The Pictorial Key to the Republican Tarot

By Mariann Garner-Wizard

A satiric send-up of the US Republican Party in the guise of the classic Arthur Waite Tarot -- history both trivial and significant, 20th century politics, Major Party fun just in time for the 2012 electoral silly season!
Amaze your friends with your predictions of Future events, based on the reliable track record of the Mysterious Past.
Here is the Tarot -- and the staid denizens of the Republican Party! -- as you've never seen them before!

• Language: English
• Publisher: Lulu.com
• Release date: Sep 1, 2012
• ISBN: 9781300149934

Book preview

The Pictorial Key to the Republican Tarot

The Pictorial Key to the Republican Tarot

by Mariann Garner-Wizard

Version 1.0

ISBN 978-1-300-14993-4

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© Mariann Garner-Wizard, 2007; 2012

All rights reserved. This is a satiric work. No portion of this work, either text or graphics, may be reproduced without written permission from the author, except for purposes of review. Online contacts available through web search.

Dharma Wizard Design, Austin, TX

Published by Lulu.com

The Pictorial Key to the Republican Tarot:

Being Fragments of a Secret Tradition Under the Veil of Representative Government

With 79 color plates, illustrating the Greater and Lesser Arcana and a Joker

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Again: for Friends of Forty+ Years:

Kate for Time & the Tarts,

Robert for the Knaves,

Liz for Unifying Strength,

Marilyn for Pineapple Surprises;

for Terry, who Egged me On,

and Linda, who Laughed out Loud

and in whose House it was Hatched:

Now may Dame Fortune Smile!

Passing through the nexus of

West 22nd & Longview Sts.,

not even the Gypsy Witch

could foretell this funny future!

Note on the ePub Edition

In preparing an ePub edition for publication, numerous changes have been made in the original print edition of The Pictorial Key to the Republican Tarot, that has also been available until now in an electronic version as a downloadable pdf file.  Some changes have been necessitated by the ePub format, itself ill-suited to the fanciful typestyles, variegated headings, and other mystifying properties of the original. In addition, the previous Endnotes have been either incorporated into the text, eliminated, or used to alter the text that they previously annotated, as the ePub format does not support endnotes or the inclusion of active links.

I have also taken the opportunity to correct numerous Errata from the print edition.

I have not, however, substantively revised the text or the cards themselves in view of political developments since The Pictorial Key to the Republican Tarot appeared in late 2007: the election of the first black President in US history, Illinois Democrat Barack H Obama; the emergence of the conservative Tea Party movement, so reminiscent of another age's Know-Nothings; nor the myriad of other faces and events in the news of the past five years. At this moment, after a lackluster primary season, the Republican Party seems poised to nominate former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney to oppose Obama in the fall of 2012. Although there has certainly been much food for satire and amazement in these years, and some changes were almost irresistible (for example, Obama has become a much more powerful Devil to many Republicans than even the previously-reviled President Bill and Senator Hillary Clinton), revision is a slippery slope at best and I have dug in my heels and refused it except where specific allusions and identifications demanded updates; e.g, Senator Clinton has served as Secretary of State under Obama, and that reference is updated, etc.

In general I am satisfied that the archetypes I selected for the original Pictorial Key to the Republican Tarot continue to be relevant, instructive, and otherwise useful in reinterpreting the history of an American political party through a satiric take on a popular process of prognostication.

However, in editing this work, I have also made a fair number of completely random changes in style, wording, and order, as seem Good and Proper to me at this time, and it will be up to future obsessive-compulsives to try to trace their genesis!

In addition to the full-color representations of the Cards that have been substituted here for the black-and-white illustrations of the earlier print and electronic (pdf) editions, an actual Deck of Cards may be downloaded, printed, and assembled by those who wish to and are able to employ the fifth-grade skills involved. The free download includes a Box and a small set of mini-instructions, just as a store-bought Deck would have. Please visit my website, www.AWizardsLife.com, for download instructions. This site will not always be available, of course, so better sooner than later!

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llustration

: The Republican Tarot Deck is available online

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Preface & Acknowledgments

"The evil that men do lives after them; the good is oft interred with their bones." -- Shakespeare, Wm. Julius Caesar, Act III, Scene 2

I am deeply indebted to The Pictorial Key to the Tarot (US Games Systems, Inc. Stamford CT, 1994; originally published 1910), the classic tarot reader by Arthur Edward Waite, and to the Rider-Waite Tarot deck, designed by Pamela Colman Smith; not only for the wide recognition that makes satire possible; but for insights gleaned over the years from a gifted interpreter of Waite's work. Indeed, although I count myself a skeptic, Waite's archetypes continually amazed me once I conceived the wacky notion of a Republican Tarot featuring the ridiculous actors and devolving institutions of the United States of America in the early Third Millennium. Divinatory meanings ascribed to Smith's lavish picture cards in 1910 fairly leapt off Waite's pages to crack my jokes! Let me be clear at the outset that my intention in devising this work is frankly mercantile and farcical, and it should absolutely be used for entertainment purposes only, as should any work which delves into fortune-telling (and on that, I believe Waite would agree).

Taking Waite at his word (and his words for all they are worth), I made numerous unauthorized, unjustified, and completely arbitrary changes in the cards, the result of personal divinations for fun, satire, and profit. These deviations in symbolism, illustration, description, purported meaning, and overall craftsmanship are legion. I have received some misguided encouragement, or egging on, in this misbegotten endeavor, from friends who should be more mature by now, but all deficiencies and egg-regious errors are mine alone. The personages who enliven my cards, like the images subverted from Waite's Tarot and other mystical sources, such as the Public Domain, and all new and dubious meanings pasted onto the old, are products of my own warped imagination, and surely not as I've portrayed them. It's the price of fame, Dear Reader; as David Koresh said, "If you can't stand the heat, don't dial 9-1-1!"

The problem initially arose that I am no artist; nor could any of my gifted acquaintances be persuaded to embark on the likely all-but-thankless task of transforming the admirable Ms. Smith's works into images suitable for my perverse political theme. Yet illustration was certainly necessary, and having ascertained that outsourcing the work to India or Japan was also impractical, I resorted to those twin refuges of hacks and scoundrels, clip art and the Internet. Among the former, the observant of a certain age and taste will discern some few of the inimitable characters of MAD Magazine's Don Martin. I am pleased to pay homage, for Martin and other original "MADmen" shaped my own taste in humor, and aversion to hypocrisy, more than some might willingly admit; as did the brazen brigands and adventurers of the latter-day Texas Ranger. Nevertheless, the images in The Republican Tarot were created by me, on an obsolete computer in a discontinued software program, and thence manipulated unmercifully, within the limits of my capabilities, into their present form. Illustrations of some styles of tarot cards past and present, and campaign buttons supporting typical Republican candidates of the past, are collages of images available from Public Domain Clip Art and similar sources, as are the various Elephants encountered herein.

Arthur Edward Waite attempted, in his lyrical, meditative, and deeply impenetrable work, to steer frivolous fortune seekers to more profound paths of self-discovery and inner realization. I, on the other hand, would be happy to steer pompous political wannabes to rewarding new careers in food service, but gladly welcome the most frivolous apolitical Inquirer to my scavenger hunt of US history, rumor, and current affairs, where the prizes are, I hope, a few knowingly wicked laughs and modest insights into political games of skill and chance. I offer the small consolation, to those who seek more tangible rewards, that perfectly satisfactory predictions, or fortunes, may indeed be read (and, I hope, made), using the cards of the Republican Tarot!

Today's political crises are tomorrow's ancient history. If our egotistical movers and shakers would but relax and take a long, contemplative  look  at their own small importance from time to time, we should all be less subjected to the slings and arrows of their outrageous decisions. The Tarot's message to career politicians and crusading political aspirants alike is: "Look around, buddy!  If you're an archetype a hundred years from now, it's probably because you made some pretty bad choices! Slow down! Take your time in reinventing government; if it ain't broke, don't fix it! As for the cards, Stuart Kaplan writes, [A]fter you spread the tarot pack you will know what the cards say to you." (The TAROT of the Witches Book, p. 18. US Games Systems, Inc. Stamford, CT, 1982.) Read 'em and weep!

I remain forever indebted to Kate Braun for her comments on this project in draft form, as for so much tarot lore, most generously shared!

Mariann Garner-Wizard

Conceived Aug 7, 1995; Portland, Oregon, Cascadia

Published in a print edition October 10,  2007; Austin, Tejas, Aztlan

ePub version created July, 2012; WorldWideWeb, Earth

The Contents as Traditionally Displayed

Note on the ePub Edition

Illustration

: The Republican Tarot Deck is Available Online

Preface & Acknowledgments

An expression of personal  indebtedness -- My mercantile and farcical intent -- New careers in customer service -- If it ain't broke, don't fix it..

[Contents]

Illustration

: Some Tarot styles of the past and present

PART I

The Party and its Symbols

§ 1. -  Introductory and General

Illustration

: An ancestral Republican?

§ 2. -  Class I. The Trumps Major, otherwise Greater Arcana

§ 3. -  Class II. The Four Suites, otherwise Lesser Arcana

§ 4. -  The Tarot in History

§ 5. -  The Republican Party in History

Illustration

: Many reside within the Big Tent

PART II

The Doctrine behind the Party

§ 1. -  The Party and Secret Tradition

Illustration

: Some candidates of the past

§ 2. -  The Trumps Major and their Inner Symbolism

§ 3. -  The Greater Arcana and Their Divinatory Meanings

PART III

The Outer Method of the Oracles

§ 1. -  Distinction between the Greater and Lesser Arcana

§ 2. -  The Lesser Arcana, otherwise, the Four Suites of Tarot Cards

The Illustrated Suite of Bushes.

The Illustrated Suite of Pineapples.

The Illustrated Suite of Arms.

The Illustrated Suite of Coins.

§ 3. –  Conclusion as to the Greater Keyes

§ 4. –  A Note on The Joker

§ 5. –  The Art of Tarot Divination

§ 6. –  An Ancient Celtic Method of Divination, with Diagram

§ 7. –  The Politics as Life (Triple-Cross) Method of  Reading the Tarot Cards, with Diagram

Afterword: Confession

Bibliographic Note

A Note on the Author, and some Kind Reviews of the Earlier Edition

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llustration

: Some Tarot styles of the past and present

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PART I

The Party and its Symbols

§ 1. -  Introductory and General

While there is no shortage of silliness in political life today; still the question remains as to whether or not this silliness is pathological. While I do not think that there is a pathology dedicated to politics, about various public extravagances no one can question their derangement, and if anyone does, you have only to show him or her this present volume to set aside all doubt. Such pathology, if it existed, would no doubt have no reputable treatment, but be the province of quacks and fakirs. Now, Magick is not unlike Politics, though it seldom works in accord with it in everyday life. And we should not fall prey to the notion that simply because a thing is unlikely, it has no other, for instance, amusement, value. After long dealing with dubious dignitaries and sham solemnities,  it