Etteilla Timeline and Etteilla card Variants - background

Sumada

Etteilla 3 scans

One more thing. I am preparing to get interested in Etteilla III decks. I can only find 2 versions: the Grand Jeu des Dames said:
Perhaps these images will be of interest then:-

http://sumada.multiply.com/photos/album/16/Etteilla_III_-_De_La_Rue

This first 1890 tax stamped L'Oracle des Dames deck must be from the same print run as the deck Lo Scarabeo used for their reproduction of it; as evidenced by Le Cinq de Deniers, which has its titles along the sides both readable from the same direction! It is the only card in the deck printed this way, and demonstates that all the writing in the borders was still being handset, separate of the central image. This becomes even more evident when you compare the typeface, point size, spacing and positioning of words, and the spelling(!) differences between the original linked above, the Lo Scarabeo and Dusserre reproductions, and also my next example:-

http://sumada.multiply.com/photos/album/131/Etteilla_III_B

The first thing I noticed about this second 1890 tax stamped L'Oracle des Dames deck was that the court cards have a different colour background; blue replacing the murky dark brown, and Le Roi de Baton no longer has red boots. One can also see that the grass at everyone's feet has been rendered differently from both the deck above, and the Dusserre repro., (which is also smaller). So that makes at least 3 print runs for this deck.
BUT, then I noticed the spelling error on #18 Le Capucin - Traite instead of Traitre, and then, even more amazingly, the inversion of the shield shape and entire art nouveaux background in the suit of swords! The orientation of the swords in relation to the Titling and the Droit/Renverse however remains the same. A distinct lack of proofing, and yet, the Le Cinq de Deniers error has been corrected!

Before we leave discusson of the earlier Etteilla's though, has anyone got any thoughts as to why the days of creation and the elements are not in sequential order?
 

MikeH

OK. First, here are Etteilla’s assignments of days to cards. The parts in parentheses are what I think is implicit in Etteilla, although he doesn’t state it explicitly.

1. Chaos : 1st day. Clouds giving way to light. (“darkness was on face of deep.”)
2. The Sun. 1st day. The light was called day, and the darkness night.
3. The Moon, Water. 3rd day. “that it gives its jet.” Or, let the waters be gathered in 1 place. (Etteilla forgot dry land and plants, which the Etteilla II cards emphasize: “Les Plantes.”)
4. Stars. (2nd day, not said explicitly). Firmament.
5. (Man and quadrupeds; Marseille World card.) 6th day. “God made man in his own image.”
6. 4th day. Sun, Moon, and the Zodiac. “Two Great Lights.”
7. Birds and aquatic animals. 5th day.
8. Repose. 7th day.

So why this order? I have something of an explanation. Here is the short version.

(1) He heard from someone that the first 7 Marseille cards represented the 7 days of creation, but the person was bound to secrecy, because what the tarot signified was not the way it was according to Genesis.

(2) He believes de Mellet's theory that the cards are in reverse order.

(3) Ergo, the seven days are in the last 5 cards of the Marseille plus the male and female Enquirer.

(4) He had to remove "Last Judgment" because it didn’t fit (despite Etteilla’s attempt), and make up another card to replace it, although it doesn't correspond to any Marseille image. That will be for the 4th day, the creation of the Sun, Moon, and Stars.

(5) And the World card is obviously out of order, since it has to do with the creation of man and the quadrupeds, which happened on the 6th day.

(6) And since there are two cards for the first day, he will have to make up another card, not in the Marseille, for the 5th day. Since he has misplaced the 6th day, and has 2 cards for day 1, the card for this 5th day is number 7. and the card for the 4th day is number 6.

Why card 5, corresponding to the World, is where it is, is not totally clear to me. If it can be moved from 1st place, as in de Mellet, to 5th place, why couldn’t it just as easily be moved to 7th place? All I can think of is that he wanted to keep the images that were similar to the Marseille together, even though World is out of sequence.

That is my short answer. My long answer is, of course, longer.

I need to provide a justification of why Etteilla would have heard from people that the seven first cards represent the 7 days of creation, and in what system that is, and why it is confusing around day 5.

The explanation is a little complicated. It has three parts. (1) What the numbers 1-7 meant in Pythagorean number symbolism. (2) How this symbolism is expressed in the 7 days of creation; and (3) how this number symbolism is expressed in the first seven trumps.

An account was readily available in Latin of the first seven numbers, by the Roman philosopher Macrobius, in his Commentary on the Dream of Scipio. However I cannot relate it very well to the Marseille tarot. No doubt Etteilla couldn’t either. But in Paris 1543, by a “Chr. Wechelus” according to WorldCat, a book was published in Greek called Theologumena Arithmeticae, ”Theology of Arithmetic” or “Arithmetical Theology”), allegedly by Iamblicus. It is not by Iamblicus, but is authentically ancient, from the 4th century, according to the introduction to the English translation. I have traced the manuscript version back to Bessarion’s collection, mid-15th century Italy, probably brought by him from Greece, then willed to Venice (see http://forum.tarothistory.com/viewtopic.php?f=11&t=613). It remained untranslated into any language until Robin Waterfield’s translation into English in 1988. Some people on Aeclectic have noticed that work’s affinity with some of Etteilla’s interpretations of the number cards. I agree.

I also find evidence of that work’s content in Etteilla’s First “Cahier” (using the link to the Bibliotheque Nationale provided by Kenji). On page 17 we read:
1 est rapporté à Dieu; 2 à l'homme & à la femme, & 3 à la génération qui a pour but un enfant.

1 is related to God; 2 to the man and the woman, and 3 to the generation which aims at a child.
And a little later:
Le Créator forma Adam, mâle & femelle; & sépara ce nombre a afin qu'il pût s'étendre au nombre 3, la génération. Après le nombre 3 vient nécessairement 4, l'univers, que l'on retrouve de même dans le nombre 2 microcosmique...

The Creator formed Adam, male & female; and separated this number so that he could extend to the number 3, generation. After the number 3 comes necessarily 4, the universe, which we also find in the microcosmic number 2...
So we have the first four numbers. In finding the universe in number 2, Etteilla is merely showing off that he knows the Hermetic view that humans, male and the female, contain in themselves the whole universe in miniature.

That, for his exposition of the numbers, Etteilla is drawing on Pythagoreanism (more specifically, Neopythagoreanism, the Hellenistic-Roman era revival of Pythagoreanism) is clear a little earlier, p. 16, where he says of 1
Si nous posons le premier nombre, ou mieux la source des nombres, 1, pour descendre ou monter au premier nombre 2, nous y trouverons l'homme ou son nombre qui est mâle & femelle; le premier comme agent, & le second comme patient;...

If we put the first number, or better the source of the numbers, 1, in order to descend or rise to the first number 2, we shall find man or his number there which is male and female; the first one as agent, and the second as patient;...
It is a Pythagorean doctrine that 1 itself is not a number, but the source of numbers (Macrobius, Stahl translation, p. 90). Macrobius has 2 as the first number; the Theologumena insists that 2 is a source also and not a number properly speaking, in its case of the even numbers.

In that same paragraph Etteilla talks about the number 2 in different terms than he does in the quote I gave earlier. The male is agent, the female is patient. The Theologumena says a little more: 2 separates what was mixed in the 1. So 1 contains all the forms of things, the archetypes. 2 separates the ideal, which pertains properly to the 1, from matter, which is the lack of form, on which the one who shapes matter may work. 3 is then what results: enformed matter; matter which is not only differentiated from form, but in its different parts is shaped by different forms (e.g. water, sand, various minerals at various temperatures: these are all conceived as different combinations of the four elements). 4 is then the extension of this process to include the whole universe.

I have not read far enough in Etteilla to know whether he discussed 5 through 7. In the Theologumena, 5 is the number of the vegetative soul, 6 the number of the animal soul, and 7 the number of the rational soul.

As to how this theory relates to the seven days of creation: Philo of Alexandria had already applied Pythagorean number theory to the days of creation in his work On The Creation. (http://www.deeperstudy.com/link/01-creation.html). The Pythagorean language in that work is evident all through; one good example is section 13. But the French esotericists, I hypothesize, tried to improve on his somewhat ad hoc account, which tried to reconcile two versions that were really a little different.

The first day is about God at the beginning. No problem there. Genesis and the Theologumena Arithmeticae agree, and so does Etteilla.

The second day, in the Theologumena, is about separation, specifically that of form from matter. In Genesis that corresponds to separating day from night, and the above from the below. The day and the above correspond to Etteilla’s male agent; in Philo, it is the perfect forms in the mind of God (section 20). The Greek for “active” and passive” actually occur in Philo, section 9 in the version I have given the link to. Genesis has this first separation (day from night) in the first day, but the second one (above from below) in the second day. Etteilla follows Genesis, unproblematically except that the stars that he mentions in the firmament have not been created yet. But that is a minor issue.

The third day, in Genesis, is about the creation of nature in all its variety, including land vs. water and all the plants. Before that, matter was a big mess, like mud, in Philo’s image (his section 38; the creation of nature’s variety is expressed in section 40). Etteilla has no problems here; even though he forgot about plants, his disciples added them. In the Pythagorean account this is the generation of particular things, enformed matter. However for the Pythagorean, it is still not alive, in the biological sense: on earth, creation is on the mineral level; things have at best a mineral soul. Plants come later.

The fourth day extends creation to include the whole universe, i.e. the sun, moon, and stars. That is Etteilla’s “Universe”; in Philo, see his section 45. Whether the planets and stars have higher-level souls is a matter of debate. Etteilla seems to view them mechanically, influencing us astrologically in a way analogous to how magnets affect iron.

The fifth day, corresponding to the Pentad in the Theologumena, is about the vegetative soul, i.e. the soul as expressed in plants. It has no correspondence in Genesis, since there, plants are created on the third day. Etteilla, following Genesis, thus has to depart from the Pythagorean account that I think guided the Marseille cards (to be explained later in this post). I think that is where Etteilla’s problems really affect him, in knowing what to do with the 5th day of creation. He can’t follow the Marseille cards’ Pythagoreanism (to be explained later in this post) and Genesis both. Philo ingeniously found another aspect of the Pythagorean Pentad expressed in fishes and birds, namely, the five senses (sect. 62). Etteilla follows Genesis (and Philo) and gives the 5th day to aquatic animals and birds. But if he's going to keep the Marseille images together, and leave room for the 5th day, that's going to have to be the 7th card!

The sixth day in the Theologumena is about the animal soul. In Genesis, we have the creation of man and the quadrupeds. Etteilla can follow both traditions, even though he now, keeping the Marseille cards together and with two cards for the first day, he puts put this 6th day on the 5th card.

In the Theologumena, the number seven is about the rational soul, i.e. the creation of human beings. Well, in Genesis humanity is created on the sixth day, and on the seventh, God rests. Philo simply talks about the rational soul as the crowning point of the sixth day (sect. 69). What does Etteilla do? He puts “Repos” on the 8th card (following Genesis) but also has a picture of a human being (as in the Theologumena), male in the “Cahier” but female on the card. It is the day when God rests and humanity gets into trouble.

So we see, Etteilla had a hard job, fitting Pythagoreanism with Genesis and also de Mellet’s reversed order of the cards. Not having a clear road to follow, he stumbled a little. I stumble a bit myself at times.

Now we get to the third part of my exposition, about how the Marseille trumps express the Pythagorean symbolism of the numbers just fine the way they are.

The number One represents God in many systems. God is One (Judaism and Christianity). God is the One (Neoplatonism). Pyrthagoreanism said the same.

The Bateleur has four types of objects on his table. He is like the Demiurge of Plato’s Timaeus, shaping the four elements into the various types of things of our world. He is like the Logos in John 1:3. ‘All things were made by him: and without him was made nothing that was made.” Medieval illustrations frequently illustrated God as artificer, for example a famous one in which he holds a compass (search “demiurge” at http://christianrockhalloffame.com/). The Bateleur is in the position of the Logos, God shaping our world after he had created out of nothing.

Similarly, the one who deals in a card game has representatives of the four elements in his hands, i.e. the cards, out of which, in apparent randomness, a little world is created, parts of which are apportioned to each player. There was also a famous quote by Heraclitus, expressed differently by different ancient authors, some of them Christian and many readily accessible during the time of the tarot’s development. Proclus put it, “And some, as for example Heraclitus, say that the creator in creating the world is at play.” (http://evans-experientialism.freewe...eraclitus02.htm)/

2 for the Neopythagoreans had to do with separation of he opposites that were contained in the One. The Two was matter as opposed to form, female as opposed to male. dark as opposed to light (and not, as in Etteilla, both together). So we have a woman on the card, esoterically the Virgin Mary, who received the imprint of God in her womb, and later experienced the pain of separation. I think the divine impregnation is the significance of the word “Pances,” French for “Belly,” on the Dodal version of this card.

3 is the child Jesus, the product of the 1 and the 2, the form of God in matter. We see him on the Empress card as the shield on the Empress’s lap, symbolic of the lineage of the Empire which it is her duty to keep going by producing an heir.

4 is for Etteilla the Universe. On the card we have an Emperor holding a globe divided into three, symbolizing Europe, Asia, and Africa. It is the known world of the 15th century, the whole universe as it concerns humanity’s domain. But the Emperor only rules the material side of this domain, the conditions of material life.

5 is the vegetative soul. Plants are born from the earth, grow, and die. Minerals don’t die, they simply get rearranged. The crucifixion is analogous to the plowing of the earth, turning the old plants into the ground. Then new plants emerge. The Pope is the one who governs the institution that protects the vegetative soul, from birth through maturity, death, and finally rebirth.

6 is the animal soul. That has to do with things that can move their whole body from place to place under their own power. Such locomotion is the condition for the ability to make choices, which relatively complex animals have the ability to do, even though it is with very limited ability, guided mostly by instinct. So the esoteric meaning of the Love card is choice, in this case between pleasure and virtue.

7 is the rational soul. The card represents the situation of Plato’s Phaedrus. The rational soul is on top; the soul of honor (when directed by reason) is the light-colored horse; the soul of passion (which resists reason), the dark colored horse. Reason, in touch with the ideal, controls from above. These colors are can be seen in Noblet’s versions of the card. They of course continue in the 19th and early 20th century, with their white and black sphinxes.

In the Pythagorean system, there are actually 10 days of creation, and God, like the numbers, never stops. But we can stop here.

I hope I have made good on my promises. The 7 days of creation, in their Pythagorean version, are already in the Marseille sequence. Etteilla didn’t have to do a thing. That he did do something, trying to make explicit something known esoterically but about which he was guessing, gives us a clue about where to look so as to reconstruct the esoteric tradition he was after.

This “esoteric” interpretation is not based on anything secret. It is there in the Pythagorean documents and Philo, texts readily available all through the 15th-18th centuries. They just happened to be in Greek, which for many was as good as secret, until the availability of translations. The relationship of these interpretations to the cards is not something I find stated as such anywhere then, except confusedly in Etteilla. But if you look at later interpreters of the cards, i.e. Jodorowsky in Way of the Tarot, you will see many of the same themes. I have expanded on this point at http://forum.tarothistory.com/viewtopic.php?f=12&t=530&p=8518&hilit=jodorowsky#p8518).
 

Cerulean

Etteilla, ou la seule manière de tirer les cartes By Alliette

Just fyi, a copy of Ettellia's 1773 Ou la Seule Maniere de Tirer Les Cartes (although it says by Alliette, Etteilla spelled backwards) is on googlebooks for free if you put register for a free g.mail account and look up this title.

Unfortunately, I was able to ascertain it is only about playing cards, so have to wait until I save up for a 1785 reproduction of the Etteilla text about tarot.

And I had just remembered while paging through Decker and Dummett that the Le Petit Oracle Des Dames circa 1807...had 42 cards that (page 144) had designs..."borrowed in part from a 66-card fortune telling pack of about 1790 and in part from Etteilla's version of the Tarot pack. Among the first twenty-one cards are to be found reproductions of Etteilla's designs for the trumps, for instance the Moon on n. 3, the Creation of Man and Woman on number 9 and the Fool and the Bateler on no. 21." (Note: the partial half and half reversible designs of the Petit Oracle des Dames made for 52 independent designs with cartomancy meanings).

Voyage is number 1, , Terre. (Looks like the World)
Eclairressement is number 2, Feu. (Looks like Fire)
Propos is number 3, Eau. (Looks like Moon, with a rainbow added)
Ettoiles Brillantes is number 4, Air
Creation de l'Homme e la Femme is number 5, Generation
Le Paradis Terrestre is number 6, (Looks like expulsion from Paradise)
 

Cerulean

Thanks and on Petit Jeu des Dames

The numbering and info on the reprint I have from Frances Cartes has a great manual in French that upon first look gives Lismon Etteilla meanings for their trumps, although different major ordering. I almost thought it had the later Strength/Justice switch, bu the manuals on reprints can be different than the original.


Some odd Jeu des Dames reprints are emerging for me in Spanish...or from Spain...later....
 

MikeH

The Chaos

I'm back.

I thought it would be fun to compare not only different cards but also different books and booklets that went with the cards. In my view the booklets that go with most of the extant decks that people have are deficient, compared to the c. 1838 "Julia Orsini" Art de Tirer les Cartes that I found at the University of Nevada at Las Vegas. They all leave out the word-lists, which I think are pretty important, because everything seems to flow from them. For the rest, it is a good thing that they provide the original French, because although the English translations are 98% accurate, the other 2% includes some major errors. I will post the original French of the Orsini for the first four cards when I have gone through all four.

For now I will (1) give some examples of card 1: in the top row, the original 1789 (From Wicked Pack of Cards) and two of Sumadi's Etteilla IIs (http://sumada.multiply.com/photos/album/76 and (http://sumada.multiply.com/photos/album/82); in the bottom row, one of his Etteilla IIIs (http://sumada.multiply.com/photos/album/131), and a 1910 Etteilla I downloaded from http://a.trionfi.eu/WWPCM/decks03/d01612/d01612.htm.

Then I will (2) give the word list. I collated three versions: Revak's translation of Papus (http://www.villarevak.org/td/td_4.html); Stockman's translation of Papus (in The Divinatory Tarot, p. 20); and Orsini's list in the c. 1838 Art de Tirer les Cartes, p. 154. I posted the French for this list in #69 of this thread.

Then I will (3) give Orsini's comments on the card, from the "Explication" section of the c. 1838 edition. I posted the French in #69.

Finally, (4), I will give what is in the modern Grimaud Grand Etteilla booklet.

I also consulted an 1890 Grimaud Etteilla I booklet. It turned out to be a greatly abridged version of the "Explication" section of the Orsini book's 2nd edition, c. 1853, of which the Dusserre booklet (to their Etteilla III) is the uncondensed. Unlike the Dusserre, it preserves the paragraphing of the original.

Here are the diferent versions of card 1.

01E1E2E2.jpg

01E3E1.jpg


Etteilla's comment on this card in the Second Cahier, as translated earlier in this thread (#78):
...the first sheet, listed no. 1, ... represented...a light surrounded by a thick cloud, or the chaos which was turned back in order to give place to the Truth, at the moment when the Creator manifested his glory and his sovereign bounty to the Creatures of the whole Universe, who slept and will sleep again in his intelligence: allegorical truth, indeed worthy of our first Masters.
Now the word list. Words that are in either translation of Papus, and also in Orsini, are in regular type. Those in Papus only are in italics; and those in Orsini only in bold.
1. ETTEILLA. God. All-Powerful, Eternal, Very-High, Unitrine, the Supreme Being, the Central Spirit, the Spirit of God, the Male Consultant, Chaos. Thought. Meditation, Contemplation, Reflection, Concentration.
Reversed: [Le Questionnant.] THE MALE QUERENT (CONSULTANT). The Universe. The physical man or the male. The querent. Philosophy. Philosophical. Philosophically. Philosopher. Sage. Sagacity. Sagely.
Now comes the Orsini "explication" of the card, c. 1838, to which I have added comments in brackets (in part comparing the c. 1838, my main text, with the c. 1853 in Dusserre). I use the original paragraphing, which Dusserre ignores.
No. 1. The Chaos

Etteilla - The Enquirer (male)

This card represents the chaos, the spirit of God: it represents also the one who interrogates the oracles by means of the book of Thoth.

If you are reading the cards for a man and this card doesn't appear, you will take it from the deck and put it at the beginning of your line, without counting it with the others.

If you are reading the cards for a woman, you must withdraw it, it is useless, and replace it with no. 8.

This card means discovery, meditation, a deep mind [esprit profonde, which also can mean "profound spirit"; "discovery" and "meditation" seem derived from the Upright list, and "esprit profonde" from the Reversed].

If this card comes up in its natural sense and is found near cards no. 14, 17, or 18 it is an unfortunate sign. [14 is The Devil; 17 is Death; 18 is The Traitor. These cards apparently bring out its negative sense of chaos.]

Near no. 76, error; near no. 71, loss [c. 1853 has "small loss"] of money; no. 47, lack of success. [No. 76 is "Embarras," Trouble; no. 71 is "Argent," Money; and no. 47, "Reussite," Success. Card no. 1 thus negates these three cards, when it is right side up. So it is again taking the negative meaning "Chaos."]

It is a good omen whenever it falls between two favorable cards.

Upside down, it means that the Enquirer is a philosopher; it predicts glory for him, immortality (that is to say, his name will go down to the most remote posterity).[This of course comes from the Reversed word-list, although you wouldn't know that from Papus's version.]
The booklet that comes with the modern Grand Etteilla calls the card "Chaos." It adds
This card wherever it is placed always represents the man consultant. But this does not mean it is devoid of a particular meaning of its own.

R [Right-side up]: Moral qualities (virtue, kindness) which benefit the consultant. [This interpretation would seem to derive from the words in the Uprights' list pertaining to God.]
U [Upside-down]: The consultant will show that he possesses intelligence [esprit] and talent. [This might relate to the Orsini Reversed word "Sagesse," and the Orsini explication's "deep mind."]
It then repeats Orsini's comments about 14, 17, 18, 71 ["slight loss of money"], 76, and 47. It ends
Between a "King" and a "Queen" it always indicates a forthcoming marriage, a happy affair [liaison], obvious success.
The modern Grimaud has for keywords R "Ideal/Ideal"; U "Sagesse/Wisdom". These clearly derive from the Orsini Upright and Reversed lists.
 

MikeH

La Lumiere

I left out some things on card no. 1 (my previous post).

Most importantly, there is the passage in the second Cahier where Etteilla identifies the card with the Pope card of the standard Marseille decks, or Jupiter in another deck (the Besancon), which he erroneously presumes reflects an earlier convention:
This allegory, formerly no. 1, was listed as no. V; and in place of the emblem of a unique Motor, a pure light, dreadful Ignorance was first to put on this card a Jupiter, then a Pope, and in third place a Swordsman (Fr. Spadassin); error that seems to us ridiculous...
I do not know in what deck the card is represented by a swordsman.

Another omission is that I forgot to include in my summary of booklets a c. 1910 Grimaud Etteilla I booklet that I now have a copy of. For card 1, all it says is (1) that it is a favorable card if the cards around it are favorable, and if it is near 14 [Devil], 17 [Death], or 18 [Traitor], it is unfavorable; and (2) it needs to be replaced if drawn for a woman, because it represents the male consultant only.

[Added June 11 and put in bold type for easy reference: Another omission, because I didn't yet have the information (see post 90 below), is consideration of a c. 1865 booklet written especially for the then-new de La Rue Etteilla III. After explaining what to do with the card if drawn for a man and for a woman it says,
This tarot generally signifies lack of success, in its natural sense [i.e. right side up] or otherwise. However, if it appears between other happy cards, one could say it was a good omen. Between a King and a Queen, it signifies marriage, grandeur, success, fortune.
"Lack of success" correlates to the "Chaos" keyword; this meaning looms larger in this booklet than in the others.]


Finally, I forgot to mention the astrological symbol on the Etteilla I card, which is that of Aries. It has no other significance than as the first sign of the zodiac, corresponding to the first card. Etteilla introduced astrological signs so that one could intepret a horoscope using his cards. Since the signs play no role in the interpretation of the cards, the Etteilla II and III omit them.

Now I will give some examples of card 2, followed by the interpretations. I think three will suffice, the 1910 Etteilla I from http://a.trionfi.eu/WWPCM/decks03/d01612/d01612.htm, an Etteilla II of Sumada’s, (http://sumada.multiply.com/photos/album/76 and his La Rue Etteilla III, from 1865-1890, http://sumada.multiply.com/photos/album/16.

02E1andSumadaIIEandIII.jpg


Etteilla's comment on this card in the Second Cahier, as translated earlier in this thread (#78):
...the Sun is the instrument by which the Creator appeared in order to light up the life of all Beings; as the Sun, it carried itself to all the Globes of our Universe. These Globes can be nothing other than the proper matrices to receive life, that one might compare to a fluid that contains and transfixes all of Nature, since it is the true spirit of the Lord, the Sun that vivifies all the embryos, enfuses itself so that all the Globes are necessarily people, or matrices, which the order of all things demonstrates: gold, and also coal, being matrices, from the moment that Nature animated them, or Art revived them.

The second sheet of the Book of Thoth bears effectively the number of 2 in the translation, and not that of XVIIII. It had, following the Ancients, and has at present according to our studies, a second number, which is also 2, and finally a third number, which is 1...

This second sheet, listed number 2, offers for allegory a Sun. ...This second sheet, as we have said, bears also the number 1, relative to the six days of creation: the light was called day, and the darkness night; and it bears the number 2, the Fire, second Element.
In the last sentence of the first paragraph, by "Art" I think Etteilla means, for gold, alchemy. It was thought that base metals were gold in a state of arrested development, and alchemy could make the process continue. I am not sure what process he is referring to when he mentions coal; perhaps it is the making of charcoal out of wood or hard, high temperature coal out of soft coal.

In the second paragraph, Etteilla states explicitly that his card no. 2 corresponds to card 19 in the standard Marseille order. I have omitted his justification that this card has the number 1 as well as 2, and therefore corresponds to both the 1st day of creation and the 2nd element. He has a pseudo-Pythagorean table of correspondences in which 1 corresponds to 12, 2 to 11, etc.; 2 is thereby associated with 1 (see my post #78). As with card 1, we are in the first day of creation; but instead of merely light, we now have “day,” and instead of chaos, we have “night.”

Now for the word lists. Words that are in either translation of Papus, and also in Orsini, are in regular type. Those in Papus only are in italics; and those in Orsini only in bold.
2. [Eclaircissement.] ENLIGHTENMENT —Light, Explanation.—Clarity. Glory. Heaven and Earth.—Philosophic Sulfur. Untangling. Development. Instruction. Opening. Analysis. Discovery. Interpretation. Revelation. Elucidation. Fire. Sun. Temple of Heat.

Reversed. [Feu.] FIRE.—Heat, Glimmer.—Conflagration.—Flame, Passions.—Meteors; Lightning Flash, Thunderbolt.—Inner, Outer, Central, and Philosophic Fire. Warmth. Small illumination. Spark. Ray of light. Burning. To burn. Ardor.
Fire of love. To light. Flash. Thunder. Lightning. Electricity. St. Elmo’s Fire. Fire of Nature. Magnetism. Salamander.
Dissension, Discord in the spirits. To throw one’s fire. To pass through one’s anger. To make fire.
The Reverseds correspond to the 2nd of the four elements, Fire, as indicated by “2e. Element” on the card. It is as in Plato’s Timaeus, where the Demiurge creates the world from the four elements.

Here is Orsini's commentary on the card, c. 1838, with my brief comments inserted and longer ones after.
You see on this card the fire, the light that illuminates us; its proximity is always favorable. The two children who are found in this second tableau announce a large posterity.

If it is for a man that one consults, it signifies explanation, disentangling, glory, interpretation of the most secret things, rewards.

If it is for a young person that you do the cards, it predicts marriage following. For a [young] lady, it predicts children.

For an older lady, it says that soon her qualities will be noticed by an older man, who will come to offer his heart and his hand, and what will indeed be preferable, [c. 1853 replaces “and...preferable” with “accompanied by”] a large fortune.

Placed near no. 13, this card announces a marriage either just made or about to be made.

Near no. 58, it provides hope of children; and near no. 72, it means rewards or honors.

Reversed, it signifies fire, anger, discord. Beside no. 21, betrayal discovered by you, victory over your enemies, and invincible obstacles to a marriage strongly desired.
My comments: The upright meanings partly come from the word lists, partly from the children on the card and their happy relationship, which is then generalized to a marriage. Or it might be that these meanings come from a tradition in which the Sun card had either children (as in Vieville and Conver, left and right below) or a male-female couple (as in Noblet, center below); and in addition the Sun, in gray Paris, was a sign of happiness.

19VieNobletHeron.jpg


If one were using this section of the book to interpret the Etteilla III card, as Dusserre intends, the querent might reasonably wonder what on the card suggests children or marriage!

No. 13 is “Mariage/Union”, so the prediction of marriage when next to 13 is natural. I do not understand the relationship of children to 58, “Journey/Declaration.” No. 2 makes No. 72, “The Present/Ambition,” a favorable card. It also makes No. 21, “Dissension,” favorable to the querent.

[Added June 11 and put in bold type for easy reference]: The 1865 booklet written for the Etteilla III deletes the references to the children pictured on the card (since there are no children pictured!). It also simplifies the predictions and makes a few of them clearer:
You see the sun; it is the natural light; the neighborhood of this tarot is always favorable.

When the consultant is a man, it signifies glory, grandeur, success.

For a young person, this card announces a marriage following very closely; for a lady, it advises that she will have beautiful children.

Placed near no. 13, it announces for the female consultant balls, festivals, parties of pleasure.

When the consultation is made for a man, it predicts honors and rewards, and if no. 21 is found in the line, it announces a desired union.

It is a card that much affects an oracle, because it is generally favorable.]

The c. 1910 Etteilla I booklet calls the card “Hiram’s Freemasonry.” The booklet that comes with the modern Etteilla I deck gives it the same title, in contrast to “Light” (Lumiere) previously. The modern booklet follows with
This gives you a clear-cut view of life. It often opens up new and interesting possibilities.

R [Right-side up]: After a frank discussion the lovers are reconciled. With 13 – great sentimental happiness, probable marriage, especially if 13 is placed before 2.
U [Upside-down]: Do not let anger dominate you. It will be harmful. With 75 – worry, disagreement. With 21 – betrayal.
Except for “clear cut view of life,” there is no explicit reference to the word lists in the generic and right-side up interpretations. Here the c. 1910 version of this booklet is clearer.
If this card is shown reversed, the two children who are upside down announce a violent quarrel, and obstacles to their projected sweet union.

If this card is in its natural position, it promises an explanation that will lead to a reconciliation.
The Sun enlightens, hence the explanation. Further,
It announces also, in a young person, the development of brilliant qualities which assure an adorer.
Again there is an analogy to the Sun. It might also be that the Noblet was seen as showing a reconciling couple, and that this interpretation of the Etteilla is a continuation of that. Likewise, the Vieville shows a young person full of brilliance.

Going back to the modern Grimaud booklet, in the Reverseds: no. 75 is “Noble/Child.” Perhaps the way in which "anger" becomes "worry, disagreement" is that association with nobility moderates and elevates the emotion.

The c. 1910 Etteilla I booklet only gives the associations to 13, 58, and 72, giving associations similar to Orsini's. Continuing where I left off:
In the neighborhood of no. 13, this card announces a marriage about to happen, if no. 13 follows, and a marriage [already] made, if no. 13 precedes it. Next to no. 58, this card promises children; next to no. 72, it announces a prize of honor, a reward, a flattering distinction.
The keywords on the modern Etteilla I card are “Ecclaircissement/Enlightenment – Passion/Passion.” These come from the word lists. The astrological sign on the Etteilla I is Taurus.
 

MikeH

Card 3, and the Order of the Mopses, etc.

Now I will give some examples of card 3, followed by the interpretations. Here are three, the 1910 Etteilla I from http://a.trionfi.eu/WWPCM/decks03/d01612/d01612.htm. Sumada’s Etteilla II, date unknown but before 1890, http://sumada.multiply.com/photos/album/76, and his second Etteilla III, date unknown but 1890-1917, http://sumada.multiply.com/photos/album/131#.

03trionfi2Larue3.jpg


Here is Etteilla's comment on this card in the Second Cahier, as translated earlier in this thread (#78):
No 3. The third sheet has for allegory the Moon, and bears the number 3 for the third day of creation; that it gives its jet; and thus the number 1 Water, first element.
As I said earlier, I can't find anything in Genesis corresponding to the phrase "qu'elle donne son jet." [Note added May 2014. Kwaw solved this problem at http://www.tarotforum.net/showpost.php?p=3950942&postcount=266.] The closest I find is verse 9: "Let the waters under the heaven be gathered together in one place..." But it is obvious enough that water is a theme of that day, namely, the creation of the Seas by separating the water from the land. Etteilla is ignoring the part where on the third day God created plants. The Etteilla II card corrects that omission, giving for its title "Les Plantes," and even, on p. 13 of the c. 1838 book, "Les Plantes et les Arbres," the Plants and the Trees.

Now for the word lists. Again, words that are in either translation of Papus, and also in Orsini, are in regular type. Those in Papus only are in italics; and those in Orsini only in bold.
3. [Propos.] COMMENTS. (Proposal, per Papus translator, Talk in Dusserre).- Conversation, Symposium, Design, Resolution, Will, Discourse, Reasoning. Discussion, Speak, Prattle, Chat, Discredit, Babble.-Cackling, Malicious Gossip, Calumny, Defamation, Decree, Deliberation.-Moon.

Reversed: [Eau.] WATER, Fluid Water, Dewy, Ablution. Pouring Rain, Deluge, Inundation. Sea, Stream, River, Tributary, Spring, Torrent, Fountain, Brook, Lake, Swamp,Stagnant pool, Sheet of Water/groundwater, Pond.-Humidity, Waterfall. Waves. Mist [Vapeur imprégrée], Smoke, Mercury, Waters of Chaos, Philosophic Water.-Odor, Wintry Weather, Frost, Snow, Exhalation, Evaporation.-Instability, Fickleness, Silence.-Murmur.-Patience.
The Reverseds correspond to the 1st of the four elements, Water, as indicated by "1 El." on the card. Papus’s list uses water as a metaphor.

Here is Orsini's commentary on the card, c. 1838, with my explanatory comments in brackets.
This card represents the moon, the water, the land, the night; it means bad talk, defamation, gossip [discours].

Near no. 23 [Q. of Batons: Woman of the Country], it announces news [i.e. Talk] from the country. Alongside no. 21 [Dissension], it predicts discord caused by words with two meanings.

If the enquirer is a sailor, this card announces far-off journeys, useless searching, lost time.

For a young person, it predicts tears. If the card is found preceded by no. 45 [5 of Cups: Inheritance], it announces that the person's tears will stop at the news of an inheritance.

Followed by no. 39 [Page of Cups: Blond Young Man], she will marry a young, rich, blond man. Near no. 47 [3 of Cups: Success/Expedition], one will peacefully attend a banquet.

Near no 67 [Page of Coins: Brown-Haired Young Man/Dissipation], it predicts that some disagreeable people will introduce themselves to you on a visit; it will come to nothing if no. 3 is presented right side up, but they will cause many wrongs to you if it is presented upside down.

Inverted and next to cards not mentioned above, it announces that a friend or relative will take up your cause with an influential person.

If the Enquirer is a young person, a party in the country to which one is invited will be upset because of rain.
Here the majority of the associations have to do with the Upright meaning of the cards. When they do pertain to water, the card is sometimes Upright (sailor, tears) and only once (party spoiled by rain) Reversed. Exactly how the disagreeable visitors relate to the meaning of card 2 is unclear: perhaps they are like a flood.

The c. 1853 edition of Orsini changes "defamation" in the first sentence to "tittle-tattle" (the French word is "cancans"). The c. 1910 Grimaud Etteilla I booklet adds that the talk around one is slander [calumnie] against one only if the card is near no 18 [Traitor], and otherwise of no importance. Also, if the Enquirer's card, 1 or 8, is near, there will be litigation (another form of Talk) that the person will win if the two cards are both upright. Near no 47, the banquet will be in a peaceful place, with lots of punch and warm beverages (i.e. fluids). It says nothing about news from the country when near 23, but does predict rain for one’s party there.

The most interesting changes are when the card is near 67, the Page of Coins. The c. 1853 Orsini says, after saying that there will be unexpected disagreeable visitors, that if no. 3 is reversed, then one’s plans will fall apart; what that has to do with the visitors is unclear. But water, in the word-list, is a source of evaporation and instability. In the 1910 Grimaud, however, we learn that the disagreeable visitors are thieves.
Alongside no. 67, this card warns that thieves will come into the person’s house. If no. 3 is upright, they will steal nothing. They will do great damage if no. 3 is reversed.
The modern Grimaud simplifies all this. It says that if 67 is near, there could be thieves. If 1 or 8 is near, the person will win his or her lawsuit. Near 18, beware of slander. It omits all of Orsini’s mention of sailors, tears, rain, the country, banquets, and people with influence. But it does include Orsini’s point about proximity to 21 meaning disagreements. As for the inheritance, it is expected when no. 39, the blond young Page of Cups, is near. Before, he was a source of wealth by marriage. I suspect that the modern writer put down 39 by mistake.

For the basic Upright and Reversed meanings, the modern Grimaud booklet says: if right side up, there will be “long and animated discussion with friends”—much less negative than Orsini. If upside-down, “calm your desire for change.” From the Reversed word list, this uses both “patience” and “fickleness.” In the word list, water is a metaphor for peace and calm as well as change and disruption. More generally. says the modern Grimaud, the card signifies “negotiations and talk.” Orsini’s account was considerably closer to the negative, dark meaning of the Marseille Moon card from which the Etteilla card derives.

One thing that I wondered about was whether the metaphorical sense of water, as change and calm, may have been added by Papus himself. The c. 1838 is mostly quite literal in its use of the concept of water. But even there, the banquet is peaceful, like calm water, and the visitors harmful, like a flood. By c. 1853, plans evaporate. So probably water was taken metaphorically to some extent all along, whether explicitly in a list or not. Then in the modern Grimaud the meaning of “water” is all metaphorical. It is not even one of the keywords. Those are "Discussion” and “Instability." “Instability” is on Papus’s word list but not Orsini’s.

The title of the card is similarly distant from the Creation: Instead of "Plants," we have “The Order of the Mopses.” That title, which is also used in the c. 1910 booklet, I think refers to a whimsical 18th century crypto-Masonic secret society (http://www.answers.com/topic/order-of-the-mopses). Perhaps the title was suggested by the dogs on the card, because the society’s chief cult-object was a pug dog, or “Mops,” whose hindquarters the initiate was required to kiss while blindfolded; it then proved to be made of wax or wood. An engraving depicting this most solemn ritual may be seen at http://www.opencouncil.co.uk/Order of the Mopses link.html. As may be seen, the Mopses admitted both men and women.

[Added June 12: One more interpretation to add to the mix is the c. 1865 (Cerulean in post #90). It says
Here is a tarot that represents several things: plants, water, earth, moon, or night. Without doubt it would be of a difficult interpretation if each thing should have a different sense; but the neighborhood of the other cards much modifies or changes its signification.

Near no. 23, it predicts that you will receive news from the country, bouquets, flowers.

Near no. 45, it predicts an inheritance; while beside no. 47, it advises that you will attend a considerable feast.

When this tarot comes reversed, it advises of slight annoyances, parties in the country adjourned, dark weather; it always announces excessive cold.
This is merely Orsini simplified, without its darker suggestions, minimizing alarm to the querent and increasing the chance of a successful prediction.]
 

MikeH

Card 4, La Piscine etc.

Now I will give some examples of card 4, followed by the books’ interpretations. Here are: the 1910 Etteilla I from http://a.trionfi.eu/WWPCM/decks03/d01612/d01612.htm; Sumada's Etteilla II, before 1890, http://sumada.multiply.com/photos/album/76; and his second Etteilla III, 1890-1917, http://sumada.multiply.com/photos/album/131#.

04all3.jpg


Etteilla has converted the bird on the Marseille Star card to a butterfly. On the Etteilla II, I seem to detect a river or lake to the left of the figure (left white on Sumada’s card), corresponding to a similar body of water on the Star card. The artist might even have wanted to suggest a waterfall. The Etteilla III’s different design is, I think, inspired by some of what Etteilla says in the second Cahier. There Etteilla begins by saying, as translated earlier in this thread (#78):
No. 4. The fourth sheet has for allegory the Stars, and was by the Cardmakers called “The Star,” because it showed there some Stars: I explain otherwise the figure in its proper nomination, titled by its day of creation: expanse [etendue, probably a word for “firmament”]; the number of the Element that it bears is 3, Air.
It is the 2nd day of creation, when God creates the “firmament in the midst of the waters,” divides the upper waters from the lower waters, and calls the firmament “heaven.” Appropriately, the Orsini title for the card, which appears on the Etteilla III, is “Le Ciel,” “The Sky.”

Etteilla talks again about card 4 when discussing card 6. It is this part that relates to the changed design of the Etteilla III
This sheet primitively offers a Zodiac; and I believe, without rejecting anything that I have said about the fourth sheet, that the Cardmakers have moved a part of the sixth sheet onto the fourth
Of course in Etteilla I and II we don’t have a Zodiac, just the seven planets. Etteilla III gives us 13 stars on the outer circle, where signs of the zodiac are typically put.Then it has some other celestial bodies closer to the middle, probably representing planets.

[Added July 14: Another place Etteilla talks about the card is on p. 94f, in the middle of a discussion of alchemy.
[p. 94.] Take the fourth page of the Book Thot, 4. 8. 12. or the Deck of Cards named Tarots (of which the root is A Rosch, which signifies beginning(1), it is necessary to turn thus: Who does not have the beginning of the Science or the Doctrine, abuses himself in believing that he can understand the middle and the end;) the hieroglyph that the Ignorant have called The Star (there was always [il y en a toujours eu]) is the second day of Creation.

The Egyptians put on this page the animal, which is the figure triphibie [three-sided?], soul life and body, androgyne or male and female, and seen as neuter, keeping both sexes, and having in it the four elements and the three principles.

They also put the vegetable (2), which [p. 95] is also triphibie [three-sided?], soul from Nature, life from it and body, having the same three principles and four Elements, & in its neutrality giving root, trunk and branch, and from them leaves, flowers and fruits.

They have also traced on this page the mineral, placed between the heel and the knee of the other leg of the figure; this metal is also triphibie [three-sided?], having in it the three principles and the four Elements.

[Footnotes] (1)See the eighth volume of M. De Gebelin.
(2)From the tree which is in the fourth page of the Book of Thot, most of the Cardmakers have removed the Butterfly that the Egyptians put there. At Strasbourg, it is not; at Bordeaux, they have put a Bird.
My comments: (a) Etteilla's comments indicate that the androgynous appearance of the figure is intentional. It has alchemical significance; in alchemy hermaphrodites were shown as such. (b) In another footnote, p. 35, Etteilla attributes the Star card with a butterfly to a Strasbourg cardmaker named Benoit. Kaplan, vol. 2 p. 345, shows a Star card by Benois of Strasbourg, c. 1780; I see no flying creature of any kind; but there might be something on the side of the tree that I can't make out. (c) Etteilla does not specify on p. 94f what the “three principles” are that the animal, vegetable, and mineral all share. But on p. 92f he talks of sulfur, mercury, and salt as three principles that are in all three kingdoms, animal, vegetable, and mineral.]

Now for the word lists. Again, words that are in either translation of Papus, and also in Orsini, are in regular type. Those in Papus only are in italics; and those in Orsini only in bold.
4. [Dépouillement.] DESOLATION. [Deprivation, per Dusserre]—Privation, Destitution, Abandonment, Test, Extract, Audit, Sorting Out, Separation, Untangle, Go Deeper, Deprive, Take off, Remove, Plundering, Despoilment, Theft, Loss of Help. Violence. Removal. Fraud, Swindle, Infidelity.

Reversed: AIR, Wind, Storm, Atmosphere, Climate, Dryness/drought, Heaven/sky, Stars.—Birds, Subtle, Volatile, Tone.—Mannerism, Affectation, Gait, Appearance, Physiognomy, Resemblance.—Vague and Without Substance.—Arrogance, Haughtiness, Importance, Song, Music, Melody. Birth air. Similitude. Manner. Allure. Shape. Semblance. Beautiful seeming. False seeming. Fake. Feign. Dissimulation. Hypocrisy, Acoustic. Aerial. Sylphe. Chant. Tone. Light discourse.
The Reverseds correspond to the 3rd of the four elements, Air, as indicated by "3e. Element" on the card. Both lists use air as a metaphor.

Here is Orsini's commentary on the card, c. 1838, with my explanatory comments in brackets.
The Egyptians took much care in the explication of this card: they regarded it as their bad star. It signifies deprivation, theft [c. 1853: considerable loss], hypocrisy.

If the Enquirer is a lady, this card announces that she has been slandered by one of her best friends [amies, female]. But if it is right side up, these slanders will soon be brought to [the light of] day and cover with ridicule her who will have imagined them.

Reversed, it predicts thunderstorms, terrifying noise, presence at a concert, hurricane, shipwreck.

Near no. 17 [Mortality], it announces an illness, but of little danger. Near no. 71 [money problems], it predicts a loss of little importance.

If it is between two favorable cards, its prediction will be modified.

Beside no. 20 [Fortune], it predicts that some speculators want your fortune, and that you should keep on your guard.
The Reversed meanings seem to trade on the negative aspects of air. In that respect, this card is much like the preceding one, water: storms and floods both do much damage. In the Uprights, this card is negative in the present but positive in the future: slander will be exposed, an illness won't be serious. That was the traditional meaning of the Star card: hope in the darkness. On Etteilla's card, the lady is dumping out the jars, a loss. But the outcome is not so bad.

[Added June 12: The 1865 booklet (French text, post 90) modifies Orsini somewhat.
The signification of this tarot appeared to the cartomancers of antiquity as an unfavorable omen; but they supposed, in that that case, that it came up in the company of tarots of unfortunate presage.

If it is accompanied by no. 20, it tells you to take care of your fortune and your reputation.

Near no. 17, it announces news from a far-off country.

If it is reversed, it predicts that you will be surprised by rain, if you persist in making the journey to the country of which you have spoken recently.

If it is for a lady, it announces very beautiful surprises.
This simplifies the c. 1838 and avoids its most disturbing aspect--the suggestion of slander--but keeps a hint of it when it mentions "reputation" near 20. The illness formerly predicted near 17 is changed to "news."]


The c. 1910 Grimaud booklet keeps the c. 1838's negativity and even increases it. It continues to predict slander, illness, and loss, but with different details. Here is the whole entry.
This card right side up announces a secret that will be revealed one great day, and which will dissipate some slanders. A woman will make a confession that will surprise many; a black hypocrisy will be discovered.

Reversed, this card promises a cold that the person for whom one reads will catch in leaving the bath; or, if the person does not bathe, in leaving the bed.

Beside no. 17, reversed, this card announces a grave illness in which the person will make a singular confession.

If no. 17 is upright, there is a serious danger; not that the person is menaced with death, but the confession that the fear will make him make will compromise his repose. Beside no. 71, this card announces a bankruptcy in which the person for whom one consults will lose a little money.
And here is the modern Grimaud’s English version, which continues the negativity:
Usually from all points of view this card signifies loss, especially when it is the right way up. Nevertheless it brings enough lucidity to face events.

R[Right side up] Revelation of a bitter secret that will be detrimental to you.
U [Upside down] Do not catch cold. Avoid going on any kind of cruise.

R near no. 17: serious illness and the end of a misunderstanding.
U near 20 – Bad reputation. Near 70 [Mean person] – Handle your own fortune in either stocks or real estate etc. Near 71: Loss of money.
"Revelation...that will be detrimental to you" is a new twist, one that departs considerably from the previous interpretations and also from the traditional meaning of the Star card. To an extent, the departure is only in the translation. The French text for R and U in the same modern booklet is rather different.
R: Revelation, dissipation d’un doute [dissipation of a doubt], opiniâtreté [stubbornness].
U: Pièges à éviter a tout prix. [Traps to be avoided at all costs.]
The modern Grimaux keywords are Revelation/Maniere d’Etre (Behavior). “Revelation” isn’t part of the original word-list. It seems to come from Orsini’s giving a positive outcome to a negative situation, that slander will be exposed. That in turn comes from words such as "triage" (sorting out) and "debrouiller" (untangle) on her word list (less so in Papus's). Thus there is hope. In that way, the word "Revelation" is a better characterization of the Uprights than the wholly negative "Depouillement", i.e. "Deprivation."

“Maniere d’Etre” isn’t part of the word-list at all and is too general to be a good characterization of the Reversed meanings.

The Grimaud title is “La Piscine,” meaning “The Pool.” The English text has “The Swimming Pool,” but that seems absurd, given the lack of such structures on the card. The Orsini title, “Le Ciel,” may equally not have anything to do with the portent of the card, but at least it fits the right “day of creation.”

Perhaps “The Pool” was an esoteric title of the Marseille Star card, now applied in a new context. My view is that the body of water in the Marseille Star card is, among other things, the Lake of Memory, and the water being poured there the water of memory. The drinking of that water allowed Dante, at the end of the Purgatorio, to remember his good deeds and so ascend to Paradise; in ancient Greece, it allowed those undergoing ecstatic experience to remember it later, and so foresee the future, as described by the Roman-era travel-writer Pausanias. There is a tradition that Conver wrote "L'ESTOILE" so that it looked like "LE TOULE," The Spring in local dialect (see my post #66 at http://www.tarotforum.net/showthread.php?p=1990432). From Le Toule comes La Piscine.

Card 4 could be colored differently, so that there was some blue at the bottom, where it is now green, suggesting a small pool and maybe a little stream.
 

MikeH

Card 5, L'Homme et Les Quadrupedes/L'Evangile.

For card 5, here are: the 1910 Etteilla I from http://a.trionfi.eu/WWPCM/decks03/d01612/d01612.htm' Sumada's Etteilla II, before 1890, http://sumada.multiply.com/photos/album/76; and his second Etteilla III, 1890-1917, http://sumada.multiply.com/photos/album/131#.

05all.jpg


These are of course all variations on the Marseille World card. The Etteilla I and II are Egyptianized by the pyramids. That way of representing them is an old tradition, going back to medieval tombs in Bologna, even though travelers’ sketches showed the famous ones near Cairo quite differently. Those were once thought to be the granaries built by Joseph. The Etteilla III’s different design is inspired by what Etteilla says in the second Cahier. Here is what it is, as translated earlier in this thread (#78):
No. 5. The fifth sheet bears the number 6 for its day of creation: God made Man in his image, being then, in regard to human physicality, in perfection; it bears for its Element the number 4, “Earth.”
On the 6th day, not only did God make man but also “God made the beasts of the earth according to their kinds, and cattle, and every thing that creepeth on the earth after its kind” (http://www.drbo.org/chapter/01001.htm). So we have beasts on the card, and also a snake forming the circle. Appropriately, the Orsini title for the card, which appears on the Etteilla III, is “L’Homme et les Quadrupedes,” “Man and the Quadrupeds.” The designer of the Etteilla III must have noticed that two of the creatures in the corner weren’t either creepers or quadrupeds; so he substituted an elephant and a horse. I surmise that in choosing two beasts of burden, his choice was dictated by God’s wish that man should “have dominion over the fishes of the sea, and the fowls of the air, and the beasts, and the whole earth, and every creeping creature that moveth upon the earth.” Also, instead of a woman, he puts a man leaning on a club: everyone knows that man was created first, and first maintained his dominion with crude weapons.

Now for the word lists. Again, words that are in either translation of Papus, and also in Orsini, are in regular type. Those in Papus only are in italics; and those in Orsini only in bold.
5. [Voyage.] JOURNEY—Route, Walk, Gait, Change of Place, Pilgrimage. Steps. Peregrination, Visit, Flight [Race], Foray, Emigration, Transmigration.—Judge.—Collapse, Rotation, Circulation.—Disorient, Disconcert. Divert, Interrupt.

Reversed: [Terre.] EARTH. Matter, Mud, Sludge, Silt.—Prima Materia, Sulfur and Mercury, Salt of the Sages, Coldness, Dense.—Gnomic, World, Terrestrial Globe, State, Kingdom, Empire.—Terrain, Territory, Possessions, Rural Properties.—Presence, Permanence, Fixity, Stagnation.—Inertia.—Animals, Beast.—Sepulcher, Tomb—Ash, Powder, Dust.—. Forestland. Virgin Land. Orchards. Reptiles. Vines. Regions. Country. Places. Site. Countryside. Locale. Fields. Prairies. Near, Aspect, Tranquility. Beach. Shore. Reef. Coast. Rocks. Plain. Mountain. Hill. Valley. Quadrupeds.
The Reverseds correspond to the 4th of the four elements, Earth, as indicated by "4e. Element" on the card. Both lists use Earth as a metaphor, although the one in Papus more than that in Orsini.

Here is Orsini's commentary on the card, c. 1838, with my explanatory comments in brackets.
The naked woman in the middle of the circle indicates that the truth floats over the earth; the olive branch announces general peace; the attributes of the four evangelists who surround the circle of the earth are signs of sagacity; the pyramids indicate an impending increase of fortune.

This card predicts for you happiness, courage, battles won.

Near no.38 [Knight of Cups: Arrival], it announces an arrival of money.

Beside no. 36 [King of Cups: Distinguished Man], it says that you will be soon named to a promotion.

Preceded by no. 9 [Justice], it predicts the winning of a lawsuit.

Followed by no. 77 [Ace of Coins: Perfect Contentment], it is a large sign of happiness.

If one of the four knights accompany this card, it promises a piece of news that will cause much pleasure to the public.

But if this card is presented upside down, it indicates absolutely everything contrary in each case indicated above.
Added June 12: The 1865 offers some variations on the c. 1838, and of course, since it is written for the Etteilla III, leaving out the reference to the naked woman on the card.
This card announces great success in all possible enterprises. Success in war, if the consultant belongs to the army, great fortune, if he is a shopkeeper; invincible courage, if he is a conscript.

When it is a lady who consults, and this tarot is accompanied by a knight, it predicts that she will receive a little news from a female friend who lives far away. If this tarot is preceded by a valet, it is a sign of opulence, and when one of the four Kings or the four Queens is found, whether before or after, it predicts greatness.

Near no. 78 [Folly], it would not be favorable, but again, it would make you fearful of a blunder [mais encore ne vous ferait-il craindre qu'une etourderderie].
As you can see, this version omits many of the predictions of the c. 1838, but expands on others--suiting the prediction to the profession and adding predictions for all the courts.]


The c. 1910 Grimaud booklet, written for an Etteilla I, says much the same thing as the c. 1838, with a few changes and additions. The naked woman represents not truth but “raccommodement,” reconciliation—a concept not in the lists. Also, about the predicted peace it says
All the clouds are dissipated; peace reestablished will no longer alter, as indicated by the serpent that bites its tail.
Indeed, the serpent circling back to bite its tail, the Oroboros, was a traditional symbol of eternity, of time that does not end.

The knights now bring a piece of joyful political news.

Then at the end, the c. 1910 adds
If the card of the Gospel is near no. 37 [Queen of Cups: Wife of a Distinguished Man] there will be a small persecution for religious opinions. The person will be bothered if card no. 37 follows. There is nothing to fear if this card is before.
What does the Queen of Cups have to do with harassing people for their religious beliefs? Well, her job, if you look at that card’s interpretation, is to correct people. No. 5 is the card of the Gospel (its title, in both the c. 1910 Grimaud booklet and the modern one, is “L’Evangile”); so that is where she will correct them.

One might also wonder, What do these interpretations have to do with the Upright keyword and synonyms? There is no mention of any journey. The modern Grimaud is sensitive to this point. After saying, “This card is the emblem of success both in love and work,” it adds
R [right side up] A journey or a voyage will prove beneficial to you; it will be the cause of reconciliation with [one with] whom one has quarreled and an incentive [regain d'activité, renewal of activity] in your work.
U [upside down]Use foresight to avoid the worst difficulties in handling your own affairs.
So happiness, peace, and reconciliation are the result of a journey. What I think is that “journey” comes from the traditional meaning of the Marseille World card. The happiness, peace, and reconciliation there are in Heaven, the World in a Platonic sense, in which the world of the living is illusion. The journey, then, is from here to there, but now expressed in a secular way, all in this world.

The modern Grimaud adds
R: with 77 – Great happiness. With 9, 36, 38, - a better job with higher promotion [appointments, i.e. rank]. You will win your lawsuit.
U: With 66 [Knight of Coins: Profits] – Win in gambling. With 37 – Divergence of opinion. With any king or queen –Great success.
You can see where all except the new association with 66 and the "great success" with any King or Queen derive from the previous booklets. 37 is a further secularization of the card.
 

Cerulean

Jeu des Dames by Delarue, Librarie ' Paris

I just received this from Madrid:

LES RECREATIONS DE LA CARTOMANCIE ou description pittoresque de chacune des Cartes du Grand Jeu de l'Oracle des Dames.
(Esoterismo) LEMARCHANT, Mlle.

(Chez Tous Les Marchands de Nouveutes-Paris imprime chez Bonaventure et Ducessois, 55, quai des Austins)

Description: Avec des combinaisons pour expliquer le présent, le passé, l'avenir. Paris, chez tous les marchands de nouveautés, s.f. (hacia 1865), 12x16, 90p. 3h. 78 figuras de cartomancia

The circa 1865 French explanation on each page has a black and white figure and the French text --yes, this somewhat different than the Editions Dusserre and the untitled 20th-21st century Spanish Argentina edition of El De Las Arte Echar Cartas.

The French book of the Jeu des Dames was actually less costly than some versions of the Etteilla deck being sold now. My guess at it being from Madrid...I have a Mexican/Spanish Jeu des Dames reprint from a friend and my Argentina version--this is where they added the Italian playing card, funny scrawl of 'hieroglyphs' and the French playing insert to the right of the original Jeu des Dames. I have heard or read that Lenormand-based cartomancy is known in South American countries (Argentian, Peru), now I realize Etteilla cartomancy is being published in a few Spanish editions today!

Here is the order of the cards: (and because Mike is kindly looking into the astrology and different types of booklets, here's what Delarue's circa 1860 book says, according to "par Mlle LeMarchant")
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1. Le Chaos - Cette carte est la figure du chaos; elle represent toujours celui qui interroge ou veut obtenir un oracle au moyen du jeu de tarots. Si cette carte ne venait pas, il faudrait la chercher dans le jeu et la placer au commencement de la ligne, si c'etait pour un homme que la consultation eut lieu; tandis que, pour une femme, il faudrait la suprimer et la remplacer pa le no 8.

Ce tarot signifie generalement insucces, soit qu'il sorte dans son sens naturel ou autrement.

cependeant, s'il arrivait entre deu autres tarots heureux, on pourrait le dire de bon augure.

Entre un Roi et une Reine, il signifie mariage, grandeur, succes, fortune.
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2. La Lumiere

Vous voyez le soleil, c'est la lumiere naturelle; le voisinage de ce tarots est toujours favorable.

L'orsque le consultant est un home, il signifie gloire, grandeurs, re'ussite, succes certains.

Pour une jeune personne, cette carte announce mariage tres-prochain; pour une dame, c'est un avis q'uelle aura de beaux enfants.

Placee aupres du no. 13, elle announce a la questionnante des bals, des fetes, des parties de plasir.

Lorsque la consultation est fait pour un home. elle lui predit des honneurs et des recompenses, et si le no 21 se trouvait sur la ligne, ce serait l'avis d'une union desiree.

C'est une carte que modifie beaucoup un oracle, cart elle est generalment avantageues.
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3. Les Plantes

Voici un tarot que represente plusieurs choses: le plantes, l'eu, la terre, la lune ou la nuit. Sans doute ill serait d'une intrepation difficile si chaque chose devait avoir un sens different; mais le voiinage des autres cartes modifie ou change beaucoup sa signfication.

Pres du no. 23, il vous avertit que vous recevrez des nouvelles, de la campagne, des bouquets, des fleurs.

Pres du no 45, il predit un heritage; tandis qu'a cote du no. 47,il vous aerti que vous assisterez a un festin considerable.

Lorsque ce tarot vient renverse, il ies l'avis de faibles contraries, arties de campagne ajournees, temps sombre; il announce toujours un froit excessif.
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4. Le Ciel
La sigiification de ce tarot avait paru aux cartomanciens de l'antiquite d'un augure defavorable; mais ils supposaient, dans ce cas, qu'il sortait du jeu en compagnie de tarots d'un facheux presage.

Sil est accompange du no. 20, il vous avertit de prendre soin de vortre fortune et de votre reputation.

Auprres du no. 17, il vous announe des nouvelles de pays lointains.

Si'il est renverse, il vous predit que vous seriez surpris par la pluie, si vous persistiez a faire le voyage a la campagne dont vous parlez depuits peu.

Si c'est pour une dame que l'on opere, il lui annonce de tres-belles suprises.
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5. Le Homme d'la Quadrupedes

Cette carte est l'announce des lus grands succes dans toutes le entreprises possibles. Succes guerriers, si le consultant appartient a l'armee; grande fortune, si c'est un comercant; courage invincible. si c'est un conscrit.

Lorsque c'est une dame qui consulte, et si tarot est accompagne d'un cavalier, il lui predit qu'elle recevra sous peu des nouvelles d'une amie que habite loin d'elle. Si ce tarot etait precede d'un valet, c'est un signe d'opulence; et lorsque d'une des quatre Rois ou l'une des quartre Reinnes se trouve soit avant, soit apres, il predit le grandeures.

Aupres du no. 78, il ne serait pointfavorable, mais encore ne vous ferait-il craindres qu'une etourderie.
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6. Les Astres

Ce tarot, qui represente les astres, ne saurait avir d'autre signification que le no. 4: cependent les signes du Zodiaque ajoutent a sa valeur.

Droit, il est un signe que le questioonant, soit homme, soit femme, jouira de longs jours.

Reverse, il vous dit la lumiere est faite ou qu'elle se fera sur une affaire tres-bscure dont vous etes fort preoccupe depuis quleque temps.

Mais aupres du no 16, il ne predit que des choses ayant rapport aux phenomenes de la nature, soit des pluies extraordinaires, des gelees, des neiges, des orages.

Quelquefois c'est une joilie suprise qu'il announce, orsque c'est une dame qui consulte.
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7. Le Oiseaux et les Poissans

Le sens vertiable de ce tarot est paix profounde. Si cette carte arrive renversee, elle announce que vos enemis seront confondus. Aupres du no 5, elle vous promet l'appui d'un grand personnage.

Lorsque la consultante est une jeune personne, ele loui predit qu'elle recevra pour ses etrennes, d'une de ses veilles parentes, une voliere remplie des plus jolis oiseux des iles.

Si c'est pour un monsieur qu'lon opere, ce tarot lui announce que, dans une partie de campagne, il fera une peche remarquable.

On peut encore lui donner l'interpretation suivante pres du no 71: heritage d'une parente eloignee.


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8. Repos (ian Eve with long hair and beautiful garland skirt of leaves pausing as she looks at the apple in her hand--one of the prettiest versions. There are no rings around her. I will have to take a photo and try to find a way to post sometime, she is serene and engraved beautifully. )

Si vous faites le jeu pour une dame, et que cette carte ne se rouve pas au nombre de celles que vous avez tirees, il faut la prendre dans le jeu et la placer commencement de la ligne. si vous operez pour un monsi contre le n#1.

La vertable signification du tarot 8 est tentation: le consultant doit donc etre averti qu'il est entoure pe pieges; mais, place pres des nos 9,13, 35, il est d'un augure favorable.

L'orsque cette carte arrive renversee et voisine des nos 14, 17, et 18, elle ne donne que des predictions obscures; alors il faut recommencer l'epreuve.

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the remainder of the majors:
9. La Justice
10. La Temperance
11. La Force
12. La Prudence
13. Le Grand Pretre
14. Le Diable
15. Le Magicien
16. Le Jugement Dernier
17. La Mort
18. Le Caupucin
19. Le Temple Foudroye
20. La Roue de Fortune
21. Le Despote...
78. Le Fou