There is no numerical value posted at the top of this major Arcana. One is entitled to believe its value thus equals zero. The 5 letters of the name of this card are members of the code. However, it is necessary all the same to find a way of organizing them to arrive at zero.

LE*MAT: 12+5+13+1+20 = 51?
...
12+5= 17 * 13+1+20= 34...
17... 34...
?
!!!
17 (x2) = 34, * ,34...
34 - 34= 0!

It leads us to state one of the rules of the secret code of the Tarot of Marseilles:
When a word is followed by a point *, one doubles the sum of the value of the letters of the code that are before the said * and subtracts the result from the sum of the value of the letters that follow the *.

Let us note that this point * is in fact a rhombus, or a lozenge as one would have called it in the 12th century. For the needs for this site, the small rhombus, or the lozenge, is represented by this symbol: *.
Note also that sometimes dashes (IIIIIII... or //////) in certain Arcanas also take part in the equation. It is often necessary to count them and include their value in the additions.

Here again is the main cipher of the secret code of Tarot of Marseille: A, C, E, H, I, L, M, O, P, R, T, V et X. U is sometimes V, or 22! 13 letters are in this cipher like the 13 little bells on the Fool, wich reminds us that originally cipher or sifre meant zero! We invite all to use this cipher along with patient analysis of the graphical context to decode the equations in the cards.

TAR*O. Here we will let go of the second T which is there only to remind us that the snake bites its tail (Ouroboros). But nothing is lost in the universe...
TAR*O is a word of the Persian language that means Star or Source, which the Tarot certainly is. (In French, XVII is called both Star and Source, L'Etoile et Le Toule!)
TAR*O: 20+1+18 = 39 * 0: O is a zero here.
What does one do when one meets a point *, remember? One doubles the total of the sum of the letters of the equation which precedes this * and one subtracts that result from the sum of the letters that follow.
20+1+18=39 (x2) = 78. 0-78 = -78, or 78!

TAR*O (the word Star in Persian really is tar*o) = 78. See also, TAR*O + T (reintegrating the second T) = 98, or 17, THE STAR!

The Tarot is an oracle. In the 12th century, the word oracle meant the Will of God expressed through the Scriptures and Prophecies. Let us examine the following series:
TAROT; ORAT T; ORAT XX, the Judgement; ORAT 20; ORAT CLE (20); ORA CLE XX; ORACLE XX!
The message of the angel of Judgement is an oracle. The envelope he holds in one hand is the structure of the game, a cross in a square. This envelope emphasizes the cross, or T. The word cle that appears in this series we have just seen comes from the broken up total of 20, T. One also finds a key in the Hanged Man, as seen on page 1. The character himself has the form of a key. His foot (also the base of a compass …) points towards the letter X of the number XII in the top of the card. This X is a cross, just like the T final of Tarot. But again, we have here the suggestion of a crucifixion. One has to be crucified on the Tarot cross to be enclosed in It. This is no small task as the lessons digested in XII cover a vast complex that spans something like reaching and attaining the highest goals as well as being punished for the demiurgic ambitions that come along, fatally. Carrying a cross, truly.

Let's play with the code. 79 letters are found in the set formed by the Latin names of the Zodiac constellations. Count them, from Aries to Pisces… If we withdraw one of the double Ts in the 49th position, in sagiTTarivs, we are left with 78 letters! Now, it gets better. These 78 letters are grouped so that 55 letters belong to the code and 23 letters are excluded from it. T withdrawn comes back to the rescue. Its value of 20 divided into two, 2 X 10 reduced to 2 X 1 enables us to add 1 here and to subtract 1 there. Result: 56 and 22. Awesome!

There is more... Three constellations of the zodiac bear an alternative Latin name. Sagittarivs, Capricornvs and Aqvarivs are also named ARCITENENS, CAPER and AMPHORA. 22 letters in all including three non-ciphers for a grouping of 19 and 3. 3 X 19 = 57. 57+ 22 = 79, again.
These three constellations extend nowadays from 270 degrees on the tropical Zodiac sphere to 348-49 degree, a distance of 78-79 degrees! With the retrograde shifting of 1 degree every 88 years caused by the precession of the vernal point of the ecliptic, the Tarot coding carried out several centuries ago seems to have been conceived for elucidation in the 19th-20th-21st centuries! A thirteenth constellation is overlapping the Scorpio sector in the Zodiac band. It is named Ophiuchus or Le porteur de serpent (The Snake Bearer) which decodes 178!

The number 79 also decodes to this: LA MORT (Death). These six letters plus I and the E are those that are present the most in the set of 180/2 letters (Count them!) that compose the Major names of the Conver Tarot of Marseille. I (9 times) plus E (40 times) being present 49 times, or 13, we have LA MORT XIII! Thank you to Tchalai for opening this trail.

LE BALVCHON (The bag of the Fool): With the code, 78!
LA CUILLERE: 77, with the code. The wooden spoon is emblematic of the secret society of the Gouliards. It is also said that it is an accessory which protected the pilgrims from Evil.
GRELOT: 77.
GOVLIARDS: 77, with the code. 77 is the number of Iniquity.

The secret society of Gouliards had given itself the mandate to counter the influence of the Church. There are several gouliardesques signatures in the Tarot. But these are only a limb in the main body of the Work. The religious authors, or renovators, of Tarot achieved a momentous task, benedictine’s work truly. These monks ruled the 12th century World. And they claimed they were outside of it! In French, Le Monde for religious people has always meant what was outside their monasteries, the civil society of lay men and women.

Le groupe Camoin
Essais historiques sur le Tarot.

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(27-12-00; 16:15 EST)