1th May - EuroMayDay 007
(I) The Intern, (II) La High Priestress, (III) The Operator, (IV) The Manager , (V) The Saint , (VI) The Contortionist , (VII) The Chariot , (VIII) The Justice , (IX) The Wretched , (X) The Machine , (XI) The Conspiracy , The Fool , (XII) The Hanged Man , (XIII) The Conflict , (XIV) The Cleaner, (XV) The Bank , (XVI) The Towers , (XVII) The Chain , (XVIII) The Border , (XIX) The Estate , (XX) The Delegate , (XXI) The Income
stagista

I The Intern

He set his foot on the beginning of the path. He is the one of the he-doesn't-work-here-he's-just-an-intern. Formation and harsh exploitation merge in the same hour for the Intern. He is known for being the weakest and the one under the most uncertain condition, as well as for his optimism: unpaid jobs, petty cash, and three euros an hour of untaxable wages do not frighten him. The Manager asks him to wash his car during his coffee break, and his Estate is his parents. The Intern stands for the skill to learn the secrets of the companies and of his bosses while he is being abused for free. If matched with the Justice (very rarely!) this implies an unexpected lucky shot. If opening the game, the Intern stands for availability, innocence and bad luck. If closing the game, it stands for bad luck and nothing more.
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papessa

II The High Priestress

The she pope is pregnant with hopes and good advice. She stands for the right to love, to live your life and your sexuality. She forebears the achievement of desires and approaching changes. She foretells the hindrances of the Manager in your private life and of the Vatican in your choice of underwear. When you cannot stand the slings and arrows of the Bank and of the Estate, when you look in the distance at the Towers crumbling, that's when the High Priestress comes to rescue you: the condom is her one hands stands for awareness and sexual responsibility, while the vibrator in the other one marks the defeat of guilt and catholic heritage. If matched by the Saint, she brings a wished-for child and pregnancy rights. When matched with the Wretched, she brings the danger of being laid off for your pregnancy.
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telefonista

III The Operator

The call center Operator dodges a thousands voices and difficulties. Her nature is fleeting and immaterial. Her destiny is forever uncertain. She is the symbol of precarity, and her skill in holding many threads at once wins her the sympathy of precarious workers and the spite of those looking for her to solve their problem with their DSL. She stands for help when matched with tarot symbolizing collective effort, as the Conspiracy or the Chariot: joining her stregth to the matching card means communication, relationship, network. If inbound (opening the game) she bring as a gift a full-time job or the solution to a problem. If outbound (closing the game) she marks an open path, to be treaded upon together with other people.
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imprenditore

IV The Manager

He decides destinies: both his own and others'. He manages, dealing with our lives and with his own doom. The Manager is a symbol of power and strength, of determination and security, sometimes at the expense of those around him. If drawn upside down he warns against ambition. If following the Cleaner or the Wretched in the game, he stands for oppression and bad luck. If matched with the Contortionist, he changes in a positive Tarot: he helps her getting a job on her own and to understand the subtleties of her thousands contracts. When faced by the Conflict or by the Conspiracy all hell breaks loose: these tarots unfolds his weaknesses and counter his negative aspects, unless the Delegate comes to his side. If the Manager opens the game he stands for exploitation. If he closes the Game, he stands for betting on one's own skill and intuition.
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santo

V The Saint

He is the subversive intuition, the revolt, the revenge, the achievement of one's goals, to the detriment of those who wanted to hold him or her in chains. The Saint stands for enlightenment and salvation. It shows the path to what will bring success and magnifies one's own imagination and possibilities. The Saint is the opposite of loneliness, he is the blissful relationship with other precarious workers. The Saint can represent the rejoining of brothers and sisters, the smashing of the shackles of loneliness imposed on all the precarious workers by employers and institutions. He brings new words and new worlds to be lived. He forebears new sights and new assistance. It does not matter where he stands in the game, since his good influence spreads to the other Tarot as light over the fields: all negative auspices are quieted by his presence, while the positive meaning of any tarot matching him is increased and beatified.
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contorsionista

VI The Contortionist

She is the emblem to precarity: she shifts and changes shape, she bends and adapts. The Contortionist swifts through the folds of jobs and through the maze of life, looking for stability and constantly struggling for the next meal. She is deeply connected to the tarot coming before and after her in the game: the Bank and the Delegate help her into a mark of freedom from the shackles of long-term jobs; the Conflict and the Hanged Man show her the doom hidden in her liberty. She is the only one to choose though, sometimes for the worst, sometimes for the best, lost in the thousands of jobs and contracts her life is bound to. When matching the Income, the Contortionist disbelieves it and resigns herself, smelling the unforetold problems.
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carro

VII The Chariot

The Mayday Chariot is the ability to proceed forward in one's life. It is the impending confrontation of dreams and reality. It stand for joy and success, even if it can be achieved only through cooperation with others (unless the PA explodes or the beer run out). It can forebear the final conquest of one's independence from destiny. The Chariot shifts meaning according to the tarot it accompanies in the game: next to the Fool it stands for the desire to party with no other aim, as to flee reality and problems. If it opens the game, the Chariot stands for approaching changes. If it closes the game, the Chariot stand for victory.
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giustizia

VIII The Justice

Justice is a two-edged sword: she gives back what she took the day before. She always has two scales to weight the same coin, and precarious workers are usually on the wrong one. She gives you the chance to defend your rights and sometimes she seems the only hope to guarantee what you won from the Machine. Sometimes she tries to take everything back and when she crosses ways with the Conflict she does not hesitate to attack it. Some other times, though, she catches the Delegate and all hell breaks loose. Some say that chance is blind, but others reply that Justice is half-blind and one can never know with what eye she is looking at us.
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reietto

IX The Wretched

He is the Expulsion, the Exclusion, the Dismissal. After the blackmailing, after the vexation, after the crisis everything comes to an end. But everything must begin again. When one loses a job, sometimes it's for the best: it could lead to unexpected changes in your life for the better. The Wretched is often lead to its lowly life but the Machine and even Justice cannot help him. Help comes through the High Priestress with her energy and the Operator who connects him to the Conspiracy: the brotherhood of precarious workers and migrants heats up his heart, brings him solidarity and makes him braver. Nevertheless when the Wretched meets the Bank, he shits himself, there is not Tarot who can help him. If the Wretched opens the game and matches the Chain, he leads to renewal, to a new beginning and a new possibility. If the Wretched closes the game he symbolizes bad luck, dismissal, loneliness.
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macchina

X The Machine

The Machine is utopia, the perfect world, the Final Solution. The Machine is terror, it's what eats men and their humanity. If it is drawn straight it stands for the system, for the technology keeping you in chains, for the power caging and torturing you. If it is drawn upside down it stands for the fertile ground, for the technology which sows and works the fields, for the fury overturning the system making it desire and risk, body sweating, living and overcoming its own limits. The hands leading the Machine are moved by the birds of economy and drives loves and affections, fun and relationship, and our whole lives. When it matches the High Priestress, its effect on bodies are lessened. If it is matched with the Chariot it can be used to strengthen the precarious workers and their dreams. If it matches the Intern, draw a new card from the deck and forget about the first Tarot.
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cospirazione

XI The Conspiracy

A thousand mouths breathing together, a thousand voices talking to each other, a thousand ears listening to another's tale: the Conspiracy stands for relationships, for the possibility of collective growth, for the chances built by cooperation. The Conspiracy does not mean plotting in itself, but symbolizes the power of our life compared to the lives of others, the search and the achievement of a common situation we live in and we can use at our own advantage. If it is drawn upside down from the deck the Conspiracy becomes a bad omen: it stands for impatience, endless mediation, abuse of someone with a special role in the plot. If it opens the game, the Conspiracy stands for a future full of possibilities and for the need to talk to one's brothers and sisters.
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matto

0 The Fool

The Fool has no number since it represents the zero, the chaos from which all stems and into which all returns. The Fool can become anything he wants, and at the same time cannot be anything at all: it is the beginning and the end, the escape and the return, the loss and the discovery. The Fool stands for creativity and originality, he does not care for money and follows only his dreams, sometimes bringing him far from reality, especially if he uses too many drugs. The Fool can be the genial inspiration or that sudden turn of the head leading one to the abyss. Among the tarots the Fool is the one leading to the most unpredictable result. When opening the game, it means that everything is possible, for the best or for the worst. When closing the game the path symbolized by the other tarot has to be read again from the beginning.
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appeso

XII The Hanged Man

He is the outsourced, the one who waits for the renewal of his contract or payment of a job he did six months ago. He is the most unstable of the precarious workers and his destiny is manipulated by something far high above him. The Hanged Man faces a challenge for life: he can accept his doom and forsake his own self-esteem, or he can revolt. If he is drawn next to the Intern or to the Bank, his feeling of disempowerment grows. If he is matched by the Conspiracy or the Operator, they offer hope, or at least a friendly ear to listen to his complaints. If he opens the game the Hanged Man stands for a difficult but open situation. If he closes the game he marks one's effort and sacrifices as pointless and vain.
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conflitto

XIII The Conflict

The struggle between what could be and what could not be reaches a crossroad. The Conflict is influenced by the tarot it matches. If it is drawn normally from the deck the Conflict stands for the struggle between opposing forces which could bring about an improvement, for collective action imposing a change. If it is drawn upside down from the deck it stands for the blinding strength of identities, for the horror of war, for destruction and thoughtless action leading to failure and tragedy. The Conflict cannot summon the Income alone, but it shines when matched by the tarot representing the power of life and of the needs of precarious workers: the Estate, the High Priestress, the Chariot. If it closes the game, it brings relationships and cooperation leading to success.
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pulitrice

XIV The Cleaner

She stands for humility, simplicity cleansing any evil, for the ability to overcome any hindrance through the most daily of tools and human relationships. The Cleaner knows how to tinder the Conspiracy even in the darkest and strangest places. When matched by powerful tarot her influence is positive: while the Manager is far from home, she reorder his things and she finds what she needs to help her sisters' struggle; while the Bank counts piles of coins, she calls her sisters-in-struggle and organizes a party. If opening the game, she invites to keep one's mind clear and to keep one's actions down-to-the-ground and simple. If closing the game, she stands for the skill to weave the threads of destiny: success.
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banchiere

XV The Bank

The Bank is money. The world lives by exchanges, and to have money to exchange for goods, you must work. Food, the Estate, the present for one's daughter, everything is touched by the hands, the moods and the sympathies of the Bank. It is the necessary evil one has to come to terms with to survive and struggle. It stands for the interested help, for the lack of scruples, for the price of everything, for that which one has to give up in order to be able to get, with no certainty of what one will be able to get at all. The Bank could profit from the fall of the Towers and squeeze money out of the Intern. It is a negative tarot, even if some other tarot could lessen its ill portent. Opening the game, the Bank stands for an initial disadvantage and a bank account below zero. Closing the game stands for the debt with one's destiny.
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torri

XVI The Towers

The Towers stand for disaster and historical divide. They stand for the danger of mindlessly following a fixed idea or unreachable aims, without solid ground to support one's dreams. Excesses and abuses bring revolt and disorder. They can stand for a catastroph leading to the end of a sorrowful and unbearable situation. When illusions crumble to the ground one has to begin again from scratch, thorugh the Border or trusting in the High Priestress. To begin again is never easy, but it is necessary: if the Hanged Man forbids change, one ends up living in the past. If the Towers dominate the game then the omen is clear: do not cross the line of what you can do and what you would like to do.
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catena

XVII The Chain

The Chain is what keeps one in shackles, it is the self-exploitation, the thread slowly and relentlessly woven around one's life. The Chain binds one to the job, to the folders, to the office, to what one does without ever knowing why or how to escape from it. It is the false and quick feeling of freedom of those working from home, of intellectual workers and free lance privateers. The Chain is the connection to those who give one money and a job in exchange for obedience and sacrifice. If the Chain is drawn upside down from the deck, it stands for the leap down into the void; when it does not end with emptying one's life of desire, it shakes it till it bleeds. If matched by the Towers or the Wretched, it brings change, revolution, liberation. If opening the game, the Chain stands for a bond to break, for a cage to be destroyed. If closing the game, it stands for a responsibility one cannot forsake.
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confine

XVIII The Border

The Border stands for the point of no return, for the leap in the unknow. It is the migrant crossing the border, the worker jumping without a parachute into the hollow of precarity: and every time one lands on solid earth, you have begun a new path, you have overcome what had you perplexed in the first place. The die is cast, with the Bossi-Fini law to be able to stay in Italy you need the help of the Manager. When it is matched by the Wretched or by the Hanged Man, it stands for the impossibility of finding one's place in the world. If opening the game, the Border stands for a obstacle to be overcome, but also for the search and possibility of a new life. If closing the game, it stands for bravery, new perspective and open-mindedness.
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immobile

XIX The Estate

The Estate stands for one's home but also for the place where one can tend to one's desires. If it is drawn upside down from the deck, it stands for real estate speculations and evictions (especially if matched with the Machine). If matched with the Saint, the Estate is free of any negative influence, and ever a larger house. If matched with the Fool it becomes a symbol for renewal and beginning, with the Chariot it can lead to independence from family and cultural ties. When matched to the Income it can lead to a miracle: home ownership. If matched with the Bank, it implies mortgage and rent, and symbolizes a harsh and necessary duty.
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reppresentante

XX The Delegate

The Delegate is the one who talks without ever saying anything, the one who reaps without having sown. The Delegate stands for the party asking for your vote without making your life any bettter, for the union supposedly defending you but only scrapping for its own survival, for the intellectual unable to find words useful to your struggle. The Delegate is old and do not listen to the precarious workers: he likes to sit in front of cameras and microphones and spurt abstract and useless concepts. When he is matched too closely to the Manager he becomes even dangerous and only the pairing of the Saint can mediate his negative effects. Matched with the Chariot he brings good news: a new contract or a stable home.
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reddito

XXI The Income

The Income is the last of the precarious tarot, the final aim, the North Star driving workers' lives and the whirlwind of the market. Some advocate for it, some grab for it, some beg for it, some hates it, but many people have never even laid a finger on it. The Intern talks about it as an alien being and does not know the Income can manifest itself in many ways: the matching of the two stands for a situation of confusion, a paradox. The Income often comes to precarious worker in their dreams, but as often becomes a nightmare, a will'o the wisp, an untouchable ghost. Closing the game, it stands for satisfaction of needs and tranquillity to reach the end of the month with no hassle. Opening the game it's a curse and shifts the whole meaning of the drawing from the deck: the other tarot have to be read again with the Income in one's mind.
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