Re: Re: Re: The Sun.....
TemperanceAngel said:
Thanks, Vincent, that was really helpful as was the link, but for some reason that card is really bugging me at the moment, I think I have sunblock....
XTAX
If you wish to know the divinatory meaning, then Rachel Pollack might be as good as any other writer, but if you wish to know the meaning of the symbols, as Waite intended them, then you will usually have to look further afield.
If the answer cannot be found in Waite himself, the next best bets are Golden Dawn material, Eliphas Levi, and of course, the Bible.
Israel Regardie says of the card;
"The Sun has twelve principal rays which represent the Twelve Signs of the Zodiac. They are alternately waved and salient as symbolising the alternation of the masculine and feminine natures."
(On the subject of the rays, has anyone been able to work out what that strange squiggle alongside one of the rays on the right of the XIX, might be?)
The two children that Waite refers to in his description, are also referred to in the Philosophus Ritual of the Golden Dawn;
"The two children standing respectively on Water and Earth represent the generating influence of both, brought into action by the rays of the Sun. They are the two inferior and passive Elements, as the Sun and Air above them are the superior and active Elements of Fire and Air. Furthermore, these two children resemble the Sign Gemini which unites the Earthy Sign of Taurus with the Watery Sign Cancer, and this Sign was, by the Greeks and Romans, referred to Apollo and the Sun."
There is also a connection to the Fool card, signified by the red feather worn by both the child, and the Fool.
Waite seems to be a little clearer than usual in his description of this card, but if all you want are the divinatory meanings, then the LWB is fine.
Vincent