Grimaud Grand Etteilla

trolldomsstavar

I am very interested in Grimaud's Grand Etteilla but can't seem to find an answer regarding the spike shaped symbols on the suite of sticks

I have looked at the Etteilla information on Aeclectic Tarot Forum, and also on the Revak web site, but haven't been able to find anything regarding the symbols on the yellow field of cards 26 through 35.

Does anyone have information as to what these symbols mean?

Many thanks,

trolldomsstavar
 

Rosanne

Good morning Fulgour, I do not have your deck, but on looking at the picture on the card they look like handmade horseshoe nails to me. I used to use a smith that was a farrier as well and he made his horseshoes and nails. Quite an endevour. I dot know if they represented enterprise. Rosanne
 

Fulgour

gleanings...

I Tarocchi di Etteilla

Between 1783 and the 1787 there were published in Amsterdam and
Paris, 5 booklets by Jean-Baptiste Alliette (1724 ca-1791), now famous
by the pseudonym of Etteilla.

Dubbed by his contemporaries "the dévin du siècle", Etteilla believed
the game of Le Tarocchi dated back to a magical text in ancient Egypt,
the legendary "Book of Thoth", whose pages contain the secrets of the
creation of the world and human destiny.

Of the many fascinating decks he devised, the "Grand Etteilla III" was
printed towards the end of 1865 by the publisher, Grimaud Parisian.

It is supposed he even endeavoured to facilitate numerous magical formulas,
in order to obtain new magical powers, to defeat enemies, to retrieve health,
to guide the feelings, to obtain gain, and to gleefully accomplish astral travel.

:) He seems an all right bloke!
 

Cerulean

I was trying to find an answer using related tarot designs

Hello trolldomsstavar,

I have a suspicion that the Papus book available online has some clues in the various descriptions of the geometrical shapes made by the spikes in the staves/wands minors, but my apologies--I just haven't run across a clear description yet. Let me explain myself by describing some similar decks--I started first by checking Grimaud's card 33, Three of Wands/Bastoni/Staves.

The yellow spikes in the staves of this Grand Etteilla design (all visible at the link below) :
http://www.tarot.com/about-tarot/decks/browsedecks.php?newdeck=9

seem also to repeated in a few later decks, including:

Italiana Cartomanzia (Il Solleone 19th century-a Jeu de Princesse pattern) - Review and some cards (check out eight of staves) - similar minor designs and numbering as Grimaud:
http://www.spiritone.com/~filipas/Masquerade/Reviews/cartoma.html

The Papus Tarot - all cards - similar designs in minors:
http://www.gambler.ru/sukhty/decks05/d02438/d02438.htm

Enoil Gavat (Giorgio Tavaglione) - similar meanings and Etteilla numbering--but I haven't confirmed that the same spike pattern is visible in the card.

I compared card 33, the three of bastoni/wands/staves and the divinatory meaning seems to be the same in the Italiana, Papus and Enoil Gavat. The mass market Grimaud Etteilla has a different little white book and different descriptions of reading the cards, but their designs look similar.

The Papus book is available online.

http://www.sacred-texts.com/tarot/tob/tob00.htm

I hope that it helps other seekers of the same question, including myself...I'm a little surprised it's not clearly documented somewhere, but Etteilla patterns vary so much. I was even surprised to see what I thought was an early 20th century Grimaud version of the Etteilla seems to be different than the one marketed now.

Regards,

Cerulean

P.S. If others post here that they see substantial differences in the text meanings in the decks I suggested above or the design patterns in the minors for the staves of the Papus, Etteilla and Italian Cartomanzia vary too much, I'd be glad to edit my comparison.