I have posted these to give an idea of what the cards look like. Please note that the traditional numbering is on the left and the Tarot of Revelation numbering on the right. Below I have put the Biblical Book of Revelation references and added my own feelings about the images. For more information please see thebook.
Click here for information about the structure of the cards and here for more about the design of the cards.
John is alone in exile and suffering as he is aware that he is separated from God. He is meditating and seeking knowledge, yet still keeping the faith even after escaping to Patmos.
“I John, who also am your brother, and companion in tribulation, and in the kingdom and patience of Jesus Christ, was in the isle that is called Patmos, for the word of God, and for the testimony of Jesus Christ. Rev 1:9
John’s Oversoul appears in a vision as an aspect of his super -consciousness to show John (the Fool) that with his intellectual powers he can reach God and draw divine influence into the material world for others’ benefit. This is an interpretation of “as above so below”, from the Hermetic prophet Trismegistus, but also the 3rd line of the Lord’s Prayer in Matthew Ch.6. The Magician shows John how to raise his consciousness; the candles, double edged sword and stars are the four elements on the table in the traditional image, and what is presently a lemniscate, the loop above his head, was probably twisted from the halo to disguise it. The double-edge sword represents the ability to do either good or evil with the higher consciousness, Rev 1:12-16.
This is the superconsciousness surrounded by the 24 elders who represent the cranial nerves, which are responsible for our emotions, with the Christ consciousness as the Holy Lamb in front, Rev 4:2-6.
Is the “Strong Angel” holding the Book with the seven seals, which represents both the physical body and the hidden knowledge of how to raise one’s consciousness to achieve enlightenment. The angel also represents the path of initiation, Rev 5:2.
Christ consciousness dominates the wheel of life (which is also the Zodiac) with the animals of the four corners around it. The wheel is a reference to reincarnation, and the animals to the four elements, as well as the four Evangelists, and the brightest stars in the Zodiac, represented by the body of a bull (earth, Taurus, St Luke, Aldebaran), the head of a lion (fire, Leo, St Mark, Regulus), the face of a man (water, Aquarius, St Matthew, Fomalhaut), and the wings of an eagle (air, Scorpio, St John the Evangelist, Antares) Rev 5:6. These four images are given in the Books of Revelation and Daniel, and elsewhere in the Bible. The wheel is the millstone in Rev 18:21 and the one in the Book of Ezekiel 1:15-21. Instead of being in the corners the elements are in the cardinal directions: water - west, fire - south, air - east and earth - north.
card shows the four horsemen of the Apocalypse: conquering, war, famine and death, Rev 6:2-8 and Zechariah 6:2-8. Notice that the rider of the last horse, the pale horse, carries the scales of death like St Michael. In the Book of Revelation there is no reference to a chariot, but the chariot in modern Tarot decks may refer to Elijah’s chariot of fire
that took him into Heaven without passing through death (2 Kings 2:11).
The Moon represents the result of the seven angels opening the seven seals; wormwood, which is very bitter, poisons the water killing many people, just like drugs, alcohol and other poisons do today. Wormwood is also the name of the destroying star, conjectured by some to be the planet Nibiru Rev 8:10-12. The Black or Dark (side of the) Moon (Lilith) in astrology also refers to the shadow aspect of the persona. The two towers in the traditional image may be symbolic of the destruction caused - the only things left standing - with the wild dogs lamenting the ruination.
This is the angel with one foot on land and one on water (not in the water) holding the book with the seven seals open to symbolize the John’s evolved consciousness. Rev 10:1-2.
is the same image in the Book of Revelation as shown in many traditional sets; the pregnant woman with the moon at her feet, Rev 12:1-2. In this case she is the soul of mankind, the collective unconscious, giving birth to the conscious mind, which the Red Dragon wants to destroy with its base instincts.
The Devil card is the first of three beasts, which came from the air, the Red Dragon, with seven heads, ten horns and seven crowns, Rev 12:3-4. The incongruity of the numbers of heads, horns and crowns is due to their various symbolic meanings. As this beast came from the air it is historically depicted with wings, but this need not necessarily be so. Notice how Zoroastrian lunar forces are represented by a similar serpentine beast, and their solar forces by a leonine beast (Strength?).
This is the image of Archangel Michael, Rev 12:7, with a crown to differentiate him from the ranks of other angels, holding the sword with which he defeated the Red Dragon (see chapter on St Michael and the Dragon). In religious symbolism, St. Michael is shown in armour holding a set of scales for weighing the souls of the dead. Both motifs were included to identify him and emphasize his rank. The symbol of the scales and the sword is also used to represent law and law courts; except a blindfold has been added to the statue erected at law courts to indicate impartiality. The Greek phrase in the border is very similar to “An eye for an eye”, a form of Lex Talionis, the law of retaliation.
In the traditional Tarot, the Strength card stands in the middle of the deck between the Fool, uninitiated man, and the world, as represented by the divine androgyne (hermaphrodite); Strength thus links matter and spirit. In the Book of Revelation Strength is the second beast, with the body of a leopard, mouth of a lion, seven heads, ten horns, and the feet of a bear, that comes from the sea. Rev 13:1-2. The Empress gives birth to her child, conscious mind, who ascends to the protection of Heaven, and she is removed to a safe place with the aid of the wings of an eagle.
This is the third monster that comes out of the earth; one monster each has come from the air, sea and now the earth, Rev 13:11-16. This last monster, who is assumed to be human, has two horns like a Lamb and, like the Red Dragon, deceives mankind. The two horns may refer to the “Cornu” or horns that are hidden by a bishop’s mitre; originally this hat was worn sideways, but was turned around to its present position in the 14th century. Protestants often refer to the Pope as the antichrist, because believers turn their adoration toward the Pope and not God; however the word “antichrist” appears only three times in the Bible and not once in the Book of Revelation; the title “Pope” is nowhere in the Bible.
So the image of the Hierophant can be interpreted according to one’s beliefs; he is either the holy man giving the sign of the Lamb on the forehead of a believer, holding the bishop’s crozier, itself a symbol of the seven chakras, or else he is the antichrist deceiving believers and placing the mark of the beast on them, hiding his horns under his mitre. In many Tarot decks the Hierophant wears a Triple Byzantine Crown(Rev 19:12 for instance), an allusion to his initiation into the three levels of consciousness.
Cayce refers to the beast with double-mindedness, “‘for ye have followed rather as the beast of self-aggrandizement, self-indulgence, self glorification,’ even as the beast shown here.”
Cayce Reading #281-34
In the traditional Tarot, two monks prostrate themselves before the Hierophant, who has two keys. John also tries to prostrate himself twice to worship the Oversoul, but is told not to, Rev 19:10 and 22:8, but in the traditional Tarot the Hierophant gives a sign (the blessing or the mark) allowing the monks to prostrate themselves, suggesting he may be the antichrist. In Rev 1:17 John fell at the feet of the Oversoul a third time, but out of fear, rather than to worship him. In the Book of Revelation the two keys are the keys to death and hell, which appear in chapter one (Rev 1:18) when the Oversoul says “I am the keeper of the keys” and then again in chapter 20 (Rev 20:14) when the keys of death and hell are thrown into the lake of fire, indicating that the beast can never be freed.
This symbol is exactly the same as in the traditional Tarot; it represents the fall of Babylon, the capitulation of carnal desires, Rev 14:8. But instead of being struck by lightning and separating State and Church (the crown on the church tower), Babylon is levelled by an earthquake.
This card shows the origin of the concept of a scythe being used to kill people in the Death card, with the vine representing mankind. Rev 14:14-15.
In traditional Tarot cards the Hermit shows Diogenes, who went out with a lamp in daytime to look for an honest man, but in the Tarot of Revelation the card only depicts an empty monastery filled with smoke, Rev 15:8. As nearly all the traditional cards have people in them, a hermit was probably added to balance the set or to cloud the issue – a smoke screen to hide the real purpose of the cards from the Inquisition. The empty church represents the temple of the body where, as Cayce says, “the Lord has promised to meet those that are faithful and true.” The smoke is the spirit of God and the temple in this image is the existing Monastery of St John in Patmos.
This card shows the Marriage of the Lamb, when man’s consciousness is joined to the Christ consciousness, Rev 19:7-8, here the meaning is very different from the generally accepted meaning, which is one of relationships and conflicting choices.
The image of the sun given in Rev 19:17-18, is a symbol of nature and mankind’s physical world. Note that in esoteric thought, the Midnight Sun is a symbol of Christ.
Again we see the same images as found in regular Tarot decks, with the exception of the angel with the chain and the key to the bottomless pit, to where the Red Dragon has been banished, Rev 20:4-5. In the traditional Tarot the image is of people leaving graves with an angel emerging from the clouds holding a trumpet (rather than seven angels) and calling the faithful to heaven. It also signifies the second resurrection; the first was of those that did not fear death and the second of those who achieve the Christ Consciousness for whom there is no death.
This card is similar to that of some Tarot decks (for example the Tarocchi Durer di Giacinto Gaudenzi ) and represents the state of new consciousness that descends upon earth, in the form of the New Jerusalem as seen in the Durer Tarot where the bride is holding the city in clouds in her arms, Rev 21:10.
The Hanged Man, Rev 22:2, is often replaced by a card called “Prudence” with an image of Sophia with a snake (wisdom) or a dragon (evil) at her feet. The snake is Lucifer, bringer of wisdom. I believe the Hanged Man could be a play on words, alluding to mankind’s separation from the source of love, like the two triangles in the ARI Tree of Life that hang downwards, indicating that man is “left hanging”, separated from a knowledge of God. The Tree of Life is the important symbol contained in the Hanged Man card, and the introduction of a real man and addition of the story of Odin are all obfuscations. The Tree of Life represents man’s separation from God with the introduction of Da’ath, but in the Hanged Man card mankind’s evolution has reconnected him to God, represented by the GRA pattern, and at last man is free of the limiting curse given in Genesis. The four higher chakra are overlaid on the central sephiroth, together with the golden fruit representing both En-Sof and the Greek myth. N.B. In mediaeval esotericism the fact that the word “apple” in Latin, “malus”, also means “evil”, was of great significance. N.b. the Fallen apple.
The solitary star is the Morning Star,another name for the Christ consciousness, which shines across the world, Rev 22:16. All is peace. The Morning Star is also known as Lucifer, Venus (morning) and Hesperus (evening).
is a director of the Edgar Cayce Centre in Japan; as well as completing a Master’s degree in Transpersonal Studies from Atlantic University, founded by Edgar Cayce, he is also a Tarot Master. He works in the pharmaceutical industry, has a degree from London University in Japanese and Chinese, a Ph.D. in Neuro-science and has lived more than 25 years in Japan. He is also the author of four other books including "Letters from an English Public School".
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