The Language of the Birds

Namadev · 16-01-2004

Hi,

Copy of J-C Flornoy's essay on the Langage of Birds.

Alain

A Magic of words and images

Before focusing directly on the subject at hand, let us review the
history.

On October 13, 1307, the king of France, Philippe le Bel, ordered
the arrest of the members of the Knights Templars. In the afternoon
of March 19, 1314 the order of the Temple was definitively eliminated
with Jacques de Molay's death at the stake on the l'Ile aux Juifs in
Paris. It was on this critical afternoon that the masters of the
builders' fraternities launched what the Companions traditionally
call the Strike of the Cathedrals.

In three weeks the word spread over all the construction sites in
provinces controlled by the king. All the workers, from master to
apprentice, put down their tools and either left France or returned
to their families. Medieval sacred society died in this strike and
the emigration that followed. No church or chapel would ever again be
built according to the rules of sacred construction, that art which
uses stone to magnify the telluric forces of the wouïvre and confer
this energy on the believers within. For Europe this signals the
beginning of the Inquisition and the dictatorship of the church.

Those who stay on must leave their fraternities and, if they want to
remain alive, melt into the anonymity of civil society.

Those who leave go for the most part to northern Italy, where they
will generate the Renaissance in their work for the princes. Some
fraternities go yet farther away: one from Poitou went as far as the
Middle East, in the last Frankish (Christian) kingdom that still
resisted Islam, that of the Lusignans of Cilicie, wedged between
today's Syria and Turkey.

A small kingdom pledged to the Romano-Germanic emperor, Cilicie
disappeared under the blows of the Marmelukes in 1375. The sons of
those who participated in the cathedral strike returned to Christian
lands, to the effervescence of Northern Italy where, known
as "Sarrasins" they invested their knowledge, like a bottle thrown
into the sea, in the tarot.

So when we speak of the "language of the birds" we must articulate
two periods: before the Strike, when this "tongue" is spoken in the
language of goth* art and is expressed in words and images on all the
cathedral building sites, and after the Strike, when it goes
underground.

The language of the birds functions through spontaneity and direct
comprehension. A classic example, though late – probably 17th
century – can be found in the names of old inns on old roads in
France. There are many roadside inns bearing signs « au lion d'or »
(at the golden lion), or « au cochon d'or »(at the golden pig).

What does the image mean? Nothing in particular; just a golden lion,
often badly drawn, or a golden pig. Why then give such a seemingly
stupid name to an inn? Because once "au lit on dort " (in bed one
sleeps), or at the place where the coach stops (au coche) "on dort"
(one sleeps). Coche was the name in old French for pig.

We find ourselves in the play on words which characterises
this "language of the birds". Of course the people of this time did
not just focus on such foolishness. Their jargon, as sons of Mother
Goose*, subjects of the Queen Pédauque*, as men "pattés*" was that of
baby geese (oisons) and not birds (oiseaux). We are in the tradition
of "Maitre Jacque's children." For these magicians, as for certain
Sufis of today, what counted above all was the creation of that magic
instant of suspended time, this astonishment by which we are all
connected with the divine. Their word plays must literally "take your
breath away". The cagots of Southwestern France bore the last
vestiges of this culture and wore, until around 1730, a goose's
footprint in red cloth sewn on the left shoulder.

The language of goslings dating from the first period is perfectly
direct, meant to be taken literally, at the instant.

At the Romanesque-Byzantine abbey built by Eléonore d'Aquitaine at
Souillac (department of Lot), the capital of the 8th ambulatory
pillar depicts doves putting their beaks in an owl's ear. This is
Athena's owl of course, and represents access to knowledge. At
Talmont in the Charente, it is a heron which relates to the owl.

During one of my visits to Souillac I calmly pursued my labyrinth
while paying special attention to the different images sculpted on
the capitals in the choir. Coming to the 8th pillar and not
understanding the image, I put my back against it and closed my eyes,
creating as much stillness as I could, and waited. I was not
disappointed. After some minutes of waiting and meditative idling, my
ears were literally ripped apart by a terrible noise. Emerging from
my torpor with a powerful shock and opening my eyes, I found that I
was alone except for a tourist who was standing at the entrance in
the process of putting a postcard in an envelope!!!

It was this infinitesimal sound which had, from sixty meters away,
literally blown my head away. Since it was the third time that I had
heard a sound of this type, I immediately understood that this was
the sound's second harmonic, audible only from that specific spot.
That is why the birds unstop the owl's ears and offer you access to
what the ancients called the "third ear".

That is the language of the birds. Expression is direct: you are told
to stand up against the pillar in order to have your subtle ear
unblocked. If you try and fix on a "symbol" which explains this image
you risk getting caught up in verbiage and entirely missing the event
itself, and it is only this experience that interested the ancients.

Many are the images of this sort, and many are the astonishing
experiences at our disposal if we manage to not analyse what we see;
but just experiment. All European Romanesque churches and chapels are
loaded with these images. It is up to you to see them and let them
live within you. Back against the pillar, let yourself
be "bewitched": that is goth* art.

Thus we see this language of the goslings already expressed on two
levels: a game of words and images, a game of image and
experimentation.
.
When the engraver Nicolas Conver places three dots on the breast of
arcane XV, The Devil, one must read his message as simply as
possible: Freemasonry is a Devil. That's all! All further explanation
is superfluous.

After the Templars' extermination and the arrival of the Inquisition,
the social life of Europe slipped back into the repression of the old
sciences. Tens of thousands of fires were lit. Only certain
professions retained their traditions over the centuries: doctors,
apothecaries, builders and a few others. The language of the
goslings, flown to other skies since March 19, 1314, becomes the
language of the birds and goes underground to become the language of
initiates. Its word plays become increasingly savant, even employing
Greek.

As for the alchemists' image games, some are still understandable,
but many must be approached with considerable erudition.

From time to time we meet individuals whose freshness and spontaneity
of language create, like a blow to the plexus, that moment of
astonishment. Each of them is, at that instant at least, The Fool who
reactivates the language of the birds.

Jean-Claude Flornoy
January 6, 2004 at Sainte-Suzanne

art goth* : the least bad definition seems to stem from the Greek
origin of the word goth: art of light, art of spirit

My Mother Goose*: traditional collection of oral teachings, later re-
worked by Perrault.

Queen Pédauque* : legendary queen of the Romanesque people

pattés* : having the goose footprint in red cloth sewn on the left
shoulder, as the Jews wore the yellow star

Jean-Claude Flornoy

Jean-Claude Flornoy
Editions "LeTarot.com"
3, Place Hubert II
53270 Sainte-Suzanne, France
00 33 0(2) 43 01 44 43

*** <http://letarot.com> *** <http://letarot.ch> ***
*** <http://english.letarot.com>

Aoife · 17-01-2004

Namadev, I have reading and re-reading this article for the past hour..... time now for me to express my excited appreciation!

I know so little about European history and the history of Tarot and am in the process of taking the first baby steps towards understanding. This article feels like momentous enlightenment.

Thank you.....very much indeed!

**Ross G Caldwell** · 17-01-2004

I concur with Aiofe...

Thank you Alain, and Jean-Claude. A true artist.

Diana · 17-01-2004

Jean-Claude Flornoy has the ability to move my heart. Whenever I read anything by him, something shifts deep inside me. It's like he's opening up a door that has long been shut and it creaks open, revealing a country that looks strangely familiar.

He's cool! I hope one day I'll have the honour to meet him in person.

**firemaiden** · 17-01-2004

Namadev -- Alain -
Merci infiniment.

**jmd** · 17-01-2004

Welcome to Aeclectic, Alain... ça bouge, je realise!

Certainly wonderful to have your contributions, and Jean-Claude Flornoy's, here too.

Apart from the important study of Campagnage input which you bring, and not only the early Renaissance which emerges in the Light-filled period of the 12th and 13th century centred especially around the Parisian Ile de France prior to the later and far better known and studied northern Italian flourishings, you also bring comments which are worth reflecting on in more than one way - for they entail much.

When Jean-Claude Flornoy writes that 'If you try and fix on a "symbol" which explains this image you risk getting caught up in verbiage and entirely missing the event itself', I agree - for it is not the explanation, but as mentioned in the clause which follows, the experience... yet the experience arises from the meditative state, from the developed silence, as a grace penetrated - or revealed in inner Light - following the wondrous studies of the specific symbols observed and detailed.

When Conver places the three dots on the breast of one of the 'acolytes' of XV le Diable, one may gain an experience, as mentioned, of its - or rather his perception of Freemasonry as such... yet is that all? Are, indeed, further explanations superfluous? I had read his statement of the same in French on another site recently, and frankly wondered about it.

On a similar note of the Langue D'oi - language of the Goose (which is, after all, the language of the North, of the French, of, especially, the Parisian region, as opposed to the Langue D'oc, that of the south) - it is interesting to observe the obverse of some of the early decks. For some bear what appears as heraldic ermine, which bears striking similarity to the footprint of a bird...

Again, welcome... and now to read other posts

Namadev · 20-01-2004

Hi,

Thanks to those who commented the essay of Jean-Claude Flornoy.
I'm pleased to announce his coming on Aeclectic Tarot history forum soon.
He'll answer himself all your questions.

Alain Bougearel

Copy of the mail Laurent Edouard, moderator of the Noblet Club forum send me tonight :

"Bonsoir Alain,

JC va répondre ! Hélas, il a depuis quelques jours un problème avec sa BAL.

D'autre part, pour répondre en anglais, il doit passer par sa
traductrice ;-)

Alain, tu seras gentil de mettre un post pour rassurer les
intervenants et leur demander de patienter encore un peu.

Laurent Edouard"

**firemaiden** · 20-01-2004

Dis-lui, cher Alain, que nous sommes plusieurs ici, qui serons heureuse de servir de traducteur/trice...

----
(There are many french speakers/readers on this forum, many will be happy, to help translate, won't we?)

Diana · 20-01-2004

He will be most welcome! I'm sure we'll find a perfect way to get around the language problem. A number of us speak French here and after all, Tarot crosses all boundaries - it's a universal language, right?

**Moonbow** · 20-01-2004

Quote:

Originally posted by Namadev

Copy of the mail Laurent Edouard, moderator of the Noblet Club forum send me tonight :

"Bonsoir Alain,

JC va répondre ! Hélas, il a depuis quelques jours un problème avec sa BAL.

D'autre part, pour répondre en anglais, il doit passer par sa
traductrice ;-)

Alain, tu seras gentil de mettre un post pour rassurer les
intervenants et leur demander de patienter encore un peu.

Laurent Edouard"

Oh Oh! I wanna know, I wanna know - I was never any good at French at school - help!

Alain - I loved Jean-Claude's writings too but I am not as eloquent (hey - I'm sure that's French!) [if not it should be!]as some others on here

Moonbow*

PS I know its says something about, wanting to reply but having a problem with something. AND something about answering in English but that's it - sorry

Namadev Citizen Join Date: 07 Jul 2003 Location: 31 France Posts: 406	The Langage of the Birds Hi, Copy of J-C Flornoy's essay on the Langage of Birds. Alain A Magic of words and images Before focusing directly on the subject at hand, let us review the history. On October 13, 1307, the king of France, Philippe le Bel, ordered the arrest of the members of the Knights Templars. In the afternoon of March 19, 1314 the order of the Temple was definitively eliminated with Jacques de Molay's death at the stake on the l'Ile aux Juifs in Paris. It was on this critical afternoon that the masters of the builders' fraternities launched what the Companions traditionally call the Strike of the Cathedrals. In three weeks the word spread over all the construction sites in provinces controlled by the king. All the workers, from master to apprentice, put down their tools and either left France or returned to their families. Medieval sacred society died in this strike and the emigration that followed. No church or chapel would ever again be built according to the rules of sacred construction, that art which uses stone to magnify the telluric forces of the wouïvre and confer this energy on the believers within. For Europe this signals the beginning of the Inquisition and the dictatorship of the church. Those who stay on must leave their fraternities and, if they want to remain alive, melt into the anonymity of civil society. Those who leave go for the most part to northern Italy, where they will generate the Renaissance in their work for the princes. Some fraternities go yet farther away: one from Poitou went as far as the Middle East, in the last Frankish (Christian) kingdom that still resisted Islam, that of the Lusignans of Cilicie, wedged between today's Syria and Turkey. A small kingdom pledged to the Romano-Germanic emperor, Cilicie disappeared under the blows of the Marmelukes in 1375. The sons of those who participated in the cathedral strike returned to Christian lands, to the effervescence of Northern Italy where, known as "Sarrasins" they invested their knowledge, like a bottle thrown into the sea, in the tarot. So when we speak of the "language of the birds" we must articulate two periods: before the Strike, when this "tongue" is spoken in the language of goth* art and is expressed in words and images on all the cathedral building sites, and after the Strike, when it goes underground. The language of the birds functions through spontaneity and direct comprehension. A classic example, though late – probably 17th century – can be found in the names of old inns on old roads in France. There are many roadside inns bearing signs « au lion d'or » (at the golden lion), or « au cochon d'or »(at the golden pig). What does the image mean? Nothing in particular; just a golden lion, often badly drawn, or a golden pig. Why then give such a seemingly stupid name to an inn? Because once "au lit on dort " (in bed one sleeps), or at the place where the coach stops (au coche) "on dort" (one sleeps). Coche was the name in old French for pig. We find ourselves in the play on words which characterises this "language of the birds". Of course the people of this time did not just focus on such foolishness. Their jargon, as sons of Mother Goose, subjects of the Queen Pédauque, as men "pattés" was that of baby geese (oisons) and not birds (oiseaux). We are in the tradition of "Maitre Jacque's children." For these magicians, as for certain Sufis of today, what counted above all was the creation of that magic instant of suspended time, this astonishment by which we are all connected with the divine. Their word plays must literally "take your breath away". The cagots of Southwestern France bore the last vestiges of this culture and wore, until around 1730, a goose's footprint in red cloth sewn on the left shoulder. The language of goslings dating from the first period is perfectly direct, meant to be taken literally, at the instant. At the Romanesque-Byzantine abbey built by Eléonore d'Aquitaine at Souillac (department of Lot), the capital of the 8th ambulatory pillar depicts doves putting their beaks in an owl's ear. This is Athena's owl of course, and represents access to knowledge. At Talmont in the Charente, it is a heron which relates to the owl. During one of my visits to Souillac I calmly pursued my labyrinth while paying special attention to the different images sculpted on the capitals in the choir. Coming to the 8th pillar and not understanding the image, I put my back against it and closed my eyes, creating as much stillness as I could, and waited. I was not disappointed. After some minutes of waiting and meditative idling, my ears were literally ripped apart by a terrible noise. Emerging from my torpor with a powerful shock and opening my eyes, I found that I was alone except for a tourist who was standing at the entrance in the process of putting a postcard in an envelope!!! It was this infinitesimal sound which had, from sixty meters away, literally blown my head away. Since it was the third time that I had heard a sound of this type, I immediately understood that this was the sound's second harmonic, audible only from that specific spot. That is why the birds unstop the owl's ears and offer you access to what the ancients called the "third ear". That is the language of the birds. Expression is direct: you are told to stand up against the pillar in order to have your subtle ear unblocked. If you try and fix on a "symbol" which explains this image you risk getting caught up in verbiage and entirely missing the event itself, and it is only this experience that interested the ancients. Many are the images of this sort, and many are the astonishing experiences at our disposal if we manage to not analyse what we see; but just experiment. All European Romanesque churches and chapels are loaded with these images. It is up to you to see them and let them live within you. Back against the pillar, let yourself be "bewitched": that is goth art. Thus we see this language of the goslings already expressed on two levels: a game of words and images, a game of image and experimentation. . When the engraver Nicolas Conver places three dots on the breast of arcane XV, The Devil, one must read his message as simply as possible: Freemasonry is a Devil. That's all! All further explanation is superfluous. After the Templars' extermination and the arrival of the Inquisition, the social life of Europe slipped back into the repression of the old sciences. Tens of thousands of fires were lit. Only certain professions retained their traditions over the centuries: doctors, apothecaries, builders and a few others. The language of the goslings, flown to other skies since March 19, 1314, becomes the language of the birds and goes underground to become the language of initiates. Its word plays become increasingly savant, even employing Greek. As for the alchemists' image games, some are still understandable, but many must be approached with considerable erudition. From time to time we meet individuals whose freshness and spontaneity of language create, like a blow to the plexus, that moment of astonishment. Each of them is, at that instant at least, The Fool who reactivates the language of the birds. Jean-Claude Flornoy January 6, 2004 at Sainte-Suzanne art goth* : the least bad definition seems to stem from the Greek origin of the word goth: art of light, art of spirit My Mother Goose: traditional collection of oral teachings, later re- worked by Perrault. Queen Pédauque : legendary queen of the Romanesque people pattés* : having the goose footprint in red cloth sewn on the left shoulder, as the Jews wore the yellow star Jean-Claude Flornoy Jean-Claude Flornoy Editions "LeTarot.com" 3, Place Hubert II 53270 Sainte-Suzanne, France 00 33 0(2) 43 01 44 43 * <http://letarot.com> * <http://letarot.ch> * * <http://english.letarot.com>

16-01-2004	Ask a Professional Tarot Reader Top #1

Ross G Caldwell Citizen Join Date: 07 Jul 2003 Location: Béziers, France Posts: 2,361	I concur with Aiofe... Thank you Alain, and Jean-Claude. A true artist. __________________ ΑΓΕΩΜΕΤΡΗΤΟΣ ΜΗΔΕΙΣ ΕΙΣΙΤΩ Trionfi http://trionfi.com Tarot Essays http://www.angelfire.com/space/tarot

17-01-2004	Ask a Professional Tarot Reader Top #3

Diana Citizen Join Date: 01 Jan 2002 Posts: 8,213	Jean-Claude Flornoy has the ability to move my heart. Whenever I read anything by him, something shifts deep inside me. It's like he's opening up a door that has long been shut and it creaks open, revealing a country that looks strangely familiar. He's cool! I hope one day I'll have the honour to meet him in person. Last edited by Diana; 17-01-2004 at 04:34.

17-01-2004	Ask a Professional Tarot Reader Top #4

Namadev Citizen Join Date: 07 Jul 2003 Location: 31 France Posts: 406	The Langage of the Birds Hi, Thanks to those who commented the essay of Jean-Claude Flornoy. I'm pleased to announce his coming on Aeclectic Tarot history forum soon. He'll answer himself all your questions. Alain Bougearel Copy of the mail Laurent Edouard, moderator of the Noblet Club forum send me tonight : "Bonsoir Alain, JC va répondre ! Hélas, il a depuis quelques jours un problème avec sa BAL. D'autre part, pour répondre en anglais, il doit passer par sa traductrice ;-) Alain, tu seras gentil de mettre un post pour rassurer les intervenants et leur demander de patienter encore un peu. Laurent Edouard"

20-01-2004	Ask a Professional Tarot Reader Top #7

firemaiden keeper of the toaster Join Date: 07 Jun 2002 Location: Poitiers, France Posts: 10,714	Dis-lui, cher Alain, que nous sommes plusieurs ici, qui serons heureuse de servir de traducteur/trice... ---- (There are many french speakers/readers on this forum, many will be happy, to help translate, won't we?) Last edited by firemaiden; 20-01-2004 at 07:02.

20-01-2004	Ask a Professional Tarot Reader Top #8

Aoife Citizen Join Date: 09 Jan 2003 Location: England Posts: 1,360	Namadev, I have reading and re-reading this article for the past hour..... time now for me to express my excited appreciation! I know so little about European history and the history of Tarot and am in the process of taking the first baby steps towards understanding. This article feels like momentous enlightenment. Thank you.....very much indeed!

17-01-2004	Ask a Professional Tarot Reader Top #2

jmd fourhares Join Date: 05 Aug 2001 Location: Melbourne, Australia Posts: 8,502	Welcome to Aeclectic, Alain... ça bouge, je realise! Certainly wonderful to have your contributions, and Jean-Claude Flornoy's, here too. Apart from the important study of Campagnage input which you bring, and not only the early Renaissance which emerges in the Light-filled period of the 12th and 13th century centred especially around the Parisian Ile de France prior to the later and far better known and studied northern Italian flourishings, you also bring comments which are worth reflecting on in more than one way - for they entail much. When Jean-Claude Flornoy writes that 'If you try and fix on a "symbol" which explains this image you risk getting caught up in verbiage and entirely missing the event itself', I agree - for it is not the explanation, but as mentioned in the clause which follows, the experience... yet the experience arises from the meditative state, from the developed silence, as a grace penetrated - or revealed in inner Light - following the wondrous studies of the specific symbols observed and detailed. When Conver places the three dots on the breast of one of the 'acolytes' of XV le Diable, one may gain an experience, as mentioned, of its - or rather his perception of Freemasonry as such... yet is that all? Are, indeed, further explanations superfluous? I had read his statement of the same in French on another site recently, and frankly wondered about it. On a similar note of the Langue D'oi - language of the Goose (which is, after all, the language of the North, of the French, of, especially, the Parisian region, as opposed to the Langue D'oc, that of the south) - it is interesting to observe the obverse of some of the early decks. For some bear what appears as heraldic ermine, which bears striking similarity to the footprint of a bird... Again, welcome... and now to read other posts

17-01-2004	Ask a Professional Tarot Reader Top #6

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