Alchemical birds in the Tarot

There are several symbolic sets or schemata which the Tarot incorporates into its imagery, but incompletely. For example, a few of the signs of the zodiac are clearly alluded to, but only a few. There are trumps for three of the four classical virtues -- Justice, Fortitude (so in Italian; Force in French and Strength in English), and Temperance -- but none for Prudence. The three virtues are even regularly spaced -- 8, 11, 14 -- so that we would expect Prudence to be either 5 or 17, but neither fits the bill. (Those who insist that there must be a Prudence trump generally press the Hermit into service, breaking the pattern.)

"The Birds in Alchemy," a 1979 Hermetic Journal article by Adam McLean, discusses a sequence of five symbolic birds "which occurs in various sources: Black Crow - White Swan - Peacock - Pelican - Phoenix." I find that, like the set of four virtues, this sequence is implicitly present in the Tarot, and in a clear numerical pattern, but only incompletely so.

Trump 19 is the Sun. See "Red crows of the Sun" for a discussion of the Solar Crow and its links to the Tarot.

Trump 20 is the Judgment. As discussed in "The dragon and the subterranean swan," Oswald Wirth (and, independently, my sister Kat) associated the swan with this trump.

Trump 21 is the World. "The Throne and the World" details how this image ultimately derives from biblical visions of creatures that are "full of eyes" like Argus, or like the peacock into which Argus was transformed.

All the links are indirect and implicit -- no crows, swans, or peacocks are actually shown on the cards -- but they are non-arbitrary, and the sequence is exactly right. The Pelican and the Phoenix ought to come next, but of course there are no more trumps after 21.