The Evangelists on the World

I've long assumed that the Angel, Lion, Ox, and Eagle on the TdM World card are the "four evangelists".

Here's Jean Noblet:



Wikipedia says :

In iconography the evangelists often appear in Evangelist portraits derived from classical tradition, and are also often represented by the following symbols:

Matthew the Evangelist, the author of the first gospel, symbolized by a man...

Mark the Evangelist, the author of the second gospel, symbolized by a lion...

Luke the Evangelist, the author of the third gospel and the Acts of the Apostles, symbolized by a bull or a calf...

John the Evangelist, the author of the fourth gospel, symbolized by an eagle...

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I've also known that the symbols are much older than that, and probably come from the zodiac.

Wikipedia says this about the "Tetramorph":

The most-developed of all foursome or fournesses in religious symbolism in Christianity is the tetramorph of the four evangelists. It originated from the Jewish prophet Ezekiel who whilst in exile in Babylonia circa 550 BCE used the symbolism of Babylonian astrology for his own prophetic purposes. Ezekiel describes his vision in which the likeness of four living creatures came out of the midst of the fire thus:

As for the likeness of their faces, they four had the face of a man, and the face of a lion, on the right side: and they four had the face of an ox on the left side; they four also had the face of an eagle. Ezekiel 1:10.

Ezekiel’s vision is based upon the astrology of the ancient Babylonians in which the constellations of the Zodiac (Greek for circle of animals) signs of Aquarius (the man/angel) Leo the Lion, Taurus the Bull and Scorpio the Eagle are represented as being a Throne for God Himself (called a Merkaba in Hebrew). Known astrologically as the Fixed Cross (with the substitution of the scorpion, a creature little known outside the Mediterranean basin and which was replaced early on by the winged eagle).

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So I've heard it argued that these are images of the Zodiac, not the evangelists.

But I wonder. Are the signs of the zodiac ever shown with Halos?

Here is the Sforza Castle, Jacques Vieville, Jean Noblet, and Nicholas Conver.

All of them show the four halos, except Conver who shows the Ox without.

So my question is.. can these be anything but the four evangelists?

I have always taken them as the four Evangelists Robert, but I also think they might indicate the four pillar of the Heavens or Royal stars also seen as angels-
The four "cornerstone" constellations, which date back to the Prophet Enoch, correspond to the four faces of the cherubim and the four principal tribes of Israel. Their symbols of the lion (Regulus), eagle/serpent(Antares), man(Fomalhaut) and wild ox (Taurus) are emblazoned on family coats of arms and the banners of nations.

Several ancient cultures designated four bright stars in the zodiac as the "four corners of the earth" or the "four royal stars." At the time the constellations were drawn by Enoch, these four stars were near the sun's location in the heavens on the first day of autumn, winter, spring and summer, and were thus in four of the most important locations in the sky. The identity of these four stars is well known because there are, in fact, four bright stars which fit these requirements. First, the star Antares(Scorpio) is a bright red star, which anciently marked the autumnal equinox, that is, the place in the sky where the sun appears on the first day of autumn. The next star in the sequence is Fomalhaut(Pisces), which is also a bright star, marking winter. The next star is Aldebaran(Taurus), another very bright red star located 180.0° around the ecliptic (the apparent path of the sun through the stars) from Antares. Thus, it precisely marked the spring equinox when Antares marked the autumn. Finally, the bright star Regulus(Leo), located almost exactly on the ecliptic, marked summer. Regulus, meaning "the Prince," was traditionally the leader of these four royal stars.
I have forgotten which Archangel goes with which star-sorry ~Rosanne

I think what they are first and foremost are the four beast around the throne of God in Revelation. The descriptions match perfectly and the halos portray a sense of holiness. The attributions to the four evangelists came later.

There does seem to be a similarity between at least two of the beasts and fixed signs of the zodiac (Taurus and Leo), but the other two don't seem as clear to me. Supposedly the Angel is Aquarius and the Eagle is Scorpio, but I don't know if the Angel and Eagle have always been symbols for those two signs or if they were adopted at a later time to make it work.

You could be quite right Abrac! I had forgotten about the Throne of God.
As to the Eagle/serpent- we often forget about progression and Antares was right by Aquila the constellation of the Eagle back then. Pisces was the sign of the Son of Man. I think as far as Tarot goes in the TdM it is supposed to be the four Evangelists. ~Rosanne
Edited to add: We are now in 2007, because of progression two months out in the four Pillars of the heavens and the seasons, so when one of the Royal stars rise it is now two months out of sinc with the season in comparison to 3000 years ago. Same goes with astrology and the month I was born in- The stars in the sky were actually Leo, but I am Virgo by Astrology.

Four Directions, Seasons, Beasts, Stars, Archangels, Watchers, Evangelists

I agree with the poster who spoke about the ancient Babylonian symbolism of the four beasts, representing the root symbolism of this card on which many other cycles of symbolism are layered. It was during the Babylonian period of history that the Sun conjuncting the four stars Aldebaran (Eye of Taurus, the Bull), Regulus (Heart of the Lion), Antares (Heart of the Scorpion) and Fomalhaut (Mouth of the Fish) marked the changes in seasons of the solar year. You will note that the Lady of "The World" is encircled by an oval wreath marked into four sections. The oval wreath represents the Solar Year. The four beasts mark the stars that represented the Solstices and Equinoxes when astrology was first invented. The animals fall into exactly the sequence of the seasons when we follow them counterclockwise around the card--first Spring (Bull/Taurus), then Summer (lion/Leo), then Autumn (eagle/Scorpio), then Winter (man/Aquarius).

Aquarius, by the way, is the "water bearer", astrologically symbolized by a man pouring or carrying water: therefore, his symbol is a human form. All four beasts in Babylonian myth have wings, so you could say he is a winged man and therefore an angel, or you could say the four beasts are all angels, since they all have wings.

And the Lady (the World), dances within the oval (quite accurate, actually--the solar year is better described as an oval than a circle) solar cycle of the seasons.

The Babylonians referred to the four stars as "the Watchers" of the four directions of the compass. As a result of Ezekiel and Daniel borrowing heavily on the beasts of Babylonian astrological symbolism in describing their visions, the identical concepts were imported into Hebrew symbolism in the book of Daniel and later Christian symbolism in the book of Revelation. The term for "Watchers" in Hebrew translates to messengers, or Angels in English.

The Four Watchers, then, became associated with the four Archangels:

Aldebaran=Uriel, or Light of God
Regulus=Raphael, or Healing of God
Antares=Michael, or Like God
Fomalhaut=Gabriel, or Strength of God

It is not hard to imagine why archangels on the card would be shown crowned with halos.

This card appears to be a culmination point of the Major Arcana. What do you find this card most commonly represents in your readings?

I would welcome anyone's ideas.

I found this picture in A Pictorial History of Magic and the Supernatural and thought it might have some relevance to this old thread. Could this be the "missing link" connecting Scorpio with the Eagle?

Winged Scorpion Bird Men

As well as the four evangelists, the four archangels and the four royal stars of persia (and the four directions and four corners of the world in which the gospels are spread), the four holy creatures of the chariot are associated with the four prophets of the old testament Ezekial, Isiah, Daniel and Jeremiah.

In Christian typology the old testament prophets of the messiah are thus linked with the four gospels of the messiah, uniting the old and new testaments.

In an illustration of Christ in Judgement in the medieval Vivian bible we have:



Ezekial with the Lion;
Isiah with the Eagle;
Daniel with the Man;
Jeremiah with the Bull.

Note the Old Testament prophets, like the apostles of the New Testament, also have halos.

In the Vivian Bible [c.845-846, a gift from Abbot Vivian and the monks of the Abbey of Saint-Menard to king and holy roman emperor Charles 1, the Bald, currently in the Bibliotheque Nationale] there is a picture of King David in a Mandorla [with the inscription above his head DavidRexEtProp = 'David king and prophet'] and in the four corners allegories of the four cardinal virtues holding palm branches:


http://rubens.anu.edu.au/htdocs/bytype/manuscripts/survey/0001/114.JPG


Taken together with the picture in the same bible of 'Majestas Domini':


http://rubens.anu.edu.au/htdocs/bytype/manuscripts/survey/0001/115.JPG


The common format between these type of pictures was intended to suggest in mutual symbolism a typological connection between the two, as David is linked in one with Christ in the other, so we may see here links between the four apostles with the four cardinal virtues also.

This type of typological symbolism in pictures was also used for example to identify the reigning Emperor, a king of kings on earth, with Christ as king of kings in heaven and earth.

Thanks Kwaw. These are lovely!

This reminds me how the Biblia Pauperum would connect episodes from the Old and New Testaments, with the New Testament being a 'fulfillment' of the Old Testament.

kwaw said:

This type of typological symbolism in pictures was also used for example to identify the reigning Emperor, a king of kings on earth, with Christ as king of kings in heaven and earth.

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An extreme example, from another bible c.996, is that of a portrait of Emperor Otto III, which if it were not for an inscription identifying it as such, we may easily mistake for being a picture of Christ in Majesty. The emperor is here portrayed as not being merely like the king of kings, but directly identified with him and clearly enforces the notion of his rulership being divinely ordained: