Doze meses com os Enamorados: Robert M. Place.

Olá pessoal. Feliz ano novo, regido pelos Enamorados! E, começando nossa jornada de doze meses por doze olhares e doze formas, temos abrindo a jornada o artista plástico Robert M. Place, um dos maiores autores de e sobre Tarô da atualidade. O autor gentilmente cedeu para nós um de seus textos, que publico com orgulho pela disponibilidade, cortesia e resposta imediata. 
Autor de diversos baralhos - Alchemical, Angels, Saints, (Traduzido aqui no Brasil como Tarô dos Santos), Buddha, Vampires e o mais novo, Sevenfold Mystery, e dono de uma visão sobre as cartas que muito se afina com aquilo que aplico na minha prática, Robert M. Place é para mim uma das fontes axiais no estudo da Tarologia. Recomendadíssimo. 
Para conhecer mais sobre o seu trabalho, acesse The Alchemical Egg e Alchemical Tarot.

Caso queira adquirir qualquer dos seus baralhos ou livros, entre em contato com a Priscilla Lhacer, no Amor, o Próprio.

Lovers

Tarot of Sevenfold Mystery

Imagem cedida gentilmente pelo autor para essa publicação.

The Lovers Trump

Robert M. Place

In the Tarot's trumps the four temporal rules, the Papesse, Empress, Emperor, and Pope, are pared as two male and female couples and Love, in the form of the the Lovers card depicting the god Cupid, trumps both pairs. This theme is similar to the triumph of Love, the first triumph in Petrarch’s poem, I Trionfi, which is a likely influence on the earliest Tarots. 

Amantes

Cary-Yale Visconti

In the earliest known existing decks, the Cary-Yale Visconti Tarot and the Visconti-Sforza Tarot, the Lovers depicts a man and a woman holding hands under a winged and blindfolded Cupid. This image is based on standard Renaissance betrothal portraits. In the early Renaissance, Cupid was considered an irrational, disruptive force that needed to be tamed through the institution of marriage. In the Cary-Yale Visconti Tarot a dog was added to symbolize the fidelity accomplished by this ritual. Cupid’s irrational nature was symbolized by his blindfold, which allowed him to shoot his arrows indiscriminately without caring who he hit. As the god of lust, he represented the essential problem of the Soul of Appetite, the first level in Plato's threefold hierarchy of soul levels: Appetite, Will, and Reason.

L'Amoreux

Jean Noblet

In the Tarot of Marseilles, the traditional French deck, the allegory has broadened and a second female figure has been added. The young man on the card is depicted standing between two women as if making a choice about which one he loves. One woman with flowers in her hair represents sensuality and lust. The other with a laurel wreath in her hair represents virtue and selflessness. Above, Cupid draws his bow and prepares to strike. The piercing of his arrow symbolizes love’s wound. The youth on this card must transform his lust into a higher love for him to continue on this spiritual journey. In the earliest example of the Tarot of Marseilles the circa 1650 Jean Noblet, Cupid still wears a blindfold. In the oldest example from Marseilles, the 1672 Francois Chosen, however, he has become clear-sighted, symbolizing that love has become a conscious choice. This is a Neoplatonic influence brought about by the Renaissance philosopher, Marcello Ficino, who revolutionized the concept of love when he translated Plato’s Symposium and published it with his commentary. After Ficino's influence, the clear-sighted Cupid became the standard image for most French decks.

Frontispício do Triumpho di Fortuna por Fanti

A similar motif can be seen in the frontispiece for the Triumpho di Fortuna by Fanti. A book on fortunetelling, making use of both dice and astrology and published in Venice in 1527. In this allegory, we find a large figure of Atlas supporting a globe that is actually an elaborate wheel of Fortune with a belt displaying the signs of the zodiac and crank handles extending from the central axes. On our left, there is an angel, representing Bona Fortuna (Good Fortune), turning the handle clockwise. On our right, there is a devil, representing Mala Fortuna (Bad Fortune), turning the handle counterclockwise. This is one of numerous Renaissance illustrations that demonstrate that Fortuna’s wheel was considered to be the wheel of the cosmos.

At the top of this wheel and globe sits a pope. As in the Tarot, he represents the highest temporal ruler—he is literally on-top-of-the-world. On either side of him, sit one of two women with their names written in Latin next to their heads. On our left is Virtue and on our right, the same side as the Devil, sits Sensuality. The pope’s fate hangs on his choice of a mate.

For my Lovers trump for The Tarot of the Sevenfold Mystery I returned to the theme of choice presented in the French decks. Here Cupid’s blindfold has been dropped, as it was in later editions of the Tarot of Marseilles, indicating that the lover is making a conscious choice. The lover is an armored hero, prepared to choose virtue and continue on the journey. The two women are labeled Appetite and Will because when the hero chooses virtue over lust he will cease operating in the Soul of Appetite and move up to the Soul of Will, in the Platonic hierarchy. The dog, symbolizing fidelity, is a detail retained from the earliest hand-painted Lovers trump.