The Power of Myth

Huck said:

With this a strange coincidence was observed. Pico de Mirandola, the kabbalist with his famous theses, had been cousin to Matteo Boiardo, the poet. Pico de Mirandola published his work in December 1486, just one month before the Tarocchi poem.

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Pico della Mirandola was a syncretist, which means that in his cultural and philosophical milieu, being a disciple of Marsilio Ficino and Elias del Medigo, kabbalistic, hermetic and neo-platonist references and ideas were already circulating, even though translations and related works were on their way of being published. That can give us the benefit of considering periods of time far more flexible than those that result from pointing to specific dates and events. It widens the threshold.

I've been wondering what tarot mythology meant to people who were closer to the source, those occultists of earlier times who believed in it unreservedly. What emotional or spiritual needs did it fulfill for them? What can this tell me about my own attraction to Tarot? The most accessible occult authors on my bookshelf are Papus and Waite, so I re-read their introductory comments to get a feeling for what tarot myths they believed in and what it did for them emotionally and psychologically.

Papus had a scientific background (he was a doctor) and was proud of being rational and precise, but he bought the entire Ancient Egypt/Gypsies package uncritically.

In the very first paragraph of The Tarot of the Bohemians he says that scientific materialism has gone as far as it can in fragmenting knowledge. We need a synthesis – and synthesis was the genius of ancient civilizations, especially India and Egypt. The word "synthesis" appears numerous times in the book. He defines it as the ability to condense all knowledge into a few simple principles.

Papus seems driven by a need for a grand synthesis, rooted in the simple truths of ancient times, that reflects the structure of the universe. Years of intense study of Tarot imagery, the Hebrew language and Egyptian hieroglyphics led him to the inescapable conclusion that the Tarot deck embodied the synthesis he was searching for.

This I can relate to! My first experiences with Tarot are beginning to recede into the "mists of time", but I can remember the excitement of seeing my universe – the four elements, seven planets, Jungian personality types, steps of the hero's journey, the Great Chain of Being - all reflected in the humble of deck of cards I carried around in my purse. What powers might I possess, and what wisdom might I embody with the help of my cardboard universe-in-a-box!

A.E. Waite wrote an introduction to the English translation of Papus' book where he asserts that tarot began as an Italian card game and he heaps scorn on anyone who believes de Gebelin's Egyptian baloney. This is followed by several pages of scathing comments about French occultists and their fantasies.

While Papus based his tarot myth on his study of the Hebrew language and a close examination of the cards' imagery, Waite's tarot myth seems to rest on a direct, mystical knowing that can't be put into words, so we just have to trust him on it. I think Waite's version of the Tarot myth can be summed up in his statement that: "The Tarot embodies symbolical presentations of universal ideas…they contain secret doctrine, which is the realization by the few of truths embedded in the consciousness of all". I think what he's saying is that Tarot exists on many levels from the vulgar and profane to the most rarified. Tarot symbolism forms the last level, a veil, over the inner sanctum holding the highest mysteries. These mysteries, the Secret Doctrine, are apprehended directly only by those who possess the spiritual gifts to perceive them.

In other words: "I know something you don't know and I'm not going to tell you because if you were worthy you'd know it already. The fact that you don't know what I'm talking about proves that you're one of the vulgar masses". Waite's myth appears to fulfill a rather adolescent emotional need to be part of an elite in-group with special knowledge (and a secret handshake and code words).

I have to admit, this was part of tarot's appeal for many years: the feeling of specialness when my friends petitioned me and my mysterious deck for answers to their dilemmas. The delicious delusion that I was a special person thanks to the arcane wisdom in my pack of cards. I never realized how much I have in common with those old occultists!

Sherryl

Sherryl said:

I never realized how much I have in common with those old occultists!

Sherryl

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And with the old Pythia.

Titadrupah said:

Pico della Mirandola was a syncretist, which means that in his cultural and philosophical milieu, being a disciple of Marsilio Ficino and Elias del Medigo, kabbalistic, hermetic and neo-platonist references and ideas were already circulating, even though translations and related works were on their way of being published. That can give us the benefit of considering periods of time far more flexible than those that result from pointing to specific dates and events. It widens the threshold.

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It's true, that something already existed ... but not in the global manner. Luigi Pulci was attacked being an kabbalist 1474/75 ... between others especially by Marsilio Ficino, just for a look at the details. A relative harmless sorcery scene in the Morgante poem (which has a "funny approach") was called the major reason.
Generally not too much persons knew about kaballistic texts or could read them.
General analysis claims, that Kabbala was - more or less - limited to Spain till the expulsion 1492 ... which isn't true in detail, but might be the major line of the development.
Well, one might argument, that only knowledge about Sepher Yetzirah might have been enough to set up a relation between Trionfi cards and Hebrew alphabet. Sepher Yetzirah was read by Kabbalists, but also by orthodox Jews.

But then ... you don't have evidence, that the Trionfi cards had 22 trumps before the Boiardo poem.

The Jews left Spain in droves following the massacres of 1361 and 1399 and continued on through the next two centuries. Many of these families came to Italy. In 1387 Gian Galeazzo Visconti began granting Jews many privileges in the Duchy of Milan.

Filippo Maria Visconti's personal physician and astrologer was Elia di Sabato da Fermo - a highly regarded Jew. Huum - let's see, a Jewish astrologer in the court of Milan for a certain period between 1412 and 1447 . . .

Sherryl said:

I think Waite's version of the Tarot myth can be summed up in his statement that: "The Tarot embodies symbolical presentations of universal ideas…they contain secret doctrine, which is the realization by the few of truths embedded in the consciousness of all". . . .
These mysteries, the Secret Doctrine, are apprehended directly only by those who possess the spiritual gifts to perceive them.

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Great summary. I think Waite was pretty darn brilliant - he speaks of the tarot as archetypal images (symbolical presentations of universal ideas) and he refers to the Greater Arcana as "the soul's passage" = fool's journey. He was a bit elitist about who could attain the mysteries - but who's not? Not everybody cares, and even Waite, who did care, felt frustrated about achieving a true mystical state.

I have to admit, this was part of tarot's appeal for many years: the feeling of specialness when my friends petitioned me and my mysterious deck for answers to their dilemmas. The delicious delusion that I was a special person thanks to the arcane wisdom in my pack of cards. I never realized how much I have in common with those old occultists!l

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I think that's a big part of it. To let go of the myth means we have to let go of being something special - or, at least, value tarot for some other reason. Perhaps that's the problem - many people wouldn't know what to value it for if it's just a set of pretty pictures about which we like to make up stories.

Our own age of fable...and pretty pictures...

Here's some of my own tarot myths...some revised in light of history.

Perhaps what makes tarot art confusing to some these days is there isn't one art genre, it's several different art styles that are celebrated by tarot art and it's not one system, but different ones that are being celebrated. This makes me yearn for context, so I run to look for a past system to make sense of the pretty or ugly pictures of different tarots.

My own mythology is it's not tarot nor cartomancy unless I can understand the past tarot system being used. Otherwise it can be a set of pretty or ugly pictures and it means little to me.

If I cannot identify an overall past system, then I have to say, "the author/artist's own take" and I don't mean to be dismissive, but there's so many different author/artists...

Ms. Greer and others were instrumental in helping me open my eyes, and there's a lot to keep reading and studying, which is fun for me.

But I did want to say in a bit more detail that my mistakes on looking at tarot and it's myths was to focus just on "tarot topics" exclusively. I mean not counting other things that should be counted to make the history of tarot as fascinating as it is. The good thing about Dummet and Decker and other historical looks at playing cards and tarot... is how inclusive of cartomancy and playing cards and thought forms, knowing bits of genre art history and illustrations in different time periods in a more inclusive way. Of course I am delighted in how historical looks mix their own humor, sometimes a surprising gentleness in their biographies of key occultists. Greer, Jensen, Dummett and Decker, Vitali...lots of different areas!

My own tarot mythology has changed considerably since reading historical takes and really exploring past cartomancy from 1770 through 1910.

If some people still want to say it was really mysterious, how mythological how Pamela Colman Smith looked at the art of her time and came up with peopled scenes of everyday to illustrate the minors---today I would point to many cartomancy samples that were available through Grimaud and other publishers from the 1850's onward that expanded how to read the 56 minor cards. It doesn't seem so mythological nor as mysterious when reflecting on the hours of reading history of cartomancy as a whole.

And the pretty pictures are still delightful.

It is, of course, unnecessary to believe in an exotic pseudo-historical origin in order to properly value Tarot. There's magic all around us. (I think John Milton once wrote that he could get drunk drinking a bit of water from a simple wooden bowl.) Why should there not be magic in a deck of playing cards? When I was a little child, my maternal grandparents introduced me to playing cards because they wanted a third hand for playing rummy. I not only enjoyed the game, but I could just sit and stare at the cards for extended periods of time and make up stories about the court cards. To me the designs were intrinsically magical, and I had no thoughts about their origins or that there was even such a thing as cartomancy. Years later when I bought my first Tarot deck (a miniature Albano-Waite), I neither knew nor cared about its origins, exept that this particular deck had been designed by Waite and Colman-Smith and modified by Albano. It was still magical to me in much the same way that an ordinary 52 card rummy deck had been. Today I am interested in the history of the cards, but it has no special impact on my appreciation of them. I'm all too aware than many people are wired differently than I; some may need a Tarot myth for stimulation.

Teheuti said:

The Jews left Spain in droves following the massacres of 1361 and 1399 and continued on through the next two centuries. Many of these families came to Italy. In 1387 Gian Galeazzo Visconti began granting Jews many privileges in the Duchy of Milan.

Filippo Maria Visconti's personal physician and astrologer was Elia di Sabato da Fermo - a highly regarded Jew. Huum - let's see, a Jewish astrologer in the court of Milan for a certain period between 1412 and 1447. . . .

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The general analyzes about the development of Jewish Cabala states, that the Cabala got strong power (and acceptance in Jewish life) in the period 1500 - 1750.

For centuries, and in general even to-day, the doctrines contained in the Zohar are taken to be the Cabala, although this book represents only the union of the two movements mentioned above. The Zohar is both the complete guide of the different cabalistic theories and the canonical book of the cabalists. After the Zohar, which must be dated about the beginning of the fourteenth century, and which received its present shape largely from the hand of Moses de Leon, a period of pause ensued in the development of the Cabala, which lasted for more than two centuries and a half.

Read more: http://www.jewishencyclopedia.com/view.jsp?artid=1&letter=C#28#ixzz1OQW3CaoZ

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This is a statement from 1906 - this is written before the tremendous work of Gershom Scholem, who surely improved the research situation and likely would attest a little more than "a pause of 250 years". But nonetheless Jewish cabala couldn't be called then as in a "state of expansion". With the expulsion from England "from 1269 onward" and following other expulsions from other countries Jews were in the defensive and this is likely a factor, why cabala didn't behave offensive.
A golden age for early Cabala development had been surely the time of Alfonso X. the Wise - then Jews in Spain had important function for translations of Arabian sources to European languages.

Early cabala took place mainly some time in Provence (in the beginning of cabala and after 1170) and then in Spain. A German development took place in Worms inside the Kalonymos family.

The German Cabala is a direct continuation of geonic mysticism. Its first representative is Judah the Pious (died 1217), whose pupil, Eleazar of Worms, is its most important literary exponent. Abraham Abulafia was its last representative, half a century later. The correctness of Eleazar's statement (in Del Medigo's "Maẓref la-Ḥokmah," ed. 1890, pp. 64, 65), to the effect that the Kalonymides carried the esoteric doctrines with them from Italy to Germany about 917, has been satisfactorily established. Till the time of Eleazar these doctrines were in a certain sense the private property of the Kalonymides, and were kept secret until Judah the Pious, himself a member of this family, commissioned his pupil Eleazar to introduce the oral and written esoteric doctrine into a larger circle.

Read more: http://www.jewishencyclopedia.com/view.jsp?artid=1&letter=C#28#ixzz1OQbmqNXW

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As you see, in Germany also had been a good creative phase for Cabala in 13th century and then its force was gone.

NOT all Spanish Jews could be called cabalists, only a small number - if Spanish Jews entered Italy, it not naturally would mean, that Spanish cabala entered Italy.

Pico de Mirandola's publication (1486) falls in the time of increasing book production - which, as we know, started around 1470 cause the invention of the printing machines.
It's naturally for this period, that older ideas got a second chance - so also the theme Cabala. Intellectual activities were increased and naturally also the number of "new intellectuals".

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I couldn't verify your dates "1361 and 1399", Jewish Encyclopedia gives massakers for the similar dates of 1366 and 1391.
http://www.jewishencyclopedia.com/view.jsp?artid=992&letter=S&search=spain 1361#3238

Surely some Jews left Spain then and it's probable, that some had some knowledge about cabala. But there's some doubt, if this was enough to change much in matters of Tarot origin.

And: the problem of an early 22 in connection to the Trionfi cards doesn't exist - at least in my opinion. And: More or less it's agreed upon, that Tarot is of Christian origin.

Huck said:

Surely some Jews left Spain then and it's probable, that some had some knowledge about cabala. But there's some doubt, if this was enough to change much in matters of Tarot origin.

And: the problem of an early 22 in connection to the Trionfi cards doesn't exist - at least in my opinion. And: More or less it's agreed upon, that Tarot is of Christian origin.

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The christian building itself is not a solid rock, but a structure made of greek elements: Platonist, Aristotelian, and indebted with Mesopotamian and Egyptian myths as well. Besides, the Renaissance mind was rather eclectic.