anyone ever notice THIS in the RWS chariot?!

this has been bugging me for awhile:

all of the roofs in the city behind the chariot are red. all except for one. that one is white. intuitively i feel that it was not an oversight, that it was purposely white. i have looked in every tarot book i can find on the subject. i have done massive internet searches. and i have spent many hours reading and searching on here, to no avail.

this is probably a good thing, as i then had to figure it out myself. those pointed round roofs look like "spires." the root of "spirit", and "inspire", and "aspire" and "expire." refers to breath and life. (-spire, that is.) it represents our reaching to the heavens and the gods. (hence on so many churches and such.)

red represents earthly/sexual desire. many in the city are concerned with their own desires, but only one household seems to be concerned with "purified" desire (rep by the white roof.)

perhaps that is the bachelor pad of the handsome charioteer?

what are your thoughts? (if you have a deck other than the original rider waite, they "fixed" it, so you have no white roof, along with many other things that shall be other posts...)

There is a white roof in Pam-B and Pam-C, but it is red in Pam-A. There is certainly some debate, but it seems likely that Pam-A was the original printing.

soooo... "original" is which? (not to be confused with original...)

"The Original Rider-Waite Tarot Deck“ card images are taken from Pamela-C, but the card backs are from a rare Pamela-A rose and lily deck. Frank Jensen's reconstruction of events is that Pamela-A was the first published, followed several years later by Pamela-B and then eventually Pamela-C. There are some who argue that Pamela-B was printed first, but not released for many years. The evidence is spotty, so it is difficult to prove anything either way, but recent discoveries seem to weight against the Pamela-B first theory.

The true original paintings, from which the lithography plates were made, are lost. No images of any of the paintings exist other than the printed cards.

Most people referring to the "Original" deck here, outside of detailed research threads, mean the one marketed under that name:

This one. Which DO you mean, Arya ?

The only one I have with me at this moment is the 1971 plaid-backed USGames one - which has indeed all red roofs. The person to ask here would be truelighth, who has ALL sorts of old versions.

RWS Chariot

Sharp observation! I looked at the Commemorative Chariot-- only red roofs. Then I looked at the so-called "Original" RWS (whatever the order of the printings), the recent China printing-- there it is middle left, what I see as a white triangular rooftop. Since Waite referred to the Chariot as "above all things triumph in the mind" (page 74 Key to the Tarot miniature 1999), then the white triangle is an amazing synchronicity if not a Pythagorean intention. To the Pythagoreans, Platonists, and Neoplatonists, what could be more of a "triumph in the mind" than the pure triangle? And this triangle (golden here) is again to be seen on the heart of the Temperance angel.

Strange that you mention that, because I certainly remember seeing it, but when I pulled out my Universal to check, it was not there! I frantically rummanged through my "Original" RWS deck to find exactly what I thought I saw/what you had mentioned.

In regards to the Triangle within the Square on Temperance's chest; the Original RWS's triangle is yellow, while the Universal's is red... what should one make of that?

Also, whould we assume that there is a relation between the chest piece of Temperance and the Chariot-eer?

ps. Does everyone know about the "faces" on the shoulder pads of the Charioteer? I just recently discovered it myself... *.*

RWS Chariot

Well, if the triangles are connected, they both point to higher aspirations with some variations (no rhyme intended). The Chariot triangle points to a path of higher mental purpose, while Temperance is more about transformation towards the higher spiritual planes. But this needs more exploration. Not sure about the colors of the triangles.

Eeviee said:

ps. Does everyone know about the "faces" on the shoulder pads of the Charioteer? I just recently discovered it myself... *.*

Click to expand...

These already indexed threads can be found in the RWS Forum Index:
Chariot Shoulder Faces
Faces in the Chariot

The faces are often referred to as Urim and Thummin.

rwcarter said:

These already indexed threads can be found in the RWS Forum Index:
Chariot Shoulder Faces
Faces in the Chariot

The faces are often referred to as Urim and Thummin.

Click to expand...

Thank you, Mod. *sheepish grin*