The Celtic tarot and the secret traditions: a study in modern legend making

Folklore, Annual, 1998 by Juliette Wood

The horned devil-god appears again in connection with a talisman in the shape of a five-pointed pentagram. Levi suggested that the five-pointed star with a single point upright was a powerful white magic talisman; while reversed, with two points upright, it signified the devil's horns (Constant 1896, 291-96 and 377; 1980, 67-71, 83 and 126). This follows a long tradition of magical figures developed in practical guides to magic ritual, known as grimoires (McIntosh 1985, 42-54). The early grimoires make no distinction between upright and reversed figures. This was probably Levi's suggestion. To complicate matters further, Waite may have introduced the term "pentacle" or "pentangles" as a mistranslation of Levi (Dummett 1980, 152). In creating his version of the tarot, Waite substituted the "pentangle" for the existing (and older) suit of coins or spades (Waite 1911a). It has become one of the assumptions of modern tarot speculation that the pentangle is the original and mystical source of the modern coin suit (Waite 1910, 38; Huson 1971, 225-6). Crowley also took up the idea of the pentagram talisman as a symbol for mankind, although his version of the sign has seven points and is always depicted with two points upwards (like horns) (Crowley 1944, illus. 174 and dedication). A poem by Crowley entitled "Pentagram," which appeared in a propaganda pamphlet produced for distribution to troops during World War II, included one of these seven point figures (Crowley n.d., 1).

Waite's imagery may also have been affected by Harold Bayley's ideas about the hidden symbolism of watermarks and emblems. Bayley's book New Light on the Renaissance appeared in the same year as Waite's The Hidden Church of the Holy Grail, and there is a marked similarity in their approach. They referred to many of the same sources, even when their conclusions differed (Bayley 1909, 262-3). Bayley interpreted the watermarks found on early paper to advance his theory that the Grail was a Cathar symbol and that these watermarks constituted a cogent chain of emblems which enshrined the mystic tradition of secret sects (ibid., 232; 1951, 247-50). He believed that these symbols were references to the Holy Grail according to the medieval heresy of Catharism. Some cards in Waite's suit of cups, such as the ace and the queen, resemble early watermarks which Bayley linked to the supposed Cathar Grail (Bayley 1909, 65-78; 1951, 245-58; Waite 1911a, 10-11). Waite provided a "Celtic" interpretation by associating the four suits of the tarot with what he called the four "Grail Hallows" (Waite 1911a, 299-305). Essentially he is creating a sense of antiquity by altering ("rectifying" is the term favoured by occultists) the symbolism in the desired direction, and then citing the alterations as proof of antiquity. Often, these alterations have little or nothing to do with the original significance of the symbol. The pentagram, as a medieval image, for example, could be associated with the Blessed Virgin (Williams 1996, 272-4) and the monstrous features of the Devil drew on Christian neoplatonic philosophy (ibid., 28-48 and 57-60).