Tarotpuu

I wrote this article for the Tarosophist Spring 2012 issue which, I’m happy to say, is just awesome (even without my article, ahem). To the best of my knowledge this magazine is currently the only tarot magazine in print, enjoying a steady and growing audience. So order it now via Lulu or even better, join the Tarot Professionals!

 

A Short History of Tarot up to the French Revolution

I’ll begin this short introduction to Tarot history with a quote: “The word tarot is ambiguous and complex. For me, for my childhood memories, “tarots” are above all the red oranges of Sicily, splendid and sunny, that the greengrocer broke in two to triumphally show its radiant inside as a ruby and perfect as the rose – window of a Gothic cathedral. And that is such a beautiful and vivid memory that the adjective “taroccato” has always bothered me, which young people, with so much frequency, use to indicate something of forgery and of false, and a cheat… It is evident the dramatic dichotomy of certain their denominations: the “triumphs” recall court images, of victory, of power, of luxury, whereas the “minchiate” speak the language of the vulgar, of the fraud, of street violence, of the nothingness. A language that denounces a bipolar attitude toward the game: fear, charm, challenge and contempt.” (Introduction by Franco Cardini in I Tarocchi – Storia Arte Magia, dal XV al XX secolo / Tarots – History Art Magic, from XV to XX century by Andrea Vitali and Terry Zanetti. Edizioni LE TAROT, 2006. p. 5)

One of the first things that come to my mind when thinking of the history of tarot is the voice of professor Michael Dummett (1925-2011), when he explains in the Strictly Supernatural: Tarot & Astrology documentary, “The earliest actual documentary reference to them [tarot cards] is from 1442 from the account books of the court of Ferrara, but I think they were probably invented about two decades earlier, sometime in the 1420s.” (You can get the dvd from Amazon. If you haven’t got it you should, just for the sake that it’s narrated by Sir Christopher Lee)

When speaking of tarot’s history it is important to keep in mind two things: first, the exoteric and the esoteric history of tarot; second, the history of the term ‘tarot’, and the history of a pack of cards called tarot. Exoteric history deals with the actual information that has preserved down to us from the past; with tarot this refers to old cards (completely preserved packs are very rare), dated references to them (who paid how much, when and where and if we’re lucky, for what sort of cards) and their use, possible and pausible links regarding their spreading throughout the world, and so on. The esoteric history, on the other hand, is interested in different and occasionally rather wild theories regarding the origins and use of the cards. Many times this is about revealing the “true origin and nature” of tarot. Probably the most famous example between the exoteric and esoteric tarot history is the “theory of Egyptian origin”. According to many esoteric tarot scholars, tarot cards were invented in ancient Egypt and the cards contain the secrets of the universe (or something close to those lines), whereas the exoteric tarot scholars state that tarot didn’t exist before the 15th century. While I myself gladly follow the exoteric tarot scholars, I also keep in mind the fact that Renaissance humanism had its roots in Hellenistic / Ancient Greek philosophy, which in turn had its roots in Egyptian philosophy. So even though tarot cards most likely didn’t exist in ancient Egypt, the ideas and beliefs that can be found in tarot date back – at least indirectly – to Egypt.

The earliest tarot cards come from mid-15th century Italy, but at the time were called Cartes de trionfi, ‘cards with triumphs’. By the 16th century this term was replaced by ‘tarocchi’ (still in Italy). The etymology of this word remains unclear. In 1694, the cardmakers of Paris called themselves tarotiers, which probably derived from the French word ‘tarot’. Before, in France the Italian term ‘tarocchi’ became ‘taraux’. There’s a small leap from ‘taraux’ to ‘tarot’.

So, for the first 200 years or so people didn’t know “tarot cards” per se, because the term ‘tarot’ didn’t exist yet. Regarding the term ‘taroccato’ as mentioned in Cardini’s quote, it has also stood for a technique used in northern Italian courts for decorating illuminated manuscripts by punching and incising. Another possible source for “Tarocco” (singular form of Tarocchi) could also be a dialect word “tarocar”, which refers to saying or doing foolish things during game or gambling. Also, there’s the Taro River, which flows into the Po River north of Parma in northern Italy.

If you believe the esoteric idea that the ancient Egyptians knew tarot cards then it follows that tarot is much older than playing cards. Here the exoteric history again says the opposite: playing cards were invented in China around the 11th century, and from there they travelled towards east. A more direct link to European playing cards comes from the Egyptian Mamluk playing card deck a.k.a. Mulûk-Wa-Nuwwâb, ‘Kings and viceroys’. A lucky incident happened in 1939 when archaeologist Leo Ari Mayer discovered an almost completely preserved pack of Mamluk cards in the Topkapi Sarayi Museum of Istanbul. Even though there are no humans depicted in the Mamluk cards (as the Koran favours aniconism) there are many similarities with the first European playing cards, some of which come from Moorish Spain. From here they spread out to Italy and elsewhere in Europe, or then the cards first came to Venice (as Venetians were busy doing trade with the Mamluks; check out Venice’s Principal Muslim Trading Partners: the Mamluks, the Ottomans, and the Safavids at www.metmuseum.org!) and then travelled “back” to Spain. Now we already have the four suit signs which are similar to those found in tarot, although Europeans mistook the Mamluk polo stick for a baton or wand. The first European references to playing cards date from the 1370s.

Sir Dummett and many other tarot academics believe the 22 trump cards (which later became known as the Major Arcana) were added to the recently introduced playing card deck sometime before 1440s in northern Italy. The wealthy and ruling Visconti, Sforza and d’Este families commissioned artists to paint exquisite cartes de trionfi for them. These cards were most likely used in a card game similar to the modern day Bridge. From these ‘Visconti cards’ we have two almost completely preserved sets, which are among the oldest known tarot decks to date; the first one is the Visconti di Modrone a.k.a. ‘Cary-Yale’ deck (dated 1441 by Dummett) and the second one the so-called Pierpont Morgan-Bergamo Visconti-Sforza Tarocchi a.k.a ‘Colleoni-Baglioni’ deck (dated 1450 by Dummett). The trump cards portray figures of both temporal and celestial powers, virtues and biblical scenes, and show iconographical resemblance to other works of art from the same period (compare e.g. to Giotto’s frescoes).

The only two completely preserved decks from the 15th century are the so-called Mantegna tarocchi (ca. 1460), and the Sola-Busca deck (ca. 1491) which shows characters and warriors from ancient Rome. The ‘Mantegna tarocchi’ is rather misleading for a title, as the deck isn’t a typical tarot deck, nor was it devised by Andrea Mantegna. Instead it has 50 cards grouped into five series (E-A) with 10 cards in each group. The deck is sometimes called as “Neoplatonic ladders”, as it is possible to “travel” up and down the cards, as they show the evolution (or involution) from the lowest state (Il Matto, the beggar) to the highest (Prima Causa, first cause). These two very different decks – as well as the more ‘traditional’ Visconti cards – attest to the possibility of tarot and likewise sets to have been used as mnemotechnical devices (Ars Memoria).

The availability (and hence, popularity) of both playing and tarot cards is directly linked to the development of paper industry. The Visconti type cards were expensive works of art unavailable to anyone save the nobility. As the paper mills spread throughout Europe, printing of cards became a trade, and so the cards reached all levels of society. It is probably not a coincidence that both playing cards and paper reached Europe the same route (though paper preceding the cards); from China to the Islamic world, and then to Europe.

As the mass production of tarot began in the 16th century the Tarot de Marseille became the standard pattern. Simple and yet complex images brought to life by woodcut printing ganed huge popularity – soon the Marseille tarot appeared here, there and everywhere. Standardization was the key, and the same happened to playing cards too (two colours, simple images). For now, the age of hand painted works of art was over (see e.g. the Ambras deck (ca. 1445), Hofämterspiel (ca. 1460) or the Stuttgarter Hofjagdspiel (ca. 1431)). Michael Dummett has estimated that in the 16th century around half a million Tarot de Marseille decks were made in France, and in the 17th century around a million – out of these, only three or four have made it to our days (and not all in a complete form). It is also important to remember that tarot was still a game during this period, at least for the majority, although other uses most likely coexisted too. The fact that the Mantegna tarocchi looks the way it does, tarocchi appropriati (16th century) or Le Sorti intitolate Giardino di Pensieri by Francesco Marcolino da Forli (1540) speak of other uses of the cards, from cultivation of the mind and spirit to entertainment to fortune-telling.

It was in the Age of Enlightenment in France that the Big Bang for the esoteric tarot happened, and when tarot began to be used for fortune-telling – even the tarot academics are happy to admit this. Antoine Court de Gébelin (ca. 1719-1784) was a freemason and a protestant pastor, and it was he who first wrote about the Book of Thoth [read: tarot cards]. According to him, tarot was invented in ancient Egypt and it contained, quite simply, the wisdom of the world. He published his theories in the massive encyclopedia, Le Monde Primitif (1777-1796). The 8th volume (1781) contains the seminal essays: Du Jeu des Tarots written by Court de Gébelin himself, and Recherches sur les Tarots, et sur la Divination par les Cartes des Tarots by his friend Comte de Mellet (Louis Raphaël Lucrèce de Fayolle, 1727-1804). Here, for the first time, the relationship between tarot and the kabbalistic Tree of Life were published. The age was ripe for secret societies, and tarot made its way into the occult world. It was gladly received.

Instead of focusing on Court de Gébelin’s and Comte de Mellet’s achievements I’ll dedicate this final paragraph to someone less famous and less fortunate: Jean-Baptiste Alliette a.k.a. Etteilla (1738-1791). He had been a fortune-teller in the past, using ordinary playing cards. After the essays expounded in Le Monde Primitif, he became one again, this time using tarot cards. Etteilla is to be thanked for the many “firsts”; new ideas he brought into reality and which have since then become standard tarot practise. His name already reveals one of these “firsts”: by reversing his surname he began a tradition of pseudonyms, which e.g. Eliphas Lévi (Alphonse Louis Constant) and Papus (Gérard Encausse) continued. Etteilla also invented the first tarot deck specifically designed to esoteric purposes and fortune-telling (Grand Etteilla: Ou Tarots Égyptiens), as well as the first tarot book for the exact same purpose (Manière de se récréer avec le jeu de cartes nommées tarots, ‘How to entertain oneself with a deck of cards called tarots’, 1785). His deck bore many innovations; firstly, he numbered all the cards from 1 to 78 (the Fool occupies the last position). Secondly, all the cards have keywords written on them both upright and reversed. Thirdly, his deck was the first to combine zodiacal signs and the four elements to specific cards. Other “firsts” include e.g. inventing the term cartonomancie which then became ‘cartomancie’ and from here we get the english word ‘cartomancy’. Etteilla also was – most likely – the first person to promote card reading as professional activity. He even set up a school with his son, Société des Interprètes du Livre de Thot (1788), and also deviced the largest tarot spread ever known, the Great Figure of Destiny which uses all of the 78 cards.

Later tarot generations would come to accuse Etteilla of many things, denigrating his achievements to nothing, calling him an opportunist – perruquier Etteilla – who betrayed the “True Tarot” just like the Hermit with the keywords ‘traitre’ on the cover of this Tarosophist magazine. But Etteilla was no traitor (nor was he a wigmaker). He was a tarot pioneer in so many ways, looking in the past with the light of his lantern, trying to find the long lost wisdom of the ages. In so doing he infact reached into the future, and changed the future of tarot itself forever. The year Etteilla published his tarot deck, 1789, was the year the French Revolution began. Etteilla truly mirrored the spirit of his age. As the Cries of Paris reached the rest of Europe so would tarot reach across the Channel and spark another sort of revolution in the lives of the members of the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn.

Bibliography:
Caldwell, Ross Sinclair – Depaulis, Thierry – Ponzi, Marco (edit.): “Explaining the Tarot – two Italian Renaissance Essays on the Meaning of the Tarot Pack”, 2010
Decker, Ronald – Depaulis, Thierry – Dummett, Michael: “A Wicked Pack of Cards – The Origins of the Occult Tarot”, 2002
Denning, Trevor: “The Playing-cards of Spain – a Guide for Historians and Collectors”, 1996
Dummett, Michael: “The Game of Tarot”, 1980
Dummett, Michael: “The Visconti-Sforza Tarot Cards”, 1986
Farley, Helen: “A Cultural History of Tarot – From Entertainment to Esotericism”, 2009
Huson, Paul: “Mystical Origins of the Tarot – From Ancient Roots to Modern Usage”,    2004
Kaplan, Stuart R.: “The Encyclopedia of Tarot” (Vol. I – IV), 1975 – 2001
Mayer, L. A.: “Mamluk Playing Cards”, 1971
Moakley, Gertrude: “The Tarot Cards Painted by Bonifacio Bembo for the Visconti-      Sforza Family – An Iconographic and Historical Study”, 1966
Place, Robert M.: “The Tarot – History, Symbolism, and Divination”, 2005

Nyt se on taas täällä, nimittäin Airi Ojan ja allekirjoittaneen räväkkä Tarot & Numerologia -yhteiskurssi! 14.-15.4 la & su, eli varatkaapa allakoihinne ja ei kun ilmoittautumaan. Kahdeksan ensimmäistä ja onnekkainta otetaan mukaan!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Pdf: TarotNumeroKurssimainosHki2012

This post is about new tarot books that I’ve recently acquired. I hope it will wet your appetite and make you spend even more money on tarot books. Part 2 coming up in the not-too-distant future, with Enrique Enriquez’s Tarology, Abiding in the Sanctuary by Tali Goodwin & Marcus Katz, Mary K. Greer’s Who Are You in the Tarot?, and Marcus Katz’s Tarosophy.

Court de Gébelin, Antoine: Monde Primitif – Analysé et Comparé avec le Monde Moderne, TomeVIII (Elibron Classics, Adamant Media Corporation, 2006. Paperback). French text, with just 45 pages on tarot out of the 600. But still, this is it folks. Court de Gébelin, alongside with Comte de Mellet and Etteilla, is the forefather of modern esoteric tarot, and Part 8 of the massive Le Monde Primitif (1781) Encyclopedia by Court de Gébelin contains the seminal essays. And while Decker, Depaulis & Dummett have translated into english the key parts of the text in A Wicked Pack of Cards, and Jess Karlin has taken it all even further in his Rhapsodies of the Bizarre, I still love to have the original french text. Du Jeu des Tarots begins on page 365, while Comte de Mellet’s essay Recherches sur les Tarots, et sur la Divination par les Cartes des Tarots starts on page 395. Included in this Elibron Classics Replica Edition are also the Major Arcana cards and the four aces, drawn by Mademoiselle Limote.
Random yummy bit: “L’Aigle représente le Printemps, où reparoissent les oiseaux. Le Lion, l’Été ou les ardeurs du Soleil. Le Boeuf, l’Automne où on laboure & où on seme. Le Jeune-Homme, l’Hiver où l’on se réunit en societé.” (p. 378)

David, Jean-Michel: Reading the Marseille Tarot (Association for Tarot Studies, 2009. Paperback) J-M. David is one of the founders of the Association for Tarot Studies, the creator of Tarotpedia, and editor/publisher for a small number of books for the ATS. His academic background is in Philosophy (which he has also taught at University), and is currently teaching in a High School and in a Steiner Adult Education institution.
“A self-paced tarot course based on the Jean Noblet 1650 Paris deck arose out of course materials written for an online 30-week tarot course.” A big book, both in its size (A4, 535 pages) and content. While reading this book there’s been a recurring thought in my mind: “I wish Jean-Michel had been my history teacher at school.” There’s just so much information on symbolism, iconography, history, philosophy, politics, religion, art, tradition, lots of pics and lots of comparisons between decks, that I think I’ll be going through this tarot course over and over again. And what J-M. has the most – and which shines like a beacon throughout this work – is wisdom. This is not about presenting loads of data for its own sake, but getting to the core of it: what it means and what you can learn about yourself through understanding it, as presented in a ‘simple’ pack of cards. Plus the fact that it’s not like we’d have too many english language books on the Marseille tarot.
Although this book clearly focuses on the Major Arcana or trump cards, there is additional information on pip cards and other topics as well. These include chapters on: [3] The Pips; [6] The Courts; [9] Number; [11] Virtue; [18] About Readings, Eschatology & Metaphysics; [20] Elements & Alchemy; and [23] Astrologos.
Random yummy bit: “Conversely, the Bateleur, as master of the elements of his trade, is utterly effortlessly focussed on his dexterous activities. In contrast, the Papesse may be utterly oblivious to the physical to which her awareness may be temporarily as asleep. In his hands the Bateleur exercises his will, whereas in her hands the Papesse allows the will of the spirit to move.” (p. 71)

Gilbert, Toni: Gaining Archetypal Vision – A Guidebook for Using Archetypes in Personal Growth & Healing (Schiffer Publishing Ltd., 2011. Paperback, 128 pages). For over twenty years, Toni Gilbert has used insight-producing modalities such as Tarot, astrology, dream interpretation, and other shamanic tools to enhance her life and her alternative nursing practice. I first came to know of Toni Gilbert through her first book, Messages from the Archetypes, with its lively case stories and ‘upper/lower level’ interpretations of the cards. To me this book is, in short, Tarot Healing in the flesh.
Toni’s new book, Gaining Archetypal Vision, feels very much like a Part 2 of the Messages, where you get to know the inner mechanics of healing via archetypes, whether you then connect it to tarot or any other system. As the title suggests, this book is not about tarot per se, but on ‘living archetypes’. What I love most about this book is the fact that you can easily see Toni has a deep understanding of the human psyche and archetypes – and she can present the information clearly and in an entertaining manner. Even though the book only has 128 pages, don’t let it fool you – there’s a lot of Stuff in it. While reading through Archetypal Fundamentalist / Conservatives / Liberal and Spiritualist, I couldn’t help making comparisons with tarot (ok, I was doing that throughout the entire book). And that’s one of the nice things about this book; whatever your ‘tool’ is (provided it’s somehow related to understanding the human life) this book will spark new ideas about how to use your own toolkit. And seeing Maslow’s hierarchy of needs sitting side by side with the classical Chakra system ‘spiced up’ was just the ‘rad Toni’ I was expecting!
Chapters include: [1] Archetypal Vision; [2] Archetypal Thought as Inheritance; [3] Archetypal Growth and Development; [4] Health as Expanding Consciousness; [5] Archetypes of the Community; [6] Archetypes and Patterns of the Archetypes; and [7] Archetypal Tools for Healing in the 21st Century. In addition, there’s the wonderful Introduction: The Unfolding of an Alternative Nursing Practice where you feel like you’re walking with Toni as she tells you her own story and how archetypes came to (her) life.
Random yummy bit: “No religion or scientific study truly explains how our world works. Thus, what we can ultimately know may lie in our ability to observe archetypal patterns in their unique expressions. As we become familar with the archetypal effects upon our world and our lives, the more we come to know ourselves. The better we know ourselves, the more comfortable we will feel in the company of others. All in all, the knowledge that we gain from observing the archetypal system makes us more aware. And as we learn to make use of the archetypes, we’ll enhance our personal and social life, at home as well as in the world at large.” (p. 32-33)

TarotNumeroKurssimainosHKI112011

Seuraava Tarot ja Numerologia -intensiivikurssi yhdessä Airi Ojan kanssa Helsingissä 26.-27.11.2011. La & Su klo 10-16, paikkana terveysklinikka Long Life. Tervetuloa!

Peruutus: sairauden vuoksi en pääse tänään tulkitsemaan, mutta paikalla on Mikko Heikkilä. Mikko on ystävä, kollega ja taitava tulkitsija. Nauttikaa illasta & yöstä ja käykää tulkinnassa joko Era Novassa tai Shantissa!

Mikon sivut: http://tarottulkinta.fi/
-

Taiteiden Yönä pe 26.8.2011 olen tekemässä tulkintoja kahdessa paikassa:

Era Nova Bookshopissa (Kasarmikatu 2, Hki) klo 18:00-21:30

sekä

Joogakoulu Shantissa (Runeberginkatu 43, Hki) klo 22:00-01:00

Tulkinnat ovat molemmissa paikoissa lyhyitä, 15min. sessioita. Siinä ajassa ehtii juuri tehdä kolmen kortin pöydän. Tervetuloa tulkintaan!

 

 

Many tarot readers are aware of and actively use the so-called Personality, Soul and Year Cards. These cards are based on counting your birth date numbers together (or in the case of the Year Card, adding the numbers of the day and month to the current year), then adding each digit in the resulting sum to finally get a number from 1 to 22. This number (or numbers) corresponds to the Major Arcana card of the same number.

According to Mary K. Greer, “Personality Card indicates what you have come into this particular lifetime to learn. The corresponding Soul Card shows your soul purpose through all your lifetimes.”, while the Year Card “representing the tests, lessons and experiences you will go through this year.” (Tarot for Your Self, 1984. P. 11 & 14). Angeles Arrien writes, “The Personality Symbol [Personality Card] represents your expression in the outer world, your talents, gifts, resources; and how others see you… the Soul/Spiritual Symbol [Soul Card] represents the deepest core of who you are. This symbol provides an internal base of energy and natural resource for you to draw upon for your personality expression… Your Growth Symbol [Year Card] reveals all the possibilities for growth, opportunities, expansion, and challenge during the current year from birthday to birthday.” (The Tarot Handbook, 1997. P. 230).

There are a couple of ways to find out your Personality, Soul and Year cards. Using my birth date, July 21st 1977:

a) 21 + 7 + 1977 = 2005 -> 2+0+0+5 = 7. Seventh card of the Major Arcana = the Chariot.

b) 2 + 1 + 7 + 1 + 9 + 7 + 7 = 34 -> 3+4 = 7, the Chariot. My Personality and Soul Card is the same.

However, if the person’s birth date would happen to be May 11th, 1946:

a) 11 + 5 + 1946 = 1962 -> 1+9+6+2 = 18 -> 1+8 = 9.

b) 1 + 1 + 5 + 1 + 9 + 4 + 6 = 27 -> 2+7 = 9. You can see the first method gives you a bigger number, which you can still reduce to get a smaller one. In this case 18 or the Moon is the person’s Personality Card while 9, the Hermit, is the Soul Card.

With the Year Card:

a) 21 + 7 + 2011 = 2039 -> 2+0+3+9 = 14, which in tarot is Temperance. You can also reduce 14 to get 5, the Hierophant.

b) 2 + 1 + 7 + 2 + 0 + 1 + 1 = 14, Temperance.

Some sites which tell you more about Personality, Soul and Year Cards:

http://tarothealingbylisa.blogspot.com/2007/09/how-to-calculate-your-personality-soul.html

http://thetarotroom.com/?page_id=5244

http://www.aeclectic.net/tarot/learn/reading/year_soul_personality.shtml

“But wait, there’s even more!”

What I find interesting (among other things) is cycles, and themes repeating themselves. If you have already counted your Year Cards for a longer time period, you will most likely have seen that they don’t follow a simple pattern of 1 to 100. Instead, they suddenly go back from 13 to 5 (from Death to the Hierophant, that is) and then begin ascending again, until they might reach 14, Temperance, before jumping back to 6, the Lovers. I know it is not the same as what the term signifies in astrology, but I call these “going down to climb up again” cards and years as retrograde. I find it incredibly fascinating to monitor these “peak years followed by a base-jump” years and experience all that goes into them.

So, one day I decided to find out all my Year Cards up to my 100th birthday. I’m aware it is unlikely I’ll ever live that long, but I thought it might be interesting to see what kind of cycles the Year Cards form. So, starting from my birth all the way to the year 2077 when (hopefully not!) I will turn 100, the cycles go as follows:

7 (1977), 8, 9, 10, 11 -> 3 (1982) so in tarot that is from Justice to the Empress.

4 (1983), 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12 -> 4 (1992, from the Hanged Man to the Emperor)

5 (1993), 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13 -> 5 (2002, from Death to the Hierophant)

6 (2003), 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14 -> 6 (2012, from Temperance to the Lovers)

7 (2013), 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15 -> 7 (2022, from the Devil to the Chariot)

8 (2023), 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16 -> 8 (2032, from the Tower to Strength)

9 (2033), 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17 -> 9 (2042, from the Star to the Hermit)

10 (2043), 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18 -> 10 (2052, from the Moon to the Wheel)

11 (2053), 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19 -> 11 (2062, from the Sun to Justice)

12 (2063), 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20 -> 3 (2072, from the Judgement to the Empress)

4 (2073), 5, 6, 7, 8 (2077).

Important thing: with a two-digit Year Card I always take into account the reduced number and the corresponding card as well. So now that I’m in my 14 / Temperance Year, I also keep in mind the Hierophant, number 5.

I find it strangely comforting and almost school-like, that with each and every cycle I’ll be able to go one step further, and also get to start (again) one step further compared to the previous cycle. It is also interesting to note where your Personality / Soul Card travels in these cycles.

And now for the Lifetime Lesson Card, which is a term I believe I made up – if you have seen it somewhere else, please do let me know. By Lifetime Lesson Card I mean one single card, which comes up most often during a supposed 100-year life cycle. So, after you have found out your Year Cards all the way from the year you were born up to the year when you would turn 100, do a bit of statistical fun! Find out which number / card appears the most often. If, and when, the Year Card represents “the tests, lessons and experiences you will go through” during that particular year, I find it very logical that the card which appears most often during our entire lifetime would hold the most important test, lesson and experience. Here’s my Top 5:

9 / the Hermit: 8 times

10 / the Wheel: 9 times

11 / Justice: 10 times

12 / the Hanged Man: 9 times

13 / Death: 8 times

So the winner is 11, Justice! Now you count yours and tell me what is your Lifetime Lesson Card. Go on, do it!

Mary K. Greer writes in her blog about the history of the Visconti tarot cards. One suggestion for the possible creator/s of these first still-existing tarot cards is the Zavattari family. I promised Mary to post whatever information I could find regarding the family. So here’s the result. Not that much really, but hopefully it will inspire more tarot history fanat enthusiasts to research into their archives and libraries.

“These works of art, to judge by their content, were undoubtedly conceived by Humanist scholars, while the same artists commissioned to paint portraits, frescoes or illuminated manuscripts actually realised them. Recurring names, well-known to art historians, are those of Marziano da Tortona, Bonifacio Bembo, Francesco Zavattari, Antonio Cicognara and Michelino da Besozzo, although scholars are not in full agreement as to which packs to attribute to which artists.” -Giordano Berti, Introduction to the Visconti Tarot Cards (Lo Scarabeo, 2002)

So who were the Zavattaris? Stuart Kaplan informs us: “Bonifacio Bembo is often cited in association with the Zavattari style, and it is possible that he apprenticed in their shop. The Zavattari brothers worked in Milan and neighboring areas, together or individually, between 1407 and 1479. The brothers were Ambrogio, Cristoforo, Franceschino, Francesco, Giorgio, Giovanni, Gregorio and Vicenzo (Wikipedia gives a different version of the family here). In 1444, the Zavattari brothers executed the famous frescoes in the chapel of Queen Teodolinda (Theodelinda) at the cathedral of Monza. The frescoes describe the life of Queen Teodolinda: her arrival in Italy, her marriage, the death of Agehalf (Authari, aka Agilolf), her second marriage, her dream regarding the construction of a basilica, and so on. The frescoes depict beautiful costumes and elegant gatherings with a multitude of people, horses and dogs. It is not known which of the brothers participated in the Monza project. Van Marle (1926) suggested that the paintings which decorate the fifteenth-century Cary-Yale, Brera-Brambilla and Pierpont Morgan-Bergamo tarocchi cards closely approach the manner of the Zavattari and perhaps were executed by a progeny of the family. Giuliana Algeri (1981) attributed the tarocchi cards to the Zavattari brothers instead of to Bembo.” (Kaplan, Stuart R.: The Encyclopedia of Tarot, Vol. II, p. 140. U.S. Games Systems, Inc., 1986)

The Brothers are also briefly mentioned in Kaplan’s The Encyclopedia of Tarot, Vol. IV (p. 669) and concerning the above-mentioned Van Marle, M. L. D’Otrange writes in his article Thirteen Tarot Cards from the Visconti-Sforza Set (The Connoisseur, vol. 133, 1954, p. 60): “Van Marle, although suggesting a Zavattari attribution for the cards in the Bergamo Museum and the Colleoni Collection, admits that this set (here referring to the so-called Tozzi cards) is of later date..”

Michael Dummett says nothing, nada, zero of the Family in his The Game of Tarot (Duckworth, 1980) but luckily, in his The Visconti-Sforza Tarot Cards (George Braziller, Inc., 1986, p. 12) Sir Dummett offers us a very enlightening revelation (added the bold bit just to make sure you won’t miss it):

“The style of the Brambilla pack, from which remain only two trumps, the Emperor and the Wheel of Fortune, is indistinguishable from that of the Visconti-Sforza deck: it is inconceivable that they are not the work of the same artist. Serious study by art historians of the three tarot packs (here Dummett refers to Brambilla, Visconti di Modrone aka Cary-Yale, and the Visconti-Sforza) dates from 1912, when Tosca first assigned them all to the circle of the Zavattari brothers. In 1928, Longhi proposed that they were painted by Bonifacio Bembo, a hypothesis firmly adopted by Wittgens in 1936 and by Rasmo in 1939. This attribution has been unanimously accepted until very recently, when Giuliana Algeri suggested that both the Brambilla and Visconti-Sforza packs were painted by Francesco Zavattari on the ground of their stylistic resemblance to his work in the chapel of Theodolinda at Monza. She explains the even closer resemblance to the illustrations in the manuscript Story of Lancelot, attributed to Bembo, by assigning them to Zavattari as well. An attribution on stylistic grounds is shaky because there is little attributed with certainty to Bembo, save the frescoes in the Cavalcabo chapel in the church of S. Agostino in Cremona. Nevertheless, nothing would stand in the way of attributing the Visconti-Sforza pack to him if the Brambilla deck did not exist. Bembo is known to have worked for Francesco Sforza, but not for Filippo Maria; the attribution to him of packs painted for the Visconti duke leaves quite a narrow margin for dating them. He was born around 1420; the earliest datable work ascribed to him is from 1442. Filippo Maria is unlikely to have commissioned so young an artist at that date, or to have had playing cards made for him at the very end of his life, when he was almost blind. The difficulty is resolved if the artist were Zavattari, who was active between 1417 and 1453. The Brambilla pack might then have been painted at any time between 1420 and 1444, while the Visconti-Sforza deck must be dated to 1450 or at the most two years later.”

Dummett continues (p. 14): “The attribution of both the Brambilla and Visconti-Sforza packs to Francesco Zavattari – the first made for Filippo Maria and the second for Francesco Sforza – may, thus, be tentatively accepted, but not a late date for the Visconti di Modrone cards, which must be dated 1441. For the history of tarot cards it is the dating, rather than the artist, that is important: the identification of the latter only serves as a key to the former. Several artists may have worked on the Visconti di Modrone pack; if none of them was Francesco Zavattari, they were of the same school. So far, there is only the vaguest dating for the Brambilla pack, but the best clue lies in the nonstandard composition of the Visconti di Modrone one.”

Dummett also mentions the Algeri / Zavattari connection in his article Tracing the Tarot (part of Tarot Triumphant in FMR Magazine, No. 8, 1985): “The earliest surviving packs are the three now usually ascribed to the Cremonese painter Bonifacio Bembo (c. 1420 – c. 1480), although Giuliana Algeri has recently argued the claim of Francesco Zavattari, in Gli Zavattare (Rome, 1981).”

Ross Caldwell has produced an english translation of Algeri’s arguments on dating the decks here.

Thierry Depaulis equally favours Francesco Zavattari, when writing in the exhibition catalogue Tarot, Jeu et Magie (1984): “A little after the First World War, Italian art historians advanced the hypothesis of Bonifacio Bembo, presumed author of the majority of “first hand” cards. This attribution, which has had some success among specialists, has been recently disputed by Giuliana Algeri (Gli Zavaratti: Una famiglia di pittori e la cultura tardogotica in Lombardia, Rome, 1981): not only do the dates not harmonize well, but there is no other certain work (“documented”) of Bembo. The name of Francesco Zavattari, author, with his brothers, of a signed fresco in the Chapel of Monza, appears more convincing.” (link here from Trionfi.com)

So that was in the mid-Eighties. Then in 1991 appeared a book entitled Bonifacio Bembo – Tarocchi Viscontei della Pinacoteca di Brera / Visconti Tarots of the Brera Gallery (Martello Libreria, 1991) by Sandrina Bandera Bistoletti, where we find:

“When the tarocchi deck known as Brambilla appeared on the scene, in a Finarte sale in 1971, its relationship to the Visconti-Sforza tradition was clear, and the attribution of the Brambilla deck to the same artist recognised by Longhi, Bonifacio Bembo, was unanimous (footnote on this mentions three authors; one being herself). The possibility of attributing the three aforementioned decks (Brera-Brambilla, Visconti di Modrone aka Cary-Yale, and the Visconti-Sforza aka Colleoni-Baglioni) to a single artist has been questioned by Algeri and Mulazzani (1981). The expert recognised the hand of Francesco Zavattari in the Brambilla and the Colleoni-Baglioni decks, returning to the attribution of Venturi, and, as has been mentioned above, dates the Visconti di Modrone deck to a later period, interpreting the presence of the Savoy coat of arms together with that of the Visconti-Sforza family, as a reference to the marriage of Galeazzo Maria Sforza to Bona di Savoja in 1468. Mulazzani, instead, considers the Visconti di Modrone tarocchi to be the earliest of all, in fact even earlier than period of Bonifacio Bembo’s activity; the other two decks have been attributed by Mulazzani to an anonymous “Maestro dei Tarocchi”, quite different from Bembo who was considered to be a painter of pictures and frescoes only. Recently, Boskovits (1988) discovered an ink drawing, painted in water colours, in the Ledger of the Consorzio di Sant’Omobono in use in Cremona between 1450 and 1484, which a document declares to have come from the Bembo workshop, the work of Ambrogio, Bonifacio’s brother and close collaborator. Being beyond all doubt of the same style as the tarocchi and other works from Cremona (paintings and miniatures), this drawing confirms Longhi’s initial attribution, clearing any shadow of doubt regarding the origin of the three Brambilla, Visconti di Modrone and Colleoni-Baglioni decks – the Cremona workshop of the Bembo family.” (p. 14 & 16)

Regarding the Zavattari brothers Bistoletti continues: “Compared with the Visconti di Modrone deck, the Brambilla cards show no traces of the influence of the figurative style of the Zavattari family, who, with the Monza frescoes of 1445, made a decisive development with a taste for round faces, figures with a solid aspect, together with a basic cultural eclectism which was able to combine the influence of Pisanello with that of Masolino resulting in a knightly tradition, closely linked to the purpose of the court. The Brambilla deck can therefore be considered as a production of the Bembo workshop, and can be dated about 1442-43…

The influence of the Zavattari style on the cards now in Yale (aka Visconti di Modrone) should be mentioned: there is a clear reference to the spirit of chivalry and worldliness which is present in the series of frescoes in the cathedral of Monza – the best-known work of the Zavattari family. This influence can be noted in the ritual attitudes of the figures in the Yale deck: they are frequently accompanied by pages, as was the custom at court. Another Zavattari characteristic is the emphasis on the facial features which can be seen in the cards. In the cards of the later deck, split between Bergamo and New York (aka the Visconti-Sforza deck), on the other hand, we find a greater sense of the monumental nature of the figures: they are characterised by imperious gestures, by the architecture of the thrones which are no longer gothic, but squarer in shape, and by the less frivolous surroundings; perhaps this was an adjustment to the new political climate introduced by the rough soldierly origins of Francesco Sforza at the outset of his dukedom, with some stylistic influence from the followers of Squarcione who worked in Lombardy.” (p. 32 & 34)

Okay, now Ich bin confused. So, according to Bistoletti, Bembo and/or his workshop wins the prize for “who painted them cards” but influence of the Zavattari Bros. in the Visconti di Modrone is obvious? Well, that does make sense – the past usually does influence on what we do, be that then in art or anywhere else. But I’m still thinking what Van Marle/Algeri/Depaulis/Dummett wrote.. with a young Bembo painting for the old Filippo, with a narrow time margin. Or then there is something which I haven’t quite grasped (that happens a lot so I wouldn’t be surprised). Also, there’s the frivolous question of “Why should I care who painted the cards?”, which I can easily neglect due to being a tarot history addict. Yeah, it does matter. And no, most likely we will never find out “who did what” (unless a letter should present itself which would state something like “I, Francesco Zavattari, painted the whole deck just by myself – Bembo had nothing to do with it!”). An enigma. One could say that is the essential – if not the central – element of tarot itself, and it is also present in the history of tarot, like it or not. I noticed Bistoletti has another tarot themed book as well: I tarocchi: il Caso e la Fortuna (1999). I wonder if she says anything regarding the Zavattari / Bembo question there.

While pondering these nagging questions, why not enjoy a couple of YouTube clips which feature the Zavattari art: