Early Occult Tarots: Images and/or Descriptions
 
TAROT OF JOHN DEQUER
 
 
The Tarot cards shown here were published in 1949 as a deck entitled 
 
The Major Arcana
 of the
 Sacred Egyptian Tarot
 Edited by Dr. John H. Dequer
Copyright 1949 by DEQUER INSTITUTE
   
The cards measure about 140 x 70 mm (exact size varies within a millimeter ot two). They are square-angled, black-and white. There is a 23d card bearing the title and copyright notice as above. On the backs of all 22 cards are printed their meanings (see a sample here).

The same year these cards were also published as illustrations to the book by George Fathman (misspelled as Fatham in the Kessinger reprint), The Royal Road, A Study in the Egyptian Tarot, Key to Sacred Numbers and Symbols. On the page iv Fathman has this to say about the Tarot and Dr. Dequer: 
  

    [...] I gratefully acknowledge the invaluable help I received from studying the works of many sincere students of the Tarot, among them Homer and Augusta Curtis, C. C. Zain, P. D. Ouspensky, Paul Case, Manly Hall, Dr. Papus, Oswald Wirth, A. E. Waite and MacGregor Mathers. 

    My greatest debt I owe to the late Dr. John H. Dequer, under whom I had the privilege of studying personally for six years. I consider Dr. Dequer the most learned and profound of all modern Tarot scholars. To his revered memory I dedicate this work. 

    [...] 

    Special thanks are due to Paul Hagerup, the artist who drew the pictures of the 22 Arcana from original sketches edited by Dr. Dequer; and to Pedro Krause, who inked them in and did the lettering. This was a labor of love, without which these excellent drawings could not have been acquired, as their cost would have been prohibitive. 
     

John H. Dequer has published a book as early as in 1930, Arrows of Light from the Egyptian Tarot. Heavily C.C.Zain-influenced and dedicated mostly to divination by names and letters, this book neither illustrates Major Arcana nor describes their images. (Though it lists A LOT of Arcana correspondences in many occult spheres.) Below I present the titles of the Arcana and SOME of their meanings from the book, Arrows of Light. (You will see that the titles in Dequer's 1930 book and in his 1949 deck differ in several instances.) Descriptions of the images are taken from the book by George Fathman, The Royal Road. (You will see that Fathman follows the 1949 titles, though in his book he puts the 0-22 card on the first place, while in Dequer's book Arcanum No 22 is described after Arcanum No 21.)

Cards reproduced in Fathman's book are the same as the original deck, but very poorly redrawn and lacking many details. As a matter of fact, Fatham sometimes describes details (such as the word MU in Arcanum 4) impossible to discern on his illustrations. On the other hand, in Dequer's book NONE of these details are even ever mentioned (though a lot of them does come from the writings of Dequer's own teacher, C. C. Zain). One can assume that Fathman's descriptions are perhaps the fruit of the six years personal study with John Dequer. 

It is interesting to compare this Tarot design with the "Saint-Germain" Tarot and with The Brotherhood of Light Egyptian Tarot cards by C.C. Zain.
  

Feedback, criticism, new material welcome -- please write to me.

 
Arrows of Light: 


The Magus 


Kabballistically expresses INTELLIGENCE 


Astrologically expresses THOUGHT 


The Royal Road: 


ARCANUM 1  


The Prodigal 


ARCANUM 1 pictures a man dressed in a white robe. A golden band encircles his head. In his right hand he holds a golden wand, directed toward a four-pointed star. From the star stream three rays toward heaven. With his left hand the man points toward earth. From the leathern girdle around his waist hangs a triangular apron with six folds tapering downward. A quadrangle weights it down. Before him lies a cube, upon which are a cup, a gold coin and a sword. An Ibis amidst rays of light, plus a border of black and white squares, adorns the front side of the cube. 
 

Arrows of Light: 


The Veiled Isis 


Kabballistically expresses SCIENCE 


Astrologically expresses ANALYSIS 


The Royal Road: 


ARCANUM 2  

The Virgin 


ARCANUM 2 pictures a woman seated on a cube between two pillars. She wears a triple crown, surmounted by a receptive moon, over which shine seven stars. She also wears a veil suspended from her crown. The glyph of the planet Mercury adorns her solar plexus. On her lap she holds a book, partly covered by a mantle falling from her right shoulder.

Arrows of Light: 


Isis Unveiled 


Kabballistically expresses ACTION 


Astrologically expresses UNION 


The Royal Road: 


ARCANUM 3 The Queen 


ARCANUM 3 pictures a pregnant woman seated on a cube, the one visible side of which is ornamented with five eyes and a serpent across the bottom. In her right hand she holds a golden wand, and in her left a hawk, or eagle. The solar disk silhouettes her body as she rests her feet upon a recumbent moon. From the disk radiate thirty shafts, each shaft ending in a silver marriage bell. Immediately above her head, within the solar disk, shine twelve stars; at the top of the card blaze three more.

Arrows of Light: 


The Sovereign 


Kabballistically expresses REALIZATION 


Astrologically expresses PHYSICAL DESIRE 


The Royal Road: 


ARCANUM 4  


The Prince 


ARCANUM 4 pictures a man sitting cross-legged on a cube, with a cat crouching on the front side. He wears an iron casque on his head, above which shine fourteen stars. In his right hand he holds a wand, pointing it toward heaven; with his left hand he points toward earth. A hawk, or eagle, covers his solar plexus. From the leathern girdle around his waist hangs a triangular apron, with two ruffles on each side. A rectangle inscribed with the word MU weights down this apron. 
 

Arrows of Light: 


The Hierophant 


Kabballistically expresses RELIGION and LAW 


Astrologically expresses EXPANSION, BENEVOLENCE, JOVIALITY 


The Royal Road: 


ARCANUM 5  


The High Priest 


ARCANUM 5 pictures a man seated on a cube between two pillars. On his head he wears a miter, with the emblem of the Pentagram on its front. Above the miter rises a winged globe. With his right hand on a level with his chest he makes the sign of the Pentagram. With his left hand he holds a triple tau rod. A triangular apron, weighted down with a rectangle, hangs from a leathern girdle around his waist. Two human figures kneel at his feet, with outstretched arms.

Arrows of Light: 


The Two Paths 


Kabballistically expresses TEMPTATION 


Astrologically expresses LOVE and AFFECTION 


The Royal Road: 


ARCANUM 6  


The Two Paths 


ARCANUM 4 pictures a man standing at the crossroads, with arms folded across his chest. He wears a triangular apron, with one raffle on each side, weighted down with a rectangle. A completely dressed woman with one hand on his right shoulder, points down the right-hand path. She wears a circlet of gold on her head. A scantily clad woman, with one hand on his left shoulder, points down the left-hand path. She has on her head a wreath made of vines. In an aureole of light above the man appears a genie with a cat's face, crowned with a flame. In the midst of twelve flame-crowned rays (only six of which show in our card) the genie aims an arrow at the woman on the man's left.

Arrows of Light: 


The Conqueror 


Kabballistically expresses VICTORY 


Astrologically expresses COMPREHENSION 


The Royal Road: 


ARCANUM 7  


The Conqueror 


ARCANUM 7 pictures a man standing in a cube-shaped chariot, drawn by two sphinxes, one black and one white. A winged globe adorns the front of the car. Four columns support a canopy, which is decorated with fourteen stars. In his right hand the man holds a sword, and in his left a scepter, surmounted by a square, a circle and a triangle. He wears a cuirass, on the front of which the letter T arises to meet the obstacles of two trying-squares. On bis head is a coronet, surmounted by three golden pentagrams. 
 

Arrows of Light: 


Blind Justice 


Kabballistically expresses HUMAN JUSTICE, EQUILIBRIUM 


Astrologically expresses UTILITY, SELF-INTEREST, and strangely contradictory as it may seem -- IDEALISM 


The Royal Road: 
 
ARCANUM 8  


Blind Justice 

ARCANUM 8 pictures a woman seated on a throne that rests on a four-tiered dais. She wears a blindfold and a headdress composed of four lances. In her left hand she holds a pair of balances and with her right she brandishes a sword. By her side stand a sphinx, a lion and a winged genie. Above her head rises a winged turtle and a canopy inscribed with a cross. Opposite the canopy shine eight stars. 
 

 
Arrows of Light: 


[No name given in the appropriate place] 


Kabballistically expresses WISDOM and PRUDENCE 


Astrologically expresses KNOWLEDGE of HUMAN NATURE 


The Royal Road: 
 
ARCANUM 9  


The Sage 


ARCANUM 9 pictures a man walking uphill. The path is strewn with golden coins. Cactus grows along either side. The man wears a helmet on his head, and leans on a staff as he walks. With a blanket falling from his left shoulder he shields a lighted lamp held in his left hand. He gazes steadily at the vision of a castle he sees in the sun. 
 

 
Arrows of Light: 


The Wheel 


Kabballistically expresses CHANGE of FORTUNE 


Astrologically expresses SUDDENNESS, ECCENTRICITY 


The Royal Road: 
 
ARCANUM 10  


Wheel of Fate 


ARCANUM 10 pictures a wheel with eight snake-infested spokes, and two genie, called Hermanubis and Typhon. Two columns support the wheel, only one of which shows. A sphinx balances itself on a circular platform poised on top. In its right hand it holds an arrow. Two serpents rear their heads at the base of the two columns. Below the black bar a winged globe rises in flight. 
 

 
Arrows of Light: 


The Enchantress 


Kabballistically expresses THE PRINCIPLE OF FORCE 


Astrologically expresses IDEALISM and VAGUENESS 


The Royal Road: 
 
ARCANUM 11  


The Enchantress 


ARCANUM 11 pictures a chastely dressed young girl. With little effort she closes the mouth of a raging lion. She wears a crown surmounted by a vase and an eagle. A line of trees decorates the bottom of the card below the heavy black line. 
 

 
Arrows of Light: 


The Martyr 


Kabballistically expresses SACRIFICE and EXPIATION 


Astrologically expresses BELIEF and SELF-UNDOING 


The Royal Road: 


ARCANUM 12 


The Martyr 


ARCANUM 12 pictures a man hung by his left foot from a cross bar supported by two trees. Each tree shows the stubs of six cut branches. Above the cross bar shine twelve stars. The man's right leg crosses his left, depicting the numeral 4. His hands, tied with a leathern thong, make the shape of a diamond over his head. Golden coins slip from his fingers. At the bottom of the card two fish swim in the sea.

 
Arrows of Light: 


The Reaper 


Kabballistically expresses TRANSFORMATION 


Astrologically expresses CONSCIOUSNESS 


The Royal Road: 
  
ARCANUM 13 

The Reaper 


ARCANUM 13 pictures a skeleton reaping heads, hands and feet with a scythe. On the scythe appear the emblems of a serpent and a scarab. Behind the skeleton's knees shines a rainbow. Below the black bar rises a mountain range.

 
Arrows of Light: 


The Alchemist 


Kabballistically expresses TEMPERANCE and REGENERATION 


Astrologically expresses POSSESSION and ACCUMULATION 


The Royal Road: 


ARCANUM 14  


The Alchemist 

ARCANUM 14 pictures a flame-crowned genie. He wears a shawl draped over his left shoulder. On his feet is a small pair of wings, with a larger pair on his shoulders. He pours a fluid from a silver to a golden urn. Behind his head shines the sun, adorned with ten rays, only seven of which show. Trees grow beneath the black bar. 
 

 
Arrows of Light: 


The Black Magician 


Kabballistically expresses FATALITY, EVIL, BLACK MAGIC, ANNIHILATION  


Astrologically expresses CRYSTALLIZATION, OSSIFICATION, OLD AGE, STAGNATION AND DEATH 


The Royal Road: 

ARCANUM 15  


The Devil 


ARCANUM 15 pictures a flame-crowned genie, who inhabits the body of a hog with the wings of a bat, the feet of a goat, a snake for a navel cord, and a crocodile's head with a horn on the snout. In his left hand the genie holds a flaming torch; in his right a scepter somewhat resembling the emblem of the planet Pluto. He towers over the smoking embers of a ruined temple, before which kneel two goat-headed figures tied together by their necks with a chain. Below the black bar a strong wind blows across the land, uprooting all vegetation.

 
Arrows of Light: 


The Lightning 


Kabballistically expresses ACCIDENT, CATASTROPHE 


Astrologically expresses DYNAMIC FORCE  


The Royal Road: 


ARCANUM 16  

The Ruined Tower 

ARCANUM 16 pictures a pyramid, with a bolt of lightning blasting off its capstone. The bolt also topples two figures, one crowned, the other uncrowned, from a seven-staged platform in front of the pyramid. Beneath the black bar a raging fire burns fiercely. 
 

 
Arrows of Light: 


The Star 


Kabballistically expresses TRUTH, FAITH, HOPE  


Astrologically expresses THOUGHT on the EXTERIOR PLANE  


The Royal Road: 

ARCANUM 17  

The Naked Truth 

ARCANUM 17 pictures a nude young girl kneeling, her right foot resting on land, and her right knee and left foot on the sea. From the silver urn she holds in her left hand, and from the golden urn in her right, she pours the elixir of life. To her right grows a three-blossomed plant, with six leaves on the stalk. A butterfly ascends from the topmost blossom. In the center of an eight-pointed blazing star above the young girl's head appears a double triangle, the top half white, the bottom black. Fourteen smaller stars surround the large one. Clouds and tree tops show beneath the black bar. 
 

 
Arrows of Light: 


The Moon 


Kabballistically expresses SECRET ENEMIES, DECEPTION, FALSE FRIENDS 


Astrologically expresses FEELING and TOUCHINESS 


The Royal Road: 

ARCANUM 18  

Illusion 

ARCANUM 18 pictures two pyramids, one white, one black. An entrance door appears in the white pyramid. Clouds obscure the moon, and a fog casts a haze over the scene. A white dog howls at the moon, a black one listens. A scorpion crawls in a circle of light. Below the black bar a small boat sails on a stormy sea.

 
Arrows of Light: 


The Sun 


Kabballistically expresses HAPPINESS and JOY, CONJUGALITY 


Astrologically expresses WILL TO POWER, PLEASURE, and CHILDREN  


The Royal Road: 

ARCANUM 19  

The Reunion 

ARCANUM 19 pictures a young man and a young woman with joined hands dancing in a circle of twenty flowers. From her left hand the woman scatters seed. On her neck she wears an Ankh, or Egyptian cross. The man grasps a flowering plant with his right hand. Four leaves appear on the stalk, and four petals blossom at its top. The man wears the emblem of an eagle on his breast, and a wreath on his head. In the center of the sun appear a lingham and yoni. The sun has twenty-one rays. To the right shine six stars. Below the black bar rises a mountain range. 
 

 
Arrows of Light: 


The Sarcophagus 


Kabballistically expresses RESURRECTION, AWAKENING 


Astrologically expresses PERIODICITY, GESTATION 


The Royal Road: 

ARCANUM 20  

The Awakening 

ARCANUM 20 pictures a man, a woman and a child, wrapped in grave clothes, rising from a sarcophagus. Two angels and a scarab decorate its lower part. Above the three figures stands an angel in the sun, crowned with a flame, blowing a trumpet. The sun has seven rays, each ray tipped with a triple crown. Below the black bar small human-like figures leave the world on an upward path. 
 

 
Arrows of Light: 


The Adept 


Kabballistically expresses SUCCESS and ATTAINMENT 


Astrologically expresses POWER, VITALITY, INDIVIDUALITY 


The Royal Road: 

ARCANUM 21  


The Redeemed 


ARCANUM 21 pictures a wreath of twelve flowers, each flower having three petals. In the center of the floral wheel appears a winged lingham and yoni. Four heads show on the outside of the wreath: in the upper left that of a man; in the upper right that of another man; in the lower left that of an eagle with a miter on its head; in the lower right that of a bull. Underneath this ensemble a kneeling girl plays a three-stringed harp. The flame-crowned head of a man adorns the harp's sounding board. Just to the left of the girl's head appears the emblem of the sun. Below the black bar a row of trees sways gently in the breeze. 
 

 
Arrows of Light: 


The Fool 


Kabballistically expresses FAILURE, FOLLY, MISTAKE 


Astrologically has no correspondence  


The Royal Road: 

THE BLIND FOOL 


Arcanum Zero-22 pictures a blindfolded man walking down the road of life into the open jaws of a crocodile. Over his left shoulder he carries a heavy bag. With his right hand he leans on a black staff, entwined with two serpents. Behind him the moon eclipses the sun. A broken column covered with hieroglyphs lies by his left side. On his chest he wears the glyph of the planet Pluto. Below his feet are pictured the horns and head of Taurus, the Bull.

 
 
 

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