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To Sara
 INDEX

Introduction

Chapter 1
1.1 Etymology

1.2 Study of the Tarot: which Model?

The historical Model
The occult Model
The metànoic Model

Chapter 2
2.1 The first Centuries after Christ
Provence
Egypt
John Cassian

2.2 From 1000 to 1500

Saint Victor and the Visconti Family

2.3 From the end of 1700’s to modern Time

The French School
 The Anglo-Saxon School

2.4 The great Error

Nicolas Conver

Chapter 3
3.1 The general Structure of the Tarot
The Minor Arcana
The four Suits: Pentacles, Cups, Wands and Swords
Cups
Pentacles
Wands
Swords
The four Castes
The Major Arcana

3.2 Dualism
Dualism: some unusual cases
Dualism: Male-Female
The Law of Difference
Dualism: general Scheme
Observation Exercise
The Tarot: Yoga for the Soul
 3.3 Some meanings of the Tarot
Cartomancy
A Path of Knowledge
A Vehicle of Consciousness
An Instrument of Help

Chapter 4
4.1 The Coded Structure: the first Codes
1) Graphic codes
Hanged Man-World code
Doubt
Levels
New Levels
Pentacles
Cups
Wands
Swords
The fifth Element

4.2 The Coded Structure: new codes

Simplicity
The Lover-Judgement Code
2) The Text-Codes
The Apostrophe Code
Various Anomalies
 4.3 The Laws of the Tarot
The Law of Antithesis
The Law of Duplicity
Example of the Fool’s Staff
Example of the two houses

Chapter 5
5.1 East and West

5.2 Synchronicity

5.3 Synchronicity and the Tarot

Chapter 6
6.1 An optical Language
Grammar: Codes and Laws
Lexicon: the Keywords
Observation
Decryption
The Book
The Veil
The Horns
The Torches
 6.2 The Archetypes
Methods of Interpretations
The traditional syntactic Method
The Personages

Chapter 7
7.1 The Law of Contemplation
Spatial Reference
Temporal Reference

7.2 The Law of Opportunity

To offer a Solution

7.3 Example of a Reading

Chapter 8
8.1 Tarology: a true Science

8.2 Cartomanciy and Divination

Risks: the divinatory Trap
The Advantages
A spiritual Intelligence
Danger Alert
8.3 Multiplicity of Teachings
1) The Builders
2) The Freemasons
Square and Compass
The Artisan
The three Points in a Triangle
The 33 Degrees
3) The Hermits of Egypt

8.4 A Path of Knowledge

Chapter 9
9.1 Anachronisms?

9.2 Prince Castracani Fibbia

9.3 The Cathedral of Orvieto

9.4 The Cathedral of Siena

Conclusions
 Appendix
The Marseilles Tarot
The so-called Marseilles Tarot
The classic Marseilles Tarot
Restoration of the Conver Tarot of 1760

Bibliography
 CHAPTER 1

““No one will hide a valuable object in something of great

value, but many a time one has tossed countless thousands into
a thing worth a penny.”
(Gospel of Philip)

1.1 ETYMOLOGY

Tarot: “Each of the illustrated cards which make up the Tarot

deck. The term was first used approximately a century after the
invention of the deck, estimated circa 1500. Its origin is even
now obscure.”
Is it correct, the definition we are used to hearing
when speaking of this deck of cards? Scholars maintain
that the term Tarot, whose etymological origin is still
uncertain, was first used in XVII- century Italy. The
term is in any case, mostly used in the plural. The
ample literature on the subject shows us however that
its etymology is not the only thing in doubt: its origin
as well is not certain. Almost all researchers presume
that they were created in Italy around the XV century,
during the Renaissance therefore. Actually, this is
merely a hypothesis, but because of the obsessive
insistence with which it has been repeated, it has
become automatically true. This approach, from the
point of view of authentic scientific and
historiographic research, is incorrect; in that, without
definite and proven evidence, one cannot transform
conjecture into fact unless there is the intention to take
intentional liberties with the outcome. For example, we
are convinced that the exact name is not to be found in
the Italian language (Tarocchi) but rather in the term
adopted by all other idioms, to wit: Tarot. Setting aside
for a later time an investigation into the more complex
aspects of its etymology, we will limit ourselves for the
moment to note that the word is written, differently
from Italian, in the singular form. (To be continued...)
2.4 THE GREAT ERROR

At this point, wishing to point out one of the

principal traits which dominated the investigation of
the Tarot in the course of recent history, we might say
that almost all researchers made, more or less artlessly,
the same mistake. As we have seen, most scholars
hypothesized that these images had an ancient origin,
and in the long list of hypothetical characteristics, there
were those who connected them to the Book of Thoth
of ancient Egypt, to the Hebrew Cabala, to Gypsy
fortune-telling, and so on. In substance, based on these
conjectures, esoterists maintained that the Renaissance
Visconti Tarot, the most ancient known today, were
none other than the most recent echo of a remote
tradition of which they conserved only an imperfect
memory, but to which because of the lack of direct
provable ties, it was not possible to trace them. What to
do, then, if these cards from the 1500’s were inadequate
for expressing a deeper sense? Convinced that their
knowledge was enough to guarantee an integral
restoration of the meaning of the Arcana, they all took
the same path:
 They redesigned the Tarot according to their own personal
visions!

For this reason, each one wrote a text, commenting

his own ideas and theories, using as analysis model the
re-created and perfected deck. If, to these Tarot with
more esoteric characteristics, we add the infinite
number of decks produced for other motives, as those
for artistic or for recreative purposes, the reason is
clear for which the quantity of decks published,
especially in the last two centuries, has been, and today
still is, so copious, reaching an impressive number of
editions. Referring specifically to the Tarot decks
created by the more famous authors of the 1700’s to
the 1900’s we may say that the drawings of these cards
express their perspective, their moral prejudices, their
personal convictions on the world.
Each has modified the original plan of the Tarot in
favour of a subjective representation, committing an
act of free will, but not to the good. Every authentic
tradition, by definition, transmits an objective message
which must prove to be far from any individual
interpretation. Therefore why did these scholars
commit such an abuse? Why did they violate a balanced
and impartial knowledge in favour of a personal and
private vision? (to be continued...)
 Fig. 1
The Minor Arcana
 CHAPTER 4

“Infinitely great will be your happiness: from a simple mortal,

you are destined, gradually,
to become God.”
(Orphic Tombs)

4.1 THE CODED STRUCTURE: THE FIRST CODES

What is the Coded Structure? To what do we refer when

we use this term? We have mentioned it various times,
affirming that it is the basis for the understanding of
the meaning of the Arcana, provided that their
disposition respects certain criteria. In the preceding
chapter, we disclosed that the Major Arcana are
divisible, based on comparison with the Minor, by the
numbers 3 and 7. In this way, we introduced the
concept of the 3x7 Diagram, a scheme of 3 rows with
7 cards each. Although this is not the only order
possible, it is however the one which allows for
identification of the presence of the coded framework
in a clear manner. The Fool is situated outside of the
scheme because it is numberless, and therefore has the
role of traveller along this path in 7 stages, to traverse
3 times.
This distribution has already been studied by many
authors of the past, without unfortunately their being
able to discover the presence of the Codes, which in
this manner remained, so to speak, eclipsed. What are,
in substance, the Codes of the Tarot? We have already
introduced the subject through several examples
relative to the symbolism of the 4 suits of the Minor
Arcana or to the modalities of representation of
Dualism, but we have not made demonstrations that
are more complex. Now, in order to proceed, we must
enter more into detail, and to begin, it will be well to
return to the 3x7 Diagram shown here:
 Fig. 1
3x7 Diagram

The Coded Structure has this name for the presence of

Codes which, in order to be understood, must be
decoded. This is not something obvious. To understand
what we mean, as for the “game” of differences
described before, we must imagine our attention
concentrated on a puzzle like those found in so many
puzzle magazines. The purpose is to discover, from the
illustrations, the hidden, coded content, uncovering the
meaning of the puzzle itself. Every Code of the Tarot is a
puzzle that must be unmasked and understood.
The Coded Structure, in its entirety, contains thousands;
and their purpose, differently than the pastimes we
cited, goes far beyond that of simple entertainment. In
fact, deciphering the Codes means to allow our
consciousness access to fragments of principles of
wisdom, which, all together, create an extraordinary
teaching that may open the door to a superior
consciousness. Therefore, these brainteasers are not
simple pastimes must be considered true sacred enigmas.
We are perfectly aware that all this may seem as
improbable as the plot of a novel; it is real, however,
and we will attempt to guide the reader in
experimentation in the first person, of the truth of
these affirmations. We must clarify one point: that that
which we have said must all be verifiable. In describing
the occult model, we said that its greatest drawback
was its inability to prove its own hypotheses. This
impossibility has always been determined by a lack of
rational objectivity attributed by the esoterists to the
particular nature of the Tarot (to be continued...)
 As we have seen, not even a science such as quantistic
physics, when it must calculate the position and the
moment of subatomic corpuscles, allows itself such
conduct. We may, however, ascertain through empirical
experience, that is, through the interpretations, that the
cards show “tendencies to exist” and “tendencies to
occur” according to a criteria of sense which is no
longer arbitrary as in the past, but is disciplined by
unequivocal rules (the Laws and Codes) and, as such,
certifiable a priori. These are the only reasons for
which we might change our mental attitude towards
this subject. We could no longer affirm, as in particular
do the detractors of an esoteric use of the Tarot that,
as the person who reads it establishes the
interpretation, everything is valid and acceptable and,
nothing being demonstrable, there can be no
attendibility. On the contrary, we should consider the
question and the answer as united by a synchronistic
event (to be continued...).
 Fig. 3
Example of disposition of cards during a reading
 GRAMMAR: CODES AND LAWS
The Codes and Laws, which allow us to understand
this sapiential teaching, are also the principles that
establish the manner in which the Tarot expresses that
which it intends to communicate in the course of a
consultation. At the moment of a reading, Grammar is
shown to be indispensable; it is the element by which
we may comprehend the manner in which the sentences
are regulated and structured. In fact, knowing a priori
the principles, we may be sure to read correctly that
which appears to our eyes, with no interpretative
doubts. When we spoke of the Law of Duplicity and of
the example of the house,81 we were using an example,
which would facilitate the understanding of these
affirmations. On that occasion, we learned that, when a
symbol appears twice, it signifies that the Tarot is
“underlining” it because it is of great interest for the
question. This is a principle of grammar, a structural
rule: every time that, in two cards near each other, we
find the same symbol or concept, it means that the
particular element is important for the question asked.
We may therefore say that, generally speaking, the Laws
are the rules which formalize the logic of the
interaction of the cards, so that the tarologist may
orient himself precisely in order to decipher the
sentences, the message-replies of the Tarot.

LEXICON: THE KEYWORDS

Still in the same example, the symbol in question, the
house, was a keyword. And a word is part of
a...dictionary. What does this mean? The examination
of the illustrations and the analysis of the Codes, lead
to the comprehension of content hidden in the
symbolism of the Tarot. Gradually during this process,
the presence of keywords intrinsic to the structure and
significance of the various Arcana, is revealed. Their
individuation creates overall, a Lexicon, a vocabulary.
This identification does not happen according to
subjective or arbitrary criteria, but through a precise
and rigorous process. The two principal procedures are:

1) Direct observation
2) Decryption.

Regarding the first method, simple observation of the

images (as the house in the House of God and the
Moon blades) allows us to distinguish immediately a
certain number of keywords. (To be continued...)
 CHAPTER 7

“In the presence of one who is perfectly innocuous, all hostility

ceases.”
(Sutra Yoga of Patanjali)

7.1 THE LAW OF CONTEMPLATION

In the previous chapter we introduced the concept of

the Traditional Syntactic Method, the particular system that
allows regulate disposition of the Arcana during
interpretation. What are the principles at the basis of
this procedure? They are two important Laws which,
although certain modern authors have claimed them as
a personal discovery, it is correct to attribute to the
decryption system of Nicolas Conver.
Let us observe again the figures of the Tarot and
analyze in detail the first of these rules the Law of
Contemplation (to be continued...).

Fig. 1
The 3x7 Diagram
 CHAPTER 8

“Yes, let the Word of God precede us! Let it humiliate the
potent forces of the earth, these perverse passions which we wish
to mortify and which claim, from our mortal bodies, a pitiless
and tyrannical dominion! Let it subjugate them to our research
and our exposition! Breaking down the doors of ignorance,
shattering the chains of defect which exclude us from true science,
let it lead us to our most secret Arcana.”
(John Cassian, Cenobitic Institutions)

8.1 TAROLOGY: A TRUE SCIENCE

Anyone who has even only a vague knowledge of the

Tarot, knows that this subject calls to mind first of all,
prediction of the future. On the contrary, from what
we have described here, it should be clear that there
exist diverse ways of utilizations of the Tarot. It lends
itself, in fact, to a multiplicity of uses so rich and
surprising that this practice becomes only one of many
possibilities.
The Tarot is a metaphysical machine of which the
deck of cards is but a support, the vehicle of a perfect
mechanism thanks to which these images, these sacred
Icons, guard a plurality of teachings regarding man, his
destiny, and the laws that govern him. All this is made
possible by a system of Codes and Laws, making up the
Coded Structure, which generates a language of
communication between the human world and the
spiritual.
The true Tarot may be considered an esoterical
discipline complete in itself, which in past centuries
was named by the ancient Alchemists, Science of the
sciences. (To be continued...)
 In our opinion, there is no doubt; the connection is
explicit. Even more because it is a confirmation of a
true relationship with the Tarot, the 22 represented by
the circle, which reconnects to the celestial world, and
the 56 by the square, associated with the terrestrial,
respecting perfectly the dualism which characterizes the
general structure of the Arcana themselves:

22 → Major Arcana → Circle → Celestial

56 → Minor Arcana → Square → Terrestrial

If this were not sufficiently astonishing, the central

head of the Redeemer with the four later personages,
reminds us distinctly of the symbolism of the Christ in
the mandorla which we find represented also in the
card of the World. This supposition is confirmed,
according to a typical mechanism of the Tarot, the Law
of Duplicity, by the statues of the four living creatures
beneath (the first clue); but also by an oval just beneath
the face of Christ, which surrounds the figure of a
woman as in the iconography of the XXI card (to be
continued...).
 Fig. 9
Comparison of the symbolism
 To explain more clearly the work done, we will
compare some illustrations of an Arcanum, in
particular the Fool, belonging to several editions:

Fig. 13
Conver Fool, Heron edition

Fig. 14
Conver Fool, Scarabeo edition

Fig. 15
Conver Fool, Dal Negro Restored edition

It would not escape even the most superficial

observer that, however much it might amaze, the result
of the restoration of the 1760 Conver edition, is
surprisingly similar to a deck well known to the general
public. In fact, this correspondence exists, and is
obvious. On the contrary, it would be more correct to
speak of a notable iconographic similarity, as this Tarot
is almost identical. Where then, is the difference? Why
was the need felt to carry out this painstaking task?
This restored deck, as must now be evident, is none
other than the reclamation of an antique work. As the
restorer of a marvellous painting does not claim its
paternity, although he has worked hard to reconstruct
it, the same was done in this case; the images renovated
and presented here, are and will always be free from
any and all presumed copyright. The Tarot is an
instrument created for man in ancient times, in order
to educate him (in the etymological sense of ex-ducere,)
to help him to externalize that which he carries already
inside himself, to guide him along the way, to lead him
towards the comprehension of a superior and spiritual
sense of existence, counselling him at the same time in
even the most ordinary and practical choices of his
daily life. (To be continued...)