Sunday Afternoon Public Programs
March 18, 2:00 PM  •  Presented by Michael S. Howard

Ancient Egypt was an object of fascination in Western Europe even before the first known record of the tarot in 1440, but it wasn’t until 1781 that anyone declared it to be originally Egyptian. The result was a flowering of the “Egyptian” tarot, an unveiling as it were of its secrets, assisted by images based on actual finds in Egypt. Mr. Howard will give visual examples and then turn to the tarot before 1781 for further allusions to Egypt, not because the tarot originated there, but to satisfy those fascinated by that civilization. Special attention will be given to the goddess Isis.

Michael S. Howard, Ph.D. graduated from Reed College and has Ph.D.s from Cornell University (philosophy) and Pacifica Graduate Institute (clinical psychology).  He has taught at the State University of New York at Albany and Portland State University. He is a long-time member of the Queen of Heaven Gnostic Church in Portland, where he gives occasional slide presentations on spiritual themes. He is affiliated with Trionfi, a tarot history organization based in Germany, and L’Associazione Culturale Le Tarot in Italy, for whom he helps with Italian to English translations. On a recent trip to Italy, he made a point of going to “Cupid and Psyche” fresco cycles, of which there were more than he realized.