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<B>Tarot <br>Art and Magic<br><br>
INTERNATIONAL<br>EXHIBITION</b></font><br><br>
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<A HREF="http://trionfi.com/tarot-exhibition/">Start</A><br><br>
<A HREF="http://trionfi.com/tarot-exhibition/00/">Introduction</A><br><br>
<A HREF="http://trionfi.com/tarot-exhibition/01/">Celestial Harmony</A><br><br>
<A HREF="http://trionfi.com/tarot-exhibition/02/">Allegorical Iconography</A><br><br>
<A HREF="http://trionfi.com/tarot-exhibition/03/">Divine Hermes</A><br><br>
<A HREF="http://trionfi.com/tarot-exhibition/04/">Game of Tarots</A><br><br>
<A HREF="http://trionfi.com/tarot-exhibition/05/">Book of Thot</A><br><br>
<A HREF="http://trionfi.com/tarot-exhibition/06/">Cartomancy</A><br><br>
<A HREF="http://trionfi.com/tarot-exhibition/07/">Modern Artists</A><br><br>
<A HREF="http://trionfi.com/tarot-exhibition/08/">Technical Notes</A>
<A HREF="http://trionfi.com/tarot-exhibition/09/">Le Tarot</A>
<A HREF="http://trionfi.com/tarot-exhibition/10/">Andrea Vitali</A>
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<H3>THE BOOK OF THOT
</H3>
The birth of the Tarots as a magical tool came at the height of the Enlightenment, towards the end of the 18th century, with the then famous French archaeologist and freemason Antoine Court de Gebelin: "If we were to announce that, in our days, there survives a Work which contains the purest doctrines of the Egyptians, and which has escaped the flames of their libraries... who would not be impatient to consult such a precious and extraordinary Book... This Book exists and its pages are the figures of the Tarots". <br>
In order to justify his assertions, Court de Gebelin explains that the word Tarot derives from the Egyptian Ta-Rosh, meaning the Science of Mercury (in Greek Hermes; in Egyptian Thoth). Then, aided by an unknown collaborator, he listed the numerous magical properties of the Book which he had just discovered.<br>
These theories were taken up by another freemason, Etteilla, whose real name was Jean-Frangois Alliette: "The Tarot is an ancient Egyptian book, whose pages contain the secret of a universal medicine, the creation of the world, and the future of the human race. It was conceived in the year 2170 BC, during a conference of 17 magicians presided over by Hermes Trismegistus. It was then engraved on gold sheets which were placed around the central fire of the Temple of Memphis. Then, after various vicissitudes, it was reproduced by common medieval engravers in such imprecise fashion that the meaning was completely distorted".<br>
Thus Etteilla restored to the Tarots what he believed to have been their original form: he refashioned the iconography and called it the Book of Thoth. The legacy of Neoplatonism and Renaissance Hermeticism is evident in Etteilla's re-elaborations. Indeed, he reproduced the stages of Creation in the the first eight trumps, emphasized the role of Virtue leading men's souls towards God in the next four, and in the last ten trumps represented the negative conditioning to which human beings are subjected. The fifty-six numeral cards were intepreted as the divinatory sentences written for man.<br>
The fashion for cartomancy took off as a result of these revelations. It was only many years later that the mystical element of the Tarots received a similar revaluation at the hands of Eliphas Levi, who denounced Etteilla's mistakes and asserted that the 22 trumps corresponded to the 22 letters of the Hebrew alphabet. <br>
He also explained the relationship to magic, masonic symbolism and above all to the 22 paths of the Cabbalistic Tree of Life - which in turn reflected the identical structure of man and the universe. By following the 22 Channels of Supreme Knowledge, man's soul could achieve contemplation of the Divine Light.<br>
Eliphas Levi's theories were taken up by numerous occult brotherhoods, and each one devised a new Tarot pack which followed its own philosophical concepts. For some, initiates were to work towards the creation of a vast Humanitarian Temple whose aim was the creation of the Kingdom of the Holy Spirit which would be based on an esoteric form common to all cults; for others, the Tarots represented the stages in an individual path towards the mystical elevation or psychic exaltation which derived from magical powers.<br>
<P>5 THE BOOK OF THOTH <BR>or the Esoteric Interpretation of the Tarots<BR>This
section tells the birth of the Tarots as a magical instrument, that took place
at the end of the 18th C. in France, while the Enlightenment reigned supreme.
Here we show cards, etchings, illustrated books, manuscripts, majolica pieces
and other Art objects.</P>
<P>The Egyptian Tarot and the Etteilla tradition</P>
<P>Books</P>
<P>Antoine Court de Gebelin<BR>Le Monde Primitif <BR>(The primitive
world)<BR>Paris, 1781 (Vol. VIII° )</P>
<P>Etteilla<BR>Collection of 5 essays including:<BR>Etteilla ou la seule manière
de tirer les cartes <BR>(Etteilla or the only way of reading
cards)<BR>Amsterdam, 1773<BR>Le petit Etteilla <BR>(The small Etteilla)<BR>18th
C.<BR>Le Zodiaque mystérieux <BR>(The mysterious zodiac)<BR>Amsterdam,
1772<BR>Extrait d'une réponse à une lettre anonyme <BR>(Abstract of an answer to
an anonymous letter)<BR>18th C.<BR>Mention manuscrite suivante de la main
d'Etteilla <BR>(Manuscript mention from Etteilla hand)<BR>18th C.</P>
<P>Etteilla<BR>Manière de se recréer avec le jeu de cartes nommées
tarots<BR>(How to get amused with the card game called Tarot – Vol. I°)<BR>Pour
servir de premier Cahier à cet Ouvrage.<BR>Amsterdam, 1783</P>
<P></P>
<P>Etteilla<BR>Manière de se recréer avec le jeu de cartes nommées tarots
<BR>(How to get amused with the card game called Tarot – Vol. II°)<BR>Pour
servir de second Cahier à cet Ouvrage.<BR>Amsterdam, 1785</P>
<P>Etteilla<BR>Manière de se recréer avec le jeu de cartes nommées tarots
<BR>(How to get amused with the card game called Tarot – Vol. IV°)<BR>Pour
servir de quattrieme Cahier à cet Ouvrage.<BR>Amsterdam, 1785</P>
<P>Etteilla<BR>Philosophie des hautes sciences <BR>(Philosophy of the high
sciences)<BR>Amsterdam, 1785</P>
<P>Etteilla<BR>Leçons théoriques et pratiques du livre de Thoth <BR>(Theoretical
and practical lessons from the book of Thoth)<BR>Amsterdam, 1787</P>
<P>J.B Millet St.Pierre <BR>Recherches sur la dernier sorcier et la dernière
école de magie<BR>(Researches about the last magician and the last magics
school)<BR>Havre, 1859</P>
<P>Cards</P>
<P>Tarot "Egyptien" - Grand Etteilla I<BR>Hand-painted etchings, Paris, early
19th C.</P>
<P>Tarot "Egyptien" - Grand Etteilla II<BR>Wood-engraving in colour, Paris,
1850</P>
<P>Tarot "Jeu de la Principesse" (Princesse game) <BR>Hand-painted etchings,
Paris, 1888 </P>
<P>Grand Etteilla III<BR>Chromolithographs, Paris, approx.1880 </P>
<P></P>
<P>Manuscript</P>
<P>Madame Etteilla<BR>Manuscript letter from Madame Etteilla to Monsieur De La
Salette, Artillery Captain in Grenoble<BR>Paris, approx. from 1785 to 1790 </P>
<P>The Occultist Movement</P>
<P>Books</P>
<P>Elifas Levi<BR>Dogme et Rituèl de la Haute Magie <BR>(Dogmas and rites of
high magics)<BR>Paris, 1861</P>
<P>Paul Christian<BR>L'Homme Rouge des Tuileries <BR>(The red man of the
Tuileries)<BR>Paris, 1863</P>
<P>Paul Christian<BR>Histoire de la Magie et du Monde Surnaturel <BR>(Hisory of
magics and <BR>supernatural wordl)<BR>Paris, 1870</P>
<P>Ely Star<BR>Les Mysterés de l’Horoscope <BR>(The horoscope mystery)<BR>Paris,
1888</P>
<P>Stanislas de Guaita<BR>Essais des Sciences Maudites II: Le serpent de la
Genèse<BR>(Essai of the damned sciences II: the Genesis snake)<BR>Le Temple de
Satan <BR>(Satan's Temple)<BR>Paris, 1891</P>
<P>Stanislas de Guaita<BR>Essais des Sciences Maudites II: Le serpent de la
Genèse<BR>(Essai of the damned sciences II: the Genesis snake)<BR>La Clef de la
Magie Noire <BR>(The black magic key) Paris, 1897<BR>Papus<BR>Le Tarot des
Bohèmiens <BR>(The gipsy Tarots)<BR>Paris, 1889</P>
<P>Papus<BR>Le Tarot Divinatoire <BR>(The divinatory Tarot)<BR>Paris, 1909</P>
<P>René Falconnier<BR>Les XXII Lames Hermetiques du Tarot Divinatoire <BR>(The
22 hermetical cards of the divinatory tarot)<BR>Paris, 1896</P>
<P>Pierre Piobb<BR>Formulaire de Haute Magie <BR>(High Magics forms)<BR>Paris,
1907</P>
<P>Eudes Picard<BR>Manuel Synthétique et pratique du tarot <BR>(Synthetical and
practical manual of the Tarots)<BR>Paris, 1909</P>
<P>Arthur Edward Waite<BR>The pictorial key to the Tarot<BR>London, 1911</P>
<P>Elie Alta<BR>Le Tarot Egyptien <BR>(The Egyption Tarot)<BR>Vichy, 1922</P>
<P>Oswald Wirth<BR>Le Tarot des Imagiers du Moyen Age <BR>(The Tarots od the
Middle Ages Illustrators)<BR>Paris, 1927 (a copy which belonged to Andrè Breton,
with the author's <BR>signature and figures drawn by Wirth himself)</P>
<P>George Muchery<BR>Le Tarot Astrologique <BR>(Astrological Tarot)<BR>Paris,
1927<BR>George Muchery<BR>La synthèse du tarot <BR>(The synthesis of the
Tarots)<BR>Paris, 1927</P>
<P>A.A.V.V<BR>Le Voile d’Isis <BR>(Isis Veil)<BR>Paris, 1928</P>
<P>Paul Marteau<BR>Le Tarot de Marseille<BR>Paris, 1949</P>
<P>Cards</P>
<P>Les XXII Lames Hermétiques du Tarot Divinatoire <BR>(The 22 hermetical cards
of the divinatory tarot)<BR>René Falconnier - Maurice O. Wegener<BR>Wood-cuts
from the work of the same title, Paris, 1896</P>
<P>Le Tarot Divinatoire <BR>(The divinatory tarot)<BR>Papus - Gabriel
Goulinat<BR>Wood-engravings from the work of the same title, Paris, 1909</P>
<P>Rider Waite Tarot <BR>Painted by Pamela C. Smith<BR>Chromolithographs,
London, 1910</P>
<P>Spanish esoteric Tarot<BR>Lithographs in colour, 20th C.</P>
<P>Le Tarot Astrologique<BR>George Muchery)<BR>Chromolithographs in colour,
Paris, 1927</P>
<P>Oswald Wirth Tarot <BR>Impressions in colour, Paris, 1927</P>
<P>Luxury cartomancy<BR>Offset in colour, 1942</P>
<P>Thoth Tarot<BR>Aleister Crowley - Frieda Harris <BR>Colour prints, New York,
1970</P>
<P>Esoteric Iconography</P>
<P>Prints</P>
<P>Michael Wolgemuth (Nurnberg 1434 - 1519)<BR>The conversion of St Paul the
Apostle<BR>Wood-engraving </P>
<P>Michael Wolgemuth (Nurnberg 1434 - 1519)<BR>The martyrdom of St
Peter<BR>Wood-engraving</P>
<P>Anonymous, 16th C.<BR>The Virgin Mary with the Holy Child<BR>Etching</P>
<P>Anonymous (16th C.)<BR>The virtue of Faith<BR>Wood-engraving</P>
<P>Anonymous (16th C.)<BR>Isis - Fortune<BR>Etching</P>
<P>Jean Pesne (Rouen 1623 - Paris 1700)<BR>The Marriage of the
Virgin<BR>Etching</P>
<P>Johan Baptist Homann (Kamlog 1663 - Nurnberg 1724)<BR>Solar system and
planetarium<BR>Hand-painted etching </P>
<P>Francisco Rosello (active in Palma de Mallorca 1671 - 1700)<BR>Isis and her
symbols<BR>Wood-engraving</P>
<P>Jacop Frey (Hochdorf 1681 - Rome 1752)<BR>Hercules at the crossroads between
vice and virtue<BR>Engraving<BR>Georg-Daniel Heümann (Nurberg 1691
-1759)<BR>Iside multimammia<BR>(Multiform Isis)<BR>Etching</P>
<P>Johann Georg Pintz (Augsbourg 1697 - 1772)<BR>Scenographia Atrii
Sacerdotum<BR>(Scenography of the Atrium of the Priests)<BR>Etching, 1734</P>
<P>William Hogarth (London 1697 - 1764)<BR>Hudibras beats Sidrophel and his man
Whacum<BR>Etching</P>
<P>Hubert François Bourguignon detto Gravelot (Paris 1699 -
1773)<BR>Secret<BR>Etching</P>
<P>Robert Strange (Orkneys 1721 - London 1792)<BR>Hercules at the crossroads
between vice and virtue<BR>Etching, 18th C.</P>
<P>Bernard (France, 18th C.)<BR>Antiquités Babyloniennes et
Egyptiennes<BR>(Babylonian and Egyptians antiquities) <BR>Etching</P>
<P>Illustrated books</P>
<P>Abbé Perau<BR>L'Ordre des Franc-Maçon trahi et le secret de Mopses
devoilé<BR>(The treason of the Freemasonry order and the disclosure of Moses
secret)<BR>Amsterdam, 1745</P>
<P>Diderot - D'Alembert<BR>Pamphlet about the ancient alphabets, from the
"Encyclopedie"<BR>Paris, 1770</P>
<P>Leo Taxil<BR>I misteri della Framassoneria <BR>(The Freemasonry
misteries)<BR>Genoa, 1888</P>
<P>Other works</P>
<P>Mario Ortolani (the master of Franco Gentilini)<BR>The sacred colours
<BR>Majolica plate, Faenza, 1915 (50 cm in diameter)</P>
<P>Anonymous<BR>Masonic Sash, The Scottish Ancient and Accepted Rite<BR>(5th
Degree, Perfected Master)<BR>England, 19th C.</P>
<P>Anonymous<BR>Masonic Apron<BR>Italy, 19th C.</P>
<P></P>
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