Chapter IX (part 3)

1 Mantegna The Star 17 Venus 42 ---- The Chariot 7 Mars 10 ---- The Hermit 9 Saturn 47 ---- The Universe 21 Jupiter First cause 46 50 ---- ----- If, however, the existence of purely Egyptian symbols in these so-called Italian Tarots do not convince the reader, a few words on the transformation of the Tarot in the East, and in other countries of Europe besides Italy, will completely enlighten him on the subject. HINDU TAROTS. In spite of Merlin's assertions, the Tarot represents the summary of the scientific knowledge of the ancients. This is unquestionably proved by Chatto's researches amongst Orientals on this subject. In fact the Indians possess a game of chess, the Tchaturanga , evidently derived from the Tarot, from the manner in which the men are arranged in four series. Elephants, chariots, horses, foot-soldiers. The Mussulmen of India also possess a pack of cards that is derived from the old symbols of the Tarot: the Gungeifu or Ghendgifeh . This game is composed of eight series of twelve cards each, divided in this way-- Superior Section or Bishbur: Inferior Section or Kunbur: Crowns Harps Moons Suns Sabres Royal diplomas Slaves. Bales of Merchandise. CHINESE TAROT. An inexperienced eye might find some difficulty in recognizing the Tarot in these games, but the Chinese have given us an irrefutable argument in favour of our assertion, in the arrangement of their Tarot, which is represented by the figure on page 88 . We have placed the correspondences of the minor and major arcana, and of the four letters of the tetragrammaton, above this figure. A description of this Chinese pack will be found in Court de Gébelin ( Le Monde Primitif ), and in the work of J. A. Vaillant. With. regard to the foreign Tarots, we possess nearly all of them at the present time, and this induces us to name the various editions of the Tarot which we are now able to consult. MINOR ARCANA. MAJOR ARCANA. yod he vau he 1 15 29 43 57 71 12 16 30 44 58 72 3 17 31 45 59 73 4 18 32 46 60 74 5 19 33 47 61 75 6 20 34 48 62 76 7 21 35 49 63 77 8 22 36 50 64 9 23 37 51 65 10 24 38 52 66 11 25 39 53 67 12 26 40 54 68 13 27 41 55 69 14 28 42 49 56 MODERN TAROTS. The following. ire the most important of these modern Tarots-- The Tarot of Etteila. The Italian Tarot. The Marseilles Tarot. The Tarot of Besançon. The double-headed Tarot of Besançon. The Tarot of Watillaux. The German Tarot. The Tarot of Oswald Wirth. THE FRENCH TAROT PACKS. The Tarot of Etteila is of no symbolic value, it is a bad mutilation of the real Tarot. This pack is used by all our fortune-tellers. Its sole interest lies in the strangeness of its figures. it can be obtained for 5 or 8 francs from all the great card-sellers in Paris.