Cary-Yale 17

KnightMove

This is a card of the famous Cary-Yale deck from the 15th century:
Cary-Yale_-_XVII.jpg


It has been uploaded in Wikipedia, see http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Hope.jpg . But there it is called "Hope". Now Hope is none of the Tarot cards, and usually this card is identified as the star, see for example http://www.albideuter.de/html/die_viscontis_-_grosse_arkana.html .

Why is the card called hope? What is the relation between hope and the star? And what exactly is pictured? I'm grateful for any information.
 

Huck

Hope is one of the three theological virtues.

Hope (Spes) - Faith (Fides) - Love (Caritas)

This are usually modeled together with the 4 cardinal virtues:

Temperance (Temperancia) - Strength (Fortitudo) - Prudence (Prudentia) - Justce (Iustitia)

This is rather common model, also used in the socalled Mantegna Tarocchi
http://trionfi.com/mantegna/
Numbers 34-40

*************

For the Cary Yale, which is only a fragment of a deck with 11 trump cards and (likely) incomplete suits with in the original state had 16 cards for each suit with an addition of female pages and female knights:

* Dummett made the suggestion, that there 24 Trumps and a Fool

* other suggestions had been, that it might be a Minchiate deck.

* Trionfi.com suggested, that the number of trumps had been 16, such forming a 5x16-deck
This was debated in 2003 here:
http://trionfi.com/0/c/35
Then it was suggested, that the designer possibly followed a chess model.

This Chess Tarot hypothesis has since then considerably expanded. First it was assumed, that also the Charles-VI deck (fragment with 16 trumps + 1 court card) is also in its origin with 16 trumps.
In this theory it's assumed, that the earlier Cary-Yale-Tarocchi was partly imitated, but with some remarkable changes. So Spes-Fides-Caritas was exchanged with sun-moon-FOOL, which presented a sort of "local virtues in Florence" (it's assumed, that these cards were done in Florence, and as a plausible date is given 1463).

A short time later the oldest star appeared (inside the PMB-addition of six trumps) and then the triad Sun-Moon-Star (this is assumed to have happened 1465).

The Chess Tarot Hypothesis sees meanwhile all known early Trionfi-decks (till 1470) involved in some presentation of chess iconography. Even the Hofämterspiel shows some involvement.
 

Ross G Caldwell

Hope is one of the three Theological Virtues, listed in Paul's first letter to the Corinthians, chapter 13 verse 13.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Theological_virtues

The other two Theological Virtues are Faith and Love (often named "Charity" in old-fashioned English). All three are shown in the Cary-Yale Tarot.

The anchor and Sun/star are the most common attributes of her iconography. In this card, the traitor Judas is shown, with a rope around his neck, to symbolize Despair, the opposite of Hope.

The three Theological Virtues are not among the 22 standard subjects, but they occur over a century later among the additional cards of the Minchiate trumps. This led some commentators to imagine that the Cary Yale was an early Minchiate deck.

However, the 20 additional trumps of the Minchiate (earlier name "Germini"), including the Cardinal Virtue of Prudence, are all placed in a single block between "Fuoco" ("Fire", known as the Maison Dieu in French decks and the Tower in English) and the Star, indicating that they were later additions to the standard sequence, and not as part of the original scheme of the standard sequence. The game and deck also seem to have been invented in Florence in the 1520s. Finally, the Cary Yale also has two additional court cards in each suit, female equivalents of Knight and Page. No Minchiate (and no other Tarot ever) has 6 court cards per suit.

The Cary Yale is probably the oldest surviving Tarot deck - early 1440s - but the additional court cards and trumps make me believe that the deck is an expansion of the standard deck (like the later Minchiate), rather than the earliest kind of Tarot.
 

KnightMove

Thank you very much for the informations, Huck & Ross!

So... is it wrong to identify this card with the star?
 

Huck

Thank you very much for the informations, Huck & Ross!

So... is it wrong to identify this card with the star?

It's taken by the Minchiate as two different objects.

But there are occasionally similarities in the iconography, especially in the PMB-addition-Star. Hope (Spes) has often a light in one of the upper corner, which easily might be understood as a star, for instance in the Mantegna Tarocchi ... there is naturally also an iconographic tradition of virtues outside of the Tarocchi cards.
 

Yygdrasilian

...by 'the word' of his power...

!?! said:
When God made his promise to Abraham, since there was no one greater for him to swear by, he swore by himself, saying, “I will surely bless you and give you many descendants.” And so after waiting patiently, Abraham received what was promised.

People swear by someone greater than themselves, and the oath confirms what is said and puts an end to all argument. Because God wanted to make the unchanging nature of his purpose very clear to the heirs of what was promised, he confirmed it with an oath. God did this so that, by two unchangeable things in which it is impossible for God to lie, we who have fled to take hold of the hope set before us may be greatly encouraged. We have this hope as an anchor for the soul, firm and secure. It enters the inner sanctuary behind the curtain, where our forerunner, Jesus, has entered on our behalf. He has become a high priest forever, in the order of Melchizedek.

-Hebrews 6
Coiling around these Hands in prayer, a cord bound to the anchor of Hope - which may indeed draw one up & out of the depths of despair. But the man with the noose about his neck isn’t always a Judas. There is an other we may see bearing the burden of his prayers upon his back: Saint Mark the Evangelist, whom tradition has martyred by lynch mob & rope through the streets of Alexandria.
http://www.christusrex.org/www2/berry/f19v.html

He is counted among the Four Evangelists said to have authored the Gospels, often depicted like the Chayyot [Living Creatures] of Yahweh's Chariot (Merkabah) described within the Book of Ezekiel & the Apocalypse of John, and likewise represent the four cardinal signs of the zodiac:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mandorla#Mandorla

♉
Taurus
Luke

♌
Leo
Mark

♏
Scorpio
John

♒
Aquarius
Matthew

Sometimes regarded as the gospel of messianic secrecy, the Book of Mark depicts Jesus as communicating through parables which tend to mystify his followers -just as the intent behind the design of these cards is puzzled over today.

At some point our theological virtues, or ‘graces’, were deemed unnecessary as the Trionfi underwent the distillation which eventually produced Tarot. Perhaps the purpose of their iconography was better served in this other form.

Who can say?

But there is a hook-like feature-
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Leo_IAU.svg
-much like a tine from Hope’s anchor-
that has long been associated with Leo’s Lion and stems from ‘The Star’ Regulus - of which the alchemists made much allusion in their lore as concerns the relationship between Antimony & the 7 planetary metals - especially their 'King'.
http://books.google.com/books?id=ww...&ct=result#v=onepage&q=regulus martis&f=false

!?! said:
If perfection could have been attained through the Levitical priesthood—and indeed the law given to the people established that priesthood—why was there still need for another priest to come, one in the order of Melchizedek, not in the order of Aaron? For when the priesthood is changed, the law must be changed also. He of whom these things are said belonged to a different tribe, and no one from that tribe has ever served at the altar. For it is clear that our Lord descended from Judah, and in regard to that tribe Moses said nothing about priests. And what we have said is even more clear if another priest like Melchizedek appears, one who has become a priest not on the basis of a regulation as to his ancestry but on the basis of the power of an indestructible life.

For it is declared:
"You are a priest forever, 

in the order of Melchizedek."

The former regulation is set aside because it was weak and useless (for the law made nothing perfect), and a better hope is introduced, by which we draw near to God. And it was not without an oath! Others became priests without any oath, but he became a priest with an oath when God said to him:

“The Lord has sworn
and will not change his mind:
You are a priest forever."

Because of this oath, Jesus has become the guarantor of a better covenant.

-Hebrews 7
 

Yygdrasilian

Go Fish

Among the surviving triumphs of this deck, the virtues allude to an alchemical measure of Gold ⊙ which concerns the Lion ♌ in whose house the Sun is said to rule... http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-0dHNTDDFl6Q/TkSGJ-STEpI/AAAAAAAAAZo/U6ekf2gEZII/s1600/St.+Mark.jpg
...and Saturn find its’ exile.

By some accounts, “The Star” of subsequent Tarot has enjoyed a lasting affinity with “Fish-Hooks” via the symbol attributed the Hebrew letter Tzaddi. Here we have an anchor for the soul, firm and secure, which may enter the sanctum sanctorum, or 'Holy of Holies'-
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Solomon's_Temple#Most_Holy_Place
-where our forerunner, the “Fish”, has entered on our behalf...
http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-su1FMe_n2Es/TfRMC-OmfZI/AAAAAAAAAYY/R2aphI3FLU8/s1600/Water-Bearer.jpg

Thus- it may benefit a11 who choose to recognize this ‘Game of Triumphs’ to likewise acknowledge that Faith, Hope & Charity were also the children of Wisdom... http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Faith,_Hope_and_Charity ...and are therefore best approached with the humility of knowing that we know: “אothing”