THE AURUM SOLIS TAROT
The ultimate system uniting theurgy and astrology, the Aurum Solis Tarot draws on a rich heritage rooted in the ancient Mediterranean sources of the Western esoteric tradition. Within Aurum Solis, this living wisdom continues to be transmitted through the Golden Chain of initiates.
Brief History
Aurum Solis regards itself as an heir to the ancient Mediterranean wisdom from which the Hermetic and theurgic traditions emerged. An important setting for their development was Egypt during the Hellenistic and Roman periods, where Greek philosophy and religious traditions encountered Egyptian sacred teachings. Alexandria became one of the great centers of this exchange. The figure of Hermes Trismegistus, bringing together the Greek Hermes and the Egyptian Thoth, embodies this meeting of spiritual worlds.
Across centuries of religious change, conflict, and renewal, elements of this heritage survived through manuscripts, philosophical teaching, symbolic imagery, and spiritual practice. Within its own initiatory account, Aurum Solis understands the Hermetic and theurgic tradition as a living transmission, preserved and renewed by successive generations of initiates. This continuity is expressed through the image of the Aurea Catena, the Golden Chain.
The Renaissance brought a powerful renewal of interest in these ancient sources. George Gemistos Plethon, the Byzantine Platonist associated with Mistra, occupies a central place in the lineage honored by Aurum Solis. The Order recognizes him as a Grand Master and a major representative of its spiritual heritage. His presence in Italy during the Council of Ferrara-Florence in 1438–1439 contributed to the renewed encounter between Greek philosophy and Italian humanism.
In the following decades, Marsilio Ficino, supported by Cosimo de’ Medici, became a leading figure in the revival of Platonic and Hermetic philosophy. His translations and teachings, together with the intellectual circle associated with Florence and Careggi, gave this inheritance a new expression. Within the tradition of Aurum Solis, this renewal also carries an initiatory significance: the ancient teachings were to be studied, contemplated, and put into practice.
The symbolic arts offered a means of expressing this vision. Images could bring together different levels of meaning, presenting accessible subjects while inviting deeper philosophical and spiritual interpretation. It is within this broader culture of symbolic expression that Aurum Solis approaches the Tarot.
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Renaissance Images and the Tarot
The earliest surviving tarot decks belong to fifteenth-century Italy. Among the most celebrated are the Visconti-Sforza cards, many of which are attributed to Bonifacio Bembo and his workshop. Their imagery reflects the courtly, religious, and allegorical culture of the Renaissance. These cards form part of the documented history of Tarot; the spiritual principles that Aurum Solis explores through its own Tarot belong to a wider and older heritage.
Another remarkable series of Renaissance images is commonly called the “Mantegna Tarot.” Comprising fifty engravings, it has its own distinctive structure. Its subjects range from human conditions and the liberal arts to the virtues, celestial spheres, and higher principles of the cosmos. This ordered vision of humanity and the universe offers rich possibilities for philosophical and esoteric interpretation.
The circumstances of its creation remain a subject of historical research. Its imagery lends itself to interpretation within the intellectual world of Renaissance Platonism. Accounts of a secret commission and initiatory use belong to the esoteric interpretations of this series. For Aurum Solis, its importance lies in the way symbolic images can express relationships between human life and the divine order.
The familiar structure of twenty-two major cards later became a foundation for numerous esoteric systems. Correspondences with the Hebrew alphabet and Qabalah belong to the subsequent development of occult Tarot and reflect the interests and teachings of its later interpreters. In the teaching of Aurum Solis, the spiritual realities explored through these images extend beyond any single arrangement of cards.
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Three Uses of the Tarot
Over time, Tarot has been used in three principal ways:
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As a card game, enjoyed for its rules, strategy, and social interaction.
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As an instrument of divination, using symbolic relationships to explore situations, influences, and possibilities.
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As a support for contemplation and theurgic practice, in which images serve as keys to states of consciousness and divine powers.
The Tarot of Marseille became an important reference for later esoteric developments, alongside other decks and systems. Within a theurgic approach, a card may function as a talismanic image: a focus for attention, imagination, invocation, and ritual. Its significance includes both the inner experience of the practitioner and the relationship with the greater order of the cosmos.
Aurum Solis develops this third approach through a system specifically aligned with its Hermetic and theurgic teachings. Its Tarot keys are intended to express the divine powers and correspondences used in the Order’s practice with particular clarity. Their purpose is to support a precise relationship between symbolic understanding, contemplative experience, and ritual action.
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A Living Heritage
The Aurum Solis Tarot brings these principles into a form intended for contemporary practice. According to the Order’s tradition, its keys express knowledge preserved within the initiatory lineage and reflected in the symbolic heritage of the ancient and Renaissance worlds.
This approach brings astrology, contemplation, and ritual into a coherent relationship. Each key is understood as a point of contact between a divine principle, a cosmic correspondence, and a dimension of human consciousness. Study gives the image meaning; contemplation deepens its presence; ritual places it within the living work of the tradition.
Aurum Solis therefore presents its Tarot as an expression of the ancient wisdom to which it is heir. Through the Golden Chain, this inheritance is understood as a responsibility: to preserve the teachings, illuminate their meaning, and bring them to life through practice.
The Hidden Keys
The cosmological heritage of Aurum Solis draws on the ancient traditions of Chaldea, Egypt, and the Greek world. Within the Order’s teaching, three numbers express complementary dimensions of the cosmos: five elements—the four elements together with Aether—seven traditional planets, and twelve zodiac signs. These numbers bring together elemental, planetary, and zodiacal symbolism in a unified sacred order.
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Together, they yield twenty-four principles, forming the foundation of the twenty-four Major Arcana of the Aurum Solis Tarot. This arrangement gives Earth and Aether their full place within the system. In The Divine Arcana of the Aurum Solis, Jean-Louis de Biasi explores the distinction between this structure and the familiar twenty-two-card arrangement, presenting the Order’s interpretation of how biblical and Qabalistic frameworks shaped later esoteric correspondences. Within the Order’s practice, the inclusion of all five elements supports a balanced relationship between the practitioner and the cosmos.
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Each element, planet, and zodiac sign is associated with a specific deity and with correspondences involving Greek and Hebrew letters and Egyptian hieroglyphs. Each card also has sacred names and gestures associated with its use in ritual. Ancient texts and archaeological objects provide sources for many of the symbols and associations brought together in this system. Their organization into a coherent set of Tarot keys expresses the particular teaching preserved and practiced by Aurum Solis.
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The Minor Arcana develop these relationships through four elemental suits. Within the Order’s approach, the interaction between the elements and the zodiac provides a key to understanding their structure. The planetary and zodiacal imagery of the Tempio Malatestiano in Rimini, together with Renaissance astrological manuscripts, offers a rich symbolic setting for contemplating these relationships.
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The Minor Arcana of the Aurum Solis Tarot therefore comprise four suits of twelve cards, yielding forty-eight cards. Each card brings together the element governing its suit and the elemental quality associated with a particular zodiac sign. This arrangement provides a framework for exploring the interplay of elemental powers throughout the zodiac.
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Tables summarizing these traditional correspondences appear in the booklet accompanying the Tarot deck and on this website. Further teachings and practical guidance can be found in The Divine Arcana of the Aurum Solis. Originally published by Llewellyn Publications, the book is being prepared for republication in a new, expanded edition.
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Song of Praise
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Divination is an essential aspect of the practice of the Aurum Solis Tarot. The Song of Praise, presented below in full, is used in many divinatory rites. Two of these rites are available on this website. Further guidance can be found in the booklet available for download on this page.
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Excerpt:
Aether
“Wind of the Spirit, radiant Holy Pinacle!
Life of the living, evanescent breath.
Your Glory is eternal, and your passing presence is felt by all.
Go, announce the return of the wanderers!”
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Tempio Malatestiano
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The Tempio Malatestiano in Rimini, on Italy’s Adriatic coast, offers a remarkable point of connection with the heritage preserved by Aurum Solis. Commissioned by Sigismondo Pandolfo Malatesta, the ambitious transformation of the medieval church of San Francesco brought classical architectural forms and an extraordinary symbolic program into a Christian religious setting.
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The building also preserves a direct connection with George Gemistos Plethon. Malatesta brought his remains from Mistra to Rimini, where they were placed in a sarcophagus within an exterior arched recess of the temple. His tomb remains there today. For the theurgic tradition preserved by Aurum Solis, this transfer carries profound symbolic meaning, honoring Plethon’s place in the transmission of ancient wisdom to Renaissance Italy. His presence gives the monument particular significance as a meeting place of remembrance, philosophy, and sacred symbolism.
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The entrance portal includes a triangular pediment in the antique style, while columns arranged on either side contribute to the façade’s monumental composition. These architectural features form part of the temple’s rich dialogue between classical forms and spiritual meaning. Malatesta’s relationship with Pope Pius II became one of open conflict, and the building’s classical imagery figured among the pope’s criticisms.
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The temple’s symbolic program includes eight chapels and fourteen exterior arched recesses designed to accommodate sarcophagi. The eight chapels hold particular resonance within the Hermetic tradition, in which the symbolism of the Ogdoad invites contemplation of spiritual regeneration and the divine order.
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One chapel features the Sibyls, figures of prophetic wisdom. The remarkable Chapel of the Planets presents the seven planetary deities and the twelve zodiac signs, whose classical imagery invites a Neoplatonic reading of the relationship between celestial order and human life. For Aurum Solis, these representations offer a visible expression of the correspondences linking the human being with the cosmos.
Within its own teaching, Aurum Solis reads these images as expressions of principles also preserved in its inner tradition. The relationship between the monument and the Order’s ritual system forms part of its initiatory understanding of this heritage. The sculptures themselves provide a historical witness to Renaissance cosmological imagery; their application within Aurum Solis gives that imagery a specific contemplative and theurgic purpose.
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From this perspective, the temple can be approached as a book of sacred images. Its planetary and zodiacal figures invite contemplation of the correspondences between the human being and the cosmos. In the practice of the Order, related symbols become supports for invocation, divination, and inner harmonization.
Bringing together monumental architecture, sacred imagery, and cosmological symbolism, the Tempio Malatestiano gives visible form to a rich spiritual vision. Within the interpretation cultivated by Aurum Solis, Plethon’s tomb and the temple’s symbolic program together express the enduring presence of this spiritual heritage.
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