poopsie
Description in the Booklet: A mask of sensual life.
Etruscan Aces in general feature masks from different origins.
For the Ace of Wands, this was supposed to signify a mask of a Sensual Life ... what could be so sensual about Medusa?
The Ace of Wands is lifted from an Etruscan terra cota antefix featuring the head of Medusa, one of the gorgons.
From wikipedia, Medusa was described this way: "While ancient Greek vase-painters and relief carvers imagined Medusa and her sisters as beings born of monstrous form, sculptors and vase-painters of the fifth century began to envisage her as being beautiful as well as terrifying. In an ode written in 490 BC Pindar already speaks of "fair-cheeked Medusa".
In a late version of the Medusa myth, related by the Roman poet Ovid (Metamorphoses 4.770), Medusa was originally a ravishingly beautiful maiden, "the jealous aspiration of many suitors," priestess in Athena's temple, but when she and the "Lord of the Sea" Poseidon were caught together by Athena's temple, the enraged Athena transformed Medusa's beautiful hair to serpents and made her face so terrible to behold that the mere sight of it would turn onlookers to stone. In Ovid's telling, Perseus describes Medusa's punishment by Minerva (Athena) as just and well earned.
In African mythology (prior to Greece's adaptation of Medusa), Medusa was a Libyan goddess.{Walker, Barbara G., The Women's Encyclopedia of Myths & Secrets} She was a serpent goddess of female wisdom.{Walker, Barbara G., The Women's Encyclopedia of Myths & Secrets} Female wisdom, healing, birth, rebirth, and other positive traits of nature have long been associated with serpents."
The Etruscan Ace portrays the mask with Medusa's face and describes the card as a mask of sensual life. In general, wands are believed to be symbolic of energy in its raw form. This can be seen in the form of ideas, creativity, the start of "something" not yet it concrete form but manifesting itself with passion and spark.
I lifted this interesting distinction between Sensuality and Sexuality from www.kathrynpape.com: "Sensuality and Sexuality! Sensuality is about FEELING. The word "sense" is inside the larger word sensuality. Sense means "the faculty of sensation" (Funk & Wagnalls Standard Dictionary). My inside sensation is my energy, moving and forming life within. Sensation implies feeling, a special energy nurturing self expression is a strengthening understanding for "sense". This allows me to understand that my inside energy's purpose is to express and experience the self, MY SELF. This energy makes sight, sound, smell, taste and touch possible. Then the energy connects me into the external world of physical outer opportunities."
While the etruscan card may have Medusa's head as the Ace, the card may connote power, energy from within that is still raw, waiting to be transformed into something more concrete and contributory to one's goals. Aces are the beginning of something, a new life, a new project, a new interest, a new hobby, a new goal -- in this case, a new idea - a desire to re-invent oneself or make oneself growth further. However, the energy has not yet been made concrete. The other suits may depict more of concretization -- for the time being, the Ace of Wands are for more creation or spark. The energy is from within and therefor may be "sensual", full of vibrancy, passion and enthusiasm. It has not yet been transformed into WILL but may soon provide the stimulus for it.
So while the card may appear positive and may fuel our interest to move towards a certain direction, an equal amount of balance and caution is also required as depicted by the face of Medusa -- if we get to transfixed with too many starting energizing thoughts, we may lose focus, continually be fixated with pure "dreams and sparks of interests" without turning anything "concrete into stone".
A life of sensuality should not remain as an energy waiting to be fueled - we should be able to turn this energy into something more concrete, more doable so that we reap the fruits in the flesh. The Etruscan Ace of Wands asks us to reflect on:
What are we passionate about doing and achieving?
Where should our energies and focus lie?
What can we do to make our aspirations come true?
Which of these energies will help us find fulfillment and which may just be a distraction or a waste of our time?
Etruscan Aces in general feature masks from different origins.
For the Ace of Wands, this was supposed to signify a mask of a Sensual Life ... what could be so sensual about Medusa?
The Ace of Wands is lifted from an Etruscan terra cota antefix featuring the head of Medusa, one of the gorgons.
From wikipedia, Medusa was described this way: "While ancient Greek vase-painters and relief carvers imagined Medusa and her sisters as beings born of monstrous form, sculptors and vase-painters of the fifth century began to envisage her as being beautiful as well as terrifying. In an ode written in 490 BC Pindar already speaks of "fair-cheeked Medusa".
In a late version of the Medusa myth, related by the Roman poet Ovid (Metamorphoses 4.770), Medusa was originally a ravishingly beautiful maiden, "the jealous aspiration of many suitors," priestess in Athena's temple, but when she and the "Lord of the Sea" Poseidon were caught together by Athena's temple, the enraged Athena transformed Medusa's beautiful hair to serpents and made her face so terrible to behold that the mere sight of it would turn onlookers to stone. In Ovid's telling, Perseus describes Medusa's punishment by Minerva (Athena) as just and well earned.
In African mythology (prior to Greece's adaptation of Medusa), Medusa was a Libyan goddess.{Walker, Barbara G., The Women's Encyclopedia of Myths & Secrets} She was a serpent goddess of female wisdom.{Walker, Barbara G., The Women's Encyclopedia of Myths & Secrets} Female wisdom, healing, birth, rebirth, and other positive traits of nature have long been associated with serpents."
The Etruscan Ace portrays the mask with Medusa's face and describes the card as a mask of sensual life. In general, wands are believed to be symbolic of energy in its raw form. This can be seen in the form of ideas, creativity, the start of "something" not yet it concrete form but manifesting itself with passion and spark.
I lifted this interesting distinction between Sensuality and Sexuality from www.kathrynpape.com: "Sensuality and Sexuality! Sensuality is about FEELING. The word "sense" is inside the larger word sensuality. Sense means "the faculty of sensation" (Funk & Wagnalls Standard Dictionary). My inside sensation is my energy, moving and forming life within. Sensation implies feeling, a special energy nurturing self expression is a strengthening understanding for "sense". This allows me to understand that my inside energy's purpose is to express and experience the self, MY SELF. This energy makes sight, sound, smell, taste and touch possible. Then the energy connects me into the external world of physical outer opportunities."
While the etruscan card may have Medusa's head as the Ace, the card may connote power, energy from within that is still raw, waiting to be transformed into something more concrete and contributory to one's goals. Aces are the beginning of something, a new life, a new project, a new interest, a new hobby, a new goal -- in this case, a new idea - a desire to re-invent oneself or make oneself growth further. However, the energy has not yet been made concrete. The other suits may depict more of concretization -- for the time being, the Ace of Wands are for more creation or spark. The energy is from within and therefor may be "sensual", full of vibrancy, passion and enthusiasm. It has not yet been transformed into WILL but may soon provide the stimulus for it.
So while the card may appear positive and may fuel our interest to move towards a certain direction, an equal amount of balance and caution is also required as depicted by the face of Medusa -- if we get to transfixed with too many starting energizing thoughts, we may lose focus, continually be fixated with pure "dreams and sparks of interests" without turning anything "concrete into stone".
A life of sensuality should not remain as an energy waiting to be fueled - we should be able to turn this energy into something more concrete, more doable so that we reap the fruits in the flesh. The Etruscan Ace of Wands asks us to reflect on:
What are we passionate about doing and achieving?
Where should our energies and focus lie?
What can we do to make our aspirations come true?
Which of these energies will help us find fulfillment and which may just be a distraction or a waste of our time?
