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Cognate Images
The ranks of man image above is from a c.1400 Italian manuscript of Petrarch's De Remediis Utriusque Fortunae. The five images below are from a 1503 French manuscript of Remediis. They show the central allegory of the Tarot trump cycle, the ups and downs of Fortune's Wheel: SUCCESS (Love & Chariot), REVERSAL (Time or Asceticism & Fortune herself), and DOWNFALL (Traitor & Death). In Tarot as in Petrarch's Remedies these circumstances, which define the Fall of Princes storyline, are responded to with Virtue. The two End Times images are from a c.1400 Flemish Apocalypse and the c.1330 English Holkham Bible.
Caveat Lector
I'm a Tarot geek, fascinated by the factual history and characteristic medieval allegory of this remarkable artifact. The bad news is that I'm not an art historian. My only credentials are having read most of the salient books on the subject and having a strong preference for facts over fiction. The good news is that I am not an apologist for occult, paranormal, or other New Age nonsense, nor a sucker for pseudo-historical fantasy. That has made me a skeptic among the true believers who dominate the online Tarot community. These are some of my musings, to provide an occasional counterpoint to the pervasive New Age pseudo-history of Tarot.
Tarot History Web Search
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What can I say...
OH. OF COURSE...IT SAYS FOOT BIRD LION WATER LEAF SUN....DUH...HOW COULD THAT NOT BE ANY EASIER.
ReplyDeleteIndeed. Tarot enthusiasts and other dolts can simply make something up, while anyone actually interested can LOOK something up. The first approach is childishly easy, but the results are equally childish. The second approach takes a bit of time and effort, and you may not like the results, but the answer makes sense and can be objectively confirmed by others.
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