🜏 XXI – THE WORLD

Tarot Art & Culture Esotericism
🜏 XXI – THE WORLD

Within the eternal loop of the ouroboros, the central figure stands serene, poised between heaven and earth. In their right hand, they raise the ankh, the breath of life. In their left, a blue lotus—symbol of resurrection and the awakening of consciousness. Upon their brow rests the golden solar disc, the seal of Ra, bestowing radiance and eternal sovereignty.

Around them swirl the four elemental guardians:

  • 🦁 Lion (South) – Fire, Sekhmet, willpower and courage

  • 🐂 Bull (North) – Earth, Apis, endurance and stability

  • 🦅 Hawk (East) – Air, Horus, vision and spirit

  • 🐊 Crocodile (West) – Water, Sobek, memory and transformation

Behind them rise the pyramids, repositories of ancient science. The Eye of Ra blinks open above, representing divine vigilance and the inner gnosis that pierces illusion.

Alternate Title: The Divine Spiral
Element: Aether
Symbol: Ouroboros, Ankh, Lotus
Figure: The Soul-Crowned

You have reached the completion of a cycle, not as an end—but as a return to origin, with consciousness transformed.

The World card is the alchemical coronation: the Philosopher’s Stone achieved, the sacred marriage complete, the soul awakened. You are no longer bound by the elemental planes—you stand above them, in harmony with all.

It reflects the Hermetic axiom:

"Man is a star bound to a body, but through discipline may regain the divine fire."

This card marks:

  • The final integration of opposites (matter and spirit, masculine and feminine, above and below)

  • Mastery over the self and the material plane

  • Reunion with the divine field of intelligence (Nous)

The Fool’s journey ends in gnosis—having walked the labyrinth, they now know it is made of light.

Andreas's avatar Andreas ¡ Jul 5
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The Agora is a Database of Wisdom
Check out our elevator pitch or sign in
Andreas's avatar Andreas Jul 5, 10:02 AM
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The Tarot as a Hermetic System (Pre-Kabbalistic Core)

The Tarot’s structure reflects three fundamental Hermetic doctrines:

A. The Principle of Correspondence ("As above, so below")

  • Major Arcana: A microcosm of the soul’s journey through cosmic laws.

    • The Magician (I): The divine will manifest in matter.

    • The World (XXI): The soul reintegrated with the One.

  • Minor Arcana: The four elements (Wands/Fire, Cups/Water, Swords/Air, Pentacles/Earth) mirroring the material world.

B. The Principle of Mentalism ("All is mind")

  • The High Priestess (II) as the veil of Isis—the divide between divine wisdom (nous) and human perception.

  • The Moon (XVIII) as the realm of illusions (Hermetic phantasmata).

C. The Principle of Vibration ("Nothing rests; everything moves")

  • The Wheel of Fortune (X) as the cycles of fate (Heraclitean flux).

  • Death (XIII) as solve et coagula—dissolution and rebirth.

The Enclosed System: Where Kabbalah Does Not Belong

The Tarot’s Hermetic framework needs no Kabbalistic grafting because it already contains:

  • Its own cosmology: The Fool’s journey as the soul’s descent and return (Neoplatonic emanation).

  • Its own elemental logic: Suits as the fourfold structure of nature (Agrippa’s Occult Philosophy, Book I).

  • Its own initiatory path: The Major Arcana as stages of gnosis (Hermetic revelation).

Why Kabbalah Breaks the System

  • The Tree of Life imposes a foreign structure (10 sephirot + 22 paths) onto Tarot’s native 22 Majors + 56 Minors.

  • The Hebrew letters overwrite Tarot’s own elemental/planetary correspondences (e.g., Mars in The Tower, not "Peh").

Reconstructing the Purely Hermetic Tarot

To strip away Kabbalistic corruption and return to the original Hermetic Tarot, focus on:

A. The Pre-Occultist Decks

  • Visconti-Sforza (1450s): The Sun as Apollo, Temperance as harmonia.

  • Marseille (1600s): The Lovers as sacred union (hieros gamos), Judgment as palingenesis (spiritual rebirth).

B. The Hermetic Texts That Actually Influenced Tarot

  • Corpus Hermeticum (1st–3rd cent. CE):

    • The Magician as the Poimandres vision (mind over matter).

    • The Star (XVII) as the Anthropos bathing in the waters of creation.

  • Ficino’s Three Books on Life (1489):

    • The Sun (XIX) as the lux divina (solar magic of the spiritus mundi).

C. Alchemy’s Visual Language

  • The Empress (III) as alchemical earth (prima materia nourished by heaven).

  • The Tower (XVI) as the nigredo phase (destruction before renewal).

The Final Answer

The Tarot is and always was a Hermetic system. Its symbols are complete unto themselves, rooted in:

  1. Neoplatonic emanation (descent/return of the soul).

  2. Elemental harmony (Agrippa’s fourfold world).

  3. Alchemical transformation (solve et coagula).

Kabbalah is not just unnecessary—it’s a violent imposition onto a system that already had its own logic.

Next Up...

So they do admit that "Elohim" is plural for gods not one God

YHWH is just one of that Elohim, not God with a capital G. I thought they would deny it, but apparently they don't.

Andreas's avatar Andreas
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Manly Hall About the Tetragrammaton

Interestingly, he calls YHWH the Demiurge of the Jews.

This is quite ambiguous in terms of what role he actually prescribes to him. Creator of the physical universe from the perspective of the Jews? Or something lesser as in creator of a specific part of the universe associated with the the Jews?

I haven't read the book, yet. Just came across this during editing.

Andreas's avatar Andreas
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4th Eurasian Economic Forum kicks off in Minsk.

“Kazakhstan will soon launch a 'VERY POWERFUL' supercomputer, the first of its kind in the EAEU — Prezident Tokayev, adds “EAEU countries should 'combine efforts' to develop Artificial Intelligence.”

Could it be important, as the capital of Kazakhstan - Astana(formal Nursultan), is also called the capital of NWO, the city of the future’ filled with Illuminati, Masonic and occult symbols?

@drulia

Read full note on Substack →
Drulia's avatar Drulia
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