Bean Feasa
All 5s come under the tutelage of the Hierophant, but in this case the connection is reinforced by the fact that the cloaked figure in this card is the Golem, created to protect the Jews of Prague by Rabbi Loew the chief Rabbi of Prague, who is the model for the Hierophant in this deck.
This card really exercises me because in the first reading I ever did with this deck (which was also my first ever reading for someone else), the friend I was reading for got really freaked-out. (I posted about this in Your Readings, a good while ago). Death and the Tower appeared in the spread also but it was this card that completely petrified her. Ever since then I think of this card as much stronger meat than the traditional Rider-Waite. In the RW depiction the figure stands with head bowed, looking disappointed and defeated. But this character looks strong and stoical – his stance is determined. He looks well buttressed and bulked up, like he can definitely withstand difficult times. The facelessness is disturbing though. Does it suggest that if we have too much of a tough time we can become brutalized, and lose our humanity. Or does it suggest simply a blindness to the fact of the 2 cups which still stand upright behind him.
The whole scene in the card is filled with strong powerful shapes – the clouds in the sky thick as clotted cream, the solid palace behind, the rooted-looking Golem, even the cups themselves look heavy and earthy. Rabbi Loew created the Golem from clay and it shows. It seems more a card of earth than water . A very powerful and dramatic 5 of Cups.
This card really exercises me because in the first reading I ever did with this deck (which was also my first ever reading for someone else), the friend I was reading for got really freaked-out. (I posted about this in Your Readings, a good while ago). Death and the Tower appeared in the spread also but it was this card that completely petrified her. Ever since then I think of this card as much stronger meat than the traditional Rider-Waite. In the RW depiction the figure stands with head bowed, looking disappointed and defeated. But this character looks strong and stoical – his stance is determined. He looks well buttressed and bulked up, like he can definitely withstand difficult times. The facelessness is disturbing though. Does it suggest that if we have too much of a tough time we can become brutalized, and lose our humanity. Or does it suggest simply a blindness to the fact of the 2 cups which still stand upright behind him.
The whole scene in the card is filled with strong powerful shapes – the clouds in the sky thick as clotted cream, the solid palace behind, the rooted-looking Golem, even the cups themselves look heavy and earthy. Rabbi Loew created the Golem from clay and it shows. It seems more a card of earth than water . A very powerful and dramatic 5 of Cups.