Kaleidoscope Eyes
Here's a (hopefully) interesting question for those of you who may be Qabalistically-inclined. Today I was looking at some information about the "Cube of Space" glyph, and learned that the six sides of the Cube represent, among other things, the Biblical six days of Creation.
"Ah! Interesting!" I exclaimed, and scurried after my Spiral deck to pull the appropriate Majors, which I proceeded to lay out in the following order, based on the card numbering:
1st Day - 1) The Magician (Above); Hebrew "Beth"
2nd Day - 2)The High Priestess (Below); "Gimel"
3rd Day - 3) The Empress (East); "Daleth"
4th Day - 10) Wheel of Fortune (West); "Kaph"
5th Day - 16) The Tower (North); "Peh"
6th Day - 19) The Sun (South); "Resh"
The seventh day, or Sabbath, btw, is represented by 21) The World (Hebrew letter "Tav"), situated at the center of the cube.
Anyhow, it was quite enlightening to discover rather clear correspondences between the cards, the letters and the respective creation accounts in the 1st chapter of Genesis.
1st day: JHVH's initial creative act: extension of light and separation of light from darkness. The Magician... check!
2nd day: Separation of the waters. OK, I can see the The High Priestess here.
3rd day: Appearance of land, vegetation and overall growth principle. Oh yeah, this is for sure the Empress!
4th Day: The planetary and celestial bodies, marking of the seasons -- Time. Is this the Wheel of Fortune or what?!
I'll let anyone who cares to lay out the cards and compare these for themselves, along with the last three days. (As for Day 6, the Sun... well, that's when Adam was created, male and female; it's pretty straightforward to me, as is The World card for the Sabbath day.
My "problem" is with Arcana 16, The Tower, in the place of the 5th day. This is when the living creatures of the air and of the sea were made and blessed. And while the number 5 accords well with the symbolism of The Tower, I am having difficulty discerning how the dire aspect of this card can be related to the otherwise seeminglyinnocuous creation of flying and swimming creatures (literal or symbolic, whatever suits you!)
Hope I've made all this clear enough, and that someone might be up to offering an opinion and/or some insight on relation between the Tower and the 5th day of Creation.
"Ah! Interesting!" I exclaimed, and scurried after my Spiral deck to pull the appropriate Majors, which I proceeded to lay out in the following order, based on the card numbering:
1st Day - 1) The Magician (Above); Hebrew "Beth"
2nd Day - 2)The High Priestess (Below); "Gimel"
3rd Day - 3) The Empress (East); "Daleth"
4th Day - 10) Wheel of Fortune (West); "Kaph"
5th Day - 16) The Tower (North); "Peh"
6th Day - 19) The Sun (South); "Resh"
The seventh day, or Sabbath, btw, is represented by 21) The World (Hebrew letter "Tav"), situated at the center of the cube.
Anyhow, it was quite enlightening to discover rather clear correspondences between the cards, the letters and the respective creation accounts in the 1st chapter of Genesis.
1st day: JHVH's initial creative act: extension of light and separation of light from darkness. The Magician... check!
2nd day: Separation of the waters. OK, I can see the The High Priestess here.
3rd day: Appearance of land, vegetation and overall growth principle. Oh yeah, this is for sure the Empress!
4th Day: The planetary and celestial bodies, marking of the seasons -- Time. Is this the Wheel of Fortune or what?!
I'll let anyone who cares to lay out the cards and compare these for themselves, along with the last three days. (As for Day 6, the Sun... well, that's when Adam was created, male and female; it's pretty straightforward to me, as is The World card for the Sabbath day.
My "problem" is with Arcana 16, The Tower, in the place of the 5th day. This is when the living creatures of the air and of the sea were made and blessed. And while the number 5 accords well with the symbolism of The Tower, I am having difficulty discerning how the dire aspect of this card can be related to the otherwise seeminglyinnocuous creation of flying and swimming creatures (literal or symbolic, whatever suits you!)
Hope I've made all this clear enough, and that someone might be up to offering an opinion and/or some insight on relation between the Tower and the 5th day of Creation.