Architecture of the Major Arcana
The Tree of Life (Otz Chiim)
Touch any of the 22 Paths or 10 Sephiroth on the diagram — or select from the index below — to unveil the corresponding plates.
Complete Index of the 22 Paths (11th to 32nd)
Index of the 10 Sephiroth (1 to 10)
The twenty-two Trumps correspond to the letters of the Hebrew alphabet and the paths joining the ten Sephiroth of the Tree of Life. According to the Sepher Yetzirah, they are divided into three orders:
- Three Mother Letters (Elements): Aleph (Air · The Fool), Mem (Water · The Hanged Man) and Shin (Fire and Spirit · The Aeon).
- Seven Double Letters (Classical Planets): Governing the seven sacred planets — Mercury, Moon, Venus, Jupiter, Mars, Sun and Saturn.
- Twelve Single Letters (Zodiac): Corresponding to the twelve zodiacal signs across the Tree.
In the Thoth system, the attributions of Tzaddi and Heh are exchanged relative to earlier Golden Dawn tables: The Emperor (Aries) receives Tzaddi (28th Path, Yesod to Netzach) and The Star (Aquarius) receives Heh (15th Path, Tiphareth to Chokmah), restoring the double loop symmetry at the top and bottom of the Tree of Life.
The Fool strictly occupies the numeral 0. Beyond Kether lie the three negative veils of existence (Ain, Ain Soph and Ain Soph Aur), from which the formula 0 = 2 and the twenty-one subsequent paths emerge, culminating in the material synthesis of The Universe (XXI).