"The Game of Saturn", the Venice-Phoenicia connection, and J. L. Borges

Hermolaus

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Hello everyone, this is my first contribution to this forum after having created an account years ago and having had lurked for even longer than I had the account.

There is a remarkable, but seemingly little-known book called "The Game of Saturn", by Peter Mark Adams, which gives a profound analysis of the Sola-Busca tarocchi, one of the oldest preserved Tarot decks, dating from the 15th century. The content of the book is relevant to various theories and lines of research discussed on this forum. The book contains some fascinating theses. It connects the Venetian patriciate, whose members ordered the production of the deck from the artisans of Ferrara, to a supposed secret cult of Baal Ammon, the Afro-Phoenician deity.

sola buscha.jpg
Some cards from the Sola-Buscha tarot

This is especially interesting in the context of chronological revisionism and the Venice-Phoenicia connection postulated by some. If the history is really shorter by some 700-800 years, as the late Dr. Gunnar Heinsohn suggested, the whole resettling of the Phoenicians to Venice becomes more plausible. And Adams' book offers the theory that the Venetian elite clandestinly worshipped Baal, the major deity of Phoenicia and performed malefic magic connected with Baal and Saturn.

I know some people propose that the British Empire was the continuation of the Venetian empire, it all having originated in Phoenicia. The book gives us a possible corroboration of the Venetian origin of the British demonic cults and suggests taht the Venetian cult itself originates from Phoenicia indeed. The whole Miles Mathis character looks hardly credible to me, but there may be something to his "Phoenician navy" theory in light of this.

There's another very interesting thread running through the book. Many of the cards of the Sola-Buscha tarot deck contain images of characters from the supposed Roman antiquity. The book describes some peculiarities of these depictions, and it all seems to offer clues (this is already my interpretation) that at least parts of the Roman ancient history that came down to us may have originated as coded symbolic tales for scholars and elites possesing the esoteric "master key" to the true meaning of the "deeds of ancient heroes", only later taken, or deliberately presented to the masses, as literal history.

It seems that if you traverse the world of the widely understood culture, from time to time you can discover an author who seems to be "in the know" about these things. My favourite writer, Jorge Luis Borges, is one of such authors. Of course, his aura of mystery and hinting at secret knowledge can be taken to be a literary convention. But on the other hand, the "literary convention" may be the easiest device to hide things in plain sight. I recommend to those interested in this topic to look at Borges' short stories, in particular "Tlön, Uqbar, Orbis Tertius", "The Sect of the Phoenix", "The Sect of the Thirty", "Three Version of Judas", "The Rose of Paracelsus" and "Hakim, the Masked Dyer of Merv". It seems that between the lines he is pointing to a gnostic (Luciferian?) sect, that he himself may have been a part of and seems to even suggest that their main "ritual" is sodomy; that it preaches to its members either total licentioussness or abstinence. Borges may have been one of the abstinent sectarians, according to some researchers he may have even never had sex. He certainly wasn't married until old age and never had children.

What's interesting, although we can identify the gnostic (and Luciferian?; Saturnian? - we can connect it to Adams' book somewhat; he is writing about the "Archontic gnostics", those who knew about the Archon control, but instead of defying Archons, chose to work with them for mundane gains; that's why I'm mentioning this topic in the same post) currents in the way Borges describes the sect, he also suggest that the sect itself doesn't have a fixed name and its members across the world do not necessarily keep close contact, or even recognition of one another. That would explain why, when we try to pinpoint Bohemian Grove, or Freemasonry, or Skull&Bones, or Jesuits, or Satanists, or elite sectarian Jews, (not going into the "non-human" theories here) as the main "directors from the shadows", we always seem to miss the mark, because the true "ruling brotherhood" may encompass or infiltrate all of the above and go without a name and tight organization, relying on an ancient secretive hereditary tradition instead, safeguarding itself against ever being revealed, tracked down and destroyed. It's a big club and you ain't in it, but this time you can't even ever pinpoint what exactly is the club.

I hope for an interesting discussion, I've opened this thread to recommend the book and possibly get input from members who may have valuable reflections on these topics.

 
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Sounds like an interesting book. I have been looking for a pdf or archive of it to no avail.
 
Hello everyone, this is my first contribution to this forum after having created an account years ago and having had lurked for even longer than I had the account.

There is a remarkable, but seemingly little-known book called "The Game of Saturn", by Peter Mark Adams, which gives a profound analysis of the Sola-Busca tarocchi, one of the oldest preserved Tarot decks, dating from the 15th century. The content of the book is relevant to various theories and lines of research discussed on this forum. The book contains some fascinating theses. It connects the Venetian patriciate, whose members ordered the production of the deck from the artisans of Ferrara, to a supposed secret cult of Baal Ammon, the Afro-Phoenician deity.

Some cards from the Sola-Buscha tarot

This is especially interesting in the context of chronological revisionism and the Venice-Phoenicia connection postulated by some. If the history is really shorter by some 700-800 years, as the late Dr. Gunnar Heinsohn suggested, the whole resettling of the Phoenicians to Venice becomes more plausible. And Adams' book offers the theory that the Venetian elite clandestinly worshipped Baal, the major deity of Phoenicia and performed malefic magic connected with Baal and Saturn.

I know some people propose that the British Empire was the continuation of the Venetian empire, it all having originated in Phoenicia. The book gives us a possible corroboration of the Venetian origin of the British demonic cults and suggests taht the Venetian cult itself originates from Phoenicia indeed. The whole Miles Mathis character looks hardly credible to me, but there may be something to his "Phoenician navy" theory in light of this.

There's another very interesting thread running through the book. Many of the cards of the Sola-Buscha tarot deck contain images of characters from the supposed Roman antiquity. The book describes some peculiarities of these depictions, and it all seems to offer clues (this is already my interpretation) that at least parts of the Roman ancient history that came down to us may have originated as coded symbolic tales for scholars and elites possesing the esoteric "master key" to the true meaning of the "deeds of ancient heroes", only later taken, or deliberately presented to the masses, as literal history.

It seems that if you traverse the world of the widely understood culture, from time to time you can discover an author who seems to be "in the know" about these things. My favourite writer, Jorge Luis Borges, is one of such authors. Of course, his aura of mystery and hinting at secret knowledge can be taken to be a literary convention. But on the other hand, the "literary convention" may be the easiest device to hide things in plain sight. I recommend to those interested in this topic to look at Borges' short stories, in particular "Tlön, Uqbar, Orbis Tertius", "The Sect of the Phoenix", "The Sect of the Thirty", "Three Version of Judas", "The Rose of Paracelsus" and "Hakim, the Masked Dyer of Merv". It seems that between the lines he is pointing to a gnostic (Luciferian?) sect, that he himself may have been a part of and seems to even suggest that their main "ritual" is sodomy; that it preaches to its members either total licentioussness or abstinence. Borges may have been one of the abstinent sectarians, according to some researchers he may have even never had sex. He certainly wasn't married until old age and never had children.

What's interesting, although we can identify the gnostic (and Luciferian?; Saturnian? - we can connect it to Adams' book somewhat; he is writing about the "Archontic gnostics", those who knew about the Archon control, but instead of defying Archons, chose to work with them for mundane gains; that's why I'm mentioning this topic in the same post) currents in the way Borges describes the sect, he also suggest that the sect itself doesn't have a fixed name and its members across the world do not necessarily keep close contact, or even recognition of one another. That would explain why, when we try to pinpoint Bohemian Grove, or Freemasonry, or Skull&Bones, or Jesuits, or Satanists, or elite sectarian Jews, (not going into the "non-human" theories here) as the main "directors from the shadows", we always seem to miss the mark, because the true "ruling brotherhood" may encompass or infiltrate all of the above and go without a name and tight organization, relying on an ancient secretive hereditary tradition instead, safeguarding itself against ever being revealed, tracked down and destroyed. It's a big club and you ain't in it, but this time you can't even ever pinpoint what exactly is the club.

I hope for an interesting discussion, I've opened this thread to recommend the book and possibly get input from members who may have valuable reflections on these topics.

 
Thank you Hermolaus!
I made it a point to invest in the GAME OF SATURN in the paperback yet still expensive version when it was first published. I hope it's some consolation that i came to the same (or very similar) thesis as yourself.
- Coyotl
 
Thank you Hermolaus!
I made it a point to invest in the GAME OF SATURN in the paperback yet still expensive version when it was first published. I hope it's some consolation that i came to the same (or very similar) thesis as yourself.
- Coyotl
Good to hear that.
 
I'll try to get to some more detailed communications when I have the stamina but I want to thank you for the quote and say that he's correct about language games. I'm sure as you know whether from your previous studies or lurking here that everything has been mistranslated or our languages have outright had words totally removed (such as emotions without names) or the language twisted to damn us. A good example on the old thread was the example from this thread.

"In Chinese, the word 'ren' means 'person'. If you want to keep something 'fresh' for a long time, you 'chill' it. In this context, 'children' = 'chilled-ren'. They remain 'on ice' until they get a job - which is also called an 'office' - 'off ice'. ("Let's go down and confuse their language")"

Yes, it seems that for a long time people were aware in some way that the "stars" dictated a lot of how things go down here. But I am glad to see others, even before and after me realize it's all bullshit trying very hard to influence you to the point of convincing you you have no will. It seems just as likely to me that as complex as the matrices we find ourselves in that there's a simpler way out, but so obscure and simple you'd never think of it. Walking through the wall instead of navigating the maze, if you will.
Yes, I read that and a lot more. I'm a nerdy, bookish guy. Apart from my profession, I've been digging for knowledge (gnosis, if you will) all over the Internet and books (some more mainstream, some totally obscure) for years, since I was a teenager. With age, my judgment and differentiation skills improve. I have several books that I'm going through simultaneously right now. The quest continues. I believe, maybe somewhat naively, that one day I will find the metaphorical Holy Grail.
 
Yes, I read that and a lot more. I'm a nerdy, bookish guy. Apart from my profession, I've been digging for knowledge (gnosis, if you will) all over the Internet and books (some more mainstream, some totally obscure) for years, since I was a teenager. With age, my judgment and differentiation skills improve. I have several books that I'm going through simultaneously right now. The quest continues. I believe, maybe somewhat naively, that one day I will find the metaphorical Holy Grail.
I got a little boggled from my post being moved and deleted it thinking I had originally posted it here instead of your thread lol, sorry, but hopefully you remember all I said because I don't. Been up a while. In short, yes, I went down the same path as you and have been diverted from a ton of things happening but you're on the right path as far as roughly triangulating what happened.
Reiterating what I said leaving out the parts relevant to my thread and the Phoenicians and Venetians we mentioned, you are on the money with the archonic Gnostic angle. I've suspected that for a while and indeed it's pointless to try to identify and categorize each group, mystery religion and controller faction. They all funnel down the chasm of Saturn and Zodiac worship. I'd be interested to hear anything you find out. Knowledge on this subject is both stretched very thin but more "popular" in an entry level kind of diffused way now that some things are allowed to be talked about like Gnosticism and even alternative history. A lot of misconceptions.

"The metaphorical Holy Grail"

Yeah, the funny thing about these things is there's seemingly always a physical relic and a mental alchemy version like the Philosopher's Stone, thought to be ruby red gold suspension or monoatomic gold (most likely the latter which cannot be recreated today).
 
A book that comes to mind here; Ioan Petru Coulianu, Eros and Magic in the Renaissance
He was a great admirer of Borges and a protege of Micea Eliade, a fellow Romanian.
Ted Anton wrote a fascinating biography of his life called Eros, Magic, and the Death of
Professor Coulianu.
 
Thanks for uploading this, I haven't heard of it before and it's intriguing.
I've just finished the preface and introduction and am halfway through the first chapter. This guy seems like a quality researcher with a curious and sharp mind and a very good writer.

I hope for an interesting discussion

What would you say if I took it in a completely unexpected direction?

The thing is, I downloaded this book the same night I downloaded the one below which I randomly came across. I was examining some of the images in the first chapter of the Saturn book earlier today,and then this evening I was flicking through the one below.
My Spidey senses became activated.
Is it possible that the images in the second book are related?

I am on mobile so it is difficult for me to present them and to explain further, but take a look, and tell me what you think.

The thing that got me wondering was where the author of the second book made note that the figure was walking pushing off with it's left foot and stepping forward with it's right.
That was something that had struck me about the tarot images earlier.
Curious similarities in two curious books about Saturn influences.
 

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Thanks for recommending this book. I'm about a quarter of the way through it and it's excellent so far. The author is a good writer and does a great job slowly building his case. I still haven't gotten to the big reveal but I can see it taking shape.

There is a lot of indirect evidence here for the short chronology hypothesis. It's unfortunate that so many good researchers like the author of this book are not familiar with the New Chronology, because I'm sure it would unlock all kinds of insights that would be impossible otherwise. For example, Adams is surprised that there is no Christian imagery in the deck. He takes that as evidence that the artist was at odds with Christianity and the deck was hidden from view. It makes more sense to me, however, to see this as evidence that Christianity had simply not been invented yet.

Adams is surprised that the cards which refer to Alexander the Great make exclusive reference to his "mythical" exploits (harnessing his chariot to griffins, etc.) rather than his historical achievements. Again, I think the more logical explanation is that Alexander had not yet been rewritten as a historical character. "Alexandros" just means "defender/protector of man" in Greek. Like his supposed teacher Aristotle, whose name just means "Beautiful Cause", he was probably never anything but a legendary hero whose name was later recycled into a "historical figure"

More generally, Adams cannot explain how and why so many familiar names from Roman, Greek, and Jewish antiquity are anachronistically jumbled up with Renaissance figures in a way that is completely unfamiliar to us. In addition, there are many names which have completely disappeared from the version of history we know today. I suspect this is because the "official" history of classical antiquity had not yet been set in stone in 1491 (perhaps actually 1591) and these names meant something very different at that time.

Adams is also surprised that the esoteric religion to which the cards clearly refer "went into hiding" for the thousand years that separate the end of classical antiquity from the late Renaissance period during which the cards were produced. Again, that mystery disappears within the New Chronology paradigm.

Adams, like so many other researchers who remain within mainstream chronology, is forced to jump through all kinds of unnecessary hoops and expend a lot of effort to explain anachronisms and inconsistencies that actually make perfect sense when you reorder history.

Looking forward to finishing the book.
 
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