The Golden Dawn taught that there is an angel (however one might choose to define that term I assume) set over the operation of the Tarot.
An angel named H.R.U. to be specific.
Israel Regardie, in a note attached to the Tarot divination section of his massive and influential book The Golden Dawn writes:
“A formula which may be found useful to assist concentration, and to formulate a link between the diviner and the intelligences referred to in the Tarot, is to take the pack in the left hand, and with the right hand hold the wand or any lesser instrument Then say: ‘In the divine name I.A.O., I invoke thee thou great angel HRU who art set over the operations of this secret wisdom. Lay thine hand invisibly on these consecrated cards of art, that thereby I may obtain true knowledge of hidden things, to the glory of the ineffable name. Amen.’”
I think that’s a really interesting question to contemplate.
Is there an angel (however you might define that term) set over the operation of the Tarot?
I understand, although I don’t have a reference work before me, that Crowley taught the same thing, and suggested an invocation quite similar to the one quoted above.
I suppose that this could all be dismissed as Victorian era secret society nonsense, and perhaps that is the correct conclusion. Perhaps not.
I do think it is an important consideration however, because chances are you are either reading a Waite-Smith Tarot deck, or a Tarot deck based on the Waite-Smith deck. And both A.E. Waite and Pamela Colman Smith were active and involved members of the Golden Dawn. Their deck is based upon the teachings of that Order.
And if you aren’t reading a Waite-Smith deck, or a deck inspired by the Waite-Smith, chances are really good that you are reading Crowley’s Thoth Tarot, or a Tarot based upon it. Crowley too was an active and involved, if extremely destructive, member of the Golden Dawn.
Only the readers of Marseilles decks really get to escape from this powerful influence.
So while I see very little written about it, I think it is an important question.
I hope that you’ll find it worthy of your contemplation.
I also hope that if you are willing, you’ll give us your thoughts in the comments below.
Is there an angel set over the operation of the Tarot?
If you believe so, how do you define that term angel?
Do you believe that invoking this angel, energy, power, egregore, thought form, what have you, is helpful when you read Tarot?
Let’s chat about it…
I mostly read with the Smith Waite and the Marseilles decks, and variants. I do have the Thoth deck and I do use it, but I started with the others. Artistically, I find the Thoth deck is more powerful, but historically I prefer the Marseilles. I may, but only if sitting alone with my cards, ask aloud that Uriel, Gabriel, Michael and Raphael may oversee the deliberations for the North, the West, the South and the East as I consider the elements in a reading. Points on a compass. Each with their areas or departments. Or I may ask Hekate. If not alone, I will do this silently beforehand, asking to see, to understand, and to speak to the issue for the highest possible good while doing no harm. First, doing no harm.
Thank you for the invitation to comment on this. I'm still working out an invocation that feels right to me, because I think it is important to acknowledge that I am asking for access to information that is vast and from an indefinable source. In the meantime I borrow language from the invocation that begins "Angel who records, whose hand writes upon the book of remembrance . . . " which I learned from one of Benebel Wen's videos. I respect the idea of an angel as a being made visible in medieval art and in Smith's designs, but I search for something more aligned to my own pantheistic inclinations.