firemaiden
Okay here all at once are the sun, the moon, and the star:
No. XIX. The Sun
We have united on this sheet all the images relating to light: thus after the soundless [sourd] lantern of the Hermit, we will take in reverse order the Sun, the Moon and the Brilliant Sirius or the sparkling Canicula - all figuring into this deck with diverse emblems.
The Sun is represented here as the physical father of Humans and of all of nature: it gives light to men in Society, and presides over their towns: tears of gold and pearls are distilled from its rays: thus we designate the happy influences of this heavenly body.
This game of tarot conforms perfectly to the doctrine of the Egyptians, as we will see in more detail in the next article.
No. XVIII. The Moon.
Thus, the Moon, which follows in the wake of the sun, is also accompanied by tears of gold and pearls, to show that it contributes as well to the advantages of the earth.
Pausanias teaches us in the Description of the Phocide, that according to the Egyptians, it was Isis' tears which caused the Nile to overflow its banks each year, thereby making the land of Egypt fertile. The narratives [relations] of this country also speak about a drop, or a teardrop, which falls from the Moon when the waters of the Nile need to swell.
At the bottom of this image, one sees a Lobster or Cancer, either to denote the retrograde motion of the moon, or to indicate that it is when the sun and the moon leave the sign of Cancer, then the floods happen, caused by the tears in the rising of the Canicula, which one sees in the following image.
One might even put these two motives together: isn't it rather ordinary to make determinations based on a crowd of consequences which form a mass, and which one would have great difficulty to untangle?
The middle of the image is occupied by two towers, one at each extremity, to designate the famous columns of Hercules, above and beyond which only great luminaries shall pass.
Between the two columns are two dogs, who seem to bark at the moon, and to guard it: perfectly Egyptian ideas. This people, unique for their allegories, compared the tropics to two palaces each guarded by a dog, which like faithful gate-keepers, kept the stars in the middle of the sky, without allowing them to slide towards one pole or the other.
These are not the visions of commentators from our time [“en us” ???]. Clement, himself Egyptian since he came from Alexandria, and who consequently ought to know something about it, assures us in his Tapestries [or Stromates, Book V] that the Egyptians represented the Tropics with the image of two dogs, which similar to gate keepers, or faithful guardians prevented the sun and the moon from penetrating further, and from going all the way to the poles.
No. XVII. Sirius [La Canicule]
Here we have before our eyes an image no less allegorical, and absolutely Egyptian. It is titled “The Star”. In fact, we see here a brilliant star, surrounded by seven smaller stars. The bottom of the image is taken up by a woman bending on one knee, holding two vases upside down, from which flow two rivers. Next to this woman is a butterfly on a flower.
It is pure Egyptianism.
This star is the perfect example of Canicula, or Sirius: a star which rises while the sun is moving out of the sign of Cancer, by which the preceding image finishes, and which this Star immediately follows.
The seven stars which surround it, and which seem to form its court, are the planets. The star is, in a way, their queen, because it remains fixed in this time of the beginning of the year; the planets seem to receive their orders on how to rule their courts from her.
The Lady who is below, and is very attentive in this moment to pouring the water from her two vases, is the Sovereign of the skies, Isis, whose beneficence is responsible for the flooding of the Nile, which begins at the rise of Sirius: thus, this rise was the announcement of the flood. It is for this reason the Canicula was dedicated to Isis, who was its symbol, par excellence.
And since the year opened equally with the rising of this heavenly body, it was named “Soth-Is” – opening of the year, and it is under this name, that it was dedicated to Isis.
Finally, the flower and the butterfly which supports it, were the emblem of regeneration and resurrection: they indicated at the same time as the favor of the kindness of Isis, at the rising of the Canicula, the fields of Egypt, which were absolutely naked, would be covered with new crops [moissons=harvests].
No. XIX. The Sun
We have united on this sheet all the images relating to light: thus after the soundless [sourd] lantern of the Hermit, we will take in reverse order the Sun, the Moon and the Brilliant Sirius or the sparkling Canicula - all figuring into this deck with diverse emblems.
The Sun is represented here as the physical father of Humans and of all of nature: it gives light to men in Society, and presides over their towns: tears of gold and pearls are distilled from its rays: thus we designate the happy influences of this heavenly body.
This game of tarot conforms perfectly to the doctrine of the Egyptians, as we will see in more detail in the next article.
No. XVIII. The Moon.
Thus, the Moon, which follows in the wake of the sun, is also accompanied by tears of gold and pearls, to show that it contributes as well to the advantages of the earth.
Pausanias teaches us in the Description of the Phocide, that according to the Egyptians, it was Isis' tears which caused the Nile to overflow its banks each year, thereby making the land of Egypt fertile. The narratives [relations] of this country also speak about a drop, or a teardrop, which falls from the Moon when the waters of the Nile need to swell.
At the bottom of this image, one sees a Lobster or Cancer, either to denote the retrograde motion of the moon, or to indicate that it is when the sun and the moon leave the sign of Cancer, then the floods happen, caused by the tears in the rising of the Canicula, which one sees in the following image.
One might even put these two motives together: isn't it rather ordinary to make determinations based on a crowd of consequences which form a mass, and which one would have great difficulty to untangle?
The middle of the image is occupied by two towers, one at each extremity, to designate the famous columns of Hercules, above and beyond which only great luminaries shall pass.
Between the two columns are two dogs, who seem to bark at the moon, and to guard it: perfectly Egyptian ideas. This people, unique for their allegories, compared the tropics to two palaces each guarded by a dog, which like faithful gate-keepers, kept the stars in the middle of the sky, without allowing them to slide towards one pole or the other.
These are not the visions of commentators from our time [“en us” ???]. Clement, himself Egyptian since he came from Alexandria, and who consequently ought to know something about it, assures us in his Tapestries [or Stromates, Book V] that the Egyptians represented the Tropics with the image of two dogs, which similar to gate keepers, or faithful guardians prevented the sun and the moon from penetrating further, and from going all the way to the poles.
No. XVII. Sirius [La Canicule]
Here we have before our eyes an image no less allegorical, and absolutely Egyptian. It is titled “The Star”. In fact, we see here a brilliant star, surrounded by seven smaller stars. The bottom of the image is taken up by a woman bending on one knee, holding two vases upside down, from which flow two rivers. Next to this woman is a butterfly on a flower.
It is pure Egyptianism.
This star is the perfect example of Canicula, or Sirius: a star which rises while the sun is moving out of the sign of Cancer, by which the preceding image finishes, and which this Star immediately follows.
The seven stars which surround it, and which seem to form its court, are the planets. The star is, in a way, their queen, because it remains fixed in this time of the beginning of the year; the planets seem to receive their orders on how to rule their courts from her.
The Lady who is below, and is very attentive in this moment to pouring the water from her two vases, is the Sovereign of the skies, Isis, whose beneficence is responsible for the flooding of the Nile, which begins at the rise of Sirius: thus, this rise was the announcement of the flood. It is for this reason the Canicula was dedicated to Isis, who was its symbol, par excellence.
And since the year opened equally with the rising of this heavenly body, it was named “Soth-Is” – opening of the year, and it is under this name, that it was dedicated to Isis.
Finally, the flower and the butterfly which supports it, were the emblem of regeneration and resurrection: they indicated at the same time as the favor of the kindness of Isis, at the rising of the Canicula, the fields of Egypt, which were absolutely naked, would be covered with new crops [moissons=harvests].