View Full Version : Pips and their value
In the thread Ordering a Suit (http://www.tarotforum.net/showthread.php?s=&threadid=28396), Fulgour brought to our attention a means by which to not only order each suit, but also to reflect on their value.
Instead of the more usualAce = 1
Two = 2
Three = 3
etc.a suggestion is made that the Ace is the fulness of the suit (ie, 1/1), and that each subsequent numbered pip is its fractional value:Two = 1/2
Three = 1/3
Four = 1/5
etc.There is another possible way to also consider each of the pips, in that each card is viewed as ONE WHOLE, thus:Ace = 1/1
Two = 2/2
Three = 3/3
etc.Here, each card is seen as a whole unit, but represented in each of ten possible fractures (from a single wholeness to a ten-fold but unified wholeness). After all, a single card, such as the five Coins, has five parts which make it whole...
Upon my own reflections, this yields further dimensions to each of the cards, for which I'll undoubtedly have to give examples... just please allow me time to play some more with the idea :)
I'm with the 1/1, 2/2, 3/3 idea.
First, the essense of the card, the whole.
Secondly the two counterparts of the essense meet to create unity in cooperation or problems in countering.
Thirdly, the meeting/union of the two, and subsequent reaction, create a third aspect, one of the opposites combined.
Fourth, a "counterpart" of the result of the previous union is made, creating balance since there are now "four corners" to support the structure.
Fifth, another part is added for the structure itself, which can be fulfilling or countering since it both completes and challenges the structure of the balanced 4.
Sixth, the completion of the unity of the five results in the sixth, the goal to what this structure will eventually turn out to be.
Seventh, along the way the companions are bound to choose sides and have choices to make, leading up the the seventh, the determining factor for the direction they are to take.
Eighth, the fulfillment of the plan creates the eighth which leads the group towards the nearing goal with energy in the knowledge of the direction to take.
Ninth, the goal is in sight, the companions rest and can see the end of their journey in front of them. The journey behind them has tought them enough for them to make reasonable requests on the remainder on the journey and also enough for them to keep their goal still in mind and not get deterred.
Tenth, the end of the journey. The goal has been reached and a castle stands before the group. The 10 creating again the nr 1 becoming the essense again once the full circle has been completed.
But not only that, but during their journey the castle has been built housing the courts...
Oh, goodness. This is FUN!
Naturally the four elements all represent different parts of the conflicts and coming-togethers during the journey.. This can be elaborated upon for quite some time. :o)
I just realised that if I keep this train of thought going I can start reading unillustrated pips soon too. *yay*
1.000 = 1/1
0.500 = 1/2
0.333 = 1/3
0.250 = 1/4
0.200 = 1/5
0.166 = 1/6
0.142 = 1/7
0.125 = 1/8
0.111 = 1/9
0.100 = 1/10
jmd has elsewhere expressed the important difference betwwen
ordinal and cardinal numbers and their relative expression of value.
Similarly, what I have been developing is an intuitive interpretation
of the number value of the Pips and their relation to the Aces.
We don't think of the 10 of Coins as ten times the Ace or twice the 5
and for good reason ~ the cards represent the quality of the numbers.
But isn't it valid to consider 10 as being removed, away from the Ace,
as if say standing away from or nearer to an energy, like perhaps fire,
where the heat is undiminished, but our experience of it is different?
We have been taught to think of 10 as more than 1, but...
Upon my own reflections, this yields further dimensions to each of the cards, for which I'll undoubtedly have to give examples... just please allow me time to play some more with the idea :)Bonjour :) jmd ~ How have your thoughts been developing in this regard?
I'm just a slow developer, I suppose ;)
The image that I recall came to mind at the time of writing the above post is that of a hologramme, the Ace being a whole unfragmented plate; the Two being a holographic plate 'broken' (or rather split) in two, each part containing, of course, the whole; and so on for each pip, up to the Ten being the holographic plate split into ten sections, each section still, as holographic partial plates do, containing the whole, yet each segment 'weaker' if removed from its adjacent segments.
In a hologram, what is also needed is the focussed light shining through, in a similar manner to a focussed imagination shining through the imagery of the card. When the 'plate' or card depicts ten 'parts', the trick would be to both allow the various directions of focus to occur to various partial imagery, but also simultaneously allow for the parts to be brought back together into a single image: an Ace.
How would this work in practice in a reading:
For example, the three of coins is seen alongside three other cards. Each coin is seen to refract an element of each of the cards, to be further united into the single card. If there was an Ace instead, it would show its own clear image projected outwards onto the other three cards. A ten, by comparison, would refract but weakly each of the other cards in its coin imagery, seemingly mitigating against unification without additional conscious effort.
I have probably not explained this very clearly, and have only rarely used it over the past couple of years (perhaps a couple of dozen times).
What is fascinating by this method is that the other cards in turn refract and reflect each card in ways that leads to quite a dialogue (or rather, polylogue).
1.000 = 1/1
0.500 = 1/2
0.333 = 1/3
0.250 = 1/4
0.200 = 1/5
0.166 = 1/6
0.142 = 1/7
0.125 = 1/8
0.111 = 1/9
0.100 = 1/10I'm not crazy about numbers but I enjoy seeing them at work.
A conversion chart like this has no place on my Tarot table...
but it's fun to look at the way fractions and decimals give the
whole numbers a bit of fancy dress ~ it shows off their style.