Fig. 11
The Simple Cross
Without elaborating, the essential point is that in this, as in other systems of interpretation, the cards of the Tarot are treated exclusively as Archetypes, models of behaviour. Owing to this particular method of utilization, they are isolated and static, with no connection among them. Moreover, because of the limits of the method itself, in which the meaning of the position of the cards is established a priori and thus predetermined, their sense of separation is further exasperated. In effect, divided one from another, every Archetype lives in its world and does not interact with the others: in this way, the cards “do not speak to each other”. In the method taken under consideration, for example, before the card is extracted we know already that when it is placed in the first position, it represents something favourable; in the second, something contrary; and so on. This means that the reading, the interpretation, is established exclusively by the presumed value of the Arcana-Archetypes and by the hypothetical meaning of the positioning of the spread.
Interpretation = Presumed archetypical value + hypothetical significance of positioning.
We voluntarily use the adjectives presumed and hypothetical for a simple reason. Without knowledge of the codes, how is it possible to establish the true esoterical sense of the Arcana and the correct manner to lay them out in the spread? From where do these criteria come? From intuition, or from the theories of some author? How is the correctness of this or other methods proved? Is it possible to be sure of its legitimacy? To these questions unfortunately, in desiring to maintain a scientific approach, it is impossible to give a positive answer as nothing guarantees that it is a valid and rigorous system. In fact, not by chance, no real uniformity of judgement exists on the part of experts or researchers, let alone a univocal method of interpretation. To understand what we mean, the following reasoning will suffice. When wishing to learn to interpret the Tarot, we buy a book to learn the meaning of its symbols; at the same time, we study a certain method. All of this, generally, is the product of the research of an expert. If we were to buy another book, quite probably we would find other meanings and another method. Omitting the fact that we are often confused by the profound differences of interpretation of the single Arcana suggested by the various texts, and ending up trusting our own personal capacities for interpretation, we may ask ourselves: if there are all these differences, which may sanction an effective legitimacy of the meanings of the Tarot and the rules for reading them? The answer is clear: no author, however brilliant, has this right. Indeed, we may say that from this method may be obtained only a totally subjective interpretation.
The reasons are many: above all, the meaning of the Tarot is deduced arbitrarily; furthermore, the method is chosen (or, indeed, created) by the researcher/esoterist/cartomancer according to his own personal inclinations, or in conformity with his own personal gifts of intuition or psychic perception, proven or professed as they may be. The limits of all these methods, which certainly have their own reduced validity, are therefore evident. How is it possible to offer the consultant the certainty of a personal intuition? Moreover, how could a neophyte who wished to, learn such a system, so tied to such extraordinary and individual capacities? All this would be tantamount to relegating the Tarot to quite a narrow niche. Fortunately, it is not thus: it is possible for all to read it, the Tarot is accessible to all, not an exclusive prerogative of mediums! Knowing the Coded Structure, we discover that not only is the meaning of the Icons totally objective, but also the Method of Interpretation is perfectly regulated. Let us see in which way. Let us imagine buying a technological object, such as a television or a computer. We of course expect to find an instruction manual in the box as well. For the Tarot, the principle is the same because inside its system of symbols, of Codes and Laws, there exists a sort of user’s manual, which illustrates how to use them in a completely disciplined manner. Therefore, there does not exist a regulamentation only for their meaning (Grammar and Lexicon) but also for that which concerns their precise disposition in the course of the reading. It is what might be called the Syntax of the Tarot.
The Traditional Syntactic Method
To call this Method “Syntactic” is a meditated choice. Skimming the dictionary, we discover that it comes from syntássein, which means, “to arrange according to an order”. The great novelty with respect to any other system of interpretation is this: the Codes and Laws establish the rules for the correct collocation of the cards! The result is a precise system which has been defined, not by the arbitrary choice of an author, but by the Tarot itself...In this method, whose rules of application will be the subject of a further examination, the fundamental characteristics are dynamism and interactivity, prerogatives which influence a use not only archetypical of the Tarot. In many Major Arcana, as in part of the Minor (we refer to the Honours, the Page, Queen, King and Knight), we find illustrated personages, human figures. Why, then, should we not use this particularity in the reading?
The Personages
Let us reconsider the case proposed at the beginning of the chapter, in which the High Priestess was presented as the Great Mother, the maternal Archetype; and if, apart from this function, she were an actual personage, a flesh and bone mother? Let us consider an example and imagine that the two Arcana, the Hierophant and the High Priestess, also represent a man and a woman who, forming a couple, might also be a father and a mother. Therefore, they would become actual, concrete protagonists of the particular situation explored in the question.86 They would be the actors of a scene of real life: two spouses who regard each other and are interested in each other.
Fig. 12
The couple gazing at each other
In this way would be created a true representation of the scenario of life analyzed with regard to the answer to the question asked, because the Hierophant and the Priestess would symbolize actual protagonists. In order to better comprehend this aspect, let us imagine that the situation described included the card of the Hierophant reversed:
Fig. 13
The reversed Spouse
In this case, the man would have a problem:87 in fact, he is not gazing towards, thus he is not thinking of, his wife. Why? What is he thinking of? To discover this, we lay out another card just on the side:
Fig. 14
The man (Hierophant) gazes at the Star
The Hierophant regards, is interested in, the Star. If we were to consider the Tarot on an exclusively archetypical level, we might say that, as the Star represents the energy of the cosmos, harmony with the celestial world, the influence of the heavenly bodies etc, the Hierophant is interested in these subjects.
Frankly, this seems rather unconvincing... On the plane of personages, instead, who might the Star be? It is a feminine figure...you see...? The Hierophant may therefore be thinking of another woman, perhaps a daughter... (No need to be malicious!)88 Here is that which constitutes the absolute simplicity and greatness of this Method:
the cards interact and, based on the question, manifest the dynamics of relationship, thought and emotion of the various personages of that fragment of story told by the Tarot, which is nothing else than the life of the consultant.
For one who asks a question, then, it is as if he finds, spread out and developed before his eyes, his own reality, described through the Arcana. It is a sort of theatricalization in which the consultant may analyze, in a detached and objective manner, that specific situation. It is somewhat like observing the problem of a friend from the outside because, not being involved, we may view the situation with serenity. The friend, directly involved, cannot have the same lucidity. We will have a similar sensation observing that certain problem of ours, delineated by the Tarot: we will see it in its entirety and with an external, objective eye. This is something phenomenal and incredibly rich, not only if compared to the relative poverty of the other systems but in an absolute sense. This method is in constant and total evol
ution, continual movement. At the same time, as the questions are different every time, each requires, in order to be fully “narrated”, a different number of cards. This number will not be chosen a prìori (as with other methods), but will derive, thanks to the simple application of the rules codified by the Tarot, from the necessities of description of the situation and the quantity of images needed in order to formulate, in a thorough manner, the answer to the question asked. Therefore, to utilize the Tarot also as personages means to open up unimaginable scenarios. In this way, it will be possible to investigate, concretely and with precision, all levels: affective, family, work, or other, obtaining every time a vision extraordinarily close to reality. We will let a more articulated and detailed example, which we propose in the next chapter, describe what we have maintained up until now.
Footnotes - Chapter 6
80 Franco Cardini, professor of Medieval History at the Universe of Florence, in the book Il Castello dei Tarocchi, p 50, Scarabeo edition, 2010.
81 Cf. Chapter 4.
82 From the volume Archetipi by Mario Pincherle, Macro Editions, 2000.
83 Ibidem.
84 Ibidem.
85 The “3 Cards”, the “Celtic Cross”, the “Twelve Houses of the Zodiac” and many others.
86 We are hypothesizing any query made by a consultant in which a pair of parents might have a role.
87 When a card is reversed it signifies a block for that Archetype and for the personage represented: it is one of the codified rules of the Tarot, the Law of Opportunity (Cf. Chapter 7).
88 The Star as well looks, is interested, in something or someone else. However, for greater simplicity, for the moment we will avoid further supposition.
Chapter 7
“In the presence of one who is perfectly innocuous, all hostility ceases.”
(Sutra Yoga of Patanjali)
7.1 The Law of Contemplation
In the previous chapter we introduced the concept of the Traditional Syntactic Method, the particular system that allows regulate disposition of the Arcana during interpretation. What are the principles at the basis of this procedure? They are two important Laws which, although certain modern authors have claimed them as a personal discovery, it is correct to attribute to the decryption system of Nicolas Conver.
Let us observe again the figures of the Tarot and analyze in detail the first of these rules the Law of Contemplation.
Fig. 1
The 3x7 Diagram
The cards’ figures possess heterogeneous gazes: some to the left, some to the right, others straight ahead. What may we deduce from this? Researchers have not thought this aspect to be relevant, supposing the direction of the face to depend upon the whim and will of the engraver. In thousands of decks, in fact, the cards’ protagonists are oriented in different ways: in one deck the Empress gazes left, in another ahead, in still another to the right, and so forth. This has led to a non-realization of the significance of the direction of the gaze, when actually, it is essential and its meaning codified.
Fig. 2
Empress Crowley Tarot
Fig. 3
3 Empress Rider-Waite Tarot
Fig. 4
Empress Lombardi Della Rocca Tarot
Spatial reference
The possibility to interpret what looking left or right implicates, is not connected to the writing, as some have hypothesized, because this criteria does not possess a universal validity (suffice it to consider the different ways of writing of certain languages, such as Hebrew or Arabic). The key is the Fool, which, containing all the explanatory Codes, allows the discovery of the answer. We have already mentioned89 that the lack of a number was not enough to suggest to researchers that this figure might possess a particular status with respect to the others. The Major Arcana were considered a unitary whole composed of 22 blades, in the 1800’s even improperly associated with the 22 letters of the Hebrew alphabet.90 However, in line with the principle “Sicut in caelo et in terra” (As in Heaven, so on Earth)91, the Fool, as does the Joker of playing cards, has a special function and a unique role. Let us observe it with attention.
Fig. 5
The Fool
The protagonist, a pilgrim, moves from left to right. It is the only personage of the Tarot that walks, as no other icon carries this message. In fact, for example, we might maintain that the Wheel or the Chariot show movement as much as the XIII Arcanum or the Hermit, which might also mislead us. Actually, this would be an error, as in the first two no graphic movement is expressed but rather the conceptual idea, which is different; in the same manner, the XIII Arcanum who scythes the grass moves his trunk but not his feet while the Hermit, gazing backwards, is still, as suggested by his staff perpendicular to the ground.
Fig. 6
The Chariot
Fig. 7
The Wheel of Fortune
Fig. 8
The Hermit
Fig. 9
The XIII Arcanum
The Fool, then, is not only the only personage who moves forward but is the only figure which, in movement, looks towards the sky: he moves from left to right and from low to high. For these prerogatives, he is to be considered the Spatial Reference for decoding the direction of the gaze.
Fig. 10
Gaze of the Fool
Fig. 11
Wand of the Fool
In confirmation of this reasoning, we may note another particular. The raised eyes, in truth, are fixed on the Zodiac (the World, the goal), the circle of 12 constellations. At the same time, the red staff is inclined 30°, exactly the number of degrees which separate the 360° of the circle, of Space, in 12 equal parts: the angle of the staff, therefore, is a further affirmation of the Fool-Space relationship. In practice, if the Coded Structure were expressed in mathematical form, this Arcanum would be the origin (0, 0) of a Cartesian plan.
Fig. 12
Coordinates of Space
Temporal Reference
As movement in Space is closely tied to Time, the Fool travels from the past, the part of the road at his back, towards the future, the part before him. Again, the inclination of the staff comes to our aid, as Time also is divided into 12 parts of 30 degrees each: day, with its 12 hours of the clock, and year, with its 12 months.92 In this way, the movement of the Fool also symbolizes Temporal Reference and the card thus describes Past, Present, and Future.
Fig. 13
Fool and Time
As through the blades is revealed the reason for the space-time orientation, we are able to deduce the position of the 3x7 Diagram (from left to right and from low to high), as well as that of the first three cards at the beginning of the reading, which, in full agreement with the Codes, indicate the Past, Present, and Future of the question asked.
Fig. 14
Card of the Past
Fig. 15
Card of the Present
Fig. 16
Card of the Future
Upon this disposition, will gradually be developed the entire dynamic of the Traditional Syntactic Method, which will allow us to add the other cards to complete the reading according to the necessities of the question.
Now, once this key of decryption is comprehended, it is easier to understand the description of the Law of Contemplation. The preliminary requisite is the gaze of a personage indicates his thought, that of which he is thinking.
Gaze = Thought
This understood, it is evident that, if the gaze is towards the left, thought is of the past; while if it is towards the right, thought is of the future. Observe also that, in the case of a face facing forward93 and a straight-ahead gaze, the Law does not apply. Every Arcanum displaying this peculiarity is called an Observation Card.
Gaze to the left = Past
Gaze to the right = Future
Fig. 17
Gaze towards
the Past
Fig. 18
Gaze towards the Future
Once established the direction of the gaze-thought, how may we guess its content? Actually, it is quite easy, as it is represented by the context of the card next to it, which indicates the subject or the object, according to chance or interest, placed in the correct temporal collocation. This condition, a potential prerogative of each Arcanum, is termed Observed Card. In the following example, the content of the thought of the Hierophant, the gaze of the personage, is the House of God, which is in this case, precisely, the Observed Card.
Fig. 19
The House of God is an Observed Card
The Tarot Code Page 17