Tarot Arcana: Justice and Strength

[Nau7ik]

I am starting this thread because I have discovered new information (for me at least, but I thought I’d share it) on the ordering of these two cards, Justice and Strength.

It’s said that Justice and Strength were switched around in the tarot deck, specifically the Rider-Waite deck. I assumed this was because of the oath of secrecy which one undertakes during his initiation in the mystery schools.
In the Ra Material, Justice is given as VIII and Strength as XI. In Ra’s system, this at least makes sense. The archetypal concepts of the body start the Matrix in Justice. This was the order that I recognized.

In Crowley’s Thoth deck he also has Justice (Lamed ל, Libra) and Strength (Teth ט, Leo) in the same order as Ra, VIII and XI. The only problem with Crowley’s ordering is that it is dependent upon another switching of the cards: the Hebrew letter attribution of Heh ה and Tzaddi צ, the Emperor and the Star. Now the philosophy of the mystical significance of Heh and Tzaddi denote their being in the proper positions on the Tree of Life, just as the Tree shows the proper order of Justice and Strength. Crowley got the idea to change the Hebrew attribution of The Emperor (Heh, Aries) and the Star (Tzaddi, Aquarius) when the entity Aiwass told him that, “all of the letters in my Book are aright, except for Tzaddi, the Star.” He further justifies the switch of Heh and Tzaddi by “the double loop of the zodiac”.

Now Aries and Aquarius are on each aide of Pisces, just as Leo and Libra are on each side of Virgo; that is to say, the correction in the Book of the Law gives a perfect symmetry in the zodiacal attribution, just as if a loop were formed at one end of the ellipse to correspond exactly with the existing loop at the other end.”

As I’ve said on this forum before, I believe the Book of the Law to be deceptive and Aiwass to be a negative entity. This discernment is further justified by the misinformation that was given to Crowley, and Crowley being such an important role model to occultists, many were/have been/are influenced by his teachings on the subject.

Back to the main subject, AE Waite was a member of the Golden Dawn. He, with Rider, created the Rider-Waite deck which we all know and love. In this deck, which has become the standard for Tarot, Justice is labeled XI and Strength VIII.
Eliphas Levi, a prominent medieval occultist, consciously deceived in his books on the Tarot. His attributions of the Hebrew letters are totally off, but the position of Justice and Strength are VIII and XI respectively.

On the Tree of Life, the Hebrew letters follow their natural sequence from the top to the bottom of the Tree on each of the 22 paths between the 10 Sephiroth. To maintain the natural sequence of Hebrew letters and the zodiac, Justice and Strength were switched in the Tarot. The order given by Rider-Waite fits beautifully on the Tree of Life. The Hebrew letters follow their natural sequence as does the zodiacal attributions. It’s only the ordering in the deck that was out of place, not the attributions on the Tree. So their positions on the Tree remain the same whatever number they’re labeled. Crowley “balances” the out-of-place order of Justice and Strength by switching not the order of the cards, the Emperor and the Star, but the attributions, which throws off the harmony of the Tree.

[Nau7ik]

I forgot to add that the order given by Ra is called the traditional order, which was used by Levi and Crowley. I’ve pointed out the problems with both Levi and Crowley in the initial post. The 22 archetypes were given by Ra to the ancient Egyptian initiates, and the images did not include astrological symbols; those were added later.

So, it depends on which system you’re using. If you’re studying them as taught be Ra, follow Justice as VIII and Strength as XI.

It doesn’t really matter which order theyre used in the tarot deck for divination because the concept of the card is what’s important, not its number in the scheme.

The traditional order was altered so as to accommodate the later attributions of the cards.

Both orders of the cards are valid when they’re used in the system in which they were conceived.

I started this thread because I was studying the Hebrew paths and ran into the problem of Strength and Justice, which I thought I already solved. This bothered me for a few days, which catalyzed my seeking and research into the inconsistencies.