Mary El Tarot - The Sun

Bat Chicken

http://www.mary-el.com/19.html

Solar yellow in colour and the other half of the Moon, the Sun card features another, calmer face accompanied by the head of a falcon. Perhaps the falcon is Horus?

Wikipedia said:
Since Horus was said to be the sky, he was considered to also contain the sun and moon.


The card is covered in glyphs of the sun, from the realistic to the symbolic. The edge of the sun is lined with Roman numerals – not sure what that means, but I am inclined that it has something to do with a clock? Time?

There is a Mayan or Aztec quality to this card and the previous Moon card. The Maya were magnificent astronomers and keepers of Time. It brings to mind Quetzacoatl, a Mesoamerican feathered serpent god. Seen as the morning star, his brother is the evening star. From Wikipedia:

Quetzalcoatl is one of the four sons of Ometecuhtli and Omecihuatl, he was often considered the god of the morning star, and his twin brother Xolotl was the evening star (Venus). As the morning star he was known by the title Tlahuizcalpantecuhtli, meaning "lord of the star of the dawn." He was known as the inventor of books and the calendar, the giver of maize (corn) to mankind, and sometimes as a symbol of death and resurrection. Quetzalcoatl was also the patron of the priests and the title of the twin Aztec high priests.

As the Moon is the watery mystery of the Unconscious, the Sun is the lighter side, the Conscious mind.

As introduced in the Star by the symbol on the angel’s dress, the Star, Sun and Moon together make the sky – which all seems to merge in the coming World card.

I seem to have jumped all over the place here! :)
Thoughts?
 

Debra

I see two hawks, but only one set of wings.
 

Bat Chicken

Yes, now that you mention it.... That is interesting! Any ideas?
 

Eyebright

Who was the crazy Egyptain pharoah who became obssessed only with the sun god, and who built a new city and made it the Egyptian capital for a while? For some reason I think of him when I see this card. In a polytheistic nation it was unthinkable that he would worship only one god!

I like how the sun and moon card can either be placed back to back or facing each other and seem to be two halves of one whole. The sun card is much more sharper and angular with points and straight lines giving it a masculine feel, whereas the moon is much softer and feminine feeling with lots os curving lines and swirls...

Also the wings of the falcon look like the hands on a clock face, telling the time, pointing to a date or time maybe? I don't know, I need to do more work on this card, and most of the others too! I have alot of things to post if I ever get time lol :p
 

Bat Chicken

I know what you mean... :D
I think you are thinking of the Egyptian King Akhenaten?
 

Eyebright

That's the chap! Bit solar obsessed lol, but his face on the surviving busts there are of him, kinda remind me of the face in this sun card.

Also whilst I remember...Egyptian beliefs about the soul or ka maybe? Didn't they believe there was more than one part to the soul? Maybe that could explain the human face and the two falcon faces....each representing a part of the soul? Also the 3 faces match up to the three droplets on the moon card...
 

Debra

Does anyone read Roman numerals? I assume the numbers around the sundial have meaning.
 

Bat Chicken

I have no real idea what their precise meaning is... But I'll give it a try. If I have the spaces right (top to bottom):

5, 100, 300, 50, 9, 100, 7, 9, 4, 100, VL?(45 is XLV - I looked up VL and it's not correct notation), 5, 201, 70, (then there is the first wing), 8, 9, (I am not sure what these ones are because of spacing - best guess... 96,60, 90), 8, 9,....

They might be degrees? If my spacing is correct, I have no real idea if there is a pattern at this stage. Somebody want to confirm and/or take that on?
 

Requiella

I think hawks make more sense, given their associations with clarity, insight, perspective, or vision. The Sun is (in part) about the gaining of clarity or insight--enlightenment.

The bird symbolism in these two cards--Moon and Sun--work well together: The cleansing (vulture) of the Moon can lead to the clear insight (hawk) of the Sun.
 

cSpaceDiva

In the companion book, Marie White confirms the presence of two falcons, representing the two horizons of Ra-Horakhty, "Horus of the Two Horizons." It is intriguing, considering the duality of the Sun and Moon cards, how prevalent the number three is. Three birds between them, three lines on each figures forehead, three dots on the Sun's face, three rays with droplets coming from the Moon's eye. In fact the Moon is describes as "the feminine aspect of the trinity" on page 57, but there is no further elaboration. I was looking for more information on Coetzl, whose quote is found at the beginning of this section, "The Sun is god's metaphor for himself." It would appear that Coetzl is the name of an Incan spirit guide that Marie had contact with, which could help explain the Mesoamerican feel that Bat Chicken mentioned. In contrast to the Moon, the Sun exerts his will by breathing out hot fiery daylight.