Fulgour
Basil Ivan Rákóczi (1908-1979)Alfred Douglas said:One of my own longtime favourites is 'The Painted Caravan'
by Basil Ivan Rakoczi, published in 1954. Brilliant text, and
illustrations drawn by the author.
The Painted Caravan. A Penetration into the Secrets of the Tarot Cards
L. J. C. Boucher, The Hague, 1954.
Profusely illustrated in colour and monochrome by the author.
A study of gypsy lore and arcana, largely as related to the author
by his Hungarian mother. Quarto, green cloth covered boards.
With numerous designs by the author, based upon ancient
Gypsy tarot packs.
Rákóczi was also the co-founder of the White Stag Group,
which revolutionised the arts in Dublin during WWII.
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From a review:
Curiously, twenty-two 'mason-marks' are to be found on the stonework of Rosslyn Chapel, and twenty-two is also the number of the Greater Arcana (the Great Secrets) of the Tarot, which in turn may relate to the twenty-two letters of the Phoenician alphabet. Could this suggest twenty-two steps of initiation? This notion is supported by Basil Ivan Rakoczi, who states: "The Gypsy Master teaches that the Greater Arcana or Trumps Major of the Tarot represent the twenty-two steps upon the way of Initiation." (The Painted Caravan: Penetration into the Secrets of the Tarot Cards, 1954).
In The Painted Caravan, Rakoczi further relates: "But what is this word, Tarot? Is its root to be found in the name of the Tinker's secret language, the Shelta Thari, which was discovered by Charles Godfrey Leland and was, after much scholarly research by George Sampson, proved to be a Q-Celtic language; for, though the Tinker is decried by his brother Gypsy, he is, it is now thought, a descendent of ancient dispossessed land owners, the Picts, who, in turn, had inter-married with Phoenicians and had equally their roots (perhaps intertwined with those of the Gypsies) in the Orient?"