarot

I've begun studying the occult aspects of tarot. In anticipation creating my own deck, I will try to explain the tarot attributions I'll be relying on.

The association of Hebrew letters with Tarot's Major Arcana cards was made explicit by members of the Golden Dawn in the 19th century who relied on a Jewish Kabbalistic text, the Sefer Yetzirah.

In the Sefer Yetzirah the letters alef, mem, and shin are associated with celestial air, celestial water, and celestial fire. Seven of the Hebrew letters (the six begedkefet and one guttural) are associated with seven celestial bodies. The remaining letters are associated with twelve regions of the zodiac.

The Golden Dawn applied the zodiac signs (and thus, the single letters), in their natural order, to the Major Arcana cards in their numeric order. They did not do the same with the celestial bodies (and double letters) because the symbolism of the Majors in their traditional numeric order and the symbolism of the celestial bodies (in order of their apparent speed) do not align.

To place the first astrological planet, the Moon, on the first Double letter would result in the planet the Moon being linked with the Magician. The Moon is a feminine planet, whereas the Magician is a strongly masculine trump. Similarly, the second planet... Mercury, would fall on the trump the High Priestess. This also seems incorrect. Mercury is a masculine planet, and is associated with magic, but the High Priestess is a feminine trump and is associated with mystery.

So he put Mercury first and the Moon second. (He also inverted Strength and Justice to make the numeric order of the cards match the order of the zodiac signs.)

Donald Tyson found that this wasn't ideal and changed the sequence of the Major Arcana so that the celestial bodies assigned to them would be in order from fastest to slowest: Moon, Mercury, Venus, Sun, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn. In his system, The High Priestess is the first card after The Fool, The Magician is the second card, Temperance is the seventh card, and the Chariot is the fourteenth.

To my mind, the warlike Archer is a much more appropriate zodiac sign for a trump of war than the Crab, particularly since chariots were used as mobile platforms for archers during war. On the other hand, feminine and nurturing Cancer seems well suited to Temperance. There is a natural yin-yang balance in the glyph of Cancer itself, which resembles the symbolism on the traditional version of the trump Temperance of two vessels linked by a stream of liquid.

In the Golden Dawn system, the Wheel of Fortune is linked to Jupiter and The Sun to the sun. Tyson disagrees with those associations.

If the natural order of the planets is to be preserved, we must assign the astrological Sun to the trump the Wheel. And what could be a more perfect fit? The Sun is the great wheel of the heavens. It has been depicted in this way in the mythology of countless cultures. It is a good deal more appropriate, symbolically, than Jupiter.

When we come to the trump the Sun, which receives the astrological planet the Sun in the Golden Dawn correspondences, we must use another planet since the Sun has been linked to the Wheel of Fortune. The obvious choice is Jupiter, termed in astrology the Greater Fortune and renowned for its beneficence, and Jupiter falls here naturally in the order of planets.

Some critics may object that the most natural planet for the trump the Sun is surely the planet the Sun. Yet, if this is so, why is it that the planet the Moon is never assigned to the trump the Moon? It seems to me that either both Sun and Moon should be linked to the trumps that bear their names, or neither should be so linked. Since the astrological Moon has never been placed on the trump the Moon, I have no reluctance to associate the trump the Sun with the planet Jupiter.

Lacking any background in esoteric studies, I can only say that Tyson's system feels right.

Tyson's re-sequencing of the Majors slightly alters the "Tarot Tableau." The Tableau is an arrangement of the Majors in three rows of seven, with The Fool above. It is purported to illustrate different levels of consciousness. At one level of consciousness, you may be experiencing Temperance, but at a higher level of consciousness, you learn the lessons of The Chariot, and at a still higher level, the lessons of The World.

My meditations on the traditional Tarot Tableau have seldom yielded significant insights. Arranging the Tableau in Tyson's sequence was immediately illuminating. The Priestess, Strength, and The Devil each address the powers of the unconscious. The Magician, Hermit, and The Tower are about our world view.

The attributions in the table above are the ones I will rely on when studying the Major Arcana. Since the concepts connecting the letters and the cards are primarily astrological, I will have to learn a little about astrology at some point. Initially, however, I will focus on the meanings of the Hebrew letters.