Freemasonry came in the subsequent "Egyptian decks after 1826
Moonbow* said:
I would still like to know how this Freemasonry connection came about, how come there is connection when we all know about how secret they are about their knowledge? Why put symbols on a deck which only a Freemason will understand? Was Etteilla a Freemason?
Hello Moonbow...
I'm taking segments of Mary Greer's Timeline of the Divinatory Tarot and in a related thread, going to start inserting texts and samples of Etteilla Tarots...just Etteilla Tarots....the Freemasonry connecton according to Decker and Dummett is 1826, as noted in Mary Greer's timeline of the divinatory tarot:
1826 Parisian publisher Pierre Mongie republishes Etteilla’s original deck but with Freemasonic sounding titles on the cards. (now Grimaud’s Grand Etteilla Tarot).
INSERTION FROM DECKER and DUMMETT (from Cerulean):
This version was printed from the original copper plates, which had been altered to erase the corner symbols (but not the numbers of the cards) and add to most of the trumps, court cards and Aces new legends in cursive script, inside the frames of the pictorial designs, thus conferring on them names with a Biblical or Masonic flavo, such as "Hiram's Masonry" (card 2), "Solomon" (card 9), "Rehoboam (card 21) and 'the Cup of Balthasar" card 49, the Ace of Cups)...The label goes on to advertise a book...The book...Almost the whole section of the book devoted to the Egyptian Tarots is reprinted in an unattributed pamphlet entitled Grand Etteilla issued by Grimaud with the version of Grand Etteilla I they have been producing for many years...
End Insertion
The entire "Etteilla" timeline reference will be in a linked thread...just keeping that handy and separate perhaps for future use...
http://www.tarotforum.net/showthread.php?t=122602
Cerulean