(urth) Editor in China requesting help with translation of certain sentences in BotNS

[Gwern Branwen]

On Mon, Dec 16, 2013 at 2:58 PM, Daniel Otto Jack Petersen
<danielottojackpetersen at gmail.com> wrote:
> THE PLAY
> confirm the outcome of a love affair by putting the elector of one suit atop
> the patroness of another
>
> If the word suit refer to the some card game, then what does "elector"and
> "patroness"mean?"

So to put this in further context:

> "Babies know it," Dorcas said. "They know it before they learn to speak, but by the time they're old enough to talk, they have forgotten most of it. At least, someone told me that once."
>
> "That's what I mean, something like that. The brown book is a collection of the myths of the past, and it has a section listing all the keys of the universe - all the things people have said were The Secret after they had talked to mystagogues on far worlds or studied the popul vuh of the magicians, or fasted in the trunks of holy trees. Thecla and I used to read them and talk about them, and one of them was that everything, whatever happens, has three meanings. The first is its practical meaning, what the book calls, 'the thing the plowman sees.' The cow has taken a mouthful of grass, and it is real grass, and a real cow - that meaning is as important and as true as either of the others. The second is the reflection of the world about it. Every object is in contact with all others, and thus the wise can learn of the others by observing the first. That might be called the soothsayers' meaning, because it is the one such people use when they prophesy a fortunate meeting from the tracks of serpents or confirm the outcome of a love affair by putting the elector of one suit atop the patroness of another."
>
> "And the third meaning?" Dorcas asked.
>
> "The third is the transsubstantial meaning. Since all objects have their ultimate Origin in the Pancreator, and all were set in motion by him, so all must express his will - which is the higher reality."

Now, when I hear 'soothsayers' in close proximity to 'one suit', my
instant expectation is that we are talking about Tarot and
fortunetelling. Foretelling a love affair is exactly the sort of thing
Tarot might be used for. And this would be far from the first
reference to Tarot by Wolfe: I'm sure we haven't forgotten _Sorceror's
House_ or "The Computer Iterates the Greater Trumps", and a search on
urth.net will turn up still others.

The suits or minor arcana of the Tarot include the knave, the knight,
the queen, and the king. 'elector' sounds like the German kings, and
'patronness' is a reasonable description of a queen.

-- 
gwern
http://www.gwern.net