So…
If it’s not an educational deck…
or a wedding gift…
or a deck used for games…
…then what was the purpose of the Sola-Busca tarocchi deck?
What’s behind the strange characters and sometimes bizarre images found in the cards?
In his book The Game of Saturn: Decoding the Sola-Busca Tarocchi, Peter Mark Adams presents his ethnographic analysis of the cards.
And from this analysis, he offers a theory of the deck’s function and purpose.
But before we go deeper, let’s just cover his analysis of one particular card as an example.
Take a good look at this trump card from the Sola-Busca deck, XIII Catone.
Some more wedding-friendly material here, yes?
As for the card’s name, “Catone” is likely a distortion of Cato, and could mean Cato the Elder, a famous Roman soldier and senator. Or it could be his great-grandson Cato the Younger, a senator who opposed Julius Caesar. Adams argues that it’s probably the Elder, since he was known for his military service in the Second Punic War.
But he also notes that such ambiguity is quite strange for an educational deck, and he points to the card’s imagery as evidence that something else is afoot.
The artwork depicts a dignified man in armor holding a scroll which, based on its recurrence in other cards, reads: Trahor Fatis, or “I am driven by fate.”
The man is also cradling a spear that is piercing the left eye of a rather large decapitated head.
At the man’s feet are what looks like a helmet and a shield. His boots seem to have wings at their ankles.
In the background of the scene, a black star is positioned above the man’s scroll, shedding its dark rays down.
What does this all mean?
To Adams, the winged boots suggest a connection to the mythical Perseus, who slayed the gorgon Medusa. The decapitated head, while not marked by snakes, does have a somewhat monstrous quality to it. The helmet and shield at the man’s feet hint at Perseus’ legendary mirror shield and his helmet for invisibility.
However, the presence of the dark star in the scene suggested to Adams that the card was less the story about Perseus, and more how Perseus was understood as a constellation:
Recall that the monstrous decapitated head on the card has its left eye pierced.
In the Perseus constellation, the left eye of Medusa’s head corresponds to the star Caput Algol.
According to The Book of Hermes on the Fifteen Fixed Stars, a medieval text of astral magic, Caput Algol is considered one of the most powerful stars for setting vengeful curses upon one’s enemies, most commonly inflicting violence and unnatural death.
Recall the scroll’s motto “I am driven by fate,” and it makes more sense in this context. It’s a fate sealed by the energy of the dark star above. The left eye of the gorgon’s head. As above, so below…
…This historical “wedding” deck suddenly seems a whole lot more interesting, no?
…to be continued…
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A quick note to say that this is a great series.
We have a few friends who like to do readings. I always find it insightful, fun and prompting a degree of reflection.
I’ve heard that flipping a coin is a good way to make a decision. When the coin’s in the air, you’ll hope for heads or tails. At that point, it doesn’t matter what side lands face up. What you hoped for is what you should do.
I think it’s the same for tarot readings. There’s so much room for interpretation that you can find the insight you were looking for but couldn’t bring to the surface. Plus, they’re fun.
Absolutely! Not that I get into all too many arguments with my wife, but I’ve found that it’s a very useful way to collect my thoughts, cool down, and consider different perspectives.
But, you know, hexes are another option…
Thanks!
Yes, I do Tarot readings, sometimes for others, but usually for myself.
When I read someone else I tend to go classic, and use my Marseilles deck, or the Visconti-Sforza. But my personal favorite, and the one I use for my own readings, is Crowley’s Thoth deck.
In theory, as long as you have a system for interpretation and you have it memorized, any deck will do. But in practice the designs can inspire certain states of mind or mood, which will also affect interpretation.
Of course, whether I read friends depends on how much they want to open up, because my system is more like elaborate Rorschach probes to think about deep or serious issues. If we just want some fun I’ll grab the Bicycle deck. 😁
Ahhh, bringing astronomy and astrology into the tarot card mix – of course! That seems totally plausible. Interesting….
Yeah, by the mid 1800s, astrology and astral magic was a huge part of occult Tarot. But as I suggested in an earlier post, this stuff did not exist in the earliest Tarrochi decks. Or so we thought… 🤔
Jetlag is a helluva drug…
I know Akira Kurosawa was pro-empire. But I would want to visit all the locations where he shot his films, especially The Hidden Fortress.
Why does Turkey have all of his artwork?
Iris Chang, RIP.
It is true he worked within the empire, but The Men Who Tread on the Tiger’s Tail suggests to me that he was ambivalent about it at best.
I’ve been to a place that reminded me of the Rashomon gates, but no actual movie locales visited I don’t think.
Off to my old haunts!
Or maybe the XIII Catone card is the “my husband took care of a bad boyfriend” card. Like when Henry Hill pistol-whips his future wife’s neighbor in Goodfellas.
A severed head was a bouquet of roses back in the day. The platter makes it romantic. That makes the assassin husband material. The bride would know, he’s the one. Your average joe would just hold the severed head by the hair and get blood all over the carpet. So gauche.
That gangster reference is quite dead on, pun intended. This is the same cultural milieu that gave us Machiavelli’s The Prince.