The Devil’s Trill

Who could count how many musicians have sold their souls for unearthly talent?  The violinist Paganini was rumored to have made such a contract, and the blues guitarist Robert Johnson famously bragged that he had.  We’re by no means suggesting that either the British pop band Thompson Twins or the German soul/electro singer Billie Ray Martin sold their souls for their exquisite musical abilities.  (If we were indeed privy to such diabolical secrets, we’d be all the less likely to whisper them about!)  We merely call your attention to the unconventional personage who accompanied each band on stage.  Wearing a large hat that obscures his face, this archetypal figure in black looked nothing like the rest of the band.  Exuding aloofness and confidence, this maverick appeared to be some sort of "puppet master,” pulling the band’s strings even as he manipulated his own bass or steel guitar.  In the case of Thompson Twins, the mysterious figure even brazenly shape-shifts, his shadow growing larger and smaller as he performs behind a massive screen.  Of course, two different musicians played out the role of the hat-wearing figure in black; while their identities are known, it is the archetype they played out that is in question.

Figure One: the bassist in black (right) looks nothing like the zany members of Thompson Twins in this 1985 Liverpool performance.




Figure Two: The bassist looms over the band.  Here he is seen in enlarged shadow form.




Figure Three: Another view of the mysterious bassist looming over vocalist Tom Bailey.




Figure Four: Shapeshifting from behind a screen, the enigmatic bassist repeatedly changes size.




Figure Five: Behind Billie Ray Martin sits Mr. X, his face always hidden by his incongruous cowboy hat, in this 1995 performance on the "Later With Jools Holland” television program.




Figure Six: What archetype is this mysterious figure playing out, performing a pedal steel guitar in an electronic dance band?

An Insight into The Chariot, from Sufi Lore

(a guest blog for Tarot Dame)

There has been age-old speculation that the Tarot was handed down by wandering Middle Eastern mystics and alchemists. The speculation is well-founded, in that the imagery of Sufi lore is reflected in Tarot iconography. For thousands of years, Sufi masters have used dervish folktales as tools to unlock insights in would-be illuminates. Like the cards of the Tarot, esoteric dervish parables shine light upon hidden trends in the events of life, revealing the significance of seemingly unimportant details. The allegorical stories are meant to constructively affect the inner consciousness of the seeker, develop higher mental functions, raise awareness, and ultimately foster self realization.

One particular fragment of Sufi wisdom offers insights into the psychological meaning of The Chariot card. The fragment was recorded by scholar Idries Shah from the notebook of a Persian dervish. The fragment invites us to picture a charioteer, seated in a vehicle, propelled by a horse, and guided by himself. These three symbolic forces must work in tandem to attain their goal:

The fragment notes that any one of the forces may be able to fulfill a function, "but the combined function which we call the movement of the chariot cannot take place unless all three are connected in the Right Way. Only the ‘man,’ the real Self, knows the relationship of the three elements, and their need of one another. Among the Sufis, the Great Work is the knowledge of combining the three elements. Too many men, too unsuitable a horse, too light or too heavy a chariot—and the result will not take place.”

The reference to the "Right Way” will be familiar to anyone versed in Taoist philosophy, just as the "Great Work” echoes the symbolism of Alchemy. Naturally, we also find parallels to Sufi wisdom in the metaphysical literature of Gnostic Christianity, Hasidic mysticism, Vedantic Hinduism, and indeed all of the Mystery schools.

In Tarot for Your Self, Mary K. Greer explores John Blakeley’s attempt to trace a Sufi origin of the Tarot. Parables of the Spanish Muslim mystic Ibn Al-‘Arabī are compared to imagery of the Marseilles Tarot in Islamic Sainthood in the Fullness of Time: Ibn Al-‘Arabī’s Book of the Fabulous Gryphon by Gerald Elmore. Any collection of Sufi allegories may indirectly yield insights on the meanings of Tarot cards. The fragment about The Chariot is featured in Tales of the Dervishes by Idries Shah.