In Kate Mosse’s latest book Sepulchre, tarot is central to the plot, so I decided to investigate. At the front of the book eight major arcana are illustrated (in English rather than the French titles for clarity):
- The Fool
- The Magus
- High Priestess
- The Lovers
- Strength
- Justice
- The Tower
- The Devil
The Bousqet Tarot is based upon the ubiquitous Rider-Waite tarot deck, which is a big disappointment. The book is set in France in the 19th century, so why not use a French tarot deck? Two charismatic French writers on the tarot Eliphas Levi and Papus are mentioned but once. Both writers had infinitely more interesting personalities and life than AE Waite (lets face it, most people are more interesting than Waite).
Image via Wikipedia
Even allowing for the time travel between 2007 and the 1890s, basing the deck on the RWS is bizarre, since Waite published the book and deck in December 1909. There is a quote from The Pictorial Key to the Tarot by Waite:
The true Tarot is symbolism; it speaks no other language and offers no other signs.
This statement is actually a philosophical joke, but since Waite is not known for his comic timing, it effortlessly soars beyond the heads of students (and writers) of tarot, for “The true tarot is symbolism…” is an example of philosophical reduction, which only serves to strip the tarot of any further meaning and means of enquiry. Fortunately Kate Mosse skips lightly over symbolism, and I would like to think she gets the joke too.
Fortunately, her description of the tarot reading Meredith Martin has is better than I expected. The tarot reader gives Meredith a choice of decks, and naturally she settles on the Bousqet deck after a lengthy preamble that few readers would get away with in real life.
Most people who have had a tarot reading will recognise the format described in Sepulchre, and therein lies the problem, for Mosse accurately describes not reading but remembering: the tarot reader remembers the meanings of the cards and the meanings of the positions of the spreads. The real insights come from Meredith, who experiences a number of emotional responses, distant memories, and recognition of things she could not recall previously.
In other words, Meredith interprets the cards herself, while the reader gives an adequate description of the meaning of the cards. Few tarot readers have the gift of tarot interpretation, of understanding how the arrangement of the cards relates to the life of the querent.
The tarot reading sets up the journey Meredith makes to Carcassone as she researches Debussy, culminating in the act of redemption for the heroine, Leonie Vernier over a century earlier.
Novels with a magical theme invariably have a magician, but in Sepulchre it is the tarot that imbues ‘normal’ people with magical powers. As a result the central characters in the book are normal people, unaware of the consequences of their actions. Leonie in particular is entirely innocent; she is unaware of the plotting and deceptions around her. However she is required to act in a magical way that would defeat most magicians, moreover without the use of magical ritual. The consequences of her actions would be magically completed by Meredith, again lead by the tarot.
- Cover of Sepulchre
Did Kate Mosse consult real magicians? The dreamlike quality of the encounters in and around the Sepulchre is something that I recognise very well in my own spiritual and magical work. I would go so far to say that she has conveyed the experience realistically. If a real magician had been there, the results would have been far less dramatic.
Comparison with Dan Brown is unfortunate; Kate Mosse can write; she makes the countryside come alive, mixing historical fact and fiction in a believable way. The background of Rennes-les-Bains and the Visigoths is evocative, while her depiction of the Abbe Sauniere is closer to reality than all those Da Vinci conspiracy theories. I recommend it.
