Tarot Art and History Tour of Northern Italy
September 23rd – October 6th 2012
14 Day Tour of Northern Italy
We had such a great time on our first organized Tarot Art & History Tour of Italy this fall, that Arnell and Michael are doing it again and it is going to be fabulous! Highlights are posted on this webpage . More details will be sent to you upon request. Hope you can come as it is an unbelievable opportunity! Please book early as space is limited for this extraordinary adventure.
Above is my photo of the room of Good and Bad Government in the Civic Palace of Siena. I really got that these frescoed rooms were designed to have a powerful impact on all who entered the space—to magically imbue people with the ideals and principles governing them. Town councilors entered the room from the now-sealed door that is directly under the allegorical images of Wisdom and Justice—a very deliberate choice. The Rider-Waite Empress was taken from the central image representing PAX (Peace). To the right is the well-governed town. To the left is the Devil with all the terrible consequences that his reign could have upon on the area. Ellen Lorenzi-Prince, creator of The Tarot of the Crone, Tarot Paperdolls and the forthcoming Minoan Tarot is in the foreground.
I can’t emphasize enough, that if you want to have any idea of the world from which the Tarot emerged, you have to experience it for yourself! Your days will be filled with the consciousness and beauty of the 14th and 15th centuries that created the base for the later Renaissance. You’ll begin to understand in the constant mix of Pagan and Christian imagery, how their “Christian” mind-set was an amalgam of all the wisdom that had come before and very different from how we think today. You’ll get an appreciation of the incomparable beauty of Italy and the sophisticated allegorical thinking that had to go into the creation of the Tarot. Your tour guide, Morena Poltronieri of the Museo dei Tarocchi, will introduce you to the secrets of the masons who built the churches and will reveal the influences of the real alchemists, Templars, artists and philosophers who left their easily discerned marks on the buildings she knows so well. Here is one corner of the Museo dei Tarocchi.
Check out this animoto video by Tero Hynynen of photos from the last trip.
Mary K. Greer has made tarot her life work. Check here for reports of goings-on in the world of tarot and cartomancy, articles on the history and practice of tarot, and materials on other cartomancy decks. Sorry, I no longer write reviews. Contact me
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November 23, 2011 at 10:08 am
Ellen Lorenzi-Prince
What an amazing time, made all the more special by the people who went and the people we met. Through sights such as this one, I understood Image as Language in a more powerful way than I ever had before.
I second Mary. Go if you can.
November 25, 2011 at 2:30 am
Ross
Thanks Mary. I’m really looking forward to more accounts.
I noticed in Tero’s video that he had pictures of Schifanoia. Don’t tell me they allowed you to take pictures in there. I guess they did. It makes me angry, since they expressly forbade it to us when we went, and there were always two guards watching us carefully. Worst of all, there was no book to buy with photos in it at the gift shop.
Amazing place, but poorly managed for the few tourists who make it out there to see it (a bit of a walk from the center of town) and want some tangible souvenirs.
November 25, 2011 at 12:13 pm
mkg
Ross –
Tero was a bad boy!!!! We weren’t supposed to take any picts. Tero’s 2nd picture is probably from the Italian booklet available at the Palace. His first one seems to be taken ‘from the hip’.
I wasn’t supposed to take the one at the top of the Palazzo Publico, but there was only one other person in the room and he was taking photos.
I have tons of pictures from the Siena cathedral – where the magnificient marble mosaic floor was completely uncovered (a once a year occurrence). There were announcements every 15 minutes about no photography but EVERYBODY was ignoring that (including the guards).
Mary
November 26, 2011 at 2:27 am
Ross
Oh, that’s good news. Thanks for telling me. We sneak pictures where we can too – some churches, particularly in Ravenna and Florence, forbid photography, but don’t confiscate cameras. So if you’re discreet and don’t use a flash, you can usually take pictures. Not the best, mind you, given the quality of the light inside, but sometimes you’ll get things you won’t expect to find in the books in the gift shop.
December 17, 2011 at 8:30 am
Tero
Hi Ross,
Yes I suppose I was bit of a bad boy but I just couldn’t resist the temptation.. as soon as the guard left the room. And yes, the better one comes from a book. What a magical place and a magical trip.. just wish they could’ve managed to save all the frescoes, while in the hall I tried to imagine what the place would’ve looked like back when it was first created.
January 14, 2012 at 12:38 pm
Pablo Padula
I love Italy, is so mistical!!!! I want to go soon and do the same!
March 3, 2012 at 2:57 pm
As Above so Below
I saw this room when we visited Siena and was impressed by it, as you were. By the way, did you notice the image of Hermes Trismegistus in the main cathedral, the same one you used in the post: Source of The Kybalion in Anna Kingsford’s Hermetic System? Also, did you notice the Islamic patterns on the columns of the crypt?
Medieval Italy imported mystical threads from different traditions, and used them to weave a new tapestry.
March 3, 2012 at 3:26 pm
mkg
Yes, I saw Hermes, the Sybils, the Wheel of Fortune and more in the cathedral of Siena. Once a year they uncover all the marble mosaics on the floor and we were lucky enough to be there on that day! Extraordinary. I also noticed that outside the main entrance is a mosaic of a pagan temple, so if you enter that way you would walk through the pagan temple, then the carved entry doors where you are greeted by Hermes Trismegistus.It’s designed as a journey through the ages, culminating in the death and resurrection of Christ. Of course, I found myself most delighted with the pagan section, even though they were depicted as prophesying the birth of Christ.