Haindl - Mother of Cups in the North

RedMaple

This card is based on the famous Venus of Willendorf statue,. Rachel Pollack suggests that we think of her as "The Great Goddess of Willendorf." She says "Clearly the pendulous breasts, the round belly and hips, and the sturdiness show her as an ida of motherhood (she is not actually pregnant.) .... Some people will view this figure as odd-looking, even ugly or funny. We have learned to see the ideal female as tin and weightless, unconnected to such distasteful realities as childbearing or work. Such attitudes distort our perceptions of beauty."

I have always liked this ancient statue. In fact, I had a replica of it for a long time, until I gave it to a friend who was trying to get pregnant. (She has since had two beautiful daughters.)

I grew up when the voluptuous female was still in style, Marilyn Monroe was the image given to us as the ideal feminine at a time when I was a little girl, still undeveloped. In my teens, with my small breasts, and slimness, I felt less than a full woman. Later, after having a child, suddenly the image changed to Twiggy, and my body, now with large breasts and more rounded, was again at odds with the style. Somewhere along the way, I encountered this portrayal of a woman in the Venus of Willendorf. I don't know how long it was before I found her beautiful, but she was always intriguing.

I can certainly see her as a nurturing mother, yet I'm not sure how this relates to Cups. Even Pollack says of her that she is "an earthy woman."
Perhaps it is seeing the creative process as one of gestation and birth. Her arms and legs are so de-emphasized, it is as if her very essence is fecundity, all breasts and belly. The womb of water, breasts which give milk -- two watery realms. Her genital area is exaggerated, so I think of the blood of birth and menstruation, another watery mystery.

OK, as I write this I am seeing the relationship to water, that as human beings we are 90% water, living on a watery planet, beginning our existence in the sea of our mother's wombs, becoming that sea ourselves.

Again, very archetypal. I have no idea how I would read this in a spread, but it is a fruitful image to meditate on.
 

RedMaple

I'm bumping this thread in case anyone is interested.
 

Aoife

More than interested!
A wonderful post. Thank you!
 

Imagemaker

Finally finding the time to discuss the *round* one!

When I was young, I found this figure quite repulsive, possibly because I was afraid I would turn into her! Well, I'm much rounder now, have come to terms with it, and she doesn't scare me any more.

Thinking of the early civilisations where it was a relief and security to have a warm motherly figure (meant you not only ate well but lived to a ripe age), this is a perfect Queen of cups. And past the age of menopause, that fat continues to produce valuable estrogen. Few pre-history women lived that long, but think of the mature wisdom and life experience this Queen has to share.

Great post about the water elements, Red Maple!

I found my Pollack book on the deck. The discussion points out that these figures date from 30K to 50K years years ago, saying the card tells us to look to "whatever goes back to such deep levels that we know somehow it reaches beyond our cultural upbringing [and fashionability!]. . . the Venus of Willendorf [is] a figure of instinct."

Pollack also says that a reversed Venus means a person who is out of touch with her deepest truths. It leads me to ponder what are the deepest truths of a woman, a motherly figure, an instinctual/emotional knowing that our logical, scientific culture often dismisses.

I adore this figure now. She is truly a Goddess!
 

Windhorse

I have to admit I had some trouble reconciling the image of the archetypal Earth Mother with the Queen of Cups initially....

... but now she makes a little sense...

I am actually an Archaeology Major, so I have a little background in this field, and hopefully a little insight to share.

Yes, the consensus - even amongst scholars - is that this figure was meant to represent 'the Great Goddess'... whatever that is....

It also speaks of a time where Humans felt comfortable and safe enough to spend some spare time whittling away, being CREATIVE instead of hunting, and concerning themselves with their own mere survival. As most of us in the modern day understand, we only have the time to be creative and artistic when we have the time away from the survival stuff like working, paying bills, etc, etc...

But I look at this voluptuous venus as being a marker, a flag, a signal to a time, rather than to a figure or concept. After all, the figure of the Venus of Willendorf and her archaeological interpretation actually fit more with the traditional tarot idea of the Queen of Pentacles/Coins/Disks... well, in my humble opinion anyway...

However, she was a product of her times.

And in her times, in her place, the Goddess ruled supreme (at least, that is the consensus). Everyone - from scholars to New-Agers - at least agree that humanity at this time (30-50 k years ago) lived in matriarchal societies. Women, as givers of life and representatives of the Great Goddess would have been the movers-and-shakers of society. As such there would have been a head-woman which every tribe or clan looked to as a form of authority, and what we know from these kinds of societies is that 'chiefs' would have been seen as being endowed with magical powers and knowledge beyond that of the ordinary folk. She was probably also a master of healing, herbs, and midwifery. This, to me at least, alludes to the figure of the Tarot's Queen of Cups - a woman who is in touch with the darker, formless aspects of life: the dark, mirroring waters, the mystery of the depths, of the lakes and rivers (like MZ Bradley's women of Avalon). She was the healer, the psychic, the empath, the Lady of the Lake. She was the vessel (the cup or grail) that beheld the new life (the womb). She was the representative of the Goddess, the High Priestess of the Moon's energies (just like in patriarchl times, the King was the rep for the Sun-God).

In this sense - and given Haindl's appreciation of Crowley's work on the Tarot - the representations of both the Major Arcana's Priestess (II) and the Queen of Cups in Crowley's Book of Thoth show the connection between these two cards. If you have the two images, place the cards next to each other head-to-head: you can see how Lady Harris' artwork hints at the connection. Just like the magic of water, one reflects the other...

I hope this sheds a little more light on the mystery of this card...
 

Xara

Just want to say "thanks Windhorse" for that wonderful insight!
I'm just getting to grips with the Haindl - and I'm going to be watching this decks' SG very carefully! :)

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Blessings to you all.
Xara
na cuidbhle tionndaidh