Читать книгу Secret suits of the Tarot. Suit of Life - Petr Krylov - Страница 2

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An angel rings the first circle of Hell. No one answers. The angel dials the second. The same tale: he calls the third. After about fifteen determined calls, a breathless little demon finally lifts the receiver and says:

– What do you want, who's there?

– Hey folks, what's going on over there? Where has everyone vanished to?

– We're in chaos! A student wound up here, mistook Hell for DOOM, turned the place upside down—he's already cleared three levels!!!

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Illustration. And once more—the key, so plainly in sight… lies there, watching; where then shall I wander…2

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This book is a continuation of the author's Gallery of Tuning Forks Tarot series.

Through engagement with the Tuning Forks of Tarot, the author discovered that not only individual cards, but entire suits had been extracted from the modern popular deck.3

So, what then, is the true matter at hand?

Upon setting forth to work with Tarot cards, the first thing that greets the eye is the astonishing variety of Tarot decks. At present, there are hundreds, if not thousands, of Tarot deck variations flourishing upon planet Earth.

Today, the Rider–Waite style decks hold the scepter of popularity, perhaps owing to their elaborate interpretations of each card’s meaning. 4

Yet, in our current era, there exists a veritable menagerie of other, even the most exotic, Tarot decks.5

There is, quite frankly, nothing that cannot be found! One encounters abstract-philosophical incarnations; and also erotic decks, more reminiscent of the Kama Sutra; and Luminous decks of manifestly Theurgical inclination; and Shamanic Tarot decks; And even those ominously somber decks of Necromancers. 6789

It would seem that all is well. A commonplace emanation of the Fountain of Life, in all its manifold diversity. Yet the encyclopedic generalists and gentle pedants among the theorists of Tarot furrow their brows in perplexity.

How can this be, dear comrades? After all, according to the classical canon, the Tarot deck is said to describe four quite specific Elements.

These are Earth—Denarii, Coins, which are also Diamonds in a playing card deck.

This is Water—the Cups, also known as Hearts in the playing card deck.

This is Fire—the Swords, also known as Spades in the playing card deck.

This is Air—the Wands, also known as Clubs in the playing card deck.

And so, as it is generally understood, the catalogue of Elements and suits in the popular deck officially concludes.

But is it truly so?

The celebrated principle of correspondence in Hermeticism—'As Above, so Below…'—declares that the Tarot suits must mirror the Elements of tangible objects and the ways in which their interactions are revealed. In a deck, the suits must mirror the Elements just as they do in ‘reality’.

A layout of four suits essentially describes, for the most part, only the world of inanimate matter—for example, the realm of technology.

Yet the living world is utterly impossible without the appearance of such elements as Life and Death.

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Figure: 'Cube of the Elements.' Everything in this world is exceedingly simple. There are two, and, to these, four more.10

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The very suits of hearts and clubs in the ‘ordinary’ deck hint at this quite transparently to the neophyte.

Behold—the Suit of Hearts appears as a distilled emblem, evoking the heart or the lungs. And the pulsation of the heart, the flowing breath, are classical symbols of life itself. So long as a creature draws breath and its heart beats—it persists in living.

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Illustration. The Ace of Hearts in the playing deck.11

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Illustration. And as a certain connoisseur once quipped: 'While I breathe—I live, brother.'12

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Illustration. The Ace of Clubs in the playing deck.13

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Fig. Two destinies have intertwined. Now—one must take its leave.14

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Characteristically, the black sigil of 'Clubs,' in terms of symbolism, altogether describes the very topology of conflict. Two flawed destinies, both ravenous for vengeance, cross paths—and one is 'drawn' into the world of the dead.

It also, in the author’s view, subtly gestures toward the prospect of immortality, should one practice 'non-conflict' and adhere to the principle of 'thou shalt not kill.' But that is a tale for another time.

The existence of two hidden suits within the Tarot—of Life and Death’s—nicely accounts for the lavish diversity of perspective and symbolism that flourishes among the many Tarot decks. It’s simply that in these decks, the familiar quartet of suits is not classical, and one (or even two) are, in essence, replaced by the Suits of Life or (and) Death.

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Thus, it is quite reasonable (at least in the author’s view) to surmise that the playing card deck harbors a subtle hint: in the complete Tarot, the Suits of Life and Death should indeed be present.

An indirect confirmation of this notion is found in the dual resonance of the symbolism of Hearts and Clubs with that of Life and Death. The likelihood of such a coincidence arising by chance is vanishingly small and, in the author’s vision, nothing less than another riddle bequeathed by the Ancients.

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To create a Gallery of visual Tuning Forks—emblematic examples of the Suit of Life—is precisely the aim of this book.

Regrettably, the ‘author’ is compelled to honor the arcane strictures of copyright and is bound by the scarcity of suitable illustrations from freely available sources.

Thus, this Gallery can never lay claim to perfection—nor to wholeness. Rather, this will serve as a sketch, offering a general impression of the subject at hand.

Still, the book may prove useful to all who venture deeply into the Tarot and to those who practice magic.

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