Philippe Camoin is the heir of the last Master Cardmakers of Marseilles… His father, Denis Camoin Tourrasse, son of Marie-Thérèse Camoin and André Tourrasse, was the last CEO of the Camoin factory, which printed the Tarot de Marseille as well as many other decks. Marie-Thérèse Camoin was the daughter of Antoine Camoin, who also ran the Camoin factory as his ancestors had done before him.
The House of Camoin dates back to Nicolas Conver, who engraved in 1760 his Tarot de Marseille. Considered the most complete and the closest to perfection until the end of 1997, it has been the standard reference for the original Tarot to historians and connoisseurs of this Art.
In 1998, Philippe Camoin, in collaboration with Alexandre Jodorowsky, completed a long and complex work of restoration, while respecting the Tradition. Together they have created the Restored Tarot de Marseille. Through this achievement, he is spreading the wisdom and practice of his illustrious ancestors. This restored Tarot has begun the revival of a Tradition that exists beyond a simple deck of cards: a Tradition which has lain dormant for centuries.
Philippe Camoin’s desire is to reveal the richness of the Tarot de Marseille and its relevance for all human beings, whatever their culture, nationality, age or social class: the Tarot speaks to the entire world!
To support this claim, he has studied symbolism and different religions since the age of 14. Adding to this the study of Alchemy, Western Mysticism, Tibetan Buddhism, Parapsychology, the Powers of the Soul, Shamanism, Hinduism, Shivaism, Raja Yoga, Meditation, etc., he gained an understanding that allowed him to include the Tarot de Marseille in a cultural context much more vast and encompassing than any other approach.
When he was twenty-six, at the death of his grandfather, he realized that it was his responsibility by way of his ancestry to preserve and reveal the Tradition of the Tarot de Marseille. The spiritual heritage of a long line of Master Cardmakers and many years of research led him to undertake with Alexandre Jodorowsky the task of reviving this ancient Tradition.
Not only has Philippe Camoin pursued studies in Mathematics, Medicine, and Information Technology, but also he has studied a dozen foreign languages, enabling him to analyze and study human psychology on a global level across a wide range of cultures, ways and customs which he studies alongside the various tongues. He is also a musician (wind instruments) and actor; he attended intensive courses in method acting at the Actor’s Studio for one year, then learns advanced acting during four months of classes with John Strasberg.
"The Tarot makes it possible to connect with something that is buried within us, something we have forgotten. Actually, the Tarot will only confirm for us that which we already know. It is we who decide. The Tarot is a tonic for the memory.
The Tarot helps us to understand our lives: its stages, its trials, its meaning. Very often, the Tarot speaks spontaneously to those who ask it questions, and the Tarot reader is only there to remind them that this is possible, becoming a transparent interpreter. This encounter with the Tarot makes it possible to enter a space where we listen in a more acute manner than usual, because we are grappling with unanswered questions.
Suddenly we let ourselves enter the Sacred in our lives, and that is what is important. ’Knock, and the door will be opened for you.’ The Tarot is a Door which opens us to another universe, a universe where we can focus on ourselves. We become ’saints’ when we inquire of the Tarot because we remember the beings we truly are. We are something different from the narrow social identities we all too often reduce ourselves to. We are creators and creations, capable of great things through our free will.
The Tarot reader has a sacred responsibility. He can be the initiator of a moment of truth. He must fade into the background before the Presence. He needs to be seemingly impersonal, to almost not be there at all. Then the answer floats up to the surface of consciousness! Then Reality appears anew before the eyes of the querent, and dispels the illusion which had hidden his Soul."
Philippe Camoin
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