LS Secret Tarot - The Sun

The Sun card follows the Tarot de Marseille iconography closer than the RWS in this case. We have the two twins like in the TdM. They are standing under the sun, in the garden of innocence, rather than in a grassy fenced off area. Like in the TdM, there are touching each other. The Gemini twins.

What's different about this Sun card is that the twin on the right is holding something in his hand and both twins are examining it. It's green; yes, it's a frog. We don't see a frog in this card in either the RWS or the TdM.

The long winter is over; spring is in the air; the days are extending in length; the sun is up for longer. The frog is "regarded as a resurrection symbol because of the changes in their life cycle". Furthermore, "[D]uring the months of Winter drought, the Earth is silent and sterile. The sudden chorus of frogs is the manifestation of renewal fulfilled, the sign of nature's yearly reawakening."

In terms of Zodiac, Gemini is 23 May to 22 June, the end of spring. Not quite the same timing as indicated by the frogs. Hmm.

Quoted references are from _Penguin Dictionary of Symbols_.

The wash of the sun has a morning-time glow, like a new dawning. The twins are naked, suggesting innocence. The lush green of the bushes behind them suggests fertility and growth. The emotion suggested by the scene is one of platonic love. The blue caps on their head could suggest clarity of thought/reason.
From "Tarot: Plain and Simple" by Anthony Lewis: alternative meanings for the colors blue and green.

"Blue: Spirit, idealism, contemplation, reflection, wmotion, the unconscious, devotion, feelings, intuition.
...
Green: New life, hope, serenity, fertility, growth, safety, security, abundance, health, youth, vitality."

Rusty Neon said:

The Sun card follows the Tarot de Marseille iconography closer than the RWS in this case.

Click to expand...

I was just thinking that when I was browsing through the cards at the weekend.

I really like this particular Sun. There is something very innocent about it.

Twins are, I feel, unique, in that they share the birthing process. From conception through the birth, they share the space in the womb... feeding on the food of life and sharing a special closeness in this pre-birth phase. It could be argued that there is the total connection of two souls from the moment of conception, one might say a closer merging of spirit.

In this way, the twins could be said to represent our merging with spirit, or the universe... or if not merging, then a closer relationship with spirit. Thus, an all-round and general positivity.

I wonder if a discussion of 'famous' twins may shed some further light and interesting associations with this card.

I performed a search on google and the first twins I stumbled upon where Romulus and Remus. Romulus slew Remus and thus built Rome, naming it after himself. I guess that this particular story of twins is a bit off-key for the Secret depiction in the Sun card. However...

Just to give in to imagination at the moment:

The twins represent the founders and builders of the world within the Secret Tarot, and the card depicts a time when they were joyous, happy, and innocent, before becoming tainted by life and corrupt. LOL. I am so cheerful today.

Hmnnn... any thoughts?

Sun card, twins and old iconography

1. Secrets Tarot Twins of the Sun:

http://www.gambler.ru/sukhty/decks03/d01541/d0154119.jpg

Notice the cat-tails and the stream in front? The twins have caught a small frog.

I smile when I see twins in the Sun card, because they remind me of older scenes made new.

2. Twins & the Triumph of Apollo

In an old iconography, where decanates rule the celestial periods of the month, the allegorical twins of Apollo appear in May: scroll down to the last two details of the Allegory of May, Schifanioa Palace, circa 1470:

http://gallery.euroweb.hu/html/c/cossa/schifano/2april/

...To the right is a cluster of naked twin boys, an allusion to the constellation of the month...as a symbol of the astrological pair of Gemini, they go in pairs, looking two by two, exactly alike.

According to other interpretations, the children are a symbol of the fine arts in their infancy, waiting to flourish at a sign of Apollo (C.Mari's note--the bottom detail shows an overabundance of the twins flourishing under the serenaders, making one shudder at allegorical cloning in the boom times of Ferarra under Duke Borso).

---Paolo D'Ancona
The Schianoia Months at Ferarra

This charming tarot draws from the old and makes it new. A frog that sings is a light and charming touch.

3. The differences in the astrological meanings are puzzling...even if you looked at old astrology dates and tarot correspondences, Gemini is the Lovers card and the Sun is the Sun card...

http://www.supertarot.co.uk/astro/attrib.htm

So instead, I give up on astrology with this tarot, but find the frog has hopped back in the stream, and I'm running downstream, following the "leaping lizard of frog..."

Cheers!

Cerulean Mari

P.S. Cloned frogs?

Re: Re: LS Secret Tarot - The Sun

Rusty Neon said:

I also notice a frog (or is it a frog?) in the Secret's 10 of Cups card. I wonder what's the tie-in to the Sun card.

Click to expand...

In the 10 of chalices, it is a turtle, which the little boy appears to be poking at with a stick. I noticed that the other day when I was doing a reading, interpreted it to mean that for me, the goal of a 10 of Cups life is coming, but slowly like a turtle, and I am the little boy poking it with a stick trying to make it come faster! Thought I'd share that, tho it has not much at all to do with the Sun card in question.

Frogs and turtles

OK .... I'm going incoherent here. The animal in the 10 of Chalices is obviously a turtle. Why did I say "frog"? Aargh .....

quite alright

*pats Rusty on the back*

I do that quite a lot too!

Cerulean, thanks for the insightful post! When did you change your name from Mari?

Has anyone else noticed that the Sun appears to be radiating little bursts of energy in the card?

Yes, the YODS from Marseilles!

I noticed how beautifully this adds to the coloring.

Cerulean Mari who changed the name over the weekend

P.S. I don't know the meaning of the YODS from the Marseilles yet--I need to look them up.

Scroll down--twins and yods examples

http://it.geocities.com/a_pollett/cards69.htm


Really nice to see the design samples. So Nizzoli did draw upon old images as well.

Cerulean Mari