W Atop Hierophant's Tiara?

Parzival

Looking at the "Giant RWS," there seems to be a W at the very top of the Hierophant's tiara. Maybe I need new glasses, or a bigger deck, or maybe there is a match between the Ace of Cups W and the Hierophant W. Anyone else see this?
 

Abrac

I think they're "sacred nails" that were supposedly used to crucify Christ. The Catholic church reveres many relics associated with Christ and the nails are one example. Waite talks quite a bit about them in The Hidden Church of the Holy Graal. Here's one example, "The Sacred Nails of the Passion appear once in the Book of the Holy Graal, and these also have an early history in relics. Some or all of them were discovered by St. Helena with the True Cross, and, according to St. Ambrose, one of them was placed by her in the diadem of Constantine, or alternatively in his helmet, and a second in the bit of his horse."

CROWN

Whether or not it's a W I'm not sure. It sorta looks like one. :)
 

Samweiss

Nails as in "Vav"? :) Sometimes you see it written with the letter W, or maybe the nails on Hierophant's head spells "VV"?
 

DesertDream

This is fascinating i never took this into consideration
 

Desecrated

"The word mysterion (μυστήριον) is used 27 times in the New Testament. It denotes not so much the meaning of the modern English term mystery, but rather something that is mystical.
In the biblical Greek, the term refers to "that which awaits disclosure or interpretation".
In the Catholic church the Latin term is mysterium fidei, "mystery of faith", defined in the Catechism of the Catholic Church (1997) to mean a mystery hidden in God, which can never be known unless revealed by God"

W= M
 

Abrac

Assuming for the moment it is two Vaus, what is the symbolic significance for the Hierophant and how does it relate to the W on the Ace of Cups? I can understand partly, as Vau traditionally corresponds to the Hierophant, but why two and what is the significance of a W created from two Vaus?
 

Samweiss

Assuming for the moment it is two Vaus, what is the symbolic significance for the Hierophant and how does it relate to the W on the Ace of Cups? I can understand partly, as Vau traditionally corresponds to the Hierophant, but why two and what is the significance of a W created from two Vaus?

That Vau correspesponds to the Hierophant was what I was after. Vau as word is written VV and in gematria its value is 12, one of its meanings being nail. It could have this cute double meaning as the letter W or the word VV is formed like what looks to be nails. :)

Why do you think that W has to relate to Ace of Cups?
 

Samweiss

A quote from The Tarot: A Key to the Wisdom of the Ages by Paul Foster Case: "In the Rider pack, the tiara is surmounted by a black "W" indicating the correspondence of Key 5 to the letter Vav. In the B.O.T.A. version, the ornament at the top of the crown is small sphere, symbolizing the archetypal world. Below it, the three rows of trefoils, in descending order, symbolize the creative, formative and material worlds."
 

Abrac

Okay, that makes sense. I wasn't aware Vau is spelled Vau Vau. That is pretty cool. :)

The original poster suggested a match with the Ace of Cups. I assumed the discussion was an attempt to address that, maybe not. Desecrated wrote, W = M, suggestive of the upside down M on the Ace.
 

Parzival

W Atop Hierophant's Tiara

It may be that the W of the Hierophant symbolizes the received Word which vivifies his ritual, blessing, prayer, and charity. It enters from Above to Below. So, here the W is the inspiring power of spiritual life, directly depicted from the Christian direction, while relevant to all inspired spiritual traditions. Thus, the placement of the W is far Above, at the zenith. It's almost as if looking down. (It's interesting that Paul Foster Case noticed and noted the W, letting it go in his revision of Waite's Hierophant design.) The W on the Grail cup may also be the Word, but the giving power of it, streaming down living waters of the Spirit to all that lies below, enlivening the lily pads. So the Hierophant receives and "channels" the power that the Grail cup outpours and provides. Of course, all this depends upon the W as standing for the Word, which may be only an aspect of the multiple meanings. This could all be unintentional synchronicity on the part of Waite and Smith, or it could be a conscious conjunction of the same symbol from two different but interrelated places.