Kismet, Way Of The Sword Suit Of Staves Digital Tarot Cards & Booklet. Original UNEDITED DRAFT by Alchemist Publishing LLC

SUIT OF STAVES

BY LONDA R. MARKS

MINOR ARCANA COLOR DIGITAL CARDS & BOOKLET

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“LA “LAFOLIE FOLIEOU OUL’ALCHEMISTE” L’ALCHEMISTE” : : MADNESS MADNESSOR ORALCHEMIST ALCHEMIST

CREATED CREATEDAT ATLONDA LONDAFIRENZE FIRENZESTUDIO STUDIOaaFIRENZE FIRENZEITALY ITALY INSPIRED INSPIREDBY BYFLORENCE, FLORENCE,ITALY ITALY&&ARTWORK ARTWORKLONDA LONDACREATED CREATEDFOR FOR BASS BASSLEGEND LEGENDPETE PETEWAY WAYFACEBOOK FACEBOOKGROUP GROUPPROJECT PROJECT

KiSMET

WAY OF THE SWORD THE SUIT OF STAVES

KISMET, WAY OF THE SWORD

“La Folie Ou L’Alchemiste : Madness or Alchemist

DIGITAL COLOR BOOKLET Minor Arcana Cards & Divinations Suit of Staves

World Of Tarot® Published By Alchemist Publishing LLC For World Of Tarot® PO Box 772, Southern Pines, NC 28388 www.WorldOfTarot.com Londa Firenze Art Studio PO Box 555 Ufficio Postale Firenze V.R. 50123 Firenze, Italy www.LondaFirenze.com FOLLOW US www.worldoftarot.com

By Londa R. Marks Londa Firenze Studio Florence, Italy - Est. 2014

COMPANY NETWORK WorldOfTarot.com is a registered trademark with USPTO United States Patent and Trademark Office New York, USA Law Trademark Firm. Alchemist Publishing LLC network includes: AlchemistPublishing.com, WayOfTheSword.com, WayOfTheSword.it - various brands and trademarks. WORLD OF TAROT PRODUCTS Tarot Decks By Londa R. Marks Available At WorldOfTarot.com • THE ALCHEMIST TAROT • THE ALCHEMIST TAROT COUNTER DISPLAY • THE ALCHEMIST TAROT REVEALED • THE ALCHEMIST SPELL TAROT KIT • MEDICI TAROT (STANDARD) • MEDICI TAROT (EXPANDED) • MEDICI TAROT (FINE ART EDITION) • RINACSIMENTO TAROCCHI • FIORENZA TAROT • THE PLATONIC ACADEMY TAROT • ANCIENT MAGICK DIVINATION DECk • KISMET, WAY OF THE SWORD Accessories • ALCHEMIST TAROT JOURNALS • TAROT LAYOUT SHEETS FOR EACH DECK • TAROT EMBEDDED FASHION Tarot Decks By Londa R. Marks Published by U.S.Games Systems, Inc. • LONDA TAROT • CROW’S MAGICK TAROT • CROW’S MAGICK TAROT DECK/BOOK SET ACKNOWLEDGMENTS This deck’s divinations, montages and surrealistic inspiration and images may have been drawn from various sources including but not limited to original ideas, some entries from Wikipedia, the user-contributed encyclopedia which may not have been reviewed by professional editors and is licensed under an Attribution-ShareAlike Creative Commons License. If content is factually incorrect or highly offensive you can edit articles at Wikipedia use of data and may include other wiki’s, stock photos, private archived photos, stock illustrations, and similar sources. Specail thanks to contributed photos of rock band UFO and Pete Way from photographer Mike Patton Nashville, TN. Founded in 1993 Alchemist Publishing LLC publishes through ISSUU, the world’s largest electronic publishing and discovery platform for magazines, catalogs, newspapers. The magazines and other Alchemist Publishing publications and projects are registered with R.R. BOWKER LLC., based in New Providence, New Jersey, and incorporated in Delaware, an exclusive agent for issuing International Standard Book Numbers (ISBNs) for works to the book trade, including publishers, booksellers, libraries, and individuals; its roots in the industry trace back to 1868.

PROJECT INFORMATION ©2019 Londa R. Marks ISBN: 1-935615-70-X 978-1-935615-70-5 www.worldoftarot.com Designed & Written By: Londa R. Marks Concept: Londa R. Marks Subject of Title: Visionary Fiction & Metaphysical Art Style: Montage, Surrealism Theme: Harlequin-esque, theatrical, rock music, mythological, mystical surrealism. Tarot Reader Level: Advanced Title Subject: Art & Fiction, Visionary & Metaphysical TAROCCHI BOOKS & DECK KITS INCLUDE: •

80 Cards Major Arcana & Minor Arcana

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24 Cards Major Arcana cards

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Cards sized: 2.75” x 4.75”

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2 extra cards per kit

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Paper booklet sized: 2.75” x 4.5”

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Digital and printed booklets

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Physical kit packaged in a beautiful box

DEDICATION “Kismet, Way Of The Sword, La Folie ou L’Alchimiste : Madness or Alchemist,” is dedicated to Pete Way bass legend and founder of UFO, Fastway, Waysted & Pete Way Band. Pete has also performed with numerous top artists in rock music since 1969. Florence, Italy (Firenze) has been an artistic inspiration since Catholic grade school. Right after relocating my studio to Firenze in 2014 to study the Medici kismet/fate created a detour for me and Rock Legend News magazine was born after one of my first interviews for the magazine with one of rock’s most unique and inspiring artists, Pete Way. Having been involved in art and the rock music industry since 1970s, Florence, Italy art adventure has turned out to be the place where I would put my life’s work together. It is where my art and music interests united and above all has been a good test in what happens when you follow your heart. Now, I am at one with the Renaissance vibrations in Florence, Italy where they are undeniably quite active and certainly become part of your soul - or, maybe soul has returned to the root of its frequency. Shortly after doing the interview with Pete Way, in January 2015, I founded Pete Way Facebook Group and have kept it running every day since. Some of my artwork is included in Pete Way Facebook Group. After building Pete Way Facebook Group for 5 years I discovered that in 2018 David Bowie’s artist had released a tarot deck inspired by the work he did for David. With thirteen tarot decks in my

portfolio, “Lights On!” (as a pun to UFO’s “Lights Out” song). UFO founder Pete Way was standing in the shadows of Kismet who was pointing a finger at me. So, in September 2018, I began a few tarot design ideas. The name of the street where my studio is, Via della Spada, in English means: Way Of The Sword. I expressed to Pete Way a few years earlier that it might be a good name for his new album. He thought it was interesting but would keep the title for his album “Walking On The Edge.” Not until towards the end of 2019 did I conclude that “Way Of The Sword” would be a better title for the new tarot deck dedicated to Pete Way, originally titled: “Kismet, Thunderbird Soul,” since “Way Of The Sword” has been pretty much the way I have lived my life, it has Pete’s last name in the title and, it applies to the way Pete Way who has lived his life by: “Way Of The Sword.” KISMET! —Londa R. Marks

World Of TarotPresents...

KiSMET

WAY OF THE SWORD “La Folie ou L’Alchimiste : Madness or Alchemist” Tarocchi Kit Created By Londa R. Marks

ismet lies on either side of the blade disrupting surrealistic theatrical scenes

whilst the muse of music invokes mythological metal-gods cryptographically weaving them into a World of Tarot, by Way Of The Sword.

INTRODUCTION Londa Rae Marks was born February 26, 1952 (9), in Marietta, Ohio, the first settlement in the northwest territory. On her birthday February 26, 2014 in Florence, Italy, by a fluke or by the hand of kismet, Londa acquired her studio on Via della Spada (Way Of The Sword) - that afternoon. Via della Spada — one of a trio of streets shaped like three swords or a Y — with Via delle Belle Donne the right blade, in between is Via del Sole and Via della Spada the left blade. The three streets connect to Via del Morro. Bella Donna happens to be the title of a UFO song. Morro happens to be the name of a street that connected to Calimali (another street nearby in Firenze) the street Londa lived on in Woodland Hills, California, where Hawk was developed. On Via della Spada where her studio is Art, Music & Technology is based on Cryptography; The Art of Writing Codes or Solving Codes; the underlying foundation of Londa R. Marks Studio, Firenze, Italy. The harlequin theme of “Kismet, Way Of The Sword,” is based on a harlequin-esque style that Pete Way has adhered to for stage wear much of his life. His style has been emulated by top rock stars like Nikki Sixx of Mötley Crüe and Steve Harris of Iron Maiden. It is the hawk who leads the way for Londa, a co-founder of glam rock band Hawk in Los Angeles CA during the 1980s. The name Hawk was given to the rock band by her ex-husband, Hawk guitarist, Doug Marks who came up with the name one morning while walking in the hills where they lived on Calimali Rd., with vocalist Charles Morrill. Hawk has become a relentless spirit guide offering omens and is seen throughout this deck along with crows and other birds. The band is no longer together but the official Hawk Facebook page founded in 2012 by Londa is still run by her and Doug Marks still sells the Hawk album. Crow’s Magick Tarot is a deck Londa created in 1997 for U.S. Games Systems, Inc., also due to her love

of crows and how she sees them as a messenger from the magickal plane in the universe, always bestowing messages and great thoughts to us mortals. Harlequin role was definitively popularized by the Italian actor Tristano Martinelli in 1584–1585. The Harlequin is characterized by his chequered costume. Alichino is also the name of a demon in Dante Alighieri’s Inferno, a guardian of Malebolge — the name derives from Arlecchino, the harlequin. Dante Alighieri’s “Divine Comedy” also includes his love of music. Throughtout Dante’s Inferno, Purgatorio, and Paradiso began in 1308 and completed in 1320 in his “Divine Comedy” many parallels to the theatre of rock music and art are found. Born in the year 1265 in the city of Florence, Dante Alighieri has been long considered one of Italy’s first romantic figures and greatest poets. Throughout this deck are images of rock god bass legend Pete Way and visual artist Londa R. Marks, both mostly their youthful years because who you are as youth is still who you are as adult regardless of the human changes that occur. In fact, youthful images are more of a pure depiction of who the person is at soul level. Experience the artists adventure on their journey through World Of Tarot by Way Of The Sword. THE CARDS SCENES Tarot, a symbolic art system/instrument assists the mind, psyche and soul in deeply interpreting the subtle nuances of a reality. Each card in this deck is a theatrical tarot scene highlighted with some of Dante Alighieri’s words and works from his Divine Comedy and Florence, Italy art - Italy arts, images of rock music lifestyles entwined with mythology and theatrical characters resulting in a deeply meaningful cryptography featuring Artists as Music Muse and Rock Star, surrealistically assigned to Kismet, Way Of The Sword.

Kismet, Way Of The Sword Minor Arcana Four Suits Cups - Water P Love, Heart, Empathy - Pisces, Cancer, Scorpio Swords - Air M Mind, Observation, Challenge - Gemini, Libra, Aquarius Staves - Fire N Creativity, Action, Spirit - Aries, Leo, Sagittarius

Dice - Earth O Home, Health, Wealth - Taurus, Virgo, Capricorn

STAVES Staves/Wands in Tarot cards are related to astrological signs of Fire â&#x20AC;&#x201C; Leo, Sagittarius and Aries. Wands people are spiritual and charismatic. In music, Staves are a set of five parallel lines on any one or between any adjacent two of which a note is written to indicate its pitch. The are a set of five horizontal lines and four spaces that each represent a different musical pitch or in the case of a percussion staff, different percussion instruments.

Your Desires

Erudite

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ACE OF STAVES BY LONDA R. MARKS

DIVINATION Lo’nferno e’l Pvrgatorio e’l Paradiso di Dante Alaghieri (Hell, Purgatory and Dante Alaghieri’s Paradise). Dante’s Treatment of Music in the Divine Comedy is Music as Mirror. Dante utilizes musical imagery as an essential component of his allegory. Influenced by both Christian thinkers and philosophers, Dante viewed scholastic music as an adjunct of religion. In the Divine Comedy, Dante presents auditory allusions as an inextricable factor of the protagonist’s epic pilgrimage through Hell, Purgatory, and Heaven. Through a progression of anti-music in Inferno to human context in Purgatory to the music of the spheres in Paradise, the musical langauge of Dante’s Divine Comedy conveys humanity’s innate connection with God, with the universe. Dante is deep in thought with his Divine Comedy poem in the music section wearing his laurel wreath and holding a Stave with laurel growing from it. As if these leaves hold a magical property that connects him to the energies of the universe, time and thought, all the while propelling him through his work journey. In some countries the laurel wreath is used as a symbol of the master’s degree. The wreath is given to young masters at the university graduation ceremony. The word “laureate” in ‘poet laureate’ refers to the laurel wreath. The medieval Florentine poet and philosopher Dante Alighieri, a member of the Sicilian School, is often represented in paintings and sculpture wearing a laurel wreath. In Italy, the term laureato is used in to refer to any student who has graduated. Right after the graduation ceremony, or laurea in Italian, the student receives a laurel wreath to wear for the rest of the day. Card upright keywords: Scholarly. Important achievements. Erudite. Card reversed keywords: Learning.

The Eighth Sphere

Your Desires

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DIVINATION The Divine Comedy with illustrations by Sandro Botticelli originates from between 1480 and 1490 in Florence and was commissioned by the Italian Renaissance Prince Lorenzo de Medici, Lorenzo il Magnifico’s son. This significant work of world literature was and continually is received in the visual arts. The breathtaking illustrations of this edition are counted among the most famous works by Botticelli. Here, in Lorenzo il Magnifico’s hands he holds one of the works, The Eighth Sphere (heaven of the fixed stars): St. John questions Dante on the third theological virtue--love. Dante regains his sight, stronger than before; The light of Adam appears. Illustration Creator: Sandro Botticelli, Date: c.1480-c.1495. Botticelli’s interest in Dante went much further than even Vasari knew. Sometime late in his career---after he had already achieved local renown in Florence---Botticelli promised his patron Lorenzo an illustrated Divine Comedy on sheepskin with a separate image for each Canto, something no artist had yet attempted. 92 of those illustrations survive, this is one of them. When the humanist Cristoforo Landino (1425–98) lectured on the poems of ancients and moderns (Horace, Virgil, Juvenal, Persius, Dante, and Petrarch), he often remarked on the “variety” of their style and teaching. The reader, he stated, can at times only be “stunned” (attonitus) by the direction a poem takes. As if following a poetic model, Landino had “variety” mark both his writing and his public career. He moved freely from Latin to Italian, from poets to orators, and from philosophical precepts to the art of writing letters. While seemingly preoccupied with composing dialogues in moral philosophy. The Platonic Academy of Florence was another invented tradition. Thus already by the time of the first Medici restoration Lorenzo had come to read Plato’s Symposium (as translated by Aringhetti) and discussed Dante. Dante, Botticelli and the Medici philosopher and humanist scholar of Plato proposed a new approach to understanding classical authors. This approach involved Platonic philosophy but also included absorption of other doctrines. The Florentine Platonic Academy’s Neo-Platonism synthesized the works and teachings of Plato, Aristotle, Pythagoras and other Greek philosophers and applied this to their approach at interpreting the writings of Dante. Card upward keywords: Philosophy. Motivation. Incubation of Ideas. Card reversed keywords: Reflection. Preparation.

Hallway of Windows

Your Desires

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DIVINATION The energies from the image of entertainer Pete Way is present in the windows in front of Dante Alighieri. Dante lived 1265 – 1321. Pete Way was born August 7, 1951. This image is from late 90’s. Though Dante is focused on 3 staves and the number 3, Pete’s image energies are so strong they are coming through time 670 years from the future as if Dante’s thoughts were generating an energy wave capable of being heard by someone like Pete for the music aspects of his poetry. Dante holds his book, his Divine Comedy while contemplating the 3 staves and the importance of the number 3 as it was part of his complex sequencing and numerology in this preeminent work of Italian literature. Fascinated with the number 3, the numbers 7 and 9 are also throughout the poem. He used the number 3 in his poem many times such as: 3 beasts (lion, leopard, she wolf), the 3 realms of the dead, during Easter 1300, Dante was 35 years old in 1300. With similarities to tarot and Dante’s complex system of using numerology allowed for specific sections such as 33 cantos in each book, 34 cantos is in the Inferno, the devil has 3 faces (red, black and yellow), 3 ladies who pray for him (St. Lucia, Virgin Mary and Rachel), the trinity of 3 (God appears as 3 equally large circles: father, son and holy spirit), the last world in each of the 3 parts of the Divine Comedy is “stars” and also the 3 rhymes mean every imperfection can become perfection. Other numbers are actually connected with the number 3: 9 circles of Hell, the 7th circle is divided into 3 rings, the 8th circle is divided into 10 bolgie, the 9th circle is divided into 4 zones, 4 intended levels of meaning (narrative, allegorical, moral and anagogical), in Purgatory an angel uses his sword to draw the letter “P” 7 times on Dante’s forehead, the angel uses 2 keys to open the gates, Dante goes through 7 terraces of purgatory, 7 deadly sins and 9 spheres of heaven. The Divine Comedy is composed of 3 canticas: Inferno (Hell), Purgutorio (Purgatory) and Paradisco (Heaven) (33 cantos). He wanted the reader to see this as parts of the universe arranged in concentric circles using this structure. Card upward keywords: Number 3 factors into project decisions. Foresight per future. Card reversed keywords: Possibilities.

Hallway of Windows

Your Desires

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DIVINATION Dante and Beatrice and the Vault of Stars. After an initial ascension, Beatrice guides Dante through the nine celestial spheres of Heaven. The structure of the three realms follows a common numerical pattern of 9 plus 1, for a total of 10: 9 circles of the Inferno, followed by Lucifer contained at its bottom; 9 rings of Mount Purgatory, followed by the Garden of Eden crowning its summit; and the 9 celestial bodies of Paradiso, followed by the Empyrean containing the very essence of God. Within each group of 9, 7 elements correspond to a specific moral scheme, subdivided into three subcategories, while 2 others of greater particularity are added to total nine. After an initial ascension, Beatrice guides Dante through the nine celestial spheres of Heaven. These are concentric and spherical, as in Aristotelian and Ptolemaic cosmology. While the structures of the Inferno and Purgatorio were based on different classifications of sin, the structure of the Paradiso is based on the four cardinal virtues and the three theological virtues. The seven lowest spheres of Heaven deal solely with the cardinal virtues of Prudence, Fortitude, Justice and Temperance. The first three spheres involve a deficiency of one of the cardinal virtues â&#x20AC;&#x201C; the Moon, containing the inconstant, whose vows to God waned as the moon and thus lack fortitude; Mercury, containing the ambitious, who were virtuous for glory and thus lacked justice; and Venus, containing the lovers, whose love was directed towards another than God and thus lacked Temperance. The final four incidentally are positive examples of the cardinal virtues, all led on by the Sun, containing the prudent, whose wisdom lighted the way for the other virtues, to which the others are bound (constituting a category on its own). Card upward keywords: Four cardinal virtues were recognized by Plato and in the Bible, classical antiquity and in traditional Christian theology: Prudence, Courage, Temperance, Justice. Card reversed keywords: Different stars visible. The altered position of the sun.

Hallway of Windows

Your Desires

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DIVINATION Often, but not always, an encounter such as Dante’s is met with the Astrological activation of the chart angles such as the Ascendant (first house), and Mid Heaven (10th house) along with their corresponding angles and houses (Descendant or seventh house, and the Imum Coli, or fourth house). The matching angles of the Ascendant and the Mid Heaven are never far behind because the back needs a front and up needs down. When one is affected the other one is as well. Pluto, in measurement to the Sun, Moon or any number of midpoints are equally influenced by Pluto leading us into the descent of the underworld (Pluto or Hades is the ruler of the underworld). It is on the night before Easter Sunday, and Dante is thirty five years old when the poem begins (enough time for Pluto to make a major aspect to an angle or planet), and Dante finds himself lost in “sin” (Pluto, Scorpio). Dante is assailed by beasts (a lion, Leo/Sun, ego, and a she-wolf, Mars, Aries), and he finds it impossible to evade them no matter what he tries all the while searching for the “right way” (discipline, Saturn). It is then that Virgil (the psyche, represented by Mercury) begins to lead Dante down into the underworld where each of his sins are “punished” (Saturn, Capricorn) in the inferno (Pluto, Scorpio) which represented the soul (Sun, Leo). “If you, free as you are of every weight had stayed below, then that would be as strange as living flame on earth remaining still. And then she turned her gaze up toward the heavens.” ― Dante Alighieri Card upward keywords: “Great fire can follow a small spark: there may be better voices after me to pray to Cyrrha’s god for aid - that he may answer.” ― Dante Alighieri Card reversed keywords: “Behave like men, and not like witless sheep.” ― Dante Alighieri

Old & New Universe

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Vi OF STAVES BY LONDA R. MARKS DIVINATION The sixth window behind erudite Cosimo I de’ Medici, a portal through the old universe. By the time Cosimo came to power in 1537, Dante’s Divine Comedy had suffered a considerable drop in popularity because of the rise of Renaissance humanism, a movement that considered Dante’s use of the vernacular as somewhat crude. While the late fifteenth century had produced a number of commentaries on the Comedy that included maps even of Dante’s three realms - hell, purgatory, and paradise, such efforts were attributable more to the burgeoning field of cartography than to a genuine interest in the content of Dante’s great poem. A number of cultural and political issues inherent in Cosimo’s rise to power, however, caused Dante and his writing to enjoy a Renaissance of their own in the sixteenth century and, to be recast as the vanguard of Cosimo’s cultural project. If we can hold both New Universe and Old Universe together in our minds, we will be able to have some sense of the “unmoved mover,” of the point “that is enclosed by that which It encloses.” Card upward keywords: New Universe. Within the heaven of the godly peace revolves a body in whose power lies the being of all things that it enfolds. ( Par. 2.112-14) Card reversed keywords: Old Universe. From the heaven of divine peace you turn a body whose virtue the being of all his contentment lies. ( Par. 2.112-14)

Successive Encounters

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DIVINATION By forcing us to complement the circumference model of the universe with a centrist one, Dante is trying to make us come to grips with the paradox of a point that is “enclosed by that which It encloses”: “closed by that ch’elli ‘ closes “( Par . 30.12). This point is both center and circumference, both the deep (Augustinian) within and the great (Aristotelian) without. Angels never turn their gazes from the face of God and see all things in His eternal present, their sight is uninterrupted by new things, and they have no need of memory (which we use to store the new things once they are no longer new). Forward progress is articulated by our successive encounters with the new. My eyes, which had been satisfied in seeking new sights—a thing for which they long— did not delay in turning toward him. Card upward keywords: My lady, who saw my perplexity—I was in such suspense — said: “On that Point depend the heavens and the whole of nature.“ Card reversed keywords: The size of spheres of matter — large or small—depends upon the power — more and less—that spreads throughout their parts.

Urgency

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CREATED CREATEDAT ATLONDA LONDAFIRENZE FIRENZESTUDIO STUDIOaaFIRENZE FIRENZEITALY ITALY INSPIRED INSPIREDBY BYFLORENCE, FLORENCE,ITALY ITALY&&ARTWORK ARTWORKLONDA LONDACREATED CREATEDFOR FOR BASS LEGEND PETE WAY FACEBOOK GROUP PROJECT BASS LEGEND PETE WAY FACEBOOK GROUP PROJECT

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DIVINATION Pushing forward. The further into Limbo they travel, the less bleak it seems. Dante describes a brightly-lit castle surrounded by seven high walls and a beautiful moat. Within the walls is an ‘’emerald green’’ meadow of fresh grass. The Fifth Sphere of Heaven or Mars is home to holy warriors, whose souls are forming the shape of a cross. Paradiso 28 is a metaphysical canto, in which Dante considers the universe from a new perspective. Rather than the earth as a point at the center circled by ever larger heavens, he now imagines the universe inverted, with God as a luminous point at the center: I saw a point that sent forth so acute a light, that anyone who faced the force with which it blazed would have to shut his eyes. Card upward keywords: the ring with clearest flame was that which lay least far from the pure spark because it shares most deeply that point’s truth. Card reversed keywords: The eighth and ninth were wider still; and each, even as greater distance lay between it and the first ring, moved with lesser speed

Weary

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DIVINATION “This wretched state of being is the fate of those sad souls who lived a life but lived it with no blame and with no praise. “My son,” the gentle master said to me, “all those who perish in the wrath of God assemble here from all parts of the earth; they want to cross the river, they are eager; it is Divine Justice that spurs them on, turning the fear they have into desire. A good soul never comes to make this crossing, so, if Charon grumbles at the sight of you, you see now what his words are really saying.” He finished speaking, and the grim terrain shook violently; and the fright it gave me even now in recollection makes me sweat. Out of the tear—drenched land a wind arose which blasted forth into a reddish light, knocking my senses out of me completely, and I fell as one falls tired into sleep. Card upward keywords: They want to cross the river…desire Card reversed keywords: Weeping bitterly.

Overburdened

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X OF STAVES BY LONDA R. MARKS

DIVINATION Halfway through his life, Dante The Pilgrim wakes to find himself lost in a dark wood. Terrified at being alone in so dismal a valley, he wanders until he comes to a hill bathed in sunlight, and his fear begins to leave him. But when he starts to climb the hill, his path is blocked by three fierce beasts: first a LEOPARD, then a LION, and finally a SHE-WOLF. They fill him with fear and drive him back down to the sunless wood. At that moment the figure of a man appears before him; it is the shade of VIRGIL, and the Pilgrim begs for help. Virgil tells him that he cannot overcome the beasts which obstruct his path; they must remain until a “GREYHOUND” comes who will drive them back to Hell. Rather by another path will the Pilgrim reach the sunlight, and Virgil promises to guide him on that path through Hell and Purgatory, after which another spirit, more fit than Virgil, will lead him to Paradise. The Pilgrim begs Virgil to lead on, and the Guide starts ahead. The Pilgrim follows. A bitter place! Death could scarce be bitterer. But if I would show the good that came of it I must talk about things other than the good. (Canto 1: The Dark Forest) Card upward keywords: As a man who, rejoicing in his gains, suddenly seeing his gain turn into loss, will grieve as he compares his then and now Card reversed keywords: And, everywhere I looked, the beast was there blocking my way, so time and time again I was about to turn and go back down. Another way, by other ports…carry you. Charon, whose boat bears only the souls of the damned, recognizes the Pilgrim as a living man and refuses him passage.

The Chosen One

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KISMET, WAY OF THE SWORD

PAGE OF STAVES BY LONDA R. MARKS

DIVINATION Look into My heart, and thy living thou ’lt find; or call, and thy dead will awake in my mind. enough that we two are here. Within the Heaven which most receives His Light I was; and saw what he who thence descends neither knows how, nor hath the power, to tell; for as it draweth near to its Desire, our intellect so deeply sinks therein, that recollection cannot follow it. As much, however, of the holy Realm as in my memory I could treasure up, shall now become the subject of my song. Card upward keywords: Make me as worthy a vessel of Thy Power. Card reversed keywords: O Power Divine, if Thou but lend Thyself to me so much, that I may show the blessèd Kingdom’s shadow.

Evolution ofVisions

Your Desires

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“LA “LAFOLIE FOLIEOU OUL’ALCHEMISTE” L’ALCHEMISTE” : : MADNESS MADNESSOR ORALCHEMIST ALCHEMIST

KISMET, WAY OF THE SWORD

KNiGHT OF STAVES BY LONDA R. MARKS

DIVINATION THE CHURCH OF DANTE AND BEATRICE - at least, in Dante’s mind it is. Dante hears music trailing behind him, pauses with his work and basks in thoughts of how Beatrice has become the catalyst for his life’s work, his purpose, his life. “Asleep in my dreamland,” God said with a smile Which lighted my soul’s new sky, “The real world is only where thou and I are;” And so my mind, bedazzled and amazed, Stood fixed in wonder, motionless, intent, And still my wonder kindled as I gazed. That light doth so transform a man’s whole bent That never to another sight or thought Would he surrender, with his own consent; For everything the will has ever sought Is gathered there, and there is every quest Made perfect, which apart from it falls short. Card upward keywords: “Open thy mind; take in what I explain and keep it there; because to understand is not to know, if thou dost not retain...” ― Dante Alighieri, Paradiso Card reversed keywords: “Thy loved ones are dreams in my dreamland.” ― Dante Alighieri, Paradiso

Dante & Beatrice

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“LA “LAFOLIE FOLIEOU OUL’ALCHEMISTE” L’ALCHEMISTE” : : MADNESS MADNESSOR ORALCHEMIST ALCHEMIST

KISMET, WAY OF THE SWORD

QUEEN OF STAVES BY LONDA R. MARKS

DIVINATION Dante and Beatrice and the Vault of Stars. Beatrice, in one of his illustrations for the Divine Comedy it is shown that Botticelli knew. He knew that Alighieri had hidden three Ptolemaic drawings inside the Poem, and he also knew that, changing the point of view, that cosmic model related to the planet-earth would have given a very long farewell. Dante Alighieri saw Beatrice frequently after the age of 18, often exchanging greetings in the street, but never knew her well. In this scene, the musician is hidden in shadows of the bushes playing for the gathering, celebrating the Queen of Staves. Card upward keywords: “These are the radiancies of the perfected vision that sees the good and step by step moves nearer to what it sees.” ― Dante Alighieri, The Paradiso Card reversed keywords: Different stars visible. The altered position of the sun.

Your Desires Activatiing Energies

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“LA “LAFOLIE FOLIEOU OUL’ALCHEMISTE” L’ALCHEMISTE” : : MADNESS MADNESSOR ORALCHEMIST ALCHEMIST

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KISMET, WAY OF THE SWORD

KiNG OF STAVES BY LONDA R. MARKS

DIVINATION Through time and space. “In the middle of the journey of our life I came to myself within a dark wood where the straight way was lost.” — Dante Alighieri “...Because the sacred fire that lights all nature liveliest of all in its own image glows. All these prerogatives the human creature possesses, and if one of them should fail, he must diminish from his noble stature.” Man from his finite assets never could make satisfaction; ne’er could he abase him so low, obey thereafter all he would, as he’d by disobedience sought to raise him; and for this cause man might not pay his due himself, nor from the debtor’s roll erase him. By his own ways, renew man’s proper life, and reinstate him so; his ways I say - by one, or both of two. And since the doer’s actions ever show more gracious as the style of them makes plain the goodness of the heart from which they flow, that most high Goodness which is God was fain even God, whose impressive Heaven and earth display - by all His ways to lift you up again; nor, between final night and primal day, was e’er proceeding so majestical and high, nor shall not be, by either way; for God’s self-giving, which made possible that man should raise himself, showed more largesse than if by naked power He’d cancelled all; and every other means would have been less than justice, if it had not pleased God’s Son to be humiliated in fleshliness.” ― Dante Alighieri, Paradiso Card upward keywords: In its own image glows. Reinstated him so. Impressive Heaven and earthly display. Card reversed keywords: Humiliated in fleshliness.

“LA FOLIE OU L’ALCHEMISTE” : MADNESS OR ALCHEMIST