— Derek Armstrong

Can a Buddhist connect to seemingly Judeo-Christian inspired Waite-Smith Tarot Cards? Can a pagan or Wiccan visualize with just any Tarot deck? What about the atheist, agnostic, revivalist, magickal practitioner, Kabalist, shaman? Do each need special decks just to build a relationship with the Superconcious, godform or even unconscious?

An Argument for Universality

Robert Place, in his excellent treatise Buddha Tarot Companion: A Mandala of Cards points anectdotally to Alexander the Great's empire spreading as far as India, two hundred years after the Historic Buddha, as one possible "link" to Eastern symbolism in the modern-day "western" Tarot, later reinforced by the Indian Emperor Asoka whose missionaries spread Buddhism as far as Alexandria Egypt.

Noted Tarot expert Hajo Banzhaf makes similar connections in his wonderful Tarot and the Journey of the Hero, demonstrating the universal journey of the Fool by mapping the Major Arcana trumps  to Greek Myths, Renaissance literature, greats such as Dante and even master artists such as Trioson and Dali. Although Banzhaf is demonstrating the journey to enlightenment through myth and literature and art, all of these works are focused on archetypes anchored in our various spiritual traditions.

I've come to the same conclusion. Tolkien's Lord of the Rings trilogy is clearly the same journey of the hero (in this case Nordic mythology rewritten), as are modern classics such as Stephen King's The Stand or even Dan Brown's DaVinci Code. And of course my own very clever The Last Troubadour: Song of Montsegur, not just a subtle "journey of the fool" but loudly Tarot-themed, with actual Major Arcana characters coming to life to add dimension to the actual Fool's journey.

In Banzhaf's Tarot and The Journey of the Hero, he maps Carl Jung's Journey to the cards in three arcs — not coincidentally matching Plato's three-act structure of drama — with great turning points reflected in cards such as The Hanged Man. In my illustration below, I use Tolkien's Lord of the Rings to demonstrate not only links to literature structure but mythological, since the Tolkien's MIddle Earth is the Norse world:

Act One — Path of Consciousness

• The Magician — Gandalf recruits Frodo to the quest to save Middle Earth in The Lord or the Rings, for example. Of course Gandalf is Odin in Norse Myth
• The High Priestess — Goldberry, the daughter of the River at Tom Bombadil's forest, for example
• The Empress — The Earthly Mother; represented generally by Arwen, Elrond's daughter who forsakes immortality for love
• Emperor — The Earthly Father; represented generally by Aragorn's quest
• The Hierophant — Education; represented generally by the Lady of Lothlorien, whose time is passing
• The Lovers — the Decision in the quest, of first major turning point — in The Lord of the Rings, Rivendell

Act Two — Maturation
• The Chariot — Departure in literature or spiritual journey; in The Lord of the Rings, they are forced out of Rivendell and into the Mines of Moria
• Justice — Maturation; in the Lord of the Rings, Frodo "grows up" after losing Gandalf in the mines
• The Hermit — One's True Self; Frodo decides not to endanger his friends and determines to "go it alone!"
• Wheel of Fortune — The Calling; in the Lord of the Rings the troop is split into three groups and three separate quests
• Strength — The Helpful Animal; in The Lord of the Rings, Treebeard

The Great Crisis Separates the Acts
• The Hanged Man — The Great Crisis; in The Lord of the Rings, the entire Universe, including past allies (Saruman), has turned against our heroes

Act Three — The initiation
• Death — Change; in The Lord of the Rings, there are many changes, one set for each of the three quests, a critical one when Frodo is captured in Mordor and left for dead after being stung by "She."
• Temperance — Guide of the Souls; on the main "Frodo" quest, a stronger Frodo can't be stopped, calmer, full of determination, and on the first step of his "enlightened path")
• Devil — Realm of Shadow; in Mordor "where the shadows lie"
• Tower — Dramatic Liberation; Sauron's tower actually falls, literally
• The Star — Fountain of Youth; after the ring is destroyed, Frodo feels lighter, but also "emptier"
• The Moon —The Dangerous Return; ever wonder why The Lord of the Rings was so long after the final climax? Here's why.
• The Sun — The Crowning of Aragorn
• Judgment — The elders leave Middle Earth forever.

• The World — culmination and final achievement.

 The Hero's Journey With Buddha

The same sort of map can be drawn for the spiritual journey. Since Robert Place already mapped Buddha's enlightenment — the quintessential spiritual journey, that Place suggests might have inspired our modern day Tarot deck — I'll highlight the journey here:

Cycle One
• The Magician — Asita, the Seer, predicts Siddhartha will become the Buddha, the Enlightened
• The High Priestess — Maya, herself so pure "the gods worshiped her", mother of the Buddha gives birth to the Enlightened
• The Empress — Yosadhara, wife of the Buddha before he "left her" to seek Enlightenment to save the world from suffering (the quest)
• The Emperor — Siddhartha, the Buddha before Enlightenment, a kingly man of perfect skills
• The Hierophant — Suddhodhana, Buddha's father, who tried to prevent the Buddha from seeking the spiritual quest by keeping him attached to the "joys of this world"
• The Lovers — Siddhartha and Yasodhara, when Siddhartha must choose between leaving wife and son and saving the world from suffering.

Cycle Two
• Chariot — Siddhartha literally sets out in his chariot to see the suffering of the world
• Justice — Karma in Place's deck, represented by the night he must leave his world forever and become the seeker of Enlightenment
• Hermit — The Old Man and The Sadhu in Place's deck, representing two key men Siddartha met at this early stage of the quest, one who taught him what it means to age, the other who offered ascetic wisdom
• Wheel of Fortune — Reincarnation, or Samasara, the cycle of attachments that keeps us enslaved to the physical world and suffering
• Strength — Siddartha makes his spiritual decision, cuts his hair and starts the hardest part of his journey which will require all his will and strength

The Great Crisis
• The Hanged Man — in Place's deck, The Suffering Man, for it is the suffering of man that drove Siddhartha on his quest

Cycle Three
• Death — Death representing here the change needed to save people from the cycle of attachments and suffering, but also literally change
• Temperance — The Middle Path, the pre-Enlightenment discovery of the all-important Middle Way that ultimately leads Siddhartha to become the Buddha
• The Devil — Mara tempts Siddhartha as he sits beneath the Bodhi tree, trying to "prevent" his enlightenment
• The Tower — The Flaming Disc in Place's deck, where Mara physically attacks Siddhartha with his most fearsome weapon
• The Star — The Chakras in Place's deck. Buddha becomes enlightened by opening his Chakras (psychic centers, often represented by stars) and perceiving the truth
• The Moon — Wesak. It was at the full moon that Buddha finally achieved peace
• The Sun — Buddha and Sakti. As the sun came up after that final night, Buddha is Enlightened, with full memory of all his previous lives. Place represents him with his Sakti, which is often misunderstood to be sexual. The Sakti is the "feminine" side of a person. Buddhist show Buddha in sexual embrace with a Sakti to symbolize complete male/female in one Enlightened being.
• Judgment — The first Sermon at Deer Park where Buddha decided to "teach the world."

A Modern Example

In The Last Troubadour, the links are even more obvious. I deliberately plot The Journey of the Hero, but mix spiritual paths for a truly eclectic and embracing approach, giving equal attention to pagans, Nordic myth, Christian myth, Judaism, Cathar Gnostic Christians and other faiths. I ad a "clever twist" boldly aligning each major character with a major trump, made interesting because they're all characters from real history:

• The Fool — Ramon, the last living Troubadour

• The Magician — Nevara, the pagan magician

• The Priestess — the high Dame of the Cathar Gnostics

• The Empress — Magba, the pagan mother of the Baug Balar circus

• The Emperor — The French Viscount Hugh d'Arcis, conqueror of Occitannia

• The Pope — Cardinal Fiesco, the future Pope Innocent IV

• The Lovers — The Grand Duo, famous rebels and lovers

• The Chariot — Arnot, the Templar, Charioteer to the Master of the Temple

• Justice — Perce de Mendes, squire of the cyclops Seigneur

• The Hermit — Guildhem d'Alions, the ancient Perfectus

• Fortune — Adelais, the troublemaking daughter of the Viscount

• The Hanged Man — the suicidal Dominican monk Brother Jaie

• Death (my favorite!) — Diableteur, the feared witch-hunter

• The Devil — The archbishop of Narbonne 

For me it is profoundly satisfying to be able to match this Universal journey in the cards with almost any spiritual system or literary story or myth. Ultimately, it demonstrates the profound unity of our shared experiences.