Five of Pentacles- stained glass window

Zephyros

I agree, there doesn't seem to be any glass missing. The similarities to the slits are striking, however, but I can't seem to resolve any significance to that. My first thought was that these were Boaz and Jachin, the two pillars present on the Priestess, yet the Moon seems a better fit, as it really does look like that card in miniature up there, as if captioned. The illusory nature of that card would seem to suggest that here is the result, swift Mercury being reined in to the purposes of slow and plodding Taurus in an unbalanced position on the Tree: no comfort in materialism here.

Zephyros

Alternately, looking at the Sola Busca five, the element of the discs on a tree is somewhat explained:

Here is the card itself:

http://www.albideuter.de/html/solabusca_68.html

E. Cobham Brewer said:
Dictionary of Phrase and Fable. 1898
Dodo’na.

A famous oracle in Epi’ros, and the most ancient of Greece. It was dedicated to Zeus (Jupiter), and situate in the village of Dodna.
The tale is, that Jupiter presented his daughter Theb with two black pigeons which had the gift of human speech. Lemprière tells us that the Greek word peleiai (pigeons) means, in the dialect of the Eprots, old women; so that the two black doves with human voice were two black or African women. One went to Libya, in Africa, and founded the oracle of Jupiter Ammon; the other went to Eprus and founded the oracle of Dodna. We are also told that plates of brass were suspended on the oak trees of Dodona, which being struck by thongs when the wind blew, gave various sounds from which the responses were concocted. It appears that this suggested to the Greeks the phrase Kalkos Dodns (brass of Dodona), meaning a babbler, or one who talks an infinite deal of nothing.

I like very much the connection of "an infinite deal of nothing" to the Waite Five.

Herodotus goes on to write of the doves:

...the women who deliver the oracles relate the matter as follows:- "Two black doves flew away from Egyptian Thebes, and while one directed its flight to Libya, the other came to them. She alighted on an oak, and sitting there began to speak with a human voice, and told them that on the spot where she was, there should henceforth be an oracle of Jove. They understood the announcement to be from heaven, so they set to work at once and erected the shrine. The dove which flew to Libya bade the Libyans to establish there the oracle of Ammon."
….
The Dodonaeans called the women doves because they were foreigners, and seemed to them to make a noise like birds. After a while the dove spoke with a human voice, because the woman, whose foreign talk had previously sounded to them like the chattering of a bird, acquired the power of speaking what they could understand. For how can it be conceived possible that a dove should really speak with the voice of a man?

While all this does not explain the slits, I feel it does have some bearing on the Pentacles hanging from a tree, as the Sola Busca was an influence in the drawing of the RWS. In addition, this card has a huge phallus on the figure's shield, immediately recalling to me Mars and Geburah, the fifth Sephirah. I find striking the fire symbolism in that card, as present in this one as pertaining to Mars, although the Sola Busca isn't Qabalistic. Pliny the Elder writes about the flaming branch underneath the figure's foot:

The fountain of Jupiter in Dodona, although it is as cold as ice, and extinguishes torches that are plunged into it, yet, if they be brought near it, it kindles them again.

I regret I cannot cite the sources in link form (I'm not that smart nor do I read Pliny) as they come from a different forum, but these are easily searchable.

Sulis

I'm sorry for being dense but I can't see any slits in the window on the 5 Pentacles... Can someone post an image and point them out?

Richard

Sulis said:
I'm sorry for being dense but I can't see any slits in the window on the 5 Pentacles... Can someone post an image and point them out?

They are at the top, circled in red.

Sulis

Thank you

.
They look like arrow or light slits to me..

gregory

Sulis said:
I'm sorry for being dense but I can't see any slits in the window on the 5 Pentacles... Can someone post an image and point them out?

My late father - a vicar - had a few of these in one of his churches and assured me that they were so clerics could keep an eye on what was going on - and also for use when the church was under attack. He may have been kidding; I can't ask him now....

Sulis

gregory said:
My late father - a vicar - had a few of these in one of his churches and assured me that they were so clerics could keep an eye on what was going on - and also for use when the church was under attack. He may have been kidding; I can't ask him now....

Sounds plausible.

Richard

If we apply Occam's Razor, I would say that at the top of the window there are depicted a symmetrical pair of man made structures (or the tops thereof) with a yellow sky between them containing the Roman numeral V (5 being the denomination of the card). A Pentacle and some foliage from the lower part of the window intrude into this scene.

Rosanne

.....there are depicted a symmetrical pair of man made structures.
Very precise! Also very funny.
I have no problem with Qabalistic Tarot.
As long as it is not Historical....like 14th Century.

So... Geburah The fives on the Pillar of Form or Severity
Directly opposite are the Fours or Chesed on the Pillar of Force/Mercy
So Kether is at the top as an Ace....
So Chesed is the Crook of the Shepherd
Geborah is The Spear and Sword

Worst Cruelty...Severity......Ace.......Mercy.....Worst feebleness
So go into the Church and shelter for the moment.

~Rosanne

Teheuti

It seems to me that the image has to be seen in terms of the rest of the deck. Pairs of pillars or towers is a major theme found repeatedly, representing the two pillars on the Tree - as several have noted above. At that size and distance, the slits are simple openings in the buildings - for light, air, or arrows is anybody's guess. Don't make it harder than it has to be.

Five of Pentacles- stained glass window

Zephyros

Zephyros

Sulis

Richard

Attachments

Sulis

gregory

Sulis

Richard

Rosanne

Teheuti