First Principles Tarot - Interpreting Papus' "TotB"

[Monk]

Hi All,

It has been quite some while since I have been around here. But I have missed this place
I haven been into Tarot too long, just some years and I really see myself still as a student.

About a year ago I took a step back from reading Tarot after I started reading extensively 'about' Tarot. Since then I have consumed books bij Levi, Papus, Agrippa, W.W. Atkinson, Hall, Blavatski, Waite, Crowley, Picatrix ..like really digging myself in the history of Tarot and it various ways, systems and schools.
Gradually there is emerging a thing in me that may be called a 'clue' to where to go for myself with reading. You see, choosing a system, way has always been a point for me that was difficult. Especially since I could not ignore the astrological aspects of many systems 'and their sometimes irreconcilable differences. Along the way I found out that I kept going back to Papus for various reasons. There is something elegant about his system of Ternaries, positive and negative, the Septenaries, again positive and negative, Papus' Cabalistic-numerological approach that struck something in me. Not being the final definitive go-to system of reading and interpreting but I like that up to a certain degree it is a closed system that works in itself.

Somewhere along the way I got hand on a Papus Tarot deck (I'm an avid collector of vintage and antique decks) But I was displeased to find out that the Truly remarkable uniqueness of Papus' explanation of his system did not really seep through in the deck. Especially his genius work: " Tarot Of The Bohemians", at least the feel of that keystone book, is not present in the deck. Dont know If it should be, but I would have liked it.

So Some months ago I started designing a deck that would incorporate my interpretation of Papus' line of thought from the book mentioned above.
I have come up with what I call a first draft, which is coming together bit by bit. The last part is always the hardest Im at a point where it would be good to share my work with the community here to see what this draft does out in the open.

So this deck is heavily abstract! I wont excuse myself for this fact. Papus inspired me to do just this, or at least his writing in "TotB" did. For those that do not know this work: the book opens with heavy, thick numerological matter, elaborate cabalistic correspondences and what not before going into the Majors meanings.. He does less go into the minors but I expanded my literature research and puzzled it more together. I wont go into the whole ternary/septenary explanation - Because you need a whole book to do that- but stick with an important distillate: there is rhyme with the layeredness of reality set out in the Kybalion (By W.W. Atkinson). Which is still one of the most important books in the world to me. Period.

So for now, I'll upload my work so far, the majors in 3 Septenaries and one final Ternary - and- one suit of minors (Yod-fire-wands) In the Majors there's 4-5 blank cards still. These majors up till now have yet to get a design that works for me, at least as a sketch/draft. I did not get into writing reference texts to each card, nor do I think I ever will. The system I cast into a deck is well explained in TotB by Papus, He himself actually offers very little conceptual meaning for each of the arcana, offers much more a key to seeing the thing as a whole and then self explore from there.

This will at some moment become a kickstarter deck/project so maybe I'll have to ship a TotB copy with each deck Dunno yet..

I'm interested what people think JUST seeing the cards without any explanation, hear what happens. Any critique is welcome, I'm also positively open to peoples suggestions here and there.

Enjoy:

Working title:
First Principles Tarot.
An Astronomical/Astrological Tarot inspired by Gerard Encausse a.k.a Papus and W.W. Atkinson

1st Positive Septenary - Yod - Positive: Arc 1-3 Negative: 4-6

2nd Negative Septenary - He - Positive: Arc 7-9 Negative: 10-12

3rd Neuter Septenary - Yod - Positive: Arc 13-15 Negative: 16-18

4th Transitory Ternary arc 19 pos - arc 20 neg - 21 neutr - and Le Fou 22 (transitory)

1st Half of suit of Fire - YOD - Wands

2nd Half of suit of Fire - YOD - Wands


Namaste

[Ciderwell]

I like what you have created. Though I doubt I could work with this sort of system. It is too far removed from my way of thinking.
That being said, some of the cards do remind me of the Terrence Malick film, the Tree of Life. Wherein some of the imagery showing the birth of the Universe is juxtaposed with the birth of a child. As the film tells the story of two brothers, nature it seems precedes grace.
I find the star patterns fascinating. It's like the converging of a square and a triangle somehow make a pentagram. And as the star points increase they resemble rotation and spin. As this has to be intentional I'm wondering if the direction of spin is relevant!

Good Luck with the completion of your tarot cards.

[Monk]

Thanks man! I like the Terrence Malick film you brought up, yes that will resonate with how I approached creating this deck.
I understand this is a niche deck. Although I did keep the regular structure of the Tarot, much has been reinvented. At least how arcana are identified. I have been working tirelessly on it for the last several weeks and must say things have evolved greatly from since I last posted the previeuw of the cards in the OP.

I started unveiling the deck bit by bit on Instagram, no way back now with the prototype underway to me as we speak.

People can follow the project here: https://www.instagram.com/premier_principes_tarot/

p.s. Wonderful how you had the same bedazzling effect to your eyes looking at the geometric figures evolving! I had the same It is not intentional however. Just a gift

I like what you have created. Though I doubt I could work with this sort of system. It is too far removed from my way of thinking.
That being said, some of the cards do remind me of the Terrence Malick film, the Tree of Life. Wherein some of the imagery showing the birth of the Universe is juxtaposed with the birth of a child. As the film tells the story of two brothers, nature it seems precedes grace.
I find the star patterns fascinating. It's like the converging of a square and a triangle somehow make a pentagram. And as the star points increase they resemble rotation and spin. As this has to be intentional I'm wondering if the direction of spin is relevant!

Good Luck with the completion of your tarot cards.

[TheLoracular]

Gradually there is emerging a thing in me that may be called a 'clue' to where to go for myself with reading. You see, choosing a system, way has always been a point for me that was difficult. Especially since I could not ignore the astrological aspects of many systems 'and their sometimes irreconcilable differences. Along the way I found out that I kept going back to Papus for various reasons. There is something elegant about his system of Ternaries, positive and negative, the Septenaries, again positive and negative, Papus' Cabalistic-numerological approach that struck something in me. Not being the final definitive go-to system of reading and interpreting but I like that up to a certain degree it is a closed system that works in itself.

Somewhere along the way I got hand on a Papus Tarot deck (I'm an avid collector of vintage and antique decks) But I was displeased to find out that the Truly remarkable uniqueness of Papus' explanation of his system did not really seep through in the deck. Especially his genius work: " Tarot Of The Bohemians", at least the feel of that keystone book, is not present in the deck. Dont know If it should be, but I would have liked it.

I wont go into the whole ternary/septenary explanation - Because you need a whole book to do that- but stick with an important distillate: there is rhyme with the layeredness of reality set out in the Kybalion (By W.W. Atkinson). Which is still one of the most important books in the world to me. Period.

The system I cast into a deck is well explained in TotB by Papus, He himself actually offers very little conceptual meaning for each of the arcana, offers much more a key to seeing the thing as a whole and then self explore from there.

This will at some moment become a kickstarter deck/project so maybe I'll have to ship a TotB copy with each deck Dunno yet..

I'm interested what people think JUST seeing the cards without any explanation, hear what happens. Any critique is welcome, I'm also positively open to peoples suggestions here and there.

So I just took a look at First Principles again after a month of doing very little besides eating, sleeping, and type-babbling about binaries, ternaries, quadralities and septunaries or kvetching about the things that make the various systems problematical for 2020+ me and my modern ideology.

I LOVE THESE CARDS. I would have to re-read Papus and go through his system piece by piece to appreciate what you've done with it. Like you, I have a Papus deck but it doesn't inspire in me the things I thought it would. But I feel like I could take a copy of the First Principles deck and try to explain things about the Kybalion and the numerical principles (binaries, ternaries, quadralities, septunaries and everything else relating to all those authors you mention) without the burden of a spiritual ideology or the anthroporphization of planets.

I've been rambling to myself for days about a "different" kind of tarot but today, looking at First Impressions again, it just hit home that in terms of content? I meant THAT. And you portray it with a kind of deep, perfect artistry that is totally appealing to me. This wouldn't be the deck for everyone, but it would be a deck I'd use for mediational, magickal, and teaching purposes.

You've also made me bump up Papus and TotB as a summer project as the next "classic" esoteric tarot book I do, rather than Wirth and Tarot of the Magicians.

[Monk]

Wow Loracular!

You really catched my drift <3 Like you I also purchaced the 'Papus' deck but it does not give any insight into or handles for this really interesting take on Kabbalah and astrology. I went through Tarot of the Bohemians with a dust comb a couple of times and found a way to put this mystical system centerstage. Curious how you mention W.W Atkinson's 'Kybalion' a book I greatly appreciate. It is the Kybalion which gave me the final push to develop the Premier Principes Tarot into what it is. There's actually quite some of the Hermetic principles in there. Papus' writings on Kabbalah just resonate a lot with that of Atkinson. This will actually be my next project, working the Kybalion into a Tarot.

I actually started posting stuff to the Premier Principes Instagram https://www.instagram.com/premier_principes_tarot/, there you can get a good look at the individual cards as I upload them day by day right up to launch day on Kickstarter:

One love <3
Monk

Gradually there is emerging a thing in me that may be called a 'clue' to where to go for myself with reading. You see, choosing a system, way has always been a point for me that was difficult. Especially since I could not ignore the astrological aspects of many systems 'and their sometimes irreconcilable differences. Along the way I found out that I kept going back to Papus for various reasons. There is something elegant about his system of Ternaries, positive and negative, the Septenaries, again positive and negative, Papus' Cabalistic-numerological approach that struck something in me. Not being the final definitive go-to system of reading and interpreting but I like that up to a certain degree it is a closed system that works in itself.

Somewhere along the way I got hand on a Papus Tarot deck (I'm an avid collector of vintage and antique decks) But I was displeased to find out that the Truly remarkable uniqueness of Papus' explanation of his system did not really seep through in the deck. Especially his genius work: " Tarot Of The Bohemians", at least the feel of that keystone book, is not present in the deck. Dont know If it should be, but I would have liked it.

I wont go into the whole ternary/septenary explanation - Because you need a whole book to do that- but stick with an important distillate: there is rhyme with the layeredness of reality set out in the Kybalion (By W.W. Atkinson). Which is still one of the most important books in the world to me. Period.

The system I cast into a deck is well explained in TotB by Papus, He himself actually offers very little conceptual meaning for each of the arcana, offers much more a key to seeing the thing as a whole and then self explore from there.

This will at some moment become a kickstarter deck/project so maybe I'll have to ship a TotB copy with each deck Dunno yet..

I'm interested what people think JUST seeing the cards without any explanation, hear what happens. Any critique is welcome, I'm also positively open to peoples suggestions here and there.

So I just took a look at First Principles again after a month of doing very little besides eating, sleeping, and type-babbling about binaries, ternaries, quadralities and septunaries or kvetching about the things that make the various systems problematical for 2020+ me and my modern ideology.

I LOVE THESE CARDS. I would have to re-read Papus and go through his system piece by piece to appreciate what you've done with it. Like you, I have a Papus deck but it doesn't inspire in me the things I thought it would. But I feel like I could take a copy of the First Principles deck and try to explain things about the Kybalion and the numerical principles (binaries, ternaries, quadralities, septunaries and everything else relating to all those authors you mention) without the burden of a spiritual ideology or the anthroporphization of planets.

I've been rambling to myself for days about a "different" kind of tarot but today, looking at First Impressions again, it just hit home that in terms of content? I meant THAT. And you portray it with a kind of deep, perfect artistry that is totally appealing to me. This wouldn't be the deck for everyone, but it would be a deck I'd use for mediational, magickal, and teaching purposes.

You've also made me bump up Papus and TotB as a summer project as the next "classic" esoteric tarot book I do, rather than Wirth and Tarot of the Magicians.