No one knows who created the Tarot, where or when.

Nobody knows what this word means or what language it belongs to.

Nor do we know whether it is the origin of the card game or whether it is merely the culmination of a slow evolution that began with the creation of a game called naïbbe (cards), to which the MAJOR ARCANA and COURT CARDS were added over the years.

The first sure point of reference is the ban on playing cards in Berne in 1376. In 1392, the minutes of Charles Peupart, treasurer of Charles VI, state that Jacquemin Gringonneur of Paris was paid 56 sols to paint three decks of cards in gold. But this does not mean that Gringonneur invented the Tarot...

In 1377, a German monk - Johannes - mentioned a card game he had seen in Switzerland. In Spain, card games were reported to have appeared as early as 1378.

In 1457, Saint Anthony referred to the Tarot in his "Treatise on Theology". And in 1500, a Latin manuscript - "Sermones de ludo cum aliis" - contained a list of the MAJOR ARCANA.

Until the 18th century, the Tarot was considered a game of chance and its deeper meaning went unnoticed. The drawings were copied, transformed, mutilated and embellished; they were adorned with portraits of nobles and used for the splendour of the court. But in 1781, the French author Court de Gébelin rediscovered the Tarot (de Marseille) and presented it in the ninth volume of his "Monde primitif" (Primitive World). Adding a zero to the MAT, mistaking the numbers of the Hermit and Temperance, adding a foot to the table of the Magician (Le Bateleur), transforming the sceptre of the Pope, drawing the Hanged Man standing up, etc., he claimed to correct the 'errors' of the original and, ignoring his inaccuracies, gave the Tarot a purely invented origin: the 22 MAJOR ARCANA were hieroglyphs belonging to the 'Book of Toth' rescued from the ruins of the Egyptian temples over a thousand years ago...

Ten years later, a fashionable diviner, the barber Eteilla, 'restored' the 'meaning' of the Tarot de Marseille and established no less fanciful links between its fanciful Cards and Astrology and the Kabbalah. Since then, thousands of books have been written demonstrating that the Tarot originated with the Egyptians, Chaldeans, Hebrews, Arabs, Hindus, Greeks, Chinese, Mayans, extraterrestrials and superhumans, not to mention Atlantis and Adam himself, who may well have drawn the first sketches! The word TAROT is thought to be Egyptian (TAR: path; RO, ROS, ROB: royal), Indo-Tartaric (TAN-TARA: zodiac), Hebrew (TORA: law), Latin (ROTA: wheel; ORAT: he speaks), Sanskrit (TAT: the whole; TAR-O: fixed star), Chinese (TAO), and so on.

Various ethnic and religious groups and secret societies have claimed it as their own: Gypsies, Jews, Masons, Rosicrucians, Sufists... There are influences from the Gospels and the Apocalypse – in such cards as LE MONDE (The World), LE PENDU (The Hanged Man), L’IMPERATRICE (The Empress), LA JUSTICE (Justice), TEMPERANCE (Temperance), LA FORCE (Strength), LE DIABLE (The Devil), LE PAPE (The Pope), LE IUGEMENT (Judgment) – , Tantric teachings, the I Ching and the Aztec Solar Calendar. Some see the Tarot as a work of alchemy, kabbalism, astrology or arithmomancy. Every society, every esoteric nucleus, every branch of magic, every Initiate, every nationality, every artist then feels the need to finally paint the true Tarot...

Over the last two hundred years, more than seven thousand new decks have appeared! Hundreds of old cards have been rescued from libraries in the hope of recovering the original Arcana!

From this tangle of limited, naïve, fantastic, mercantile, pseudo-historical, romantic, schizophrenic, vain or watered-down interpretations, from this superimposition of dogmatisms and systems, finally springs the TAROT DE MARSEILLE, an authentic monument, anonymous as is all sacred art, defined in these terms by the occultist Eliphas Levi: "It is a monumental and singular work, as simple and strong as the architecture of the pyramids, and therefore as durable as them; a book that sums up all the sciences and whose infinite combinations can solve all problems; a book that speaks while making us think; an inspirer and regulator of all possible conceptions: perhaps the masterpiece of the human mind, and undoubtedly one of the most beautiful things left to us by antiquity; a universal clavicle, a veritable philosophical machine that prevents the mind from wandering astray, while allowing it initiative and freedom; it is mathematics applied to the absolute, it is the alliance of the positive with the ideal, it is a lottery of thoughts all rigorously right like numbers, it is finally perhaps what human genius has ever conceived both simplest and greatest" ("Dogme et rituel de la haute magie" - Dogma and Ritual of High Magic - , 1854.)

Unfortunately, E. Levi, like Gébelin and Eteilla, despite his immense intuition, disdained the TAROT DE MARSEILLE, finding it "exoteric" and inventing what he called "esoteric" cards, creating his own Tarot.

He linked each Trump of the Tarot with one of the 22 letters of the Hebrew alphabet, disregarded the MINOR ARCANA and placed the MAT between keys 20 and 21. Since then, very few have been able to get rid of this personal vision and literally see the original TAROT.

Without wishing to acknowledge that the MAT is a mystery, without number, which is nowhere and everywhere, countless theories have made it THE FOOL and given it the number 0 or 22. Everyone, like in "Cinderella", is prepared to cut off a piece of their foot to be able to put on the " GLASS " slipper.

In order to make the Tarot coincide with the XXII Paths of the Tree of Life of the Ten Sephiroth of the Kabbalistic Tradition, Arthur Edwards Waite, an English occultist and member of the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn, inverted the numbers of LA FORCE (Strength) and LA JUSTICE (Justice), transformed L’AMOUREUX (The Lover) into LES AMOUREUX (The lovers) and falsified the meaning of all the MAJOR ARCANA...

A. Crowley, an occultist belonging to the Order of the Temple of the East (O.T.O.), once again changed the names, meaning and order of the cards. LA JUSTICE (Justice) becomes ADJUSTMENT; LA FORCE (Strength), LUXURY; TEMPERANCE (Temperance), ART; LE JUGEMENT (Judgment), AEON. He eliminates the PAGES and KNIGHTS and turns them into PRINCES and PRINCESSES...

It is curious and revealing, when observing the various variations that more or less enlightened interpreters have subjected the TAROT DE MARSEILLE to, to see how, copying the errors of their predecessors, they in fact attribute a 'traditional' meaning to it.

Oswald Wirth, a Swiss occultist, mason and member of the Theosophical Society, drew his Tarot, introducing not only medieval costumes, Egyptian sphinxes, the Chinese symbol of the Tao, E. Levi's version of the devil, etc., and is inspired more by Court de Gébelin's clumsy version – see his MAISON DIEU (The God House), his TEMPERANCE (Temperance), his JUSTICE (Justice), his PAPE (The Pope), his AMOUREUX (The Lover) – than by the real TAROT DE MARSEILLE... Some scholars have gone so far as to claim that the TAROT DE MARSEILLE is a naive version of the Tarot de Gébelin!... Thousands of followers of an American Rosicrucian sect claim that the Egyptian Tarot by R. Falconnier – then a member of the Comédie Française, he published it in 1896 and dedicated it to A. Dumas fils – is the original sacred deck...

Two centuries of dreams and lies. Piles of books and printed cards in search of a secret within everyone's reach, waiting to be discovered only by the arrows of a correct reading: THE TAROT DE MARSEILLE.

After studying the Tarot for over forty years, I met Philippe CAMOIN in Paris. He is the direct descendant of the Camoin family, the last Marseilles Tarot printers. The origins of the factory date back to 1760, when it was founded by Nicolas Conver, who engraved the most famous Tarot de Marseille, Nicolas Conver's Tarot de Marseille (republished in 1965 by the Camoin House).

From our first meeting, we decided to work together on reconstructing the Tarot de Marseille as it was originally. With secret facts about its history, manufacture, tradition and symbolism, and original printing plates, only we could reconstruct the original Tarot de Marseille. We have studied and compared by computer countless versions of the Tarot de Marseille, including Nicolas Conver's Tarot, Dodal's Tarot, François Tourcaty's Tarot, Fautrier's Tarot, Jean-Pierre Payen's Tarot, Bernardin Suzanne's Tarot, the Lequart's Tarot de Besançon, and so on.

The difficulty of such reconstruction work lies in the fact that the Tarot de Marseille is made up of closely interwoven and interconnected symbols. It is therefore necessary to be fully aware of the plan and true intention of its creators in order to carry out such work without danger.

In the seventeenth century, there were many printers of the Tarot de Marseille. Eighteenth-century Tarot decks are copied from them, so it cannot be claimed that an eighteenth-century Tarot is the original Tarot. It is then easy to accept that even the 1760 Nicolas Conver's Tarot contains errors and omissions. So where have all these seventeenth-century decks gone?

If we no longer have any trace of them, it's simply because people of that era recycled old cards to make business cards.

Although Tarot drawings were originally hand-painted, they were subsequently produced in large quantities using different methods from one period to the next. Each new method brought its own limitations in terms of the richness of the strokes and the number of colours used.

The stencil colouring method did not allow for great precision, and above all, it imposed a relatively limited number of colours. A game made for a king was much richer in colour than one made for the general public. The number of colours used was also limited when industrial printing machines were introduced in the 19th century.

The fact that numerous copies of the Tarot de Marseille were printed by different printers at different times with such similarity proves that there was an original common canon. Depending on the printer, the lines and colours were reproduced more or less faithfully. Printers who were not at all initiated into symbolism simplified the original canon to the extreme. Those who copied them added error to error. When we study all the Tarots that have come down to us, we realise that some of them are simply copies of an older Tarot. Thus we can find obvious errors copied from one Tarot to another more recent one, proving that the latter is only a weakened clone of the former. It is therefore advisable not to attribute to it an esoteric value that it does not possess.

Conversely, some Tarots have absolutely identical and superimposable layouts, and yet each of them has authentic esoteric symbols in their rightful place that do not appear in the others. In this case, there can be no cloning between them: on the contrary, we can deduce that these similar Tarots were copied from an older Tarot which has now disappeared. It is this original Tarot that we have sought to reconstruct and restore to Tarot lovers.

Until now, the Tarot deck that came closest to this ideal was the Paul Marteau's Tarot. However, as far as the layout is concerned, it is an exact copy of the Tarot de Besançon published by Grimaud at the end of the 19th century, which itself reproduces another Tarot de Besançon published by Lequart and signed "Arnoult 1748", as can be seen from the computer superimposition of these three decks.

While the colours used in successive editions of the Nicolas Conver Tarot are fairly consistent with the colours of the Tradition, an 1880 edition of the 1760 Nicolas Conver's Tarot used colours that had nothing to do with the said Tradition. However, it was the colours of this edition that were used by Paul Marteau. These colours were undoubtedly recommended to the Conver factory (now the Camoin factory) by someone who was more oriented towards Psychology than Symbolism; they are not those chosen by the Initiates who originally transmitted the Tarot de Marseille, and therefore represent an intrusion into the transmission of initiatory knowledge. Although the interpretation of these colours may prove interesting for a beginner or a psychologist, it will provoke conflicts in the mind of the disciple and will ultimately be rejected by the Initiate.

For these reasons, I had to make the immense effort of abandoning more than forty years of work memorising Paul Marteau's Tarot and accept, despite my pain, the Traditional Truth.

New computer printing techniques have enabled us to give the features and colours of the Tarot de Marseille a degree of precision never before achieved.

The TAROT DE MARSEILLE consists of one card (key/trump/arcanum) without a number, LE MAT, and XXI cards numbered in Roman numerals, called the MAJOR ARCANA:

I LE BATELEUR (The Magician)
II LA PAPESSE (The Popess)
III L’IMPÉRATRICE (The Impress)
IIII L’EMPEREUR (The Emperor)
V LE PAPE (The Pope)
VI L’AMOVREVX (The Lover)
VII LE CHARIOT (The Chariot)
VIII LA JUSTICE (Justice)
VIIII L’HERMITE (The Hermit)
X LA ROUE DE FORTUNE (The Wheel of Fortune)
XI LA FORCE (Strength)
XII LE PENDU (The Hanged Man)
XIII This Arcanum represents an unnamed skeleton
XIIII TEMPERANCE (Temperance)
XV LE DIABLE (The Devil)
XVI LA MAISON-DIEV (The God House)
XVII L’ETOILE (The Star)
XVIII LA LUNE (The Moon)
XVIIII LE SOLEIL (The Sun)
XX LE JUGEMENT (Judgment)
XXI LE MONDE (The World)
Then 40 cards, the MINOR ARCANA, which it would be more correct to call COLOURS and divided into 4 series: three numbered in Roman numerals from I to X and one without a number. The first three series include BÂTONS (Wands), ÉPÉES (Swords) and COUPES (Cups). The fourth: DENIERS (Coins). Finally, there is a last series of 16 cards called COURT CARDS or FACE CARDS. A correct study of the Tarots places the figures in this order:

- THE PAGES - THE QUEENS - THE KINGS - THE KNIGHTS

So 78 Cards, neither major nor minor, but all fundamental.

In the CAMOIN-JODOROWSKY TAROT DE MARSEILLE, there are ten colours, each carrying multiple meanings (to which must be added tiny spots of violet):

- BLACK - RED - LIGHT GREEN - DARK GREEN – FLESH COLOUR - LIGHT BLUE - DARK BLUE - LIGHT YELLOW - DARK YELLOW - WHITE

We realise that four of these colours are not divided into "light" and "dark". They are White, Black and Red, the three colours of the Alchemical Work, and the Flesh colour, the territory of the human being where the alchemical mutation operates.

TAROT constantly refuses symmetry: never is the right side the same as the left, never is the upper part the same as the lower. The same applies to certain cards, such as the Ace of Coins, the 2 of Swords, the 8 of Swords and the 2 of Wands. If you observe them carefully, you will realise that their apparent resemblance conceals dissimilarities when you turn them over.

With each step we discover new 'errors' which, through their systematic repetition, acquire meaning. LE MAT, the central character in L'AMOVREVX, the character in LE CHARIOT, LA JUSTICE, L'HERMITE, the character in ARCANUM XIII, LE DIABLE, the character who comes out of the door of LA MAISON-DIEV, a character in LE SOLEIL, the woman in LE JUGEMENT, have only four fingers on one or both hands... A leg is missing from the table in LE BATELEUR and half of a column and axle from the wheel in LA ROUE DE FORTUNE. The weighing scales in LA JUSTICE are of a different size. The body of LE CHARIOT is embedded in the ground, and its driver does not have a complete cranial cavity. The figures facing LE PAPE have red tonsures. The crown of LA PAPESSE comes out of the frame. The foot of LA FORCE could have six fingers. The bull or ox or horse of LE MONDE has no halo. L’ÉTOILE seems to have a deformed leg. The crown of LA MAISON-DIEV connected by a line to the body of the building is less wide than the tower supporting it. And so on.

The TAROT DE MARSEILLE is drawn inside a rectangle which is a double square called, by the alchemists, the Genesis rectangle or long silver square. This geometric figure leads us directly to the GOLDEN NUMBER. The characters of the TAROT, not limited by this frame, are lost above and below; some, on the left or right, indicate the existence of an invisible, celestial, subterranean, positive, negative, eternal and infinite kingdom that bathes each ARCANUM.

There is a geometric grid constructed in such a way that, with the double square in the centre, there are, on the outside, references to larger circles and rectangles. We can therefore suggest the existence of an invisible Tarot of 78 geometric grids as hidden as the meaning of the 78 visible Cards.

It then becomes clear that, as the card has been created according to a unit of measurement, there are close links between each detail of the different ARCANA.

So the MAT's staff is the same length as the sceptre of L’IMPERATRICE (The Empress), the sceptre of LE PAPE (The Pope), the staff of L’HERMITE (The Hermit), the handle of the sickle of ARCANUM XIII, and so on. The wand of LE BATELEUR (The Magician) fits perfectly into the light blue diagonal line running across the chest of LE PAPE (The Pope). It is also similar to the three arms of the cross of LE PAPE (The Pope), to the arrow of L'AMOVREVX (The Lover), to the red shape between the two horses of LE CHARIOT (The Chariot), to the lamp of L'HERMITE (The Hermit), to the sword of the sphinx of LA ROUE DE FORTUNE (The Wheel of Fortune), and so on. This "standard wand" can also be found in NUMBERED CARDS and COURT CARDS.

This confirms that the 78 ARCANA were created by a single spirit, individual or collective, and that in no way were the 22 MAJOR ARCANA added later, as some theories claim.

The ACE OF COINS is part of the composition of the TWO OF COINS. One of its circles is inscribed inside the red semi-circle of the ACE OF CUPS, a card where we again find, but this time horizontal and supporting seven small arcs, the wand of the Bateleur (the Magician) ...

It is then obvious that the TAROT DE MARSEILLE was designed on transparent Cards and AS A WHOLE. The 78 Cards can be organised like a jigsaw puzzle to form a unitary design, a MANDALA whose centre may well be the arcanum LE MONDE (The World) ...

There are several keys that lead to this UNIFYING VISION of the Tarot. For example, if we observe the series of ten SWORDS, we will notice that they come in pairs (2 and 3, 4 and 5, 6 and 7, then a trio formed by numbers 8, 9 and 10), that the even-numbered contain flowers in their centre and the odd-numbered ones contain swords. One of the lessons of the TAROT DE MARSEILLE is that it is difficult to understand the parts without seeing the work as a whole.

The ARCANA, apart from their individual possibilities, relate to each other, creating pairs, trios and finally sentences, poems and then whole speeches.

We are faced with an optical alphabet that transmits knowledge not through sounds but through figures, shapes and colours... Which does not exclude the possibility of giving each ARCANUM a musical value.

Although we have already written that no one knew who created it, or where, or when, we nevertheless feel it necessary to ask this question, if only to envisage the beginnings of an answer in the question itself. The time needed to create such a monumental work, to bring together such encyclopaedic knowledge and such a level of consciousness, is such that one man alone would not have had enough of three hundred years of hard daily work to achieve it. Either we accept that it is a revealed book (which to a religious mind would be tantamount to saying 'created' by God), or we come to the conclusion that it can only be the work of a group of men who produced it over many generations, or, as some alchemists claim, that the author was an individual who lived for several centuries. Whichever theory is adopted, it is necessary to understand that it was built in secrecy over several hundred years. Why such secrecy and such hard work? The TAROT DE MARSEILLE is the work of a superior spirit, whether individual or collective. This entity, which possessed a mathematical, geometric, scientific and architectural knowledge infinitely superior to that of its time (it is interesting to note that the TAROT DE MARSEILLE is the precursor, a few centuries ahead of its time, of psychoanalysis and that it corresponds perfectly to the genetic code), defied time and worked tirelessly to bring into the world a teaching that had to be anonymous. An unprecedented act of love! To bring about a gradual change in mentalities and develop its potential, the Tarot could only be an instrument with no historical era, no nationality and belonging to no known doctrinal teaching. It had to be a complete system capable of illustrating and awakening without reference to other systems. It had to be neither alchemical (weren't there already enough treatises on alchemy?), nor astrological (weren't these sciences taught at university?), nor kabbalistic (weren't the Hebrew alphabet and the Torah enough?), nor an interpretation of the Gospels (hadn't the Apostles given a full account of Christ's teachings?) ...

The TAROT DE MARSEILLE is a message sent from the depths of the centuries, free of all limits, with the aim of becoming the key to the Unique Arcanum (Arcana in Latin: mystery or secret) which is none other than CONSCIOUSNESS. Today, directly or indirectly, millions of people have come into contact with the Tarot... The Tarot will soon become an indispensable ally of medicine, particularly psychoanalysis. It will influence HUMAN ART, which leads to SACRED ART. It will develop collective intuition, enabling it to use its parapsychological potential...

The TAROT DE MARSEILLE, without determined authors or geographical, historical or ideological roots, is situated in the INFINITE FREEDOM of Consciousness and refuses the religions and temples that could be practised or built in its name. It is only a humble and grandiose instrument at the service of the Cosmos. The venerable entity proposes that each of us should become one of the creators of the Tarot. It offers us a structure that we must populate and inhabit, thus enabling us to collaborate in this Great Work.

OBJECTIVE RECALL

It is necessary to understand that the Tarot, before being a 'knowledge' in itself, was conceived as a 'key' to KNOWLEDGE. This is why, at the beginning of this study, we must not look for definitions, ideas or concepts. Intellectual experience must be set aside and all knowledge forgotten. The same applies to those who have studied other versions of the Tarot, Alchemy, Kabbalah, Astrology or any other science, religion or philosophical system, to avoid any judgement or desire to establish concordances.

It is necessary to LOOK, to OBSERVE, to SEE each Arcanum objectively without imagining or drawing conclusions. This exercise, which seems simple but turns out to be surprisingly complex, should be carried out for each of the 78 cards. Observe the position of the hands, the body, the clothes, the objects, the direction of the gaze, the place occupied by the smallest detail, the number of lines, the relationships between the colours, the "errors" in the centre, the top, the bottom, the side, the measurements of each element, etc.

This work must be done for EACH TAROT ARCANUM. Comparative inventories can be drawn up. What are the characters holding? Where are they sitting? What is the relationship between the crowns, shields, sceptres and staffs? What does the floor look like? What colour are the shoes? What is the direction of the gaze, the position of the legs, the colour of the hair? Are the flowers open or closed, and at what stage of development? How big are the swords? How are COINS and CUPS grouped? What are the differences between clothes and hats? Who is the shortest, the tallest? How big are the urns? How are the colours distributed?... Memorising and introjecting! Once this stage has been completed, the researcher should be able to see the shapes, colours, numbers and names of the 78 cards scrolling past, one after the other, with eyes closed and in the finest detail.

The Tarot is a system that is essentially constructed with the imagination. The entity that created it deliberately introduced enigmas and distortions of form, leaving certain aspects deliberately unfinished, refusing to accentuate certain strokes, taking drawings out of the frame, breaking symmetry and placing details that are not visible to the naked eye. The Arcana have the power to evoke other images by association.

For example, if you look at the left leg of the figure in L’ÉTOILE (The Star), you might see a child's bottom. On the lower edge of LA LUNE (The Moon), to the left of the card, you might see the head of a dromedary... The purpose of this is to get a semi-oniric activity going. Facing the card, the seeker will first imagine the rest of the drawing beyond the rectangle in each of the 22 major arcana.

What other elements does the table of LE BATELEUR (The Magician), which becomes a triangle at a given point, have? What is its fourth leg like? Does it really end in a point or is it infinite? And the leg at the centre of the table, the one that sticks out of the frame, how far does it go? To the centre of the earth? Does it have roots? Does it communicate with an underground kingdom? What's behind the tree like a yellow door? How far does the yellow cord of the hat reach into the sky? How does the shape of the hat continue? What does the elbow of the left arm touch? Where is the stick pointing and how far is it pointing? What is LE BATELEUR (The Magician) looking at? How does the landscape continue? etc. Then use your imagination to answer the riddles on the card. Let's continue with LE BATELEUR: what's in the purse? Is the flesh-coloured table alive? What is the figure hiding under the table? Could the belt be a snake? Is the ribbon on the hat a light, something emerging from the skull of LE BATELEUR?

What is LE PENDU (The Hanged Man) holding in his hands? Is he hiding a weapon? A secret book? Are his wrists tied? Cut?

What energies are contained in the tower of LA MAISON DIEV (The God House)? What can be found inside? Does the tongue of fire come out or go in? Is it fire? Is it an entity? Is it a noise? What does the body of each naked character look like?

What's behind the veil of LA PAPESSE (The Popess)?

Is the driver of LE CHARIOT (The Chariot) a prince, a hermaphrodite, a dwarf on a chair? Does it have the power of 2 horses? Is this chariot of flesh bringing it into the world, directing it? Does LE CHARIOT (The Chariot) have roots? Do the columns reach all the way to the sky? Do the faces on its shoulders speak? Where does it come from? Where is it going?

Does L'HERMITE (The Hermit) raise a lamp full of blood? Is he cold? etc.

Each culture, religion and tradition has its own version of colour symbolism. However, there is a common thread: the "battle" between light and darkness gives rise to colour. Colour is light modified by darkness, density. Depending on whether light or darkness predominates, the range of colours appears.

- predominantly dark: blue, indigo, violet ;

- balance between light and dark: green ;

- white is the highest purity.

In darkness, we can find a range from ignorance to receptivity. With light, we can move from senseless action to knowledge...

Before attempting to give a symbolic meaning to the 10 colours of the RECONSTRUCTED TAROT DE MARSEILLE, the researcher must carry out this exercise: eliminate nine colours from his attention and think of only one. For example, YELLOW.

The researcher, with the Tarot spread out in front of him, will try to find the yellow. He will look at it very carefully, card by card, then as a whole. He will see all the yellow parts at a glance. He will feel the vibration of the yellow and the effect it has on his mind. He will integrate the colour into his mind. His body, his consciousness, his memory will be tinged with yellow. The world, the solar system, the universe will be yellow. Then the colour will travel the opposite path from totality to unity, becoming itself again, and finally he will see it on the Tarot in its entirety, only to stop at the yellow of a detail.

This exercise should be done successively with all ten colours.

This 'living', this 'being the colour', this totalisation of the tone will enable us to understand its immeasurable positive and negative aspects, and will be the source of a plurality of interpretations.

Some cards attract more attention than others. Some appear "positive", others "unpleasant", and a third category, the least numerous, produces an effect of child terror. Indifference is possible. Mastery of the Tarot is achieved when the cards are no longer unpleasant or silent. Until we establish a close contact with each of the ARCANA, a relationship of LOVE, we cannot claim to know this pack of cards. That's why you have to look at each card, detail after detail. Mysteries will arise with each step...

Why is Adam's apple of L'IMPÉRATRICE (The Empress) so large? Why is the "egg" attached by two yellow laces entwined under the feet of the figure of LE MONDE (The World)? Why is the thumb of the gloved hand of LE PAPE (The Pope) so large that it ends up mingling with the material of the cross itself? Why is the head of LA FORCE (The Strength) separated from his body by a line, making it less real? Why is there a "half-moon" on the back of the neck of L'HERMITE (The Hermit)? Why does the pot held in the left hand of the character in L’ÉTOILE (The Star) touch the heel of his deformed leg, resting on his sex while the "water" poured touches the heel of the other foot, while the pot held in his right hand touches the knee and spills its liquid near the tip of the other foot? Why does the yellow animal in LA ROUE DE FORTUNE (The Wheel of Fortune) have ears wrapped with a ribbon and a detached tail? Why, in LA LUNE (The Moon), does the blue animal near the tower with the open battlements have a raised tail and the other – near the covered tower – seems to be licking the last "drop" – a drooping tail? Why, in the scales of LA JUSTICE (Justice), is the left-hand pan larger than the right-hand pan? Why does the stick in LE MAT sink into a plant? Why is the figure in the yellow rectangle of LE JUGEMENT (Judgment) touching the woman's elbow with his elbow, and why is there a small ladder with 9 bars between his shoulder blades? Why does the left arm of the character in LE CHARIOT (The Chariot) seem to be held by a rope? Why is the figure to the left of LE SOLEIL (The Sun) standing still on a mound? etc.

At this stage of his investigations, the researcher must be very careful. The characteristic of dream language is that it is ambiguous. The drawings are made in such a way that the mind will immediately project a definition onto them and try to enclose them in concepts. This definition will be a portrait: WHAT WE SEE IN THE TAROT DE MARSEILLE IS WHAT WE ARE AT THE PRECISE INSTANT OF OUR READING.

This is why great care must be taken not to fall into the trap of believing that what the symbol represents is what we "see". The seeker must go beyond his personal vision to enrich it. If it seems to him that L’EMPEREUR (The Emperor) is striking the eagle's wing with his heel and that he is sitting on it, thus preventing it from taking flight, he must force himself to see the figure full of goodness who is also helping the animal to take flight... It may be that the eagle is supporting the throne to prevent it from falling into the abyss. Perhaps the most powerful character is the bird, while the Emperor draws his life force from his heel...

Arcana are like chameleons. Stood on a rock, the animal, without losing its shape, acquires its colour. The Arcana vary according to whether they are in contact with people of different ages, genders and personalities. They change with the times, the seasons, the events because they are mirrors. They are neither this nor that. They are this and that, or only this and that, and vice versa. THEY ARE! And when the Tarots are drawn, they suddenly take on meaning when placed in relation to other cards and the person for whom the Tarot is being read.

Each Arcanum will have to be interpreted in the most negative way possible in order, little by little, to reach its exaltation. LE CHARIOT (The Chariot), for example, ranges from immobility, laziness, captivity in matter, powerlessness to the triumph of the spirit, of life, and of the cosmic consciousness of the active God. At first glance, the MAT represents insanity and the ARCANUM XIII represents destruction. To know the Tarot, you have to go through madness and death.

The next step is to inoculate yourself with the cards, to give yourself a real injection.

The Arcana already memorised and charged with meaning will then have to live in our minds. With our eyes closed and concentrated, we see the MAT approaching, with whom we are going to establish a relationship, talk to him, dance with him, listen to him. He will show us what he hides in his pouch, how his bells ring, what his relationship is with his animal...

Little by little we will melt into him and become the MAT: from madness we will move on to the creation of the Universe; from foolishness we will fall into abysses and revolve around our stick like cosmic energy. The red sphere on the brim of our bonnet will transmit its energy to us; it will be our soul. We will have destructive instincts, we will dissolve into Chaos, we will engender the Word... etc.

Each Arcanum will be experienced, seen from far and near, will travel through our bloodstream, changing meaning according to the organs visited and then growing until it becomes cosmic. We will go through it on the outside and on the inside, we will give birth to it, possess it, it will possess us, it will be our father and our mother, it will stretch from darkness to light, from the human to the divine, from horror to beauty... LA MAISON DIEV (The God House) will be God and Demon and like Dante we will enter it and visit its successive circles of Paradise and Hell.

Little by little, we will bring the Arcana to life in our minds as an assembly of entities.

We'll do some exercises, talking like Tarot cards. What does LE BATELEUR (The Magician) say? What does TEMPERANCE (Temperance), LA ROUE DE FORTUNE (The Wheel of Fortune), say?

Then we will move like the Arcana and will be able to interpret musically and dance each card.

Finally, we will use the Arcana as keys to other disciplines. The Tarot will organise our knowledge of alchemy, graphology, kabbalism and numerology. We will be able to recognise it in the Gospels, in Gothic art, in Taoism, in Hindu philosophy, in Islamic mysticism and in chess. It will enable us to understand dreams and enigmatic writings. It will enable us to enter the world of archaeology, poetry, psychoanalysis, genetics, botany and sacred architecture. We will be able to interpret magical rituals, understand the language of symbols... And finally, we will possess, without ever ceasing to learn from it, THE ART OF READING TAROT.

ARCANA can have multiple meanings. The "negativity" or "positivity" of the card has nothing to do with whether it is upright or upside down. IT'S IMPORTANT TO UNDERSTAND THAT THE TAROT IS A LANGUAGE AND THAT THE ARCANA ARE AN ALPHABET. DEPENDING ON HOW THEY ARE LAID OUT, THE CARDS CONVEY DIFFERENT MESSAGES. When reading the Tarot, the ARCANA can evolve and acquire not only two meanings (upright, upside down) but also 360 others depending on the angle from which they are viewed. A card will change depending on whether it is placed horizontally, diagonally, vertically, next to another, on top of another, under another, crossed with another, enclosed in a circle, in a square, near a corner, etc. It will change its meaning depending on the detail, colour or design that attracts our attention at that moment. It will take on distinct ages, it will change sex, it will become feelings, desires or ideas. ARCANA are not enclosed objects with fixed definitions, but open structures that immediately give rise to fertile contradictions.

The Suits in the Tarot are much more difficult to interpret because their symbols are abstract and secret. They do not 'speak' as easily as the MAJOR ARCANA, and understanding them requires both deep study and close examination. Thus, although the majority of studies of the Major Arcana and their meanings are coherent, those proposed for the Minor Arcana are in some cases quite extravagant because they are not based on OBSERVATION OF THE DRAWING OF THE CARDS... As with the Major Arcana, these cards are ambiguous and must be EVALUATED by the student.

The four series from I to X are divided into a basic unit: the Ace; three Pairs (2/3, 4/5, 6/7) and a Triad: 8/9/10... It is the four Aces that give us the essential meaning of the series. We see that the Ace of Wands (Bâton) and the Ace of Swords (Épée) are ACTIVE because they are wielded by a hand and surrounded by little 'sparks' that are aligned and proliferating. The Cup (Coupe) and the Coin (Denier) are PASSIVE. Although the Wand is a fragment of Nature - well chosen but not worked - the Ace's red sword reveals the work of the blacksmith and its purpose: to enter the crown... Although the Cup shows an expansive attitude, it is surmounted by a Temple. The Coin, on the other hand, is the bearer of an extreme concentration that intensely compels it to produce, like a seed, the buds of a new life... The Wand becomes a Sword, the Sword a Cup, the Cup a Coin and the Coin a Wand... The Wand could correspond to the primordial, instinctive, creative, sexual force. It is the work of the WOODCUTTER, of the FARMER, of the LABOURER. It represents enterprise, desire, authority, primary aggression, stubbornness, brute force, insemination, masculinity, etc. The Sword could be the Word, intellectual strength, reason, spiritual work. It is the activity of the BLACKSMITH, of the WARRIOR. It represents elegance, intelligence, spiritual wealth, mental aggression, valor, intrepidity, legal force, ambition, hypocrisy, misfortune, slander, justice, conscience... The Cup could be intuition, emotional life, faith, everything that refers to the heart. It is the activity of the GOLDSMITH, of the PRIEST. It represents love, happiness, emotional disappointment, selfishness, generosity, bitterness, mercy, faith, pleasure, joy, optimism, passions and so on. The Coin could be physical, material fulfilment, bodily orgasm, mastery. It is the activity of the CONTROLLING CIVIL SERVANT, of the MERCHANT. In the Coin consciousness and unconsciousness are united. It is the body imbued with spirit and mundane materiality. It is money and it is the aura of the saint. It is material work and yoga work, compromise, union and disunity. It is miserable reality and the zodiac. It is sickness and health, etc. If we observe carefully, we will see that the series of three pairs from II to VII starts from inactivity, from the latent forces found in numbers 2, explodes into uncontrolled action in numbers 3, achieves stability in numbers 4, becomes richer and ascends from the material world to the spiritual in numbers 5, becomes balanced and acquires beauty in numbers 6 and finally explodes again into realised, but controlled, spiritual action in numbers 7... Arriving at the triad 8/9/10, we see that the 8 is the sign of a stable, complete, inert realisation, stripped for the Wands, concentrated on the Swords, luminous in the Cups and balanced in the Coins... The numbers 9 manage to break the cycle and give new life, transforming the circle into a spiral (ascending or descending). The 9 of Wands strengthens the 8 and leads it to the New Way... The 9 of Swords pulls the 8 out of its "DARK NIGHT" and leads it to the new LIGHT... The 9 of Cups pulls the 8 into a new dimension where detachment from emotional egoism is the key. The 9 of Coins approaches creation from a cosmic point of view where heaven and earth, bottom and top, the Conscious and the Unconscious, unite... The numbers 10 are androgynous cards which completely sublimate the value of their colour to transmute it in the following series... The 10 of Wands, with its two blue and red axes has the flexibility and finesse of the Ace of Swords. The 10 of Swords, with two swords penetrating its oval, heralds a change from activity to passivity like the Ace of Cups. The 10 of Cups, in its purity and fullness, no longer has to receive or give and, in the largest cup of its design, it reveals the centre of the Ace of Coins: a four-petalled flower. As the whole series has evolved, the 10 of Coins, protecting itself with the leaves that cover its yellow circles, bursts into a vast opening towards the upper and lower worlds, and its negativity becomes active positivity, in the same way as the Ace of Wands...

THE MALE
WAND: HARD AND SOFT
SWORD: LONG AND SHORT

THE FEMALE
CUP: DRY AND WET
COIN: DILATED AND CLOSED...

WANDS: POSITIVE-POSITIVE
SWORDS: POSITIVE-NEGATIVE
CUPS: NEGATIVE-NEGATIVE
COINS: NEGATIVE-POSITIVE

CARDS 2/4/6/8: WOMEN
CARDS 3/5/7/9: MEN

By way of example and in broad strokes, we give a possible meaning to the Suits. It is obvious that the student must develop his perception and, in the light of the interpretation of each detail, put in contact with the consultant and the other cards, arrive at a distinct interpretation with each reading. The probable meaning we present contains, for each aspect, its negation. Naturally, if an Arcanum is defined as "dominant", this also implies its opposite "submissive", but also, in another position, "Dominated by his submission", "The spirit of domination subdues him and ruins his relationships", etc.

ONE

ONE OF WANDS: creation, domination, sex.
ONE OF SWORDS: self-confidence, intellect, victory through courage.
ONE OF CUPS: communication, love, talent, mysticism.
ONE OF COINS: Material success, money, complete orgasm, health, wisdom.

TWO

TWO OF WANDS: Immaturity, strength in gestation, sexual weakness, incompatibility.
TWO OF SWORDS: Lazy intellect, daydreaming, unstable balance, disloyalty, lies, lack of conscience.
TWO OF CUPS: great affectivity contained, inner preparation, desire to love without knowing how, dissatisfaction.
TWO OF COINS: Union which is not progressing, message, material and spiritual wealth which must be used.

THREE

THREE OF WANDS: Enthusiastic action, new desire.
THREE OF SWORDS: struggle sustained by mental strength, victory over the physical, idealism that can lead to disappointment.
THREE OF CUPS: idealised love with an Oedipal basis. Consolation, healing, lack of appreciation.
THREE OF COINS: Luck, elevation, skill, contact with a new dimension.

FOUR

FOUR OF WANDS: Recently acquired prosperity. Wishes come true. Fear of not measuring up.
FOUR OF SWORDS: Slow fulfilment of an achievement, the beginning of spiritual peace.
FOUR OF CUPS: quiet love, agreement through balance, boredom, new knowledge.
FOUR OF COINS: Project halted by constraints, reality full of possibilities to develop, avarice, desire to mature.

FIVE

FIVE OF WANDS: desire to obtain something new without giving up what you already have.
FIVE OF SWORDS: Struggle to penetrate higher spheres, new point of view, jealousy, material moorings hinder the realisation of ideals.
FIVE OF CUPS: Opening the heart, euphoria, imbalance, deceiving yourself.
FIVE OF COINS: New interest in materiality, going beyond.

SIX

SIX OF WANDS: conquest, halting evolution to allow perfection, unstable sexual pleasure.
SIX OF SWORDS: fertility, success after anxiety, mental positivity, strength.
SIX OF CUPS: nostalgia, plans, emotional balance desires a change but does not work to obtain it.
SIX OF COINS: psychic strength exerting its domination over the elements, success in its undertakings, generosity.

SEVEN

SEVEN OF WANDS: success, energy, fulfilment, violence, sexual passion.
SEVEN OF SWORDS: positive mental destruction that eliminates psychic aggression, negative magic.
SEVEN OF CUPS: true love that converges on spiritual works.
SEVEN OF COINS: cosmic balance, balance between matter and psyche, humanist affairs.

EIGHT

EIGHT OF WANDS: sexual stability, tireless activity, authority without sudden movements, purity.
EIGHT OF SWORDS: Powerful mental concentration, creative emptiness, crisis, despair.
EIGHT OF CUPS: happiness, continuous effort to achieve total success, present joy justified by a painful past and a source of joie de vivre.
EIGHT OF COINS: balance of the poles, harmony of the worlds, perfect work.

NINE

NINE OF WANDS: implacable domination of the passions, transition between life and death, new life, new rupture.
NINE OF SWORDS: new faith, spiritual light, definitive psychic change, struggle from matter to evolution, breaking of mental habits.
NINE OF CUPS: success of emotional aspirations, abundance, salvation, love of humanity.
NINE OF COINS: cosmic consciousness, unattainable harmony between the spiritual and the material, birth into another dimension.

TEN

TEN OF WANDS: sublimated instinct giving power in the psychic field.
TEN OF SWORDS: beginning of harmony between evolved matter and the mind. Objective vision of reality.
TEN OF CUPS: separation from all emotional ties with a view to spiritual evolution, universal love.
TEN OF COINS: prosperity, success, holiness, balance, union with the cosmos, harmony between Consciousness and Unconsciousness.

If we look closely at these cards, we will see that they evolve from the VALET (Page), the REYNE (Queen) and the ROY (King) to the CAVALIER (Knight). The Pages, Kings and Queens form a triad in which it is difficult to include the Knight. The King of Swords carries a naked sword. The Queen of Swords carries a red sword, but as if protected by a scabbard. The Page of Swords carries a naked sword in his left hand and a flesh-coloured scabbard in his right hand, signifying that he carries both masculinity and femininity. The King of Cups holds an open cup. The Queen of Cups holds a closed cup. The Page of Cups holds an open cup but keeps the lid in the other hand ready to close it. The King of Coins holds a coin leaning down on his knee. The Queen of Coins, on the other hand, holds it high. The Page of Coins has two coins on his card, one in his hand and the other buried in the ground (as if obeying the King's will). The wand of the Page of Wands is coarse, green, unworked and resting on the ground. The wand of the Queen of Wands, resting on her sex, is half worked. The wand of the King of Wands, very worked is what unites the bottom and the top. The wand of the Knight of Wands returns to its green purity; instead of pointing towards the earth, it points towards the sky. A sign of evolution... The Page of Swords doesn't know whether to use his sword or keep it in its scabbard. The Queen of Swords keeps it in its scabbard and looks at it, aware as she is of her own strength and powers. The King of Swords keeps his sword out of its scabbard and does not look at it, dominating it completely, without the slightest doubt. The Knight of Swords carries a long red sword, a sign of absolute mental activity, and throws it in a prodigious leap over the whole of humanity... The Page of Cups offers his cup but hides it under a veil. He doubts. The Queen of Cups offers a closed cup, which must be conquered, and holds a sword in her other hand. The King of Cups, who is older than the Kings of Wands and Swords, holds it open and does not look at it: he has complete confidence in his memories. The Knight of Cups does not hold the cup: the cup floats and he holds out his hand. The cup is his Master and guides him around the world. A sign of evolution... The Page of Coins looks at his coin but is not attracted by the other one at his feet. He is in doubt. The Queen of Coins carries her coin with enormous strength and gives it all her energy and attention. The King of Coins, another older man, in the countryside, contrary to expectations, carries the smallest coin in the series as if he had transcended his power. The Knight of Coins follows a coin that levitates like a star. On his arm is a wand that heralds the beginning of a new cycle: EVOLUTION! The PAGES are the latent forces bearing doubt; they don't know which path to follow or which action to undertake. The QUEENS possess their symbol but do not give it away, preoccupied as they are with knowing it. KINGS dominate their symbol and share it only in their kingdom. KNIGHTS project the symbol and connect it with other kingdoms. They are messengers. COURT CARDS describe several types of human character. They will change in nuance depending on the characteristics of the querent. They represent the masculine and feminine sides found in a woman or a man. For example: The King of Coins can be a learned and domineering woman. We will give a brief definition of each COURT CARD which, as with the other cards, will take on an opposite meaning for each proposition. The student, observing each detail carefully - the COURT CARDS are also rich in meaning on the MAJOR ARCANA - will be able to refine and enrich his interpretation. Where are the figures looking? What are their hands like? How are they dressed? How are their feet placed on the ground? What are the differences between the headwear? etc.

THE PAGES

PAGE OF WANDS.
Someone with a huge amount of accumulated, new energy, who doesn't know whether to use it or keep it in reserve. Hard work that can lead to results. Loyalty.

PAGE OF SWORDS.
A person who can discover the unknown but does not have sufficient confidence in his or her own judgement. Spy. Defensive intelligence.

PAGE OF CUPS.
Shy love and you. Gives but fears the hurt of rejection. Adulator.

PAGE OF COINS.
Studious but far removed from reality. Selfless work.

THE QUEENS

QUEEN OF WANDS.
Very sexually active, independent and capricious. Gives instinctive satisfaction. Dangerous rival.

QUEEN OF SWORDS.
Positive or aggressive words. Sexual refusal. Sterility. Quick to understand. Elegance in pain. Objectivity. Perversity.

QUEEN OF CUPS.
Can love but is afraid of conquest. Offers and defends at the same time. Imposes her knowledge. Good friend and mother. Inner vision.

QUEEN OF COINS.
Struggle to acquire, struggle to keep, rich but stingy woman. Great intelligence. Power over the body. Severity. Self-knowledge obtained through continuous effort.

THE KINGS

KING OF WANDS.
Moral, paternal strength. Severity, dogmatism. Powerful. Powerful lover.

KING OF SWORDS.
Meticulous man who doesn't take decisions lightly. Who knows how to control himself. Brilliant. Lots of ideas, thoughts and projects. Cruel, vindictive. Policeman. Judge.

KING OF CUPS.
Good man but emotionally overbearing. Great mystic. Artist. Lawyer. Great lover. Possessive.

KING OF COINS.
Wealthy man. Powerful merchant or industrialist. Intolerant miser. Wise. Vicious. Scientific. Confident and capable.

THE KNIGHTS

KNIGHT OF WANDS.
A person who suddenly changes the course of his or her life thanks to the impulse of an enlightened spirit. A ruler who wants to help humanity. Providential contribution. Support given in all things. Protection, support and strength. Solid energy capable of defying Fate and acting positively.

KNIGHT OF SWORDS.
Prophet. A man who fights for a spiritual cause and tries to bear witness to it to the whole world. A pure spirit who passes on his beliefs, fearlessly venturing into the unknown. Master of action and mental combat. Luminous activity to escape chaos and evolve. Good news.

KNIGHT OF CUPS.
A man guided by a love of humanity, completely dedicated to building philanthropic works. A saint. Transforms individual love into cosmic love, protecting and enlivening it. Capable of fraud.

KNIGHT OF COINS.
Servant of the GREAT WORK. A person who lets himself be guided by his inner God, who knows himself deeply and acts with wisdom and efficiency. Does not move slowly enough for Death to catch up with him, nor fast enough to catch up with Death. Materialistic, thinking only of money. Lazy. Success achieved through strength, perseverance and willpower.

It is important to understand that the Tarot is not a philosophical 'book' made up of symbols that take the place of articulated language and describe the levels of spiritual Initiation. It can be used in this form, as several secret societies have done (eliminating 56 cards to exalt only the 22 Major Arcana), but this can only lead to a depreciation of the Tarot and leave it in the hands of 'clairvoyants' who use the cards as a support without even having memorised them. Once the Tarot has been memorised, it develops certain regions of the mind which can then lead us quite naturally to the reading. THE GREATEST MASTERY IN THE ART OF TAROT IS THE ABILITY TO READ IT FOR ANOTHER PERSON AND... FOR ONESELF. But tarot cards can also be read for absent people, for institutions, for historical moments or characters, for objects, and so on. Its application is limitless and depends on the reader's degree of openness. You can "read" the Tarot, but you must reject all intellectualism and not give each card an immovable symbolic content or relate them to each other solely through their numbers, as if you were dealing with an exclusively numerological language. We are talking about a visual language of the Tarot, based on relationships and drawings, where each arcana can revolve around a centre and change its meaning at least 360 times. The reading is done Art where details and colours intermingle to give, with the collaboration of the querent, a densified portrait of the past that can go from the intra-uterine period to the very minute of the consultation. This 'raking' naturally evokes the most distant ancestors, and we have to realise that the positive or negative traits of character belong to 'chains' that link several generations. We could therefore argue that each individual's present problems are the fruit of several centuries of maceration. Once the past is established, when the querent knows where he or she comes from, we can understand where the querent is and is going, and the possibilities that open up, which depend on the querent’s willingness to act or not to act in this or that direction. Once the portrait is established and when the patient's Unconscious has 'anchored' itself to the Tarot cards, which then act as talismans, we can act on this portrait: balance it, change the place of the cards, make positive what appears to be negative - act on a destiny that is largely a psychological trap. The awareness conferred by the Tarot is lightning-fast, because it acts like a Mirror of the Spirit.

But the Art of reading the Tarot cannot be acquired instantaneously by means of some intellectual recipe. If you don't work on it, if you don't study it, if you don't practise it - the same goes for anyone who wants to play a musical instrument - you won't succeed in mastering it. Reading the Tarot requires dedication and preparation.

The 78 cards we buy in a shop have no sacred value, no power: they are nothing more than printed cards. For them to act in and on our mind, we have to make them our own, imbue them with our fluids, make them a part of ourselves, of our body, and bind them intimately to our Unconscious.

We must perform actions in their company that make them something INTIMATE, like an object of power charged with our affectivity.

The first thing to do is to gently caress the pack of cards and, without damaging them, shuffle the cards tirelessly for hours, without thinking, seeing or feeling anything other than the sliding of the images between our fingers. This will allow us to understand that shuffling the cards means entering an expressive world that changes in rhythm, intensity, meaning, influence... Then the Tarot becomes a ductile, musical, expressive and receptive material, as sensitive as a pendulum.

It is recommended to pass each card, slowly and patiently, over each part of our body so that it unites with the different vibrations of our materiality and becomes charged with biological fluids, while in return you receive the waves of its forms. Press the cards against our mouth and nose: breathe in their essence deeply and then envelop them with our breath (these exercises must be carried out on both sides of each card). It is necessary to sleep with each card, one by one, for 78 days. But always, night and day, the incessant presence of the Tarot close to our body... preferably in the region of the heart (the stereotypical image of a gypsy woman pulling old cards from her cleavage to 'tell fortunes' has something profoundly significant about it). With this Tarot, one should never make a demonstration tending to attract attention or admiration or use it for purposes that have nothing to do with the devotion of reading.

All these acts have no other purpose than to act on the Unconscious. It is absolutely essential to understand that a lack of love for this humble pack of 78 pieces of printed cardboard, which must be regarded as equal to the most beautiful diamond or the most precious work of art, will prevent those who possess it from totally dominating its Reading. This chapter of the study is like a gestation, comparable to that of the warrior who digs in search of ore, extracts it, transforms it and finally forges his sword from it. This is why the Tarot de Marseille is as anonymous as a humble piece of ore... This 'anonymity' allowing anyone who really wants to become its author. This explains that: the existence of weak, powerful, vulgar or delicate tarots. The more subtly crafted the violin, the more beautiful the music... The Tarot must always be arranged in perfect order: starting with LE MAT (The Mat) and ending with LE MONDE (The World).

We recommend this order because it is impersonal, but we acknowledge that everyone has and should have their own order. The important thing is to be able to use the Tarot as an instrument, always ready to function. This excludes any negligence towards it, which would then be an error of attention and a lack of respect.

The fundamental basis of Tarot reading is awareness. It is an Art oriented towards healing... but many people who read the Tarot are unfortunately guided by the desire for power and the desire to show off to others and influence them. This is the process of appropriating the ego of others to enlarge one's egregore. There are also more or less unconscious sadists who use the cards to cause aggression and predict death, accidents and other emotional and financial disasters. Basically, there is a projection of the person's 'self'. When one puts oneself in someone's hands, the action of the Tarot goes so fast, directly to the Unconscious, that one can introject anything. This is why the person who reads the Tarot must be honest, fight against this and never allow a projection of their problems onto the querent. Each reader must develop his or her own form of reading. But before venturing down this path, it is necessary to study and practise the "classical", limited forms; then, thanks to experience, the comparison of different readings and, above all, by following the memorised Tarot as a guide, which then functions as a true SPIRITUAL MASTER, to arrive at a personal conception of the reading, rejecting the readings with forms imposed by a TRADITION which is in fact nothing more than a collection of individual points of view. In truth, it is necessary for each reader to create a new form of reading, just as a painter creates a universe of different laws for each new canvas. Tarot reading is an ART that does not allow the use of stereotyped laws or the repetition of techniques that are then nothing more than "tricks". There are four "classic" readings that the student must know and learn in the same way as a student painter going through an Academy of Fine Arts:

The reduced spread laid out in a cross.
The medium spread arranged in a semicircle.
The complete spread established in a circle.
The total spread arranged in cycles.
IN THE REDUCED SPREAD, only the 22 major cards are used, from which 4 cards are drawn after shuffling. The first, placed to the left, represents what is of direct interest to the querent; the second, placed opposite, denotes what is external to the querent, the role of the environment in his regard; the third, placed at the top, indicates the action of the higher forces working to reconcile the first two cards; the fourth, placed at the bottom, gives the result. The spread is synthesised by summing the numbers inscribed on the 4 cards, and the card whose number corresponds to the sum is placed in the middle.
If this number exceeds 22 (22 represents The Mat in this spread), it is reduced by summing its two digits and brought back to one of the cards in the deck. For example, if the sum is 46, take 4 + 6 = 10 and place the Wheel of Fortune in the middle of the deck. If the sum of the two digits corresponds to a card already drawn, the reduction process is repeated using 3 cards, the 4th being excluded as it corresponded to the previous reduced number.

IN THE MEDIUM SPREAD, 12 cards are drawn and placed in a semi-circle, which are then interpreted from left to right; if further clarification of the meaning of these first 12 cards is desired, 12 additional cards are drawn to serve as support and are placed starting from the centre and moving to the right. Each card completes the meaning of the card it supports.

THE COMPLETE SPRED uses the laws of the horoscope and is arranged on a complete circle divided into 12 houses. The first on the left indicates the querent's physical and mental state; the second - below - their possessions; the third their family environment; the fourth placed at the bottom marks their heredity, their real estate; the fifth - moving up - their children, their affections; the sixth their servants, their illnesses; the seventh placed on the right, directly opposite the first, denotes their spouse, their companions; the eighth, their death, their inheritances; the ninth their religion; the tenth - placed at the top - their situation; the eleventh - descending - their friends, their supports; the twelfth their trials. The first card drawn is placed in house 1, the second in house 2 and so on as long as minor arcana are obtained, but if a major arcana comes up, it is left in its house and drawing continues until a minor arcana is brought, in other words the minors are always alone in a house, while the majors can accumulate if they follow each other in the draw. The meaning of the house is linked to that of the card or cards occupying it, the latter being interpreted by associating them in the order in which they came. The houses where the major arcana are found give the characteristic events. Major arcana separated by 1 or 3 houses are favourably associated or inversely if 2 or 5 houses are interposed between them.

TOTAL SPREAD: The first 12 cards are placed successively in the 12 houses, without stopping at the major arcana, from left to right, starting from the first house. Then repeat until the deck is exhausted, so that six cycles of 12 cards are obtained and a residue of 6 cards which are placed in one out of every two houses starting with house No. 1. As a result, the first house contains 7 cards, the second 6, the third 7 and so on. The cards in each house are interpreted going from the first to the last drawn, giving the most importance to the first.

The reading proposed here can only be understood insofar as the various exercises proposed in this booklet have been completed and the 78 Arcana of the Tarot have been memorized. The teaching of this reading cannot be the work of human Masters: IT IS DIRECTED BY THE TAROT ITSELF ACTING FROM THE DEPTHS OF THE UNCONSCIOUS. We can certify that the introjection of the 78 cards into one's memory produces a spiritual change and creates a new perspective capable of capturing a reality (involving the Intellect, Intuition, and Instinct) in which the union of the Conscious and the Unconscious has brought about a state of ACUTE PERCEPTION... The Reader, now an ARTIST facing the Querents, begins to be able to "read" him, even before having used the Tarot. The Querent reveals their personality and level of spirituality through their posture, tone of voice, words, appearance, scent, and 'aura'. Like a snail, they carry their shell-memory, their past of pitfalls and positive acquisitions that lead them on paths which are none other than those of DESTINY. By shaking hands with the Querent, the Reader must establish a physical contact which, through the 'quality' of their skin, bone structure, and biological vibrations, will allow them to more easily penetrate their Soul. After a brief dialogue, the Reader already perceives the Querent and their Unconscious then organises the Tarot. Each mind is a universe with its zones of shadow and light, its illusions and terrors, its God and its Death. Each Querent projects their own organisation onto this unique Tarot that is the Tarot de Marseille.

The Consultant sits at one end of the mat. Facing them, the Reader takes the 22 Major Arcana or the 78 cards, provokes an inner void and thoroughly shuffles the cards in a manner dictated by this precise moment.

SHUFFLING THE CARDS IS AN ARTISTIC CREATION AND A WAY OF CAPTURING AND EXPRESSING THE ENERGY OF THE MOMENT THROUGH THE MEETING OF TWO BEINGS AT THE HEART OF THE UNIVERSE, SPACE AND TIME...

From then on, and until the end of the Reading, everything will contribute to the interpretation and will be integrated into it: the falling rain, the thundering storm, the sudden power cut, the barking dog, the landing fly, the creaking table, the rising sun, the object that tips over... The Querent may make a number of unconscious gestures, crack their toes, remove a ring, scratch themselves, suddenly feel pain somewhere, etc. It will be discovered that the Querent is wearing clothing that holds vibrations, memories, etc.

EVERYTHING TRANSFORMS INTO A CIRCLE AROUND THE TAROT MAT, BRINGING TOGETHER A MULTITUDE OF FRAGMENTS CAPABLE OF ILLUMINATING THE READING.

After thoroughly shuffling the cards, the reader spreads them out, turning them face down on the mat in front of the Querent. The Arcana will form a figure that is at once chaotic, geometric, or figurative. A mandala, a circle broken by rays, a tree, an animal, an object, or the portrait of a human being may emerge, etc. The forms that spring from the reader's hands can be infinite. A different figure, equivalent in some measure to the forms discernible in tea residue or coffee grounds, is constructed before each Querent.

These forms speak for themselves: two crossed cards reveal a conflict. The positive aspect of the conflict is the vertical card. The negative aspect is the horizontal card. If the horizontal card is on top of the vertical card, the negative aspect dominates, – by vertical we mean the line that unites the Reader and the Querent, and by horizontal the line that separates them... There are semicircles that help or hinder a card, closed spaces that must open, and paths that must eventually meet...

The Tarot acts like a Mirror. The Querent, seated in front of the form, instantly, unconsciously, makes "sense" of everything and distributes values. If the construction of the figure began close to the Querent's body and ended in the furthest part of the place where the Reader is standing, the Querent will place his birth and childhood in the first cards (those placed on the mat close to him) while the future and death will appear in the last cards (the furthest away) ... The Querent will give an emotional value to all the cards placed to his left and an intellectual value to all those placed to his right...

The Querent is then given a small human figurine (standing or seated) carved from any material and is asked to name a card belonging to the figure they have just drawn and to place the statuette on it. The chosen card will represent them. It is interesting to note in which direction the Querent has placed the symbol representing him: is his gaze turned towards the Reader (the future)? Towards the past (himself)? Towards the left (emotional questions)? Towards the right (intellectual doubts)? Diagonally? ... When a person places the statuette that represents them very far from the centre and near the edges of the figure, this reveals an inferiority complex. When they place it on the last card laid down and with its back to the reader, he reveals a fear of the future or an impending death. To illuminate the reading areas, the Querent will be given the four Aces and asked to distribute them on the spread. The Ace of Wands represents the area of their sexuality and instinct. The Ace of Swords, that of their certainties, spiritual doubts and intellectual conflicts. The Ace of Cups, their sentimental problems their need for affection – thus the emotional zone… The Ace of Coins, their physical activity, their home, their health, their money and everything concerning orgasm. This last suit, complex because it is at the base of the other three, can also symbolise the zone of mental illumination.

The Querent is then asked to pose four or more questions - the reader decides how many - for which they must choose a number of cards - 4 or 5 - from the Minor Arcana and place them in a pile, beside or outside the figure. Before being read, these questions will already speak through the position that the Querent decides to give them. Indeed, if they place them horizontally, it means they themselves are erecting barriers that may hinder the possible realisation of the objective posed by the question. If they place them vertically, it implies a search under a positive sign. If they place them in a cross on other cards, they provoke conflicts, etc. If they pose the questions in the childhood zone, even if these refer to the future, it demonstrates that their search is underpinned by a childhood rooted in their memory. However intellectual a question may be, if they place it in the Ace of Cups zone, it reveals an emotional foundation demanding its conscientisation - the Querent must then understand that it is their emotional needs that modify their vision of the world.

The diagonal lines reveal the notion of doubt. Sometimes the inverted Sword is a sign of aggression towards the woman. Sometimes it reveals events from the past or criminal desires that have been buried - the Unconscious is usually at the bottom left...

Once this STRUCTURE, which contains the Reader's proposition and the Querent's answers, has been carefully analysed, the cards can be turned over. The first to be turned over will be the one chosen to represent the EGO. This is the beginning of a Reading which will lead to the past as well as the present, and finally, with a thousand precautions, will evoke the future: "Coming from where you come from, and being in what you act, you can, if you adopt a positive attitude, arrive at this and, if you adopt a negative attitude, arrive at that and the future situation can become this or that...".

Turned over, the cards mix, uniting their drawn symbols, their colours and their numbers, and the message changes according to the arrangement of the cards.

To explain the 'optical language' of the Tarot would require an entire book... In the limited space we have at present, we will give only limited examples: those of ARCANUM XIII and the MAT. On these cards, two people are walking, one looking at the sky and the other at the ground. If we place the MAT above the XIII and as a vertical extension of the rectangle, we see that the skeletal figure transforms putrefaction into spiritual life and that the MAT comes to represent recently revealed energies and new ideals. If the inverted MAT is above, we will see that this "cleansing" of the XIII on the terrain of the Unconscious or Material leads to a spiritual disorder; the healing has been transformed into a negative crisis, the invasion of unconscious material into consciousness has pulverised the ego. If the MAT is on ARCANE XIII, completely hiding it, and if the former is given the vulgar meaning of "madness" and the latter that of "death", this is the sign of an apparently harmless demented action carrying a threat of death: social disorders that could lead to the extermination of the human race.

The inverted ARCANUM XIII standing on the MAT implies self-destruction and the precariousness of this highly idealistic action.

If the MAT is horizontal, with ARCANUM XIII (LE MAT will remain in the exact centre of the card looking up at the sky) standing upright, this indicates a CONFLICT between the spiritual and the material. If the MAT, crossed over XIII, looks downwards, this indicates a conflict between idealism and materialism in the field of material reality of the past or of the Unconscious.

If the MAT, crossed over the reversed XIII, is looking at the sky, we are in the presence of a conflict where the blue and red scythe and the black ground are hiding the sky from him, in other words, preventing him from advancing spiritually, either because they destroy his ambitions, or because the path is tortuous and requires intense work that the MAT does not want to undertake, trying to obtain through inspiration what could only be achieved through meditation and self-control...

If ARCANUM XIII appears in front of the MAT, we see that the skeleton is clearing the path, performing fruitful work so that new energies can advance: analysis and synthesis.

If the MAT is to the right of the Reader and ARCANUM XIII to the left, both upright, we will see that the MAT advances leaving Chaos and Destruction behind him. If ARCANUM XIII is horizontal on the head of the MAT, leaving the rest of the body uncovered (the skeleton looking towards the yellow and blue ground), we see a profound mental transformation: madness enters into open conflict with the animal and healthy part. The MAT, in this situation, although he cannot see the path, advances, bearing cosmic anguish... If in the same position, ARCANUM XIII looks upwards, we observe that the MAT is in rebellion against Divine forces, with a strong desire for universal destruction... We have chosen two 'strong' cards of the Tarot as examples, because it is precisely with the most 'unsettling' cards that the future Reader must begin to work... LE MAT, ARCANUM XIII, LE DIABLE (The Devil), LA MAISON DIEV (The God House), LE PENDU (The Hanged Man) and LA LUNE (The Moon): all cards that the student must handle at the beginning of their practice as if they were working with a dark and dense matter in order to achieve subtlety and luminosity.

The other Arcana will gradually be added so as to construct "sentences" of 7, 9, 10 or more cards...

These SENTENCES will be VERSES which will communicate with other cards and will eventually, at the end of the reading, create a MANDALA, a POEM, a SYMPHONY, created by an ARTIST for this UNIQUE SPECTATOR who is also the very material of the WORK.