Zoom Workshop: Marianne Costa on the History of Mexican Loteria

Zoom Workshop: Marianne Costa on the History of Mexican Loteria

The ancient Marseilles Tarot, unlike other decks like Waite-Smith of Thoth Tarot, was originally designed as a “simple” deck of playing cards. It became an oracle under the influence of the occult culture in the 18th and 19th century, giving birth to the practice of soul-searching and fortune-telling as we know it now. The Surrealists, who loved games above anything else and knew the value of popular art form, favored the Marseille Tarot as a gateway toward the language of the Subconscious. Few people actually know that another popular game is the distant cousin of the Marseille Tarot : the Mexican bingo or Loteria actually stems from a common source, namely, the imagery of board and card games from the 17th century.

In this workshop we will discuss how popular wisdom and iconography are actually a precious source for whoever wants to study the Tarot and the Loteria as oracles. An oracle is literally “the mouth through which Divinity speaks.” What better than a game to express the playfulness of Creation? Stemming from the Medieval and Renaissance symbology and iconography, nourished by the spiritual and psychological influx of decades and decades of players and gamblers, the Tarot and Loteria both possess a unique quality of playful responsiveness that connect us to a vast pictorial vocabulary anchored in both esoteric Christianity and the pop culture of our distant ancestors.

Note: Zoom attendees are encouraged to have a “rooster” Loteria and a Marseille Tarot deck on hand for the workshop.

Marianne Costa, born 1966, holds a M.A. in comparative literature and is a renowned Tarot expert. Together with Alejandro Jodorowsky she authored the international best-sellers The Way of Tarot and Metagenealogy (Albin Michel for the original in French, Inner Traditions, 2006 and 2011 for the US edition). She has published several books translated in various languages, collaborated with institutions and museums as a performer and historian of symbols (most recently with the Guggenheim Collection in Venice). Her last essay on Tarot’s history, symbolism and iconography Le Tarot pas à pas (“Tarot step by step”) is available in French, Spanish and Italian. Her polyfacetic carreer includes being a professional actress and singer, writing and translating poetry, novels and essays, and teaching groups worldwide in Tarot, transgenerational psychology and what she calls "healing fictions", an original technique that combine and surpasses therapy, self-development and artistic expression.

She is the translator of Lawrence Ferlinghetti’s poetry in French. Her base is in Paris and she has been a passionate tango dancer and singer for the last decade.

Ticket Price: $15 (Zoom only event)

Please email events@prs.org or phone 323-663-2167 with any questions.

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