Tarot Thrones | The Court Card Blog

Tag: Visconti Sforza

  • The Book of Shadows | Andrea Aste | Page of Swords |Kickstarter

    Andrea Aste

    I first encountered the delightful genius of Andrea Aste when I was on Arnell Ando’s Tarot Tour of Italy back in April and I was struck a) by the amazing artwork that he showed us and b) the overall vision of his Tarot project.

    So, here’s a quick Q&A with the man himself about that vision and his Tarot deck – through the Page of Swords, of course!
    Me:  Andrea – for those that aren’t aware of your Tarot project can you briefly outline it here?

    Andrea:  “Thanks Alison, it is very kind of you. The project is a vision I had 3 years ago. I wanted to create a multimedia project meant to be a tour of exhibitions: I wanted to re-create a parallel fictional world revolving around a mysterious deck of tarot and a coded Alchemy book… 

    “Thus I started to create the deck and the book.. but While working on them I had many ideas.. the tarot started to tell me their stories, new suggestions, a plot, feelings. I imagine strange places, old dusty libraries, strange alchemists and secret sects..I had a plot for a film..and I did it! 
    “An historical thriller-mockumentary, where I decided to present everything I’ve created as a real archaeological discovery… The goals of the project is always the same: create a parallel world in the Renaissance, to show how, in our world, philosophy, alchemy, magic, occultism, art and new-born sciences were mixed all together. It is a great challenge. I think we need more culture and what better way than to create a series of exhibitions where people can have fun and think, see things in many different ways and discover our perception of reality changed through time? 
    “So, while organising the tour of exhibitions, I thought it would have been great to start to share the project with people. I looked for sponsors in my country, Italy, needless to say in vain. So I decided to make everything in English and go to another level: international one, on kickstarter! 🙂

    Me: Tell me about the Tarot deck itself – is it ‘traditional’ in that it has 78 cards, four suits, 22 Majors etc?


    Andrea: “The deck is very traditional in its concept. I wanted to present it as the first ever created, the origin of all tarot decks. It is a game of fantasy, but a challenge too!

    “I have my artistic style, I wanted to be very personal, in my style, not in a possible renaissance style… so I had to work on the meanings and references of every single card, to make it realistic as a primordial tarot. It was fun and very interesting – I spent months studying books and tarot, consulting historians, logicians, an art expert, a sociologist (one of my best friends has a PhD in Sociology – he’s an expert of magic phenomena from a sociological point of view). 
    “The tarot is inspired by the Marseille deck and above all from the oldest surviving deck: The Visconti Sforza. So, yes, 22 Major Arcana, 78 cards in total, numeral cards in the Italian oldest tradition, with every number represented by the corresponding number of items. The 8 of cups shows 8 cups! 🙂 very traditional 🙂

    Me: Have you renamed any of the cards?

    Andrea: “Actually the card has the name given by the tradition of the Marseille’s deck… but I didn’t want to write in any language: Old Latin? Old English? German? Italian? Which language could ever being used to create the first tarot?

    “So, I opted for NONE… I invented a code, every symbol is a set of meanings, like in Egyptian hieroglyphs, or the Mayan’s symbols. So every name of every card is composed of symbols that capture the name of the card and its meaning.  It was a very complex game to play…but I loved it, but it was a dream I had from the time when I was studying philosophy at University: invent a language, a parallel world, a fantasy realm where to settle my stories… 🙂 I did year before, transforming it into my full time job! 🙂

    Me:  Let’s look specifically at the Page of Swords (on right) – there are no keywords or titles as such on the card … but there are those mysterious symbols! Can you explain for me the symbols and what the card represents within your deck?


    Andrea: “Every symbols has a meaning, a set of meanings all correlated one to the others.

    “The Page of Swords’s name it is compose by two symbols: The first means “warrior”, “guard”,”the one who is fighting for…”. The second one is the symbol of the “Swords”. The court cards are the less related to the tradition. I kept the meaning, but not the figures. I wanted them to be set in the parallel world with fantastic creatures, strange costumes, no clear cultural references – they are set in a mythical past. They are mysterious and very visionary. In this way I can use them in the future to evolve other part of the parallel world, to expand the world I created two years ago with Torineide, an exhibition held at the Natural Science Museum of my home city, Turin. 
    “The fantastic creatures and some of the characters I created there come back in The Book of Shadows. The idea is to create over time, a huge fictional world, where everything is interconnected. a multimedia project… I guess I will be very busy in the future 🙂

    Me:  I think that you will be VERY busy in the future, Andrea!  Here at Tarot Thrones, I focus on the court cards of the Tarot.  Your courts are structured Page, Knight, Queen and King – what do those ranks mean within your deck?

    Andrea: “I respected the traditional ranks and names of the traditional decks. I’ve just taken the “tetragonal” structure of the 4 cards and give them a fantastic-fictional background.

    Me: Could a beginner Tarotist use your deck or is it aimed at experienced readers?

    Andrea:  “I guess a beginner could have lot of fun with this deck and project, but like in every aspect of life, the more culture, curious, and active toward the world you are, the better you can reach out and understand it.

    “We have the misfortune to live in time where there is not enough time to go deep in what we like or what interests us – there are too many pressures, too many roles and rules we “are” forced to follow and play

    “For example – Who would take a German Grammar and dictionary just for the pleasure to read Faust by Goethe? Just the ones who have allowed themselves to do it… Difficult time, culture is everything, poetry,  music, art – if we lose these, we lose what makes us human…we are not robots, our goal is not to produce or consume but to explore, learn and improve ourselves 🙂

    Me:  Tell me about the other items that make up your whole Book of Shadows project?


    Andrea: “The Book of Shadows is a deck, a book that tells part of its stories and with all the “technical” data about the cards,  along with the new spreads inspired to the major constellations, the symbols, etc… and the film.

    “The pivotal point of the project is the mockumentary: “The Book of Shadows”. It’s an historical thriller revolving around the mystery of the manuscript and the tarot created by the Alchemist.

    “Philosophy, history and science are intermingled with fictional facts, invented arcane references and symbols, citations of esoteric passages from fabricated manuscripts, all of which are used to create an illusion of authenticity and truthfulness. The narration is accompanied by sensationalised newspaper articles, commentary and arguments by fictional cultural intellectuals, logicians, archaeologists and art historians, etc…

    “To create a perfect illusion of veracity some selected guests, who are well known international experts in different fields, have been contacted to be interviewed, so that they could express their point of view about the Alchemist’s works as if they were real. Fiction and reality had to be totally fused together: Prof. Roger Scruton, Prof. Augustus Casely-Hayford, Mary K. Greer, Chris Butler, Arnell Ando.

    “In certain moments the fabric of the parallel world is ripped apart and another level of reality appear: an animation, narrated by international star Arturo Brachetti, tells the Alchemist’s story.

    “In his search for knowledge, the Alchemist devises a new game: the Tarot cards. He wanted to challenge Nature and, by cheating her, to gain her secrets. But Destiny thwarts his plans and reality shatters into thousands of pieces. The Tarot cards take life transporting the Alchemist into a discovery journey…

    Me:  It sounds amazing! You are showcasing your work in Australia soon?


    Andrea:  “I will present the Film, the international première and the project 🙂 yes.

    Me:  There are only a few days left on the kickstarter – can people still contribute?

    Andrea: “Yes sure. we need help to make the parallel world real, to make it grow, and share it 🙂

    It’s not too late to support Andrea’s vision – and bag yourself a copy of this intriguing deck!

    https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1769110239/the-book-of-shadows-the-lost-code-of-the-tarot

    or you can keep up with the deck’s development on facebook!

    TABI has backed this project!

    *** EDIT  21 April 2017 *** The deck and accompanying book can now be purchased on Amazon as ‘The Lost Code of Tarot‘ 

  • Strength | Summer Solstice | Blog Hop

    Welcome to the Midsummer
    Blog hop! If you’ve happened here by chance, then you are in for a
    treat if you follow the links below to all the other blog hoppers who
    are providing a chain that runs from 0 The Fool through to XXI The
    World.
    My card of choice is
    Strength.
    Most decks published today show
    Strength as Major Arcana VIII, however this wasn’t always the case.
    In older Marseille-style decks Justice is found at position
    VIII.
    So why the switch? Well, Back in the early 1900s, The Golden Dawn’s 
    A
    E Waite (the creator of the Rider Waite Smith Tarot) was keen to add
    astrological references to the Major Arcana.  But if Strength (Leo),
    kept her position at Major XI, then pesky Justice (Libra) would disrupt
    their plan to show all the Astrological trumps in their correct
    order. 
    And Lo! The switch was made!  Righting some ancient Tarot wrong, no doubt 🙂
    Aleister Crowley, another but more notorious member of the Golden Dawn, stuck resolutely to the traditional
    numbering for his Thoth deck. But changed the names of the cards – Strength became Lust.  Contrary ol’ coot!
    Does this order-switching matter? Probably
    not really, because back in the day, the old decks didn’t have numbered
    Major Arcana cards. 
    Why were numbers added? I fondly imagine that the various City States of Italy – each more powerful and vainglorious than the
    next – ended up with different cards in different orders.  It’s easy to imagine courtly gents in tights arguing heatedly about whether Temperance scored more points than Justice in their card game.  That’s the sort of argument that can get you run through with a rapier….
    But I digress, what I REALLY wanted to share with you is the evolution
    of the image:
    Visconti Sforza – 1451

    Hercules giving the Ebil Nemean lion a jolly good thrashing.
    Pretty danged violent to our contemporary eyes, isn’t it? 
    The Sola Busca Tarot – 1491

    A completely different viewpoint from a completely unique deck.
     This is Tulio, meditating on the night

    Don’t mix up card VIII which shows a child being dismembered over a fire by Nero – that’s Justice, not Strength!


    This is a deck crammed with alchemical symbolism 🙂
    Tarot del Mantegna – 1470(ll Meneghello version)


    A woman holds a club and wears a lion’s mask.
    There is also a lion behind her and a broken column.
    The broken column is traditionally the symbol for Forteza.


    BTW – this deck doesn’t actually have anything to do with Mantegna 🙂
    The Rider Waite Smith – 1909

    The combination of lion, woman and physicality that we strongly associate with this card makes an appearance.

    Tarot Sophistique – 2014

    A contemporary version of a Marseille Tarot image 
    Woman and Lion
    we can see the nascent leminscate of the RWS in the circle of her hat.

    Strength earned her place in the Tarot deck by dint of being one of the four Cardinal Virtues: Fortitude.

    The other virtues are Prudence (The High Priestess), Temperance and Justice (represented by, erm, Temperance and Justice).

    I like the virtue of Fortitude being part of the Tarot deck.  But Fortitude and Strength have slightly differing meanings:

    Fortitude means courage in
    pain or adversary.
    Strength means:
    a) the
    quality or state of being physically strong
    b) the capacity of an
    object or substance to withstand great force or pressure
    The subtle difference is that Fortitude brings a moral strength, a valour (indeed a Virtue!) to the heart of the card, which Strength alone does not.
    And there endeth the Lesson on Strength!
    Hope you’re ready to hop onwards to the next card?

  • The Visconti Sforza Tarot

    Academia Carrara, Bergamo

    Milan was just as shimmeringly hot and magnificent as it was when we arrived a fortnight earlier.  My God, how had two weeks passed so quickly?! We rendez-voused (is that even a word?!) together outside the jaw-droppingly OUTSTANDING Cathedral (these Italians, they never knowingly-under statue anything).

    It was time for our close encounter with the Visconti Sforza!

    Just to the right of the Cathedral, in the former palace that is the Palazzo Reale, an exhibition detailing the life and times of the Lombardy Viscontis and Sforzas was running – and deep within the bowels of this exhibition were the Visconti Sforza cards!

    We paid our money – E12.00.

    Reader, I would like to tell you that I spent a relaxed and happy couple of hours in the exhibition, but I strode straight through the exhibit halls – the portraits, the madonnas, the landscapes, the precious artefacts, the jewellery and went STRAIGHT to the dimly lit case that held the Visconti Sforza cards.

    I gingerly brought out my camera and popped the buttons so that the flash would not discharge.  Out of nowhere a young man with a very hip beard materialised: ‘NO CAMERAS!!!” he said, sternly.

    “Not even with the flash off?” I wheedled, giving my best ‘FOR GOD’S SAKES, I’M ONLY A TOURIST’ expression.

    He looked at me with his ‘I see your Only A Tourist Expression and I raise you my Just Try Switching On Your Camera Again’ expression.

    I admitted defeat and simply stood with my nose pressed against the glass, desperately trying to burn the images and their glory onto my retinas.

    There weren’t too many cards – 12 I think.  They were utterly glorious, and a lot bigger than I had anticipated.  The paintings were set off beautifully by their gold (for Majors and Courts) and silver backgrounds (for the Minors).  I could have wept at not being permitted to photograph them.

    Another tour member arrived and she too brought out her camera. Moustache Man sprung out and waggled his finger “NO CAMERAS” She too rested her head against the glass and whined in frustration.

    One of our number DID manage to take some snaps on her ipad, but I figured that since I’d been expressly forbidden to take a photo, deliberately countermanding his warning and taking photos regardless might result in me being banished from Lombardy.  And who wants that?!

    Then we hit the gift shop and I bought ‘Il segreto dei segreti’ about the Sola Busca Exhbition of 2012 and ANOTHER copy of the Visconti Sfoza Tarot (I already HAVE a copy!), but neither of them do justice to the glowing golden backgrounds.  But hey, you can’t have everything in life…

    …or can you?!

    Il Meneghello has JUST (actually, for our final evening of the Tour!) produced a version of the Visconti Sforza deck that is, by all accounts, very beautiful – you can explore it here, if you fancy a copy!)  The deck is 67 cards and is based on the Modrone (aka Cary Yale Visconti)

    But for those of us who couldn’t afford the divine Meneghello deck, all was not lost!  For we had one more trip out of the city to take – back to beautiful Bergamo to the newly refurbished Academia Carrara and THEIR collection of Visconti Sforza tarot cards!

    The Academia had been closed for refurb for eight long years and had only opened at the beginning of that week.  We hopped off the coach and joined the end of the very long queue.

    Actually, it wasn’t too long before we were at the front of the queue – having 30+ people to chat with makes time fairly whizz by.  Also, the delightful Juliette Sharman Burke went exploring to a bakery and brought me back a little snackeral.  Which also makes life better 🙂

    We made our way, respectfully, but hurridly, through the magnificent treasures of the Academia and found ourselves, once again, standing before the cards of the Visconti Sforza.

    “Erm, can we…. take pictures.” we asked gingerly.

    “Yes, but no flash.” smiled the guide.  Oh I could have kissed that lady! Hollywood red-carpet goddesses could not have been snapped any harder than we papped those cards!

    Sadly, my battery gave up the ghost after a couple of shots.  Yeah, bloody sod’s law, isn’t it.  But here are a couple of images, taken by some of my merry band of travellers.  I would love to credit them for their photos, so if these are YOURS, sing out!!

    Feast your eyes on the gorgeousness and WEEP!

    The Emperor
    The Moon
    Knight of Swords

    Page of Swords – attitude and a MASSIVE hat

    So, in the end we DID manage to photograph the Visconti Sforza.

    And with that accomplished ….. it was just about time to go home 🙂

    What do you think of the cards? And if they are your photos, let me know so that I can add your details!

  • Tarot in Art | Queen of Pentacles | Visconti

    “Here, you take it, my arm’s getting tired!”

    On my frequent forays into the dusty art vaults at Tarot Thrones to bring you something lovely to see, I found this gem tacked on the floor behind the door behind an ancient pile of Radio Times magazines.

    This is the Queen of Pentacles, or ‘Reine de Deniers’ to give her her sale title, who was sold at Christies in Paris back in 2005.

    It is attributed to The Master of the Visconti Tarot (mid 15th century) and is gouache on board, with gilded highlights.

    Seated in front of a draped blue banner, we meet the red robed Queen.  She wears a golden crown to denote her rank and is depicted with her Coin held aloft in her right hand. Although she looks a bit pregnant, I suspect that is just the fashion of the frock.

    Just off to the left of the card we an see another figure who is either handing the Queen her Coin or receiving it from her.

    It’s a beautiful little image that measures 168mm x 63mm

    The card was estimated to sell at $33,549-$46,968

    It actually sold for $376, 817!

    Am I the only woman who wishes that Empire line frocks would come back into fashion so that we too can sit and let our tummies relax like the Queen of Pentacles.

    Also crowns.  I would like a crown……

  • Tarot in Art | Visconti Sforza

    Has your biro just burst in your handbag?

    What about splashing out on this as a replacement?

    This is a fountain pen from the pen people at Visconti.

    To mark the creation of Lo Scarabeo’s Visconti Sforza Tarot deck, they created four designs from the Visconti Tarot for very limited edition pens (each has a run of 78 – what else?!)

    Visconti commissioned artist, Soukou Oshita, who is an expert in Maki-e artwork (where images are created from sprinkled precious metals, no less!) to turn some of the Major Arcana images into artwork for the pens.

    It has an 18 kt pen nib and a double resevoir.  If you’re thinking of replacing that Biro.

    These Visconti folks undoubtedly create magnificent artworks. Visit their site and FEAST YOUR EYES, people!

    Their pens have been used, for example, to sign the NATO-Russia Summit in 2002, which marked the end of the Cold War and Visconti pens were also presented to the 25 signatories of the European Constitution in 2005.  See? Classy.

    But you will STILL absent-mindedly leave it lying on the counter in the bank……..

    Soukou Oshita at work

    The topmost image depicts the Chariot and Wheel,  but you can check out the others here.

    Fancy it? Well, just mortgage the children for £9,800 and one of these really gorgeous pens can be yours!  *wonders whether she should ask for one to use as a promotional item and decides that the answer will be hysterical laughter*

    OR

    You could just buy a copy of the Visconti Sforza deck and a packet of Bic Crystals and spend the rest on a luffly holiday!

  • The King of Cups | Art | Visconti Sforza

    From the workshop of Benifacio Benbo, 
    Il Re di Coppe, 
    Visconti Sforza Tarot
    Yeah, there’s so much of the figure missing that when I looked at this image I thought the King was actually lying in a box with only his legs sticking out.  As if he had been SLIGHTLY overusing his Cups.
    And here’s what The King of Cups looks like when he’s not lying in a box.
    The top image was sold in 2008 at the Milan auction house for Christies for a jaw-dropping 19,500 Euros.
    So the next time your other half rolls his/her eyes at your frantic late-night, wine-fuelled ebay bidding to procure YET ANOTHER tarot deck, you can point out that it’s AN INVESTMENT.
    That’s my excuse and I’m sticking to it!
    What’s been the most expensive Tarot deck you’ve ever purchased?