1
THE SPANISH SCHOOL
by Christine Payne-Towler
A few years ago, I was excited to acquire the Tarot pack being published in Spain until
Catalog of Playing Cards from Fournier, the 1900, the Catalan Taroccos, and that one was a
Spanish cardmaker whose archive  must be remake of the earlier Etteilla Tarot from
the most numerous collection of its type in the eighteenth century France.
world. The author, don Felix Alfaro Fournier,
grandson of the founder of the press, claims Considerable evidence tells us that the Span-
his book to be  the most complete graphical ish Jewish mystics kept in close touch with
repertoire of playing cards which has been their colleagues in France, sharing consider-
published to date, with 4,000 illustrations in able consensus in interpretation and practice
full color and 2,000 descriptions of packs. of their common faith. This may have been the
reason that a Tarot from France appeared that
According to Fournier, early mentions of the was drawn with Spanish art before the French
Tarot in official documents first appear in produced a truly original deck of their own.
Spain in the Municipal Archives of Barcelona
in 1378. Unfortunately by 1382, card games Just as we do with images from Etteilla s
were being prohibited by decree, first in Tarots, we have to take his writings with a
Barcelona, then in Castile and Turia grain of salt, too. On the faces of his cards,
(Valencia). These warnings from the Church Etteilla printed various words, numbers,
were meant to be taken seriously, following on astrological glyphs and Hebrew letters, but
the heels of the Albigensian crusade, waged they belong to the category of  veils conceal-
from 1208 to 1229 by the Catholic Church ing his true correspondences. He was produc-
against Cathar heretics affiliated with contem- ing his works in a time when it was still
porary French and Italian papermakers and necessary for him to disguise the content so as
printers guilds. It would not be surprising at not to violate the boundaries set by the sources
all if the savagery and destruction that the he was using or the oaths he had sworn upon
Church perpetrated in the south of France a becoming a Mason. In his books about Tarot,
century and a half before had a dampening on the other hand, Etteilla passed on a body of
effect on the industry s freedom of expression astro-alphanumeric correspondences which he
in Spain. claims to have received from the Sephir
Yetzirah of the Jews (see essay called
The Spanish never stopped playing the card  Kabbalah/Cabbalah ).
games, however, and instead experimented
with and developed a rich artistry in their We know now that he was dissembling on this
cards. The Fournier chapter on the Spanish point, because the astro-alphanumeric corre-
cards shows 923 packs of playing cards just in spondences he used were actually a variant
Volume 1! What it does not show is a single that had emerged with the Greek alphabet
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reforms of 600 BC. The confusion created by AD, late in history relative to its true age.
this misdirection has been a major obstacle Evidence of its antiquity can be found in the
that has deprived Etteilla of due credit for his fact that the Sephir Yetzirah was mentioned by
contribution to Tarot history. The correspon- name in the Talmud, which can be traced back
dences Etteilla published in his books are to at least 300 BC.
indeed related to the ancient Gra tradition
detailed in Kabbalah by Gershom Scholem, It is also true that Pythagoras, Greek number
but  related does not mean  the same as. mystic of the 600s BC, studied with the
Etteilla was actually teaching the Hermetic/ Hebrews, adapting their number theory to his
Alexandrian variant, a later product of own. So again history tells us that the roots of
Pythagorean numerical mysticism. One could this pattern are considerably older than any
think of these correspondences as being others, although Marixtu Erlanz de Guler,
Greco/Roman, a later development of the author of El Gran Tarot Esoterico, was the
Hebrew pattern, itself derived from the first to print them on a Tarot deck.
Phoenician of antiquity.
Recent Hebrew scholarship from Aryeh
But the Spanish Tarot decks as a whole are not Kaplan s The Sephir Yetzirah, published in
characterized by the Etteilla Tarot alone, 1990, highlights the reasons why the Gra
borrowed as it is from France and a hundred version has to be at the root of the Hebrew
years old already in 1900. The one truly alphabet mysteries (see the  Kabbalah/
original Spanish Tarot, which like all others Cabbalah essay). This version has been
was printed in this century, is El Gran Tarot confirmed in its authenticity and antiquity by
Esoterico, commissioned by the Fournier card no less a light than the eighteenth century
publishing company in 1977 to honor the six Rabbi Eliahu, Gaon of Vilna, whose honorific,
hundredth anniversary of Tarot s appearance  The Gra, was given to his version. Aryeh
in Europe. Kaplan also reminds us that the Sephir
Yetzirah is one of the primary ancient astro-
logical texts, which strongly implies to me
El Gran Tarot Esoterico
that its earliest form would have shaped a
The Esoterico Tarot could be mistaken for a
 world standard norm from which future
spin-off of the Marseilles Tarot to an unprac-
traditions would be drawn or against which
ticed eye, but it is loaded with telling detail
later redactions (i.e., commentaries) would be
that links it with very ancient Hebrew legends
contrasted.
about the Goddess, Eve, Sophia and the Wife
of God (see essay called  The Gnostic Tarot ).
So whenever I see a Tarot using the Gra
correspondences, and notice that it was pub-
Additionally, when the astrological sigils on
lished two decades before Aryeh Kaplan s
the Majors and Minors of this deck are ana-
definitive research proving the historical
lyzed, they correspond exactly to a pattern of
validity of its astro-alphanumeric correspon-
astro-alphanumeric correspondences of origin
dences, I sit up and take notice! Marixtu
in biblical times. This pattern, called the Gra
Guler, author of the Esoterico Tarot, clearly
arrangement of the Sephir Yetzirah, was
has her finger on a rich vein of esoteric, occult
written down in the first or second century
3
tradition in this Tarot. decks to look at, instead of just a few  repre-
In light of what we now know, that the Etteilla sentative cards from a catalog.
cards were designed to be used with the
Alexandrian/Hermetic astro-alphanumeric This multicultural trend continued as new
attributions (despite what he had printed on Tarots began to appear in Spain. What the
the cards), it is even more noteworthy that Spanish lacked in Tarots before 1900, they
seventy-seven years later, after the Catalan make up for in the late twentieth century!
Taroccos had become Spain s  traditional
esoteric Tarot, El Gran Tarot Esoterico would
Modern Spanish Tarots
be prestigiously commissioned to represent an
The first seventy-eight card Tarot published in
even older, more venerable and largely unsung
Spain, as previously mentioned, was the
set of attributions. This indicates to me that
Catalan Taroccos, possessed of every feature
there was not as homogeneous a situation in
that we would expect from an esoteric Tarot,
the Spanish Secret Societies as on the rest of
although in an unusual arrangement. This deck
the Continent.
demonstrates detailed and pleasing numbered
Arcana inspired by classical archetypes,
One impression that is hard to miss with the
Hebrew letters, symbols purported to be
Spanish playing card decks is that the Spanish
Egyptian hieroglyphics, and in the case of the
culture has been the most multicultural,
Minor Arcana, the faces of both the Catalan
colorful and open-minded of all the European
and French playing cards.
cultures when it comes to playing card imag-
ery, especially the closer we get to modern
Starting with this deck, all the Spanish Tarot
times. People from Africa, China, the Middle
images show the modifications we have come
East and the Americas appear in their native
to associate with the Fratres Lucis Egyptian-
dress, right along with the expected Europe-
style pictures first published on the Falconnier
ans, often standing for  the four corners of the
Tarot of 1896, as discussed in the essays  The
world through their suit attributions.
Esoteric Origins of Tarot and  The Continen-
tal Tarots. Perhaps the Spanish found the
Perhaps we should expect to see this variety
Catalan Tarocco uniquely satisfying, despite
since the path that papermaking took to reach
its unorthodox arrangement of the Hebrew
Europe was from China via the Arabs, up
letters on the (reordered Etteilla-style) Major
through North Africa and into Spain. In these
Arcana. Or perhaps they were supplementing
Spanish playing card decks, costumes are
their experience with French and Italian Tarots
ornate, the figures are most often caught in
that made their way in from abroad.
various action poses (the Spanish royalty do
not sit, unless astride a horse) and occasion-
We do know from books on Tarot published
ally one of the royalty will suggest a Major
by Spanish authors at the beginning of the
Arcanum. The King of Cups often looks like a
twentieth century, that the Falconnier Arcana
minor pope, while the King of Swords some-
(or some other source of Alexandrian-style
times holds the crossed orb known from the
Major Arcana) had appeared in Spain. We
Empress and Emperor Arcana. I am sure more
know this because we see their titles listed in a
resemblances could be found if we had the full
table in Pierre Piobb s Formulary of High
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Magic. This table, and an essay on the Minor magic, but also from the telltale changes
Arcana by Eudes Picard, appears in The instituted upon the Lovers and the Devil
Encyclopedia of Occult Sciences, which was Arcana in the late 1600s (see  The Continental
published anonymously in English in 1939. Tarots ). However, most Marseilles Tarot
Both Piobb and Picard were originally pub- decks do not have any sigils or glyphs that
lished in the first decade of the 1900s, and can indicate Hebrew letters, astrology signs or
be found listed in the annotated bibliography other overt occult correspondences. If one
at the back of Volume 2 of Kaplan s Encyclo- were just trusting in the momentum of  tradi-
pedia of Tarot. tion in Spain, one would expect the Spanish
Marseilles to have correspondences like the
In this article on Tarot from the Encyclopedia Catalan Taroccos.
of Occult Sciences, Picard s section is illus-
trated with the Minor Arcana from the Etteilla But I am inclined to believe that the most
Tarot, although the descriptions make it clear common astro-to-Arcana correspondences
that what he was writing about was acutally a used in Spain with the Marseilles cards, at
deck much like, if not identical to, El Gran least by the turn of the twentieth century, were
Tarot Esoterico. On the table from Piobb, the the ones presented in Joseph Maxwell s
astro-alphanumeric correspondences given for posthumous book called The Tarot. These
the Hebrew letters are those used in Dali s correspondences clearly aren t derived from
deck and the Euskalherria Tarot, which are Hebrew sources, but are just as decidedly
marked  as given by [Paul] Christian. (This linked to traditional portrayals of the zodiac,
is another reference to the Fratres Lucis the planets and other mythic figures, partaking
manuscript that Christian translated and more of the nature of European pagan folk
printed for the first time, although the corre- associations than true  occult technology.
spondences on those decks are those of the
Old Alexandrian stream.) The illustrations I include these correspondences in this essay
documenting these Major Arcana correspon- rather than in the Continental essay because it
dences are made from an unnamed Spanish appears from the available evidence that the
Marseilles deck. Talk about an eclectic mix of Spanish esotericists were the ones experiment-
influences! With so many themes appearing in ing with various versions of the set published
the literature about Tarot upon the appearance by Maxwell, while the French were sticking
of the Catalan Taroccos, it is no wonder that with those of Levi. One can see a version of
no other Tarots were published in Spain for Maxwell s correspondences on the illustra-
seven decades. tions included in The Encyclopedia of Occult
Sciences (published anonymously in 1939), in
The Spanish Marseilles the section about High Magic called  The
The Spanish Marseilles emerged in 1975, Tarot, the Supreme Symbol. The Marseilles-
based on the 1736 Italian-Piedmontese Tarot style Tarot used as illustrations in the Encyclo-
of Giusep Ottone. We know that the pedia of Occult Sciences as illustrations for
Marseilles family of decks consisted of  eso- the essay includes astrology correspondences
teric Tarots not only because of the many clearly related to Maxwell s version, pub-
artistic references within them to myth and lished after his death in 1938. Dali s Tarot and
5
the Euskalherria by Marixtu Guler, both angels, the Shemhameforesh, drawn from Old
mentioned below, also uses these exact corre- Testament sources and invoked through
spondences. theurgy. Being of the English model, the
angels are arranged differently on the suit
1976 saw the publication of the Balbi Tarot, a cards than was traditional from the eighteenth
Marseilles offshoot using a body of Arcana/ century French decks that introduced them.
astrology connections that s another variant of The images seem strangely hallucinated, and
Maxwell s system. This deck gives us the the black-and-white format is a bit ominous
most accessible and sympathetic esoteric compared to the brightness of other Spanish
Devil card (Baphomet) in my collection. packs of cards.
Balbi s Arcana present a blended combination
of complimentary and clashing colors, creat- Also in 1980 the Secrets of Tarot deck was
ing powerful optical effects when used for reprinted in Spain following a 1955 first
meditation and  scrying. They also look very edition in Italy under the title Il Destino
lively when laid out for a spread. Svelato Dal Tarocco (aka the Cagliostro
Tarot). This deck presents the French School
In 1977, on the six hundredth anniversary of alphanumeric pattern, but with Alexandrian-
the appearance of playing cards in Europe, style Major Arcana imagery. The images on
Fournier commissioned the very first Spanish these Arcana are adjusted to portray more
Tarot, the aforementioned El Gran Tarot female figures, in the spirit of the Etteilla and
Esoterico, created by Marixtu de Guler and the earliest handmade Tarot decks. The pity is,
rendered by Luis Peńa Longa. This is the only the Minor Arcana look utterly unrelated
Tarot I have ever been able to recommend to artistically, have only a little character of their
my Jewish students, who want a Tarot that own, and are printed top and bottom with
will be respected by their rabbis. divinatory patter, also like the Etteilla Tarot. I
am sure this defect affects the circulation of
The fact that this definitive Tarot also has these interesting Arcana.
Minor Arcana that exactly match the essay on
the Spanish Tarot written by Eudes Picard in The Basque Mythical Tarot followed in 1982,
1908 gives us another assurance that El Gran with scintillating designs by Angel Elvira and
Tarot Esoterico is not a  fad Tarot. It would support material written by Marixtu de Guler.
be so helpful if Picard s book, Manuel This wonderful deck has undeservedly lapsed
Synthetique et Pratique du Tarot were trans- out of print, a situation that needs to be recti-
lated into English with all illustrations repro- fied due to the artistic and occult value of this
duced so we could study more about the Tarot unique deck. Ms. Guler also wrote the booklet
situation in Spain at the turn of this century. for the next Tarot to emerge in Spain, the
Marseilleise Tarot, which also seems to be
In 1980 the English school was represented in unavailable at present. (Is there a Spanish-
Spain with the publication of the Hermetic speaking student of Tarot who can account for
Tarot by Godfrey Dowson. This Tarot is the genius of this modern Tarot magus,
especially valuable for its inclusion of the Marixtu Guler? No doubt the history of Tarot
spelling and zodiacal degrees of the zodiac would be greatly enriched if we knew more
6
about her sources, her inspiration and the Fratres Lucis archetypes, which seem to be the
process she went through to create the monu- avenue through which the Pythagorean corre-
ment of esoteric Tarot as her small but power- spondences survived in Europe (see  The
ful collection of decks.) Continental Tarots ). This makes the Knapp-
Hall Tarot a scholarly splice between the
In 1984 the Universal Dali Tarot emerged, Hebrew Gnostic and the Pythagorean streams
created by the famous artist to please his coming from antiquity.
Russian-born wife s love of the cards. In his
Tarot he follows the alphanumeric pattern A modern Tarot with the Hebrew (Spanish)
revealed in the Formulaire de Haute-Magie, correspondences of the Gra is the Tarot of the
published in 1907 by Pierre Piobb (a pseud- Ages. This looks like a divinitory deck be-
onym of Comte Vincenti) and footnoted as cause every one of the suit cards is illustrated
being  according to [Paul] Christian. From with a scene of human experience instead of
this roundabout clue I assume that Dali (and showing geometrically arranged suit emblems
Maxwell) were reproducing a pattern known as El Gran Tarot Esoterico does. The Major
by Christian to have been common in Spanish Arcana look Egyptian (modern interpretations
esoteric Tarots during the eighteenth century. of the Falconnier Tarot), but the astrology is
The Dali Tarot, along with the aforementioned old Hebrew. Nowhere is it explained why this
Balbi Tarot, show more alphanumeric relation combination of images, correspondences and
to Joseph Maxwell s correspondences than to cultures was chosen, but that is not a defect
any other version. because all the imagery makes the deck more
accessible to beginners. The fact that it
Artistically, the Dali Tarot shows a direct matches El Gran Tarot Esoterico, though the
correlation to the Royal Fez Moroccan Tarot, two appear to have no direct relation to each
which was commissioned in the late 1950s other, seems to mean that the world of Tarot is
though not published until 1975. Imitating the maturing and becoming more scholarly about
Waite-Smith Tarot, the Fez Tarot has very our traditions, even in decks prepared for the
similar pictures card for card, replacing the mass market. This is a development we can all
geometrical arrangements of suit symbols that applaud!
were traditional. In that sense, the Dali could
be considered a hybrid Spanish/English/ pagan More could be written on the Spanish Tarot
Tarot. stream, especially as it concerns the cultures
of Mexico, and Central and South America.
An interesting note on the Spanish Tarots is Kaplan s Encyclopedia shows that versions of
that the deck made by Augustus Knapp and the Alexandrian, Etteilla and Papus Tarots
Manly P. Hall in 1929 looks and feels dis- have remained popular among Spanish speak-
tinctly like a Spanish Tarot except that the ers of the world, despite their lack of commer-
royalty are seated. These inspired versions of cial impact in North America. More research
the Major Arcana display the Pope and the is needed to put this fascinating and eclectic
Charioteer in feminine form, like the oldest group of Tarots in proper perspective relative
Gnostic-leaning decks. Yet Knapp and Hall to the larger history of Tarot.
employ the alphanumeric pattern of the
13
1 A a 1 a A U A A U U
2 B b 2 b z z z z z z
3 C g 3 g ; C D F F F
4 D d 4 d E A E E E E
5 H h 5 e D o p D o o
6 V v 6 Vpw p p
7 Z z 7 z w q q C q q
8 Ch c 8 h u r u u r r
9 T t 9 qsn s s
10 I y 10 i xx x
11 C k 20 k s F s s C C
12 L l 30 l U u n o u u
13 M m 40 m G J G G
14 N n 50 n mm m
15 S s 60 x C w C w w
16 Ayn f 70 o o x o U x x
17 P p 80 p F D F p D D
18 Ts x 90 j r m r r m m
19 Qk q 100 r q n U q n n
20 R r 200 s n G w G G
A A
21 Sch W 300 t p E U Fool World
U U
22 Th u 400 u UU World Fool
TABLE OF CORRESPONDENCES FOR THE
CONTINENTAL DECKS
Arcana #
English (Alpha)
Hebrew
Number Value
Greek
Pierre Piobb, 1908
Dali Euskalherria
Gra Version of Sephir Yetzirah
Balbi
Marsieilles
(according to Joseph Maxwell)
Old Alexandrian/Etteilla
(Falconnier)
Continental Tarots
U
U
U
U
U