There is a significant yet generally overlooked aspect regarding the oldest known Tarot deck, the Visconti Tarot: the Major Arcana cards did not have any captions, and no names nor numbers were featured on them.
It is quite an odd feature if we accept the mainstream theory that these cards were primarily designed for entertainment and playing various card games.
Most scholars are concerned with the archetypal aspect of the cards while considering names only as a means to identify these archetypes.
Yet, there is particular importance regarding the names that have been forgotten and escape modern man’s understanding.
Speaking about names, Gurdjieff noted:
“As a rule, when people realise that they do not understand a thing, they try to find a name for what they do not ‘understand,’ and when they find a name, they say they ‘understand.’ But to ‘find a name’ does not mean to ‘understand.’ Unfortunately, people are usually satisfied with names. A man who knows a great many names, that is, a great many words, is deemed to understand a great deal — again excepting, of course, any sphere of practical activity wherein his ignorance very soon becomes evident.”
Then again, to ‘find a name’ for someone or something does not mean to know its name. Giving names does not equal knowing names. As Gurdjieff pointed out, we give names to the things we do not know and then pretend we know them. Truly knowing names requires understanding them and being aware of their full potential.
Western Magick has been built by heavily borrowing from Jewish mystical traditions and practices. The Jewish Magick has Babylonian origins, and the Babylonians inherited their knowledge from the Sumerians. Each of the subsequent transmissions of these secrets caused various alternations.
Before the emergence of monotheism, the mane of the gods was engraved on amulets, offering protection or channelling specific energies. These amulets and the Tarot cards share some common features and functions.
Monotheism changed the rules of the game, and one G_d received as many names as attributes had been identified or assigned to it.
Names have been crucial in ancient times, preserving their importance in the Jewish tradition.
Jewish mystics, especially kabbalists, deal with (…)
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