The Gypsy writes:

Universal Tarot

by Maxwell Miller

published, Samuel Weiser, 1996

traditional titles, except Key 8, Desire; Key 11, Karma; Key 14 Time and Key 20 Revelation

eight: Strength (Desire); eleven: Justice (Karma)

suits are wands, cups, swords and disks

courts are knave, queen and king

no people in the pips, no captions

backs non-symmetrical

     Here’s an idea you may enjoy: “The ancient world has produced many diverse mystical paths, spiritual disciplines, oracles and esoteric traditions. Four of these – Astrology, Kabbalah, Alchemy and Tarot – are thought to correspond to the four archetypal elements. Thus the very logical and linear science of astrology is representative of the rational world of air signs. Kabbalah is the path of earth, one of its essential principles being the movement between heaven and earth on the Tree of Life. Alchemy is governed by the creative element of fire, this ancient art being preoccupied with the creative process. This leaves the realm of water, the dream-like images of the subconscious, and the tarot, an oracle which speaks directly to our intuition. The fluidity of the tarot as a mystical system is demonstrated by the ease with which it has adapted to a changing cultural environment over centuries, easily integrating and absorbing other systems around it, such as alchemy and astrology without losing its own unique identity.”

     In accord with Tarot of the Ages and the Hermetic Tarot, in the Universal Tarot “All twenty-two trumps have individual correspondence to astrological and alchemical signs. Twelve of them are matched to the twelve zodiac signs, seven others to the seven sacred planets. That leaves three cards corresponding to three of the four alchemical elements: fire, water and air. However, the fourth element, earth, is not missing; it is represented by the totality of the minor arcana which deals with the mundane events of our lives, the material powers of our existence, those elements around us over which we can and do exert our own influence.”

     There’s convincing rationale for the numerological correspondences: “The keys to the system are the numbers 3 and 7. The number 3 implies the most basic law of existence: that there is a force and its opposite force, and that the synthesis of the two create a third force, and so progress or evolution begins. This threefold law is mirrored in the creation myths of many religions throughout the world, the Father, Son and Holy Ghost, for example, or the three Gunas described in Sanskrit texts, which create, sustain and destroy the world like the gods Brahma, Vishnu and Shiva.

     “The number 7 has always been the most mysterious of numbers. The mystic Gurdjieff propounded the Law of Seven which permeated all levels of the universe; all progress, movement and evolution between these levels was in cycles of seven stages. This law is expressed in the seven-fold nature of the spectrum, the seven notes of the octave, the seven chakras, the seven days of the week (named after the seven sacred planets) and so on.

     “Treating the Fool as a separate card from the rest of the trumps leaves a sequence of twenty-one cards in the major arcana. The number 21 reduces numerologically to 3 (2+1=3) and is also the result of multiplying 7 and 3. The court cards are now numbered 12, which reduces to 3, and there are 3 Court Cards in each suit. The minor arcana is 52, which reduces to 7 (5+2=7). The total of the two arcana added together then is 73. The Fool is an extra card which is a wild element blowing through the deck like a wind. It should be likened to fate running its fingers through the world.”

     This Fool is the Lung Gom-Pa or “windman” from Tibet who can leap tall buildings at a single bound and stand in the air, playing his flute. This Magician stands among crystals, playing his vision. This Priestess conceals the throne of Isis, the fish of salvation and the camel of self-sufficiency behind her veil. This Empress is surrounded by fertility symbols, including the pelican, the crane, the pregnant Hippopotamus, the Maori Tiki of childbirth and the ivy-leaved toadflax. This Emperor has the red eagle’s wings of alchemical lore, suggesting the human soul forged in the fire of the will. This Hierophant stands for the Holy Man of Shamanism, Buddhism, Christianity, Sufism, Judaism and the rest. These Lovers dance in the dark alchemical bottle of mystical process. This Chariot, propelled on the Buddhist Wheel Of The Law, sacrifices itself to the Sumerian sun god, plunging into the sea. This Desire, aka Strength, Fortitude, Lust, invokes the mantra, “I desire everything. I need nothing. I accept what I get.” This Hermit shines his occult light in the egg which fertilizes itself. This Wheel spins three creatures corresponding to Sattva, the movement towards sentience, Tama, the movement towards stasis, and Raja, the energy which governs mutation. This Karma sets Buddhist Tara in the Egyptian Hall of Two Truths. This Hanged Man reminds us of the practice of ducking witches in the Middle Ages; if they drowned, they were declared innocent. This Death stands in red robe under black sun. This Time, aka Temperance, unites Greek temper and Latin tempo. This Devil is Canaanite Baalzebub, Lord of the Flies. This Tower combines destructive Shiva and pre-Vedic Rudra, god of thunder and lightning. This Star baptizes herself and returns fluid to the great sea, as we do in meditation. This Moon is flanked by Fear and Madness. This Sun shows Ra, the sun god sailing his barge across the firmament. This Revelation features seven seven-pointed stars, invoking the number (49) of days the Tibetan Book of the Dead says we spend in the Bardo to judge our own lives. This World portrays a whirling dervish.