foolMoon
Of course. I was only responding to Abrac's specific mention of astrological symbols. There is certainly a wealth of other symbolism there.
Me too. I concur with your point.
Of course. I was only responding to Abrac's specific mention of astrological symbols. There is certainly a wealth of other symbolism there.
The only explicit astrological symbol I ever noticed in the RWS deck is the Venus glyph on the shield of the Empress. Some are implied - like the ram heads on the throne of the Emperor and the lunar crescent at the feet of the High Priestess - but, unless I'm missing something, most of the Golden Dawn astrological associations aren't overtly displayed. Waite's deck doesn't emphasize the decans the way Crowley's does.
The GD deck is a whole other thing. I was contrasting the Waite-Smith with the Thoth.
I agree a lot of Waite's aren't explicit but can be implied. Strength = Leo, Justice = Libra, The Devil = Capricorn, The Star = Aquarius, The Sun = Sun. The spur on Death's heel doesn't look like any spur I've ever seen. It could be seen as symbolic of Scorpio's stinger. And there are those on the Chariot's belt that foolMoon mentioned. The second from the left looks like Cancer; those who knew the correspondences would notice this.
....... What would be the point, hiding something, and then telling where they are, and what they are for.
One cannot infer anything from the absence of symbols in a Tarot deck. The Golden Dawn attributions are not overtly displayed in the Regardie-Wang Golden Dawn deck either. In fact, they are strangely absent from every single card, as I recall.
of course
.... if one had to swear an oath of secrecy not to reveal the Tarot / Hebrew letter correspondences , one cant ....
Oh ...... I shouldnt have revealed that
That's a good catch. I think Waite must've gotten his inspiration from Levi. On page 58 of Transcendental Magic is this diagram; Waite's arrangement is a little different though.
The Liungman Dictionary of Symbols says the Aquarius glyph symbolizes Transmutation in Alchemy. I'm not disagreeing with Case, I don't know. It does seem though in this context it's alchemical. Levi gives Salt, Sulphur, Mercury and Azoth, so Azoth seems as good as any.
The glyph looks upside down because of how it's oriented on the wheel. If you spun the wheel 180° it would be right side up.