firemaiden
Hi historians! Some wild, off the cuff speculations here...
I have come accross mention on some french tarot websites of influences on tarot from stone cutter societies, les tailleurs de pierre, those who did the incredible and weird cathedral sculptures. Since we have been discussing how some of the weird figures (monkeys on the wheel of fortune, and different demons) are similar to those carved in stone in the cathedrals, it intrigues me that the appearence of tarot comes along not long after the wave of great cathedral building accross europe. I wondered if there had been any attempt to link tarot to the secret initiation rites of the stone-sculptors companies, - les compagnons des tailleurs de pierre...
For Diana, and others who read french, here is a site about those compagnages: http://perso.wanadoo.fr/jean-michel.mathoniere/ctdp.htm
The interesting thing I learned on this site, is that the french, and german stone cutter societies all insisted that their group's history could be traced back to building the temple of Solomon. This website also says that these claims of origin are only myth, nevertheless, the stone cutters, and the building of cathedrals gained much impetus from the crusades, from contact with the moslem builders.
We have hope to prove, and given up trying to prove, I guess, that the tarot made its way to europe from the crusades, but might it have originated in the imaginations of the medieval stone cutters? -- or even have served as patterns for cathedral stone sculptures?
I have come accross mention on some french tarot websites of influences on tarot from stone cutter societies, les tailleurs de pierre, those who did the incredible and weird cathedral sculptures. Since we have been discussing how some of the weird figures (monkeys on the wheel of fortune, and different demons) are similar to those carved in stone in the cathedrals, it intrigues me that the appearence of tarot comes along not long after the wave of great cathedral building accross europe. I wondered if there had been any attempt to link tarot to the secret initiation rites of the stone-sculptors companies, - les compagnons des tailleurs de pierre...
For Diana, and others who read french, here is a site about those compagnages: http://perso.wanadoo.fr/jean-michel.mathoniere/ctdp.htm
The interesting thing I learned on this site, is that the french, and german stone cutter societies all insisted that their group's history could be traced back to building the temple of Solomon. This website also says that these claims of origin are only myth, nevertheless, the stone cutters, and the building of cathedrals gained much impetus from the crusades, from contact with the moslem builders.
We have hope to prove, and given up trying to prove, I guess, that the tarot made its way to europe from the crusades, but might it have originated in the imaginations of the medieval stone cutters? -- or even have served as patterns for cathedral stone sculptures?