Scapini Cups court cards

Thread originally posted on the Aeclectic Tarot Forum on 06 Oct 2004, and now archived in the Forum Library.

sarahbellum	06 Oct 2004
I just noticed that all four court cards in the Medieval Scapini Cups suit have strong religious overtones combined with decided sensuality--the King is a Renaissance Pope with hearts on his garters; the Queen looks like Venus with a nun's wimple; the Kinight is a monk with a heavily decorated habit; and the Page is a Swiss Guard (Vatican guard) holding a cup that portrays two creatures kissing. What do you make of this unusual overlay of themes?

Mesara	06 Oct 2004
I love the King of Cups in this deck! I think Scapini had a very humorous approach to a lot of the cards in this deck; dressing the King of Cups in drag was awesome, somethng card makers of the past would have never dared to do! Maybe he was trying to paint the court cards in a comical way so as to strip them of their intimidating nature; make them seem as prone to the quirks of human nature as the rest of us. Maybe it was just his personal strike against royalty in general; dressing them up as floosies as a reflection of what he really thought about nobility.

Umbrae	06 Oct 2004
In Art and Arcana Commentary on The Medieval Scapini Tarot, page 184, Ronald Decker states, “In common cartomancy, the Cups usually correspond to Hearts. Both suits are associated with the ecclesiastical class.” We also learn in Monde Primitif (1781) that Hearts equated with Joy. Eteilla further tells us that this was used before that time by the Parisian cartomancers back in the 1750’s. The King of Cups is represented by, “Pope Leo X, a patron of the arts.”, the Knight resembles Rasputin, Botticelli’s ‘Birth of a Virgin’ is recalled as the Queen, and the Swiss Guard becomes a Page. Scapini based the art on the Bembo decks, adding in bits from Levi’, the Golden Dawn, Papus, Waite, and Etteilla. Sometimes making visual jokes. In the time of Bembo – the ecclesiastical class was looked on quite differently than now (where often we recoil in horror at the concept of ‘church’ – note the many negative connotations of ‘The Pope’ or ‘Hierophant’ by modern authors). Personally, I like the inclusion in the courts…it works…the imagery does represent ‘food for the soul’, and a gentle nod back to the past – from where cartomancy came from… Just my opinion…

Umbrae	06 Oct 2004
The King is is wearing the robes of a Pope.

Mesara	06 Oct 2004
They are wearing garters for heavens sakes! With hearts on them! I realize that he may not have had drag queens in mind when he painted them this way, but they do in my opinion have very drag queen like qualities about them. I think he was merely trying to be funny, and I think he succeeded. What I was trying to illustrate by using the term "drag" was that he chose to paint the courts in a very radical, humorous way that was a great departure from the traditional representation of these cards. Thats all. Im not saying that he made the court cards into drag queens!!!! Geez!!!!!

sarahbellum	06 Oct 2004
Whoops! Didn't mean to start a flame war. Mostly I am curious about other people's take on the combination of sensuous and religious imagery in the same group of four Courts. My own reading: it is a wonderful reminder that all of us combine both the spiritual and the material, which are not separate at all but mingled in our nature. Also that spiritual things are not to be set off apart into some "holy' (and easily ignorable) area of life, but are part of everyday life. Also that there is a spiritual dimension to sensuality.

Mesara	06 Oct 2004
Your right Sarah, there is a perplexing combination of sensuosness and religious symbolism in this deck that raises many questions as to what Scapini wanted people to get out of this deck. The Queen of Cups suggesting Venus but reflecting a nun is the most perplexing of all to me. We are so not used to merging the two (sensuousness/ nunnery) into the same entity. I still cannot make sense of this card. As for the king dressed as he is; well yes he is wearing the robes of a pope but he is also showing us his garters with hearts on them. As Umbrae said, these hearts are the traditional symbol of this suit. Yes. But why did Scapini decide to depict the card in this way? Surely no righteous Pope would ever display his garters like this, let alone wear garters, so I do think Scapini was trying to put an element of sex, even *kinky* sex into this image. The suit of cups is all about emotion, love, relationships. Could Scapini be suggesting that even the most rigid and virtuous among us need to get their *freak* on every once in a while? That no one is immune to love and all it's sensuous pleasures?

Fulgour	07 Oct 2004
Quote: Originally posted by Umbrae The King of Cups is represented by, “Pope Leo X, a patron of the arts.” (...note the many negative connotations of ‘The Pope’ or ‘Hierophant’ by modern authors). CATHOLIC ENCYCLOPEDIA: Pope Leo X Giovanni de Medici 1475 -1521 The only possible verdict on the pontificate of Leo X is that it was unfortunate for the Church. Sigismondo Tizio, whose devotion to the Holy See is undoubted, writes truthfully: "In the general opinion it was injurious to the Church that her Head should delight in plays, music, the chase and nonsense, instead of paying serious attention to the needs of his flock and mourning over their misfortunes". Von Reumont says pertinently–"Leo X is in great measure to blame for the fact that faith in the integrity and merit of the papacy, in its moral and regenerating powers, and even in its good intentions, should have sunk so low that men could declare extinct the old true spirit of the Church." ___________ Choosing the Catholic Encyclopedia as a reference was done out of respect for historically sincere Catholics and families. I was an altar boy when the Mass was in Latin, but you won't hear me saying mea culpa at the drop of a hat these days. This deck's best 'first and last' reference is perhaps the LWB, but as has been noted, the cards can speak for themselves... From Tarot.com: The Medieval Scapini Tarot by Luigi Scapini Copyright © 1984 U.S. Games Systems, Inc.

Mesara	07 Oct 2004
Quote: Originally posted by Fulgour CATHOLIC ENCYCLOPEDIA: Pope Leo X The only possible verdict on the pontificate of Leo X is that it was unfortunate for the Church. Sigismondo Tizio, whose devotion to the Holy See is undoubted, writes truthfully: "In the general opinion it was injurious to the Church that her Head should delight in plays, music, the chase and nonsense, instead of paying serious attention to the needs of his flock and mourning over their misfortunes". Von Reumont says pertinently–"Leo X is in great measure to blame for the fact that faith in the integrity and merit of the papacy, in its moral and regenerating powers, and even in its good intentions, should have sunk so low that men could declare extinct the old true spirit of the Church." So Scapini chose to represent Pope Leo X in the way he did as a reference to Leo's self-indulgence, which brought a measure of shame and embarrasment to the church. So, maybe he chose Leo X to represent the King of Cups in order to demonstrate the intoxicating effects of love (of anything, not just romantic love), and how it's power can distract even the most devout off of their straight and narrow path?

Umbrae	07 Oct 2004
We are told by Ronald Decker in Commentary on The Medieval Scapini Tarot, that Luigi Scapini chose Pope Leo X, because he was a ‘Patron of the Arts’.

Mesara	07 Oct 2004
Quote: Originally posted by Umbrae We are told by Ronald Decker in Commentary on The Medieval Scapini Tarot , that Luigi Scapini chose Pope Leo X, because he was a ‘ Patron of the Arts ’. Yes, I have that book too and have read the commentaries as well. I guess I just think there is more to it than that, that more information about Scapini's intentions could be revealed through closer inspection and retrospection of the cards themselves. Scapini chose Leo X because he was a Patron of the Arts. Yes. But when you look at that card is that all you see? A "Patron of the Arts?" That is not enough for me. I guess im just very analytical in my observations, I am not one to just read the author's commentary and accept it and then move on to the next card. This way of looking at things just seems very limiting.

sarahbellum	07 Oct 2004
One of the nicest things about this deck is that it has so many layers of meaning. It is both serious and humorous, close to the RWS tradition yet with its own twists, and incredibly full of symbolism that I for one find very evocative. In other contexts I generally find the mix of religious symbolism and sex a bit distasteful (viz., porno nuns), but in these four courts, it seems much more to have a spiritual meaning.

tmgrl2	07 Oct 2004
My deck arrived today...a gift ...and Art and Arcana is on its way. Stacking it up with my other "reads" for when I have time. terri

The Scapini Cups court cards thread was originally posted on 06 Oct 2004 in the Using Tarot Cards board, and is now archived in the Forum Library. Read the active threads in Using Tarot Cards, or read more archived threads.