B.O.T.A. tarot deck
Encyclopedia
The B.O.T.A. Tarot
was created by Paul Foster Case
, founder of B.O.T.A. and artist Jessie Burns Parke. Though the B.O.T.A. Tarot for the most part closely resembles the Rider-Waite deck, Paul Foster Case corrected what he felt were mistakes or "blinds" in the Rider-Waite edition.
In "The Tarot," Case published the Hebrew
letter attributions of the Golden Dawn for the first time. Also made public was the Tarot tableau, a pattern for laying out all of the Tarot Keys which reveals certain relationships and dissimilarities among them. This tableau was used by the American branch of the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn
when Case was Praemonstrator of that Order. This was the first published book to reveal almost all of the Tarot attributions on the Qabalistic "Cube of Space" diagram. Of course the Sepher Yetzirah is the source of the link between the Cube of Space and the Hebrew letters.
Until the publication of this book, most English speaking occultists had never heard of the "Cube of Space" and were not aware how it related to the much better-known "Tree of Life" diagram. In fact, until the mid-1990s there were almost no other books in print which even mentioned the Cube of Space. The ones that do refer and defer to Case's pioneering and authoritative work on the subject.
B.O.T.A. repeatedly emphasizes that Tarot is primarily a tool for meditation, not fortune-telling. After explaining the B.O.T.A. method for Tarot divination
in his book "The Tarot, A Key to the Wisdom of the Ages," Case specifically explains the differences between divination and fortune-telling
and closes with a warning, "Finally, let me reiterate the thought that this is not to be used for vulgar fortune telling, or to amuse a party of friends. If you yield to the temptation so to abuse this information, you will pay for it in the loss of all power of true divination, and probably in the loss of ability to control the higher rates of psychic vibration."
Tarot
The tarot |trionfi]] and later as tarocchi, tarock, and others) is a pack of cards , used from the mid-15th century in various parts of Europe to play a group of card games such as Italian tarocchini and French tarot...
was created by Paul Foster Case
Paul Foster Case
Paul Foster Case was an American occultist of the early 20th century and author of numerous books on occult tarot and Qabalah. Perhaps his greatest contributions to the field of occultism were the lessons he wrote for associate members of Builders of the Adytum. The Knowledge Lectures given to...
, founder of B.O.T.A. and artist Jessie Burns Parke. Though the B.O.T.A. Tarot for the most part closely resembles the Rider-Waite deck, Paul Foster Case corrected what he felt were mistakes or "blinds" in the Rider-Waite edition.
In "The Tarot," Case published the Hebrew
Hebrew alphabet
The Hebrew alphabet , known variously by scholars as the Jewish script, square script, block script, or more historically, the Assyrian script, is used in the writing of the Hebrew language, as well as other Jewish languages, most notably Yiddish, Ladino, and Judeo-Arabic. There have been two...
letter attributions of the Golden Dawn for the first time. Also made public was the Tarot tableau, a pattern for laying out all of the Tarot Keys which reveals certain relationships and dissimilarities among them. This tableau was used by the American branch of the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn
Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn
The Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn was a magical order active in Great Britain during the late 19th and early 20th centuries, which practiced theurgy and spiritual development...
when Case was Praemonstrator of that Order. This was the first published book to reveal almost all of the Tarot attributions on the Qabalistic "Cube of Space" diagram. Of course the Sepher Yetzirah is the source of the link between the Cube of Space and the Hebrew letters.
Until the publication of this book, most English speaking occultists had never heard of the "Cube of Space" and were not aware how it related to the much better-known "Tree of Life" diagram. In fact, until the mid-1990s there were almost no other books in print which even mentioned the Cube of Space. The ones that do refer and defer to Case's pioneering and authoritative work on the subject.
B.O.T.A. repeatedly emphasizes that Tarot is primarily a tool for meditation, not fortune-telling. After explaining the B.O.T.A. method for Tarot divination
Divination
Divination is the attempt to gain insight into a question or situation by way of an occultic standardized process or ritual...
in his book "The Tarot, A Key to the Wisdom of the Ages," Case specifically explains the differences between divination and fortune-telling
Fortune-telling
Fortune-telling is the practice of predicting information about a person's life. The scope of fortune-telling is in principle identical with the practice of divination...
and closes with a warning, "Finally, let me reiterate the thought that this is not to be used for vulgar fortune telling, or to amuse a party of friends. If you yield to the temptation so to abuse this information, you will pay for it in the loss of all power of true divination, and probably in the loss of ability to control the higher rates of psychic vibration."
Online resources
Online resources discussing or using the B.O.T.A. Tarot deck- Divine Paradox The Ageless Wisdom in Action
- Joyous World Examples of the Qabalah and Tarot
- Samples of the B.O.T.A. deck Entire Major Arcana, colored and on some Keys explained.
- B.O.T.A. Copies of the B.O.T.A. deck, Case's books on Tarot, etc. are available from B.O.T.A.