Prophetical, Educational and Playing Cards

by Mrs. John King Van Rensselaer

Without declaring that the deductions connecting the Atouts with the Egyptian gods is infallible, the strong resemblance between them must be carefully considered, and the intention of each card studied with all the obtainable history connected with it.

I. LE BAGATLEUR (Il Bagattel)

This card, also known as the Juggler or Pagat, bears various names, according to the locality where it was used. “It is derived,” says Count Emiliano di Parravicino, in the Burlington Magazine for December, 1903, “from Bagat or Paghead and Gad, that signifies fortune, and the card is often called Bagatto (or cobbler), since there are sometimes tools placed on the board in front of the figure, one of which (in the corrupted designs of modern cards) resembles a cobbler’s awl.” The figure on this card represents the Player or Inquirer, and when the cards are laid out, according to the rules of prophesying, it is controlled by all that are dealt close to it. That is to say, the cards surrounding this figure tell the events that are likely soon to befall the inquirer. The first Atout represents a young man standing behind a table. On his head is a hat of mystic meaning, for it is shaped like the sign of “eternal life,”

; his left hand carries a wand, called by de Gebelin “son Bâton de Jacob, ou Verges des Mages.” This magician’s wand was readily recognized by the shrewd Frenchman, who evidently understood the symbolism of the rod of Aaron (or Jacob). The rod is really the caduceus of Mercury that has so many significances. It is one of the pip devices that has been reproduced in the Ace of Rods, Staves, or Sceptres, as it is variously called, and, by placing it in the hand of the inquirer, it denotes that he has been given the power to consult the oracle. The other articles placed on the table before the youth are the other devices that mark the suits of the cards, namely: Money, Cups and Swords, although on modern Italian Tarots these emblems are often changed for others that lack significance. In “the lottery chart,” called Tsz-fa-to, used by the Chinese fortune-tellers, there is a figure like the Bagatleur, holding up his hand in the same way, which recalls the many mystic meanings attached to the “blessing hand.” The Pagat or Magician (as this card is often called) is sometimes expressed merely by the Hebrew letter Aleph, which is placed beside the figure, or is used alone, when an Initiate understands the symbol as well as if the Pagat was in its place. What relation the Hebrew alphabet has to the Tarots is a matter for conjecture, but the characters are often placed on early packs, and some writers have pointed out that, in their opinion, these letters offer fresh evidences of the origin of cards and their connection with divination. So Papus says: “The first letters of the alphabet express hieroglyphically man himself as a collective unity—the Master principle—the ruler of the world.” In very old packs the earth is represented at the bottom of the picture, ornamented with its fruits. The centre is occupied with the man, whose right hand bent towards the ground, the left hand raised towards heaven, thus representing two principles, the one active and the other passive, of the great All, and it corresponds with the two columns of Jakin and Bohas of the temple of Solomon and of Freemasonry, as well as with the great statues erected before the tombs of the Egyptian kings. The meaning may be thus stated: “Man with one hand seeks for God in Heaven, and with the other he plunges below to call up the demon to himself, and thus unites the divine and the diabolic in humanity.”

It is well known that among primitive people, boys, upon arriving at manhood, went through certain ceremonies with fasting and incantations so this card also represents a youth making his first offering to the gods of the temple, and consulting them as to his future life, or asking what Nebo or Thoth had written at the time of his birth on their “Tablets of Fate.” In order to learn from the gods what his future occupation should be, one of the symbols of Mercury is lifted haphazard from the table before him. Thus, if a sword be grasped, a man will be a soldier, and a woman will have a person of rank for a husband. The Cup represents the Church or Love. In primitive nations various articles are still placed before a child, and the one selected influences its occupations, when mature. In Korea a bundle of yarn, a handful of rice, a few coins, a cake of ink, a brush, and some paper are placed before a baby, on attaining its first birthday. If it selects the yarn, it denotes a long life; the money means prosperity; the writing materials signify that a scholar’s life will be the one followed, while rice means happiness. Hebrew letters can be expressed by numbers as well as by the conventional characters; this is well exemplified by the way they were used in making the fringes of the temple of Solomon, the strands of which were peculiarly knotted in groups of different numbers, that, when deciphered, represented a text. A similar knotted fringe adorns the Taleth or praying scarf, worn by the Jews when worshipping in the synagogue, on which a text is typified by groups of knots expressing Hebrew letters. “This fringe is made with four threads, one of which is longer than the others. Two threads are bound together with the longest one in a double knot, then it is wrapped seven times, then eight, then eleven, followed by thirteen, with two knots separating each.” “According to the Kabbalah,” states Professor Rosenau, in his book entitled “Jewish Ceremonial Institutions,” “these knots and windings have a secret meaning, making thirty-nine in all; they correspond to the numerical value of the letters constituting two words, or ‘the Lord is one,’ since each letter of the Hebrew alphabet has numerical significance.”

Among uneducated people symbols took the place of written characters in early days, so, since these knots conveyed a sound and a meaning, a number is also indicated by the letters of the Hebrew alphabet. These letters or numbers that were occasionally placed on the early Atouts have the greatest value when deciphering the attributes found on the Tarots, since each one has occult significance attached to it, evidently placed there with the intention of assisting the early fortune-tellers to decipher their meaning, although omitted in the later books of Thoth-Hermes, when they were used only for amusement or gambling.

II. LA PAPESSA (THE FEMALE POPE)

This card is supposed to represent Isis. She is typified by a seated female figure with two pillars behind her, between which hangs a curtain indicating her temple. She is crowned with a triple tiara, and has an open book in her lap. This goddess instructs and persuades. Law, erudition, and occult science are under her protection. As the first female figure among the Atouts, she represents the priestess of the temple of Thoth, also Eve, also the mother. When a woman is the inquirer, this card represents her, instead of the Pagat, which represents a man inquirer. The name of Papessa, given to this card by the modern Italian card-painter, seems to be a corruption of Isis. The former name is misleading, and has no connection with the original meaning of the figure, for it has nothing in common with the mythical Pope Joan of the Roman Church, while all the attributes show that the figure represents Isis, or, perhaps, Tashitum, the consort of Nebo, called “the Interceder.” “The Italian card-makers,” says de Gebelin, “named numbers II and V of the Atouts, mother and father, or Papessa and Papa;” but he declares “their emblems are Egyptian and the triple phallus worn by number II is the one borne by Isis in the Fête des Pampylies, where Isis joyfully receives Osiris. It is the symbol of regeneration of plants, or spring.” The card is also supposed to represent Juno in the Roman mythology. “The attitude connects it,” says the same authority, “with la haute magic, since it is the first of the symbols of the Emerald Tablet, one of the books of Thoth, that was discovered on the mount of Nebo.” Wiltshire says: “Believers in magic find occult meanings in the hands of this figure.” Roman women sacrificed to Juno on their birthdays, as she was not only the goddess who presided over maternity (making Mercury her messenger, who carried the child to its parents) but she was also the protector of women. Part of the great book of Thoth, called the Ritual of the Dead, said to have been written with the finger of Thoth, and generally placed with a mummy, says: “I am yesterday. Yesterday is Osiris. Phthah goes around. The divine Horus prefers Thee. The god Set does so in turn, as well as Isis, whom thou hast seen.” The Hebrew letter on the second Atout is Beth, which hieroglyphically expresses mouth or tongue, one of the things used in the sacrifices to Nebo and to Mercury.