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Apr 28

Etteilla card 16 Opinion and Vergnano Judgment card
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Was Etteilla Influenced by Piedmont Tarot?

Etteilla, tarot super-star of mid-1700s Paris, claimed he studied tarot from 1757 to 1765 at the urging of “an aged Piedmontese”. In his memoirs, a Parisian actor who was Etteilla’s contemporary, describes visiting Italian fortune tellers in Paris. It’s not a stretch to imagine Etteilla learning card reading from one of them.

If this elderly Piemontese teacher was in his 60s in 1757, then he was born a little before 1700. He may have learned to read tarot in his youth in the 1720s from a teacher who could have learned the cards around 1680. This would make Etteilla the bridge to a very old Italian card reading tradition. Read more

Apr 22

Page of Swords and Ace of cups from the Ancient Italian Tarot
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Living the Tarot: Refusing the Ace of Cups

I woke up this morning feeling happy and positive; so I asked the cards how I could keep the feeling going all day. I got the unlikely duo of the Page of Swords and Ace of Cups.

Of course, the Ace of Cups is a very good thing. It promises creativity, inspiration, loving encounters — maybe even unicorns and rainbows! You never know.

But the Page seems cynical and skeptical. He’s set up a barrier with that upright sword tilted slightly toward his head and blocking the ace.  He’s a wise-guy who’s too smart to be taken in by promises from a fat little cherub popping out of an over-decorated urn. In fact, the Page has a short dagger in his belt, ready to stick any cherub, or unicorn, that gets too close. Read more

Apr 16

Pierre Madenie deck three-card spread
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Three-Card Spreads: Reading with a Significator

Here’s a technique for getting a quick answer to a question. It’s especially useful if you want to know whether the universe, or Dame Fortune, supports your plans.

Designate a significator for the question. Keep it in mind, but don’t pull it out of the deck. Shuffle the deck while focusing on your question. Look through the deck for the significator and take it out along with the cards on either side of it. Line the cards up and look at how well the flanking cards support the significator. Read more

Apr 8

Paul Huson Mystical Origins of the Tarot book cover
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From My Bookshelf: Mystical Origins of the Tarot by Paul Huson

The other day, when I needed to check something concerning 15th-century suit symbols, I knew just where to go — Huson’s book on the history of tarot. The title is rather misleading, since there’s no mystical hokey-pokey; just solid, well-researched history.

The book is especially strong on the fifteenth century, which many authors skim over in their rush to the better-documented 19th-century occultists. Huson also gives a thorough discussion of the origins of the suit symbols and possible symbolic attributions to the four suits — another subject most popular authors gloss over. Read more

Apr 4

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Tarot de Marseille Books in English: The Big Four

Recently, I’ve been rotating through the four TdM books listed below, reading about each trump card in turn. I’m struck by the individual voice and unique viewpoint in each book. It’s like holding a gem up to the light and turning it back and forth to appreciate each facet individually.

Ben-Dov supplies meat-and-potatoes card meanings and practical advice for readers. J-M David gives us a foundation in art history and 15th century iconography interspersed with practical exercises. Jodorowsky is an original who shares his deep understanding of the cards while presenting the deck as an organic structure. Elias invites us to look over her shoulder as she interprets spreads for her clients. Read more

Mar 31

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Living the Tarot: Doing the King of Cups

Yesterday morning, before pulling my two cards for the day, I asked myself how I wanted to feel during the day. I have several writing projects stacked up, so I wanted to feel focused and productive. I asked the cards what I could do to make it a productive day, and pulled the King of Cups and the Seven of Batons from the Ancient Italian deck.

This combo isn’t very compatible. The King is planted solidly in his chair, grasping a very large open goblet that shows his enormous capacity for imbibing whatever life has to offer. Those frothy feathers and red garters don’t bode well for the kind of focus and dedication that the seven batons require. Read more

Mar 20

three-card spread with Ancient Italian Tarot

An All-Purpose Three-Card Spread

Most of the questions we put to Tarot have the same basic structure: Subject-Object-Verb; or Querant-Question-Bridge. There’s the person asking the question, what the question is about, and what’s going on between them. We can use these three components as spread positions for a made-to-order layout that works well with the Tarot de Marseille.

For example:

Will I win the lottery next week?  There’s me, the lottery, and what’s possible between us. Read more

Mar 10

Justice Card Dotti Tarot de Marseille
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Giving Up on Yes/No Spreads

A few months ago, I endured several weeks where my life was out of control and my daily schedule at the mercy of other people’s decisions (also known as Jury Duty).

This seemed like a perfect time to test out some Yes-No spreads.

At the beginning of each day, I’d ask the cards things like: will the judge let us go home early today; will the prosecution wrap up its presentation; will the defendant go for a plea bargain and put us all out of our misery? I used four different yes/no techniques for each question employing just the forty pip cards. I recorded the responses and tallied how often each technique predicted events correctly. Read more

Mar 6

Moon and Three of Cups from Madenie Tarot de Marseille
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Tarot History Rant #4: The 22-Card Deck (and why I read the TdM with a full deck)

You may have heard people say the 22 trumps were grafted onto a pack of playing cards for gaming purposes. Actually, the 22 trump cards and the four suits were always a set. You need 78 cards to play the game of Trionfi/Tarocchi/Tarot. The 22 trump cards were never sold separately until occultists put them on a spiritual pedestal while scorning the suit cards (minor arcana) as a vulgar fortune-telling tool.

Many contemporary French and Italian tarot books discuss only the trump cards. If they deal with the minor arcana at all, it’s with a few lines for each card in the back of the book, as if the author were embarrassed to be caught talking about them. Read more

Mar 3

Towards the Art of Reading by Camelia Elias book cover
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Marseille Tarot: Towards the Art of Reading by Camelia Elias

This exciting book by Camelia Elias is a new addition to our small supply of Tarot de Marseille books in English.

We hit the ground running on the first page with an actual reading done in a café. This sets the tone for the book, where every card, and every teaching, is accompanied by a three-card spread illustrated in color.

The essence of Elias’s technique is to tell a concise story with three cards, staying close to the reality of the images. When she amplifies her card meanings with another system, she goes to folk traditions in cartomancy, which she calls the “cunning folk” method. Read more

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