by Mick Frankel and James Douglas
The most interesting thing about this deck is how versatile it is. It can be used:
- As a learning tool. As I begin my journey to fluency in Hebrew I use them as ‘flash cards’ to test and improve my familiarity with the Hebrew alphabet.
- As a gateway to the study of Jewish mysticism. Each card identifies the letter’s elemental/ planetary/ zodiacal correspondence in the Sefer Yetzirah and its numerical value in gematria, a divinatory practice in which each Hebrew letter is assigned a number and significance is attached to the sum of the numbers assigned to each letter in a word and connections between words with the same numerical value.
- As an aid to gematria. As the card for each letter includes its associated number, a reader can lay out the cards spelling a Hebrew word and add up the numbers to get the numerical value of that word.
- As a prompt for insights into gematria, astrology, Tarot and Kabbalah. In addition to its astrological and numerical association, each letter has been given a colour, gradient and texture representing the esoteric relationships among them (some but not all of which I have figured out so far!). As each card of the Major Arcana has an elemental/ planetary/ zodiacal correspondence, as well as a correspondence with a Hebrew letter and path on the Tree of Life, considering the relationships among all of these can also generate insights.
- As a tool for divination and to prompt personal insight. The deck can be used the way we usually use Tarot and oracle decks, to illuminate the future, reveal hidden insights, and provide useful advice. At its most basic, each card represents a quality—elemental, planetary or zodiacal—which can provide insight or guidance, alone or with other cards in a spread.
- As part of a daily or regular meditative practice. These cards are ideally suited for daily practice, and can be used in many ways for this purpose.
In addition to providing meaning prompts for each letter, the accompanying 15 page booklet describes three meditation or divination spreads designed specifically for this deck.
The first is the ‘spread of inequality’. Two cards are drawn representing two aspects of a situation, two options, etc. Each can be read as with the single card draw, to signify a quality related to each of the two states. The reader then calculates the difference between the numbers of the cards, then selects one or more cards that add up to that number; working with the qualities represented by these additional cards can reveal more about the reader’s question.
- For the second spread, the reader draws three cards, adding their numbers to generate a number between 1 and 150, which corresponds to a chapter in the Book of Psalms. Reading the corresponding chapter can provide insights into the reader’s question, or serve as an element of a daily practice.
- In the third spread the reader creates a Hebrew word from three cards drawn at random, which can provide insight into the reader’s question.
In addition to the accompanying text, Mick has provided more information on the cards and their use in his own description of the deck, published on the TABI blog here:
Extensive as it is, it is only a start for the reader interested in exploring links among gematria, astrology, Tarot and Kabbalah.
This deck is definitely not for everyone. Readers intimidated by numbers may find this deck challenging, and some readers who prefer channeling their intuition through images might find the abstract mental and intellectual puzzles of gematria offputting. But Mick’s suggestions for using the cards provide plenty of opportunities for intuition to come into play, and it is possible that working with this deck might be a way for readers initially put off by numbers and calculation to try accessing their intuition in new ways.
Deck of the Hebrew Letters, £18 plus postage and packing (£2 within the UK); order direct from Frankelmick@hotmail.com. Mick is currently developing a Deck of the Hebrew Letters Workbook.
Written by Carolyn Dougherty
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