To avoid charges of blasphemy and being burned at the stake tarot makers of Belgian tradition have replaced the Pope (Hierophant) and Papesse (High Priestess) with Bacchus and Captain Fracasse respectively.
When I discovered and fell in love with Belgian decks – Adam C de Hautot , Gerard Bodet and Vandenborre – I wondered if I would interpret Bacchus as Pope. After all a drunk monk was a part of folklore from the times immemorial, and wine represented spirituality quite often in poetry and fairy tales.
But looking at the card I can’t help but smile. He is funny. And that’s the keyword my mentor Elias gave me for this card – Silly.
What is it about? Let’s ask Noblet deck of majors created by Stav Appel (www.TorahTarot.com ) about the story.
Deck by Stav Appel
It is indeed about my journey to understand heavens and earth, to hear new fresh perspective of channeled entity (Elias) on topics that are important to me, and to deliver this treasure trove of the information as a powerful book.
And what else is cool about the book?
Deck by Stav Appel
Where the book really shines is in helping to make aware, intentional and empowering choices. Helping to convert inner subjective movements into objective powerful magic, integrate inner and outer life. We literally examine zodiac symbols as animal characters, as shown on the cards.
Most importantly the book is “like a box of chocolate” – there is something in it for everyone!
Does astrology enrich the meaning of Tarot cards or does it distract from the self sufficient complete system that can stand on its own very well, thank you? Perhaps the baby gets thrown out with the bath water in both extremes I believe. I prefer my cards not “peppered” especially when I disagree with given associations. Similarly, most of the time I read with cards as I see them and let them speak for themselves. Can they speak for themselves and stand on their own? Sure! But they are not necessarily isolated. Archetypes overlap considerably. Case in point – Moon. Do we really imagine highly educated artists and engravers unaware of the astrological (call it poetic or psychological ) moon? Like “looney”, “lunatic”, moody? Feminine (yin, magnetic, inner bound)? Luminous? Caring? Silent? To study astrological moon one would do good to themselves to read Japanese poetry, for example. Japanese has the word Ma which used to be spelled as Moon shining thru the (opening in the ) door and means the space or time or silence (in which things reside or sounds or notes are played). And so this is not diminishing the beauty of the Moon card, it adds to that. Is Tarot Moon identical to astrological Moon – it doesn’t have to be. Was Moon card (some say depicting an eclipse, another astrologically significant indicator) in part inspired by all the lore around the Moon (including astrology) – most definitely. I think part of the issue is that centuries ago astrology was baked into everyday life. Not every farmer was an astrologer of course, but perhaps many read the farmers almanac. Great William Lilly used to write for farmer’s almanac in-between readings for royalty and writing astrological treatises. I rest my case. As you can see I love both astrology and tarot and it pains me when one is misused or denied altogether 🙂
Trying to gage hurricane Henry impact on NYC two days in advance. Still unpredictable, but can grow very significantly in power and present unexpected turns and surprises.
The question was whether reading with full deck or major arcana is more effective and why. I used full deck to see what each method offers.
Row 1 (nature of reading with a full deck) seems to be a precisely powerful unifying balanced approach that keeps me interested and reading well . Row 2 (nature of reading with trumps only) seems to tilt the scales a bit, wouldn’t you say? But of course it too is super charged with all these swords ⚔️ 🗡. Maybe a bit too charged for my taste.
To Mozart the game of Tarot was one of the favorite pastimes. It could probably be compared to video games of today played with friends and strangers, except it was commonly played not only in taverns or private houses, but also in theaters before and/or after the show.
Notes on Miller 1780 by Giordano Berti
This copy of Miller 1780 is most likely the same design as cards played by maestro himself. We may never know if he ever used it for cartomancy, or if it enticed his imagination to enrich his compositions or operas, but we do know about his passion for the game.
My newly arrived copy was created by inimitable artist, art historian, expert consultant and teacher Giordano Berti. I’d like to share his recent comment on the look and feel of the cards that I found quite musical:
To Mozart!
Sometimes someone says to me: “Hey Berti, why your Tarot cards look so old? Why don’t you have the cards laminated?”
Every time I have to explain my philosophy.
I hate plastic. It breaks my heart to see oceans and beaches full of plastic. OK? I don’t dispute who produces plastic cards. I just don’t like plastic cards. And I don’t like plastic cards. for environmental reasons only.
Mine is a work of love for history. I want RINASCIMENTO decks to look like antique decks, faithful in color and size. But it is not just an aesthetic fact.
I want to give the physical sensation of having an ancient deck in hand as faithfully as possible. For this I searched for a very special, rare and expensive paper. This cardstock is very similar to the old cotton paper.
Many people, after they started using the RINASCIMENTO decks, write me to tell the sensations they felt: warmth, softness, naturalness and a particular inspiring energy.
And the music that comes out of non-laminated cards … listen to it! Plastic cards do “prrrrrr”. Ancient cards do “fruuuisch” … a sound that caresses the heart.
This is my great satisfaction. I am happy to make people happy …. and not to pollute the world .. at least, the world of Tarot. I do my duty like that too. 🙂
Let’s invite new people to the table. You got to roll the dice to win. Boom. Was it wine or lightening that lit up the tree? In the large scheme of things you are famous – irreplaceable and indispensable – so have another drink on the house!
Tarotoria 