Introduction

Last week I received my copy of the new Minchiate Tarot by Brian Williams. Although the cards and book are new to me, I did have the privilege of seeing the original art in Chicago this summer, and have been reading intensively with the 18th-century Minchiate Etruria deck (on which Williams's designs are based) for over a year. So I thought I would give a go at GMing this new deck as well as continuing with my posts on the Renaissance Tarot. Brian has called me the "godfather" of the Minchiate Tarot, although that is quite undeserved because it was all completed before I started corresponding with him about it, and furthermore I look nothing like Marlon Brando. But I do take the honor quite seriously, and will attempt to look after this precocious child while its actual father is off carousing in foreign lands.

The original tarot was enormously popular as a card game, spreading through much of Italy and into France and Switzerland by the opening of the 16th century. People were fascinated by the allegorical pictures on the cards, and there was a flurry of invention of new decks of cards inspired by the tarot model. Most of these were passing fads, and died away without much of a trace. One of these creative quasi-tarots, though, survived and even thrived. The Minchiate (pronounced Min-kee-AH-tuh) was invented in Florence early in the 1500s, probably around 1530. It departs from the standard tarot mainly in having many more trump cards or major arcana, 41 of them in all, including all 12 signs of the zodiac and the four elements of the ancients. It also has female pages in the suits of cups and coins, and all the knights are mythical creatures: centaurs in batons and swords, a sphinx in coins, and a sea-gryphon in cups! The deck has 97 cards altogether.

Minchiate actually became so popular that it completely replaced ordinary tarot in Italy in the 17th century. Minchiate was even played in France and possibly Germany. Eventually, though, its fortunes faded; the last decks were made for use in Genoa around the beginning of this century. A reproduction of the fanciest antique Minchiate deck (made in Florence in 1725), the "Minchiate Etruria" was published by Lo Scarabeo a few years ago, and is still available for purchase in the US, although it can be difficult to track down these days.

Williams's Minchiate Tarot is very faithful to the original in terms of the symbolism, but of course reflects the artist's personal style and vision. The designs are delicate, airy line art, meticulously tinted by repeated applications of watercolor around the edges the figures. It comes with a book, similar to the Renaissance Tarot book, that discusses the precedents for the cards in art and mythology.

I'll try to post "catch-up" reflections on the Minchiate Major arcana corresponding to the cards we've already discussed. Don't know what to do when we get to all the "extra" cards, but I trust I'll think of something!

The Fool

We are used to seeing a Fool who is on a journey, strolling along in his jester's garb, perhaps accompanied by a dog or other creature. In the Tarot de Marseille, the dog bites the Fool's leggings, and so seems more a tormenter than a companion, unlike the happy Waite-Smith puppy.

In the main Italian tarot tradition, however, the Fool is not obviously on his way anywhere. Instead, he seems a local entertainer, without much on his mind. The Minchiate shows him holding aloft a whirligig that spins in the breeze, while children clutch at his legs and look up at him adoringly. The Fool seems happy to play with them, perhaps because he has the mind of a child himself.

I like this interpretation of the Fool a great deal. Writers often speak of the Fool's "childlike innocence", but here the idea is given visual life. Certainly, the happiest times I have with my own child are when I become like her myself, delighting in simple things that are nonsensical to the adult mind. This Fool has no royal patron (King Lear, for example) to impress with his wit and clever repartee. No, he's more likely to be found on all fours, barking like a dog while the kids climb on his back and between his arms and legs.

Maybe some townspeople laugh at him for being feeble and buffoonish, lacking in marketable skills of any sort. But since he has no ambition either, it all comes out even! And, strangely, he's probably an asset to the town. The kids are safe with him, and he entertains us with his carefree play, giving us a much-needed break from taking ourselves so seriously.

He probably sleeps outdoors at night, alone with the stars.

Tom Tadfor Little
tlittle@telp.com

Tarot at Telperion Productions
http://www.telp.com/excursions/tarot/

The Hermitage: A Tarot History Site
http://www.crosswinds.net/members/~hermit/