No name, no number

Thread originally posted on the Aeclectic Tarot Forum on 07 Mar 2003, and now archived in the Forum Library.

Diana	07 Mar 2003
In the Tarot of Marseilles, the card that in modern decks is known as "Death", doesn't have a real name. It is called "L'Arcane Sans Nom", which means the "Arcanum Without A Name". The card that in many modern decks is numbered zero, i.e. The Fool, doesn't have a number in the Marseilles deck. So we have a card without a name and a card without a number. Curiouser and curiouser, said Alice. (Darn, I still don't have a scanner - perhaps Kaz or someone could scan them and put them in a post?, or else you can do a Search on Google). Now when you put these two cards side by side, they look remarkably similar in their stance. Spookingly so. So I always look at them with wonder and ask myself "Are these two the same person? Are they perhaps just wearing different masks? Or are they reflected in a kind of a strange mirror?" To me the Fool is the most enigmatic of all the Tarot cards. And what is more enigmatic than Death itself? Death is always a mystery to us living creatures. Also, in the Tarot of Marseilles, although the Fool has no number, it is more often than not given the numerical value of 22 (although it is also given a value zero, because it not only ends the Tarot cycle but also starts a new one when it is finished). The "Death" card is number XIII. 13 equals 1+3=4. The Fool as 22 would be 2+2=4. The Fool is sometimes called Le Mat in French. (Also Le Fou, or Le Fol.) The origins of this name are not completely agreed on, but one of its meanings comes from the Arabic word which means Death. He who cannot be named, is often referred to as God (unless we refer to Harry Potter, but I reckon we can leave Voldemort out of this thread). When we reach the end of our long Tarot initation, when we reach the end of the journey, it can be hoped that we will meet God, or become God, or rediscover our Divinity. The Fool is the Divinity (perhaps). And when we reach the end of our earthly journey, who do we meet? Death. Those are my musings for the day on these two Tarot cards, for whatever they're worth.

Kiama	07 Mar 2003
Wow Diana, cool thoughts! I must admit, now I come to think of it... They do seem very similar... The Fool itself, is representative of new beginnings, whilst Death can be representative of the ending which leads onto the new beginning... Just like the Fool can be if placed both at 0 and 22... Kiama

Umbrae	07 Mar 2003
In my book (this is my opinion only – and does not reflect the opinions of others, the management, or the staff), the trickster (which IS the fool), grossly misunderstood by modern scholars, is the one who escorts souls to the land of the dead (Hermes), he also introduced death to this world (Yehl, Glooskap, Inkto, Wiskadejak, Coyote), and also serves as the messenger of the gods. Back in the early fifteeth century, myths were much closer to the heart than they are now. Now myths simply fill dusty tomes and The Learning Channel, no longer fighting for supremacy with the myths of Christianity. These myths are also echoed in the play of the game of Tarocchi (the function of Le Mat). They are in essence, two faces of the same beast…

firemaiden	07 Mar 2003
Very beautiful, cogent yet poetic thoughs, Diana. (Perhaps Voldemort has no name for the same reason that Death has no name. ) Le Mat, Shach Mat, it makes one wonder, doesn't it. I understand you Umbrae: the fool as "psychopompe", yet perhpas you might explain again how that ends up being the fool and not the magician: whence this confluence of trickster=fool/ trickster= magician/ magician=fool? Weren't the fool and the magician always separate cards?

Minderwiz	07 Mar 2003
Diana, Wow, very esoteric stuff - but I think you are right. I don't know the origin of 'Le Mat' but if we ignore the definite article and take 'Mat' the first letter 'M', is the thirteenth of the Alphabet - the Number of Death, 'A' is 1, the breath of life in every one and T is 20 - 2 being the number of the Womb and 0 being the all embracing symbol of creation - all that is. Thus the Fool (Le Mat)'s could well symbolise a divinely created or inspired life after death - transmutation to a higher plane???? Incidentally the letters of Death also total to 20 - so 'Mat' begins and ends with Death - but as 20 is not a finishing number, Death is not the end!

Kaz	07 Mar 2003
diana asked me to attach the mentioned cards, i hope they are big enough to have a good look. ~kaz

firemaiden	07 Mar 2003
Oh yes, that's very interesting, Diana, thank you Kaz for posting the cards. We can see that le mat is holding something that could very well be a scythe if we could see the bottom, and in the exact angle of the death's scythe. Same position of right foot in front, bent over, face turned to side, even the little tufts of plants look the same. Interesting indeed!

Umbrae	07 Mar 2003
Quote: Originally posted by firemaiden the fool as "psychopompe", yet perhaps you might explain again how that ends up being the fool and not the magician. In the game of Tarocchi for which Tarot cards were invented, and which may precede divination, Le Mat - The Fool, is a non-trump trump; it frees you from the obligation of having to play a trump or follow suit – but cannot win any tricks. “When I look at the old ‘Le Mat’, ‘Il Matto’, or ‘Le Fou’, he is pictured as being ‘on the road’. This was homage to the trickster deity and not the innocent or idiot as viewed today – an innocent or an idiot would be in a village or a castle. Every non or pre Christian culture, has its trickster deity. Loki, Raven, Coyote, Eshu, Legba, Hermes, Manannan Mac Lir, Krishna, Crow, Hare, Inktomi……Europe had theirs prior to the Christian influx, but during the post plague years, there was an uncertainty amongst peoples not recognized in modern history. Hermes was re-written and allocated duties that the early Greeks never considered. ”See how on your deck the Fool is on the road? Trickster is about moving upon the roads, remember – the world, and culture used to be agrarian, most folks lived in villages and tribes, The Trickster exists in the doorway leading out, the crossroads at the edge of town, he is of strangers and thieves. He lives on the spirit road between the living and the dead, a messenger of the gods, and a guide for the dead; he is the boundary crosser and the boundary creator, clown, keeper of the gates, ferryman, lord of apples, lord of the other-world, voracious, cunning, sly, wise, and lord of those in-between-gray-places; he does not live near the hearth. If he was the innocent or the idiot as modern interpretive theory tells us, he would not have been pictured on the road. He is the boundary crosser and mover; he alters internal social distinctions. “I see Le Mat as the spot between heaven and earth, the moment the sun reverses itself; he creates a distance only he can span. They set others at odds, or place boundary markers in new an unusual places…what will happen when the fool in other decks, gets to the cliff? He is Chaos… “Le Bateleur in its original context, was a ‘Penn and Teller’ type magician, a juggler, sideshow barker, comedian, and not a ceremonial magician as he is currently viewed. The Magician, or Le Bateleur, is the smooth talker, the mountebank, the con-man snake oil sales man...but more important – he has no roots, no town. In the pre-war Russian language, there was no word for an adventurer. It was unheard of to leave your town, family and responsibilities to wander for whatever reason. Such is the character of the Magician – thus, The Magician is the human emulation of the Trickster. “Some will always tell you that The Popess was Joan even though she has no baby and Joan is always pictured with the child – always always always. “For me, once those three cards changed, an alteration began for the rest of the majors.” Parts plagiarized from “The Process”, without permission...so sue me...

Macavity	07 Mar 2003
I suppose there's good ol' Anubis too? Sometimes called death, but more correctly known as the "opener of the ways" (tho' mostly for the dead? :)) And, as has been noted, with associations to "Herm(es-)anubis". Sometime prototype for St Christopher "of travellers"? Accompanied by sundry jackals/canines too...

firemaiden	07 Mar 2003
Quote: Originally posted by Umbrae The Magician is the human emulation of the Trickster. Plagiarized from The Process indeed, I thought I'd seen that somewhere before! We'll have a word with that Dan Pelletier character, and beg him not to sue you... So, you are saying the Fool is the real trickster, and the Magician is the trick trickster, who is only trying to fool us into thinking he is the trickster, by pulling the wool over our eyes.... hmmm. Okay, I get it. I even like it! Yet, we admit there were always these two distinct cards. I was having a bit of hard time with this, because jmd posted a card which I can only refer to as the "Fool with a Tool", it sure looked like the traditional fool to me, replete with cat and crossroads, and yet jmd says it was the magician. (Can someone post that card?)

jmd	08 Mar 2003
Firemaiden's deeply perceptive comment cannot go without some modicum of explanation: 'Shach Mat' = 'check mate' = 'the Shah/King is dead'!

Diana	08 Mar 2003
Quote: Originally posted by jmd 'Shach Mat' = 'check mate' = 'the Shah/King is dead'! And the King is a kind of an Emperor, right? There we have the numerological stuff I was talking about in my original thread. Minderwiz: your post was most interesting - it brought up things I had no idea of and I wish to thank you personally for sharing your own musings - they have opened up another door in the long corridor I am exploring. And Kaz: thanks so much for posting those scans. They are perfect.

Diana	08 Mar 2003
Quote: Originally posted by firemaiden (Perhaps Voldemort has no name for the same reason that Death has no name. ) Do you mean like Fol de Mort? (For those who don't speak French, "Mort" means death.) The Fool is sometimes called Le Fol, as well Le Mat, as I mentioned. Even more curiouser and curiouser. Alice is really in the Tarot Magical Wonderland here.

firemaiden	08 Mar 2003
Aha!!! Remember, Harry Potter's Author has degrees in French literature!

Minderwiz	08 Mar 2003
Diana, Thanks for your comments on my musings. Two things, one I forgot to put in and one I thought of afterwards The root total for 'mat' is 7 a number that has to do with the spirituality, mysticism, the mysteries of life. I should have included the 'Le' - L is the twelfth letter - twelve disciples, twelve tribes of Israel - but more importantly the twelve signs of the Zodiac - twelve is the ring (0) that encompasses the world. 'e' is the fifth letter and five is the number of creation - the joining of the first female number (2) to the first real male number (3). So again we have created from heaven.

Vita-morte	12 Mar 2003
Wow, that's interesting! Your observations on the fool and death cards made me think of something in His Dark Materials (the series including The Subtle Knife and two other books that I just can't think of the names of). In the third book, Lyra and Will travel to the world of the dead and meet their deaths which have accompanied them (hidden, of course) since birth because with birth each had included in his/her destiny to die. Because the fool shows the beginging (0) and the end (22) of the majors his death must accompany him in the end. Just a thought....

The No name, no number thread was originally posted on 07 Mar 2003 in the Using Tarot Cards board, and is now archived in the Forum Library. Read the active threads in Using Tarot Cards, or read more archived threads.