Ross G.R. Caldwell was born in Toronto in 1966. He studied History and Religion at York University (BA’92; Special Topic thesis: The historiographic context of Josephus’ apologia in “The Jewish War”) and Christian Origins at Harvard University (MTS ’95; thesis: IAO: Words of Ritual Power in Jewish and Christian Gnosticism).  Ross moved to California with his wife Aline in 1995. He was ordained a priest in the Syrian (non-Chalcedonian) lineage of the Federation of St. Thomas Christians, in Fresno in 1996. He served the Church of St. Mary of Magdala there from 1996 to 2001. Ross and his wife moved to France in 2001, where he worked for the municipal library in Béziers and began to study the medieval period. His chief areas of interest are social history, folklore, and games. Ross was introduced to esoteric Tarot in 1979; in 2002 he began to study the early history of the game. He became a member of the International Playing Card Society in 2003 and has contributed to the study of the history of the Tarot and playing cards, by publishing original research and speaking at the annual Conference of the Society.  He was introduced to the Associazione Culturale “Le Tarot” in 2003.

Memberships

• Accademia del Tarocchino Bolognese
• American Academy of Religion (AAR)
• Associazione Culturale ‘Le Tarot’
• Association for Tarot Studies (ATS)
• International Playing Card Society (IPCS)
• Society of Biblical Literature (SBL)
• Art & Culture Network  - Co-founder and President

Publications

Marziano da Tortona’s Tractatus de deification sexdecim heroum: Part 1, ”The Playing Card”,  vol.  33, no. 1 (July-Sept. 2004), pp. 50-55

Marziano da Tortona’s Tractatus de deification sexdecim heroum: Part 2 (translation), “The Playing Card”, vol. 33, no. 2 (Oct.-Dec. 2004), pp. 111-126

Gasparino da Bergamo (Barzizza), Funeral Oration for Marziano da Tortona (text and translation) http://geocities.com/anytarot/marzianobarzizza.html

Giovanni del Ponte and the dating of the Rothschild cards in the Louvre: some further considerations, “The Playing Card”, vol. 36, no. 1 (July-Sept. 2007), pp. 51-62

The Number 21 and the Tarot Trumps, “Taros: The Journal for Tarot Studies”, vol. 3 (2008), pp. 1-9

The Devil and the Two of Hearts, “The Playing Card” (forthcoming)

Internet

Major contributor of articles for the website trionfi.com
Moderator: Aeclectic Tarot Forum tarotforum.net