Cardinal virtue of Wisdom/Prudence

wandking said:

I often view The Hermit as embracing "prudence," which is very similar to wisdom. I've often considered the real "missing virtue" in the trumps as charity. There is evidence that one Renaissance deck features the virtues Faith, Hope and Charity separately. Indeed, The Star offers faith and hope; but what card embodies charity in modern Tarot?

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Well originally it was Faith, Hope and Love; charity is a mistranslation of the word for love. There is a card that was once called 'Love' but became 'The Lovers', so maybe one could use that for 'charity'?

That some decks include cards for the other virtues would indicate that cards such as the papesse/hermit/hanged man, pope, star were not taken to represent those virtues that are 'missing' [wisdom/prudence, faith, hope, love/charity]. That they are not 'hidden' but simply not included in the scheme.

Kwaw

thanks kwaw

I think I got that info from Kaplan, but I guess anyone can make a mistake, especially when it comes to Tarot. As far as using The Lovers to show charity, I'd have problems reading the card that way. To me, The Lovers can show love but usually shows temptation or aspects of the personality seeking an inner balance. Imagery in my RWS portrays a man gazing at a woman, who in turn looks to the angel above them. The man cannot see the Divine figure. He must trust the woman to see it for him. The conscious mind, depicted by the man - cannot directly access higher power, represented by the angel. The subconscious mind, symbolized by the woman, must offer access to the Higher Self.

The translation from the Greek Agape to the Latin caritas, and hence to 'charity' is perhaps a little twisted in terms of the general understanding of the last of those words these days.

The problem is, however, how one is to translate one of the three important Greek words for 'love' (philos, agape, and eros) into the Latin of the day, for which, I would presume, only 'amore' and 'caritas' were somewhat available (I say 'somewhat' as another term could have been used, such as, to give an unconnected example, 'freehood' for the German 'freiheit', but it just sounds odd in the English).

Of 'amore' and 'caritas', it certainly seems that the latter is a closer approximation than the 'amor' that is more resonant of 'eros' - that I am certain is far from the intent of St Paul.

From this, however, the theological virtue, though called 'charity', is to be more understood along its cognate 'love', than 'giving alms'.

In the Marseille deck, one may even see precisely the two possible Latin rendition: that of 'caritas' and that of 'amore'.

Which is the young(ish) man to choose?

Could the Lovers Card of TdM show another aspect. (I thought agape was spiritual love say between God and us?) The choice is if you take the woman you love then comes the responcibility of including the Mother-in-Law, and so is the warning, with Eros comes Responsibility. I think to illustrate the choice between Maturity and youth would have been 'a no contest' way to show a choice. So be prudent with your choices as you may well have to providore ~Rosanne

kwaw said:

Well originally it was Faith, Hope and Love; charity is a mistranslation of the word for love. There is a card that was once called 'Love' but became 'The Lovers', so maybe one could use that for 'charity'?

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It's a different kind of love. The love depicted in the Lovers or the Lover is eros - erotic love. The love in the "faith hope and love" triad is agape, brotherly -humanitarian love.

I like to see the Star, Moon and Sun as Hope, Faith and Love.

As for Wisdom/Prudence - Place makes a good point: for neoplatonists, Sophia (Wisdom) was the greatest of the 4 virtues, the sum of the three others. He suggests that Wisdom was not included in what became the final form of the Tarot because she is there in the other virtues. Indeed, in the whole Major Arcana sequence.

I did also read elsewhere the proposal that older woman in VI-L'Amoureux could be Prudence

7 virtues in the "+3" order

Hello again, all my tarot friends
This is a very interesting thread!

Well, here's what I came up with on this matter;

2 = II "LA PAPESSE" = PRUDENCE/WISDOM
a female figure & a book

2 + 3 = V "LE PAPE" = FAITH
...need to explain?

5 + 3 = VIII "LA JUSTICE" = JUSTICE

8 + 3 = XI "LA FORCE" = FORTITUDE

11 + 3 = XIIII "TEMPERANCE" = TEMPERANCE

14 + 3 = XVII "L'ETOILE" = CHARITY/LOVE
A woman pours water to the earth devotedly. A bird is on a tree.
(It's rather like "GENEROSITY" by Cesare Ripa -- A woman holds
a cornucopia in each hand, with an eagle on her head.)

17 + 3 = XX "LE JUGEMENT" = HOPE
(Looking up to Heaven, people are praying. An angel with divine
lights comes down.)


Come to think of it, PRUDENCE and FAITH each precede the others...

Yes, it's only my imagination

Cardinal Virtue of Wisdom/Prudence

2 = II "LA PAPESSE" = PRUDENCE/WISDOM
a female figure & a book

2 + 3 = V "LE PAPE" = FAITH
...need to explain?

5 + 3 = VIII "LA JUSTICE" = JUSTICE

8 + 3 = XI "LA FORCE" = FORTITUDE

11 + 3 = XIIII "TEMPERANCE" = TEMPERANCE

14 + 3 = XVII "L'ETOILE" = CHARITY/LOVE
A woman pours water to the earth devotedly. A bird is on a tree.
(It's rather like "GENEROSITY" by Cesare Ripa -- A woman holds
a cornucopia in each hand, with an eagle on her head.)

17 + 3 = XX "LE JUGEMENT" = HOPE
(Looking up to Heaven, people are praying. An angel with divine
lights comes down.)


Very thoughtful, fitting parallels. Hope makes sense with Judgment, since souls look up, hopeful of salvation, or of transformation into the Heaven-Worlds. Charity/Love for the Stars is suitable, yet the image includes both meditation, the bird in the tree, and an outpouring of healing forces or life-forces from the two urns. Inspiration and giving. Maybe that's Love. La Papesse as Wisdom certainly makes sense, as does the World as Sophia/Wisdom. Le Pape as Faith is befitting, but I hope the Hanged Man has Faith in his future,too. Maybe the archetypal virtues are reflected throughout the Major Arcana, with more than one image per virtue and with virtues per image in some instances. Still, this set of correspondences is impressively intelligent.

Frank Hall said:

Very thoughtful, fitting parallels. Hope makes sense with Judgment, since souls look up, hopeful of salvation, or of transformation into the Heaven-Worlds. Charity/Love for the Stars is suitable, yet the image includes both meditation, the bird in the tree, and an outpouring of healing forces or life-forces from the two urns. Inspiration and giving. Maybe that's Love. La Papesse as Wisdom certainly makes sense, as does the World as Sophia/Wisdom. Le Pape as Faith is befitting, but I hope the Hanged Man has Faith in his future,too. Maybe the archetypal virtues are reflected throughout the Major Arcana, with more than one image per virtue and with virtues per image in some instances. Still, this set of correspondences is impressively intelligent.

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Hi Frank,
Thanks for the compliment

Concerning this topic, there's an interesting picture by Andrea Mantegna.
It's named "Minerva Chases the Vices from the Garden of Virtue" (c.1502)
http://www.mcah.columbia.edu/dbcourses/rosand/large/mantegna_minerva1_082703.jpg

In the cloud you can see the three virtues "JUSTICE", "TEMPERANCE" and
"FORTITUDE".

Here also, as in the tarot, only "PRUDENCE/WISDOM" is absent.
But maybe Minerva represents WISDOM, as the leader of the virtues.

By the way, this picture has another interesting feature.
Here every cupid as "vice" has insect-like wings, just like the blindfolded
one in Tarot de Besancon.
(Blindfolded Cupid is said to represent blind carnal love.)

Wonderful link and reflections (again), kenji.

And as you say, Minerva (as Athena Minerva) is very likely, in the case of the linked image, also that fourth cardinal virtue: Wisdom.

If this is the case, then another consideration for the 'missing' virtue of wisdom is, in addition to the Papess, the Empress, who has, after all, possible correlations with Athena Minerva.

If one also takes into consideration the mentions by Ross Caldwell of Prudence being considered by mediaeval theology as the 'mother of the other three cardinal virtues' (paraphrased, rather than quoted), then this may again indicate one of the early cards in the sequence.

Yet, it is simultaneously a higher virtue!

If one makes Kabalistic reflections on the same, then the equivalent consideration are the instances in which Hockmah may be used in the Old Testament, especially in relation to the other virtues.

Here, for me at least, it seems to be more closely connected with the light of the Sun... yet, there is also another appelation that St Thomas also reminds us about this virtue: as the charioteer of the virtues.

kenji said:

Here also, as in the tarot, only "PRUDENCE/WISDOM" is absent.
But maybe Minerva represents WISDOM, as the leader of the virtues

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I think Wisdom is absent because Wisdom is inherent to all three virtues. That is exactly what I was talking about before - what the neoplatonists took for granted: no need to show Wisdom at all. I would say Minerva is merely her immortal representation, she is not Wisdom herself. That would be Sophia (no claim to special knowledge here )

I still have trouble to see the Papesse as Wisdom: though I have no doubt she is wise and would ascribe such prime virtue to her now. But to have such an early trump to represent the virtue that encompasses all others doesn't seem likely to me. Unless one sees her as kicking off the sequence of Cardinal virtues? But why call her Papess then? - especially when the others are called by their normal names (Justice, Strength, Temperance).