Tarot and the Da Vinci Code

Hi, Folks -

Have any of you read Dan Brown's controversial novel The Da Vinci Code? Brown based his book on historical research and theories about Jesus and Mary Magdalene being married and having a child who would start a royal bloodline in France.

A certain tarot plays a part in this research. In the 13th century, a painter by the name of Jacquemin Gringonneur designed three tarot decks for King Charles VI. Gringonneur, in at least one of these decks, used secret imagery to tell the story of Christ's marriage and bloodline, and the cover-up by the Vatican, including:

- The Hermit as St. Peter (with rock formations around him), holding not a lantern, but an hour glass shaped container which was the Holy Grail - the bloodline of Jesus and Magdalene.

- The Hanged Man as a tortured Templar Knight (the Church hung the Knights in the same way that this Hanged Man dangles) clutching two bags of treasure in his hands, the two treasures being the secret of Christ's escape from crucifixion and the secret of his marriage and bloodline. The Templar Knights were loyal soldiers who led the Church's holy wars, but they became too powerful and knew too much, so they had to be purged.

- The Swords and Cups meaning the marriage of Jesus and Magdalene.

- The Wands meaning the bloodline of David - Jesus and Magdalene's descendants.

- The Pentacles meaning the Goddess. In the Gnostic Gospels which were banned by the Church and buried for 1,600 years before being rediscovered, Jesus, who spent time in Egypt, is depicted as being initiated into a scholarly order (the Gnostic order) that studied and practiced Egyptian magick and the worship of the mother goddess Isis and her husband, the father god Osiris. He brought this knowledge with him to Jerusalem with the intention of bringing back the "sacred feminine" - the Goddess - to the misogynistic and monotheistic people of the Middle East.

Jacquemin Gringonneur's deck is mentioned in the documentary The Da Vinci Code Decoded. It's fascinating stuff! So are the Gnostic Gospels. You can find them online for free if you want to read them. Gnosticism was more a philosophy than a religion. The real Jesus, as described the Gnostic gospels, had no use for orthodoxial hierarchies of organized religion like the Catholic and Protestant Churches. That's why he tore apart the corrupted temples. He also believed in the duality of the Divine - that we are the children of a Goddess and a God. The Gnostic order had female members.

- Eric

One aspect that should be clear, and of course mentioned EricTheHermit, is that the book makes no other claims than being a work of fiction (albeit captivating), not a historical story.

I did say that the Da Vinci Code is a novel - a work of fiction - but it was inspired by real (and controversial) historical research by various historians and scholars into the origins of Christianity and Catholicism. The 13th century Jacquemin Gringonneur tarot was a real deck, and the Templar Knights were a real, secret society of mercenary soldiers in the Catholic Church's service until they were executed for heresy.

Did the Templar Knights really know secrets that the Church would kill to keep secret? Are the Gnostic Gospels a genuine record of Christ's life? Well, it's up to you whether or not you agree with the views of historians on these subjects. The theories put forth are hypotheses based on available evidence. Other historians may not agree with these hypotheses, but they are intriguing nonetheless.

Like the saying goes, you should always be open-minded - but not so open-minded that your brain falls out.

- Eric

From the TarotL Tarot History Information Sheet:

The "Charles VI" or "Gringonneur" tarot cards

Inaccurate: The tarot was invented to amuse Charles VI of France in 1392, as evidenced by a deck by Gringonneur in the Bibliothèque Nationale de France in Paris.

Current Historical Understanding: It is recorded that in 1392, Jacquemin Gringonneur was paid to paint three decks of cards for Charles VI. These were probably playing cards, not tarot. The deck in the Bibliothèque Nationale de France is a late-15th century hand-painted deck of the Northern Italian type (probably from Venice or Ferrara).

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http://www.tarothermit.com/infosheet.htm

Margaret Starbird, author of The Woman with the Alabaster Jar : Mary Magdalen and the Holy Grail, says differently in her interview in the documentary The Davinci Code Decoded. During this segment, some images from the Gringonneur tarot are shown, and they are clearly tarot and illustrate the points she makes.

- Eric

EricTheHermit said:

Have any of you read Dan Brown's controversial novel The Da Vinci Code? Brown based his book on historical research and theories about Jesus and Mary Magdalene being married and having a child who would start a royal bloodline in France.

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Theories abound but what historical research of Dan Brown's shows that Jesus and Mary Magdalene were married and had a child?

Don't get me wrong. I enjoy the royal bloodline stories as much as anyone else.

I haven't read the book. I'm waiting for the movie.

As Rusty Neon pointed out with regards to the cards painted for Charles VI by Gringonneur, and though this latter undoubtedly, and as recorded by the notary, painted and was paid for a set of cards, there is unfortunately no evidence that this was a Tarot set.

Furthermore, it is now pretty well established that the deck previously mis-identified as that deck was a much later one, likely from northern Italy.

In other words, there were three decks that Gringonneur painted and was paid for. Where these are we do not, unfortunately, know. Some have pointed to another deck and mistakenly said: 'Here it is - and look, it's a kind of Tarot deck!' This does not, of course, make it one of the decks painted by him.

It may be that differing evidence comes to the fore at a later date to further correct this, and of course one needs to be open to various evidence. I also personally have no doubt that each and every image of the Tarot's Atouts were certainly around in the 12th (and earlier) centuries.

Also like many others here and in other places, I not only enjoy reading the various promulgated views of the family supposed to have descended from Jesus and Mary Magdelene, but also have certain opinions partly formed, of course, from the writings of the like of Starbird and others.

As to the Knight Templars, there is sufficient evidence of independence of mind, independence of secular power, and control of vast tracts or land, loans to various secular powers, etc, to have made both monarchy and church not only become quite wary of its influence and military power, but also downright clear that its demise was to their mutual benefit.

How the KTs have 'survived', transformed or been incorporated within various other bodies does not need to have been the way some have rather enjoyed weaving together into wonderful stories - and wonderful they are.

It can also be said, of course, that Umberto Eco's Name of the Rose, Foucault's Pendulum, and The Island of the Day Before were also each inspired by historical research. Fortunately, no-one has made claims that therefore the wonderfully weaved fictional stories from a basis of historical events: that it is the case that research leads to a fictional story does not in the least imply that the fictional story is based on a factual ground. Of course, this seems to be what has (strangely, to my mind) occured with this book: from story written as novel to an assumption of its description as factual account.

jmd -

If you enjoy reading the theories of Margaret Starbird and others, I highly recommend that you watch the documentary The Da Vinci Code Decoded. It's available on DVD only and runs about two and a half hours long. Starbird is one of the interviewees.

Another interviewee I was very impressed with is James M. Robinson, author of The Nag Hammadi Library In English. This book is Robinson's definitive translation of the Gnostic Gospels, which were discovered in 1945 after being buried for 1,600 years.

Robinson learned the Coptic language so he could do his own translation of the Gnostic Gospels, and his translation is considered by scholars to be the most accurate translation. Robinson came from a traditional Christian background, but after completing his work on the Gnostic Gospels, he became convinced that the Gnostics were the true record of Jesus the man, and that the Jesus of the New Testament was a myth conceived as a figurehead for an organized orthodox hierarchy that the real Jesus would have despised.

The Da Vinci Code Decoded is one of the most fascinating and intriguing documentaries I've ever seen.

- Eric

EricTheHermit said:

Did the Templar Knights really know secrets that the Church would kill to keep secret? Are the Gnostic Gospels a genuine record of Christ's life? Well, it's up to you whether or not you agree with the views of historians on these subjects. The theories put forth are hypotheses based on available evidence. Other historians may not agree with these hypotheses, but they are intriguing nonetheless.

- Eric

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As far as I know, no historian agrees with any of these hypotheses. The hypotheses put forward are not based upon available evidence, rather they are a highly imaginative formulation based upon a interpretation of a highly selected and thus limited picking of the body of evidence. From a historical point of view, they are pretty much crap, as a work of fiction however it is a pretty good and very readable example of the genre; I have no hesitation in recommending it to everyone as a work of fiction.

Kwaw

I've not read the Da Vinci Code, and it's not high up on my to-read list - but I have read some of the so-called Gnsotic gospels available on the net, and Jean-Luc Leloup's translation and commentary of the Gospel of Mary (very beautiful book). They do intrigue me.

Does anyone know of any unbiased historical and/or theological study of these? I mean unbiased either way!! (I imagine the most unbiased would be atheists!)