Five of Pentacles- stained glass window

Hi All,

I have wondered for many years why the top of the stained glass on the 'Five of Pentacles' has those strange slits on it. I found these inside the Anglican church (Church of England - Episcopal in U.S.A.) I attend and I asked the Father there what they are for and he said 'they are there to let light in for the staircases'. This church is around maybe 250 years old or more.

I don't know if the slits are meant to be the same as the ones I see in Anglican churches here, but the if so they add some food for thought to this compelling Waite-Smith image. I have provided a picture I took of the slits at the church I attend mass at as well as a scan of my favourite... the Albano-Waite deck.


Blessings,


Freddie

Freddie said:

Hi All,

I have wondered for many years why the top of the stained glass on the 'Five of Pentacles' has those strange slits on it. I found these inside the Anglican church (Church of England - Episcopal in U.S.A.) I attend and I asked the Father there what they are for and he said 'they are there to let light in for the staircases'. This church is around maybe 250 years old or more.

I don't know if the slits are meant to be the same as the ones I see in Anglican churches here, but the if so they add some food for thought to this compelling Waite-Smith image. I have provided a picture I took of the slits at the church I attend mass at as well as a scan of my favourite... the Albano-Waite deck.


Blessings,


Freddie

Click to expand...

Freddie, I can't see the slits. I can see that the Five Pentacles are on some kind of tree or something that could be construed as such. The 'tree' could also be some kind of liturgical symbol but I am not sure about that. It's a bit much perhaps to expect that of the Christianity of this period. It also looks a little like a candelabra but for pentacles instead of candles. Are what I see as the branches of this tree what you see as slits?

It is a very mysterious image. What do the pentacles mean in this card? Do they show that the Church is wealthy but miserly? Do they show that the real meaning of Christianity is hidden in a mass of words and rituals unrelated to the Gospel message of love and inclusion? Or, as many have suggested over the years, is the window actually lighting the path of the two souls in the cold?

The 'Pictorial Key to the Tarot' by Arthur Waite says the card means 'conquest of fortune by reason'. That interpretation appeals to me as well by if I was seeing the card for the first time I would not have thought of that meaning.

I guess this brings me to the idea of the meaning lying in the mind or the spirit of the beholder/reader, and his/her level of knowledge.

But I can't see 'slits' and your photo doesn't make them any clearer to me .

The slits are in the gray area above the Pentacles, and it is actually an interesting find; I had never noticed them before. The fives represent instability and loss of cohesion in the elements (compare this card to the Four of Pentacles). Four builds up, while the Five destroys, bringing poverty.

Now, not going into anything too technical, Qabalistically what is implied here is the harnessing of the spiritual elements into material things, leading to a loss, which could relate to the use of Church symbolism; in essence, the poor people aren't getting anything from it, and are left outside in the cold. The Thoth Five of Discs shows the Pentacles arranged in an inverted pentagram, symbolizing the triumph of matter over spirit, and shown as cogs in a machine that is breaking up.

I don't know where the slits fit in to all this, though, but still an interesting find. Thanks!

Well, they don't actually look like slits to me but they may well be. Who knows for sure 100 years on? If slits, do you think they could be to let air in? I wondered if the pieces in which the slits occur could somehow have the function of supporting the stained glass (if it is stained glass!)

Freddie, you did make me see other things in this image that I haven't see before. It is amazing what you take for granted. Thanks,

Thanks for the picture Freddie. It's possible some glass is missing in the window revealing an inside wall that has notches like in your picture.

I was having another look at the card and noticed a frame that goes all around the window, but at the top in the gray area there's another smaller border. What this could mean I'm not sure. Maybe there was supposed to be some special glass or imagery at the top that never got completed or fell out. The gray area so symmetrical it doesn't convey a sense of disrepair. It seems to have been left that way intentionally or never finished.

It's very difficult to figure this one out.

5 of Pents 100 KB

It reminds me of two towers with archer slits, something like the Moon card- Despair.
You cannot see the full length of the window as the top frame is missing.
Intersting observation Freddie. I looked and there are castles and towers depicted in stained glass in churches.
~Rosanne

I'd assumed they were stone buildings...maybe a reflection of the building opposite, but now I'm prefering the idea its the 2 towers of the Moon - well noticed Freddie!

This is why I LOVE the Rider - Waite - Smith deck; all the surprises!

I never noticed the towers until Freddie mentioned it. Rosanne associates them with the towers in the Moon card. They are also in Death. My feeling is that in Death as well as the Moon they indicate the gate to the East, the direction of the rising Sun, thus symbolizing the fact that this (darkness) too shall pass, a message of hope. I believe that there really is a "Golden Dawn," but it exists independently of the various occult organizations bearing that name. We are all, in a sense, handicapped and in poverty until we experience it.

I see what you're saying about the top Rosanne. I never noticed that before. It would've been good if we could've seen the whole thing.

I found this blog that shows a lot of pictures of the interior of Notre Dame.

http://kreiderskorner.blogspot.com/2011_01_01_archive.html

Looking at them, it's easy to see how the 5 of Pents could show an interior column or wall behind an incomplete window. The window looks to be incomplete due to material troubles of some sort. That would correspond with Waite's primary divinatory meaning as well at the Golden Dawn's.

Try as I might, I just can't see the Moon or Death towers. I understand the symbolic similarities, but the actual imagery is totally different.

To me it doesn't look like missing pieces in a stained glass window. Let's not forget the influence of Qabalah on the Waite deck. Just because it is popular with fortune tellers does not negate its origins in the esotericism of the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn.

I think it is significant that the Pentacles are arranged in the configuration of the first five Sephirot in the Tree of Life (rather than in the usual multiply symmetric pattern of the Five of Pentacles). This will be the Tree of Life in Asiah, the world of action, since the Sephirot are Pentacles . The top Sephirah, the Crown, would then probably be represented as visible light, as in the Sun-Crown in the Temperance card, on either side of which are the two mountains (instead of towers) between which the path of balance passes.

Since this is the RWS forum, I don't feel apologetic for bringing up some stuff which a lot of people are allergic to.