The Three-Card Quintessence: A New Twist on an Old Idea
In The Way of Tarot, Alejandro Jodorowsky points out that the second half of the Tarot de Marseille trump-card series — both in its whole numbers and in its factored integers — progresses by addition of the Roman numerals with no subtraction needed (e.g. while the Devil is 10 + 5 [or X+V] = 15, Temperance is not 10 + (5–1) = 14 [or XIV], but rather 10+1+1+1+1 = 14 [or XIIII]). I’ve been pondering how this might affect the traditional practice of calculating the “quintessence” from a series of numbered cards that is usually performed with Arabic numerals. While I certainly can’t envision Temperance as an amalgam of the Wheel of Fortune (X) and a defrocked Hierophant (V-I) since it makes me think of a televangelist or a carnival pitchman, I also can’t accept it as the Wheel of Fortune (X) trailing a gaggle of junior Magicians (I+I+I+I) who are hoping to overtake and dominate it. (The Police had a song about that sort of thing.)
The main problem I have with the typical quintessence approach to multi-digit numbers (besides some of its arithmetical limitations) is that it yields a single trump card that often seems too static and unconvincing as the symbolic avatar of an entire run of cards. I decided to take it in a different direction using Arabic digits to take advantage of their more concise factoring. For example, with Temperance I can see its logical extension as a triptych comprised of “1 followed by 4 embodies 14” — in cartomantic terms, the Magician* (dexterity and originality) in cooperation with the Emperor (resolute sense of purpose and use of power) fosters Temperance (the demonstration of consummate finesse in material matters). This concept uses decimal “place” notation (1 in the “Ones” place and 4 in the “Tens” place) rather than a cumulative sum (which would be 1+4 = 5 — the Hierophant — as its “numerological counterpart”). Instead, the calculated double-digit card enlists two single-digit comrades in its “quintessential” meaning. I should mention that the single-digit trump cards Zero (the Fool) through Nine (the Hermit) represent fundamental “forces of nature” that neither invite nor tolerate further ramification, so they are read just as they fall.
While the one-card quintessence can work beautifully as a kind of “Cliffs Notes” synopsis of a complex situation, all too often it doesn’t fit the circumstances very well and fails to make perfect sense. The difficulty arises in trying to cram too much multifaceted context into a single symbolic device, something that theoretically should be easier to do with the less abstruse lower-numbered trumps. Occasionally when I encounter a two-digit quintessence card, I will read both it and its numerological derivative as a two-phase summary of the primary pull (for example, Justice as “11” pairs with the High Priestess [1+1=2]). This offers additional options for interpretation, but a binary expression doesn’t provide much more developmental insight than a unitary one. Thus, I find the idea of a three-point outlook useful in conveying an underlying or overarching “current” of background information as the theme of the prediction. A plus is that the cards can be mixed-and-matched in different ways to script intriguing archetypal “storyboards.”
While the one-card quintessence can work beautifully as a kind of “Cliffs Notes” synopsis of a complex situation, all too often it doesn’t fit the circumstances very well and fails to make much sense; the difficulty arises in trying to cram too much multifaceted context into a single symbolic device. Occasionally when I encounter a two-digit quintessence card, I will read both it and its numerological derivative as a two-phase summary of the primary pull (for example, Justice as “11” pairs with the High Priestess [1+1=2]). This offers additional options for interpretation, but a binary expression doesn’t provide much more developmental insight than a unitary one. Thus, I find the idea of a three-point outlook useful in conveying an underlying or overarching “current” of background information as the theme of the prediction. A plus is that the cards can be mixed-and-matched in different ways to script intriguing archetypal “storyboards.”
In practice, I will derive the initial “raw” quintessence value (which could be quite large) in the normal way from all of the cards in a spread, reduce it if necessary to a two-digit number,** and then pull it and its two subordinate cards (from a different deck if need be) to form a multi-card vignette or secondary mini-reading that will serve to further explain the implications of the original draw by showing movement over time, a perspective the single-trump technique fails to provide. These I will shuffle together and lay in a line to be read in the same way as any other linear pull, either as a directional sequence or as a skewed, inflected complex in which a card in any position can serve as the focus and the others as supplemental detail. As Jodorowsky goes on to say, both the order in which the cards appear and the facing of any figures on them are critical to delineating their combined meaning; some may be acting in a reciprocal manner (“pulling in the same direction”) while others are at odds with one another, all of which is significant to the narrative.
Here are all of the ways in which the example series can manifest, using six Thoth decks rather than the TdM simply because I have enough of them to populate the whole layout. In general, the androgyne in Art is going about its work of orchestrating change oblivious to the regard of the Magus and the Emperor, while in two cases both of the latter are intent upon the operation; in two others they are both looking away; and in the last two instances one is paying attention while the other is disinterested. (There is an error in the third line of the photo, where the Emperor is accidentally reversed and should be looking to the left.) These variables reflect the type of cooperation the ongoing “alchemy of transmutation” shown by Art can expect to receive from its alternately incisive and methodical cohorts. On the other hand, if this were a business or professional matter, I would look to the condition of the Emperor, and if a conceptual or innovative one I would first check the status of the Magus. If the nature of the main “quint” does not plausibly invoke the essence of the topic or question, it may be worthwhile to read the card on the far left as being “in the driver’s seat,” or to specifically choose one of the other two better suited to that purpose. Use of reversals could alter the “gaze” of the three cards in one direction or the other.
*It’s notable that the Magician appears as the leading number in every two-digit trump card except Judgement and the World, which seems to be an apt correspondence given its role as creative “initiator.” (I sometimes think of it as the “pilot” steering the ship and the accompanying archetype as the “navigator” charting the course; another analogy suggests that one is the “mouthpiece” or “frontman” and the other is the “man behind the curtain,” while a third paradigm would be that one is “behind the wheel” and the other is the “back-seat driver.”) Also, the eleventh trump (either Strength or Justice depending on system) receives a “double dose of Magus-power;” you will need two decks to illustrate this triplicity.
**It is possible to perform this action with an initial quintessence value of three digits rather then reducing it to two, but the idea here is not to create an auxiliary reading that rivals the original in complexity, only to provide a meaningful postscript to the main narrative.
Originally published at http://parsifalswheeldivination.wordpress.com on November 1, 2022.
