Caitlin Matthews' Da Vinci Enigma Tarot links Leonardo Da Vinci's theories and sketches to traditional Tarot meanings.
Artist, great thinker and inventor Leonardo Da Vinci (1452-1519) was the ultimate Renaissance man, giving the world magnificent contributions in the fields of painting, drawing, and intellectual and scientific theory. Da Vinci also left behind preliminary blueprints for such revolutionary entities as the airplane, the helicopter and the camera -- just to name a few of the extraordinary concepts that came from one brilliant mind.
In The Da Vinci Enigma Tarot, Caitlin Matthews uses Da Vinci’s sketches and thoughts along with the general Tarot framework to create a tool for personal reflection and mental expansion. The cards follow the usual Tarot structure, with changes to the names of certain Major Arcana (called the Macrocosm in this deck, while the Minor Arcana is called the Microcosm) cards to work better with Da Vinci’s theories. For example, the High Priestess of the standard Tarot becomes The Enigma title card here, using a study of Da Vinci’s famed Mona Lisa portrait with the same mysterious half-smile that has intrigued the world for centuries.
The Da Vinci Enigma Tarot comes in a box set with an accompanying 144 page book. The book is integral to explain Da Vinci’s wisdom and how it influences each card and any potential readings, and it also provides fascinating biographical information. We learn about Da Vinci’s illegitimate birth, his early education and career, his relationship with the Catholic Church and later alliance with the more liberal-minded King François I, who insisted that Da Vinci move to France and not be persecuted for his theories. Additionally, Ms. Matthews offers a bibliography of further sources to read more about Da Vinci and the Tarot as well.
Continuing on with the whole philosophical experience, The Da Vinci Enigma Tarot cards aren’t just set up in terms of general and reversed meanings, but also the concept of the card’s “Soul-Code” and “Disconnected“ applications. The cards pose key questions such as “What action needs taking?” or “How can you manifest your passion in a practical way?” These questions are called Dimmis in the Enigma Deck, because of Da Vinci’s habit of writing the Italian word dimmi or “tell me” onto a page whenever he began using a new pen nib, a humorously inquisitive way of asking the pen what it was going to help him communicate.
Elements of nature replace the usual Minor Arcana quartet of suits, changing Swords, Wands, Cups and Pentacles to Air, Fire, Water and Earth respectively. Air represents initiative and clear thought, Fire represents energy and passion, Water represents feeling and intuition, and Earth represents the pragmatic application of ideas and inspiration. A self-portrait of Da Vinci is The Magician card, presiding over all the suits and encouraging us to use our mental and physical gifts and the resources around us to create great things.
The Da Vinci Enigma Tarot should not be confused with Lo Scarabeo’s Da Vinci Tarot; while both focus on the works of the same artist, they are distinctly different. Beyond the inventive cards themselves, The Da Vinci Enigma Tarot offers its own unique reading methods, such as Light and Shadow, Painter’s Four Seasons, and the complex Vitruvian Man, based on another well-known Da Vinci work of a male figure in perfect geometric proportion.
For Tarot lovers, scholars, artists or anyone who wants to learn more about the brilliance of Leonardo, The Da Vinci Enigma Tarot is a great way to explore the mind and methods of a true genius and ultimately apply them to daily life.
Sources
The Da Vinci Enigma Tarot -- Caitlin Matthews (St. Martin's Press, 2005)
