The Poetry of the Tarot explores how the Tarot “speaks” or “chirps” its song to the reader using various poetical devices to communicate a message. Like the individual notes of the songs of birds, at first glance a Tarot spread may seem to be a cacophony of images—so, what do we look at? What is significant? Where is the melody?

The Poetry of the Tarot de Marseille

The Language of the Birds

la langue des oiseaux

Like Poetry wherein words are combined together in such a way as to convey a message; the Language of the Tarot is combined together poetically in order to form a message.

The Tarot offers a mystical Language of the Birds.

To the uninitiated, a spread of Tarot Cards is like the cacophony of birds chirping in a Spring day: We know the birds are communicating, but what exactly?  Like poetry in literature, the Tarot speaks with its own poetry.

The article Language of Tarot provides an integral study to understanding the signs (or art) on the Tarot cards and how they may be approached when determining the meaning of a particular card or sign on a card. The reader is directed to that article for essential background understanding.

The Language of the Tarot and this article The Poetry of the Tarot complement one another in helping the student of the Tarot de Marseille interpret its signs.

The Language of the Tarot refers to the Semiotic and Rhetorical Devices of the cards (what are the signs? What are the meanings of those signs?).

The Poetry of the Tarot refers to how that language is put together melodiously in a divine Language of the Birds. Language is meaningless, just chaotic notes in a song, if not placed together meaningfully.

Combined with the Context of the Question,

these forms a perfect triangle for interpretation.

We shall leave the theories of the Tarot’s magical or supernatural origins to other authors, but we do acknowledge that statements suggesting that the Tarot “speaks” are admittedly animistic. That is to say, animism imbues the Tarot deck itself with powers to “speak”.

At the very least, some believe that supernatural forces are guiding the selection and layout of the cards, therein animating the process, if not the cardboard cards themselves. Indeed, to give the Tarot supernatural properties is perfectly plausible for some, but untenable for others.

Herein, we take no particular position, except that the Tarot is approached with sobriety, respect, and admiration, as we would approach an antiquity in the Louvre. For example, Michelangelo’s masterpieces are certainly inspired, and some would say that Michelangelo was guided by more than humanistic inspiration, but by Divine inspiration.

The Language of the Birds

Recall the saying, “A little bird told me…”
Eccles. 10:20: “…for a bird of the air shall carry the voice, and that which hath wings shall tell the matter"

Birds have historically been associated with the transmission of messages and have played a part in delivering secret communication to humans.

Some secret signals are “whistled”. We might recall those classic Spy-themed movies wherein the accomplice is signalled by a birdcall.  To those in the vicinity, the birdcall is just a bird’s song; to the spies, it is a special message.

 The Language of the Birds delivers a secret and divine message.

Even the basic nature of birds lends itself to their association with divine messages.

In the animal kingdom, only the birds naturally navigate the skies, thereby bridging the gap between heaven and earth. Their feathers seem to be at once made of both matter and air.   

Recall how folk tradition of how the bird flying into a window jars its inhabitants, because surely there is a message! It is intuitively obvious that a creature with wings should be an apropos symbol of transcendent messaging!  

This brings us to Angels, of course.

Angels are the quintessential motif of the Language of the Birds, as they embody spirit and matter; bird wings and human; air and earth; above and below.

Winged Angels attend human affairs to afford them with mystical significance (from the Latin significare, to signify).

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The Language of the Birds is a broad historical reference to a unique, mystical language used to communicate transcendent messages. The Tarot de Marseille may certainly “chirp” its own language.

The Language of the Birds has been associated with the Kabbalah, Alchemy, Renaissance Magic, Sufism, Judaism, Paganism, and just about any mystical “ism”.

Additionally, the Language of the Birds has referred to a linguistic device or coded language of the Medieval period that employed symbolism to communicate messages to the initiated, which only they would understand, but their enemies would not.

For example, some Medieval secret societies wanted to stay “under the radar” of the church and were said to use the Language of the Birds to communicate messages by the use of wordplay, pun, and transliteration. A phrase appeared to mean one thing, but really meant another.

As you may imagine, we are building an analogy with the Tarot de Marseille images, wherein pictures on the cards (re)combine to illuminate meanings that are not readily apparent to the untrained ear or eye.

The Language of the Birds is also associated with various cultural groups. Such groups share in common the association of birds with the divine and especially divine communication.

For example, Jason’s ship, the Argo, was said to possess special powers as gifted by the goddess Athena and could speak prophetic language, like the Language of the Birds.

Or, the Norse God Odin possessed two birds, perched on the god’s shoulders to whisper in his ears. Hugin and Munin flew around the world and told Odin what was going on in the world of mortal humans. Hugin is “thought”; Munin is “memory”.

In the Koran, the word for “bird” is also the word for “fate”.  In Sufism, the Language of the Birds is also termed the Language of Angels.

A poem called the Conference of the Birds منطق الطیر delves into a common element found in references to The Language of the Birds in various cultures: Wordplay.

For example, the poem uses the Persian word Simorgh to refer to a type of divine bird who lives in a Shamballah-like land, for which a troupe of birds seeks.

Cleverly, the term “si morgh” means “30 birds”. When the birds finish their quest, they come to a lake wherein they see reflections of themselves. Indeed, THEY are Simorgh, they are enlightened, and they are divine already without the need for a “search”.  

This is a wordplay that relies on pun, double meanings, the rearrangement of letters to create new messages. This kind of communication is evident in the Tarot de Marseille.

A similar wordplay is also found by French scholars of The Language of the Birds. Referring to the Knights Templars and the mason fraternities of Europe, a special language was needed to communicate “under the radar” of the church, when this group was persecuted.

This kind of wordplay is evident in the many French  hotels named “The Golden Lion” (Au lion d'Or ); when the letters are repositioned and with some imagination, we get “In bed we sleep” (Au lit on dort). Another example is “The Golden Pig” (au cochon d’or), which is a strange name for a hotel, but transforms into “Au coche on dort” (where the coach stops to sleep, very roughly translated).Even the French word for “card” (lame) may be morphed into ‘l’âme or “soul”.

What’s the point? That the Tarot de Marseille participates in this Language of the Birds by its own wordplay. The linguistic devices of the Tarot de Marseille combine together to form sentences or meanings that are salient (leap out) to the reader.

An eagle seems to be just an eagle; a cup a cup; but, they signify more! This is a direct transmission of knowledge or Realization, when one realizes what the Tarot spread is saying in its poeticness.

The Language of the Birds becomes salient (from the Latin saliens, “to leap out”) to those who can perceive its code. The Language of the Birds is deliberately concealed, but “leaps out” at the initiated. This is really no different than any language. To those who don’t speak English or Spanish or French and so forth, the foreign language is a cacophony of noise; but, to the initiated, the meaning leaps out!

Or, in the American cinema movie Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade, the adventurer discerns the meaning of the Grail, but! only by direct experience, in the moment, is the intended meaning perceived.

 This form of The Language of the Birds is akin to those cathedrals in Europe where the pilgrim stands at a particular point in the cathedral, at a particular time of the day or year, and perhaps the sun shines in a particular way, to illuminate a particular part of the cathedral, thereby yielding a special and insightful experience.

Like Claude Monet, who captured the Notre Dame at a certain point of the day with a particularly poignant array of sunlight, a Tarot reading with the Tarot de Marseille captures the light, just so.

We will soon find that the way of reading the Tarot de Marseille is similar in that the cards arrange themselves in particular ways for us to discern patterns.

Indeed, recognition of patterns is paramount to read the Tarot de Marseille, because patterns are what form language. To the uninitiated a spread of Tarot cards is a cacophany of images, colors, shapes, and numbers.

Especially for those uninitiated into the Tarot de Marseille deck, the Tarot reader who is accustomed to the language of the Rider-Waite-Smith deck or the Crowley decks (and their clones) might find the language of the Tarot de Marseille to seem impenetrable. The great paradox is that, while the imagery of the Rider-Waite-Smith deck or Crowley deck seems more rich and varied, the apparent simplicity of imagery in the Tarot de Marseille actually lends itself to better communication.

Certainly, to many, the Tarot de Marseille is just a pack of cards. And perhaps it is just a pack of cards, per se. But, to those who know the Language of the Birds, the recognition of the pattern of linguistic devices in a given Tarot spread is an Alchemy of Words.

By using the reading methods proposed in this site, the meaning of the message of the Tarot—or what we term the POETRY constructed from Tarot’s LANGUAGE—is discerned in the moment of the question, in the synchronistic joining of the querent with the cards, and as expressed in the patterns of language in the card spread. Even the words that the querent may use to describe the question, itself, or provide background detail, may have a synchronicity in the Tarot cards randomly chosen. If the querent says, “I wonder if I need to just take matters into my own hands,” certainly, the iconography of XI-La Force is salient, or “leaps out” given the context of the question.

In fact, the Tarot de Marseille lends itself well to forming a language of its own, that is discernable to the initiated, but concealed from the layperson because it embodies the following qualities more than later Tarot decks like the Rider Waite Smith or Crowley Thoth: Simplicity, Uniformity, and Paucity.  Also see Enrique Enrique’s article on The Excellence of the Marseilles Tarot.

Simplicity: The Language of the Tarot de Marseille is simple. Faces, eyes, arms, hands, implements, shoes, clothing, flowers, plants, and so forth are drawn with simplicity. This is an outcome of using primitive woodcut plates to create cards and then stenciling limited color palettes. Yet, this simplicity actually enhances the linguistic power of the Tarot de Marseille to communicate, much the same way that more carefully and simplistically enunciating one’s own verbal language makes it easier to understand.

Uniformity: Images on the Tarot de Marseille repeat themselves in uniformity. Although the Tarot de Marseille deck offers variation, the images retain an aesthetic that allows for pattern recognition. Eagles, crowns, scepters, shoes, plants, and so forth are uniformly printed throughout the deck. Even in variation of images there is uniformity: Characters on the cards look this way or that way; shoes are red or shoes are yellow; hands hold different implements, and some implements are smaller or tilted from one card to the next. Yet, despite all this variation, these elements are drawn with uniformity, so that they may be easily located in their repetition and variation amongst the deck.

Paucity: Unlike modern decks cloned from the Rider-Waite deck or the Crowley Thoth deck, the Tarot de Marseille offers a relative paucity of images, so that what is seen in a spread is essential. This allows for the recognition of relationships and patterns that are not as possible when trying to interpret the cartoon scenes of the Rider-Waite decks or the muddied, psychedelic, colorific images of the Crowley Thoth deck. Within Enrique Enriquez’ article on the Excellence of the Tarot de Marseille, he speaks of the essential “iconicity” of the Deux de Deniers (2 of Coins) in the Marseilles Tarot, whereas the essential image is conversely eclipsed by too much imagery in the Rider-Waite deck or the Crowley Thoth deck.

In terms of the Language of the Birds, as the Tarot de Marseille images “chirp” to the beginner, at first it seems like a cacophony, rather than a song. But, with practice, the Marseilles Tarot reader will discern the melody of the particular reading. Just like musical melodies, one listens for notes and how those notes combine together to form a recognizable melody. One note does not make a song, and much the same, one Tarot card does not make a reading to answer a given question.

Essentially, the Tarot de Marseille employs Optical Analogies to provide information; the story taking place in the Marseilles Tarot cards is our story and will be readily evident given the particular context of the question.

Using the qualities of the Tarot de Marseille imagery (Simplicity, Uniformity, and Paucity) we are reminded of children speaking. Their sentences are simple; they choose uniform ways of saying the same thing since their vocabularies are developing; finally, they select a paucity of words and sentences to speak about something.

So too with the Tarot de Marseille, it’s message in a given spread is spoken in childlike ways and does not require the erudition of a professor to understand. We do not need to know about Kabala, Gematria, or Astrology to understand the essential message of a tarot spread. Although these “sciences” may enrich a reader, they are not essential to the reading process. 

In the Language of the Birds, the Tarot “chirps” at various frequencies. Like a bird’s song, only one note does not make a melody. With the Tarot de Marseille, the reader will discover that salient meanings of the cards occur when 2 or more cards are in relationship, because notes (or images) will repeat, vary, or relate in such a way that the message is clear.

The system that we have harvested from a wide spectrum of Tarot de Marseille scholarship emphasizes Relational Analysis over the 1 card = total answer way of reading.

In this method, cards are taken together, as to how they relate with each other, and this relationship becomes the analogy that holds the answer. This is quite the same as how the Majors (I-XXI) progress, which shows the cards relating to each other in a storybook fashion. Tarot scholars have experimented with laying out the Majors in various rows and columns and therein discerning patterns.

Thus, the Tarot de Marseille intrinsically advocates using a relational reading approach. Using the Language of the Birds as an analogy, we will summarize the various ways the images and symbols “chirp” to form a melody, within a given spread of cards. Reading the article The Language of the Tarot will be helpful to the student in providing a basis for the following.

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The Tree of Knowledge

of the Tarot de Marseille

It is important for us to give intellectual credit where credit is due. Otherwise, we appear like Partridges, raiding the eggs from others’ nests!

The lineage of Tarot scholarship is long, and few ideas today have not been mentioned before. However, we want to credit those who have enriched the scholarship of the Tarot de Marseille, and in particular clarified many of the ideas we will elucidate, below.

It must be emphasized that we discuss here at Tarot Authentique nothing that has not been published elsewhere. We reveal nothing here that has not been revealed in the book or website of an idea’s originator.

The foundational scholars are those who set the stage for many of the modern ideas of the Tarot de Marseille. 

Each scholar offered a piece of fruit on the whole Tree.

We are particularly indebted to  M. Philippe Camoin (2008). Although                         Camoin did not invent the Tarot de Marseille,  and he certainly benefitted from prior scholarship, he must be credited with codifying a Method of reading the Tarot de Marseille, in 1999. When referring to ideas peculiarly codified by M. Camoin, we are careful here to not reveal beyond which M. Camoin has revealed on his website, as we await his published book. Notwithstanding, we appreciate that many ideas of the Tarot de Marseille came before the 21^st century, and that no particular scholar owns the Tarot de Marseille.

The following scholars each hold an apple on the Tree of Knowledge of the Tarot. They are each responsible for the seminal works in regards to how to read the Tarot de Marseille as per many of the ways elucidated below, such as following gazes, looking at relationships between cards, and traditional symbolic meanings of the cards. This is not an exhaustive list, but lists the main “players” of influence on Tarot de Marseille scholarship.

 Antoine Court de Gébelin 1781. Monde primitif, analysé et comparé avec le monde moderne . [The Primitive World, Analyzed and Compared to the Modern World].

He wrote a chapter on the Tarot in his book and referenced images of the Tarot based on the Tarot de Marseille aesthetic, after having happened upon a deck.

He asserted that the Tarot was of Egyptian origin and that Tarot Suits signified social classes. He described his perception of multiple spiritual systems in the Majors’ iconography, including Egyptian, Greek, and of course Christian motifs. The Comte de Mellet included chapters on the Tarot within Gébelin’s book. De Mellet proposed the idea that the Hebrew Alphabet was encoded in the Majors; proposed a layout of 10 cards and particular meanings of even the Minors.

Etteilla  (pseudonym for Jean-Baptiste Alliette),1785. Manière de se récréer avec le jeu de cartes nomées Tarots [How to Entertain Yourself With the Deck of Cards Called Tarot].

Etteilla really used a piquet deck, with clubs, spades, diamonds, and hearts. Etteilla suggested that the meanings of a card would change according to whether they were upright or reversed. Etteilla also assigned general genres to the Tarot Suits and developed his system of astrological correspondences. His self-published deck borrowed imagery from the Tarot de Marseille. Etteilla published his own deck, which combined the 22 trumps of the Tarot with the 56 card deck of more popularity.

 Éliphas Lévi 1855. Actually born Alphonse-Louis Constant, a French occultist and author on magic, after being a pious Catholic. Lévi (a Hebraicized form of his name) refers to the Tarot de Marseille in his works.

 Lévi described the Tarot as a symbolic key to all spiritual systems, a philosophical machine. He assigned the Tarot Suits to elements (earth, water, air, and fire). He was the first to write about the possible correspondence of the 10 numbers of the Minors with the Sephiroth of the Tree of Life.

 Papus (pseudonym for Gérard-Anaclet-Vincent Encausse) 1889: Le Tarot des Bohémiens. Paris. 

Papus proposed complex structural systems of viewing the Tarot de Marseille, especially the Majors. Papus actually coined the term “Tarot de Marseille,” therein referring to a particular aesthetic that is characteristic of this deck.

Papus did quite a lot with the Divine Name (YHVH) in its association with the Tarot. In 1909 he published Le Tarot divinatoire: clef du tirage des

cartes et des sorts [Divination by Tarot: Key to Reading Cards and Lots], which was a highly practical manual that mirrored a lot of Etteilla’s ideas.

Papus elucidated a systematic method of reading the Minor Arcana of the Tarot de Marseille, using  a rubric of Thesis/Antithesis/Synthesis for the numbers that repeat themselves in sequence. Papus introduced the 3x7 Septenary, later explained further by Philippe Camoin.

Oswald Wirth, 1889 Les 22 Arcanes du Tarot Kabbalistique.

We recognize Wirth, not because he was a Tarot de Marseille purist, but that he preserved the TdM aesthetic in large part. Wirth was a Swiss occultist who studied with Stanislas de Guaita. De Guaita suggested that Wirth draw a Tarot, given his artistic skill. Wirth adhered to many TdM designs. Some designs are faithful to Lévi.

Wirth exemplified designs that were later seen in the Rodés/Sánchez Tarot de Marseille, such as a crescent moon in La Papesse; wings in L’Imperatrice; a sphinx in La Papesse. Wirth’s drawings appeared in Papus’ Tarot of the Bohemians.

Arthur Edward Waite, 1911 The Pictorial Key to the Tarot.

Oh! If this gentleman had left well enough alone! (In our humble opinion.)

Waite joined the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn in 1891. Rather than simply embracing the Tarot de Marseille, he created with artist Pamela Coleman Smith the Rider-Waite Tarot (published by the Rider Company). The most salient feature of the deck was the illustrated Minors. Whereas the Tarot de Marseille deck employed a simpler Pip-method, with each suit occurring on the card in quantity commensurate with its number, perhaps with some flora for decoration (although the flora may be meaningful, depending on the interpreter!) Waite’s Tarot created cartoon images to illustrate the Minors.

The Sola Busca Tarot of 15^th century Italy also entertained illustrated minors, which is a deck rumoured to have influenced Waite’s rubric. Essentially, Waite (with Smith) redrew the entire Tarot de Marseille and provided it with his Secret Society’s stamp. The Minors employ a Medieval theme throughout. The Rider-Waite-Smith (aka RWS) deck has spawned countless clones over the years.

The great deception perpetrated on the Western World, in our opinion, is that the RWS deck is presumably the seminal Tarot. Only the Crowley deck and its spawn have matched the RWS deck in popularity. Waite renumbered VIII La Justice and XI La Force, respectively, which then spawned redundancy of this mistake.

Aleister Crowley, 1944 The Book of Thoth.

We confess our disdain at providing Crowley with even more airtime within the Tarot discourse; however, his contributions (if not leading away from the Tarot de Marseille) were significant.

Later in his life, after a long roller coaster ride of adventure and scandal, Crowely embarked on the creation of his personal Tarot deck The Book of Thoth, with British artist Lady Frieda Harris. This deck, in conjunction with the Rider-Waite-Smith deck would dominate the Western Tarot world outside of Europe to the present.

Paul Marteau 1949: Le Tarot de Marseille. Paris.

As head of the Grimaud playing card company, Marteau popularized the Marseilles Tarot for Europe.

As well, Marteau popularized the method of reading the Minors by using a “number-meaning + suit-meaning” rubric; up to this point, the meanings of the Minors seemed idiosyncratic and were derived from traditional meanings from Etteilla, a legendary French cartomancer.

M. Camoin and Jodorowsky would later assert that the color scheme of the Grimaud TdM was in error based on a Camoin House printing of 1880, but given wide publicity in Europe. Those errant colors were the result of a particular printing version of the Camoin House Tarot de Marseille that was limited and distorted due to printing press limitations of the day. These distortions were innocently reproduced in the Grimaud TdM.

Joseph Maxwell 1933: Le Tarot. Paris.

Maxwell explained the pack in terms of color symbolism, numerology, and geometric associations (of the Minors).

He elucidated a system of Correspondences and spent some time analyzing the Minor Arcana and Suits. Colours are very important. Of course Maxwell explained the TdM of most popularity—the color scheme of the Grimaud deck.

Tchalai Unger 1985: El Tarot.

Unger discusses the Tarot de Marseille cards in microscopic detail, advocating for a relational approach to interpretation, wherein the multiple cards in a spread reveal patterns and relationships between them that are then analogies for answers to the question.

Unger discusses characters’ gazes, how images repeat and vary, number symbolism, geometric symbolism, and many other subtle meanings of elements of each of the cards. She approaches the cards atomistically, examining the details that make up an holistic picture on a card.

Unger’s painstaking analyses of micro-details on the cards (e.g. feet, shoes, hats, scepters, eyes, colors, etc.) and especially how these details compare and contrast throughout the deck certainly prepared the foundation for later authors who would use repetition and variation (sameness and difference) in their analogical methods of reading. In 1981, she authored the “little white booklet” that accompanies the Grimaud company’s Tarot deck.

Kris Hadar 1996. 

French Canadian Kris Hadar has published a plethora of books on the Tarot de Marseille. Hadar published his own restored Tarot de Marseille deck with sumptuous, subtle, and muted colorings.

Hadar presents himself as an erudite Tarot scholar with every detail of his deck painstakingly researched and meaningful. His website site www.krishadar.com offers lessons.

Hadar discusses at length how to combine cards together to form a single concept; for example, different cards paired with XVI La Maison Dieu may suggest different types of buildings.

Hadars books are in French, but his website material is offered in English. Hadar’s deck seeks to be the “true” TdM, and seems influenced from the Payen printing of the TdM of 1713.

Claude de Milleville 1991.

The author highlights many aspects of interpreting the Tarot de Marseille, but highlights the use of gazes or regards amongst the characters.

She is a much needed feminine influence in the heretofore male-dominated world scholarship of Tarot.

Marie Thérèse Longchamps 1993. Les 78 lames du tarot de Marseille.

Longchamps highlights the utility of reversed cards. Furthermore, rather than accepting the fatefulness of getting a reversed card in a spread, a solution card may be drawn to “solve” the problem proposed by the reversed card.

Philippe Camoin 1999, 2008:

Website http://www.camoin.com.   Camoin has taught private seminars throughout France and Europe for many years. His book is forthcoming (2008); however, his seminar-students have been asked to be discrete about discussing his ideas on the internet, so that Camoin may properly elucidate his scholarship in the tradition of the Master/Apprentice.

Camoin recently published information about his Method on his personal website. So, the cat’s out of the bag, so to speak. Notwithstanding what Camoin has published on his website, if another author has published more information (e.g. Jodorowsky or Rodés & Sánchez) we will discuss this, as well. Like all modern Tarot authors, some of Camoin’s ideas are obviously harvested from scholars before him; however…

Camoin enjoys preeminent status in developing an eloquent method of reading the Tarot de Marseille, which he codified in 1999.

Camoin worked with Alejandro Jodorowsky to create and print a restored or “reconstructed” Tarot de Marseille deck, which claims to reconstruct lost symbols and colours to the Tarot de Marseille. It is no exaggeration to credit Camoin and Jodorowsky with a modern day revival of the Tarot in Europe, as well as helping the Marseilles Tarot to infiltrate the Western world.

Camoin’s deck is heavily influenced by the Conver (pre 1880) printing—the 1880 printing was the great faux pas of printings, wherein a limited colour palette was used and would become duplicated seemingly incessantly. Camoin and M. Jodorowksy consulted many seminal decks: Tarot of Nicolas Conver, the Dodal Tarot, the François Tourcaty Tarot, the Fautrier Tarot, the Jean-Pierre Payen Tarot, the Suzanne Bernardin Tarot, the Tarot of Besançon by Lequart.

 Alejandro Jodorowsky 2004: La Voie Du Tarot. Paris.

Jodorowsky enjoys fame as a cultural icon of comic book illustration, cinema director, and Spiritualist, amongst many other works, creating such iconographic cinematic works of Dune and El Topo and La Montaña Sagrada (The Holy Mountain).

Jodorowsky teamed with Philippe Camoin to create a restored Tarot de Marseille deck. His book discusses some elements of the Camoin Method, such as directional gazes, repetition and variation of symbols, and especially noting the natural relationships between cards. Jodorowsky touches delicately on elements of the Camoin Method, per se, but develops his own poetic way of reading the cards through relationship of images.

Daniel Rodés y Encarna Sánchez 2006: El Libro De Oro. Spain, Palmyra. Website: www.tarotmarsella.com . 

Founders of LE MAT COMMUNICACIONES, these partners published a method of reading the Tarot de Marseille that is apparently curiously similar to the Camoin Method, as is their restored Tarot deck. Indeed, within their first edition of El Libro De Oro, they illustrated the book with the Camoin/Jodorowsky deck and refer to Camoin.

Their explanation of the method of reading the Tarot de Marseille employs the use of gazes, repetition and variation of symbols, the use of solution-cards to “unfreeze” reversed/problematic cards and particular rules of laying out the cards just like Camoin’s Method.

Rodés and Sánchez travel Europe and Mexico providing seminars, but published a considerable amount of material in their 2006 book.  They propose Tarot Minor meanings that combine the first ten Major Arcana with the Tarot Suit. Rodés and Sánchez published their own reconstructed Tarot de Marseille deck, which appears to be a virtual clone of the Camoin/Jodorowsky deck, but with important differences. {Picture of Le Mat credited to Lemat Conunicaciones, 2008.)

Jean Claude Flornoy (2008). Although not offering a particular method of reading or a reconstructed deck, Flornoy is a Tarot scholar and artist who has restored Tarot de Marseille styled decks to their original and pristine beauty. Rather than offer a reconstruction-deck that claims esoteric scholarship, Flornoy seeks to restore the original art, much like the Sistine Chapel was restored, by painting new editions of seminal Tarot decks. His website is http://www.tarot-history.com/. His decks are bona fide works of art.

Italo Calvino (1979). The Castle of crossed destinies.

Although not technically a Tarot scholar, Calvino introduced a fictional work wherein a band of travellers must communicate their idiosyncratic stories to each other using a pack of Tarot cards, because the travellers are inexplicably able to speak with their mouths. Calvino exemplified the method of reading the Tarot de Marseille that involves perceiving the cards on multiple levels: Iconic and analogic. The second part of the book, “The Tavern of Crossed Destinies” features the Tarot de Marseille.

Now that we’ve given credit where credit is due (and please contact us if you perceive that we’ve left out an important scholar to the Tarot de Marseille tradition), we can examine how the bird “chirps” of the Tarot de Marseille make melodies in a reading.

BIRD 1: MOCKINGBIRD – REPETITION & SIMILITUDE

More evident in the Marseilles Tarot than in other Tarots is that images repeat themselves. This repetition emphasizes ideas or concepts.  

For example, we see an eagle on III-L’Imperatrice and IIII-L’Empereur; then a diminutive bird on XVII-LeToile, and then the bird is exalted in XXI-Le Monde.

In a given reading, and taking into consideration the Context of the Question, could these optical analogies hold meaning?

Why are these images more evident in the Tarot de Marseille? Because the Marseilles Tarot is more “iconic”. Card-for card, the Tarot de Marseille exemplifies the same aesthetic in its iconography, but perhaps varied. This allows for more facile location of patterns of repetition of symbols than is perhaps evident in modern decks. See Enrique Enriquez’ article on The Excellence of the Tarot de Marseille.

Of course, this is true to some degree of many modern Tarot decks, wherein the same artist designed the deck, thus the deck has a stylistic consistency throughout. However, the Tarot de Marseille exemplifies a simpler uniformity.

We can follow a symbol through repetition and variation because of the Tarot de Marseille’s  iconic simplicity. In other decks that have more complex cartoon scenes on the cards and are packed with images, the repetition and variation is buried in artwork.  

In fact, many symbols repeat themselves. This suggests that repetition is a linguistic tool of the Language of the Birds. If a symbol repeats itself, perhaps it’s important as an analogy to the reading. The repetition essentially confirms a concept: It becomes salient or “leaps out” and, essentially saying, “Look at me!” Depending on the context, whatever symbol repeats itself may be important to the reading. These patterns become METAPHORS or ANALOGIES for the answer to the querent’s question.

The Language of the Birds

is essentially the language of metaphor or analogy.

For instance, we see two lions in the Majors: XI La Force and XXI Le Monde. Perhaps in a given spread of a series of cards, these two cards appear next to each other, therein emphasizing the sharing of symbols. “Lions,” all by themselves, don’t mean anything—only the Context of the Question sheds light on the intended meaning of the sign.

Recalling the article The Language of the Tarot, a “lion” is a sign that may signify various things: Perhaps it is an icon of a literal lion, perhaps it is an image of a favourite pet, or a symbol of courage and boldness, or a metonymic device to signify a Zoo, or it is a figure of speech to signify the “roar of the lion,” indicating the need for more vocal assertiveness. Depending on the Context of the Question, the linguistic device is apparent.  In any case, the fact that the symbol is repeated provides it with extra salience or confirmation. The bird’s chirping is to draw attention to this sign as important.

BIRD 2: MAGPIE—VARIATION & EXCEPTION

The Magpie sings a distinct song.

In the Tarot de Marseille, just as an image repeats itself, it may also vary when analyzing a group or string of cards. Symbols or cards may distinguish themselves from others, because they vary from the pattern or are the exception to the pattern. Just as similarities may confirm a concept that is salient for the reading, differences or variations in signs may signify a concept that is salient for the reading.

For example, it is interesting that the imps in XV-Le Diable are collared, leashed and separated; yet, in XVIIII-Le Soleil, they are free and willingly touching and on the Conver Tarot de Marseille, they bear the red marks of their collar on their necks.

 

This variation is meaningless outside of the Context of the Question. But when provided Context, if these two cards occurred in sequence, they might signify a particular concept via analogy. The story is “moving” like a “moving picture” or movie, only not using literal language (although such is possible with the Tarot), but analogy, metaphor, and simile.

These examples (such as the collared imps morphing into the free children) exemplify the Atomistic analysis of the cards (see Language of the Tarot article). In this type of analysis, particular icons and images become salient (or “leap out”) at the reader.

This is in contrast to the Holistic analysis, in which the entire card and its given meanings are considered. Rather than look at particular icons and images on a card, the card is accepted as a complete “painting” with its given meanings. The Holistic manner of considering a card is quite well known to Tarot scholarship.

BIRD 2: VARIATION & EXCEPTION with Holistic analysis, we examine VIIII L’Hermite and XVIIII Le Soleil in sequence.

  The general or holistic meanings of VIIII-L’Hermite might be

Wisdom, Experience, Retirement, Quietude.

The general or holistic meanings of XVIIII-Le Soleil might be

Youth, Fraternity, Friendship, Robust activity.

So, herein, the meanings of the two cards show variation and contrast. It is this contrast that is significant to the reading’s answer. In the Context of a given question, the distinction becomes meaningful.

Moreover, we can see that richer and more sure meanings are derived when the cards are examined in relationship, rather than more simply a 1:1 analysis. For example, if the Context of the Question were “Retirement,” then the above combination of cards (say, in the Present and Future position) might mean coming out of retirement! Or, enjoying retirement to its fullest doing things that one has always wanted to do in youth.

Notice also, that in this example, the Hermit is not looking at the children. When we examine the Language of the Birds, we will see that gazes can signify meanings of salience.

We might wonder to where the Hermit is walking? It might be interesting to place a card to the left of the Hermit to follow his gaze. In fact, this a key element of the Camoin Method as published on his website.

As you can see, these salient meanings of the cards occur when 2 or more cards are in relationship.

  BIRD 3 PARAKEETS: COMBINATION & RELATIONSHIP

Like Parakeets that come in twos, the Tarot de Marseille’s signs often combine together across cards to form one holistic meaning. Rather than each card meaning something separate, they may combine together for form concepts.

Tarot scholar Kris Hadar (2008) has published much helpful information in regards to reading combinations. This is helpful when reading with methods that involve strings of cards, because cards may be combined together to form one concept in a sentence, which then simplifies the “notes” of the song.

Examples:

Administrative Officer

Hospital
International trip

Tanning booth

Psychology professor

Casino

These are simply examples, because it would be absurd to attempt a Lexicon of combinations. Only one’s imagination (and the Context of the Question) would limit one’s ideas.

Like a Triptych, cards in proximity may form a coherent story or picturegraph, so that each card may picture something separate but related to the whole story. This differs from the card-by-card analysis of popular Tarot methods.

For example, in the following sentence of 5 cards, we can combine 4 to obtain a meaning.

Here the man is weighing two possible job options: To become a gardener/landscaper, which he loves; or, to choose a “white collar” job teaching students in a trade school.

“Weighing”

                                                                              Landscaping                 Teaching Tradeschool students

The querent is speaking assertively in her court testimony. 

                                                                               Speaking assertively     Courthouse

We might also see Relationships between cards and signs. These relationships become salient when we see the cards in proximity and there appears to be some type of “transaction” going on between the cards or particular images on the cards.

In BIRD 5: Couplings, we see the relationships that occur amongst the Natural Couples of the Tarot. But, using the Relationship poetical device, we need not have a natural couple to see a relationship.

Is the skeleton trying to cut (end) the Pope?

Is the Emperor trying to knock out the Hermit’s cane?

Is La Justice cutting down Le Pendu?

She has the rope around her neck and a sword.

Is the Hermit illuminating the hand/wand of Le Bateleur?

Is Le Mat walking headlong into traffic?

The report seems to be delivered to the Court,

rather than worked through the administration of the employer.

There seems to be an internal conflict between

asserting oneself and waiting and watching.

Justice seems to turn the wheel;

indeed, going to court seems to be what will solve the problem.

Once again, there’s no Lexicon that is necessary; instead, the imagination of the reader with the Context of the Question will help any Relationships leap out. One notices how the cards relate to each other when in proximity.

The “boundary” of the cards’ edges are dissolved mentally

and potential interchange begins.

BIRD 4 CUCKOO: SEQUENCING & STORYLINE

The cuckoo’s birdcall is notoriously associated with time.  The classical cuckoo clock allows us to keep time, the cuckoo bird pops out according to the swing of the pendulum. The Cuckoo is known as the herald of Spring. In Russia, the number of calls of a cuckoo bird may predict how many more years a person will live, once the question is posed.

Thus in a reading, a natural way of laying out the cards, as exemplified in the Tarot de Marseille, would be to analyze them in a sequential pattern. Some Tarot de Marseille scholars recommend that we lay out the cards using three cards, signifying Past, Present, Future (Camoin, 2008) or Past, Present, Future, Outcome (Rodés & Sánchez, 2006). Camoin (2008) also draws attention to the vertical progression of cards in a spread. In any case, the Tarot reader is employing the use of a Storyline.

Alejandro Jodorowsky in his book La Voie du Tarot (2004) analyzes two and three cards in sequence to illustrate the natural storyline that occurs by analyzing the cards as a sequence of events or ideas in space/time.

This is quite different than the popular Celtic Cross method of reading, made ubiquitous in books and websites using the Rider-Waite Tarot or Crowley Thoth Tarot.

In this method, one-card-equals-one-aspect of the answer. In other words, one card represents the Past, one the Immediate future, one Hopes and Fears, and one the Outcome (and there are additional positions, as well).

While this method has its own utility, it deprives the Tarotist of the visual analogies that will occur when the cards are more simply placed in sequence and the storyline and relationships amongst the cards can be more readily discerned.

Moreover, we see that the first card of the Majors (I-Le Bateleur) starts with the crude implements strewn on his table, and then this scene ends all the way at the opposite extremity within (XXI-Le Monde) as those implements are “glorified” in the creatures around the laurel wreath, which is also tied with a ribbon in a figure eight, just as Le Bateleur’s hat. 

So too with sequential spreads, we can discern the beginning and end of the story by just comparing two cards at the beginning and end of the sequence of cards. We have the humble beginnings of Le Bateleur ending in the glorification of Le Monde.

Philippe Camoin (2008) calls this examining the Extremities of the spread. So too, when spreading the cards, we can simplify the story by looking at the start of a sequence of cards and the end of a sequence of cards for a “snapshot” of the intended message. 

BIRD 5: TURTLEDOVES .  COUPLES.

Natural “couples” are readily evident in the Majors of the Tarot de Marseille. These couples may signify particular concepts given the context of the question.

For example, III-L’Imperatrice and IIII-L’Empereur look at each other. Alejandro Jodorowsky (2004) explores the natural couples of the Tarot de Marseille, such as Le Pape and La Papesse.  

Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library, Yale University

BIRD 6 GAZES-- OWL

Claude de Milleville, a French writer who explains in his book “Les secrets du tarot” the directon from the looks and the right or left position of.

Alejandro Jodorowsky (2004) and Phillipe Camoin (1999, 2008) on his website publishes that the reader should follow the gazes of the cards and place cards to the left or right of particular cards in order to follow the gazes and complete the storyline.

Daniel Rodés and Encarna Sánchez (2006) in their book El Libro del Oro instruct the Tarotist to lay out a specific number of cards in sequence and then finish the spread by following the gazes of particular cards by placing new cards in the direction of the gaze (left or right).

Camoin (2008) asserts his intellectual origination of this method. Rodés and Sánchez (2006) identify the following gazes that should be followed up with a card to the left or right in order to complete the spread.

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BIRD 7  KINGFISHER – CALMS THE STORMS. REVERSALS:

Problems and solutions

Marie Thérèse Longchamps in her book “Les 78 lames du Tarot de Marseille”, a book published in 1993, explained the difference between right side up cards and the upsidedown ones and the necessity of correcting reversals.

Philippe Camoin (2008) codifies this idea into his Method in1999.  Following Camoin’s assertion, then Daniel Rodés and Encarna Sánchez (2006) in their book El Libro del Oro follow Camoin’s idea and recommend placing an upright card above a reversed card in sequence essentially as the solution.

We see this card as the “Kingfisher card” that is chosen to “calm to storm”. Since solutions are positive, this chosen card is always placed upright, as recommended by Camoin and others.

BIRD 8: NIGHTINGALE – A enthusiastic song

The message should be simple, discernable, and not requiring great effort in order to discern. Just as the nightingale sings enthusiastically, the Tarot’s song in a spread should be readily apparent, leaping out at the reader.

As the bird Hercinia, which was said the glow at night and light the path of traveller’s, the song of the Tarot spread should stand out simply and enthusiastically. The reader will not struggle to discern the meaning of the Tarot cards in a spread, but the “song” of the message will be immediately melodious, without effort, and as if a child could pick up the tune.

As we will see in the article Spreading the Tarot, the “birdcalls” of the Tarot speak a kind of Poetry using the linguistic devices of its signs (see Language of the Tarot) in order to form a storyline or answer to the querent’s questions.

• Camoin, Philippe (1999). Camoin’s codification of his method.
• Camoin, Philippe (2008). http://www.camoin.com. Camoin’s publication of his method, introduction. Book forthcoming.
• Des Longhcamps, Marie-Thérèse (1990). Les 78 lames du tarot de Marseille. France: Maisnie Tredaniel.
• De Milleville, Claude (2002). Le Secret des nombres : Connaissance de soi et écoute de l'autre. Flammarion.
• Dummett, Michael
• Enriquez, Enrique (2008). http://www.enriqueenriquez.net/
• Jodorowsky, A. (2004). La Voie du Tarot. France: Albin Michel. Marteau, Paul (1949). Le Tarot de Marseille.  Paris.
• Rodés, Daniel & Sánchez, Encarna (2006). Tarot : Libro de Oro . Spain: Palmyra.  http://tarotmarsella.com
• Unger, Tchalai (1985). El Tarot. Spain: Obelisco.

By Paul B. Williams, 2008.