The original purpose of the tdm

Manufactured edition of Claude Valentin & Guillaume Dubesset

Why the Marseille tarot has been initially created for ?

This is a central question in the history of the Marseille tarot.

In fact, we don’t have much information about the original purpose of the Marseille tarot, so in order to find some clues, we have to explore the historical and cultural context in which the TdM has been created.

Most of historians agree that the Marseille tarot has been created at the end of the XV th century in the italian city of Firenze.

So let’s explore the society of Firenze during the XV th century.

I) The philosophy of Firenze society during the XV th century

During the XV th century, the city of Firenze was composed of the most talented artists and philosophers of the whole human history as Boticelli, Michelangelo, Fra Angelico, Filippo Lippi, Masaccio, Masolino, Donatello, Domenico di Michelino, Marsilio Ficino, Giovanni Pico della Mirandola, Christophoro Landino, etc.

Back to this time, christianity was at the heart of the Italian society and all theses artists were very pious christians as we can see watching their art or reading their books.

Representation of the Devil as Saturn in "The temptation of Christ" by Botticelli

Trinity by Boticelli

Adoration of the magi by Botticelli

Sixtine Chapel by Michelangelo

Adam & Eve (Sixtine Chapel, Michelangelo)

Mary Magdalene sculpture by Donatello

II) MARSILIO FICINO

According to Christophe Poncet and Sebastien Michel, the Marseille tarot may have been created by Marsilio Ficino for the students of the “Plato Academy of Firenze”. It is likely that Botticelli helped to create the first Marseille tarot by collaborating in their illustration.

In that Academy, led by Marsilio Ficino for the Medicis family, students learnt the philosophy of Plato directly from Marsilio himself.
Plato is actually known as the inventor of the concept of the Demiurge. He also discovered that the material world is a prison in which we need to escapte, in order to return to the “light of the Monad” that is the true God (see alegory of the cave).

But in this religious and philosophical context, the teachings of Plato were adapted into christianity (as Pico della Mirandola did for the Kabbalah).
Not because they have to (in any case christian platonism philosophy was considerated as an heresy) but because it was their true believe.

Marsilio Ficino, woodcut

III) THE USE OF CARDS TO HELP STUDENTS MEMORIZING THEIR LESSONS DURING THE XV TH CENTURY

Back to the XV th century, it was very common in Italy to create “playing cards” to help students memorizing their lessons.
For exemple, we found some cards used by law students, medicine students and philosophy students. Most of these cards contained pictures that illustrated lessons so students could have a better understanding of the purpose of their courses.

In that context Christophe Poncet and Sebastien Michel elaborated the theory in which the Marseille tarot may have been created for that purpose too.

That could explains why we found so many astrological and alchemical symbols / references in the Marseille tarot (Marsilio Ficino was also known to practice alchemy ).

IV) USING THE MARSEILLE TAROT TO FOLLOW THE PATH OF JESUS CHRIST

As seen earlier, the neoplatonist christian philosophy is not just about believing, it is an inner spiritual practice that leads to a self transformation.
That’s why students of the Plato Academy of Firenze did not simply have to memorize lessons, they had to experiment the holy presence of Jesus Christ inside of them to escape from the prison of the material world.

In that spiritual context, the Marseille tarot may have been used as a map illustrated in 22 steps to exepriement that divine presence inside of them. Well used, this map could help students to access God, that is not just about an intellectual understanding of the divine but more about an awakening of the mind, a comprehension that goes far beyond the soul, to the spirit.

That’s why it is more likely that the Marseille tarot has originally been used as an introspective and a meditation tool and not a divination tool.

V) NO SIGNS OF A DIVINATION USE OF THE TAROT UNTIL THE END OF THE XVIII th CENTURY

Back to the XV th century, Christian neo platonists had a good understanding of the astral world. They were aware about the danger of being manipulated by astral entity called authorities by Saint Paul. That’s why they could not use the tarot for a divination use. They clearly made the distinction between the astral world and the divine realm . They knew that using divination directly interfered with the astral world they wanted to escape from.
Some people may argue that divination was forbiden by the church so they had to hide their practise but that’s not true. They simply did not use divination because divination was against their neoplatonist philosophy.

That could explain why no clues or information about a divination use of the tarot has been found, until the end of the XVIII th century with Etteilla and a bit later with Antoine Court de Gébelin.

Indeed, that esoteric philosophy disappeared in the course of the XVIII th century with the emergence of the humanist philosophies.

Manufactured edition of Claude Valentin & Guillaume Dubesset

VI) PRACTISING THE MARSEILLE TAROT ACCORDING TO THE INITIAL PHILOSOPHY

As no tangible proof regarding the practice of the Marseille tarot from the end of the XV th century to the end of the XVIII th century, has been found yet, we can only establish theories. As a suggestion, you could for example use your deck to do a “Lectio Divina”(as “La Papesse” suggested to us), having in mind the idea that we are all jailed in a material prison and that the only way to escape it, is following the spiritual path of the Christ.
The lectio divina is known for having been commonly used during that period, the ancients may have been used the tarot in a similar way.

The lectio divina would be composed by 5 main steps.

STEP I : Chosing a card

The first step, consists in chosing a card to work with. As the cards are numbered, you have to begin with the Bateleur. Shuffling the cards is not a good idea, as the archons don’t want you to give birth to Christ inside of you, they won’t let you chose the right card to work with. You can keep working on the first card for days, weeks, or simply choosing the next trump and so on.

Step II : Lectio - “Eating” the card

The next step consists to observe all the details of the card with attention. You must spend a long time on it, for your mind to absorb each pictural elements of the trump, decode all symbols until having them printed in your mind, in order to have a very good understanding of the card. During that step, you must be aware of what is happening on the trump (the story it tells) as much as what is happening inside of you (it may be an emotion, an existential problem, a memory, etc). You should not force anything but you might notice an element that seems important to you or that attracts your attention. That element will remain with you for the next step.

Step III : Meditatio - Meditate with the card

When your soul has “eaten” all the details of the card, you can close your eyes and have an introspective reflection on the element that catched your attention or on the whole card if nothing popped up. Why this card revealed that emotion, idea, memory,etc within me ? Why this memory came back to me ? Reflect on it and analyze what happened to you, putting it in relation with the card.

Step IV : Oratio - Praying with the card

The previous step will help you to enter slowly and naturaly in a step of prayer. Your mind will naturaly open itself to the Heavenly kingdom. You can enter in a praying step in silent or repeating a short sentence. Praying is not about asking favours to God, praying is about uniting yourself with God. To pray properly, you have to forget about yourself in order to let God enter through you.

Step V : Contemplatio - Contemplation of God

The final step is the most spiritual one, the quality of your prayer (previous step) allows you naturally to experiment the holy presence of God. At that stage, you slowly slide into a state of contemplation with God. Your whole being is inflamed by the heavenly fire. The Holy spirit is actually purifying you and transforming you from the inside through the holy union that is happening.

Your “lectio divina” session will naturally end when you notice that your thoughts are back, when you are aware of yourself again. You can write on a notebook what happened during your experience and be patient because it can take a few tries before accomplishing the 5th step.

CONCLUSION

Although, the ancients did not use the tarot as a divinition tool, they used it in a very spiritual way.
The Marseille tarot was, and still is a very good tool to access the divine reality (not the material illusion, either the astral realm) through the divine union and connection with God.
Using the tarot the same way ancients most likely did, can allow you to exeperiment the diving presence of God instead of connecting with archons as in a regular intuitive or intellectual interpretation of tarot reading.
It can lead you outside of the physical and astral borders, bringing you to the divine light of God. In that way it is a very powerfull tool that can help you to experience the spirituality of the ancients inside of you.
Moreover, it can literaly help you to curse your past and to free yourself from the prison of the material world to access the so called Pleroma.

That’s why the Marseille tarot is one of the best tool for inner transformation.