Camoin Method & Laws

The Camoin Method is being elucidated lately, due to Camoin publishing his method with introductory material on his website. A book is forthcoming, we are told. The method functions under the guidance of Laws:

the Law of Repetition
the Law of Two
the Law of Three
the Law of Four or the 3 + 1
the Law of the Extremities
the Law of Resemblance
the Law of the Regard
the Law of the Exception
the Law of Inversion
the Law of Proximity
the Law of Columns

We might also add in (using not necessarily Camoin's nomenclature)...

the Law of Number (Pro/Re)gression
the Law of Nakedness

Camoin reports that these laws are self-evident in the Tarot, thus the Tarot contains within its own optical structure the code to its interpretation.

It can help to locate how these Laws are self-evident in the imagery of the TdM. Camoin suggests the 3x7 diagram with the Majors as helpful in discovering these Laws.

Using Camoin's Rules for how to create an "animated" layout, the subsequent interpretation is a methodical application of the Laws, combined with a good dose of intuition, although Camoin says such is not necessary.

Paul, would you mind to give a small sentence saying what each rule is about?I read french, but not that well yet (taking classes ) and sometimes i ain't sure if i understood correctly what i read.

I'm afraid that i might miss something in my readings (like forgetting to add cards an all) if i am unaware of the rules.

Thanks

I'm happy to come back to this; but, for a quicker review, Camoin provides a brief overview on his site. The English site is fully functional. Simply choose "Camoin Code" and then "Laws of Camoin".

Paul, I'm glad you posted this because I had been entirely missing that section of Camoin's site. I had thought the "Camoin Method of Tarot Reading" section contained everything related to Camoin's method of tarot reading, but now I see that that's only a subsection of the larger "Camoin Code" section.

In looking over Camoin's explanation of his laws, I have to say that I'm not sure that I'm seeing any large significance to them that we haven't already discussed in these threads. (The big caveat here is that he may offer more information on these laws in his courses and book.)

As far as I can see, they can be boiled down to a few relatively straightforward propositions:

1) Among two or more cards, specific symbols or concepts which repeat, or which are similar to each other, can be significant. The two or more cards may be adjacent, or not adjacent, or at opposite ends of a row. (Law of Repitition, Law of Two, Law of Resemblance, Law of Columns, Law of the Extremities, Law of Proximity)

2) In a recurrence of three or more symbols or figures, one of them will be different from the others. (Law of Three, Law of Four or 3+1, Law of the Exception)

3) The regarding by a figure of symbols or figures in adjoining cards is significant. (Law of the Regard)

4) Two adjacent cards may show polar opposites. (Law of Inversion)

Is that the basic gist of it, or is there something I'm missing?

Also, if you would care to elaborate on the the Law of Number (Pro/Re)gression and the Law of Nakedness, you have my full attention.

The brilliant point to me is that the internal structure of the Tarot de Marseille is tapped here to derive a way of reading the TdM that is inherent to in in harmony with the deck's visual structure. This is harmony with nature.

To use a metaphor, I see it somewhat like the elegant moves of Qigong or Tai Chi, wherein the intrinsic postures and movements of nature are employed to move Chi through the human body.

More later...

Within all of these laws, they work well with the TdM, because of the TdM's "iconicity" (from Enrique Enriquez). The apparent paucity of imagery or simple and uniform graphical representations allow the laws to be more self-evident than say in an Artist's deck.

the Law of Repetition: Icons repeat: eagles, swords, hats, men, women. In a reading then, we will recognize repeating ideas or icons as significant. This is the Tarot's way of "confirming" an idea so that we don't see Jesus Face in a Tortilla.

the Law of Two or Duality: Two cards often share a relationship. There are many dualities in the deck of male/female; pope/devil, etc. These dualities will be evident in a reading and will be meaningful, in an analogic way.

the Law of Three: Icons may come in Threes, the third version may show a variance. This variance may be an important idea.

the Law of Four or the 3 + 1: Icons may come in Fours, the fourth version may show a variance. This variance may be an important idea.

the Law of the Extremities: In the 3x7 diagram, elements in the cards at either end of each row had relationships with each other. Certainly I-Le Bateleur shows an iconic relationship with XXI-Le Monde. In a reading, we examine the extremities of rows and columns and relate the cards together to form a "Federal Express" version of the story.

the Law of Resemblance: Numerous examples abound wherein cards have iconographic resemblance to each other. The resemblances are analogies.

the Law of the Regard: In the 3x7 diagram, gazes are intriguing and seem to be meaningful. These gazes are followed in the Camoin method to give an animated feature to the layout; as well, these gazes may create analogies.

the Law of the Exception: The inverse of the Law of Resemblance.

the Law of Inversion: Reversed icons, which went on to suggest the utility of using reversed cards with Solution cards.

the Law of Proximity: Similar images are near each other in the 3x7 diagram. This suggests that iconic relationships that are side by side or above and below are meaningful, rather than just scanning a spread for general ad hoc relationships.

the Law of Columns: Cards in columns in the 3x7 diagram have similarity. This informed the idea of reading vertically as well as horizontally.

the Law of Number (Pro/Re)gression: This one's easy, the numbers progress frfom I-XXI-- I know, take a deep breath and just absorb the profundity of that one. But this suggests that if the numbers progress or regress in a horizontal row, that this might be meaningful.

the Law of Nakedness: The characters in the Majors get more and more naked. Nakedness can be associated with progression, clothedness with regression.

Now, in a reading, we don't apply every last little Law like Pharisees, but stick to the Spirit of the Law and pick out the most salient.

But, you want to hear about the one Law of all Laws that I use?

The Law of Pattern Recognition


I think that Law sums them all up, because no matter the pattern (sameness, difference, variance, relationship, up down or round and round) the pattern becomes an analogy.

I see you've discovered how to embed an image in a post.

Thanks as always for the info/insights!

Lee said:

I see you've discovered how to embed an image in a post.

Click to expand...

I suddenly feel so alive, so electric, like I've never felt before, like I've received a new X-Men power.

Paul, thank you SO much for the help! Really! The Camoin method is helping to learn the Tarot de Marseilles, i'm very happy with this method, and learning more about it is always great

I've used it to read for my mother, of couse i'm far from being a perfect reader, but the reading made sense and enlightened issues and it was incredibly to the point (which is a characteristic many spreads lack). The way the cards connect is so...unique.

I actually have to thank both you and Lee, as you two are being my Marseilles teachers, lol!

I've gone through the Camoin trumps to see how many symbols/patterns I could find which occur on more than one card. It's fun to go through the trumps and try to count how many cards have each symbol. Probably everyone would come up with some different numbers, depending on how one sees the symbols. For instance, does an arrow count as a non-sword blade?

Anyway, here's my list so far, anyone please let me know what ones I've missed.

Rod (i.e. wand, sceptre, stick, etc.)
Hat
Blade (non-sword)
Sword
Shield
Eagle
Wooded structure
Chair/throne
Egg
Necklace
Crown
3 figures, 1 larger and 2 smaller
4 figures, 1 higher and 3 lower
Winged human
Lion
Halo
Brick structure
Water
Rope