[Larger Image]

Atouts of an Early Italian Pack of Tarots

13 La Morte
14 La Temperan
15 Il Diavolo		 16 La Torre
17 Le Stelle
18 La Luna

The number thirteen has always received mystic reverence, and the reason for this has been sought by many. Among the Atouts that number is on the card representing Death. Mercury’s festival falls on the thirteenth of the fifth month, so the thirteenth card has more than one significance to the believers in the old pictured symbols, particularly when connected with the Tarots.

The card known to us as the Joker combines in itself all the versatile qualities attributed to the god Hermes himself, and it is small wonder that it was so regarded, as he was supposed to represent in his own person so many and such different things. Among the Atouts it is called Le Fou (the Fool). It has no number in the pack and was not one of the pictures that were placed on the walls, but was probably a statue occupying the centre of the temple, where it might be separately approached. Among the cards it outranks all others, and is as volatile and as little to be depended upon as the god of Quicksilver himself. It controls and dominates every card in both the pip and Atout parts of the pack. It represents the unforeseen, the unexpected, uncertainty or uncontrollable fate, and the destiny that presides over every walk in life. It stands for Destiny, whether it be called Kismet, Luck, Chance, Fate or Mercury, who alone could tell to mortals what he had foretold at their birth, when as “the Writer” he inscribed on his “tablets” all the events of life.

Through studying the Joker and the value bestowed on him in the old as well as in the modern packs the similarity of the powers that he wields with those that were attributed to the Hermes of the Greeks may be recognised, and this representation of irresponsibility, of chance or of luck, is found in every part of the world where divining cards are used. It marks the difference between the Tarots and the French, German and Swiss packs that were invented for gambling only, and were never intended for fortune-telling. That packs in the United States, with French pips, have a Joker, does not prove that in France the gentleman is known, for he made his appearance here after 1850, as will be related later.

The way that the Joker is represented varies most strangely. Sometimes the card shows a group of huddled imps. Sometimes it is a blank like that of Korea and Japan, or it may show the figure of a clown or a jester like that of Austria. It would be interesting to follow the history of jesters through the troubadours from Mercury himself. But each and all representations have the same value when luck rules, and the Joker takes every card in the pack.