musical minors?

Thread originally posted on the Aeclectic Tarot Forum on 06 Jun 2002, and now archived in the Forum Library.

firemaiden	06 Jun 2002
Hello all of you wise magic people: This may sound silly, but I am thinking about all the correspondances of the minor arcana, and wondering, if you had to chose a suit for each of the four instrument groups of the symphony orchestra: brass, woodwind, string and percussion, what would you choose? would this make sense? I am thinking woodwinds -- swords -- (phallic air/wind instruments) percussion -- wands -- (fire, explosive, percussive, thunder) strings -- cups (fluidity, flowing sound, feminine shapes) brass -- pentacles (gold). Any thoughts, ideas, reactions?

Phoenix	06 Jun 2002
I tend to think this: Woodwins - Cups(fluidity, flowing) Percuission - Pentacles(connected with the earth, ever moving) Brass - Wands Strings - Swoprds

Jeannette	06 Jun 2002
For what it's worth, here's the instrument selections that Osvaldo Menegazzi made for the minors in his "Tarocco della Musica": Wands -- French Horn. Cups -- Olifante di Avorio (carved tusk horn) Swords -- Mandolin Pentacles -- Violins Also, just as a matter of additional interest, the Kings are represented by famous theaters/opera houses (The Opera Theater in Paris for Wands, La Scala in Milan for Cups, the Bolshoi in Moscow for Swords, and the Metropolitan in New York for Pentacles), and the Aces are represented by composers (Paganini for Wands, Beethoven for Cups, Bach for Swords, and Verdi for Pentacles). I do not have any documentation that explains the reasoning, if any, behind these selections. -- Jeannette http://www.tarotgarden.com

firemaiden	06 Jun 2002
Fascinating! I saw that deck on line and thought it was very interesting. Do you have that deck??

Jeannette	06 Jun 2002
Quote: Originally posted by firemaiden Fascinating! I saw that deck on line and thought it was very interesting. Do you have that deck?? Yes. I've had a copy in my personal collection for a number of years, and I think we've got one copy in our offline inventory at Tarot Garden. If you want to see more scans, you can access our database listing here: http://www.tarotgarden.com/database/dbsearchengine.php?view_title=musica The scans for this particular listing are shown about 33% smaller than actual size for somer reason. Not sure why, since we usually try to post them at actual size unless the cards are so tremendously large that it isn't practical. But I do believe there is also a "miniature" version available. The deck definitely favors works of the Italian masters, which isn't surprising -- I suppose those are the classical composers and works with which Menegazzi was most familiar. -- Jeannette http://www.tarotgarden.com

MeeWah	06 Jun 2002
FireMaiden: Welcome! This is fascinating; also sort of synchronistic since I am looking for material on the "music of the spheres"--which may not be related but is still something to think about. Jeanette: So nice to see you again! Thanks for the interesting information & link.

Jeannette	06 Jun 2002
Quote: Originally posted by MeeWah FireMaiden: Welcome! This is fascinating; also sort of synchronistic since I am looking for material on the "music of the spheres"--which may not be related but is still something to think about. Jeanette: So nice to see you again! Thanks for the interesting information & link. Actually, if you're interested in the associations between music and tarot, symbollically speaking, you might also be interested in the Parrott Tarot. This deck includes information/illustrations regarding musical tones associated with the major arcana cards. The samples from this deck can be seen here: http://www.tarotgarden.com/database/dbsearchengine.php?view_title=parrott I'd be interested in reading anything you have to share about your studies on music and metaphysics -- I started my "college career" as a music major, so of course the subject of the connection between music and tarot has an especial fascination for me. Thanks for the warm welcome back to "active posting status" on the Aeclectic forums! -- Jeannette Tarot Garden http://www.tarotgarden.com

Faerie Lin	07 Jun 2002
firemaiden, that makes perfect sense! Thats my perspective also! Lin

firemaiden	07 Jun 2002
Thank you Faerie Lin! Jeannette and/or Lori, yes I found various references ascribing the "keys" to different notes, which is hardly surprising because the tones are vibrating frequencies, so they would be as easy to assign cards to as colors, although what meaning one could impart from that escapes me. ON the other hand, music of the spheres is a subject I remember popping up in a medieval french literature course I once took from visiting professor and St Augustine Scholar, Eugene Vance, at Berkeley. I will have to check back on my notes. He was very interested in that.

The musical minors? thread was originally posted on 06 Jun 2002 in the Talking Tarot board, and is now archived in the Forum Library. Read the active threads in Talking Tarot, or read more archived threads.