Quick questions about... le Diable/the Devil

jmd

These threads arise out of some of the general questions on the Marseille, and seek to make it easier to sort and find more specific queries...
 

Shalott

Rusty, that Diable is hilarious...can just hear weird little voice "What a nice coat this would make..."

OK: Here's a question: Some Diables have faces on their bellies and some don't. Is this an indicator of: where the deck was made, when it was made?
 

Fulgour

Stealing the Show

A devil's costume (13th century). Scaly, like the serpent that tempted Eve, winged like the classical Furies, the devil has two faces, one where the mouth
is also the anus, and the devil's tail/tale a second tongue .

THE DEVIL

"He that play Belial, look that he have gunpowder burning in pipes, in his hands, and in his ears, and in his arse, when he goeth into battle."
 

Rusty Neon

Shalott said:
Here's a question: Some Diables have faces on their bellies and some don't. Is this an indicator of: where the deck was made, when it was made?

Interesting question. Perhaps those with access to Kaplan's Encyclopedia of Tarot and the various card images therein will chime in. However, I note that the 1701 Dodal has a Devil with a face in the belly, while the 1760 Conver (which apparently is a 'very exact' copy of the 1672 Chosson) does not. The Devil of the 1650 Noblet deck has a face in his belly.
 

Fulgour

"The Dragon's Tail"

VII THE CHARIOT and XV THE DEVIL

In the Hebrew alphabet, beginning with Aleph as One,
Zayin is letter 7 and Samekh is letter 15:
http://www.ancientscripts.com/hebrew.html

Hebrew is based entirely on Phoenician letters:
http://www.ancientscripts.com/phoenician.html

Zayin and Samekh are Gemini and Sagittarius:
http://www.mtholyoke.edu/~cemulshi/simple.html

In Gemini and Sagittarius are the Nodal exaltations:
http://www.astrologycom.com/exalt.html

The Dragon's Head (north lunar node aka Rahu)
and Dragon's Tail (south lunar node aka Ketu)
are traditional power points in the horoscope.

In astrology, the Moon's Nodes are not planets in the strict
astronomical sense, but rather sensitive points on the ecliptic,
where the Moon crosses from north to south latitude and
vice versa. The body of the "energy dragon" is the fourth-
dimensional path of the Moon by declination, as she
weaves her web around the earth.
http://www.astrologycom.com/nodes.html
 

Fulgour

Pabilsag

Tell Sabi Abyad - Archaeology in Syria - Yearly excavation

The seal impression shows the demon Pabilsag, from which our zodiacal sign Sagittarius is derived. Pabilsag has the lower body of a winged horse with the tail of a scorpion, and a human torso in the shape of an archer but with the head of a lion. The lion’s head is turned backwards and spits out a flash of lightning. The bow and arrow are aimed at a rearing bull. In the depiction of complex creatures of this kind we are always dealing with the subjugation of chaos, to ward off the threat that always hangs over man in the shape of diseases, premature death, miscarriages, misharvests, natural catastrophes, and so on. The images contribute to the creation of a superiority of the regular human order (culture) over the surrounding chaos (nature).

RIJKSMUSEUM VAN OUDHEDEN

see also
http://www.jameswbell.com/geog0050pnames.html
 

Fulgour

Astronomy of Babylon

With the exception of the Venus tables of Ammiza-duga, which probably originated in the seventeenth century BC, most of the surviving Mesopotamian astronomical texts were written between 650 and 50 BC. These clay tablets with cuneiform writing are called astronomical diaries, and they are the unmistakable observations of specialists: professional astronomer-scribes.

by Dr. Imad Ahmad
 

Fulgour

Robert Hand

What did the Egyptians add to Babylonian astrology? We cannot say for certain, but internal evidence indicates the following. The use of a rising degree may or may not have been found in pre-Hellenistic Babylonian astrology. But the Hellenistic writers attributed the use of houses, or signs used as houses to Hermes. For Hermes we should understand a reference to Hellenistic Egyptian sources. It is probable that aspects are also Egyptian but we cannot say for certain. The lots are almost certainly Egyptian as well as most of the systems of rulership. Only the exaltations have a clearly Mesopotamian origin.


http://www.astro.com/people/hand_his_s.htm