The Tarot of Enrique Enriquez

[Desmond]

In the recent e-mail from Joan Marie, she mentioned that a new Tarot of Marseilles group, Learning to Read the Pips, is forthcoming to the Cult of Tarot. Given the increasing interest in Tarot of Marseilles and Pip reading, I thought that it may be useful to introduce the teachings of Enrique Enriquez to the group which I have found extremely valuable in my own work with the deck and beyond.

Enrique Enriquez is a 21st century visionary whose career defies categorization. He began as a graphic designer and animator before achieving popular acclaim as a mentalist and mystery performer, tarot diviner, and poet. He had a strong internet presence and was active within the tarot community about 10 years ago and became renowned through the documentary Tarology which beautifully conveys his idiosyncratic approach to the Tarot of Marseilles. Enrique is still very active on Facebook and continues to teach private courses on Tarot and The Language of the Birds. Enrique’s non-mystical approach to Tarot draws heavily upon his research and engagement with cognitive science, hypnosis, and modern and contemporary avant-garde poetry and art.

Enrique’s method of reading the Tarot begins with learning to look at Pip cards as a substance constantly transforming into different states of expansion, contraction, and temperature, at different speeds. This work is summarized within the text How to Turn a Deck of Cards into a Thermometer and greatly elaborated upon in The Subtle Voice of Playing Cards and Subplots in Pattern Recognition While Looking at the PIPS.

Next he teaches us to look at the Court and Trump cards by using a modernization of the medieval game of tarocchi appropriati. We are taught to examinine figures using the intuitive knowledge that arises from our subjective experience of embodiment. This work is summarized in the text The Tarot: A Gestvral Langvage for the Common Man and greatly elaborated upon in Embodied Tarot: When Medieval Draftsmanship Mirrors Cognitive Science.

These foundational coordinates are augmented and refined by examining Eye Rhymes, the relationships of similarity or positioning among details that emerge when the cards are viewed side-by-side, in addition to the application of metaphorical language and hypnotic cues that facilitate the personal identification of the querent. Enrique discusses the visual poetics of the Marseilles Tarot images in The Excellence of the Marseilles Tarot, The Tarot Talks the Language of the Birds, and Whisperings to the Eye. His elements of hypnosis can be found in Notes on the Use of Indirect Suggestion in Tarot Readings.

Some relevant articles concerning his views on Tarot history include Peeking Through the Bars of the Tarot’s Occult Prison and The Marseilles Tarot Ethos. You can also view two of his old online public courses, Marseilles Seekers and Embodied Tarot. His series of essays on Eye Rhymes amptly demonstrates his method in action. Also, two important interviews where he describes his approach to the tarot and wordplay are En Rune Quiz Ere Qi: The Language of the Birds in Manhattan: Towards the How and Why Enrique Enriquez Reads the Tarot and Reflecting on Mirrors of Passing Windows: How Tarot Feeds Alphabets.

When I have more time and if there is sufficient interest, I will put together a practical guide to working with his book Tarology.

I have been working with Enrique continuously for the last two years and he has taken me upon a remarkable and transformative journey. I would be very happy to discuss any of these subjects further if there is any interest.

Take Care,
Desmond

[Belenus]

Desmond,

Thanks for this. I have been a student of Enrique for a number of years now. I have taken both of his online classes, as well as some live internet classes. You asked if there was sufficient interest in a practical guide to working with his book, "Tarology." In my case make that a resounding, "YES!!!" I am very interested in such a guide.

all my best to you,
Belenus

P.S. You actually know me under my real-life name as a member of your FB forum that you developed for EE's Pips and Trumps courses.

[Desmond]

Hello Sir! Nice to see you here. I will get started on putting something together. I would be happy to see other interested people start engaging with this material and putting it into practice here at the Cult of Tarot.

[Diana]

Desmond, I wrote yesterday to Joan Marie to see when we'll be setting up this pips study. It will be begin soon, probably in a new sub forum. It would be really wonderful (really) if you'd step in with the EE way of reading pips in a special dedicated thread there. Along with Belenus and others who have studied his method.

I will be giving my input from a more classical way of reading pips, i.e. numbers, elements and the depiction on the cards themselves. This is the only method I know well. My input will not be inspired by any particular person or book or method. It's more just a method of logic and common sense.

I have a huge respect for EE. Never watched his movie Tarology though - only watched some videos on youtube and that was enough for me to trust this guy and to take my hat off to him. I must watch his movie one day. I hope it's available on youtube.

I reckon this sub forum will be set up very soon, hopefully this week so we can get cracking. I can't wait to start. Pips in the TdMs cause such headaches for people (understandably so) and I really hope this new sub forum will be a huge and constructive contribution to the tarotsphere.

By the way Desmond, I read your bio on your profile page. You've taken many roads there !!! You've been a traveller, a nomad, a pilgrim. I look very much forward to exchanging with you. Frithjof Schuon and all that controversy and scandal - did this change how you read his works and teachings?

[Desmond]

Greetings Diana,

That sounds great and I look forward to participating in the new group.

Tarology is not on YouTube but you can stream it online for free in its entirety at the Snag Films Website.

Concerning Schuon, I joined his Tariqah and learned his teachings from the inside out. Suffice to say that my research and experiences have caused me to develop such a critical position that it is difficult for me to read much less follow anything that he has produced without my inner critic emerging. These days I mostly spend my time reading poetry and opening words.

Take Care,
Desmond

[Joan Marie]

Hi- I just did a little re-arranging.

The former TdM study group that was located under "Study Groups" near the top of the forum homepage, is now located in the TdM area.
There does, however, remain a link from the Study Groups area to this new location.

So the new section can be accessed from there or directly under the TdM heading in the Historical Decks section.

I re-arranged that study group and it is now divided into 3 section:
Majors, Court Cards and Pips.

There were a couple of stray threads that I moved into these headings.

I hope this new set-up works well for everyone. Please let me know if it is okay or if there are any adjustments or changes that might make it more useful for you. I'm happy to do it. Keep in mind we can always make changes down the road if need be.

I love all your enthusiasm for this beautiful deck.

Here is the new direct link: https://www.cultoftarotforum.com/viewforum.php?f=127

[Diana]

I love all your enthusiasm for this beautiful deck.

Here is the new direct link: https://www.cultoftarotforum.com/viewforum.php?f=127

Great job you did there Joan Marie, thank you so much. The Tarot of Marseilles has a very nice new home with lovely furniture and all.

Diana whispers very softly to herself : It's not a deck, it's a tradition.

[Desmond]

I added Taroloyeast, a practical guide to Tarology to the TdM books section.

[Desmond]

I added two important interviews to the OP.

[TheLoracular]

I hope no one minds if I re-open this particular thread after it was dormant for a year.

I just watched Tarology last night. I had thought for some reason I'd seen it back in 2013 when it first aired but I must have been thinking of something else. Enrique Enriquez and his work were entirely new to me before. While a couple of Marseilles decks had passed through my hands over the decades, I had never found them interesting until very recently when synchronicity caused that to change. The word Tarology was used in a slightly different context (Paul Marteau) and Google led me to Tarology the documentary which led me to Enrique Enriquez.

What I found most fascinating, first thing was the concept that the body language of each figure in the Marseilles deck is significant. Reading the pictures vs. delving into the archetypes/esotericism worked in by specific authors with specific decks wasn't new to me. Working with a deck like the Marseilles which is devoid of esotericism is going to be new and kind of exciting. Running into this thread here at CoT gave me some great modern resources to add to some recommended classical texts (aka Paul Marteau).

And so now, the only Marseilles deck I own (the Lo Scarbeao Anima Antiqua limited edition using Conver's 1760 plates) is out on my desk with the others I planned to use this year. I stare at it; it stares at me.

[testpattern]

His book on mentalism is one of the best things I read last year. Super clear and thoughtful, and beautifully written. I think that his poetic approach to cards just feels very honest. I use some traditional understanding of card meanings in my practice, but when I make a more poetic connection, it just feels more powerful and somehow more true. Yesterday my cards in the morning were IV Epées/As d'Epées/Le Jugement and the first thing that I saw was a sword piercing the sky and letting the angels in. It only obliquely has anything to do with the traditional understanding of those cards, but it has stuck with me more than any pull I've done recently.

[Charlie Brown]

And so now, the only Marseilles deck I own (the Lo Scarbeao Anima Antiqua limited edition using Conver's 1760 plates) is out on my desk with the others I planned to use this year. I stare at it; it stares at me.

The next issue of The Cartomancer is going to have an article on getting started with TdM decks.