Dodal
Le Monde · XXI
A lightly draped figure stands inside a large leaf-like oval, with one leg bent across the other. A human figure, bird, lion and bull occupy the corners outside it. The central figure holds a slender implement.
What does the surrounding ring do?
A central figure and four corner creatures remain recognizable as the World becomes the Universe. Look at how the oval separates a centre from its surroundings.
Start with the pictures
Le Monde · XXI
Jean Dodal · Lyon, 1701–1715
Open the source image ↗
The World · XXI
Pamela Colman Smith · 1922 printing, p. 157
Open the source scan page ↗Notice what changes
Smith
The World · XXI
A lightly draped figure holds two short wands inside an oval wreath. A human face, eagle, lion and bull occupy the four corners.
Harris
The Universe · XXI
A dancing figure occupies the centre of a blue-green oval field. A serpent curves around the body, and four animal or human heads occupy the corners. A small geometric structure sits along the lower edge.
Open Harris’s painting and reference page ↗Now read the authors
Waite’s explanation
Waite speaks of cosmic fulfilment, restored creation and the soul’s divine vision. He rejects identifying the figure simply as an initiated Magician or as an image of the Absolute.
Crowley’s explanation
Crowley presents the Universe as the Fool’s completing counterpart.
Does the ring seem to enclose, protect, display or connect the figure—and which detail leads you to that choice?
Write one thing you can point to in the image, one interpretation from a named author, and one inference of your own. Keeping the three separate gives you something useful to revisit.
Read the contemporary essay
Gabriel approaches the card as a picture of the cosmos. Compare his explanation with the two primary texts, while keeping scientific descriptions and symbolic correspondences distinct.
Sources and image credits
The Dodal cards are one early-eighteenth-century Marseille witness. The black-and-white Smith plates come from the 1922 Rider reprint, whose title verso lists first publication in 1910. Colours in later editions can differ.
The images shown here are reproduced from public-domain sources, with their original borders and page context.
- Jean Dodal · source record and rights statement ↗
- Pamela Colman Smith · source record and rights statement ↗
Harris’s paintings are linked on their host’s reference pages. Crowley’s text is the separately identified Thelemagick transcription of The Book of Thoth. Neither a modern reproduction nor a transcription replaces examination of the original artwork or edition.