jmd
I remember as a child that even in the game of Tarot there was a specific ordering in which the suits were to be held - even though, from a game-point-of-view, it made absolutely no difference! First were placed Deniers (Coins/Diamonds), then Bastons (Wands/Clubs), followed by Coupes (Cups/Hearts), then Espees (Swords/Spades), and finally the Major Arcana.
If we accept some kind of 'correctness' (for whatever reason) to this order, the very first of the sixteen Courts becomes, then, the Page of Coins - the only Court card to omit a space for its title. Though perhaps by initial 'error' on the part of the artist, it remains an integral part of the Marseilles deck.
In most Marseilles decks, this is the only Court to have two Coins: one in his hand, the other possibly and seemingly within the confines of the soil - buried, and hence awaiting new germination. This is iconographically also connected by linking this card with the only other card of the Tarot which bears no written title: card XIII of the Major Arcana (Death).
The Page's stance is virtually a mirror image of I-the Magician - even to the detail of his lower hand. Yet they also both share a gaze which either turns away from the sequence (if ordered left-to-right) or alternatively faces into the sequence (if ordered right-to-left).
In fact, placing the Courts in the order indicated (Page of Coins through to the King of Swords) reveals quite astounding parallels in imagery with the first sixteen cards of the Major Arcana - ie, those preceding celestial depictions. Only V the Pope is possibly displaced 'up' to the eighth position!
But I suspect I have already written sufficient controversial comments to await varied responses!
If we accept some kind of 'correctness' (for whatever reason) to this order, the very first of the sixteen Courts becomes, then, the Page of Coins - the only Court card to omit a space for its title. Though perhaps by initial 'error' on the part of the artist, it remains an integral part of the Marseilles deck.
In most Marseilles decks, this is the only Court to have two Coins: one in his hand, the other possibly and seemingly within the confines of the soil - buried, and hence awaiting new germination. This is iconographically also connected by linking this card with the only other card of the Tarot which bears no written title: card XIII of the Major Arcana (Death).
The Page's stance is virtually a mirror image of I-the Magician - even to the detail of his lower hand. Yet they also both share a gaze which either turns away from the sequence (if ordered left-to-right) or alternatively faces into the sequence (if ordered right-to-left).
In fact, placing the Courts in the order indicated (Page of Coins through to the King of Swords) reveals quite astounding parallels in imagery with the first sixteen cards of the Major Arcana - ie, those preceding celestial depictions. Only V the Pope is possibly displaced 'up' to the eighth position!
But I suspect I have already written sufficient controversial comments to await varied responses!