| When he
was home from college that summer of '72, Phil found
an old Visconti deck of tarot cards wrapped in a black silk
cloth in the trunk his father had inherited from Grandpa Nolano. When he unwrapped the cloth, he saw that it was not merely for protection: the northern night sky’s major constellations were embroidered on it, with lines between stars to aid the imagination. The cloth was the backdrop for the spell. According to Fortuna Tarocchi, the World card  must be dealt face-up on a constellation of the dealer’s choice with the Devil trump (also face-up) crossing the World. |
| from Fortuna Tarocchi: Eight other trump are dealt carefully around the devil/world to form a ten-card spread [illustration on p. 9 below]: |Sun|
|Moon| |Star| |Wheel| |World+Devil| |Chariot| |Magician| |Tower| |Strength| It must be night, the constellations must be visible. As the incantation is recited outdoors, the magus at exactly the right moment discards the devil, lifting it off the spread and burying it in the deck, expelling the beast from the chosen constellation. This is a powerful incantation, and if it is not done right, or if the performer is a meddling fool rather than a true magus, it may cause mischief. For this reason, while the exact moment of discard will be obvious, I withhold one important instruction. Only the clever will be able to discern it. For each incantation, Veronica Franco responded to Giordano Bruno’s text. When she created the spell for constellation Draco, his book was in front of her:  After placing the beast trump over the world card, she reads from Bruno's book: O great Jove, how are we to deal with this terrible dragon? Veronica responds with a smile: Jove is off somewhere frolicking with Ganymede. I, Juno, will take care of it. She deals as she recites: Sun, then Moon and Star in the sky; Fortune’s wheel turns the world and the chariot drags the beast across the dome; the magus comes, shoots fire through the tower with his great strength, releasing the beast in a fiery path. Bruno (annoyed and worried): Is there not grave danger that with his tail Draco may wreak havoc and knock some stars headlong into the sea? Franco: He will be no more harmful than other falling stars. But to prevent mischief when he has reached terra firma, I bury the beast trump back in the deck. . . . And the beast will have only a moment of bodied reality before being consumed in the fire that spawned it. |
