Personally, I don't have the Noblet and don't think I'm going to have it any time soon. That's why I'm using my Piatnik for now.
It has some very curious details in it, and since it's one of my working decks, I think it's reasonable if I familiarize myself with it deeper.
You've got some really fascinating pairing ideas there, swedishfish.
Can't wait to read what others have come up with.
I've left the Courts for 'desserts', going to lay them out today.
I got really fascinated by the idea of 'paired emblems' as depicted in medieval art. Had a look through the Notre Dame of Chartres (one of my favorite cathedrals
) and noted that many things are really represented in pairs there, paired by analogy or by contrast. The examples of the former would be months/Zodiac signs and the corresponding seasonal 'labors' associated with them, usually having something to do with wine-making; representations of Liberal Arts as women, with a prominent authority in this field depicted below each one (e.g. Pythagoreas for Music). The contrast could be seen in the statues of the apostles with the symbols of their martyrdom, standing on the heads of the pagan kings that had them executed. Another favorite 'contrast' motif would be paired images of Virtues vs Vices (haven't found this one in Chartres, but I might have missed something).
I decided to look at the same pairings by contrast, and here's what I got:
XI La Force - I Le Bateleur
(Brutal) force vs skill/craftsmanship
IIX Le Pendu - II La Papesse
A traitor vs a faithful
L'Arcane XIII - III L'Imperatrice
Death vs birth
XIIII Temperance - IIII L'Empereur
Flexibility vs rigidity
XV Le Diable - V Le Pape
Vice vs virtue
XVI La Maison Dieu - VI Lamoureux
Separation vs union
XVII Lestoile - VII Le Chariot
Will of heaven vs personal willpower
XVIII La Lune - VIII La Justice
Feeling vs reason
XVIIII Le Soleil - VIIII L'Hermite
Light vs darkness
XX Le Jugement - X Laroue De Fortune
Earned reward vs winning by chance
XXI Le Monde - Le Mat
The whole vs the nothingness
(This last pairing was omitted by JMD, but I had a look at it anyway).
