XVIIII Le Soleil

Rusty Neon

Eberhard said:
OK, me being dumb rookie, better silent for now, listen to wise old men for another year or so ;-)

Anyway, I'm glad I didn't waste the time to summarize the lengthy comments of the third author for you.

P.S. All it takes is 500 posts to automatically become an "Elder", and you can't have a different title unless you pay to join as a subscriber, so as to be able to select another title.
 

Eberhard

The Rays Shape

thanks, Rusty Neon. Case closed?

So, then let me add my original "reply" again, to maintain an appropriate order ... digging into the Tarot sometimes reminds me of fighting dragons—something gets stirred up, and occasionally something quite different shows up:

Left somewhat unsatisfied with the color assignments above it struck me a couple of days later that I had overlooked the most obvious symbol here: contrary to the Visconti decks in the TdM the sun rays are displayed in a compass rose fashion. Does this make sense historically?
The magnetic maritime compass was introduced to Europe in the 1200s first in the sea-republic of Amalfi in Italy. But Marseilles also is a maritime city ...

I also see a parallel between this pictorial element of XVIIII (everywhere under the sun) to the vesica piscis symbol depicted in XXI which points to the universality of the inner space—man as the mediator between heaven and earth.

The compass rose also reminded me of a remark made by Whitley Strieber in The Path about the scepter of the Emperor in IV: for Whitley it has the connotation of another old nautical instrument, the cross-staff.
 

Eberhard

Rusty Neon,

thanks for the link, this seems to be a mirror of the link I had found, the content is identical.
 

Eberhard

just for convenience, the other link says:

Amalfi, originally a Roman city, was the first Italian Republic of the Sea (Repubblica Marinara). After the fall of the Roman Empire, it was the first city to re-establish relationship between East and West by transporting and introducing into Italy exotic merchandise such as carpets, cofee and paper. Amalfi had his own coin (the Tarì), was the home of Flavio Gioia, the inventor of the compass, and gave the navigators the famous maritime law known as Tabula de Amalpha. Amalfi founded an imposing hospital in Jerusalem which could contain 2000 beds and which gave birth, in 1112, thanks to Brother Gerardo Sasso from Scala, to the first military and religious Order called at first the Knights of St. John, then the Knights of Cyprus, of Rhodes and in 1530, of Malta, still existing today. The Knights fought repeatedly against the Saracens and, in 849, they defended Rome and the Church in the famous battle of Ostia. Amalfi is a quiet and picturesque seaside resort with a temperate climate and incomparable natural beauties. It has some of the oldest hotels in Italy as well as many modern ones.
 

Eberhard

One could see the sun rays in XVIIII as two layers, one is the compass rose-like, colored 16-pointed shape; below it there are 59 thin black lines which are arranged this way:
Code:
            29
           /  \

         14  |  15   
      /      |      \
     28  ---59 ---  31
      \      |      /
         14  |  16   

           \  /
            30
The 59 lines are divided into 4 quadrants with 15, 16, 14, and 14 lines each. Each half circle adds up to 28, 29, 30, and 31 lines.

An interesting calendrical coincidence: 59 is the number of years in the Great Year of Oenopides related to sun and moon. The numbers 28 .. 31 here also are the no. of days a solar month can consist of.
 

Rusty Neon

Le Soleil /The Sun -- The Wall

A Sun-card feature that intrigues in both the TdM and in modern tarot decks is the wall.

I really enjoyed reading Claude Darche's take on the wall. (Pratique du Tarot de Marseille, Page 104)

The Tower card reminds us of the Tower of Babel. Mankind foolishly dared to reach up to the sky and to be like God. In contrast, the Sun card is a card of reality. Under sunlight, we see things as they really are.

As well, the two figures in the Sun card are reminiscent of the two chained figures in the Devil card.

The Sun card shows us that "from now on, constructions are at a human scale. Man knows his proper measure: his potential as well as his limits. He is now his own master. Under the rich and fruitful light of the sun, he can bring his plans and ideas to maturity. The two twins or children are also the result of transformations undergone by the souls enchained by the Devil. They have been reborn to a superior form of life, where the Spirit has regenerated them."
 

skytwig

Got a thought as I read your post..... how the horizon is like a wall.... I never noticed that before.... hmmmmm.

I don't understand the importance of a wall in the Sun card.... I don't understand why one would think of putting a wall in a card about the Sun....

To me, the wall is so manmade and the sun is so nature oriented...

It would be like putting a house in the middle of a card about the ocean......
 

skytwig

So, it started with the Marseilles? (Student here)

Hmmmmm...... ok, so I'm off to find a picture...