The Fool

But no! Let’s start with the card that is not here, the one that, as a rule, is the last in the full deck: let’s start with the Ten of Cups. (Note: I reserve hereby my right to produce a full deck.)

A happy family of nested dolls within its world, arranged in order, in complete harmony affectionately look at the rainbow, a symbol of the unity of God and man, a bridge between the Earth and Heaven.

Many Russian fairy tales begin like this: “Once upon a time there lived an old man and an old woman. And they had a granddaughter Alyonushka and …” And that’s when the fun begins! So where is her brother Ivanushka?

The world became too small for him. And so “he escaped his grandfather, he escaped his grandmother.” Everything came in motion, everything began to whirl. He turned everything upside down (or maybe vice versa).

The vast variety of possibilities made him feel dizzy. He pursued his dream, his Blue Bird. And so the story has began. Dangers are waiting for him. And one can’t tell whether his friends are dissuading him from recklessness or pushing him to the abyss.

Step forward, and you’re in the abyss, you fool! Step back, and you have missed a chance, you fool! You’re always the Fool!

Upward only!

Upright: unstable balance, the beginning, events develop unpredictably.

Reversed: missed chance, “round and round it goes, ever returning on its course,” nothing happens.

I. The Magician

Magicians are an unusual estate in Russia, but Masters have always been appreciated. A Master is one who has perfectly mastered his craft, who is skillful with all the necessary tools. A blacksmith, a shoemaker, a tailor, a nuclear physicist, a magician: professionalism is the main thing in any profession.

Upright: all is in your hands.

Reversed: come on, at least you have roses!

II. The High Priestess

There is such a profession –to learn, teach, serve, and protect. You don’t have to swing a hammer, but to strain your brains, read books and search archives.

Then there always remains the Mystery, something hidden from everyone. And this Mystery is also a tool, as it can be operated on: hidden, revealed, given out in portions. You can create the Mystery from nothing, or you can debunk it. It’s information flows, advertising and propaganda –in general, everything that stands between “yes” and “no”, between “true” and “false”, everything that can be “interpreted” in one way or another, all speculations and rumors …

Upright: something is wrong here!

Reversed: something is wrong here either!

III. The Empress

Empress “Matryona the Great,” Mother Damp Earth, our Lady of forests, fields and rivers, Lady of the harvest.

Matryoshka is not only a recognizable form. Matryoshka is always an enigma. What does she hold within herself? When you open the High Priestess, you can see hidden Knowledge…or nothing, emptiness. However, the Empress carries within herself a new Life, a new matryoshka, the future. Whether it is the Emperor or the Fool, it is not yet known.

Upright: birth, growth, nurturing.

Reversed: chores, worries, difficulties.

IV. The Emperor

The Emperor is god, king and warlord.

Throne, crown, scepter, power, golden fleece –everything has been conquered and everything, possible and impossible, is in your hands. There is nothing above, even eagles fly below you.

So here you are sitting alone on your throne of iron. And the skin of the golden ram is no longer able to warm your legs twisted by gout. And there are only goats and rams around…

But somewhere a young lamb has just climbed its first peak.

Upright: authority, leadership, practicality, realistic understanding of things.

Reversed: despotism, megalomania, loss of reality.

V. The Hierophant

Well, it’s all about us! We love to teach each other and give advice to everyone and on any topic. Advices and decrees are circulating all over the matryoshka hierarchy: up and down, in and out, to and fro…

Ideally, one who teaches has the divine Right to it and is “sowing reasonable, kind, eternal.” But heresies and false teachings are spread in the same way. Most importantly, any teaching is based on Faith.

Upright: believe.

Reversed: believe not.

VI. The Lovers

What do they need to “live happily ever after?” How to choose, how to find one’s soul mate? This question will be answered by matryoshka.

Two parts, no matter how different they may be, can become one.

“How” is another question. Some check the male/female connector over and over again, some study the pedigrees, some rely on higher powers, and some just believe in Love.

Upright and reversed: you’re going to live with him/her, so it’s up to you to decide.

VII. The Chariot

“Troika racing, troika galloping.” Well, sphinxes are not found in Russia, neither white nor black… On the other hand, driving a tachanka and shooting a machine gun is what we love most! It is so convincing and so invincible. Add rattling a golden armor and waving banners, and you are the Number One guy of the entire Empire!

In traditional Tarot decks, there are always two driving forces (sphinxes, horses, etc.), but the Russian deck is different because we are different. And there is always a “smart guy” who will go neither to the right nor to the left, but “in his own way.”

That is why a troika is depicted here.

“Troika” means “three,” and three is a mystical number in Russia…

Upright: triumph.

Reversed: wrong way –apparently the notorious “third way.”

VIII. Strength

Can you defeat the beast in yourself? Which prevails in you – the spiritual or the material? This is what this card is all about. 

“Overcome one power with another power.” Well, now we have to abandon the Tarot traditions in favor of the folk tradition again. George the Victorious is not only one of the most revered saints in our country, but also part of the coats of arms of Moscow and Russia. The serpent fighter is usually depicted with a spear, sometimes with a sword, but here, paying nevertheless tribute to the Tarot tradition, he tears the dragon’s mouth with his bare hands. And, one has to admit, in Russia there is no serpent worse than the Green Serpent (alcohol), and in the absence of drinking glasses, this serpent can be poured in parts of a matryoshka.

By the way, using one peculiarity of the matryoshka, it’s quite simple to defeat the dragon. You can collapse his neck by turning the upper part of the matryoshka relative to the bottom part. Such is the “miracle of George about the serpent.”

The Marxist doctrine of the base and superstructure can also be illustrated by any matryoshka, and this card in particular.

Upright: will, fearlessness, predominance of human over animal.

Reversed: primitive instincts, evil does not sleep (the dragon has managed to lay eggs).

IX. The Hermit

Sometimes you need to stop and think. The main thing is not to get stuck in this position, not to get covered with moss and cobwebs.

Upright: self-isolation, summation and planning.

Reversed: forced isolation, fear of life.

X. Wheel of Fortune

Whatever you may do or think, this Wheel will spin on. That’s your fortune: will it crush you or exalt you.

Upright: all is under the will of chance.

Reversed: hope in chance, but don’t make mistakes.

XI. Justice 

It seems like everything is classic in this Arcanum: the blindfolded eyes, the scales, the sword, the red mantle, the columns behind, and the curtain… but something is scary.

In fairness, we can say that everyone has their own justice, and the Highest Justice is not known to us. Therefore, one has to rely on laws written by people, and this is quite another thing.

Upright: just.

Reversed: unjust.

XII. The Hanged Man

How could one possibly hang a nesting doll? No legs, no neck: a pretty good aerodynamic shape!

To the rescue come Sir Arthur Edward Waite mentioning Noah’s Ark in his interpretation of this Arcanum (see Llewellyn’s Complete Book of the Rider-Waite-Smith Tarot by Sasha Graham) and Alexander Pushkin in The Tale of Tsar Saltan. Here Matryoshka does not act as a character, but as a means of holding the character in an unnatural position, in the very cask where Pushkin’s queen and her son were “put, sealed fast, tarred well” and then “cast in the sea.”

There is a victim, an innocent victim of those papers written by people.

However there is a way out –asking for grace or growing out of the problem:

Up the son stood on his toes,

Stretched himself, and said: “Here goes!” –

Thrust his head against the lid,

Burst it out –and forth he slid.

Upright: powerlessness, sacrifice, defamation.

Reversed: there is always a way out.

XIII

Well, if there is no way out, here comes “transformation.” No matter how you call or don’t call her, a lady with a scythe will appear. Or maybe she just protects the entrance from the curious and the unwanted? Who issues the passes then?

Upright: everything ends, but every end is a new beginning.

Reversed: you can’t start up something new without saying goodbye to the old.

XIV. Temperance

Such a shy person, she’s pouring from one bucket into another and looking at her reflection, apparently saying, “Mirror, mirror on the wall, who’s the fairest of them all?”

Oh, just give this girl free rein, just let her unfold her wings, and there’ll be hell to pay. Will she be driven to the Devil himself!

Upright: humility, moderation in everything, abstinence.

 Reversed: unbridledness.

XV. The Devil

Here they are, sinners, flocking to him in droves to the juicy crunch of apples.

Upright: vice, sin, greed, sexuality.

Reversed: sinners are unlikely to sprinkle back, but there will be a chance of atonement.

XVI. The Tower

Matryoshka is made of wood, just like many houses, mansions and towers in Russia from time immemorial. And there never has been a disaster worse than the fire. The “Red Rooster” takes everything: property movable and immovable, health, and life itself. Just let it out, and it will burn the villages, cinder the towns, incinerate the cities, char the forests, destroy the fields, kill all life.

Upright: destruction, disaster, elements, blow of fate.

Reversed: the need to struggle “by the whole world.”

XVII. The Star

“Hope in God, but don’t make mistakes!”

Hope. Yes, you can’t live without it. Yes, you can expect that during the fire it will rain and the flame extinguishes, or you can jump out of the house naked with buckets of water in your hands and extinguish it  –at least you could try. And that will be your “lucky star.”

Upright: hope for the intervention of higher forces.

Reversed: frustration.

XVIII. The Moon

The Moon is a card of illusions, and matryoshka here is also an illusion, phantom, fantasy, metamorphoses of sleep …

 Upright: subconscious, secrets of the soul.

Reversed: fears, apprehensions, forebodings.

XIX. The Sun

Let there be light! Let there be cloudless and carefree happiness, like when the trees were larger, the grass greener, and the Sun brighter. Yes, yes, exactly then!

Upright: everything will be fine!

Reversed: there are spots on the Sun, too, and you may get burned.

XX. Judgment

Not just a judgment, but Judgment. And this is where we come to understand that the “matryoshka” that we’ve been cherishing for our whole life and coloring brightly so that it could stand out and look the most beautiful and the coolest of them all is only a mask, a shell, a container, a coffin at last –for the Man, for the Soul. All the husks, all the show off, all the gadgets are discarded: Judgement is upon us.

Upright: liberation, regeneration.

Reversed: unwillingness to change.

XXI. The World

The whole world is structured like a nested doll, and any nested doll is like a world.

Everything is in its place: the celestial spheres are located where they are designed to be. In the center of the World is the City of Gold, and a girl is dancing at the gate. And the World stands on three elephants, and those on a turtle. And the Archangels protect that World.

Upright: the goal achieved.

Reversed: the goal not achieved; go for the next round, Fool.