W. B. Yeats and the 78 degrees of wisdom

[BrightEye]

Not quite. I try to blend in a little when I'm out and about. If you look in the attached photo, there's a little person in a black hoodie in the Reading Room. That was me the other day picking up from the issue desk.

Edited June 21, 2024 by BrightEye

[gregory]

Got it ! Thanks !

[_R_]

On 6/20/2024 at 8:36 AM, BrightEye said:

@gregory I'm glad it all worked out so well! Now you have to reread WBY's esoteric writings. BTW, are you familiar with Kathleen Raine's Yeats, the Tarot and the Golden Dawn? We mention this in the earlier posts in this thread. It's in the Internet Archive.

 

Arland Ussher, also mentioned further up here, is next on my reading list. The NLI Reading Room is such a great space by the way. I went there recently to read Basil Rákóczi's The Painted Caravan. I never used to need the NLI for my work until now. What I've missed! And totally OT: there's a Lego replica of the Library in the foyer now. It opens out like some of the other Lego models (e.g. the Titanic). You can see the reading rooms, the stair cases, even the magnificent fireplaces in the side rooms. And me (yes, indeed, a little Lego figurine that resembles me).

 

Glad to hear you made it to the exhibition and enjoyed it.  

 

Ussher's book is worth tracking down, if you're interested in Irish tarology and/or bibliophilia. Aside from his book, I typed up all the Tarot references in his other works on my blog.

[gregory]

Chance would be a fine thing - not in the internet library, and the cheapest copy I can see on line that I can GET is (deep breath) £283 + substantial postage.... There is one in the US for $30 and change - but the seller will ONLY send within the US. I'm looking into that as an option. 

 

AAAAAAAAAAAND

 

Got it !

But looking at your link - did he not do all the cards (I realise one is linked wrong and is a dupe, but...)

 

Well, I will have in the end.

Edited June 22, 2024 by gregory

[BrightEye]

On 6/21/2024 at 9:24 PM, _R_ said:

Ussher's book is worth tracking down, if you're interested in Irish tarology and/or bibliophilia. Aside from his book, I typed up all the Tarot references in his other works on my blog.

Yes, I'm interested in Irish tarology in particular - for a project I'm working on - and I've read your blog! It's a great resource, thank you!

 

@gregory You bought a copy of Ussher's The XXII Keys of Tarot? Cheap? Congratulations!

 

[gregory]

I did. For $30 - but it will take a while, as it has to be mailed to a mate over there and she will mail it on. And as she too is a tarotista (see my sig...) I told her she could read it before she sends it on.

[_R_]

19 minutes ago, BrightEye said:

Yes, I'm interested in Irish tarology in particular - for a project I'm working on - and I've read your blog! It's a great resource, thank you!

 

@gregory You bought a copy of Ussher's The XXII Keys of Tarot? Cheap? Congratulations!

 

 

You're welcome.

 

Yeats aside, Leonora Carrington's people were from Moate. 

[gregory]

Did you see one of her paintings recently sold for an obscene sum of money. I am never sure if that's OK, in a way....

 

Can you two see this ?

https://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b09j0lp9/leonora-carrington-the-lost-surrealist - it's EXCELLENT. (sorry, )

 

Um, I also found the Raine book cheap, so that's all good. Just for the hell of it (we seem NOT to have it - I could have sworn we did, as I HAVE read it before - and just did again on the archive !)

Edited June 23, 2024 by gregory

[_R_]

I am shamefully forgetting to mention a tarological reading of Joyce's Ulysses, and only a few days after Bloomsday, Joycean Arcana: Ulysses and the Tarot de Marseille, by Matthew Schultz.

 

Not having read it (this book, not Ulysses!), I have no idea what it's like, but it seems to be a fun read, if one is into Joyce.

[KiMo]

As someone who has very happily been adopted by Ireland in spirit (through partnership), and as a fellow Yeats fan, I’ve been thoroughly enjoying this thread. Then someone had to go and mention Leonora and I positively swooned.
 

This is a useless comment but I just wanted to say, thank you for the lovely thread. Next time we’re in Dublin I’m absolutely visiting the exhibition, I didn’t know it existed until now!

[gregory]

Be quick - it isn't permanent ! Runs till next year.

[KiMo]

Thanks @gregory, yes I noted it's on until '25, we'll definitely be heading over at some point this year to visit family

[BrightEye]

22 hours ago, _R_ said:

I am shamefully forgetting to mention a tarological reading of Joyce's Ulysses, and only a few days after Bloomsday, Joycean Arcana: Ulysses and the Tarot de Marseille, by Matthew Schultz.

 

Not having read it (this book, not Ulysses!), I have no idea what it's like, but it seems to be a fun read, if one is into Joyce.

Thanks, @_R_ I had a sense there was Tarot in Joyce - there's a study of Tarot symbols in Yeats, Eliot, and Joyce - though it's been a long time since I read Ulysses and when I did, not with my Tarot hat on. I had sort of pushed that thought to the back of my mind as revisiting Ulysses is a bit of an undertaking. I wasn't aware of this study, so thank you! -- For context, I'm writing a book on a contemporary Irish artist who has, amongst other things, done work on the Tarot, most notably a series of paintings based on the Major Arcana. 

 

@gregory I can't get iPlayer in Ireland. But Carrington is always great! I love The Hearing Trumpet and must reread. I suspect you have the Carrington Tarot? There was an exhibition here at the Irish Museum of Modern Art several years ago. It was fab - and particularly focused on her Irish heritage (though didn't include the Tarot - that came out a few years after.) I'm banking on you already owning this deck because I feel slightly guilty sending you on spending sprees. I didn't know you collected Tarot books as well. The Raine and Rákóczi are nice ones to have!

[gregory]

Yes to both - The Hearing Trumpet is priceless. I have never managed Ulysses. Partly simply for want of trying.....   (by the way - I also have Moakley...... For £9 ! Eat your heart out. I was working with the internet archive to get them permission to upload it - but the copyright is a bit of an issue. I don't know how far it all got.) I collect books up to a point - as in I do NOT buy every one, but significant ones interest me up to a point. I have a good few "special" ones.

 

But - this comes and goes, but try youtube:

 

 

[_R_]

On 6/24/2024 at 9:14 AM, BrightEye said:

Thanks, @_R_ I had a sense there was Tarot in Joyce - there's a study of Tarot symbols in Yeats, Eliot, and Joyce - though it's been a long time since I read Ulysses and when I did, not with my Tarot hat on. I had sort of pushed that thought to the back of my mind as revisiting Ulysses is a bit of an undertaking. I wasn't aware of this study, so thank you! -- For context, I'm writing a book on a contemporary Irish artist who has, amongst other things, done work on the Tarot, most notably a series of paintings based on the Major Arcana. 

 

I haven't read the book in question, as I say, but it seems to me to be more of a fanciful (playful?) imagining of a Tarot-Joyce connection, rather than a definite literary "source", as in the cases of Yeats, Eliot, and many others. Still, it does sound like a thought-provoking read.

 

That said, given that the plasticity of Ulysses lends itself exceptionally well to such speculation, as does the Tarot, as we know, it is hardly surprising that there might be "Tarot in Joyce", as you say, to the extent that there is something of everything in there, and conversely, that anything at all might be viewed through the prism of Tarot, for that matter.

 

Your project sounds interesting, best of luck with your endeavours. For my part, having been asked recently, in connection with an exhibition in Galway, whether Pamela Colman Smith ever visited Ireland, I have started researching this particular piece of local history, and gone down a rabbit hole...

 

[gregory]

I bet Mary Greer would know.....

[_R_]

There's a good bit of academic work being done on the Yeats sisters at the moment, and as Pixie was involved with their artistic endeavours, it is likely that some incidental details in this research will help fill in the gaps in this respect. In fact, there's a conference on next month, so I'll try to find out more.

 

Piecing together this particular puzzle is more difficult than I'd anticipated.

[BrightEye]

There's this essay which might throw light on it (I read it when the book came out but can't remember details). I have the book and will look it up later:

 

O’Connor, Elizabeth Foley. “Pamela Colman Smith’s Performative Primitivism” in Caribbean Irish Connections: Interdisciplinary Perspectives, edited by Alison Donnell, Maria McGarrity, Evelyn O’Callaghan. University of the West Indies Press, 2015.

 

You probably know this, but Angela Griffiths in Trinity College is doing a lot of work on the Yeats sisters and Dun Emer/ Cuala Press. I believe the College even owns one of the original Cuala Press printing presses.

[_R_]

There have been a number of biographies on Pamela Colman Smith in recent years; Kaplan in 2018, Dawn Robinson in 2020, and the above-mentioned Elizabeth Foley O'Connor in 2021. I haven't had a chance to have a look at these books yet, but will do at some point over the summer. 

 

Today I was told that not only is there a conference on in July, there are also a couple of exhibitions of Dun Emer/Cuala Press material, in Dundrum, and in Trinity.