Etteilla and LS Book of Thoth. Help!

Cerulean

Biography of Etteilla link below

http://www.villarevak.org/bio/etteilla_1.html

Hope that helps

According to the bio, he started with the shortened French gaming pack and assigned divinatory meanings.

I was intrigued that it was suggested he might have learned meanings or cartomancy from 'an Italian'. Then after the Compte de Geblin writings published, then it seems tarot came to Etteilla's attention...or at least within his claims!

Regards

Cerulean
 

Bernice

Cerulean,

Thank you for your posts, I would have another go at your second suggestion, but someone here has kindly offered to translate the the french divinatory text - direct from The Book of Thoth cards. A *very* kind someone....:love:

Bee :)
 

rif

Cerulean, thanks for the link. I haven't been by Villa Revak in a while, I should have known he'd have the dirt! :D I like the fact that the deck has the keywords plus the reminder of combos like "4 Kings." Handy! I haven't been very good about memorizing those for tarot or playing cards, although both factor into the reading methods I use.

Bee, thank you as well. 32 cards... I was close. :)
 

Cerulean

Purchasing options/image reproductions of Jeu des Dames

I checked and found that the links of the images and the Lo Scarabeo and Dal Negro version of the deck are still available.

http://www.tarotforum.net/showthread.php?t=112175&highlight=Grand+Etteilla

Unfortunately the Spanish Tarocco Egiziano version with the larger cards and English booklet by U.S. Games is hard to find--there is still a version available at R. Somerville with a non-English booklet. The advantage of this version is you can see the playing card or other sample symbology associated with the deck.

The English divinatory meanings as far as I can see seem similar to the Thierens meanings, a link I posted earlier.

Best wishes.

Cerulean
 

Moonbow

I would still like to know how this Freemasonry connection came about, how come there is connection when we all know about how secret they are about their knowledge? Why put symbols on a deck which only a Freemason will understand? Was Etteilla a Freemason?
 

Bernice

The only freemasonary in connection with this deck that I can find is Antoine Court de Gébelin, a Swiss clergyman and Freemason.

And this, which seems to be (french?) translated text. Not an internet translation via google/yahoo etc.
It appears at the Age of Enlightenment during the time pre-revolutionist with the Etteilla freemason for the set of 32 charts small Etteilla or '' Art to draw the charts '' 1753 published in 1791 and reached its apogee with Sybille from the Revolution and the Empire, Adelaïde Lenormand for pack of 52 cards - 1843:....

http://www.speedylook.com/Cartomancy.html
And the only references to what Etteilla included in his deck, are "astrological attributions and egyptian motifs". Although according to......
Christine Payne-Towler offers the following observation on a change in the major arcana of a popular tarot deck:

Etteilla was drawing from a Hermetic book, The Poimandres, a Greek treatise on the creation of the world and the fall of humanity into Eros. Essentially it's a Greek version of the Genesis story, but with differing names and an altered ordering of events.

http://carrietomko.blogspot.com/2006_01_22_archive.html

Still cannot discover if the batons are supposed to be some other objects.

Bee :)
 

Cerulean

Freemasonry came in the subsequent "Egyptian decks after 1826

Moonbow* said:
I would still like to know how this Freemasonry connection came about, how come there is connection when we all know about how secret they are about their knowledge? Why put symbols on a deck which only a Freemason will understand? Was Etteilla a Freemason?


Hello Moonbow...

I'm taking segments of Mary Greer's Timeline of the Divinatory Tarot and in a related thread, going to start inserting texts and samples of Etteilla Tarots...just Etteilla Tarots....the Freemasonry connecton according to Decker and Dummett is 1826, as noted in Mary Greer's timeline of the divinatory tarot:

1826 Parisian publisher Pierre Mongie republishes Etteilla’s original deck but with Freemasonic sounding titles on the cards. (now Grimaud’s Grand Etteilla Tarot).

INSERTION FROM DECKER and DUMMETT (from Cerulean):

This version was printed from the original copper plates, which had been altered to erase the corner symbols (but not the numbers of the cards) and add to most of the trumps, court cards and Aces new legends in cursive script, inside the frames of the pictorial designs, thus conferring on them names with a Biblical or Masonic flavo, such as "Hiram's Masonry" (card 2), "Solomon" (card 9), "Rehoboam (card 21) and 'the Cup of Balthasar" card 49, the Ace of Cups)...The label goes on to advertise a book...The book...Almost the whole section of the book devoted to the Egyptian Tarots is reprinted in an unattributed pamphlet entitled Grand Etteilla issued by Grimaud with the version of Grand Etteilla I they have been producing for many years...

End Insertion

The entire "Etteilla" timeline reference will be in a linked thread...just keeping that handy and separate perhaps for future use...

http://www.tarotforum.net/showthread.php?t=122602

Cerulean
 

Sylvie Steinbach

Fyi

A french collector is selling a Grand etteilla from the 1900's right now...
You need to go on ebay.fr and post Etteilla as a key word for recherche. You will see it. Auction ends in 8 days. Starting price 200 Euro!!!! do ship to U.S.A. and other countries for extra costs.

According to his page, it is a rare deck put on the market between 1890 and 1894. It is not in the best of shape according to the abundant pictures on the page and I am surprise by some folding crisps (as mine cannot be bent!). Anyway it has the seal as shown on the 2 of swords...

He also has 3 more cartomancy decks from the same era, all with many pictures. One is a grand Lenormand! You will recognize the two box system so typical of that period. The deck carries the seal as well. In quite good condition! With its original book! Starting bid 400 Euro!!!

Then we have an original 'petit cartomancien' (unbelievable, you don't see those originals that often, it is worth for you guys to have a look!) with the two box system and the seal. Fantastic find this one. Would love to have my hands on those as you have to go to some metaphysician attic to find them. Starting bid is also 400 Euros...

PS: No I don't know this guy and he is not a friend of mine, I am not promoting his items...I am just exciting to have found those antiques and see that he has posted so many pictures of them so that if you love those old decks you can at least look at them! ;-) it is ok to 'look'.