by Marcus Katz
So, there is significant opportunity opening for our client in the months to come, from both a man and a woman who will make proposals, even if there is some cost to working with the man.
We then repeat this for each row, using a similar method of narrative and reading as we have seen in our previous cartomancy chapters.
The Wish Cards
If the three wish cards that we put aside earlier in the reading are more red than black, then it is said that the querist can make a wish for his overall well-being. This refers to the lines of the reading, so if there was something “negative” in the reading, they can make a wish that it be changed, if the Wish cards are favourable.
In the example, we can see that we have two clubs and one heart card. No wish can be granted. However, a wish can be granted for another person with the black cards present if there are either “court cards, aces, or above the eights.”
In the example, we have the 3 of Hearts, 7 of Clubs, and 9 of Clubs; so, we can apparently grant a wish to another person, related to our reading.
Conclusion
Whilst this method appears to be complex, it is straight-forward in practice and a delight to perform as it takes commonly recognised methods, such as matching suits in a Concentration-like game to reduce to the final spread. It thus adds to the sense that we are divining down to something specific for the client, as Prime-Stevenson reasons in his tract.
It is often the case that “made up” methods draw on the same structure and patterns as those passed down, for in fact, all methods were “made up” at some point, and come and go throughout the timelines.
In the next chapter, we will take a brief stop to orient ourselves to one of the most important sources for tarot, the Tarot de Marseilles, or TdM as it has come to be known to new enthusiasts. This deck was one of the very first, and it continues to be one of the main cartomantic decks used across Europe. It is also presently undergoing a revival thanks to new teachers and popularisation by the film director, Alejandro Jodorowsky, who recently performed a public reading for James Bond actor Daniel Craig.
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84 See James Gifford, “Left to Themselves: The Subversive Boys Books of Edward Prime-Stevenson (1858–1942)” in Journal of American & Comparative Cultures, Vol. 24, Issue 3–4, Fall/Winter 2001, 113–116. Also see Mary K. Greer blog at https://marygreer.wordpress.com/2008/04/03/a-hoax-revealed-update-on-the-square-of-sevens/for the debunking of Prime-Stevenson’s fake history of the alleged author and history of the method (last accessed June 2016).
85 E. Irenaeus Stevenson, The Square of Sevens (New York: Harper & Brothers, 1896).
86 Ibid.
87 The transcription of this text gives two meanings for the Seven of Diamonds. We suggest testing which one suits your readings best.
88 The original instructions state “avoid foolish conversation and sottish pleasantries with those about you.”
5
Tarot de Marseille
Thus, it may be more reasonable to think of the Tarot cards as a collective artwork evolving in marginal and half-legitimate popular circles, rather than as a sublime teaching kept in secret temples of wisdom and spirituality.
—Yoav Ben Dov, Tarot: The Opening Reading 89
2:00 pm, 20 March, 1700: Paris, France
We find ourselves walking along the banks of the Seine towards a large governmental building. Louis XIV is on the throne of France, and will remain there for some fifteen more years after over seventy-two years of rulership.
However, all is not well in the city of the Sun King. We see poverty and misery behind every wide boulevard and under every grand archway. A series of unnaturally hard winters and terrible harvests are starving the city and its population. It will get worse: in nine years’ time, the city will face Le Grand Hiver, a winter that will become a legend.
But today it is early spring, and the building we approach is not one of the new workshops for the poor, but a factory for a device that is still all the rage across every level of society—the deck of playing cards.
We walk into the warehouse and are immediately assailed by the heat and the smell of paste. There is the noise of loud conversation and swift snickering sounds from huge pairs of scissors being used to cut individual cards from large print sheets.
We pass by a table where a workman is soaping sheets of cards with a rubber made of old hats sewn together. The floor is strewn with old cards and straw. Through another large archway, we see men struggling to make the last twists on large presses that are screwed down further every fifteen minutes.
It is hard work, and the entire place is full of people, cats, and a sooty dust that makes us sneeze. Trying to stay unnoticed, we come to stand alongside courtiers who have arrived by carriage and are waiting to pick up their orders, carried away by the armful.
There is no end to the work it seems, even in a time of poverty and uncertainty, the games must continue. 90 It is from this busy industry, not only in Paris but across Europe and throughout the century, that will arise the first phase of tarot, the Tarot de Marseille.
Whilst there are several variations and models for the tarot deck generally called the “Tarot de Marseille,” it is usually accepted that a notable model for the deck was published in 1760 by Nicolas Conver in Marseille. 91 However, one of the more popular Marseille-style decks is that published originally by B. P. Grimaud, called the Ancien Tarot de Marseille. 92
The TdM Major Arcana
The usual TdM pattern of major arcana contains several variations to what most contemporary readers see in a modern tarot deck. These are listed here:
Card II is the Papess, rather than the High Priestess.
Card V is the Pope, rather than the Hierophant.
Card XVI is the House of God, rather than the Tower.
Further, most often the Fool card is unnumbered as is sometimes the Death card, rather than being numbered 0 and 13, respectively.
A variant or parallel of the TdM sometimes termed the 1JJ or Swiss deck, replace the Papess and Pope with the less controversial Juno (with peacock) and Jupiter (with eagle). This replacement is also evident in the Tarot of Besançon, likely used by Comte de Mellet.
The TdM Minor Arcana
The Minor Arcana of the TdM are depicted as arrangements of the elements of the suit, usually in a mandorla-style, having an oval shape. So, the wands (or batons) make a cross-hatch pattern and the swords make a curved scimitar-like pattern. The cups and coins are placed much like traditional pips on a playing card.
There are a few distinct elements in the minor arcana of the TdM, such as the 2 of Coins usually being joined together by a wreath or ribbon on which is the name of the publisher.
Reading the TdM
When we approach reading the TdM, we should consider that we are moving forward in the timeline, so we have yet to encounter “scenic” illustrations for the pip cards as we find in the Sola Busca and later, the Waite-Smith Tarot. We should say the TdM does have illustrated pip cards, even if they are simply illustrated by their suit and floral decoration. This is an illustration from which can arise interpretation, even if it is not a symbolic scene such as a rotund merchant sitting in front of a canopy of cups or two mendicants struggling in a snowstorm. 93
So, these cards can either be used as place-holders of significance, based on the suits and numerology, for example, or some given meaning from cartomancy—or they can be used to evoke an interpretation from their simple illustration and their context to the other cards in a spread.
Originally, these cards would have been read as any other playing card for cartomancy. We see later in our travels through time how the founder members of the Golden Dawn wrote on this type of European deck the “standard” meanings for fortune-telling from Etteilla.
However, contemporary readers have developed what m
ight be called a “visual poetic” manner of reading these historic cards, particularly the work of Tarology by Enrique Enriquez. This approach is based on a background of poetry, literature studies, surrealism, and street magic. 94 It can also be seen in the work of Camelia Elias, who writes that “most of my method in reading three cards consists of noticing what turns into what … ” 95 A similar approach is the “open reading” method adopted by Yoav Ben-Dov, a student of film director, tarot reader, and psychomagician Alejandro Jodorowsky. 96
We will provide tarot time travellers an overview of the “numerology” method and the “visual poetic” Marseille reading, and open the avenues for much further discovery. These methods to some extent will also work with other decks of antiquity such as the Minchiate and Etteilla, which may be visited in the time travel of a future book.
Numerology Method
We can take a simple pattern running through the numbers one to ten and then apply it to the four realms governed by the four suits, which make up the pip cards of the TdM. This is similar to our ten-minute method covered in other books. 97 This particular version is based on Papus, who envisaged the numerology of the minors running through a triad composed of three repeating steps: commencement, opposition, and equilibrium.
We first look at the suits and suggest they are seen in the TdM as follows:
Coins: Money and health
Cups: Love and relationships
Sceptres/Staves: Creative endeavours
Swords: Struggle 98
We then cycle through the pattern of commencement, opposition, and equilibrium for their numerical sequence, replacing the words with the more accessible; starting, challenging and balancing as follows:
Ace: Starting of starting
Two: Challenge of starting
Three: Balancing in starting
Four: Starting of challenge
Five: Challenge of challenge
Six: Balance of the challenge
Seven: Starting of balance
Eight: Challenge of balance
Nine: Balance in balance
Ten: This card in each suit provides a summary of the cards around it, so is a completion or final word. As an example, if it were the 10 of Sceptres it would suggest that the reading was summarised by illustrating how the creative endeavours could come together successfully.
In this method, the majors simply represent their general or obvious meaning, such as the Moon being about dreams or the Tower being about destruction; they do what they say on the tin.
Similarly, the court cards are taken to represent people at various maturity levels in their respective realms: the King of Cups is an emotional man, and the Page of Swords is a young person engaged in struggles or with a temper.
If we drew a single pip card for a question such as “Will this business plan be successful?” and received the 7 of Staves, this would indicate a “starting of balance in the realm of creative endeavours.” It would indicate that we are likely to be successful because already there is a coming together in what is being created.
If we added another card for “should I work with others?” and received the Queen of Cups, it would indicate that we would benefit from working with a sensitive woman.
Further, we could draw a third card to ask, “how would we work best together?” Should we receive the 4 of Coins, the indication would be “starting of a challenge with money.” We should expect opposition to our financial plans, so prepare to have a solid business plan and savings or extend the timeline until we overcome what might have been unexpected challenges.
There are many variants to the meanings assigned to the number sequence of the pip cards in this approach, and whilst we ask our tarot time travellers to consider the Papus method first, we encourage you to explore other avenues for your cartomantic adventures in the future.
Visual Poetic Method
In the visual poetic method, we can lay out three cards. Some readers only read the major arcana of the TdM, and others read the entire deck; it is entirely up to you. We recommend trying both for a little while each and discovering which one works best for you.
We then look at weaving a story from the similarities and differences in the illustrations as if they were pieces in one narrative. We might further look at lines, shapes, and colours and how they change between the cards. Another visual cue might be the pose or glances of the figures.
In this three-card reading, we see the cards laid out for a business partnership. The question was about a quiet period in the business and what it might signify for the two partners.
The three cards drawn were: XI (La Force) + VII (Le Chariot) + VI (L’Amouruex).
We might read a story into these three cards as follows:
The woman looks to the man and the man looks to the woman. She tries to keep her mouth shut as he tries to drive forwards but only goes sideways. They must both look to the Lion and their own strengths to put their horses in order. They can bring themselves together by choosing to do what they love.
We can also look more in-depth with this approach by observing how the hands of characters move between the cards; in this reading, each pair of hands shows both one hand grasping and the other hand resting. This indicates the need to focus on what is important and what will not be lost by resting.
We can then apply this more directly to the context of the question or leave it with the client as a story or metaphor for them to process.
The Current State of Marseille
At the time of the writing of this book, in the early part of the twenty-first century, there is a renaissance of cartomancy where the “cards of antiquity” are being re-visited. The Tarot de Marseille (or TdM) is one of the several decks, alongside the Lenormand, Kipper, Sola Busca, Minchiate, and Etteilla, that are being re-interpreted and repurposed for contemporary fortune-telling and cartomancy.
A recent poll was taken on the largest social media group for tarot (and its sister group for Marseille) to discover the “top ten” of Marseille decks. 99 In the nine decks listed, the following were the top three chosen by Marseille aficionados:
Conver Ben-Dov: As illustrated here, a version of the original Conver deck by Yoav Ben-Dov.
Jean Noblet TdM (c.1650), editions 2007 and 2014 by the late Jean-Claude Flornoy.
Jean Dodal TdM, also by Flornoy.
The fourth position went to the ubiquitous B.P. Grimaud deck and included in the list was the Jodorowsky-Camoin deck of 1997 which has several unique variations to the TdM. 100
There are, however, a great many artisanal TdM decks which can be discovered from creators both European and worldwide. 101
Marseille Mushrooms
As we bounce around time with the Tarot de Marseille, we should briefly mention a strange signal coming from an alternative dimension: the rather unique book, The Secrets of the Marseilles Tarot by Namron. This was published in 1990 and is a riotous ride through the cards explained by the “Egyptian Spread,” the Spider-Lady, the Sacred Mushroom, and sexual symbolism. It is one of the strangest books ever written on tarot and does contain half-page interpretations of each of the major arcana even if the rest of the text is obscure and mysterious.
Marseille Cats
As we hop back into our tarot time travel pod, we find that we have been joined by some unexpected companions—a group of cats. These felines are often attracted to astral activity and time-bending shenanigans, and they have made their way into many tarot decks, attracted by their common psychic energy.
As they bounce around our capsule, we check in our time-satchel and discover that they have also romped across an entire Tarot de Marseille. It appears that they are having fun adopting the poses of the Waite-Smith deck from the early 1900s within the designs of the Marseille deck from the 1700s for a deck available in the early part of the 2000s. This behaviour is typ
ical of cats, as they have no consideration of linear space or geometric time.
Considering the deck, this may be a tool we can use to learn the Marseilles from our knowledge of the Waite-Smith deck—or you may choose to approach it one of the other ways we have covered in this section. Whatever the case, we clutch our satchel to our chest and set the dials for our next jump in tarot time.
27. Selected Minor Arcana cards from Marseille Cat Tarot (Lo Scarabeo), 2014.
Now that we have briefly pointed our sights at the Tarot de Marseilles, in the next chapter we will pass from France to Germany and the deck of cards known as the Lenormand. In doing so, we continue to track another contemporary revival that was also beneath most tarot travellers’ time radars until just a few years ago. In fact, more Lenormand decks have been designed and pulbished in the last six years than in the last three hundred. Let us now change our hats and get ready to visit another way of reading altogether.
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89 CreateSpace Publishing, 2013, 12.
90 Catherine Perry Hargreave, A History of Playing Cards and a Bibliography of Cards and Gaming (New York: Dover Publications, 1966), 297–300.
91 Yoav Ben-Dov, Tarot: The Open Reading (CreateSpace, 2011, 2013), 20.
92 Cherry Gilchrist, Tarot Triumphs (Newburyport, MA: Red Wheel/Weiser, 2016), 55.
93 The 9 of Cups and the 5 of Pentacles as illustrated by Pamela Colman Smith in the Waite-Smith Tarot, 1909–1910.
94 See Enrique Enriquez, Tarology (Roskilde: Eyecorner Press, 2011).
95 Camelia Elias, Marseille Tarot: Towards the Art of Reading (Roskilde: Eyecorner Press, 2015), 110.
