Ross G Caldwell
There's no need to try to make anything personal, to impute hidden or less-than-noble motives to the historians or the mythmakers, or anything else besides dealing with verifiable claims of documentation. That's all I'm trying to do. Kingdubrock said "there is documentation", and I wanted to know what that is. I just want to know the truth, as far as it can be known. Checking sources, and estimating their worth, is a cornerstone of historical methodology. It is also how people generally use their common sense, when someone tries to sell them something, whether a story or a good.
What people do with the information once it is uncovered is of course their business alone. I assume most people prefer to know the truth, in order to be able to make up their minds about what story they want to buy. To at least have a solid basis on which to form an opinion.
The only personal note I'd add is that I make it my business to know as much about all aspects of Tarot history that I can, including the last 230 years during which esoteric Tarot developed, and continues to develop. I share freely everything I find, where it is relevant, particularly where people make demonstrably false or at least misleading claims, however innocent their intentions (where correction requires gentleness) or otherwise (which are often uncovered when the gentle approach contradicts them, and they get vicious in response). My interest in the esoteric extends to things like the "Grail Heresy" that has developed in the last 30 years, particularly the last 20, which helps put things like the "Gospel of Jesus' Wife" forgery and its reception in a broader context.
It's tough to keep the pulse of every idea that comes up, especially in several languages, but I've tried to make sure I know the main ones that survive more than a few posts or a few months. In France, in the last two decades, the two main schools of Marseille Tarot that have garnered the most adherents are the Camoin-Jodorowsky doctrine, which is tightly controlled, and the decentralized compagnonnage, "Langue des oiseaux/oisons" teachings such as those of J-C Flornoy. That this "school" is free and decentralized, and highly varied, means that I haven't been able to get a full grasp of it, so kingdubrock's "opening", so to speak, at last gave me something solid to investigate.
To get back to the claims in question - which sadly Jean-Claude Flornoy is no longer here to defend - they deal with the colours and the "song" which contains them. The text of Martin Saint-Léon of 1901 appears to the be the earliest record of it, and he himself says that he is citing a secret manuscript that he received, so there is no reason to look earlier; 1901 should be its first appearance in print. It is not a song, but a catechism recited in the ritual induction to the brotherhood of stonecutters (initiation), explaining the symbolism of the colours on the ribbon or cockade worn by the grades of the society.
To this list, Flornoy adds the colour black. He first gives this list, as far as I know, in his Le pèlerinage des bateleurs (2007), of which he offered a synopsis here -
http://letarot.com/pages-vrac/pages/synopsis.html
The full text is available on scribd -
http://fr.scribd.com/doc/138943268/Pelerinage-Des-Bateleurs-Marques
On page 42, he says (my translation) -
"In this deck by Jean Noblet we can discover the symbolic colours, of which six are defined in the ancient traditional formula still sung today by the Compagnons du Devoir:
White, the tears of Master Jacques
Black, the earth which bore him
Red, the blood he spilled
Blue, the blows he received
Yellow, perseverance
Green, hope
"Two colours join this list: light blue, which in other ancient tarots is bluish-grey, and flesh colour."
(this is slightly fuller than the text given on page 7 the English LWB of the 2007 edition of the Jean Noblet Tarot)
I haven't been able to find the phrase "Noire, la terre qui l'a porté" (spelling "noir" or "portée" either) any earlier than 2007.
However, it is perhaps notable that the original list, without black added, is still used in initiation rituals of the Memphis-Mizraim rite in France (where it is still not "sung", but merely spoken), e.g.
http://www.ledifice.net/7187-1.html
(published after 2008)
"Un manuscrit cité par Maître Saint Jean indique qu’il y a 5 couleurs et une cachée :
- Blanc : Les larmes de Maître Jacques
- Rouge : Le sang versé de Maître Jacques
- Jaune : La persévérance
- Vert : L’espérance."
(the missing blue is probably a mistake)
So where does the explanation for black come from? Is it is the "hidden" one of the original list? In the absence of any antecedents, but the presence of a much older (1901) and still-used list of five colours, I am forced to conclude that either J-C Flornoy is implying his own initiatory status in the society, and therefore revealing the "hidden" colour black, or that he is, quite simply, inventing it.
In any case, two other colours "join" them (who joined them? why aren't they in the "song"? on what authority are they interpreted?), and there is no link with Tarot anywhere, except that Tarot decks do, in fact, contain some or all or more of these basic colours (Camoin insists the proper number is ten). Even if he is reporting a contemporary (2007) initiatic tradition, for what reason are we to believe it is 600 years old, or even 350 (Noblet's time) - or that it relates to Tarot at all?
Given what kingdubrock has reported of Flornoy's feelings about TdM2 "fantasy" decks and "contempt" for Golden Dawn inspired doctrines and teachings, he didn't mince his words and I suppose he was comfortable with strong opinions and strong expressions of them. It is a shame he can't be here, but I think he wouldn't mind my characterizing his approach to history as fantasy - he might even smile and agree, saying that history IS fantasy. I certainly don't hold him in contempt though. He wasn't striving to be a great historian, but rather a great transmitter of the Noblet and Dodal tarots. He copied them as a Jewish scribe copies the Torah. The tradition he believed was being transmitted in those cards includes a lot of wordplay and embellishment of reality, but the cards themselves were not to be embellished.
It is symptomatic of his sloppy - some would say "playful" - approach to history, that, given his contempt for the the GD tradition (as kingdubrock reports it, at least - can you cite something here, kingdubrock?), the Tree of Life diagram that he reproduces on page 35 of his pèlerinage shows not only the Golden Dawn trump assignations to the paths, but the Crowley version of them, with the paths of Emperor and Star switched!
(see - all of this DOES have relevance to the Kabbalah & Alphabets subforum!)
As I said, it seems he didn't mince his words, so I sincerely believe that he would have had no problem calling me a bad artist, at least one in need of serious discipline if I wanted to improve; it is a judgment I am perfectly willing to accept. I therefore think he wouldn't mind if I called him a bad historian and one in need of serious discipline if he wanted to improve - which I doubt he did, but it is no matter now. What we have left are his great art and his bad history, and we are free to discuss and judge both.
What people do with the information once it is uncovered is of course their business alone. I assume most people prefer to know the truth, in order to be able to make up their minds about what story they want to buy. To at least have a solid basis on which to form an opinion.
The only personal note I'd add is that I make it my business to know as much about all aspects of Tarot history that I can, including the last 230 years during which esoteric Tarot developed, and continues to develop. I share freely everything I find, where it is relevant, particularly where people make demonstrably false or at least misleading claims, however innocent their intentions (where correction requires gentleness) or otherwise (which are often uncovered when the gentle approach contradicts them, and they get vicious in response). My interest in the esoteric extends to things like the "Grail Heresy" that has developed in the last 30 years, particularly the last 20, which helps put things like the "Gospel of Jesus' Wife" forgery and its reception in a broader context.
It's tough to keep the pulse of every idea that comes up, especially in several languages, but I've tried to make sure I know the main ones that survive more than a few posts or a few months. In France, in the last two decades, the two main schools of Marseille Tarot that have garnered the most adherents are the Camoin-Jodorowsky doctrine, which is tightly controlled, and the decentralized compagnonnage, "Langue des oiseaux/oisons" teachings such as those of J-C Flornoy. That this "school" is free and decentralized, and highly varied, means that I haven't been able to get a full grasp of it, so kingdubrock's "opening", so to speak, at last gave me something solid to investigate.
To get back to the claims in question - which sadly Jean-Claude Flornoy is no longer here to defend - they deal with the colours and the "song" which contains them. The text of Martin Saint-Léon of 1901 appears to the be the earliest record of it, and he himself says that he is citing a secret manuscript that he received, so there is no reason to look earlier; 1901 should be its first appearance in print. It is not a song, but a catechism recited in the ritual induction to the brotherhood of stonecutters (initiation), explaining the symbolism of the colours on the ribbon or cockade worn by the grades of the society.
To this list, Flornoy adds the colour black. He first gives this list, as far as I know, in his Le pèlerinage des bateleurs (2007), of which he offered a synopsis here -
http://letarot.com/pages-vrac/pages/synopsis.html
The full text is available on scribd -
http://fr.scribd.com/doc/138943268/Pelerinage-Des-Bateleurs-Marques
On page 42, he says (my translation) -
"In this deck by Jean Noblet we can discover the symbolic colours, of which six are defined in the ancient traditional formula still sung today by the Compagnons du Devoir:
White, the tears of Master Jacques
Black, the earth which bore him
Red, the blood he spilled
Blue, the blows he received
Yellow, perseverance
Green, hope
"Two colours join this list: light blue, which in other ancient tarots is bluish-grey, and flesh colour."
(this is slightly fuller than the text given on page 7 the English LWB of the 2007 edition of the Jean Noblet Tarot)
I haven't been able to find the phrase "Noire, la terre qui l'a porté" (spelling "noir" or "portée" either) any earlier than 2007.
However, it is perhaps notable that the original list, without black added, is still used in initiation rituals of the Memphis-Mizraim rite in France (where it is still not "sung", but merely spoken), e.g.
http://www.ledifice.net/7187-1.html
(published after 2008)
"Un manuscrit cité par Maître Saint Jean indique qu’il y a 5 couleurs et une cachée :
- Blanc : Les larmes de Maître Jacques
- Rouge : Le sang versé de Maître Jacques
- Jaune : La persévérance
- Vert : L’espérance."
(the missing blue is probably a mistake)
So where does the explanation for black come from? Is it is the "hidden" one of the original list? In the absence of any antecedents, but the presence of a much older (1901) and still-used list of five colours, I am forced to conclude that either J-C Flornoy is implying his own initiatory status in the society, and therefore revealing the "hidden" colour black, or that he is, quite simply, inventing it.
In any case, two other colours "join" them (who joined them? why aren't they in the "song"? on what authority are they interpreted?), and there is no link with Tarot anywhere, except that Tarot decks do, in fact, contain some or all or more of these basic colours (Camoin insists the proper number is ten). Even if he is reporting a contemporary (2007) initiatic tradition, for what reason are we to believe it is 600 years old, or even 350 (Noblet's time) - or that it relates to Tarot at all?
Given what kingdubrock has reported of Flornoy's feelings about TdM2 "fantasy" decks and "contempt" for Golden Dawn inspired doctrines and teachings, he didn't mince his words and I suppose he was comfortable with strong opinions and strong expressions of them. It is a shame he can't be here, but I think he wouldn't mind my characterizing his approach to history as fantasy - he might even smile and agree, saying that history IS fantasy. I certainly don't hold him in contempt though. He wasn't striving to be a great historian, but rather a great transmitter of the Noblet and Dodal tarots. He copied them as a Jewish scribe copies the Torah. The tradition he believed was being transmitted in those cards includes a lot of wordplay and embellishment of reality, but the cards themselves were not to be embellished.
It is symptomatic of his sloppy - some would say "playful" - approach to history, that, given his contempt for the the GD tradition (as kingdubrock reports it, at least - can you cite something here, kingdubrock?), the Tree of Life diagram that he reproduces on page 35 of his pèlerinage shows not only the Golden Dawn trump assignations to the paths, but the Crowley version of them, with the paths of Emperor and Star switched!
(see - all of this DOES have relevance to the Kabbalah & Alphabets subforum!)
As I said, it seems he didn't mince his words, so I sincerely believe that he would have had no problem calling me a bad artist, at least one in need of serious discipline if I wanted to improve; it is a judgment I am perfectly willing to accept. I therefore think he wouldn't mind if I called him a bad historian and one in need of serious discipline if he wanted to improve - which I doubt he did, but it is no matter now. What we have left are his great art and his bad history, and we are free to discuss and judge both.
