Kitabı oku: «Yi Ching Tarot»

Yazı tipi:

Illustrator Inna Yeryomkina

ISBN 978-5-4474-9797-2

Created with Ridero smart publishing system

Foreword

«God gave his gifts and goals to every human, to create the world that is His reflection. We must always fulfill our Divine Purpose. It is not going to be hard, but it is going to be pleasant and joyful».
From Spiritual Wisdom

Regardless the fact that the World religion has multiple branches, its Divine root is universal. Since almost forever ago, people of different religious cults in fact worshiped the same Celestial Symbols and the same Laws of the Universe, but losing the Keys for decrypting the Secret Knowledge resulted in the Celestial Truth hiding its original meaning and becoming unavailable for the adherents. The situation became even worse, because different religions associated the Secret Knowledge with different symbols, which with time became absolutely unknowable to the great majority of modern people. Therefore, those who study religions are surrounded by a myriad of unclear symbols; what is even worse, the people totally forgot that those symbols originally had different meanings, very little in common with what they are now claimed they are.

Similar thoughts were expressed by Papus in his book «Tarot and Astrology for Initiates» (M.: ACT, Astrel, 2006):

«Every ancient teaching priest was the Initiate, and knew for certain there is only one religion, while different cults are only to present this one religion to different nations, in accordance with their specific traditions. Therefore, our religious discussions about the supremacy of one religion over others would have been very funny to those ancient initiated priests. They would have hardly even imagined that people with intellect could ever deny the unity of all cults in one fundamental religion.

Now every cult has its own traditions, its own Book, its own Bible, which teach to the unity of all religious faiths, regardless whatever difference may exist in traditions of different lands; but only those, who know how to read, are taught. Those, who possess the Key, would see that all those religions teach the same, but the Key is believed to be lost now.

There is no doubt, sectarianism became the reason for the total loss of the Secret Teaching, which granted access to the Key for the unity, and an attempt to re-discover the synthesis in various religions shall take many efforts from us all.

It is the Tarot card deck that may be considered the Bible of Bibles, combining the book of Hermes Trismegistus, the book of Adam, the book of the original Teaching of the most ancient civilizations of Atlantis, all together forming the basis for synthesized Teachings of all ancient nations with no exception. In Tarot cards, where an ordinary person only sees entertainment, a Thinker would recognize the Key for the Uniform tradition, forgotten long ago.

Therefore, what we need to do is to propose the Key, based on the synthesized (i.e. universal) formula. We only can present a tool, which those who need the Knowledge, may use at their own discretion. We are sure they realize how useful our efforts, as well as their own efforts, could be».

There have been many previous attempts to explain ancient esoteric knowledge with modern Tarot cards. For example, Vera Sklyarova, a famous esoteric literature author, also known as Arev, wrote the book «Golden Tarot. Classical canon Yi Ching» (M.: Starklite, 2005), where she presented the detailed description, and the prediction aspect, of each particular hexagram of the «Book of Changes».

However, this attempt to find parallels between the Yi Ching canon and the modern Tarot cards, based entirely on visual features, results in unpredictable outcome, when each particular hexagram simultaneously corresponds to several totally different and mismatching Tarot cards.

For example, analyzing the hexagram No.3 zhūn (difficulty at the beginning or a trouble), Vera Sklyarova wrote: «I would entirely compare this gua with the overturned Empress, although the influence by the Arcanum XVII – the Star, and by Arcanum XVIII – the Moon, and by other Arcana, is also seen here. The priority belongs to the overturned Chariot, Arcanum VII».

Then, analyzing the trigrams Kan (water) and Cheng (thunder), the components of the hexagram zhūn (trouble), and trying to find the parallel with the modern Tarot card deck there, Vera Sklyarova comes to very controversial conclusions, that this hexagram may, during different stages of its development, correspond to the Ten of Wands, Arcanum I – the Magician, Arcanum XVIII – the Moon, Arcanum XI – Strength, Arcanum V – The Hierophant, Arcanum VI – the Lovers, the Six of Swords, Arcanum II – The High Priestess, Arcanum 0 – The Fool, the Ace of Swords, and Arcanum VII – The Chariot (!?).

As we see, this type of analysis for parallels between particular Book of Changes hexagrams and modern Tarot cards does not bring any clarity, but instead it leads to very controversial conclusions and confuses even further. Apparently, Vera Sklyarova, who wrote that book, was uncertain, too; to justify it, she quotes a good phrase of Johann Wolfgang von Goethe:

«There are people, who are never wrong, because they never ask reasonable questions».

Therefore, parallels between the classical Chinese Book of Changes and Tarot cards, as well as other Esoteric Canons, should not be searched for, based on entirely visual features, which often are rather controversial, but rather in their fundamental composition structure, based on the unity of ancient Spiritual Teachings, which have their roots in very remote past of the human civilization.

«The Book of Changes (Yi Ching, or Yi jing) is the production of a genius, which imprinted Mysterium Cosmographicum with special symbols and signs.

Therefore, the Book of Changes needs special attention, like the Holy Book, one of the spiritual miracles of the world. The Book of Changes is the same valuable spiritual center for Chinese culture, as the Bible for Western culture», – such is the thought of A.I. Kobzev, a Russian Sinologist.

Many researchers of the past spoke of unknowable mystery of that Holy Book. For example, V.M. Alexeev, one of the most serious national Sinologists, wrote, that the «Book of Changes is the book of books, which provides the devoted one with intellect and power, and content, and which is not encased in any intellect. One would see its Spirit as clear as a day, another would see it as dim as twilight, yet another would see it as dark as a night».

Carl Jung (1875—1961), one of the most outstanding European minds, said about this «great and unique work»: «Just like a part of nature, it waits for being opened».

Confucius told: «Should I have had more years to live, I would have devotedfifty of them to studying Yi Ching, and I would have avoided big squalls of life» (Analects, VII, 16/17).

The roots of this book go into remote historical past, and they are associated with mythical Chinese Emperor Fu Xi, who is traditionally believed to have lived in the beginning of the III millennium B.C. In addition, the book might also be associated with Wen Wang (XI century B.C.), also known as King Wen of Zhou, the founder of the Zhou dynasty. However, the first documented reference to this book belongs to VII – VIII centuries B.C. By that time, the original meaning of the text had already been lost in many aspects, and the Book of Changes was used mainly to predict one’s fate, i.e. for fortunetelling. Still, multiple literature sources of that time continued citing it as a philosophical teaching, good enough to describe the World, and the phenomena, taking place within this World.

Among the ancient classical books of the Far East, the Book of Changes is one of the leaders. Its language and its content make the book one of the most mysterious ancient documents. Regardless how many attempts to explain it were made, this book is still not completely understood, and not completely clear. Y.K. Schutski, a Russian Sinologist, mentioned, that «the Book of Changes was of great influence on the development of the spiritual science in China, in very many ways: in philosophy, mathematics, politics, strategy, theory of painting and music, and in the arts in general. The Book of Changes has always been known as an unclear and mysterious text. Despite the understanding of the true value of this piece of ancient literature, interpreting some of its texts is still a real challenge, so peculiar and strange are the images that express its concepts».

Multiple scholars worked on decoding this ancient text, from the old times and until our days. The best minds of China and the neighbor countries of the Far East – Japan, Korea, Vietnam and other Asian and European countries – for centuries have been trying to understand the Truth that was formulated in this book.

Kumazawa Banzan (1619—1692), a Japanese philosopher, created a theory about the Cosmic occurrence of the phenomena, which the book describes. He pictured the silent and motionless Spirit as a tetragon, which was placed inside a circle that symbolized the developing and lively moving matter. He put the word «Truth» amidst the tetragon, thus symbolizing the Celestial Path, and the four attributes of the Sky, namely, impulse, development, appearance and endurance, were put around it.

Before creating the world, they all were the uniform Spirit. However, as the cosmogony emerged, and images and bodies came into existence, everything found its own place.

Wood became East, Fire became South, Metal became West, and Water became North (directions on a map, or magnetic field sectors). «Impulse wakes the matter of Wood to give birth to spring. Development wakes the matter of Fire to give birth to summer. Appearance wakes the matter of Metal to give birth to autumn. Endurance wakes the matter of Water to give birth to winter. Truth is the Spirit of the matter of Earth. It is in the center of the tetragon, and on all four its outer corners. This is the absolute form that is the creative work of the Sky and the Earth – its inexhaustible thesaurus». The systematization of the material, which was initially known, is the achievement of Kumazawa Banzan.

Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz (1646—1716), a great German scientist, analyzed the Book of Changes, and he managed to discover the binary code, which is now used in all calculating machines, including our computers. It is the same code that was put as the basis for trigrams and hexagrams in this ancient Chinese book.

The Book of Changes influenced Confucian, Taoist and Buddhist Chinese philosophy. Therefore, to know the Truth that is hidden in this unique manuscript, we are going to discuss Taoist Cosmology, a direction of its philosophy, in more details.

The first phase is energy in rest, and this phase has the name of Water. The second phase, according to this philosophical teaching, the origin of all is the Sky. It is the embodiment of the enduring creative power, and no obstacle can prevent its development.

Therefore, the perfect human, who fully realizes this Celestial principle, may demonstrate the creativity in his actions, which is favorable for everything surrounding him. The same important for the Taoist teaching are the idea about the similarity of the Macrocosm and the Microcosm, and the idea about the possibility to simulate Cosmos and control the created model.

The Book of Changes comprises various combinations of the two opposite energies, called Celestial pneumas, which were the female pneuma Yin and the male pneuma Yang. The combination of the two energies was reflected in 8 trigrams and 64 hexagrams, which became the basis for this book.

If the number 64, which reflects the amount of possible hexagonal combinations of the 6 Celestial pneumas, is divided in four sectors of the cardinal directions, then each of those sectors would correspond to 16 possible combinations, which may be depicted in 16 sheets of the corresponding extended universal Tarot card deck.

The number «sixteen» is associated with the symbol of completeness and measure, and it is the favorite number in India. Indochinese goddess Pussa is pictured with sixteen arms. The classical Indian aesthetics comprises 16 images of beauty. 16 mantras represent a unit in poetry. Vedas mention 16 chants during the preparation of the sacred drink Soma. In Indian music, one tintal comprises 16 beats. In classical Arabic literature, the number 16 is the sign of perfection.

It is worth mentioning, that each hexagram of the male sign in the classical Chinese Book of Changes is balanced with a female sign. However, when hexagrams are distributed according to corresponding suits, male hexagrams that correspond to odd numbers will be associated with the suits of Clubs and Hearts, while the female hexagrams will be associated with the suits of Spades and Diamonds.

Analyzing Tarot cards, Papus emphasized that it is the numbers, which are the most trustworthy and the simplest elements for studying. Therefore, the numbers may lead us, and it is via numbers, how we can discover the Law of Analogy. Let us recall the existing classification of numbers, and it will be easier for us to define parallels between Yi Ching Canon hexagrams and Minor Arcanum Tarot cards.

In his book «Astrology for Initiates and Tarot of the Bohemians», Papus mentioned there are multiple types of Tarot card decks, consisting of different amounts of sheets. Let us list some of them. For example, the Italian Tarot, or Mantegna Tarot card deck, consists of 50 sheets, Bologna Tarot card deck has 63 sheets, Venice Tarot card deck has 78 sheets, Florentine and Munich Tarot card decks have 97 sheets each, Hindi Tarot has 96 sheets, Chinese Tarot has 77 sheets, and the modern European Tarot card deck has 78 sheets.

The abovementioned examples demonstrate, that the amount of Tarot card sheets was not the same at all times and among different nations. Out of the abovementioned decks, Hindi Tarot deserves special attention, with its 96 sheets – the amount, which, apparently, reflects one of the main laws of the Universe. The Florentine and the Munich Tarot card decks comprise the amount of sheets, which is close to 96. The universal Tarot card deck that we propose is based on the 22 sheets of the Major Arcanum, and the 64 sheets of the Minor Arcanum, based on the classical Chinese Book of Changes, and in total it comprises 86 sheets.

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