Keys to the Supernal Tarot

[rwcarter]

This is the title of the companion book to the Mage: The Awakening deck. This isn't a full review of the book, but just first impressions.

The book is 158 numbered pages and copyright 2008, so it came out at least 8 months before the deck did.

After reading the Prologue, which is subtitled "The Fool," I had to scratch my head a little. It's a story about a guy named Steve (actually Abraham, but he goes by Steve) playing poker in a desperate bid to win some money to cover some other unspecified debt. Of course he loses. But then one of the characters uses the poker cards to do a Celtic Cross reading for him because, "Cards is cards." and "Playing cards comes from Tarot cards." (sic)

I won't spoil the end of Steve's story, but then I look at the Introduction which states that most of the book is devoted to the Major Arcana (referred to as "the big important guys" in the prologue). Info on the Minors is relegated to the appendix. So while each Major is covered in 4 - 10 pages, all of the Minors are covered in 8 pages.

The pages of the book are made to look like a journal made up of heavy writing paper that's been sewn together with a leather cord. The text is typewritten though.

I'm sure the Prologue must tie in to the rest of the book somehow. I guess I'll have to finish reading the book (some day) in order to find out how though....

Rodney

 

[MareSaturni]

Well, i didn't even know this book existed, though i am very interested in the Mage: The Awakening deck.

But this "Playing cards comes from Tarot cards" thing just...annoys the hell out of me! Prove it! I mean, i haven't heard a single book that gives historical proofs that playing cards came from tarot! As far as i know, PC existed a long time before tarot showed up...if not the card we know today, some ancient versions, like the Mamluk Egypt, which resembles much more a playing card deck than a Tarot one.

Considering that the first tarot decks (with the 22 major arcana and the 56 minors) we know come from the mid-15th century, and were firstly a trump game, i don't see why should PC be tarot's decedents, and not otherwise.

I don't know...it just irks me to no end. I think i'd dislike the book just from reading this sentence, because it shows lack of research and excessive dwelling on myths. The book is probably more suited to be a companion to a RPG game, full of mysteries and old legends, than a real tarot book

But of course, i haven't read it, so i'm doing it all wrong...taking conclusions beforehand. Lol . Sorry Rodney, for spoiling your thread! I just had to vent... xD

 

[Cerulean]

It is true the role-playing game isn't truly historically accurate

and after thinking about the first prologue and the introduction that comes afterwards, I can see that the author is trying to let the reader know right away this is a game-playing mythical manual...really not standard fare for a cartomancy fan!

I won't recommend the Keys to The Supernal as necessary or helpful to everyone. It worked for me in a specific way for storytelling, but that's me.

The deck booklet when referencing Keys to the Supernal doesn't seem to be pushing deck buyers to buy more Mage stuff obviously...and I also don't recommend tarot fans to buy this book--I only liked it for my own quirky reasons.

The tarot deck's 78 card designs are not skimped on in any way because of its mythical history, so this book isn't really necessary to enjoy the tarot deck. The tarot deck itself has a slim booklet to describe the characters and meanings a bit, I don't remember any mismatched history in that presentation.

I think Mage Awakened or the Keys to the Supernal book personally is not any worse in it's obviously fictional world...after all the silly twists and turns even in the history of occult thought and tarot presentations...we all seem to shake our heads about in how tarot is re-interpreted time after time...so an imagined world where the playing card and tarot history mixed itself up...and you could play that tarot decks came from Atlantis and you could visualize a place called Memphis with golden tablets with 22 keys of sacred secretness came to humanity...ah well, it's only an imagined game episode in Mage.

(As opposed to coming across an old annoying tarot or tarot related occultist myth or wierd theory that might make one throw one's hand's up and begin hunting in three to ten reference books to figure out where in the *HECK* that came from!)

Thanks for the interesting takes on this book,

Cerulean

 

[Aerin]

It's a story about a guy named Steve

Now all I can think about is that newish BBC trailer where a meerkat(?) starts off shouting 'Alan, Alan, Alan, Alan' and then it is Steve instead. SO he looks puzzled and then goes 'Steve, Steve, Steve, Steve'.

For some reason it is funny.

I shall never look at the deck the same way again.

Aerin

 

[Shade]

But this "Playing cards comes from Tarot cards" thing just...annoys the hell out of me! Prove it! I mean, i haven't heard a single book that gives historical proofs that playing cards came from tarot!

To possibly shed a little light on that, White Wolf is big on not having all the characters know more than they should. The Mages don't know what the Vampires are up to and even withing Mage society a lot of the organizations are rather shadowy and mistrusted. In the current storyline all the various Mage houses descend from an Atlantean origin and much original lore has been lost. Contemporary Mages are initially much less adept than their ancient counterparts. Most new characters in the game will know almost nothing about early Atlantean magic, which I believe in this universe the tarot descends from. Rodney can you confirm that?

The playing cards come from tarot myth is pretty widely believed. If the writer for this story did research with a book written more than a few years ago they got that story. In 78 Degrees of Wisdom Rachel Pollack makes that claim but revises this in Tarot Wisdom after reading the recent works of Huson and Place.

 

[MareSaturni]

To possibly shed a little light on that, White Wolf is big on not having all the characters know more than they should. The Mages don't know what the Vampires are up to and even withing Mage society a lot of the organizations are rather shadowy and mistrusted. In the current storyline all the various Mage houses descend from an Atlantean origin and much original lore has been lost. Contemporary Mages are initially much less adept than their ancient counterparts. Most new characters in the game will know almost nothing about early Atlantean magic, which I believe in this universe the tarot descends from. Rodney can you confirm that?

I used to play Vampire, Werewolf, Mage, Changeling (which i love love love! ) etc. I was a big fan of WW role-playing games! So i am used to this WW style of letting things half-known.

I haven't read any book about the new WOD (the 'storytelling' system), so i'm not sure how the Mages are in this new universe. They haven't released "Mage: The Awakening" here so i still haven't had the chance of reading it.

The playing cards come from tarot myth is pretty widely believed. If the writer for this story did research with a book written more than a few years ago they got that story. In 78 Degrees of Wisdom Rachel Pollack makes that claim but revises this in Tarot Wisdom after reading the recent works of Huson and Place.

Yes, i know it's a very common myth. Still, it irks me. A pet peeve you may say
But the problem is...people who don't know anything about tarot will believe in this story, and help to spread the myth that the common playing card deck is a tarot minus the major arcana.

I think this kind of myth just makes history more interesting than it is. Many people don't want to think that their 'mystical deck of profound mysteries' was, when first created, a normal deck used to play a trump game. Same with the supposed egyptian origins of the tarot. I have never heard of any deck found in a tomb, inside a pyramid or anything like that. Even so, it made Etteilla's little tale about the tarot much more interesting, and maybe even more believable back in his time. The cards came from Ancient Egypt! - of course, it works like an authentic certificate of magic!

But i'm getting OOT here. Sorry

 

[Glass Owl]

In the book the author makes the point of saying "In our world, the Tarot grew out of playing cards, not
vice versa..." From what I understand, the author basically is telling the reader that what goes on in the World of Darkness (a fictional game) may not necessarily follow the history that we have been taught or know to be true.

 

[Cerulean]

The World and Dragons and Llana's story on page 146-150

What a curiously evocative deck where the majors have many storytelling possibilities for 'groups'--it almost seems like this is a game for people to become characters in an evolving 'group quest'....the imaginative could spin so many nuances and tales.

For the World card in this book, I love the dragon story and the ideas...the story from pages 146-150 sa that 'in 1999, Llana was inspired by making dragon art cards with archetypes similar to the tarot...but people questioned how true the art was, as it looked like her other artwork...and she was visited by the Hanged Dragon himself...but he left unfortunately before all the other Mages arrived..."

I've remembered in the past enjoying dragon tarot decks, especially near the Year of the Dragon in 1999--and since then I regretted that my favorite version had a book only finding European celtic backgrounds...when the pictures in that deck were etherial enough to suggest a more multicultural approach.

So if I took this World card from the Mage Awakened deck and maybe just the cards from the Celtic Dragon Tarot or another dragon deck and wanted to spin a different story...hey, maybe, I'll be visited by the inspired Hanged Dragon itself...

Anyway, I was pleased to take another look at this on a vacation day.

Cerulean