Prophetical, Educational and Playing Cards

by Mrs. John King Van Rensselaer

XX. IL GIUDIZIO (The Judgment)

The Day of Judgment is the symbol of this Atout, and its letter is Resh, representing typically the head of man. The picture shows an angel blowing a trumpet from the clouds, while below, the earth is yawning, to allow the dead to rise. This is a strange emblem to be placed among the heathen leaves, for it is peculiarly Christian in its significances; but even the oldest designs show it pictured in this way. As it stands, it expresses motion, movement, travels, readjustments, originality, determination, respiration, and regeneration. Then, also, it typifies scenery, skill, and artistic capabilities. The Romans dedicated it to Pluto, the ruler of the nether world. It has many of the attributes of Ishtar, the goddess of the Babylonians, from whose name Easter is derived. She represented spring, and was the protector of vegetation, growth, and agriculture. The angel blowing the trumpet is a very old design, and one often used on tombs or cenotaphs. It recalls Theodore Hook’s witty epitaph on Lord de Ros, of whom little good could be said, and who was accused of cheating at cards, but whose family erected a fine monument to his memory, on which was the representation of the angel of the Resurrection. Under it Hook wrote: “Here LIES England’s Premier Baron patiently waiting the last trump.”

XXI. IL MONDO (The World)

This card shows the nude figure of a woman, in an ellipse of leaves and flowers, the victor’s wreath of the Grecians. She represents verity or truth. In the four corners are the emblems of the apostles that St. John borrowed from Ezekiel, and the latter from Assyria and Babylonia. These are the Man, Lion, Bull and Eagle. Besides typifying the apostles, they, in a manner, suggest the four attributes of the pip suits, and also the four elements. The inscrutable-looking man represents brain, knowledge, and mystery. The ox typifies strength, and the lion courage, while the eagle suggests inspiration and the power of soaring above mundane affairs. These four emblems represent also the four seasons, when the ox stands for autumn, the man for winter, the lion for summer, and the eagle for spring; so the complex meaning of the twenty-first Atout suggests that the head or wisdom of man prescribes the will of the ox, the courage of the lion, and the aspirations of the bird, through the mouth of Truth. The attributes of the designs on the cards are also included in this leaf from the book of Thoth. The wand that the figure holds represents the Stave, or caduceus, or magic wand of Aaron, “that was kept for a token,” as well as fire. The Cup betokens the south, and summer, and water. The Sword, earth, and the Coin (or Ring), eternity and air. Il Mondo’s letter is Tau, which symbolises perfection. The meaning of the whole card covers the elements of success, luck, happiness, marriage, contentment, bliss.

XXII. IL MATTO (The Fool)

The twenty-second Atout has no number upon it, and is called Le Fou, Il Matto, or the Joker. It is the presiding deity himself, Thoth, Nebo, or Mercury, in all his various moods, with all his many qualifications. These are denoted by the cards that fall near him, when being dealt, that are controlled or influenced by his overwhelming personality and qualifications. He generally brings news and good luck. Count Parravicino declares: “the Italian name is derived from an Egyptian one, Mat, which signifies beginnings or perfection.” The card represents everything that is typical of Mercury, such as irresponsibility, with all its consequences. The figure of Il Matto carries the attributes of Mercury: the staff he holds in his hand, while a purse dangles from his side. He is travelling or walking, as if carrying news, or a message, and also suggests a wanderer, a pedler, or a merchant. Motion, energy, and luck are expressed, as well as fickleness, inconstancy, and unconventionality that may amount to insanity. The letter is Shin, and expresses cyclic movement. In some of the old Italian Tarots, Il Matto is represented as being naked, or else in tattered garments, like a beggar, when he symbolises folly, frivolity, or chance. In the Austrian Tarots he is dressed like a harlequin, or else simply with cap and bells. He is the gypsy wanderer, as we know him, believed by some persons to be the descendant of the Egyptian priests of the temple of Serapeon, at Pozzuoli, who were forced to wander by the destruction of this temple.

It must be remembered that no Tarots have been discovered that are over five hundred years old, and that a great gap exists between these and the mysteries of the temple of Thoth; therefore, some of the emblems or symbols that we know may not resemble those of the originals. We must also recall that there is more than one cult represented among the Atouts; therefore, many of the attributes of different deities are mingled confusingly, perhaps, on one and the same card. The student is necessarily limited by conditions, for many of the virtues accredited to the emblematic figures have been received traditionally, or have been discovered by intuition, and are attributed first to one god, and then to another, as the study of ancient myths or cults reveals a hitherto unexpected connection.

The intention of the Atouts, as a whole, is the representation of a youth and his parents or governors and sponsors. These are followed by everything that can express human life, such as ambition, love, marriage, temptation, friendship, luck, trials, illness, hatred, jealousy, despair, hope, enemies, success, and death. When combined with the pip cards, the whole makes an interesting game of life, presided over by the versatile god, Mercury, “the writer on the tablets of Fate.”

The whole of the Tarot pack has been called “the Bible of the Gypsies,” “the Athor of the Egyptians,” “the Thora of the Hebrews,” “the Great Book of Thoth Hermes Trismegistus,” and “the Key of Things Hidden from the Beginning of the World”; so, how should poor mortals be able to unravel all its secrets and lay them bare before an uncrediting world.