The Tarot originally is a set of trump cards of a card game but these trump cards developed into a fortune telling card reading method akin to the I Ching. The origin of the Tarot is unknown but it is generally believed that the first deck of Tarot cards originated from northern Italy in the 15th century. Twenty two trump cards were added to the original four suit deck of cards. Today the Tarot cards are mainly used for divination; this custom started after the Frenchman Antoine Court de Gébelin in 1791 wrote a book about the Tarot and first introduced a method of divination called a reading. Gébelin in his book asserted that the Tarot had its roots in ancient Egypt and that it preserved the wisdom and mysteries of Thoth and Isis. The 22 trump cards are part of what is called the Major Arcana of the Tarot and are supposedly relating to the higher purposes of life. The information of these cards is encoded in terms of astrology and numerology. The Minor Arcana consists of the cards that relate to daily live issues. Arcana means secrets, so the Major Arcana is related to the bigger secrets of life and we will reveal that the biggest secret of the Tarot is that it keeps the secret of the Great Celestial Conjunction that would occur at the End of Times on what Christianity calls Judgement Day.
The Great Celestial Conjunction is the merger of the zodiac cross or Earth Cross (equinox and solstice axis) with a fixed cross called the Galactic Cross. The Galactic Cross is the cross formed by the intersection of the ecliptic and Milky Way and its perpendicular axis. When this cross is projected onto the zodiac where the Galactic Cross (four pointed cross) is placed on top of the Earth Cross (four pointed cross), an 8 pointed cross is created,. The Earth Cross revolves around in a 26000 year cycle called the precession cycle, the Galactic Cross is fixed. Only four times during the precession cycle do the two crosses overlap, these moments are called the Great Celestial Conjunctions ( (Sergey Smelyakov, Wicherink) ) and coincide with the four Galactic Alignments (John Marjor Jenkins) when the Sun aligns with the Milky Way on equinoxes or solstices. In our present time another Great Celestial Conjunction occurs after roughly 6500 year in between the years 1978-2017. This event coincides with the Maya Calender ending on the winter solstice of 2012. In this article we will demonstrate how the knowledge of the Great Celestial Conjunction is encoded in the Tarot.
The Great Celestial Conjunction occurs when the two crosses merge. This happens again during the years 1987-2017 after 6500 years.
Freemasonry origins
Wether or not the Tarot stems from Egypt can not be substantiated but the fact is that Tarot is shrouded in mysticism and magic and has links to freemasonry. This may explain why the Egyptian occult knowledge of the Great Celestial Conjunctions has ended up in the Major Arcana of the Tarot. It was the French occultist Jean-Baptiste Alliette (nicknamed Etteilla) who designed the first esoteric deck and added astrological attributes and Egyptian motifs to the cards. Aleister Crowley the nineteeth centry occultist designed the Thoth deck and his cards are believed to contain also highly esoteric concepts that were known in the inner circles of secret societies. The esoteric attributes of the cards were further developed by Eliphas Lévi who revised Etteilla’s deck and devised a Tarot system based on the Kabbalah and Alchemy. Around 1910 the Tarot became increasingly popular by the publication of the Rider-Waite-Smith Tarot, a system still in vogue in the english speaking countries. Symbolic images were now related to the numbers of the cards and we will demonstrate how both the images and numbers of the cards play an important role in the deciphering of the esoteric knowledge hidden in these cards.
It’s the Rider-Wait-Smith Tarot system that we will use and investigate for it conceils knowledge of the Great Celestial Conjunctions. We’re not surprised to find this information in this deck since Arthur Edward Waite one of the designers of the deck was a freemason and member of the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn. The founders of this magical order of the late 19th and early 20th century were Rosecrucians. I believe that the Rosecrucians like the Knights Templar were initiated into the secrets of Solomon’s temple and its association with the Great Celestial Conjunctions. The Rose Cross in fact is an eight pointed cross, a symbol of the Great Celestial Conjunction.
Rose Cross of the Rosecrucians, two four pointed crosses (INRI cross) and coloured Cavelry Cross superimposed. In the center we find another 8 pointed cross.
The importance of both the four and eight pointed crosses in the Tarot is further demonstrated by the fact that the most popular spread of the cards is called the Celtic Cross spread whereas a four pointed cross is formed by spreading the cards in a cross formation at the start of a reading. Also the Ankh spread exists.
The Egyptian sacred symbols of the Ankh, Djed pillar and the eight pointed cross can be associated with the Great Celestial Conjunctions, whereas the Ankh represents the Sun on the ecliptic-Milky Way crossing, the Djed pillar the Milky Way and the 8 pointed cross of course is the prime symbol of this conjunction.
Ankh, Djed pilar and 8 pointed cross together in one artefact. National Museum of Antiquities, Leiden the Netherlands.
I believe that the Tarot encodes the big secret of the cycles of mankind’s spiritual development that coincide and are synchronized with the Great Celestial Conjunctions. These Great Celestial Conjunctions define the four World Ages of a Great Year and trigger the start of these four Ages. In the current World Age mankind is steeped into materialism and has lost his original spiritual connection to his Devine source that he once had at the time of the Golden Age. The biblical story of the fall from paradise relates to the decline of spiritual consciousness akin to the transition from the Golden Age into the Iron Age in the Hindu philosophy system. According to the Hindu the spiritual evolution of mankind has transitioned from the Satya Yuga (Golden Age) through the Tetra Yuga (Silver Age) and Dvapara Yuga (Bronze Age) into the Kali Yuga (Iron Age) where we are at present.
The Tarot cards
In the Kali Yuga man has lost his spiritual connection and he knows only his limited perception of his physical reality that he regards as the only existing reality. The first card of the Tarot is card number 0 and is called the Fool. The Fool represents the current poor mental state of man in the Kali Yuga in a patriarchal dominated world whereas the masculine energies and left brain mentality seeks control and domination over the material riches. He’s looking upwards towards the sky while he’s totally unaware of the fact that he’ approaching the abyss. It clearly represents mankind’s current state of affairs where we are capable of destroying ourselves.
Notice first of all below that the Fool in the Raider Waite deck is wearing a robe adorned with 8 pointed crosses (although not clearly visible). In the last card, card number XXI (21) of the Major Arcana we see a woman depicted naked. She represents the spiritual awakening and return to female wisdom after the current Great Celestial Conjunction when the spiritual decline of mankind is believed to make an upturn towards the Golden Age again. More on this card later.
Card 0, the Fool, Raider Waite deck
The most important card of the Raider Waite deck is card number X (ten). Not only is it the central card of the Major Arcana, the Roman numeral X represents a four pointed cross. The four pointed cross of the number X represents the current Great Celestial Conjunction when the 8 pointed cross of Galactic Cross and Earth Cross align again.
Card X, the Wheel of Fortune, Raider Waite deck
Notice that the central disk called the wheel of fortune consists of two different four pointed crosses that are superimposed. The cross with the letters TORA most likely represents the Galactic Cross. The letters TORA refer to the Old Testament or the Jewish Torah where the Galactic Cross by means of the four cherubim is mentioned in for instance Ezekiel 1:10 and Revelation 4:7.
Ezekiel 1:10 As for the likeness of their faces, they four had the face of a man, and the face of a lion, on the right side: and they four had the face of an ox on the left side; they four also had the face of an eagle.
Revelation 4:7 And the first beast was like a lion, and the second beast like a calf, and the third beast had a face as a man, and the fourth beast was like a flying eagle.
The four Cherubim are depicted in the corners of the card. In the upper left corner the cherubim with the face of a man corresponds with Aquarius. In the upper right corner the eagle corresponds with Scorpio. In the lower left corner the bull represents Taurus and the lion in the lower right corner represents Leo.
The snake and dragon around the wheel of fortune represent the ecliptic; notice how the dragon is spinning the wheel. The four cherubim are reading the bible wherein they were described having wings like in Revelation 4:8.
Revelation 4:8 And the four beasts had each of them six wings about him; and they were full of eyes within: and they rest not day and night, saying, Holy, holy, holy, LORD God Almighty, which was, and is, and is to come.
The cherubim are placed in clouds representing the fluffy white cloud at night in the sky, the Milky Way because these four signs of the zodiac that correspond with the cherubim are the constellations that helically rise before the constellations that constitute the Galactic Cross, 5° Gemini, 5° Pisces, 5° Sagittarius and 5° Virgo in the sidereal zodiac. The signs must be associated with the crossing places of the ecliptic and Milky Way.
The reverse cross symbolism of the 8 pointed or double XX cross and single four pointed is used in card number XX (twenty). Card X and XX both express the Great Galactic Conjunction by means of the numerology of the cards in relation with the depictions on these cards, the X and XX are references to the four and eight pointed crosses. Card XX is labelled ‘Judgement Day’
Card XX, Judgement Day, Raider Waite deck
Card number XX is the card of the two four pointed crosses (XX) and displays mankind at the End of Times when the seven angels blow their trumpets after the seventh seal has been opened as mentioned in Revelation 8. Notice the trumpet has a flag with a single four pointed cross. At the ‘End of Times’, the time of the current Great Celestial Conjunction the double crosses XX (card number) become one and transform into the single X cross of the flag. The cross on the flag is the cross of St George; it’s the flag and cross symbol of the Knights Templars; this of course can not be attributed to mere coincidence. It reveals the source of esoteric knowledge since the designers of the Raider Wait Tarot cards were Rosicrucians (freemasons) who were affiliated with the Knights Templar. The source of the knowledge about the Great Celestial Conjunction that would occur at the End of Times can therefore be traced back to the Knights Templar who discovered this big ancient secret on their crusades to Jerusalem where they recovered the ancient mysteries and sacred knowledge in the temple of Solomon.
The final card is card XXI (twenty one) and as we have mentioned above symbolizes the awakening of mankind at the Great Celestial Conjunction. The card is numbered 21 because the Great Celestial Conjunction occurs at the crossover of the twentieth and twenty first century (1978-2017). The four cherubim appear again in the corners of the card. The naked female is placed inside a green laurel signifying the victory of the Fool over his own ignorance. He’s regained full consciousness and his connection to the Devine. The laurel also represents the ecliptic; in other Tarot decks the laurel was replaced by a crowed Ouroborous (a snake biting its own tail) that in ancient mythology represents the ecliptic. The red twisted veils represent the two opposite crossings of the ecliptic and Milky Way. These are the places where the Sun resides at the equinoxes and or solstices on a Great Celestial Conjunction.
Card XXI, the World, Raider Waite deck
Card number II is also very interesting and relates to Great Celestial Conjunctions as well. The card depicts Isis in the temple of Solomon wearing the solar disk in between the bull horns. The bull horns and solar disk of Isis must be associated with crossing of the ecliptic and Milky Way at the Gemini-Taurus nexus. Isis who was wearing the solar disk in between the bull horns represents the Sun on the ecliptic-Milky Way crossing near the Gemini-Taurus nexus. The Sun resides here in between the ‘horns of Taurus’ and this is the place where the Sun resides at the current Great Celestial Conjunction at the summer solstice in era 2012.
Isis with the bull horns and solar disk represents the Sun on the crossing of the ecliptic and Milky Way crossing at the summer solstice of era-2012
The number II of the card most likely is referencing the constellation of the two twins Gemini. The exact place of the ecliptic and Milky Way crossing at the Gemini-Taurus nexus is in Gemini! Notice she is wearing a four pointed cross on her chest (not a Calvary Cross!) representing both the ecliptic Milky Way crossing and the Great Celestial Conjunction. On her lap Isis has a scroll with the text TORA revealing the relation of this depiction with the Old Testament or the Jewish Torah.
Card II, the High Priestess, Raider Waite deck
Isis is seated in between the two pillars in the temple of Solomon. The pillars are described in Kings 7:21-22. The right pillar is called Jachin, the left pillar is called Boaz.
Kings 7:21 And he set up the pillars in the porch of the temple: and he set up the right pillar, and called the name thereof Jachin: and he set up the left pillar, and called the name thereof Boaz. 22 And upon the top of the pillars was lily work: so was the work of the pillars finished.
The pillars represent the Milky Way. The white and black colours of the pillars represent opposites, the two opposite sides on the Milky Way where the ecliptic and Milky Way cross. The dark pillar can be associated with the Dark Rift (hence the dark colour) near the Sagittarius-Scorpio nexus while the white pillar can be associated with the Gemini-Taurus nexus. The pomegranates that appear in a ‘network’ behind Isis are mentioned in Kings 7:18
Kings 7:18 And he made the pillars, and two rows round about upon the one network, to cover the chapiters that were upon the top, with pomegranates: and so did he for the other chapiter.
Notice there are 7 pomegranates in the net (net-work) or curtain behind Isis. They may be symbolizing the seven stars of the Pleiades near the ecliptic-Milky Way crossing at the Gemini-Taurus nexus that we associated earlier with Isis-Hathor seated in front of the net.
While card II represents the crossing of the ecliptic and Milky Way near the Gemini-Taurus nexus, card XVIII (eighteen) represents the crossing of the ecliptic and Milky Way near the Sagittarius-Scorpio nexus. Both cards II and XVIII represent the two crossing places of ecliptic and Milky May and it may be no coincidence that the sum of card II (2) and XVIII (18) equals XX (20). The double X crosses of card 20 (Judgement Day) represents both the two crossing places of ecliptic and Milky Way and the double four pointed cross of the Great Celestial Conjunction.
Card XVIII, the Moon
Card XVIII is titled ‘The Moon’ and it shows us a moon depicted inside the Sun. This card is hinting at a solar eclipse when the moon shifts in front of the Sun, but it’s not really the conjunction of the Sun and moon that is intended here. The solar eclipse is merely a metaphor for a far more important conjunction, the conjunction of the Sun and the Milky Way. Notice that there are two pillars depicted in the card. Like the pillars in card II they stand for the Milky Way. In ancient mythologies, mountains, rivers, clouds and pillars were used as metaphors for the Milky Way.
Notice there is a crab or scorpion on the river bank. The river represents the great river in the sky, the Milky Way while the scorpion represents the constellation Scorpio. The road leading to the mountains in the distance is the ecliptic that is heading towards the Milky Way (mountains). The ecliptic is the Sun’s path or ‘road’ along the sky and the Sun is depicted straight above the road in the card. The road also leads to the river and ‘crosses’ the river at the exact place of the scorpion and is suggesting the ecliptic (road) and the Milky Way (river) crossing at the Sagittarius-Scorpio nexus (the scorpion).
The two ‘howling animals at the moon’ represent the constellations Lupus (constellation of the wolf) and Vulpecula (constellation of the fox). Both constellations reside along the Milky Way at opposite sites of the ecliptic. This explains why the howling wolf and fox were placed on opposite sides of the road (ecliptic) along the river bank (Milky Way) in card XVIII.
Constellations Lupus (wolf) and Vulpecular (fox) on opposite sides of the ecliptic along the Milky Way at the Sagittarius-Scorpio nexus.
The wolf and fox both stare at the Sun which resides in between them above the road (ecliptic) at the crossing of the road and the river. It seems that snowflakes are falling from the sky on the blue-white capped mountains in the background. It may be an indication that we are dealing with the winter solstice Sun. This card at least represents the Sun on ecliptic Milky Way crossing on the Sagittarius-Scorpio nexus. If the Sun really represents the winter solstice Sun, which is uncertain at this point, the card could even denote the winter solstice Galactic Alignment of era-2012.
Although some of the other cards contain elements that could be interpreted in terms of the Great Celestial Conjunction that the Major Arcana encodes, cards 0, II, X, XVIII, XX and XXI are the most profound cards when it comes to encoding esoteric knowledge about the Great Celestial Conjunction. We would like to point out one last card that reveals some interesting secrets about the End of Times and Second Coming of Christ.
Card XII (12) is the card of the Hanged Man.
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Card XII, The Hanged Man, Raider Waite deck
The first association with the number 12 that comes to mind, given the fact that the Major Arcana contains astrological information, is of course the number of signs of the zodiac. I believe that in card XII the Sacred Tree is depicted, the crossing of the ecliptic and Milky Way. The hanged man hanging upside down from the tree has a halo around his head implying we’re dealing with a saint. The light radiated by the man’s head resembles the rays of the Sun and the man’s head may therefore also represent the Sun. This Sun is placed on the Sacred Tree in other words it’s the Sun on the ecliptic-Milky Way crossing. The odd posture of the right leg suggests a cross as well, because both his legs are at right angles in this odd posture. The symbology of the card seems to speak of the Sun on the Sacred Tree or the Galactic Cross.
A very interesting version of this Tarot card appears in the Thoth Tarot deck designed by Aleister Crowley. Crowley is giving away much more esoteric clues about the meaning of the Hanged Man in the Tarot.
Card XII Hanged Man, Thoth deck
Notice that in Aleister Crowley’s version of the hanged man, the man in question is not only hanged but crucified as well! This is a clear reference to Jesus Christ who was crucified on the cross. The Ankh symbol on top of course is a reference to the the Sun on the Milky Way and the snake at bottom a reference to the ecliptic. What I believe Crowley is encoding here is the Great Celestial Conjunction when the Egyptian Sun of God Horus dies on the cross (cycle ending) at the winter solstice of era-2012 to be reborn and resurrect on the same cross when the new precession cycle commences at the current Great Celestial Conjunction era-2012.
Aleister Crowley is revealing that the Christian belief of the Second Coming of the historical figure Jesus Christ at the End of Times is identical to the dead and rebirth of the Sun at the Great Celestial Conjunction. The life of Christ closely parallels the life of the Egyptian mythical figure Horus. Also Horus was born from a virgin mother named Isis. He was born on the 25th of December, four days after the winter solstice when the sun was reborn in the annual cycle and started to rise again in the sky. On the winter solstice of era-2012 the Sun is not only reborn in the annual cycle but also in the larger precession cycle since it signals the start of the next precession cycle!
I believe that what Crowley may have wanted to express with this card is that the return of Christ at the End of Times and the current Great Celestial Conjunction are in fact one and the same events.
