Mantegna deck Temperance

Further to the sun card:-

I didn't actually see that scorpion, but if you look at the card it is as if she is looking directly at it and the sun in her hand is almost like a globe of power about to be thrusted from her open hand. Does this indicate the use of a power to irradicate that which is conflicting. Perhaps like seeing the light and banishing any negative thoughts or processes, hence the guy who is falling from the chariot into the river. Maybe it indicates putting past demons behind you and moving forward to better objectives.

Now the two headed lady in the cards Theology 30 and Prudence 35.

Take a look at the expressions on the faces of the men and the women. In Theology she looks up almost in surprise whilst he looks down in reverence. Her left hand is held in a receiving manner. Could that indicate as above so below? By receiving and understanding the growth from within one could (she could be holding her tummy) inner peace can be gained and passed on.

In Prudence she looks into a mirror which is held by cupid (love) She is actually admiring herself and looks rather pleased with herself, however the man looks concerned or worried. The white dragon indicates protection or pure thoughts. Notice too the background colour is blue (water = emotions). What is she holding in her other hand though? Perhaps this may indicate not being too caught up in your own self image for the ignorance which may result. Or focus respect to yourself whilst at the same time remember to focus respect onto others.

What do you think guys??

Oh my, I love your takes on these cards! However, I won't have time to look at the deck again until next week. Going to Sweden tomorrow, and lots of back-and-forth all weekend. I will get back to you with my opinions hopefully on Sunday.

~aeonx~

MystiqueMoonlight said:

Take a look at the expressions on the faces of the men and the women. In Theology she looks up almost in surprise whilst he looks down in reverence. Her left hand is held in a receiving manner. Could that indicate as above so below? By receiving and understanding the growth from within one could (she could be holding her tummy) inner peace can be gained and passed on.

In Prudence she looks into a mirror which is held by cupid (love) She is actually admiring herself and looks rather pleased with herself, however the man looks concerned or worried. The white dragon indicates protection or pure thoughts. Notice too the background colour is blue (water = emotions). What is she holding in her other hand though? Perhaps this may indicate not being too caught up in your own self image for the ignorance which may result. Or focus respect to yourself whilst at the same time remember to focus respect onto others.

What do you think guys??

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Mystique that is a great interpretation, I hadn't looked closely at their facial expressions. I see the little dragon in Prudence as the protection given by her higher self. A dragon has a serpent body, for instincts, the lower self, but spiritualized, given wings. One of the things that helps her be prudent is that she is aware of her baser impulses and has not repressed them (looking in the mirror, "know thyself"). In the Minchiate deck Prudence has a serpent wrapped around her waist, which could be expressing something similar.

Could that thing in her right hand be a measuring instrument, the kind used by architects? Implying a measured, prudent response to things.

-Myrrha

In the merged thread for the Mantegna, I added two online links to art museum examples in Italy---Milan paintings by Bonifaci Bembo can be found at the Milan museum and Fererra paintings for Duke Borso circa 1470's. Tarocchi style paintings, poetry, etc., were typical for the time in these courtly families (Milan and Fererra), so maybe a peek at such influences might help.
Also, there are links to the other Mantegna deck literature in that thread, so you can enjoy better comparisons to a closer deck, if that works.
Best wishes
Mari H.

Thank you Mari_Hosizaki for that we'll definetly be taking a peek

Scorpion on the sun card

aeonx said:

Take out your Sun-card, and study it closely. Have you noticed the scorpio on the card before?? I'm stunned, as the scorpio, in most other decks I have, is on the Moon-card. On the other hand, the Mantegna Moon does not have any scorpio at all...
~aeonx~

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This card could represent the story of Phaeton, son of Apollo who drove his fathers sun chariot. He was frightened by the scorpion of the zodiac and lost control of the sun. This is from Bullfinch:

He sees with terror the monstrous forms scattered over the surface of heaven. Here the Scorpion extended his two great arms, with his tail and crooked claws stretching over two signs of the zodiac. When the boy beheld him, reeking with poison and menacing with his fangs, his course failed, and the reins fell from his hands.

(The sun chariot is out of control and goes too close to the earth)

The clouds begin to smoke, and the mountain tops take fire; the fields are parched with heat, the plants wither, the trees with their leafy branches burn, the harvest is ablaze! But these are small things. Great cities perished, with their walls and towers; whole nations with their people were consumed to ashes!

Then Phaeton beheld the world on fire, and felt the heat intolerable. The air he breathed was like the air of a furnace and full of burning ashes, and the smoke was of a pitchy darkness. He dashed forward he knew not whither.

(Earth asks Jupiter to intervene because everything is burning)

He (Jupiter) thundered, and brandishing a lightning bolt in his right hand launched it against the charioteer, and struck him at the same moment from his seat and from existence! Phaeton, with his hair on fire, fell headlong, like a shooting star which marks the heavens with its brightness as it falls, and Eridanus, the great river, received him and cooled his burning frame. The Italian Naiads reared a tomb for him, and inscribed these words upon the stone:
"Driver of Phoebus' chariot, Phaeton,
Struck by Jove's thunder, rests beneath this stone.
He could not rule his father's car of fire,
Yet was it much so nobly to aspire."

You can read the whole myth here:
http://ancienthistory.about.com/library/bl/bl_text_bullfinch_5.htm

Myrrha,

Now that seems to it in straight to this card. Oviously because of the decks Italian connection perhaps it may be worthwhile further investigation with the other cards into this mythology.

I'm curious now about which myths are behind the other cards in the series of planets. In the venus card there is a blindfolded man with a bow and arrow and a bird falling out of the sky . . . I recognize the figure of Mercury/Hermes but wonder if there is a particular story here with the rooster and the bust of a pockmarked face. Saturn seems to be Chronos swallowing his children. Zeus was saved because his mother Rhea substituted a stone, but it might be hard to relate that story to a reading!

Myrrha