euripides
Since there isn't a suit-specific general thread, I'm starting one. There's quite a bit of discussion on the swords here
http://www.tarotforum.net/showthread.php?s=&threadid=12999
and a couple of points that I'd like to take from there and explore, but I'd like to look at them in context of the whole suit.
The Curved Swords: I'd like to suggest that these don't represent actual swords, but rather the movement of the sword through the air. I think that if the artist wanted to draw a symbolic sword, then one end would be pointed, and you could easily do so and still have a balanced design. The thick-thin-thick design suggests to me the arc of a sword-blade slashing (in the graceful curve of a rapier, not the Roman's short stabbing style).
The added sword in the odd-numbered card is stationary, in central, and drawn in detail. To me, if the swords were meant to be representational of a sword shape, then this third sword would be also drawn abstractly.
What this idea means in terms of interpretation, if it is a valid idea, is something I'll be thinking about today.
The Flower: Somebody mentioned a Lotus. Because this is a european tradition, not Buddhist, and because the shape of the flower and leaves bear very little resemblance to a lotus, I'm going to suggest an alternative: the Pomegranate. The pomegranate has long, shiny leaves very like those portrayed. The flower is long and red, like the one on the four and six.
I suggest that the flower on the Swords depicts the pomegranate from bud, to young then mature flower, to the beginning of fruit (calyx?)
A quote from this page
http://www.vohuman.org/Article/The Pomegranate Fruit.htm
struck a chord, because of the leaves dangling from the crown in the ace:
"Pomegranate is also used during the ‘navar’ ceremony whereby a young man is inducted in to Zoroastrian priesthood. A number of ‘mobeds’ meet at the house of the candidate one day before the initiation. They prepare a crown and a ‘vars’. The crown is a turban wound to fit the candidate's head. It is decorated with gold and silver chains with hanging coins and has other ornaments that make it look like a crown."
The Pomegranate would be flowering in late autumn to fruit through winter... though the arguments for elemental and seasonal attribution seem to get rather circular... what was the standard in the 1700s? ..
Anyway, a few thoughts.
http://www.tarotforum.net/showthread.php?s=&threadid=12999
and a couple of points that I'd like to take from there and explore, but I'd like to look at them in context of the whole suit.
The Curved Swords: I'd like to suggest that these don't represent actual swords, but rather the movement of the sword through the air. I think that if the artist wanted to draw a symbolic sword, then one end would be pointed, and you could easily do so and still have a balanced design. The thick-thin-thick design suggests to me the arc of a sword-blade slashing (in the graceful curve of a rapier, not the Roman's short stabbing style).
The added sword in the odd-numbered card is stationary, in central, and drawn in detail. To me, if the swords were meant to be representational of a sword shape, then this third sword would be also drawn abstractly.
What this idea means in terms of interpretation, if it is a valid idea, is something I'll be thinking about today.
The Flower: Somebody mentioned a Lotus. Because this is a european tradition, not Buddhist, and because the shape of the flower and leaves bear very little resemblance to a lotus, I'm going to suggest an alternative: the Pomegranate. The pomegranate has long, shiny leaves very like those portrayed. The flower is long and red, like the one on the four and six.
I suggest that the flower on the Swords depicts the pomegranate from bud, to young then mature flower, to the beginning of fruit (calyx?)
A quote from this page
http://www.vohuman.org/Article/The Pomegranate Fruit.htm
struck a chord, because of the leaves dangling from the crown in the ace:
"Pomegranate is also used during the ‘navar’ ceremony whereby a young man is inducted in to Zoroastrian priesthood. A number of ‘mobeds’ meet at the house of the candidate one day before the initiation. They prepare a crown and a ‘vars’. The crown is a turban wound to fit the candidate's head. It is decorated with gold and silver chains with hanging coins and has other ornaments that make it look like a crown."
The Pomegranate would be flowering in late autumn to fruit through winter... though the arguments for elemental and seasonal attribution seem to get rather circular... what was the standard in the 1700s? ..
Anyway, a few thoughts.