Why did Eliphas Lévi link Le Mat with Shin?

Teheuti

... :) ... Kaplan II, Page 308, shows the Hanged Man "hanging as usual", but the number is in the lower right instead of the upper left as it is with all the other cards.
I see what you mean. But de Gébelin also made the point that the cards wasn't supposed to be a gallows at all - but a man standing on one foot as if looking where to place the second foot.

Furthermore de Mellet describes the Sun as: "the Creation of the Sun which depicts the union of man and woman, expressed as a man and a woman who are holding hands: this sign has since become the twins, the androgyne: two in one body."

Note - creation = primitive man and woman (Adam & Eve?), plus not the usual children. This is in de Mellet's first set of cards representing the earliest (Golden) Age.
It's another element of similarity. Can you find another deck or book with as many of the variations mentioned by de Gébelin and de Mellet?
grandpretre-sun.jpg
 

Teheuti

Be ye sober, and wake ye, for your adversary, the devil, as a roaring lion goeth about, seeking whom he shall devour. 1 Peter 5:8

(I am not sure how Levi would have felt about the elevation of state above religion in this deck - but I think he would have appreciated its elevation of the woman - high priestess above high priest and the queen above the king!)
Awesome quote.
 

Huck

A male/female love affair "under the sun" we have in Minchiate c. 1725

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... together with Adam + Eve emigrating from Paradise at card 15, Tower

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In 19th century the man/woman motif for "Sun" is relatively common. And earlier the sun additions were always a little more changing as that of other cards.

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Do you have a picture of the Tower card of the Grandprêtre deck? Or anybody else?

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Thinking about the name grandprêtre, which seems to mean "highpriest" it seem plausible, that this expression was used post-Gebelin.
 

KariRoad

Le Mat and SHIN = Topic

More to the point is the Levi attribution of TAV with XXI Le Monde. TAV as a double letter allows the attribution of a planet with "The World" which as we know he chose to be the Sun, effectively The Son. Jesus.

Levi blew off SHIN on Le Mat (The Fool) without appreciating the significance of the Mother Letters, so he could satisfy his desire for an illogical "Christian" closure to what he imagined to be a Linear rather than a Circular design underlying The Tarot.

ie; BS = $$$

Why? OK: as above, and on topic. Comments? (on topic) :D
 

Teheuti

Why? OK: as above, and on topic. Comments? (on topic) :D
I briefly looked at a few of his comments on The World - some of which I've already quoted, but so far I haven't found anything more specific about his choice of Tav for this card. The idea of the sun/son is a good one, but it would help if someone could find an allusion to that in his writings. Rather than a circular path, he seemed more concerned with completing the Great Work.
 

kwaw

"Satan is not the Ahriman of the Persians, nor the Anti-god of the Manicheans; he was
never an angel of light, for his light is only an hallucination of the wicked.

"He was never a creative spirit, for he is nothing more than an immense folly."

The Book of Splendour Eliphas Levi, p.61

re: the Sun

Rabbi Simeon said:

"We can see that which Moses himself was denied when he went up a second time
into Mount Sinai: the sun of justice in which we believe, the sun which is to come,
illuminating our faces." ibid p.24
 

kwaw

The Etteilla Le petit oracle des dames draws directly from Gebelin/Mellet - this is apparent in that descriptions are copied straight from Gebelin/Mellet, the reverse reading of the allegory of the trumps* and the division into three ages of gold, silver and iron.

In Gebelin/Mellet, the fool coming at the end of the trumps in reverse order, after the bateleur, is aligned with the letter tau - but this deck combines the bateleur and fool as double images of the one card - number XXI, both of which would then be shin(?), and the 22nd card, the consultant, tau?

Kwaw

*
As with Gebelin/Mellet the allegory reads backwards, but here reverses the numbering of the cards:

1re SERIE

DITE SIÈCLE D'OR.

No. 1.

Voyage, terre, quatrième élément.
Sous le signe du Lion.

La dëesse Isis, au milieu d'un cercle forme par un serpent qui se mord la queue, représente l'univers, Le cercle est l'embleme des revolutions annuelles, et l'image de l'eternite, qui n'a ni commencement ni fin. Isis, que les Egyptiens consider comme l'origine de tout, semble prete a courir. Aux quatre coins du tableau sont les emblemes des saisons . . . L'Aigle,...Le Lion,... Le Boeuf,... le Jeune Homme...
. . .

No. 21

Le bateleur et le fou.

Bateleur vient de baste, baton; place à la tête des états, il indique que la vie n'est qu'une illusion . . .
L'autre tableau presente un fou : on le reconnaît à sa marotte, à son . . .de coquillages, de sonnettes. . .

1st SERIES

CALLED THE GOLDEN AGE.

No. 1.

Travel, earth, the fourth element.
Under the sign of Leo.

The goddess Isis, in the middle of a circle formed by a snake biting its tail, represents the universe, the circle is the emblem of annual revolutions, and the image of eternity, which has no beginning or end. The Egyptians consider Isis as the origin of everything, she seems ready to run. Around the tableau are the emblems of the seasons. . . The Eagle ... The Lion, ... Ox ... the Young Man ...
. . .

No. 21

The Juggler and the Madman.

Bateleur comes from baste, baton; placed at the head of state, he says that life is an illusion. . .
The other tableau presents a madman: one recognized by his hobby stick, his. . . shells and his bells. . .
 

Teheuti

The Etteilla Le petit oracle des dames draws directly from Gebelin/Mellet -
Do you know when this deck was first published?

Why do you say that the Magician/Fool is Tau? For one thing, it means a Hebrew Letter would be missing if this is card number 21. For another, does the book or deck mention Hebrew Letters or Kabbalah anywhere?
 

kwaw

Do you know when this deck was first published?

Why do you say that the Magician/Fool is Tau? For one thing, it means a Hebrew Letter would be missing if this is card number 21. For another, does the book or deck mention Hebrew Letters or Kabbalah anywhere?

It doesn't mention the hebrew letters, but is clearly derived from Gebelin/Mellet with some variations in ordering, who do: I do not say XXI would go with Tau, but that following the logic of Gebelin/Mellet (id est, alef with the universe/le monde then a one to one match in order) the letter shin would apply to card XXI in this deck, which is both bateleur and fou. If we allow the logic of the argument, then Tau would be with card XXII - (in this deck called) the consultant? (there are 42 cards altogether).

http://gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/bpt6k62270d/f3.image.r=Alliette.langEN

There is no date on the booklet - the record says 1780 - 1820. One french site mentions the cards were first published in 1807. Confusingly the content refers to 72 colored figures in a game of 52 cards - actually there are 42 cards but 52 images if you count the cards with double images as two - I am not sure what the '72 colored figures' refers too . . .

Title : Le petit oracle des dames, ou Récréation du curieux... / (par Alliette)
Author : Alliette (17..-18..? ; cartomancien)
Publisher : impr. de Ducessois (Paris)
Date of publication : 1770-1820
Type : monographie imprimée
Language : French
Format : 82 p. ; in-32
Format : application/pdf
Copyright : domaine public
Identifier : ark:/12148/bpt6k62270d
Source : Bibliothèque nationale de France, département Philosophie, histoire, sciences de l'homme, R-42846
Relation : http://catalogue.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/cb30012112b
Provenance : bnf.fr

5%20-%20Le%20Petit%20Oracle%20des%20Dames.jpg


img356.jpg
 

Teheuti

It doesn't mention the hebrew letters, but is clearly derived from Gebelin/Mellet with some variations in ordering, who do: I do not say XXI would go with Tau, but that following the logic of Gebelin/Mellet the letter shin would apply to card XXI in this deck, which is both bateleur and fou. If we allow the logic of the argument, then Tau would be with card XXII - (in this deck called) the consultant? (there are 42 cards altogether).
Sorry for the mistake and thanks for the clarification.

I was just wondering if this was an actual deck created by Etteilla or one created after he died? It does sound like either a missing link between Gébelin/Mellet and The Etteilla Tarot, or someone who is trying to draw the parallels between the two. The specific Hebrew Letter assignments are only mentioned as a footnote in Mellet, I believe.