Tarot Symbols Conversations with the Devil

In the early 20th century in Russia, before World War I, there was a growing fascination with mysticism among the educated population. This was partly explained by the fact that in the second half of the 19th century, the vast literature on occultism and «hypnotism» published in the West was hardly penetrating the domestic book market due to church censorship. Later, such restrictions were lifted. Spiritualist seances became fashionable. There was no shortage of various gurus interpreting «secret knowledge», theosophy, magic, extrasensory perception, and various Eastern systems of self-improvement and knowledge. Among them were many outright charlatans, but there were also serious researchers trying to approach these subjects from a scientific angle. For example, the outstanding domestic chemist A. M. Butlerov devoted a considerable amount of time to the study of mediums and their practices. Among the serious researchers of the phenomenon of occultism was also the renowned philosopher, writer, journalist, and traveler Peter Demyanovich Uspensky (1878–1947).

Unlike many mediums, he had a higher education and received solid mathematical training. Other merits of Uspensky included a wide worldview and professional command of language. Beginning in 1907, he started collaborating with the Moscow newspaper «Morning»; his articles were widely read. Uspensky approached the study of occult knowledge (from Latin occultus — «hidden», «secret») in the most conscientious manner, making a trip to India in 1908, where he interacted with Indian yogis. As a result, by 1914 Uspensky had prepared the manuscript «A New Model of the Universe». Essentially, it was a kind of encyclopedia of the occult ideas of that time. In it, summarizing his research, Uspensky noted that the knowledge gained through esoteric experience and various revelations is extremely subjective and therefore fits poorly into a coherent system. Nevertheless, Uspensky's lectures on esotericism were consistently successful. In them, he talked about, among other things, divination using Tarot cards. The literature dedicated to him in Russian was scarce, and the first part of this publication — «Tarot Symbols. The Philosophy of Occultism in Drawings and Numbers» — remains interesting even today. In this study, Uspensky not only discusses the history of the emergence of Tarot cards and methods of their use, but also provides his original interpretation of each symbol. The second part of the book includes two works by Peter Demyanovich that allow for an assessment of his talent as a fiction writer.