musings from the marsh...: The Art Of Divination...

My recent post about the Tarot brought me into contact with a couple of beautiful paintings involving the cards, and the 'cartomancer'. Every now and again I will put together a themed post of classic paintings and related quotes. I went about compiling some quotes for this Tarot themed post, and interestingly enough, there aren't a lot of them out there. I ended up with a few quotes, an old poem, and some jokes related to the world of Divination. Those and a number of really beautiful works of art. I found many more paintings with cartomancy (card reading) as a theme, but picked what I thought to be some of the best...including a palm reader, and a couple of Crystal Ball gazers...

("The Fortune Teller", Theodore Von Holst, 1840)

"It's said that the shuffling of the cards is the earth, and the pattering of the cards is the rain,

and the beating of the cards is the wind, and the pointing of the cards is the fire. That's of the four suits.

But the greater Trumps, it's said, are the meaning of all process and the measure of the everlasting dance."

~ Charles Walter Stansby Williams (British Science Fiction & Fantasy author)

("Fortune Teller With A Candle", Orest Kiprinsky, 1830)

"Last night I stayed up late playing Poker with Tarot cards.

I got a full house and four people died."

~ Steven Wright

("La Tireuse des Cartes" (The Fortune Teller), Jehan Georges Vibert, c. 1840-1902)

"Love, under whose Empire many deeds

go without Time and without Fortune,

saw Death, ugly and dark, on a Chariot,

going among the people it took away from the World.

She asked: "No Pope nor Papesse was ever won

by you. Do you call this Justice?"

He answered: "He who made the Sun and the Moon

defended them from Strength."

"What a Fool I am," said Love, "my Fire,

that can appear as an Angel or as a Devil

can be Tempered by some others who live under my Star.

You are the Empress [Ruler] of bodies. But you cannot kill hearts,

you only Suspend them. You have a name of high Fame,

but you are nothing but a Trickster." "

~ 'Sonnet' by Teofilo Folengo, c. 1527

From his work: Caos del Triperiuno

Written under the pseudonym: Merlini Cocai

The above Sonnet mentions the 22 Trump cards

(Major Arcana) of the Tarot.

("Fortune Teller", Georges De La Tour, 1632-35)

"The true Tarot is symbolism; it speaks no other language and offers no other signs."

~ Arthur E. Waite (Co-creator Rider-Waite Tarot Deck)

("The Fortune Teller", Nelson A. Primus, 1898)

"Playing cards may seem ordinary, but they contain the history of the world inside them."

~Author Unknown

("The Fortune Teller", Sir Edward John Poynter, 1877)

'The short fortune teller who escaped from prison was a small medium at large.'

("Cartomancy", Alexey Venetsianov, 1842)

"Welcome to Divination," said Professor Trelawny, who had seated herself in a winged armchair in front of the fire. "My name is Professor Trelawny. You may not have seen me before. I find that descending too often into the hustle and bustle of the main school clouds my Inner Eye."

~Prof. Sybil Trelawny, Professor of Divination, Hogwartz School of Witchcraft & Wizardry