Michel Tournier’s Reading for Robinson Crusoe

Thread originally posted on the Aeclectic Tarot Forum on 12 Mar 2003, and now archived in the Forum Library.

firemaiden	12 Mar 2003
Greetings O wise and/or foolish friends: In 1983, I spent my junior year of University in France. After one of far too many bohemian type evenings, I found myself camping out on the floor, while a somewhat drugged-out guitarist with blue eyes spent the night composing a love song for some other girl, having lent me his most prized book to read. He handed it to me reciting the first sentence: “une vague déferla”, “a wave unfurled” then went back to his guitar. I inhaled the novel that night. I had no idea even what the word Tarot meant in 1983, I may not even have read the prologue. Today I have my own copy, discover that the whole book unfolds from a tarot reading in the prologue. Here is badly and hastily translated by me, roughly, the reading: Michel Tournier’s Reading for Robinson Crusoe From Vendredi ou les limbes du Pacifique (1969) 1st card: le démiurge : One of the three fundamental major arcanae. It shows a bateleur standing in front of a table covered with heteroclitic objects. This signifies that you have in you an organizer. He fights against disorder in the universe and tries to master it through luck. He seems to succeed, but don’t forget that the demiurge is also bateleur, his work is illusion, his order is illusory. Unfortunately, he doesn’t know this. Skepticism is not his strength. 2. Mars. (The Chariot)The little demiurge has carried an apparent victory over nature. He has triumphed by force and imposes an order around him which is in his image. 3. The Hermit: The warrior has become conscious of his solitude. He retires to the depth of a cave to rediscover his point of origin. But in plunging himself into the earth, he accomplishes a voyage into the depth of himself, and becomes a new man. If he ever manages to climb out of this retreat, he will realize that his monolithic soul has suffered deep cracks. 4. Arcane VI. Sagitarius: (Lovers?) . Here is what will get the Hermit out of his hole: Venus in person emerges from the waters and has taken her first steps into your hiding place. Venus transformed into a winged angel sends her arrows towards the sun. 5. Arcane 21: Chaos. Terrible! The beast of the earth is at war with a flaming monster. The man you see, caught between opposing forces is a fool, recognizable by his stick. 6. Arcane XII: Saturn. (The Hanged Man). This was to be expected, Saturn, showing a hanged man. But see, what is most important about this character is that he is hung by the feet. Here you are upside-down, my pour Crusoe. 7. Arcane XV: Gemini. (The Devil?) I was wondering what would be the new avatar of your Venus metamorphosed into the one who draws the arc. She has become your twin brother. The Twins are shown attached at the neck to the feet of the bisexual angel. Keep this in your mind!! 8. Arcane XIX Leo: two children holding hands in front of a wall which symbolizes the city of the sun. The sun god occupies the entire top part of this card which is dedicated to him. In the Solar City, suspended between time and eternity, between life and death, the inhabitants wear the innocence of childhood, having acquired a solar sexuality, which even more than androgynous, is circular. A serpent biting his own tail is the picture of this eroticism closed in on itself, without loss or spilling of liquids. It is the zenith of human perfection, infinitely difficult to acquire, but even more difficult to keep. It seems that you are called to elevate yourself to that. At least the Egyptian tarot says so. My respects, young man! 9. Capricorn!: (Death) It is the door to the exit of the souls, might as well say Death. This skeleton which harvests a prairie scattered with hands, feet, and heads, speaks enough of the dark meaning attached to this card. Thrown from the height of the Solar City, you are in grave danger of death. 10. Jupiter! Robinson, you are saved, but what the devil, you come back from afar. You will reach bottom, and the god of heaven comes to your aid with an admirable opportunity. He will appear in the form of a golden child, thrown from the bowels of the earth, like a chunk of gold torn out from the mine, who will give you the keys to the solar city. All of this may seem to you an unintelligible gobbledygook, commented Captain Van Deyssel. But such is exactly the wisdom of the Tarot, that it never shows us the future in clear terms. Can you imagine the disorder which might result from clear pre-vision of the future? This little conversation I have had with you is sort of ciphered, and the gate is your future itself. Each future event of your life will reveal to you the truth of this or that prediction when it happens. This sort of prophesy is not at all as illusory as it might seem to you at first. ------------- I would love your reactions and comments to this , He writes it is the “Egyptian Tarot” – I have no idea what deck this is…. So many of the cards he associates with astrology. hmmm. The fool seems to be card 21. I am not sure what Jupiter is. The Emperor? Ever heard of the fool as Chaos? Sites about Tournier in English: http://www.ricochet-jeunes.org/eng/biblio/author/tournier.html http://www.biblion.com/litweb/biogs/tournier_michel.html

Icestorm	13 Mar 2003
Interesting book... might see if there's a copy at my library... although I dont read french, so it could be quite difficult! oh well. thats what french speaking friends are for, i guess! Jupiter could also be the Sun? or Strength? Not sure, just a couple of guesses, although The Sun is probably the sun. Must be a very old deck, though, to have the fool at 21. These days the fool is always 0.

firemaiden	13 Mar 2003
Hey Icestorm! Thanks for responding. I think it is available in English, though perhaps out of print, under the title "Friday-the other island" Probably, the deck was meant to be one available at the time of the Robinson Crusoe story. When, 18th century? There isn't any date mentioned for this re-writing of Robinson Crusoe, as far as I can see, and I think Tournier wanted it to be outside of time, but the technology evoked in the book is enlightenment period.

Kiama	13 Mar 2003
Jupiter is the Hierophant. In a few early French decks he was known as Jupiter, after the Greek God Zeus, and the High Priestess/Popess was his consort, Juno/Hera. Kiama

firemaiden	13 Mar 2003
Thank you o infinitely knowledgeable Kiama! Tell more. Name a deck!

Khatruman	13 Mar 2003
Ahh, but Crusoe was partial to using Bibliomancy. :D I did a paper for grad school on Robinson Crusoe and connected it to the divinatory practice of bibliomancy that he uses on the island and my Creative Whack Pack.. if you would like to read it, I attached it to this thread: Crusoe & Bibliomancy

firemaiden	13 Mar 2003
Okay, Khat, I will print this out and read it. (edited by firemaiden to remove all references to undergarments)

Kiama	13 Mar 2003
Quote: Originally posted by firemaiden Name a deck! IJJ Swiss deck is the only one I can think of right now... Kiama

jmd	18 Mar 2003
Should '6. Arcane XXII: Saturn' read '6. XII: Saturn'? It also seems to me from the description of the Fool that either a Wirth or an Etteilla was implied, probably the former. Given the Hanged Man's association with Saturn, I would again suspect the Wirth, even though it isn't obviously linked there. In his book, Wirth mentions of Saturn that it is: 'Suspension on to the vertical stroke' The accomplishment of the great work, through Sulphur's Fire transformation to Water...

firemaiden	18 Mar 2003
Oui, jmd, you are right. Thank you... I fixed it. :)

firemaiden	18 Mar 2003
jmd, what do you think of the devil as Gemini? and the fool as chaos - I've never heard it put like that before.

jmd	19 Mar 2003
Tournier wrote in French in the 1960s, if my quick check on the link was read correctly. In the 1960s in France and Germany, the three predominant decks would have been the Marseilles, the Etteilla and the Wirth. I still suspect the Wirth... With regards to the Devil and Gemini, there appears no duplicity here, and the Fool as Chaos is well represented by the Apothis/crocodile - essentially the Egyptian God of Chaos. ... you didn't have to fix it, firemaiden, for it nearly lead me to write of the world reversed, or one's world turned upside down by the maiden within

firemaiden	19 Mar 2003
yeah, this novel was published in 1969 and Tournier is still writing (I hope) but the novel is set in the time of great merchant ships, clepsydres, and gun powder being a newish thing. I think it is meant to be set in the 1700's - Defoe's novel was published in 1719. Is there a deck that was called "Egyptian" that was popular in the early 1700's? Then of course, was it used for divination? (Don't think Tournier cares.)

jmd	20 Mar 2003
If Tournier sought for historical accuracy, then either a Marseilles type, or if early 18th century, an Etteilla, would be implied. It probably should be remembered that the Marseilles was considered to be Egyptian in origin by De Gebelin, who called the Tarot the book of Thoth back then. I suspect that, given the description of the Fool (between chaos/apothis and the wild animal/panther-type), the Wirth may have been considered. Alternatively, it may even have been a Falconnier-type ('Egyptian') deck... certaily, each claimed, in its own way, to be a rectified deck. It would be interesting to know which deck was referred to...

firemaiden	20 Mar 2003
Maybe we can ask him! ONe of my great fantasies is to have a coffee in Paris with Milan Kundera and Michel Tournier together. (I think Tournier still lives). Ah...if only...

jmd	20 Mar 2003
When referring to the Etteilla, I should have written late 18th century, not early! I thought I would read the thread and comment a little more on firemaiden's first post - which deserves more attention. The various astrological attributions are reasonable, even if not common, but various precise images arise in one's mind as one reads. For example, the third card describes the Hermit by saying that 'he retires to the depth of a cave to <...>'; and the fourth which describes that the arrows of the angel on the Lovers' card are sent towards the Sun... and what of the Fool caught between two opposing forces - certainly I can reconcile this in the Wirth as mentioned previously, but in the context, is there another image which better fits? The Hanged man is described as being hung not by one foot, but by the feet (as in the Schaffhouse); and to also describe the Devil as a bisexual being! Given all this quite precise description, certainly not consistent with Marseilles depictions, one is lead more and more towards influences which seem post 1850, yet of a deck having its grounding in the continental tradition (Fool as 21st card). The Hermit in the cave is the image which throws me - if the image is to be an accurate one indeed. And so I am torn (fortunately only in trying to ascertain which deck may be implied) between a decision on the one hand towards the late 18th century Etteilla (whose depiction of the Fool doesn't seem to fit the description), and the late 19th century Wirth... But what of the Hermit description? Any further comments?

firemaiden	21 Mar 2003
It is possible jmd, that Tournier altered the image to suit his own purposes. Because Robinson spends some time taking refuge in inside his "mother" the earth, if I remember. I am looking for, without finding, the passage...

jmd	21 Mar 2003
Personally, I think it is not only likely, but probably a good literary device, to symbolically alter the description of the image to its implied meaning - the hermit, by its very name, can so easily be described as within a cave, even if depicted as bestowing light.

The Michel Tournier’s Reading for Robinson Crusoe thread was originally posted on 12 Mar 2003 in the Talking Tarot board, and is now archived in the Forum Library. Read the active threads in Talking Tarot, or read more archived threads.