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Part Two

THE CARDS AND

THEIR MEANINGS

Divining rod in hand in the tree’s heart,

He takes water from the wave to root and branch;

A Voice makes my sleeve tremble with fear –

Divine glory, the god sits near.

quatrain I:2

THE MAJOR ARCANA

Metal: Gold

Gold is associated with the Sun. In alchemy, it is the state of near perfection, the Rubedo, when matter itself begins to transmute. In tarot terms, it represents the most powerful influences in the reading—the Major Arcana—which draw the minor cards to themselves and cause changes to occur in the meanings of adjacent cards.

0

THE FOOL

The Fool is one of the most ancient characters in the history of the world. He is the traditional safety valve, the one who bursts the balloon, who challenges the establishment, who moves at his own pace in the world. He is an explorer, one who sets out on a great journey in a state of ignorance, yet he possesses a willingness to learn. An outsider, exempt from retribution even when he speaks against those in power, he exemplifies crazy wisdom, the ability to see through the obscuring veils of the world to the strange and remarkable truth of life itself. Jack, the eternal simpleton of faery tale is a type of fool, as is Perceval, the Grail winner, who succeeds where others fail because of his simple faith. He is the comedic clown of ancient Greek drama, the simpleton of Shakespeare’s darkest plays, Merlin in his madness, Lear with his own personal fool, the mad and divinely inspired shaman of Irish myth, Suibhne Geilt. He is also Nostradamus, who exhibited many of the qualities of the fool. He was a visionary who was often perceived as mad; a wise man who seemed to act without forethought; a joker who taught through strange and unlikely actions; a wanderer who seemed without goals yet who kept to his path with a diligence seldom equalled. In the context of The Lost Book, we may be reminded of the thirteenth-century story of the Wandering Jew who, according to legend, mocked Jesus on his way to the Crucifixion and was condemned to walk the roads of the world until he found forgiveness.

Interpretation

Because he is outside the world, the Fool has no number, and his ability is not only to represent the seeker but to appear anywhere and everywhere in the tarot deck. He (or she—although the Fool is invariably portrayed as a man, both genders are represented) can lead the way, walking backwards before us. He moves throughout the pack and changes whenever he encounters one of the other archetypes. We might see him as a blank page, waiting for words to be written that will explain his journey. He is, literally, a wild card, beckoning you to follow where he leads, wherever it may be.

Visions

upright Carefree journeying ♦ Foolish wisdom ♦ Innocence ♦ Clarity ♦ Unpredictability ♦ Curiosity ♦ Extravagance ♦ Unworldliness ♦ Nonsense ♦ Wandering ♦ Surrender to greater powers

reversed Aimlessness ♦ Distraction ♦ Mistakes ♦ Carelessness ♦ Unwisdom ♦ Recklessness

Couplet (from original quatrain V:76)

En lieu libere tendra son pavilion,

Et ne voldra en cités prendre place.

He will pitch his tent in free places,

Rather than be lodged in cities.

Prophetic Reference

The UK Race Relations Act of 1976, which recognized Gypsies and Irish travelers as ethnic groups.

I

THE MAGICIAN

The Magician is both clever and subtle and has been interpreted in this light as everything from a Magus to a mountebank, a wise and clever man to a cunning trickster. The oldest form of this archetype is known as the Juggler and is generally depicted as a man dressed in harlequin costume, standing at a table and performing the infamous “three-cup trick,” in which a pebble is supposedly hidden under one of three cups, which are then moved around quickly, and a member of the audience is asked which cup the pebble is under. Usually, the pebble is found easily enough the first or second time, but on the third attempt it has been palmed so that the unlucky victim loses everything. Elsewhere he is literally juggling, displaying the skill necessary to keep the balls in the air. However, there is another side to this figure, which later resulted in his name being changed from Juggler to Magus or Magician. This is his subtlety, his ability (depending on how one views it) to bamboozle the audience while actually performing genuine magic. Stage magicians have, of course, always traded on this skill, but the literature of the world is full of wizards with the ability to manipulate the elements and to perform feats that are not tricks. From Merlin to Gandalf in The Lord of the Rings, or Dumbledore in the Harry Potter books, magicians and wizards show us that we can have power over the world in which we live. In The Lost Book, the Magician is represented by a strange long-necked creature with the head of a man wearing a fool’s cap. In this instance, he has changed his own form.

Interpretation

This card is often associated with the ego; the desire (and ability) to uncover the creativity of others. But, in the context of The Lost Tarot and the background of the archetype of the Magician, it has more to do with being able to penetrate the outer shell of reality and to delve deeply into the heart of matter. However Nostradamus arrived at his visions, he possessed the ability to see more deeply into the flow of time. Here, then, the card has more to do with viewing the circumstances of a problem and seeing beyond them, of passing from a state of uncertainty to its opposite. The Magician causes things to happen. He changes his destiny and reverses circumstances by engaging with them. He may disguise himself in another form but, when revealed, he is a powerful and effective figure who, in readings, represents the innate strength of the reader to cause changes to occur at the subtlest levels of being. Reversed, he can present a powerful figure with the ability to lead people astray.

Visions

upright Skill ♦ Willpower ♦ Diplomacy ♦ Cleverness ♦ Trickery ♦ Subtlety ♦ Mind over matter ♦ Certainty

reversed Deceit ♦ Falsehood ♦ Manipulation ♦ Chicanery ♦ Illusion ♦ Indecision ♦ Exploitation

Couplet (from original quatrain III:26)

Des roys et princes dresseront simulacras,

Augures, cruez eslués aruspices.

Kings and princes will raise up images –

Auguries rising on a flood of interpretation.

Prophetic Reference

All kinds of strange beliefs and skills manifest. Possibly the end of the twentieth century, when belief in alternative spirituality was at its height.

II

THE PAPESS

The Papess or Female Pope is one of the most enigmatic figures in the tarot. She has been, at various times, identified with the Egyptian goddess Isis, a nun related to the Visconti family, and the Roman sibyl. However, there is little doubt that she represents the only actual female pope, who reigned as John VIII (855–857 ce), but was actually a woman named Joan. For a long time this figure was believed to be fictitious, but most scholars today believe she was a real person whose brilliant mind drove her to travel to Rome to study and who disguised herself as a man in order to do so. When discovered, she was said to have been torn apart by the people. In more recent times, under the influence of modern paganism, she has been renamed the High Priestess, but her role remains essentially unchanged. In most of the early representations of the figure, she possesses a great book to which she may be pointing or turns outward as if inviting the viewer to read the page she is displaying. This links her with the figure of Sophia, who represents Wisdom in the Old Testament and ancient Jewish tradition. Nostradamus would have been familiar with the lore relating to her and, in the quatrain that provides the couplet for this card, we may even have a hidden reference to her as “the Great Black”—darkness and the glittering spark of wisdom often being referred to in this way. His inclusion of a female pope in The Lost Book indicates that he was aware of a need to balance the masculinity of the pope with that of a feminine power. At the time, of course, this would have been regarded as essentially heretical (as perhaps it may still be to orthodox Catholics) but, as ever in his work, Nostradamus challenges the accepted beliefs of the time.

Interpretation

The Papess represents feminine wisdom, the mysteries, and a sensitive approach to problems. But she is by no means a gentle, sweet-natured woman. Her power is undoubted and her strength of the deepest and most profound kind. She is, in some ways, the feminine power that men flee from, unable to deal with its strength and purity, which far outstrips their own intellectual pursuits. Her presence often indicates a strong and powerful woman whose advice may well be important, but whose influence can be overwhelming. Some portraits show her sitting with her feet on the moon, and it is this moon-powered, intuitional wisdom that governs her influence in the readings where she appears. Though her wisdom is deep and sensitive, she can also, in a more negative context, suggest an inability to act, to turn her wisdom into action. Reversed, she can lead seekers astray with suggestions that encourage pride and selfishness. She may also suggest passion out of control, which consumes those who experience it. At her best, she is a light that leads the way to greater wisdom; at worst, she is a nagging, insensitive gossip.

Visions

upright Wisdom ♦ The subconscious ♦ Intuition ♦ Depths ♦ Teaching ♦ Wilfulness ♦ Modesty ♦ The sacred ♦ Fertility of imagination ♦ The natural world

reversed Selfishness ♦ Ignorance ♦ Self-doubt ♦ Intrigue ♦ Gossip ♦ Misjudgement in time of crisis ♦ False direction ♦ Secretiveness

Couplet (from original quatrain VII:16)

Entrée profonde par la grand Roine faicte

Rendra le lieu puissant inaccessible.

When the Great Queen enters the depths

She renders the place powerful and inaccessible.

Prophetic Reference

The loss of the Cinque Ports during the reign of Mary Tudor.

III

THE EMPRESS