Tarot in GR (is Re: grgr (34): "the tower" (747)

[jbor]

----------
>From: "Otto Sell" <o.sell at telda.net>
>

> The Tower returns in the last poem of the novel again and you must not read
> the Crowley explanation but the A.E. Waite interpretation. The tarot-deck is
> also called "The Rider-Waite-Deck," but you can see it in the Crowley-deck
> too.
>
> "His cards have been laid down, in the order suggested by Mr. A. E. Waite."
> (738) which is, of course, the Celtic Cross, where the tenth card is called:
> "what is to come." (724)
snip

I'm not sure that it matters so much what deck we as readers use: Pynchon
isn't prescribing how to read the Tarot readings he has made, which are an
integral part of his own aesthetic process in these latter stages of the
novel imo. I think this is where the text is becoming aleatory: Pynchon
recognises that he must relinquish his own (subjective, teleologically
circumscribed) *Control* over the narrative or else fall into the same old
trap of constructing a binary opposition of good and evil (finite
interpretation) which he chastises throughout the novel, and so he turns to
chance/the cosmos to determine the resolution of these aspects of the plot.
Thus, uncertainty is consciously (and overtly) inscribed into the text by
Pynchon with these Tarot spreads. ("Here are the real cards, exactly as they
came up." 746.9-10up) And Pynchon's (or the narrative's) interpretation of
the cards is far from conclusive, as the fragment entitled 'Weissmann's
Tarot' exemplifies.

But I agree with you that Crowley's interpretations of the Tarot are not
always wholly reliable: he certainly has a particular pov to push. (The
designs for his deck are beautiful nonetheless.) Kai's re-post (and thanks
for the excellent notes for this section btw Kai) provides an example of
this, where Crowley refers to the *Knight* of Cups as the *King* of Cups,
and confuses these two entirely different cards:

> Knight of Cups (Caballo de Copas) -- Seducer. Invitation. Attraction and
> conquest.
> The card: the young knight rides, blonde hair in the breeze, a cup
> offered in one outstretched hand, his shield in the other, but his horse
> is blindfolded and trampling an even greater cup growing from the earth
> below.
>
> King of Cups (El Rey de Copas) -- Laborious husband. Honest person.
> Businessman.
> The card: The king sits on his (boardroom) throne, his cup overflowing
> in a rainbow cascade (a little like a harlequin scarf) which has not yet
> reached the ground. The emblem on his vest is a heart inside a sun. One
> hand is placed on his genitals.

Eleven cards are laid out in Weissmann's Tarot on 746-7 (a slight variant on
the Celtic Cross mode). It suits some readers to read the King of Cups in
position four of his layout as a prediction of the character's personal
future (this is, of course, incorrect: in this layout the cards at position
6, "Before", and position 11, "What will come", are the only cards which
address future events or circumstances). As the text states, this card, the
King of Cups, is merely "crowning his hopes". (749.9)

I take the "he" in the following sentence ("If you're wondering where he's
gone ... ") to refer to the "fair intellectual-king" Blicero aspired to be
(i.e. the card) rather than to Blicero himself (who will die) -- it is an
indication of the positions which people of like vision are holding in the
post-War world:

     The King of Cups presents us with a paradox. A mature and wise king
    is sitting on his throne, and others are looking to him for energetic
    leadership. Yet, this same king is very much involved in the world of
    feelings and is receptive to what is unnameable and inexpressible. In
    the eyes of "doers" he is rather impotent, and the King of Cups is
    actually the least organized and least structured of all the kings.
    But he is also the most intuitive, and is prepared to act on the basis
    of inner norms and deeply rooted feelings, which means that every once
    in a while he is not always business-like! He is involved in life, has
    a spiritual dimension, and is not quite sure what to do with his
    authority. His intuitive ability can be serviceable to his subjects,
    because he realizes the direction in which society, the nation, and
    life are developing. He perceives hidden trends and is able to come to
    terms with them. (Hamaker-Zondag 125-6)

best