Cult of Tarot Forum

Some reflections on TRAHOR FATIS


On the shield of Postumio you see this text 'Trahor Fatis' which goes around in the cards while letters are added.
It is remarkable The letters are added backwards; it seems the artist of the sola Busca loved word games and rocket-science-tarot with the added layers.
The different names added, the relation to 'regular' trumps and the anagrams possible within the titles of the cards or anagrams possible while combining cards.
Also striking is the fact the Trahor Fatis riddle starts at Postumio II. Would it be possible that Trahor Fatis points to the High Priestess?

I am aware of the discovery of the meaning/ text of Trahor Fatis combined in combination with the text on Ace of coins 'SERVIR CHI PRESEVERA INFIN OTIENE'. Both together form an anagram which seems to point to a different designer of the deck.
This is a try with only Trahor Fatis which brings anagrams i really like.

Possible meanings Trahor Fatis

Meanings of Fatis
Fatis - from Fatum
destiny, fate
(in the plural) death
(of a god) speech
utterance, declaration, proclamation, prediction

Meanings of Trahor
trahor- first-person singular present passive indicative of trahō
I am Driven / I am drawn
TRAHO means figuratively
I drag; I trail; I extract, withdraw, draw out, prolong.
(figuratively) I attract, draw (someone; their attention)
(by extension) I attract the support of, sway, win over


"TRAHOR FATIS means I am driven by fate / i am drawn by destiny
Also is possible:
I am driven by death, I am driven by speech, I am driven by prediction

Driven by fate; driven by fortune. Gods are involved, that is clear. Astrology was also involved.

Some interesting information concerning FATIS / FATUM / and Fortune and Astrology
https://porridgemagazine.com/2016/08/21 ... hryn-shaw/

Ovid’s Fasti and Virgil’s Aeneid suggest that astrology co-existed with, and even complimented Roman state religion.
Fatum and fortuna are often discussed in the Aeneid. It is believed that fatum was the inevitable outcome of a person’s life, or ‘”that which is to be”’.[8] Manilius states that: ‘fate’s confidants, the stars, which by the operation of divine reason diversify the chequered fortunes of mankind’, thus connecting fatum, the stars, and the deities.

Postumio (II) RFATIS is mentioned with another not complete visible letter. A eight spoke star is also pictured on this card. (Top shield)
FATIS+ R= FRATIS = Brother



Catone (XIII) ORFATIS / with stars and (star-rain)drops. Or in Intalian is Now. Now + Fatis / Now dead. Connects with XIII/


Ace of Coins TRAHRFATIS with a little o above the H / with star and drops. What could be the possible menaing of that H with an little o above? Is this a kind of symbol? Somehow it tells already which sentence will be appearmed and will be complete on the Ace of Amphorae.
Combination with the other text on Ace of Coins SERVIR CHI PRESEVERA INFIN OTIENE' formed as an anagram , seems to point to a different designer of the deck.


Ace of Discs /amphora TRAHORFATIS

"TRAHOR FATIS means I am driven by fate / i am drawn by destiny etc.

I only have played around with TRAHOR FATIS and made anagrams with some nice variations.

Some anagrams:
TRAHOR FATIS
TRAHO FRATIS

TAROH FRATIS
HATOR FRATIS
TORAH FRATIS

TARO FRATIS
HATHOR FRATIS (I stole a H from the above one)
TORAH FRATIS

RFATIS from Postumio is completely unveiled on Ace of Amphorae. The sentence is veiled on II which fits with the high Priestess.
The anagrams formed. One points to Torah which vibrates with the scroll of the High Priestess. Hator in the anagram is really striking. (Hathor-Isis)

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Hannibal, upon seeing his brother's severed head, cried: "There lies the fate of Carthage" -- his prophetic words were fulfilled many years later, when Carthage was utterly destroyed, largely at the instigation of Cato the Elder, who according to Plutarch was said to end his speeches, regardless of their subject matter, with the words: "Carthage must be destroyed!"

The 'star' here is a bearded star, a type of comet.

The comet of January 1472, which attracted more commentaries than those of 1456 & 68 combined, was described as a bearded star, for example by Henry Sutton but most coincidentally (?) by Angelo de Cato de Supino de Benevento.

Catóne Angelo (Sepino or Benevento, Circa 1440 - 1496) was astrologer, doctor, bibliophile and public reader of philosophy and astronomy in the Studium parthenopeo since its reopening in 1465 to 1495, followed the lessons of Nicola Rainaldi da Sulmona.

Recognized as a true authority in astronomy and medicine, he soon enjoyed the personal esteem of Ferdinand I of Aragon and later of the French court. Left widowed, in 1482 he was made archbishop of Vienne, the French town of the present-day Isère department. He was also editor, critic and co-author of some important manuscripts and astrological and medical prints.

His comet book appeared in 1472 and printed by Riessinger in Naples. In 1474 he also published a work written by Matteo Silvatico (Salerno, 1285 - 1342), a physician of Roberto d'Angiò, one of the first books printed in the kingdom, titled Pandectae medicinae, gray opus pandectarum medicinae Matthaei Silvatici. Always in the same year is coauthor, perhaps along with Antonio Guarnieri, of a Tractatus de Febribus, who left Naples for the types of Bertholdus Rihing. It is often mentioned in the Mémoires of Philippe de Commynes or Filippo de Commines (Flanders, Belgium 1447 - Argenton-les-Vallés, 18.10.1511), a French historian and chronicler of Flemish origin, whom he was a great friend.

In the documents the name is given in several variants, such as Angelo Catho de Supino, Angelo Cato or Angelus Cato, Angelus Chatto (and de Supino).

A Via Angelo Catone is in the historic center of Benevento, while Sepino is named the main street of the village.

In a letter to John of Aragon, published under the title De cometa qui anno 1472 mense Ianuario apparuit (Neapoli 1472), where in ten chapters he treats of the celestial area where he saw the comet, its characteristics (composition, color, size), the history of the apparitions and the astronomical significance and astrological of it, for which proposes the name of Pogonias; Pogonius (bearded star) is Aristotles term for one of two type of comet defined by him (the other being the 'long-haired' star). Catone interprets the comet as an omen of forthcoming successes of the Turks.

So I think we do have some internal evidence here that suggests it is the comet of 1472, as the bearded star is associated with the name [Catone] of an internationally famous contemporary of the period who wrote a well-known treatise on the bearded star.

I think there is a parallel being made here between Angelus Catone, who read the comet as a warning of the rising power of the Turks, and the Elder Cato of Roman history, who was also always warning of the power of Carthage, and felt its destruction was the only answer.

As such, the decapitated head I see as being an emblem of Hannibals prophesy of the destruction of Carthage, and in the dart of Cato impaling it, Cato as instrumental in the fulfilment of that prophesy.

Trahor Fatis - Drawn by Fate

Cato is here as the instrument of Fate in the fulfilment of prophecy. And a warning and call to action, in the contemporary period, against the rising power of the Turks.

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From a woodcut of 1493, showing the three types of comets, "les trois estoilles sent estoille barbue, estoille chevelue, et estoille couee."

Estoille barbue means 'bearded star', it was also called 'pogonius'.

The rise and fall of Empires is I think one of the sub-texts of the deck and I think our reading of it can be partly grounded in the contemporary concerns for the fragile state of Christendom, and the threat against the Holy Roman Empire posed by the rising power of the Turks and the Ottoman Empire.

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Medallion made in honour of Angelo Catone, by Fiorentino, Adriano, Florence, between 1482-1495.

I think what is hidden in de Sola Busca is the possibility of man to connect to God through a kundalini awakening.



The H with a small o in the middle is a reference to the three energy channels that are involved in a kundalini awakening, the o in the middle being the kundalini itself.



The eight pointed star of Ishtar/Innana is also a symbol of the kundalini (the merging of duality to oneness -> 4+4=8). Which also applies to tarot card 17.



I think that in this particular image the vinger between the O and the R is also a reference to the kundalini flowing through the spine, and de letters OR a reference to the gold (l'or, French) that will be found. The severed head on the ground being the ego that has died. The spear through the eye symbolism for the opening of the third eye.

The man is dressed like a warrior and wears a laural wreath: he has conquered himself/the ego and has realised the divine...

Some impressions of XIII. It strikes me that there is that star radiating down opposite the speared head below, both right side corners. Between these, still a little above center right side, are the hands holding the message on a scroll, with eyes looking down, reading: "Destiny draws/seeks me"or "I am drawn by/sought by Destiny." Zeroing in, the" O" is inside the hands. So, star, O, head, down right side. From the Renaissance vision of this three-fold symbolism, one might see the path of moderation between higher realities (star) and lower realities (head), hands around the O as the human soul in the middle. (Incidentally, this runs through Ficino's philosophy.)The hideous head need not dominate the Whole scene. The star still shines above.

Gaius Claudius Nero (c. 247 BC – c. 189 BC) may have some relevance. He is the one who kept the head of the Carthaginian general Hasdrubal, Hannibal's brother, and had it thrown into the camp of Hannibal, who is said to have then declared "There lies the fate Carthage!" A sign of utter defeat, which soon saw the end of the second Punic wars and Hannibal's leaving Italy.

The defeat of Hasdrubal at the Battle of the Metaurus, at which Nerone was one of the heroic commanders, was the turning point in the second Punic war.

Nerone's victory was put into verse by Horatio:

Quid debeas, o Roma, Neronibus,
Testis Metaurum flumen et Hasdrubal

This taunt of Nerone's was in contrast to Hannibal's own treatment of Roman consuls and commanders, captured or killed, who Hannibal is said to have treated with great respect and dignity.

If the consul Nerone had not defeated Hasdrubal, then it might have been that Emperor Nero would have ever reigned at all, as Lord Byron wrote of Nerone [the Consul and commander in the Battle of Metaurus] :

"The consul Nero, who made the unequalled march, which deceived Hannibal, and defeated Hasdrubal, thereby accomplishing an achievement almost unrivalled in military annals. The first intelligence of his return to Hannibal, was the sight of Hasdrubal's head thrown into his camp. When Hannibal saw this, he exclaimed with a sigh, that "Rome would now be the mistress of the world." To this victory of Nero's it might be owing that his imperial namesake reigned at all. But the infamy of the one has eclipsed the glory of the other. When the name of Nero is heard, who thinks of the consul? But such are human things."
— Byron.

Hamilcar Barca was the leading Carthaginian commander during the First Punic War, who was defeated by our Catulus [of the wounded thigh]. His sons were Mago, Hasdrubal and Hannibal, who were generals in the following Punic wars.

Hamilcar is said to have had a great deal of hatred for Rome, one which was only worsened by the harsh terms of peace following the Carthaginian defeat in the First Punic war. And he went to pains to instil similar hatred in his sons.

The child over the flames in this image is difficult to decipher; but one of the things it reminds me of, though it is probably a bit of a stretch, is that Hannibal as a very young child was taken to the temple by his Father Hamilcar and held over the sacrificial flames, and made to swear to his Father and the Gods never to make a friend of Rome.

Perhaps this is a reminder of that oath, which led eventually to the utter destruction of Carthage. It was completely destroyed, burnt to the grounds, and the Queen of Carthage threw herself and her two children into the fire.

Nerone as taunting Hannibal in defeat : "This is where your oath against Rome shall lead."


In Summary:


Catone and Nerone were both at the Battle of Metaurus, at which Hannibal's brother Hasdrubal was slain and beheaded.

Hasdrubal and Hannibal's hatred of Rome had been instilled in them since childhood. It is said their father held Hannibal over a fire as a young child and made him swear he would never make a friend of Rome.

Nerone had the decapitated head of Hasdrubal thrown into Hannibal's camp. Upon seeing it Hannibal is said, in the blow of mourning, to recognize the destiny of Carthage:

"Hannibal... agnoscere se fortunam Carthaginis..."
[Livy 27:51]

Catone was one of the leading figures in the faction calling for a Third Punic War, ending his speeches, whatever the subject, with "Carthage must be destroyed."

Cato as such, may be seen as the instrument of the fate which Hannibal recognized in the head of his slain brother.

The child over the flames is emblematic of the Carthaginian enmity against Rome, which led to their ultimate destruction by Rome, epitomized by Nerone and Catone.

The child over the flames in this image is difficult to decipher; but one of the things it reminds me of, though it is probably a bit of a stretch, is that Hannibal as a very young child was taken to the temple by his Father Hamilcar and held over the sacrificial flames, and made to swear to his Father and the Gods never to make a friend of Rome. -- KoyDeli

This makes a lot of sense. Your whole post conclusively establishes the historical foundation to the two cards. The Punic wars of Carthage versus Rome.
Hannibal's brother the decapitated head, Hannibal the child over the flames. Thus, the star sends down Fate's decree read by the soldier, and the finale of Fate is Hannibal's brother's head on the ground. My earlier Neoplatonic interpretation of the three realms of star, hands holding the scroll, and the head respectively as upper divine world, middle human world, and world of earth's mutability, seems pretty lofty in contrast to the historical reality. I suppose there is room for more than one take on this, including the Neoplatonic "light" and the Roman/Carthaginian "shadow." In the Italian Renaissance, both views might have been incorporated into the Sola Busca.