New Material on Mantegna Tarocchi & Sola Busca

samten

Nadya Chishty Mujahid, An Introduction to Western Esotericism: Essays in the Hidden Meaning of Literature, Groups, and Games, Edwin Mellen Press, 2008
Chapters include:

5. The Epsilon-Sigma Caduceus: The Mantegna tarocchi as a book of ritual for Kappa Sigma
6. The Sola-Busca Sundial: A Renaissance tarot deck as a mutus liber of ritualistic initiation

“Carefully researched and helpfully illustrated, [the] book [also] elucidates the long history of the Tarot, which stretches back to the 15th century, and its permeation of familiar (and sometimes not so familiar) cultural texts.” – Prof. Joe Lenz, Drake University
http://www.mellenpress.com/mellenpress.cfm?bookid=7437&pc=9

Elsewhere she writes:

“This leads to a question: how useful then is much of the available scholarship on the Tarot (especially that which is written in English), and can it be considered scholarship at all? The answer is that it depends on whether one views the issue from the perspective of cultural studies or from that of other disciplines. Art history has consistently regarded the development of Tarot as a fascinating sub-field, and Arthur Hind’s classic work published in the early 1900s titled Early Italian Engraving testifies to this in no small degree, as indeed do Kaplan’s above-mentioned encyclopedias. Oddly enough, Western esotericism (formerly a sub-discipline of religious studies and now widely regarded as a field in its own right) has yet to give more attention to this topic, although Irwin’s text provides a definite starting point for the scholar and layperson alike. One reason for this might be that most Western esotericism scholarship that centers on the Tarot is in French, and, fine and informative though it may be, that naturally limits its reception in the English-speaking world. However, Wouter J. Hanegraaff’s Dictionary of Gnosis and Western Esotericism does provide a readable English section on the Tarot (by expert Jean-Pierre Laurant) with a useful list of sources. If one regards humanities as a broad and overarching discipline in itself, there certainly is a niche for Tarot scholarship under the rubric of it.”
Tarot Studies as Scholarship
Nadya Qamar Chishty-Mujahid
http://www.equinoxjournals.com/POM/article/view/3804/2701

Paper Title: Manuel Chrysoloras and the Origins of the Tarot: The Probable Masonic Influences Incorporated in the Mantegna Tarot

Abstract: This paper posits that humanist Manuel Chrysoloras, the founder of the prestigious Italian Renaissance fraternity of Kappa Sigma, was familiar with early Masonic principles and, in fact, may have been the first Renaissance Freemason. Moreover, what we now regard as the E and S-series of the “Mantegna” tarot probably originated from images used by Chrysoloras to inform his student-followers about Pythagorean, Platonic, and Ptolemaic concepts. Central to the clarification of my theories are issues concerning Chrysoloras’s links to the powerful Italian ducal houses such as the Visconti family, whose patronage of this enlightened scholar and diplomat most likely proved to be enormously influential to the development of the tarot, especially over the course of the fifteenth-century. In sum, I will demonstrate that key cards of the “Mantegna” tarot’s E-series appear Masonic in nature and were likely inspired by the classical and hermetic teachings of Chrysoloras.

ALSO:

NADYA CHISHTY MUJAHID, THE AMERICAN UNIVERSITY IN CAIRO
An Examination of Andrea Ghisi’s Venetian “Labyrinth” Game and its Hermetic Predecessor, the Mantegna tarocchi

In 1616, Venetian nobleman Andrea Ghisi presented Giovanni Bembo (then Doge of Venice), with a curious game based on the Mantegna tarocchi. My research in hermeticism has involved an exploration of the E- and S-series of the Mantegna engravings (ca. 1460), that appear to exhibit hermetic characteristics. In this paper, I attempt to reconstruct the original game that constituted Ghisi’s “Laberinto.” Although Ghisi did not leave clear directions as to how this game was to be played, certain images of this elegant set (especially those that appear to deviate from the original Mantegna engravings) provide clues that help one establish a relationship between “Laberinto” and a type of “chess.” Special consideration will be given to the concept of “mutation”: Ghisi’s game is as mutated a version of the Mantegna tarocchi as the abovementioned “chess” is a mutated form of the most predominant version of the game played in seventeenth-century Europe.

Nadya Chishty-Mujahid is Assistant Professor of English and Comparative Literature at the American University in Cairo. She received her Ph.D. in English Literature from McGill University in Montreal.
 

samten

Further on Chrysoloras and the Mantegna Tarot

Following on the presentation of Nadya Chishty Mujahid,

“Manuel Chrysoloras and the Origins of the Tarot: The Probable Masonic Influences Incorporated in the Mantegna Tarot.”

Manuel Chrysoloras as the founder of Kappa Sigma is repeated extensively on Kappa Sigma websites. There is one odd clue, which you can Google to confirm:

“The Kappa Sigma Fraternity claims that its origins can be traced back to Bologna, Italy in 1400 and was modelled after the order "Kirjath Sepher".”

Nothing further is said about "Kirjath Sepher" - obviously the words are represented by the Greek Letters ‘Kappa Sigma’. Excuse my ignorance, I am way out of my depth here: but "Kirjath Sepher" produces 23,300 results on Google – obviously not a very esoteric subject.

We do not know, either from Nadya Chishty Mujahid or other sources, what Manuel Chrysoloras could have been involved with an order called "Kirjath Sepher".

Kirjath-Sepher is:

“One of the old Israelitish cities, near Hebron, is called Kirjath-sepher, or city of books. Both the city and the name, however, antedate the Jewish occupation of Palestine and are probably memorials of a time when this city[ was a center of that Assyrian culture which covered the entire region later known as Palestine.”
http://www.gutenberg.org/files/30803/30803-h/30803-h.htm
And there is an article:
KIRJATH-SEPHER: Emil G. Hirsch Bernhard Pick
http://www.jewishencyclopedia.com

Seeing that the Online Jewish Encyclopedia.com is a reputable, scholarly resource, it was interesting to say the least, to find H. P. Blavatsky offering the following:

“The “Book of Enoch” is declared apocryphal. But what is an Apocrypha? The very etymology of the term shows that it is simply a secret book, i.e., one that belonged to the catalogue of temple libraries under the guardianship of the Hierophants and initiated priests, and was never meant for the profane. Apocrypha comes from the verb crypto, [[krupto]], “to hide.” For ages the Enoichion (the Book of the SEER) was preserved in the “city of letters” and secret works — the ancient Kirjath-Sepher, later on, Debir (see Joshua xv., 15).”

The Secret Doctrine by H. P. Blavatsky, vol 2, pt 2, ch 21, VOL. 2, p. 529: WHO INVENTED WRITING? Theosophical University Press Online Edition
http://www.theosociety.org/pasadena/sd/sd2-2-08.htm

Now could Manuel Chrysoloras have been aware of the above connotations? There must be a link between the Byzantine transmission and Kirjath-Sepher, the “city of letters”. And there is, in that Kirjath-Sepher was under Byzantine rule. Thereby hangs a tale, which will take time to tell.


“ . . . . western historians, in their focus on the western activities of the more famous Byzantine individuals such as Bessarion, Pletho, and Chrysoloras, have failed to notice a factor which, directly or indirectly, affected the lives of most of these emigrés—that is, the existence of a large, cosmopolitan Greek colony in Venice. This is particularly true with respect to the later period when Venice displaced Florence as the leading centre of Greek studies in Europe.”

Deno Geanakoplos, The Greco-Byzantine Colony in Venice and its Significance in the Renaissance. In: From Byzantine East & Latin West: Two Worlds of Christendom in Middle Ages and Renaissance. Edit. The Academy Library Harper & Row Publishers, New York, 1966.


To this we must add: that most vital figure of the Greeks - Cardinal Bessarion, has been credited, with the other great Humanists - Cusa and Pius II, with some influence in the creation of the Mantegna Tarot, although this suggestion is denied by some - the links to Chrysoloras may yet bear fruit.
Samten de Wet
Sunday, 13 June 2010
 

Debra

Thank you, Samten. Your web site looks interesting; I will be browsing it :)
 

Huck

hi Samten,

thanks for the information.

NADYA CHISHTY MUJAHID, THE AMERICAN UNIVERSITY IN CAIRO
An Examination of Andrea Ghisi’s Venetian “Labyrinth” Game and its Hermetic Predecessor, the Mantegna tarocchi

In 1616, Venetian nobleman Andrea Ghisi presented Giovanni Bembo (then Doge of Venice), with a curious game based on the Mantegna tarocchi. My research in hermeticism has involved an exploration of the E- and S-series of the Mantegna engravings (ca. 1460), that appear to exhibit hermetic characteristics. In this paper, I attempt to reconstruct the original game that constituted Ghisi’s “Laberinto.” Although Ghisi did not leave clear directions as to how this game was to be played, certain images of this elegant set (especially those that appear to deviate from the original Mantegna engravings) provide clues that help one establish a relationship between “Laberinto” and a type of “chess.” Special consideration will be given to the concept of “mutation”: Ghisi’s game is as mutated a version of the Mantegna tarocchi as the abovementioned “chess” is a mutated form of the most predominant version of the game played in seventeenth-century Europe.

Nadya Chishty-Mujahid is Assistant Professor of English and Comparative Literature at the American University in Cairo. She received her Ph.D. in English Literature from McGill University in Montreal.

Well .. it would be interesting to know, what will happen, when these scholars once will meet - and understand, though this might be difficult - the explanation of Michael J. Hurst to the Ghisi Laberinto problem.

There might be a true abyss between fiction and reality.

... :)

Does anybody know the card trick, when you're shown a number of cards and you shall choose a card by keeping it in mind, and then you're shown cards again (one less in number) and you're told, that especially "your card" is missing and indeed, with all connected hermeticism, it's really not there and you're puzzled and the electronic program or the magician offers you as explanation, that he can read your thoughts?

... .-) ... and a scholarly work with the connected rituals of scholarly habits and public congratulations best connected to hermetic theories to such fun is a huge mountain of amusement ... for others than the author.

Some sense for the triviality of life might help in such problems.
 

samten

Research Tsunami

I posted the material about Prof. Nadya Chishty-Mujahid in the hopes that everyone or someone will read her work. I have not done so. But seeing she published in 2009 - this is an example of the latest research. There are others at work outside of the Tarot Forum matrix as well. As I mentioned to Lothar - I see [subjectively] two polarities of the work at this instant - the Etic Tarot and the Emic Tarot . . of which I lean towards the latter. And there was a musing between myself and Mary Greer - we were saying we should instigate a Philosophy of Tarot Group - perhaps Quatrocento philosophy would be a less abrasive term than the bug-bear 'esoteric'! Regards.
 

Ross G Caldwell

samten said:
I posted the material about Prof. Nadya Chishty-Mujahid in the hopes that everyone or someone will read her work. I have not done so. But seeing she published in 2009 - this is an example of the latest research. There are others at work outside of the Tarot Forum matrix as well.

I appreciate anyone at work outside of the "Tarot Forum matrix", as well as good work inside.

Publishing with Mellen Press is not a good way to become well-known by the general public. It is a good way to get your book on university library shelves, that's all.

100 dollars for 192 pages. That is over 50 cents a page.

Ghisi also did in fact leave clear instructions about how the game was to be played, and the book was translated into English.
 

hoo

Hello everyone. Late to this thread. Googling for Ghisi, I just read a very interesting post by mjhurst at http://forum.tarothistory.com/viewtopic.php?f=11&t=368&p=4664 . After that Google serps led here.

Indeed the Labyrinth appears to use an old parlor trick, found in many card magic manuals over the ages (as it turns out, I learned something like this very trick from my uncle as a little boy !). The english translation of Ghisi's own instructions at the tarothistory.com post linked to above shows this clearly.

However, I do not think the book by the subject of this thread (author Nadya Chishty-Mujahid) should be simply discounted and ignored. The Mantegna deck is still an alluring and fecund mystery. There are many fascinating elements and possible influences in its art and subject matter.

While the author seems to have made a colossal blunder in her speculation on the way the Labyrinth was played, she should still have uncovered many interesting elements and connections in Renaissance iconography. I for one will give it a look, when a trade paperback edition comes out :)