The Language of the Birds

Diana

What a pity that the link Rusty Neon provides in the previous post is in French. I'll just translate the conclusion so that the Anglophone members can at least get something out of this wonderful text:

To conclude, the crowned person on the Wheel of Fortune of Amiens rises above the others and mounts to a solitude where there is neither oasis nor rest, to the summits where vertigo lies in wait for man. Only he who is "seven times seven", who has vanquished the time of the seven days of the week, who posseses the seven gifts of the Holy Ghost, who has vanquished both the seven sins and the seven gifts and who finds himself in the frightning void of the 7 planets and the 7 colours of the rainbow - there where there is total plenitude, in other words in the very Freedom of God - can claim to be a crowned God.


En conclusion, le personnage couronné de la roue de la Fortune d'Amiens (4) s'élève au-dessus des autres et il monte vers la solitude là où il n'y a ni oasis ni repos, sur les sommets où l'homme est guetté par le vertige. Seul celui qui est « sept fois sept fois », qui a vaincu le temps des sept jours de la semaine, qui est possesseur des sept dons du Saint-Esprit, qui a vaincu à la fois les 7 péchés et les 7 dons et qui est dans le vide effrayant des 7 planètes et des 7 couleurs de l'arc-en-ciel — là où est la plénitude totale, c'est-à-dire dans la Liberté même de Dieu — peut prétendre être un Roi couronné.
 

Penelope

merci beau coup

Diana said:
I'll just translate the conclusion so that the Anglophone
members can at least get something out of this wonderful text
Thank you, Diana. Your contributions are truly appreciated!
 

Scion

jmd said:
Charles VI, King of France, subsequently welcomed and protected him. He nonetheless died in 1393 without having received the promised assistance from the (Roman) Christian princes in re-conquering his lost kingdom: could the Tarot not have presented the hopes of the deposed sovereign?

Still, this theory, however possibly brilliant, is but conjecture, stemming from Elaine Doré & Régine Desforges book Le Tarot du Point de Croix.

Has anyone ever seen/read a copy of this book? How does it relate the Leo V of Lusigna story and in what context? I'm dying to dig further into this Armenian connection, but can't find an entry poiint for research.

From what I can tell at Amazon (ISBN: 2234045002) in France and Canada, the Doré & Desforges book looks like a pattern for a Point de Croix (cross-stitched) Tarot design: (please excuse the hideous software translation)

"Madam R. D. published a very beautiful book of crossstitching (Albin Michel, 1986) and madam E. D. possesses solid knowledge of the Tarot; their timely partnership has produced this original album to enjoy and embroider."

Then again, I have literally NO french. Which leaves me feeling imbecilic and recalling my Latin so I can fudge through the Amazon reviews to glean a gist of the book's character. From this I'm assuming that Elaine Doré is the source of the scholarship. Anybody have any knowledge of this Armenian angle? Where to begin...

Thanks

Scion
 

Kissa

Hi Scion,

there is the book by R.D. on eBay.fr right now. 187 pages but some devoted to reading the tarot, some to history, some spreads... and it seems, all 78 patterns to be cross-stitched! (Buy it now option available but only shipping to France, from my experience though, most sellers don't mind shipping abroad as long as you pay the supplementary shipping costs).

I hope this helps, I can always translate any question to the seller in french if you are interested by the book.

Kissa
 

Diana

Scion: They have this book in my local library. I have never bothered to look at it - I thought it was a gimmick. Maybe I was wrong.

I'm going to return books this coming week and if you like, I will take it out (if it's on the shelves, but I've never NOT seen it on the shelves) and I can provide some more detail for you.
 

Scion

Thanks for the heads up Kissa! I'm headed over to check it out right now... eBay is the most amazing resource. But before I purchase, I might see what Diana can find out.

And thanks again, Diana. You keep popping up as my savior on all these threads: a thousand thanks. Before you dig out some strange crossstitching manual, I'd love to know what JMD meant by referencing this book as the source of the deposed Armenian king theory... I'm always interested in digging out the primary texts. I wonder why/how JMD identified this as the reference in the earlier translation.

Not to digress, but I've noticed that for the most part, most texts on the Tarot in English (i.e. those published here in the States) seem to gloss over the history (as Americans do ;)). It's strange that all of the Tarot "histories" in print will fit on a single shelf. I'd love several options with the same rigor and density as the Dummett helmed books... I guess I need to learn French! Or at least brush off my German...

Many thanks,

Scion
 

wildchilde

This has been the most amazing thread! Thank you everyone for this information and the continuing discussion. I hesitate to post b/c having read all the scholarly information, I feel a babe in the woods at this point, not understanding anything clearly or with certainty. It also does not help that my high school French classes are light years away now and therefore I stuggle to understand even the most basic gist of the words which appear.

The link provided by Rusty Neon is amazing. If anyone should decide to translate the entire page to English I would be most grateful to receive a copy! I am struggling to understand the Armenian connection in the sense of historical time/geography.

The French version of Rusty Neon's link appears to be talking of the overlapping connections between the Judeo-Christian Mystery teachings (both early original Christians and the Kabbahlistic teachings of Judasiam), the Islam teachings, Egyptian mysteries, and Tibetan teachings (secret of the golden flower). I have recently been studying the Gnostic scriptures and this all makes perfect sense to me (especially taking into account that the early Christian Mystery teachings were based on the Kabbahla (sp?) and the Pagan belief systems of Egypt).

The "gist" (at least to my narrow mind view) seems to be that the symbol of the Chariot (wheel of life) is many fold and was used as a tool to teach the Mysteries of the ancients to the degree of each initiates understanding. And that only those who understood fully the Mysteries would once again take their place in the Heaven (void) of the original 8 Aeons...which would be 7 if you did not count the Sophia who rules over this world and stands at the gate between this world and the ether world and is known as The Goddess of Justice (all Gnostic terms).

I also found this interesting piece from the Dead Sea Scrolls regarding the Chariot:

The Divine Throne-Chariot
...The ministers of the Glorious Face in the abode of the gods of knowledge fall down before him, and the cherubim utter blessings. And as they rise up , there is a divine small voice and loud praise ; there is a divine small voice as they fold their wings.

The cherubim bless the image of the Throne-Chariot above the firmament, and they praise the majesty of the fiery firmament beneath the seat of his glory. And between the turning wheels, angels of holiness come and go, as it were a fiery vision of most holy spirits; and about them flow seeming rivulets of fire, like gleaming bronze, a radiance of many gorgeous colors, of marvelous pigments magnificiently mingled.

The Spirits of the Living God move perpetually with the glory of the wonderful Chariot. The small voice of blessing accompanies the tumult as they depart, and on the path of their return they worship the Holy One, Ascending they rise marvelously; settling, they stay still. The sound of joyful praise is silenced and there is a small voice of blessing in all the camp of God.

And a voice of praise resounds from the midsts of all their divisions in worship. And each one in his place, all their numbered ones sing hymns of praise.

On the webpage that I found this translation, it also speaks of the Aramaic translations which refer to the "small voice of blessing" as the angelic beings called 'they who bless silently'. http://www.gnosis.org/library/dtc.htm

Well...again, I apologize for my ignorance of these matters and my lack of understanding the French language. Thank you Rusty for sharing this, and Diana for your interpretation.
 

Rusty Neon

From a tourist pamphlet from here in Ottawa:

"Grotesques [French: marmousets] are sculptures that depict humans, animals and combinations of both in a fantastical, unreal or humourous way. They are found hiding indoors and outdoors throughout the Parliament Buildings. These figures are typical of gothic architecture -- decorative, in a way that reflects the mystical aesthetic of the 19th century."
 

Sophie

Rusty Neon said:
Alain Bocher, _Cahiers du Tarot_, Vol 1, p. 165, writing on the Star card in the 1760 Conver Tarot de Marseille

Rusty Neon, thanks to your endorsement here and in the French Books thread, I looked out for Bocher's book you mention here and found it second hand on the internet. It's every bit as enriching of the experience of Tarot as you suggested, and gives many instances of the language of birds.