New book - "Explaining the Tarot"

[Ross G Caldwell]

Hi Nicky,

I swear I ordered this a week or so ago and can't find the charge anywhere on paypal.. I wanted one for Debra and myself ....anyhow I think I reordered yet again today ...

OY

Have you heard back yet?

 

[The crowned one]

I received mine yesterday, it is a wonderful book. You just can not get this sort of great information for the cost a of a good pint of beer. Best £7.00 I have spent in some time. The layout is perfect for study. Bibliography, notes and foot notes all lead to more worthwhile study. Thanks Ross and crew.

 

[gregory]

I received mine yesterday, it is a wonderful book. You just can not get this sort of great information for the cost a of a good pint of beer. .

It's a great book - but I HAVE to differ on that one. You can get a great pint for £3.50 or so - even less when there's a guest beer going

I now return you to the richly deserved squeefest.

 

[nicky]

Hi Nicky,

Have you heard back yet?

Not to worry... I will post when it arrives.
I'm sure it was my 'old timers' messing with me

 

[Ross G Caldwell]

So very possibly the higher value of the Hanged Man is based on that of the majority of people - few people (and people at that time) could claim to be virtuous angel, which means that most of us must continue on past the experience of the Hanged Man. The experience of shame?

The diagram/image explains how you see the grouping of the trumps


Bee

I agree with Marco about the temporal aspect in Piscina - here he means that you need to hear good counsel (Old Man) before you can despise it (Hanged Man). It wouldn't be fair the other way around, to end up like that before having had the chance to see the right way.

So he isn't suggesting that most people do spurn good counsel, but that everyone is given a chance to hear it, and some do in fact spurn it, resulting in the fate depicted in the card (p. 21).

I find it more interesting that he interprets it as a suicide - unless his deck had a man hanging by the neck, that seems odd (over a hundred years later, the Sicilian tarot would show that). But it is a gloss, interpreting it as "desperation", this is attractive in a morality such as this.

 

[Rosanne]

Could anyone tell me if the site selling the book is a safe site for Visa payments- as Paypal and I have always seemed to have problems. Can I only pay via Paypal? Or can I use my Visa credit card straight up?

Thank you.

~Rosanne

 

[Bernice]

Rosanne, I used maestro (like visa), but I think that's when the telephone number becomes nescessary. I don't use paypal either.


Bee

 

[Bernice]

Ross: So he isn't suggesting that most people do spurn good counsel, but that everyone is given a chance to hear it, and some do in fact spurn it, resulting in the fate depicted in the card (p. 21).

I find it more interesting that he interprets it as a suicide - unless his deck had a man hanging by the neck, that seems odd (over a hundred years later, the Sicilian tarot would show that). But it is a gloss, interpreting it as "desperation", this is attractive in a morality such as this.

Ah, thanks Ross, I see I misunderstood. However, I'm still surprised that 'desperation' (or lack of virtue) should win over the previous trumps....... I'd be useless at playing the game

But, had another thought. Is correct that these cards wern't orginally numbered/named?


Bee

 

[Ross G Caldwell]

Ah, thanks Ross, I see I misunderstood. However, I'm still surprised that 'desperation' (or lack of virtue) should win over the previous trumps....... I'd be useless at playing the game

Don't forget that for Piscina, there are two sections - things subject to death, and things not subject to death. The hinge is Temperance, which stands for "any other virtue, that does not fear the strikes of death", and therefore "makes men immortal". So Virtue does in fact win in the end - the Hanged Man is not the end of the series. He is just placed to show the result of not listening to wisdom.

But, had another thought. Is correct that these cards wern't orginally numbered/named?


Bee

Names weren't literally written on the cards, in Italy, until the 18th century (if I remember correctly). But they all had names, used by the players in different regions - lists of such names, starting with the "Steele Sermon" in the late 15th century, and including our two authors in the 16th, show what players called them.

Numbers were written on some Italian cards long before, perhaps starting around 1500, but maybe earlier. These match the literary sources and lists, which allows us to identify the region of the numberer, and sometimes the design of the cards as well.

 

[Bernice]

Ross: Don't forget that for Piscina, there are two sections - things subject to death, and things not subject to death. The hinge is Temperance, which stands for "any other virtue, that does not fear the strikes of death", and therefore "makes men immortal". So Virtue does in fact win in the end - the Hanged Man is not the end of the series. He is just placed to show the result of not listening to wisdom.

The division, of course (duh!). I got fixated on the Hanged man and overlooked the complete sequence.

Ross: Numbers were written on some Italian cards long before, perhaps starting around 1500, but maybe earlier. These match the literary sources and lists, which allows us to identify the region of the numberer, and sometimes the design of the cards as well.

So it could be that at some point early in the 1500s this Visconti deck became numbered. Thanks Ross. (More food for thought).


Bee