Denver Tarot Geeks: The Tetragrammaton: Final Heh

This is the last of our four-session series on the Tetragrammaton (the ineffable four-letter name of God) as it relates to the Tree of Life and the court cards of the Tarot.

On the Tree, the fourth letter of the Tetragrammaton, Final Heh, is associated with the Sephirah Malkuth and also with the four Pages or Princessess of the Tarot. We will revisit this sphere, whose title means "Kingdom," and discuss how it applies to the Tarot Pages.

This will be a great opportunity to find new levels of meaning for the court cards! When the cards suggest that a "tall dark stranger" is entering the querent's life, you will be able to pull whole new levels of interpretation from your bag of tricks. Discover the spiritual side of the Tarot court!

Want a way to geek out? The Tetragrammaton is the ineffable four-letter name of God. It can be associated with the four worlds (Yod (fire) with Atziluth, Heh (water) with Briah, Vav (air) with Yetzirah, and Final Heh (earth) with Assiah--note how this differs from the Aristotelian attributions I usually assign, with fire at the top, then air, water and earth, the Artistotelian hierarchy being based on the perceived weight of the elements). The Tetragrammaton can also be related to the Tree of Life by associating Yod with Chokmah, Heh with Binah, Vav with Tiphareth and Final Heh with Malkuth. That's the symbolism we're working with to find our correspondences with the Tarot court. The father Yod/Chokmah and the mother Heh/Binah produce the Son/Sun Vav/Tiphareth who marries the daughter Final Heh/Malkuth and in turn the son and daughter become new parents of another kabbalistic world.

The Tetragrammaton is comprised of the Hebrew letters Yod, Heh, Vav, Heh, often transcribed by scholars as Yahweh or Jehovah. The Tetragrammaton is astoundingly rich in symbolism. YHVH is considered by some Talmudic scholars as having been derived from the Hebrew verb HVH הוה, "to be, to become." Alternately, some scholars argue that the name arises from the metatheses of its root letters: HYH היה: "He was"; HVH הוה: "He is"; and YHYH יהיה: "He will be." Very relevant to the process of manifestation symbolized by the Tree of Life! My Revolutionary Wheel Spread is derived in part from this symbolism. You can also find an interesting discussion of it on Wikipedia. Also, remember to check out Rafi's site, always a great source of kabbalistic and esoteric insight!

Sneak Preview: After our series on the Tetragrammaton and the court cards, we'll have a Tarot Fun-and-Games night. And you thought Bingo was only for old ladies in church basements! Of course, as a geek, I just might try to sneak in some educational aspect--kind of like hiding the cat's pill in a treat. Lots of fun and kabbalah too!

Then we will spend four sessions examining how the four suits of the Tarot relate to the four worlds of the Tree of Life. The suit of Wands relates to the element fire and Atziluth, the world of Emanation. The suit of Swords relates to air and Briah, Creation. Cups, water relates to Yetzirah, Formation. And Pentacles, earth relates to Assiah, Manifestation. Each meeting we will lay out the relevant suit, Ace through Ten, and examine it as it relates to the associated kabbalistic world!

After that, we will start our 22 session Fool's Journey of the Major Arcana as they relate to the paths of the Tree of Life!

Hope you can join us!

Joy