Mrs. John King Van Rensselaer

“ Many writers have thought that Playing Cards were simply an evolution of Chess, and the features connecting them have been widely discussed, since there are strongly marked attributes common to both. But, as far as is known, Chess has never at any time been used for divination, and there are no traditions connecting it with prophesying, while from time immemorial cards have been used for fortune-telling by almost all nations, either through the complete pack of Tarots, or the Book of Thoth, their successors, the Playing Cards, or their predecessors, the divining arrows. ”

“ Matto carries the attributes of Mercury: the staff he holds in his hand, while a purse dangles from his side. He is travelling or walking, as if carrying news, or a message, and also suggests a wanderer, a pedler, or a merchant. Motion, energy, and luck are expressed, as well as fickleness, inconstancy, and unconventionality that may amount to insanity. The letter is Shin, and expresses cyclic movement. In some of the old Italian Tarots, Il Matto is represented as being naked, or else in tattered garments, like a beggar, when he symbolises folly, frivolity, or chance. ”

“ The intention of the Atouts, as a whole, is the representation of a youth and his parents or governors and sponsors. These are followed by everything that can express human life, such as ambition, love, marriage, temptation, friendship, luck, trials, illness, hatred, jealousy, despair, hope, enemies, success, and death. When combined with the pip cards, the whole makes an interesting game of life, presided over by the versatile god, Mercury, “the writer on the tablets of Fate.” ”

“ It is practically impossible to bridge the chasm between the abandonment of the actual and open worship of Mercury in his own temples to the transference of his heraldic emblems to the unbound leaves of a book that could be concealed on the persons of his priests, for doubtless the rites of Mercury were practised privately for many years by people who had every motive for concealment ”

“ Here, then, are the four attributes of Mercury through whose aid he speaks to men: the Caduceus, stylus or magic wand; the Coin or ring, emblem of eternity; the Sword, and the Cup or chalice.
Always depicted as a youthful or, perhaps, [Pg 79] irresponsible man, sometimes described as inconsequent, volatile and light-hearted, still Mercury was the most affording and helpful of all the gods of Olympus, and it was he who interceded for men, who presided over births and deaths, as well as over love affairs, business, and the arts. ”

“ Yet when, to crown all, it was realized that no one had even suspected the connection of the scattered pages in their possession with those of Egyptian mysteries, nor had any person deciphered a line on them, and that the fruit of an exquisite wisdom is to-day regarded as a collection of extravagant pictures without any significance, the world would be surprised at its own supineness or ignorance. ”

“ When Christianity refuted the doctrines of the heathen gods, those who followed the ancient rites were forced to conceal them. Hence it is that if Playing Cards are derived from this mysterious worship, through which they consulted the wishes of their gods, no trace of them can be found in the legal records before the middle of the fourteenth century, when the cards were established as a game but not as a cult. ”

“ When he was the messenger he held to the lips of mortals the seven-ringed cup of sorrow or joy, and the many significances of this cup, although now nearly forgotten, were realised by the ancient worshippers as an important emblem of the functions of the god.
If the Tarots are the direct descendants of the occult images in the Temple of Thoth, as is conceded, it must also be acknowledged that then these cards each has a meaning or intention worth studying, if only to discover their secret; and that if they are connected with the ancient mysteries they represent human life in all its phases. ”

“ Even if regarded as toys or gambling instruments, Playing Cards certainly fill a great part in the lives of men, while their origin and the influence they have wielded in the past should surely have created more interest than has been the case. ”

“ Although treated by modern writers as one of the minor of the twelve gods of Olympus, Mercury was by no means so looked upon by the ancients, who revered, feared, consulted and obeyed him as they did no other deity, so he wielded more influence over the lives of mankind than did all the other gods put together. ”

“ This thirteenth Atout is represented on some cards as a skeleton mowing off the heads of men, on some as a rider on a white horse, and on others on a black one. There is an old proverb: “Death comes riding on a white horse,” and sometimes the clouds betokening rain are called “the white horses of death.” ”

“ The Queen is a blonde friend, perhaps the best beloved, and the Cavalier is sometimes a fair-haired lover, while the Knave is an infant, a messenger, or a birth.
The Suit of Swords always is unlucky, and its King betokens a dark, bad man, an enemy or some one to be mistrusted. The Queen represents a brunette who is wicked and to be feared, a gossip, a treacherous character. The Cavalier is an enemy or a spy, and is dark; while the Knave is bad news, delay, or malice. The whole group indicates opposition raised outside of the home. ”

“ Thanks to the lovers of woodcuts, prints, and engravings, the history of European Playing Cards has been preserved. Through these it has been investigated, as it would have been impossible in any other way, since the men who are devoted to the card table are not usually of an investigating turn of mind, while those who prophesy with cards prefer the occult and mysterious to the scientific. ”

“ It, therefore, seems a pity that a uniform design is not agreed upon, as is the case with the court cards. Any deviation from the dress of the figures on the latter meets with instant opposition from players. It seems peculiar that the card is never represented by Mercury, or a fool, or a clown, or perhaps, a red devil, which would make it easy to distinguish from the Ace of Spades, which is often, and sometimes disastrously, mistaken for the more powerful Joker. ”

“ It is the more strange that the surviving signs connecting the ancient worship of Mercury with the emblems on the pip cards remained unnoticed, for the old Temple of Mercury at Baiæ remains with its vaulted roof in a fairly good state of preservation; and on the ceiling of this temple can still be seen traces of pictures resembling those on the Atouts. Almost obliterated and difficult to see, since the place is dark and there is no means of lighting, they can yet be discerned, even though it would be impossible to reproduce the emblems. ”

“ It is quite as important to retain the position as the dress of each figure, if the wishes of players are to be respected. Thus, the King of Hearts holds the sword of Mercury uplifted in his left hand. It is an heraldic weapon, and not a rapier, or what is known as a dress sword, that would have been usual with the costume of the period. [Pg 231] His mate on the English cards, the red King of Diamonds, has a battleaxe displayed in the upper left-hand corner, and he is the only king whose face is in profile. His right hand is raised, as if bestowing a blessing. ”

“ The ox typifies strength, and the lion courage, while the eagle suggests inspiration and the power of soaring above mundane affairs. These four emblems represent also the four seasons, when the ox stands for autumn, the man for winter, the lion for summer, and the eagle for spring; so the complex meaning of the twenty-first Atout suggests that the head or wisdom of man prescribes the will of the ox, the courage of the lion, and the aspirations of the bird, through the mouth of Truth. The attributes of the designs on the cards are also included in this leaf from the book of Thoth. ”

“ Modern people seldom place themselves in the atmosphere of Biblical times, which leads to much misconstruction and misunderstanding.
The various proclamations and edicts passed against Playing Cards are a history in themselves, although it is a pity that they are of too late a date to throw much light on the first alteration of the cult of Mercury into games, a change that was probably gradual, and so insidious or secret as to have no public record. Still, it is through these legal papers that we get authentic dates and the earliest mention of cards as gambling instruments or toys ”

“ Although the Spaniards remained faithful to the Tarots, they discarded the Atout part of the pack, retaining only the suit cards with the pips of Cups, Money, Swords, and Staves. The emblems adopted in the several countries nearly five hundred years ago (when a wave of card playing seems to have swept over Europe) , have retained their hold on the affections of those who adopted the individual devices, for each nation still clings to the pips that were then chosen, and it is only by degrees that the French designs are emigrating to different parts of the world. ”

“ Nebo, of the Babylonians (mentioned in the Bible) , Thoth, of the Egyptians, and Hermes, of the Greeks, were all worshipped as gods of speech and inventors of transmitted ideas. It is not credible that in Asia or Africa, even as early as the twelfth dynasty, that voice language or speech was a gift newly granted to mankind, so there must have been some reason for the belief that “these gods gave speech to mankind.” This is one of the superstitions puzzling many modern students who have tried to investigate the mysteries of the Temple of Thoth. ”

“ The Persians claim that Chess was invented in their country, pointing out the retention of some of their names and expressions in the English game, such as “Check,” from the Persian Sciack or King, and “Mat,” signifying “dead,” hence “Checkmate,” or “The King is dead.” These words may well have their derivation from the Persian or Arabic, but they are not universally employed, although Chess is of ancient origin and has been played for centuries in Africa, Asia, and Europe. ”

“ Thou art protected against a violent death. Thou art protected against fire. Thou escapest in Heaven and thou art not ruined upon Earth.” Such a valuable insurance against every evil during life or death must have been well worth a handsome fee to the priest who issued it. ”

“ The Spaniards omit the woman from their cards, while the French drop one of the men, the cavalier, a mounted figure that gives variety and value to the royal family in other countries, and makes the game more like one of war, and not merely a compliment to a distinguished lady. However, the King, Queen, and Knave are now the only ones with the French emblems, and these are followed by ten pip cards, in which number one, or the Ace, is sometimes the highest, and, at others, the lowest in the pack, according to the game to be played. ”

“ As the cards are dealt and fall together, one balances or controls the other, so that when their meaning is deciphered as a whole there is a most interesting picture of ordinary life.
The game is played by two persons, one who deals and one who reads the cards, or rather interprets with superior knowledge the meaning of the great Book of Thoth Hermes Trismegistus. It can readily be seen how the game could be taken advantage of by the unscrupulous, who induced credulous persons to believe that the leaves of the book revealed the future. ”

“ However, had cards been regarded as the survival of one of the most ancient of cults, connected with it by its traditions of prophesy or fortune-telling, the true story might have been unravelled centuries ago, for a study of the traditions, religions or superstitions of Africa and Asia would have revealed that Naibi (the name given at that time to cards) meant prophesy or revelation, and was inherited from the great “Writer on the Tablets of Fate,” Nebo the prophet, the Assyrian god. ”

“ Among the cards it outranks all others, and is as volatile and as little to be depended upon as the god of Quicksilver himself. It controls and dominates every card in both the pip and Atout parts of the pack. It represents the unforeseen, the unexpected, uncertainty or [Pg 56] uncontrollable fate, and the destiny that presides over every walk in life. It stands for Destiny, whether it be called Kismet, Luck, Chance, Fate or Mercury, who alone could tell to mortals what he had foretold at their birth, when as “the Writer” he inscribed on his “tablets” all the events of life. ”

“ When Nebo took his place among the mystic seven great gods, he found associated with him Marduk (or Jupiter) , Nergal (or Mars) , Ishtar (or Venus) , Nineb (or Saturn) , the Sun, represented in a chariot drawn by horses, as copied in the seventh card of the Atouts, and the Moon (Nan-nar) , who was called the “Heifer of Anu,” and was the presiding genius. She received the name because the horns of the new moon resembled those of a cow. Her Assyrian temple was at Ur of the Chaldeans, and she was also worshipped in Egypt and is represented by the eighteenth Atout. ”

“ What is now called the Serapeon is one of the most remarkable ruins in Italy, for through some volcanic action it was buried beneath the sea in the twelfth century during the last eruption of the Solfatara, reappearing after another volcanic outburst in 1538. It had been forgotten for centuries, but when the fresh movement of that ever-swaying shore made the waters recede, the temple again appeared above the surface. ”

“ But when these learned men studied the histories of the European countries for the first printed or legal record of Playing Cards, and decided on the fourteenth century as the date of their birth, they never looked into the haze of the past to the period when cards were not bits of pasteboard, but of very different character. ”

“ The Atout cards may be divided so that the first seven cards refer to the intellectual life of man. The next seven cards point to his moral condition, and the last seven of the Atouts declare the various events of his life. Taken with the pip cards, a fair narrative of all concerning the ordinary events of life may be read in the cards, that is at least curious and amusing, even if no credence is placed in the revelations, and this is supposed to be what the ancients meant when they declared that Mercury had invented “speech, letters, and books.” ”

“ This is one of the most mystic of cards, its number being one that was regarded as occult by the ancients. It displays a picture of a king or a conqueror, in his car drawn by beasts, precisely as Nebo was frequently represented in the texts, “when the gilt chariot never marks the way.” Sometimes the car is drawn by horses, frequently by oxen, sometimes by lions, and occasionally by black and white sphinxes. This car typifies Mars, the god of war mentioned in Babylonian mythology and in the Bible, “when every nation made gods of their own and the men of Cuth made Neral (Mars) .” ”

“ Cards for divination have appeared from time to time, but the emblems were so fanciful and so unauthoritative that the unhistoric designs have not found favour. One of them in the British Museum shows traces of being derived from the [Pg 300] Tarots, as Mercury is seen hovering over a sailing vessel under his guise of protector of merchants. It is to be remarked that it is the Seven of Bells and is called Commerce. The Eight of Bells is the Wheel of Fortune. The Two of Leaves is Hope, and the Six of that suit is the Death card. ”

“ It is noticeable that the Money emblem has a design upon it, and is not the simple ring of primitive times. This leads to the suggestion that these particular cards were devised from those of Mercury. Since there are Court cards and a Joker, it would seem as if the Chinese had adopted part of a pack of Tarots, omitting the Cup suit, since it had no meaning for them, but copying the other emblems in their own peculiar way; but this is only a guess as to the origin of this particular set of cards, and only those used for divination bear these devices. ”

“ Through studying the Joker and the value bestowed on him in the old as well as in the modern packs the similarity of the powers that he wields with those that were attributed to the Hermes of the Greeks may be recognised, and this representation of irresponsibility, of chance or of luck, is found in every part of the world where divining cards are used. It marks the difference between the Tarots and the French, German and Swiss packs that were invented for gambling only, and were never intended for fortune-telling. ”