What would you ask Pixie, Aleister, Dodal, Bembo and the others?

Thread originally posted on the Aeclectic Tarot Forum on 04 Jun 2005, and now archived in the Forum Library.

Fudugazi	04 Jun 2005
For years I've had questions pulling at my hem which I have been unable to answer, because the people I would like to ask are dead. Are you the same? Do you sometimes wonder about this or that element in the RWS, the Thoth, the Marseille, and wish you could sit down and ask its maker about it? "So Al, what did you really mean when -" Here are just a few questions I would ask: To Pixie Colman Smith: - why did you make the sword suit so generally negative, forever damning the tarot to the equation : thinking=misery ? What's with the thieving 7 and the defeating/defeated 5? I would then have a little discussion on numerology with her and ask her what her reasoning was. - the same about the unmoving 9 of Wands - because although I understand the picture (it's very eloquent) I don't understand its relation to the number. - what are the two hooks on the Queen of Cups' cup - why is the 8 of cups man leaving? (I see some inconsistency in the treatment of the 8s of the different suits - though once again, very eloquent image in its own right). - what's the W on the Ace of Cups? Waite? - why did you switch the Fool's place to the beginning and make him an innocent young man in the place of the more complex and disturbing traditional Fool? - why did you & Arthur switch the hands of the Magician - elevating his right hand to receive the magic, and lowering his left, instead of the traditional other way round? To Aleister Crowley: - how did you get to a "something sadistic" about the Hierophant? Is there some link to the myths of Horus that justified this assessment? What is the mask in the top right corner of that card? - how much of the "Chariot of the Soul" idea remains in your Chariot, with its four creatures teemed to it? Is there anything to the Lotus Buddha posture of the armoured knight? - I'd ask the same questions about swords as I asked to Pixie. - not a question, but I'd praise him for his life-affirming Baphomet, but regret the loss of Cernunnos' antlers found on the traditional tarot. To the first makers of the Marseille model and cousins: - do you know the Hebrew letters? Have you incorporated them in your Tarot? - where do you live? - how did you learn these symbols? - have you ever been to Italy or seen Italian Tarocchi? - are any of you alchemists? - are you a heretic? a Huguenot? - what is the inspiration for your iconography? - what's your opinion of the following cards: XIII - death or not?; XV - Le Diable - liberator or enemy?; XVI- la Maison-dieu: are they leaping with joy or were they thrown by the wrath of G-d? XVIII-La Lune: is it a solar eclipse? Are the dogs howling or receing the manna from heaven? - Why didn't you put a door on La Maison-Dieu? - Did you draw a mysterious arm in V-Le Pape or is that a misinterpretation? - why do your horses only have front legs on VII-Le Chariot? To Noblet, Vieville, Dodal and Nicolas Conver, I'd ask: - What is the Tarot? Game or Teaching? - Are you initiates? Were your masters initiates? - Why did you cover up the Fool's modesty? (to Dodal) - Did you see a mysterious arm in V-Le Pape? To Bonifacio Bembo: - did you ever make a Devil and a Tower? - how neoplatonic are you? - are you one or more of the either: Jewish, a kabbalist, an alchemist, a philosopher? Was your work to order closely supervised by one of the above? Well, no doubt plenty more, but that should keep them busy a while, in the great ship in the sky (or in the case of Al, under ground). What are your questions? and to whom? (it doesn't have to be the same as above, as long as they already received the personal visit of card XIII!)

Moongold	04 Jun 2005
Helvetica wrote: - what are the two hooks on the Queen of Cups' cup Are they not black Angels? What they actually mean is more the question :). Some feelings are really dark.

Fudugazi	04 Jun 2005
Hi Moongold - thanks:) I am not actually looking to AT for answers to the questions I posted - only for your questions to the dead tarot makers.

jmd	04 Jun 2005
...and to each: are you actually answering these questions honestly and openly?

Moongold	04 Jun 2005
Helvetica wrote: Hi Moongold - thanks:) I am not actually looking to AT for answers to the questions I posted - only for your questions to the dead tarot makers. Yes. :) I understand. It took me years to notice those dang angels, however. And I wonder why the Mona Lisa smiles. And I wonder whose ideas were they, Waite's or PCS's? And why do the Knights only have one leg each? Is that why they are all on horses?

jumptothemoonyea	04 Jun 2005
general questions to all of them: why 78? why did you do it? would you do it differently now? what was more important for you to project: science, art, universal knowledge, divinity? do you think there could be one Universal Tarot deck? Or there are as many decks and points of view as many dimensions, people? what all of your decks have in common? which deck do you like from modern Tarot decks? thanks for the great decks :) I better stop asking questions, or they would be answering all day :D

full deck	04 Jun 2005
"Why Tarot?" and . . . "could I borrow twenty bucks?"

Cerulean	04 Jun 2005
1. Could you tell me when you made a full 78 card deck and explain if there's a corresponding poem and design? Dang it, just don't leave me pieces! Was there really a Tarocchi deck of Matteo Maria Boiardo? 2. Was the Sola Busca done in part because of the Borgias (from Rome) marriage into the Estensi? Did the dream of the so-called celestial Mantegna in terms of Paradiso and the allegories of Boiardo just finally become a card parade of the most-wanted Roman War Hero wannabees? 3. Okay, how much did astrology play a part in Leonello D'Este wearing red for Mars' Day and is Da Sphera part of the tarocchi reflections... (Lundi=Luna, Mardi=Mars, Mecredi=Mercury--I think this is the French rather than Italian, sorry)... To the maker of the Leber Tarocchi: 1. Where's the full deck? To the makers of the Vievielle (past and present): 1. Are you making fun or romance? 2. What is the story behind the beautiful Tree? 3. Are their Magi or Astronomers in your deck? To Bonafacio Bembo: 1. Were any of the Visconti followers of the Franciscans 2. Did that private alterpiece come from the same minaturists that did Visconti cards? 3. The cheribim of golden hair...was it Bianca Maria in disguise? 4. The Sun, Moon and Stars...who did them? Cheers, Cerulean

NeuroticNovice	04 Jun 2005
I'd ask Mr.Crowley why he turned Strength into Lust. Seems a pretty big leap in image and meaning.

full deck	05 Jun 2005
NeuroticNovice wrote: I'd ask Mr.Crowley why he turned Strength into Lust. Seems a pretty big leap in image and meaning. That is a great question. I suspect he would be the most interesting of them all just to talk to. I would settle for just that much, not that I like him but I can't think of anyone else remotely like him.

Fudugazi	05 Jun 2005
NeuroticNovice wrote: I'd ask Mr.Crowley why he turned Strength into Lust. Seems a pretty big leap in image and meaning. Mr Crowley obligingly answered that question in The Book of Thoth: "This Trump was formerly called Strength. But it implies far more than Strength in the ordinary sense of the word. Technical analysis shows that the Path corresponding to the card is not the Strength of Geburah, but the influence from Chesed upon Geburah, the Path balanced both vertically and horizontally on the Tree of Life. For this reason it has been thought better to change the traditional title. Lust implies not only strength, but the joy of strength exercised. It is vigour and the rapture of vigour". "Lust for life" might be thought of as the hidden title. And our Al continues: "Come forth, o children, under the stars, & take your fill of love! I am above you and in you. My ecstasy is in yours. My joy is to see your joy." "Be strong, o man! lust, enjoy all things of sense and rapture: fear not that any God shall deny thee for this." Which is a very Nietzchean view of strength, I think.

NeuroticNovice	05 Jun 2005
I see. I've been (partially) misinterpeting the card for a while now. I have the Book of Thoth on order, looks like I'll get good use out of it.

The What would you ask Pixie, Aleister, Dodal, Bembo and the others? thread was originally posted on 04 Jun 2005 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.