We’ve completed our look at the numerological meanings of the pips, and we have therefore reached the highest trump. If we place trumps I-X in a row left to right, and then trumps XI-XX above them, again left to right, trump XXI sits atop these rows. It is the ultimate triumph, the crowning glory, that of eternity and heaven. I’ve also talked about the Fool card below, which is not a trump.
Trump XXI le Monde (the World)
The Visconti di Modrone (Carey-Yale) and Bergamo (Pierpont-Morgan/Vsiconti-Sforza) both have surviving World cards. These two original representations quite clearly show New Jerusalem, as described in the Apocalypse of St. John (of Patmos) 21:2 – “And I John saw the holy city, the new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband”. The Modrone actually shows the bride descending, whereas the Bergamo has two putti holding the New Jerusalem aloft.
The concept of New Jerusalem, a place where God would dwell with the saved (those resurrected in the last card) after the “fearful, and unbelieving, and the abominable, and murderers, and whoremongers, and sorcerers, and idolaters, and all liars”, are consigned to a “pool burning of fire and brimstone which is the second death” (John 21:8), was quite a common theme alongside Christ Pantocrator. We see these in the illuminations of the hours of Catherine of Cleves, and the Viscontis, and various Apocalypse texts.
In the Le Monde of the woodcuts the theme of New Jerusalem, as paradise with God, is still explicit. The figure within the relief was not, and is still is not, female but male: it’s Christ. In the Dodal and Jacques Vieville Tarots the figure is still clearly Christ, even with Globus cruciger, and surrounded by the traditional mandorla with the four evangelists: St. Matthew (Angel); St. Mark (Lion); St. Luke (Ox), and St. John (Eagle). This is all very simplified owing to the printing process over time, hence the incorrect gender identification, but is a definite Majestas Domini (a very good example is Monestir de Santa Maria de Mur, Spain) or possibly a precursor to the Salvator Mundis in relation to the reward of the Elect. All these symbols relate, as does much of the Tarot trumps, to the fearful and controversial Book of Apocalypse that dominated religious piety from the late middle ages.
In readings Monde card symbolises the attainment of heaven and real rewards. As “heaven” this is frequently goals and pastures new that figuratively, and even literally, put you somewhere else in your life entirely. It has the ability to diminish really negative cards, because, it makes thing “new” again; so current troubles will be consigned to the past and don’t rear their ugly heads again. The “judging” concept readers like to ascribe to trump XX actually happens in this card, and ask such you will normally be well-judged and aided by someone normally unknown to you in times of crises.
Keywords: heaven; totality; elect; hope rewarded; pastures new and/or liberation
Suggestions in Reading:
Where this card appears there is set to be liberation, which is very good if it surrounded by cards of ill omen. It means the person having the reading will at least escape unscathed, if not benefiting in some way. For example, in a very acrimonious divorce a client has managed to achieve a better than expected settlement against the odds, due to a legal loophole. Problems with a house can be settled in a surprising way, a very generous sudden government purchase that lets you buy somewhere else that is better. Both of those have happened in this lovely card. Also, if someone was worried by serious health concerns, this is a strong sign that their worries are largely unfounded.
This card, especially with the Sun, can indicate a significant stroke of luck. A person theoretically could emigrate, or at least go travelling for some time, thanks to a lucky win or similar benediction. In love, for someone single, this is a strong sign of someone whose native tongue is different to yours.
The Excuse Card – le Mat (the Fool)
This card is often cited as being an unnumbered trump, and in Belgium the printers did incorrectly label this card XXII, but both are incorrect. The Fool card is not a trump and doesn’t represent a triumph in any way. Rather, the Fool is a is called “the Excuse,” which in the game played with the Tarot allowed the player who held it to deal it when they did not want to play a more valuable trump or otherwise. Whilst the player who dealt the Fool would not win the trick cards of that round, they would receive the Fool card back which prevented them losing out. As such, it wasn’t a typically lucky card but facilitated a way around the game.
The oldest Fool is from the Bergamo (Pierpont-Morgan) deck, and shows a man in tatty clothing and a large goitre. In the 15th century physical disability was seen as an affliction from God or a sign of wickedness, so the Fool wasn’t a greatly liked figure. The goitre does raise the possibility that the Fool was painted as having infantile hypothyroidism, which could stunt growth and lead at times to slow development – the older name for this illness being “cretinism”. This was a particularly common illness in Switzerland and north Italy.
Later Tarots changed the Fool into a simple man, normally in silly attire which was frequently dishevelled by his accompanying dog or cat. The Noblet and other decks showed his clothes being torn, even exposing his genitalia, which carried other conations of being base and worthless. Additionally, other cards show him playing with or entertaining children – a simpleton.
In readings, the Fool can either act as a significator but this must be decided before hand, and he therefore isn’t read. Otherwise,as a dealt card, he represents stupidity and foolishness, and always, confusion. He’s a big warning that you are on a fool’s course, so if you’re asking about someone or if you should do something I’d say step back now. He disrupts the cards around him, particularly the one he walks away from, and I’d recommend dealing a card above him for extra information.
Keywords: foolishness; stupidity; unwise actions “only fools rush in”; mental health issues (very occasionally)
Suggestions in Reading:
There really isn’t much else to say about this card, but if I’m reading for myself, and I see him, I normally leave it for another day – I take his being there as I would considerations of judgement in old astrology. If you’re reading for another person, just err on the side of caution, and look for back ups to your predictions in the other cards. In a reading, you should always be able to confirm a prediction by the other cards – if you can’t the Fool is at work. If you’ve covered the Fool with another card, this identifies who or what the Fool is, and that is a big help – especially if a court card covers him.
If you were doing the twelve houses it is a very bad card to see in the second house, because your money is about to go walking if you follow through with that “great idea”! With lots of Batons he does promise a very happy, if not silly, time – but be careful you don’t get into trouble. I’ve read for a few students from Birmingham Medical School who’ve pulled this card – and they’ve landed in hot water! He’s not nice around the Love card – you’re a fool for love, and someone is leading you up the garden path. Just remember the Fool doesn’t play by the rules.
In conclusion, as novel as the idea of a Fool’s journey for the trumps is, I don’t think there is anything to back that up. If anything, the trumps simply describe the social, religious, and political environment, of XV century Christendom that would have made the game a bit more whimsical. It works well for us now too, because we still have our Love (VI) and Purgatory (XVI). And as for the Kabbalah, the Book of Thoth, or even left over wisdom from an older faith or time: no. It really isn’t there. Whilst the iconography of Christianity is far from unique, or even original to Abrahamic faiths, the images in the Tarot are medieval European piety and therefore Christian. As an agnostic who borders on athiest, however, it is quite obvious you don’t need to be a Christian to read with it - but dressing it up, as Waite et cetera have done, for personal agenda, just removes its simplicity.
There is an element of duality in the trumps, in how some balance another, and then the trumping. It does have overtones of the lessons of prudence, which Augustine and Aquinas all ranked the first virtue, and is missing from our set. Our current ordering is a little odd, it must be said; time (IX) should trump fate (X) and lead into reputation (XII) and death (XIII). I’m inclined to believe the Sermones de Ludo Cum Aliis offers perhaps the more logical trumping order.
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