The Papus-Goulinat Tarot deck has been mentioned recently in the Etteilla threads on the Aeclectic forum in that it shows Etteilla influences especially in the Minor Arcana. The 2 and 10 of Coins have generated much talk because in the Papus deck there are clear Kabbalistic correspondences (involving these and other cards), but it is highly questionable whether such allusions retroactively apply to Etteilla's original deck.
My own theory is that Papus (Gerard Encausse) was not satisfied with Oswald Wirth's 22-card occult deck, which was a modification of the Marseille deck based on the ideas of Eliphas Lévi. Instead, Papus worked with the young artist Jean-Gabriel Goulinat (1883-1972) to create a deck that incorporates material from Paul Christian and the Falconnier-Wegener (Egyptian) deck, Etteilla's Minors, and the magical writings of Eliphas Lévi. Even in 1909, Papus tells us that he drew from "the work of the little-know researcher Etteilla" and he also gives credit (re timing) to "the brilliant clairvoyant Mlle Lenormand."
I believe that not much is known about this deck because it has only been published as a deck since 1980: by Dusserre (beautiful but rare) and a US Games version that is awful (see below).
Based on discussions with Christine Payne-Towler and with the wonderful assistance of Cerulean I've found that the 72 Angels of the Shem Ha'Mephorash are the basis for the talismans found in the lower box of the pips: 2 angels - a Day and a Night one - are assigned to 36 of these pip cards. This material comes directly from a handwritten manuscript (dated 1860) that Eliphas Lévi gave to the Baron Spedaliéri in 1861. Papus says, "The engravings at the bottom of each of the cards are reproductions of the secret talismans of Eliphas Lévi." [This may well be the basis of Kenneth MacKenzie's own Tarot work - although Mackenzie went well beyond this in creating the Golden Dawn system found in the cipher manuscript (another topic).]
I've just found Lévi's manuscript, Clefs Majeures et Clavicules de Salomon, online so I invited others to help in translating the text. There's not a lot of writing, but it includes some interesting material on working with these talismans magically and ends with a prediction by Lévi for the year 2000 that he received through his own Kabbalistic divination.
http://www.tarot.org.il/Library/Levi/Cl ... alomon.pdf
The Papus-Goulinat Tarot images can be found in
- Le Tarot Divinatoire, Papus, (Paris, 1909; modern edition, 1993)
- The Divinatory Tarot by Papus, translated by Beryl Stockman (Aeon, 2008)
- The 1910 revised edition of Le Tarot des Bohemiens, Papus (unconfirmed)
- The Papus deck published by Dusserre (a real gem)
- The Papus Tarot Deck redrawn and modified by Oliver Stephane, Agedis Editeur (Paris, 1981) and U.S. Games (1982). Note - I've found several errors in the talismans in this version.
This is a major find for those who are Kabbalistically inclined in their Tarot work, yet are interested in Eliphas Lévi and the French occult tradition.
Note: cross posted with Aeclectic.
Papus-Goulinat Tarot Deck
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Last edited by Mary Greer on 28 Jan 2012, 03:31, edited 1 time in total.