What an incredibly helpful thread this has become! Thank you
Its seems like I have two tasks to do. First, I need to explore what bastons are. Then I need to put my numbers and bastons (and card images) together to explore possible meanings.
Right then; bastons first. (leaving aside fire for the moment)
I've started by just looking at the 4 aces. I'm thinking that one way to understand what something is, it to consider what it is not
And straight away I notice that the other aces have all been crafted in some way, prehaps out of metal? The ornate denier, the fantastic crown at the top of that well forged sword, the detail of the castle of the Coupe. The Ace of bastons is no where near as ornate, it seems primal and primitive in comparison. Its quite rough and untamed, like a branch that has just been cut from a tree and not made into anything yet. It contains all that raw life force within in it. Its green - living energy. I'm also thinking that without the baston, you wouldn't be able to make coupes or deniers or swords at all. You wouldn't have the energy or fuel to heat the metal. The bastons seem to come first now that I look at them.
Ah-ha! Now I see why Silvia says;
They seem to carry such vitality! It’s true that I seldom associate them with actual fire, when I see them I tend to think of fire as life force, like blood running through our veins. Green blood, the blood of nature, or a spiritualized blood, that is
I've put the 4 court cards next to the ace. The wand caried by the Chevalier de Bastons looks just like the wand of the ace, except in reverse. The chavalier's hand is on the opposite side of the baston to the hand in the ace. These are the only 2 bastons where I can see inside of the top. Inside they are lined with yellow and red. And its a lighter shade of red than the colour of the clothes the court are wearing. And thats strange... if you cut a branch from a tree, the inside is green and damp with sap, not red at all. Prehaps this is to symbolize the blood of nature that Silvia speaks of?
The next thing I notice is how the bastons of the chevalier and vaslet are quite different to the ones of the Roy and Royne. The bastons of the Vaslet and the Chevalier are still like the branches just cut from the tree. But the Roy and the Royne's bastons have been shaped and crafted into powerful tools. All of them are facing the right. The right hand side of the card is the masculine side and to do with action I think?
I'm also noticing the phallic shape of these bastons, and I think that is important. I've noticed that in some of the baston minor cards, the 2, the 4 and the 6, that the shapes of those flowers seem to reflect the same thing. They just look that way to me, so I think that prehaps one of the kinds of energy to be dealt with when thinking about the bastons is sexual energy? It seems to fit with what Silvia says about the primal nature of man being represented in this suit and the connection to the Green Man;
The Wild Man is linked to the image of the Green Knight, thus becoming a sort of knight who uses a “green spade” (a club) instead of a metal blade… This figure is therefore balancing between its savage nature, and the ideal of redemption to which refers the colour green, the relation to chivalry, etc.
So, the bastons relate to our instincts and drives? The part of us that is connected with the earth and nature, all that is inherent to us, that we are born with as part of our human inheritance. They also relate to our energy (wether we are tired and drained, or bursting with enthusiasm), our creativity and to the way we use those things. I am also thinking of courage and daring and risk taking, how we must use our energy and power constructively. Kind of, taking what we are naturally born with and making it work for us so we end up with a cool carved baston like the Royne and Roy have that we can weild to full effect.
The dead tree is obviously the tree of the cross, a symbol of Christ Himself, only apparently dead, but about to become green when the proper time arrives.”
Ah, now this suddenly helped the bastons to click a little more Silvia! I remember learning in science lessons at school about how energy cannot be destroyed ever, it just gets changed into another kind of energy. Like how chocolate contains energy, and although once we have eaten it, the chocolate is all gone
the energy of the chocolate is now transformed into fuel and energy in our bodies. And so on, in an endless cycle, just like the seasons. Birth, death, rebirth - transforming the energy of the cut branch into something that we can use.
I liked what you wrote about building elements too Silvia, especially this bit!
The club you pick for protection or as an instrument, and the one that will hit you on the head.
It makes me think that its the way that we use the bastons, it is how we make them work or not work for us that is important. I wonder if it will be this that is reflected in the minor cards when I explore them more closley? As obstacles or as tools depending upon how we work with them.
I've looked through the majors to find bastons too...
Le Basteleur and Le Monde both carry what looks a bit like a baston in their left hands. Although Le Monde is holding her baston the opposite way up to Le Basteleur. These bastons look like smaller and simpler versions of the Baston help by the Roy. I'm not sure what the purpose of these basons are though? Is it to do with transmuting energy or something like that?
L'Hermite and Le Fol both have walking sticks, which reminds me of what Jewel-ry wrote;
Its raw and has potential growth. There are so many things (already mentioned) which can be related to the batons but one that I came across the other day was the walking stick which of course offers support.
Both are journeying (although in different directions), the bastons have become tools to be used to help them along their paths.
Le Pendu; he seems to be dangling from a construction made of bastons. It seems like in this card too, the bastons have been used to make something. The bastons as tools for building things with. Without the bastons, le pendu would not be le pendu at all, he would be standing upright holding piece of rope, and not gaining the enlightenment and new perspective that he seeks. The bastons can serve us, they are the tools we build with.
Le Diable is holding what looks a bit like a baston. And is that flames coming out of it?? arrgghh!!! I need a bit of help to understand this one I think, I'm not sure what I am seeing.
And that's enough for now. I think I have more questions and observations than answers though. But its been helpful to put the idea of fire to the side for the moment, the bastons are making a little more sense!
