The Innsmouth Tarot, Part 3 - The Major Arcana 2

Fortune-telling by means of cards – known as “cartomancy” – has a long tradition in Europe especially in France. At one time, cartomancy - and other services peculiar to witches of the 18^th Century - almost toppled the French throne (specifically during the Affair of the Poisons and later in the Affair of the Necklace). Many decks of cards are familiar to tarot aficionados but oftentimes individuals would invent their own card decks to suit their specific purposes. The best known tarot deck is undoubtedly the Ancien Tarot de Marseille with its primary-coloured woodcut images.

Given the proximity of the New England area to the French-controlled Canadian territories, it’s hardly surprising that a tarot-based cartomantic tradition would have emerged in the region. Although Puritan fever was running high and vigilant community leaders would have enacted harsh penalties against those seen to be carrying cards of any type, traders and trappers interacting with the New England settlements might very well have added reading fortunes to their range of saleable wares and thus have transmitted the system to eager recipients.

A pre-eminent theory concerning the tarot card deck is that it was a means of carrying forbidden lore without seeming to do so. The cards were symbolic touchstones, boiling down the essence of mystical lore into a handful of powerful images. Cards, at first glance, seem less threatening than a book of knowledge, and so magical practitioners were able to carry their knowledge camouflaged in open view of disapproving eyes. In a community such as that prevalent along Massachusetts’s coastline, such camouflage must have been undeniably useful.

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Card 6 – The Change

 

In the strange generation of the Deep Ones, there comes a point in the life of the growing individual when it becomes apparent that they are undergoing a transformation. At this point, the entity either accepts the Change, or fights against it, usually to their own detriment. It represents the first trial a Deep One encounters on the road to their new life beneath the waves.

A Deep One fortunate enough to live within a larger community, such as that located in Innsmouth, has the benefit of a social network to support them in this trial; Deep One progeny who grow up outside of such communities have no guidance to fall back upon and usually either go mad or commit suicide. The Change is an ordeal indeed.

The Kester Library Set of cards depicts a fish-tailed Deep One looking into a mirror. This underscores the meaning of the card which speaks of self-knowledge and awareness. Interestingly, in English heraldry, the charge of a mermaid is often depicted in the arms of individuals or companies whose efforts are of the nautical kind; when shown holding a mirror, the creature is termed “a mermaid in her vanity”. The similarity between this image and the Kester Library Set card implies that their creator must have had some commercial or other links to the sea of their own.

This card stands for a moment of decision; a time of trial and self-examination. Just as the transformer understands the transition ahead, they must make the choice to either embrace the Change or to deny it. When this card appears in a reading it can indicate the start of a new intense relationship or the cessation of such a tie. It can mean a marriage is imminent. It can symbolise physical attraction and corporeal beauty, or the loss of these things.

Inverted: When it appears upside-down, this card symbolises separation, denial and divorce. It can speak of temptation and moral corruption surfacing as lustful motivations. It can also reveal projects embarked upon without careful consideration.

Card 7 – Crabskin

The transformations experienced by the spawn of Y’hanathlei are wide-ranging and multifarious. Inter-species variations occur constantly and result in many differing physical forms. The half-shark Deep One is well-known, as is the half-dolphin variety. A little-seen iteration is the half-crab Deep One. The reason for their scarcity is that they are generally kept in sub-aqueous Deep One settlements in order to act as guards or, if necessary, shock troops. Within communities such as Innsmouth, the presence of an emerging carapace during the Change is cause for great celebration.

The image for this card derives from the Newburyport Set which – unusually – bears an picture rather than a short text. The card itself has been made from a piece of thick paper with an engraved depiction of a crab, possibly cut from a Bible, almanac, or some other widely available volume.

When revealed in a spread of cards, this image symbolises great strife, possibly already overcome. It heralds trouble and adversity in the life of the Questioner; however the meaning is coupled with the notion of victory and great ascendancy. It can mean negotiations and diplomacy. Less dramatically, the card can be interpreted as the Questioner having the ability to combine periods of great activity and productiveness, with times of beneficial quietude.

Inverted: Upside-down, this card represents calamity and destruction, a check imposed upon one’s goals. It speaks of great violence, either physical or emotional. It can indicate control of a situation taken out of one’s hands, cruelty or fatigue.

Card 8 – Temple Elders

Wherever land-based communities of Deep Ones exist, they eschew the usual arrangement of lawkeepers and dispensers of justice for their own community leaders, as embodied by the Elders of the Esoteric Order of Dagon. In these communities, law and governance lies entirely within the hands of these ruling elect, and all bow down before their decisions.

Like the Witch, no extant cards remain to show how this card was traditionally depicted; however, it is mentioned in many of the grimoires and herbals that have survived.

The Elders of the Temple stand for equitability, the rule of law and due process. Their ambit is fairness, justice and virtue. Depending upon where the card appears in a divinatory spread, it can represent an error rectified, and things set back upon the correct path. On a personal level, this card can be interpreted as a sense of self-satisfaction in one’s accomplishments.

Inverted: When inverted, this card represents a lack of perspective and a narrow worldview. It speaks of bigotry, prejudice and an inability to think without being dogmatic. It can be interpreted as a severe judgement, or a false accusation. At its worst it can speak of terrible abuse, either physical or in the use of power and position.

Card 9 – The Dreamer

According to the beliefs of the Deep Ones and their religious dogma, the supreme being Great Cthulhu contacts its followers through the medium of dreams. It is said that, periodically, the sunken tomb in which Cthulhu is imprisoned, rises above the waves and at this time, its will is transmitted in dreams to those susceptible to its call. Those who undergo the Change also receive dreams as they slowly transform, preparing them for the life eternal beneath the waves. This notion of preparation is key to the understanding of this card – by searching within, knowledge and wisdom of an external nature can be found.

The prototype for this card is the one found in the Kester Library Set which shows a sleeping person with another figure either standing guard over them or emerging in some mysterious manner from their recumbent form. Many have seen in this ambiguous symbol the notion of astral travel, or of thought transference, as discussed by the Theosophists.

The Dreamer stands for received wisdom, good counsel from a wise source. It can represent a time of withdrawal wherein healing and understanding can take place. It speaks of vigilance, consideration and careful progress - deliberation in one’s proceedings. In some instances it can represent recession or regression, or the undoing of a current circumstance.

Inverted: When upside-down, the Dreamer stands for rashness, imprudence and poorly-considered actions. It can speak of misogynistic tendencies, even celibacy. In some instances it symbolises the inability to speak out, even when one knows one should. This is withdrawal from reality with no good purpose – an inability to face up to responsibilities and to conduct oneself accordingly.

Card 10 – The Tide

As pelagic beings, the Deep Ones are ruled by the actions of the waters. The tidal effect of the moon upon the ocean is the constant heartbeat of the seven seas. Tidal forces govern the activities of the undersea beings, dictating times for activity and for rest. When the tide drops, the Deep Ones pull back to their underwater dwellings; when the tide is high, their range increases and the opportunities for seeking food and other sport are increased.

This card represents an ongoing cycle of fortune – times of plenty followed by times of dearth. As the tide never rises without falling subsequently, the Deep Ones recognise that destiny is in a constant state of flux, a sentiment which has given rise to their fatalistic saying, “wait until the next tide”.

The card from the Newburyport Set, although merely a scrawl of words, depicts quite accurately this notion of the tide as ongoing, constantly reversing and unceasing. That of the Kester Library Set is perfunctory, but adequately expresses the notion.

When upright in a card spread, the Tide represents fortune and positivity. The Questioner benefits from good fortune and a brimming sense of self. Everything stands at its apogee. Because the Tide is ongoing and incontestable, the Questioner is urged to take advantage of the situation before it changes, as it inevitably must.

Inverted: As the upright reading of this card is positive, so this inverted reading is entirely negative. The Questioner’s fortunes have reached a nadir, a low ebb; their sense of self and personal energies are weak and lacklustre; fortune seems to have abandoned them. The single positive aspect of this card is that, at some point, the Tide must come back in and this period of infelicity must pass.

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To Be Continued...