The Emperor's Urim and Thummim

Further thoughts on Oswald Wirth's Emperor card (shown below in its 1889, 1926, and 1966 versions):

One of Wirth's innovations was to give the Emperor a breastplate marked with figures of the Sun and the Moon. In my first post on this card, I tentatively connected these with the biblical Urim and Thummim, which were worn on Aaron's "breastplate of judgment."

In his Dogme et Rituel de la Haute Magie, Éliphas Lévi identified the Urim and Thummim with various pairs of polar opposites -- "the above and beneath, the East and West, the yes and no" -- and also with "the two crescents of the moon." I speculated that Wirth, who was deeply influenced by Lévi, had combined these two ideas and represented the Urim and Thummim as the crescent Moon and its polar opposite, the Sun. Further evidence that the Emperor's breastplate is Aaron's can be seen in the braided gold chain he wears (already present in the Tarot de Marseille), which corresponds to the "wreathen chains of gold" described in Exodus 28. Wirth's Besançon-influenced version of the Emperor's scepter also calls to mind Aaron's rod that budded and blossomed and brought forth almonds (Number 17:8).

(We might more naturally associate Aaron, the high priest, with the fifth trump, the Pope or Hierophant, but perhaps that position should be reserved for Moses.)

As I explain in my 2013 post "Lux et Veritas: A hypothesis," there is strong evidence that Mormon temple ritual identifies the square and compass of Freemasonry with the Urim and Thummim. A Masonic initiation involves pressing the angle of a square to the initiate's right breast and the point of a compass to his left. Mormon ritual echoes this by clothing the initiate in a garment marked with the figure of a square on the left breast and that of a compass on the right. The right angle of the square is represented by a shape like the letter L, and the acute angle of the compass by one like V. Given that this is not a very natural orientation for the compass, I concluded that the resemblance to L and V must be intentional and meaningful and that the marks, in addition to representing the square and compass, also stood for Lux et Veritas -- one possible Latin translation of Urim and Thummim, as seen for example on the coat of arms of Yale University.

The Hebrew writing on the book reads "Urim" on the right and "and Thummim" on the left. Note that Urim begins with aleph and Thummim with tav. These are the first and last letters of the Hebrew alphabet, corresponding to alpha and omega. (The letters L and V correspond to the second letters of the letter-names aleph and tav.)

Combining this with the symbolism of Wirth's Emperor, then, we have the following correspondences:

• right breast -- square -- lux (light) -- Urim -- aleph/alpha (beginning) -- Sun
• left breast -- compass -- veritas (truth) -- Thummim -- tav/omega (end) -- Moon

Can we organize all of this into a coherent symbolism? Consider this universal symbol, found in virtually all ancient cultures (and alluded to by the Emperor's globus cruciger): the cross inscribed in a circle.

We have three basic components here: the point at the center, the circumference, and the four radii that connect the former to the latter. The center is God, the Creator, the Source. The radii are God's activity, his creative Word, radiating out from him. The circumference is the phenomenal world, conceptualized as a passive creation of God's. That which acts, the action, and that which is acted-upon.

The square is used to draw the radii; the compass, to draw the circumference. The Sun is always shown with rays of light radiating from it, and it therefore corresponds to the center and the radii. The Moon is stereotypically drawn in crescent form -- as an arc, part of the circumference of a circle -- and therefore corresponds to the circumference.

In the Tarot, the Moon is given the number 18, and the Sun is 19. The Sun and the Moon together, then, represent 18 + 19 = 37. This is a hexagonal number, and can be represented as a (lunar) perimeter of 18 units surrounding a (solar) center of 19.

This is another link to Aaron's breastplate of judgment. Besides containing the Urim and Thummim, it was also set with 12 stones arranged in a 3-by-4 grid, engraved with the names of the 12 tribes of Israel. As detailed by Vernon Jenkins here, each of those names has a gematria value, and the total of all those values is 3,700. Furthermore, the breastplate can be divided into seven sections, each of which has a gematria value that is a multiple of 37.

The Sun, Moon, and 12 tribes of Israel also appear together in one of Joseph's dreams, in which the Sun (Jacob), Moon (Rachel), and 11 stars (the patriarchs of the tribes) bow down to Joseph. Coincidentally, this is recorded in Genesis 37.

The exact meaning of the Hebrew words Urim and Thummim is disputed, but "Lights and Perfections" is a traditional translation. The Vulgate has Doctrina et Veritas, and Yale's motto may be seen as a compromise between these two translations: Lux et Veritas, "Light and Truth." Light obviously corresponds to the Sun and, being the first creation, to aleph. Truth, conceptualized as passive knowing as opposed to active creation, corresponds to the Moon. The Moon reflects the light of the Sun, just as true ideas "reflect" an external reality.