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Professional Tarot Readings and Tuition |
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Tarot and Numbers |
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The prominent 19th century occultist and Golden Dawn Member S. L. MacGregor Mathers wrote about the significance of numbers in an ordinary card deck in her essay The Tarot, published in 1888:
It has been long known that the ordinary 52 card pack was susceptible of some peculiar numerical significations, e.g.:
52 Cards in the pack, suggest 52 weeks in the year. 13 Cards in each suit, suggest 13 lunar months in the year, 13 weeks in the quarter. 4 suits in the pack, suggest 4 seasons in the year. 12 Picture Cards in the pack, suggest 12 months in the year, 12 signs of the Zodiac
Furthermore, if we add together:
The pips on the plain cards of the four suits = 220 The pips on the 12 Picture Cards = 12 Twelve Picture Cards reckoned as 10 each = 120 The number of cards in each suit = 13 We shall obtain the number of days in the year = 365
But concealed behind their apparently arbitrary and bizarre designs, the Tarot Cards contain a far more complicated system of recondite symbolism. We find the number ten multiplied by the mystical number four, and combined with a primitive hieroglyphic alphabet of twenty-two letters.
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Before we look at the deeper meanings of numbers in Tarot, it is worthwhile noting that the esoteric science of number, arithmology, was first developed by the Greek mathematician and philosopher Pythagoras (c. 570 495 B.C.).
In the centuries that followed, his teachings were passed on over generations in Europe and the middle East, mainly within secret societies, which were formed due to political unrest and upheaval. When occult groups such as the Freemasons, became interested in Tarot from the late 17th century onwards, it seems logical that arithmology would be gradually embedded into the Tarot.
Today, the meanings of numbers in Tarot are still based on the teachings of Pythagoras. However, you will find that changes have been made to the card sequences in various decks, which follow different traditions.
Get an overview of the significance of numbers:
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