The Twos and The Elements

Fulgour

We have all read about the obvious Elementals
in the imagery of Pamela Colman Smith's art
regarding the Court Cards which she designed.

Salamanders, Nymphs, Sylphs, and Gnomes,
though we don't actually see any Gnomes! :)

But what if she had an altogether different "set"
of correspondences in mind for her Tarot deck?

Let's begin by looking at the four II's: Click On

Pentacles float magically in the Air...
Swords so often include Water...
Wands have green leaves, like Earth...
Cups almost emit tongues of Fire...

But what is it that we are seeing, what's really going on?
Could this be possible? That she had her own ideas? :eek:
Did she put them right before our eyes ~ in her Tarot?

Now let's get out our Colman Smith cards and try to see...
And Mr. Waite along with Book-T are excused from class.

We have the unique genius of an original artist to consider.
 

Fulgour

The "crescent" Moon on the 2 of Swords is an astrological impossibility,
unless we allow that what we are seeing is really a partial lunar eclipse.

There is no way for the Sun, below the horizon, to so light the Moon...
which leaves the question, is the Moon rising or setting, and for this it
helps to consider the 2 of Wands: he's holding a globe on which we see
the land masses clearly ~ a "clue" that he is facing from East to West.

So then on the 2 of Swords (opposite the 2 of Wands) she might well be
facing from the West to the East. Here it helps to look at the 2 of Cups.

The Mithraic lion signies Capricorn above Cancer ~ so here we are North,
since the tropic of Cancer is to the North. Finally, on the 2 of Pentacles,
the funny "lemniscate" may be seen as actually signifying Earth's rotation,
with the seasons turning and our position ever moving around and around.

2 of Pentacles ~ South & Capricorn
2 of Cups ~ North & Cancer
2 of Wands ~ East & Aries
2 of Swords ~ West & Libra

The "twos" are different in this way from any other "pips" which shows us
that Pamela Colman Smith had her own designs in mind for her 1909 Tarot.
 

Fulgour

Vernal Equinox = Day One

PS: This also solves the "mystery" of that funny bracket
on the 2 of Wands, the one holding the Wand to the wall.

What we are being shown by the very intelligent artist is
how Aries is the hinge-pin of the astrological zodiac wheel,
the starting point for the Solar Year that must be agreed
upon to this day by astrologer and astronomer alike...

What are the heavens without that one point of reference?
Thus the "bracket" is an illustration of what the artist knew
to be essential to every basic understanding ~ a hinge-pin
for the Universe as we know it, seen by us from this planet.
 

Fulgour

The Chaldean Decanates of Le Tarot de Marseille:
http://www.skyscript.co.uk/heritage/im/decans.gif

Aries: Queen of Wands and 2 3 4 of Wands
Taurus: King of Pentacles and 5 6 7 of Pentacles
Gemini: Knight of Swords and 8 9 10 of Swords
*
Cancer: Queen of Cups and 2 3 4 of Cups
Leo: King of Wands and 5 6 7 of Wands
Virgo: Knight of Pentacles and 8 9 10 of Pentacles
*
Libra: Queen of Swords and 2 3 4 of Swords
Scorpio: King of Cups and 5 6 7 of Cups
Sagittarius: Knight of Wands and 8 9 10 of Wands
*
Capricorn: Queen of Pentacles and 2 3 4 of Pentacles
Aquarius: King of Swords and 5 6 7 of Swords
Pisces: Knight of Cups and 8 9 10 of Cups

*

On the Compass of the Zodiac the directions are:

NORTH Cancer (Water) Summer
SOUTH Capricorn (Earth) Winter
EAST Aries (Fire) Spring
WEST Libra (Air) Autumn

The Zodiac Compass of the Astrological Lodge of London:
http://www.amrep.org/images/pericles/Zodiac.gif
 

Fen Windglimmer

I learnt using;

Fire = Wands
Water = Cups
Air = Swords
Earth = Pentacles

but I'm not sure where they came from.

I guess you could use whatever way you wanted and it would all work the same.



Fen
 

The_Star

The two's....

Two's typically represent 'duality'. Either two of the same thing or two opposite energetics. The two's are associated with Gemini in astrology.
 

The_Star

Huh?

Fulgour said:
The "crescent" Moon on the 2 of Swords is an astrological impossibility,
unless we allow that what we are seeing is really a partial lunar eclipse.

There is no way for the Sun, below the horizon, to so light the Moon...

I disagree with both of your quoted statements (above).

Crecent moons are caused by the sun being below the horizon and casting the earth's shadow on the moon.
Also every lunar phase, except for a full moon, is a 'partial lunar eclipse'.

The moon on the two of swords alludes to #2 The High Priestess.

The crescent moon represents (also) the duality of light and dark.
 

Teheuti

The_Star said:
The moon on the two of swords alludes to #2 The High Priestess.
And also to the GD decanate correspondence: 2 of Swords = Moon in Libra.

Mary
 

Fulgour

The_Star said:
Crecent moons are caused by the sun being below the horizon and casting the earth's shadow on the moon. Also every lunar phase, except for a full moon, is a 'partial lunar eclipse'.
I have to say here (very respectfully) Moon Phases are not eclipses.
To the Sun the Moon is always Full... we see Phases because we
are looking at the Full Moon at an angle... Earth's shadow does not
cause the Phases of the Moon. Never, ever. Please study this more.

When the Earth's shadow does cross the face of the Moon
then yes it is an eclipse (Earth between Sun and Moon) and
the only time that the Moon is not Full viewed from the Sun.
 

Fulgour

Teheuti said:
And also to the GD decanate correspondence: 2 of Swords = Moon in Libra.
I don't see any "glyphs" drawn on this card.
You must be thinking of the Thoth deck. :)