The secrets of die Dune Tarot are said to be revealed in the Azhar Book but its obscurities only pique the inquiring intellect and convey nothing to the uninitiated Some revisions of the Orange Catholic Bible confirm some of the symbols but these spurious editions have unreliable origins in older, abandoned faiths from the time before space travel Scholars date the Tarot from more than 20 000 years ago, and find in the Dune Tarot some symbols common to cul tures as diverse as the Bene Gessent and the Fremen, however, initiate!, in the Mysteries refuse to divulge any secrets of the Temple, and indeed refuse even to acknowledge that a Temple exists m physical and not just m ideal form A tarot deck has 78 cards the major arcana, 21 cards of power symbolizing the forces of greatest import in man, society and the universe, and the minor arcana, 56 cards divided into four suits of 14 cards each The number seven is the mystical seed from which the deck grows each minor suit has twice seven cards, the major arcana, or trumps, have thrice seven, the suits together total 77 The joker (or Fool) is unnumbered in the pack Some have argued that the four suits of DUNE TAROT 190 DUNE TAROT DUNE TAROT 191 DUNE TAROT DUNE TAROT 192 DUNE TAROT the minor arcana-Knives, Globes, Staves, and Basins-are of Fremen ongin because their designs suggest aspects of that culture The suits and their associations are Four is the number associated with the minor arcana, with its four fold significances m eluding the four seasons and what the Rever end Mother Gams Helen Mohiam called the "four pillars of the universe ' "the learning of the wise, the justice of the great, the prayers of the righteous, and the valor of the brave' The four suits are twice baked in sets of two Knives and Staves, both elongated forms, are black, symbolizing the wel come night, Globes and Basins, both circular forms, are red, symbolizing the sun and the day it brings The bridge between minor and major arcana and the central symbol of the trumps is the sign , recognized throughout the Im penum as proper to the letter M in many alphabets, the initial of melange, which is the true mem, or "water of life," and a hieroglyph for the S of the sandwonn in its transverse motion The sign unites the elongated and circular shapes of the minor arcana also, and in most designs of the Tarot deck appears on four cards of the major arcana.