Ross's discovery of a Tarot de Marseille I World style figure is a great find. As far as I know, this is the first one to show up, and it's from France! So, point to the French unless we can find another somewhere else: http://forum.tarothistory.com/viewtopic.php?f=14&t=182 18th century France?...

If the circa 1500 pack's Papi looked anything like the 17th century ones, which I am sure they did, then we might as well believe that the original Bolognese design is faithfully reflected in the sheets and the BnF cards. If we speculate that Bologna is the original home of Tarot, then the designs ...

Ross G. R. Caldwell wrote:So I don't think it's fair to call the cardplayers' usage a mis-appellation - it's THEIR usage and they can define it any way they want.

It matters when you wish to derive from THIER usage some symbolic meaning relevant to historical intent or precedence.

It doesn't seem to be in the right location for all that, though. No need for it to be too graphic - impregnation by the word is sufficiently symbolised by the 'ploughed fields' of ink in the open book on her lap; such is sufficient, with or without penis. It is after all a cycle of christian salva...

It doesn't seem to be in the right location for all that, though. Is there a right place for 'magical' impregnation? Was the holy spirit confined by material nature that it could only enter the womb of Mary via her vagina? (presuming that is what you mean by the right place). Where is the dove plac...

My point is this - The tarot trumps arose directly from the allegorical figures and stage sets, though not exclusive to, but popularized by the theatrical pageants, mimicked the hierarchical "trumping" aspect of the pageants, and originated in an area now called Italy sometime in the earl...

I'm sure someone has a much more entertaining explanation involving Osiris's Fertile Phallic Gnostic Philosopher's Stone and the Gematria for 10 inches! ;)) A connection between the popesse with the virgin Mary (perhaps in her role as emblem of the church, which she took over from the earlier eccle...

Thanks Steve. I've not yet read Kipling's study, though it's been on my Amazon.com wish list for over a year, but I see your point. However, considering that the Italian states were the heart of both the triumphal tradition, and the European allegorical tradition, and the sole source for every surv...

So we have a clear link here by 1) time 2) place 3) subject matter . It would seem, to me that 15th century Italy, the popular allegorical traditions of the time — especially the traditions of the 'triumphs', would be the most significant place to look until some conflicting evidence appears. Trimu...

First off, I am not feeling like myself and honestly I am not feeling very strong. Nothing is rolling off of this duck's back, so to speak. I do enjoy fun debate but retreated from this one because it felt like one post after another was harshing me out, sounding to my ears a lot more like people w...