Ancient Minchiate Etruria: Hope

[Sophie-David]

Somewhat to my surprise, I have found that I have connected well with the unexpected gift of an Ancient Minchiate Etruria. I recently pulled Hope (XVI) as my card of the week - please see the attachment. A man dressed in orange, and wrapped in a blue cape, holds his hands in prayer in a partially kneeling position. His orange clothing evokes warmth, energetic emotion and social engagement - and in the Chakral system orange refers to the Sacral energy of dualism. His deep blue cloak speaks of spiritual insight and royal ascent, a colour also noticeable in the Eastern Emperor, the Star, and several of the other virtues - to me this evokes the deep blue or purple of the Brow or Third Eye Chakra rather than lighter blue of the expressive Throat. In the man's prayerful position he illustrates the outpouring of his Heart.

Hope has the bare feet of a humble pilgrim, and there is a quiet strength and groundedness expressed in this simplicity and intimacy with the soil. As he travels along what seems to be a country road, it appears that he has just been struck by an inspiration, or perhaps a fear, and has paused to pray almost in mid-stride. Perhaps this is somewhat like Saint Paul's life changing encounter on the road to Damascus. A golden crown floats in the air slightly above him, reminding me of how the saints are crowned with eternal life, resting in the heart of the divine. This is his aspiration and his coming glory.

This card expresses an induction into the transformative aspect of spiritually based Hope, one of the positive aspects we might otherwise associate with the Pope or the Star. There is neither Pope nor Papess in the Minchiate, but there is The Star (unnumbered in the thirty-sixth place), and Faith (XVIII). Hope differs from Faith in that Hope is a traveller initiating in the process of conversion, whereas Faith is shown resting in divine assurance. And the white horse and kingly rider in The Star expresses a more refined theological and celestial based hope, as the Magus journeys triumphantly towards the incarnation.

I cannot ignore the standard Tarot placement of The Tower at Hope's position of XVI. Indeed I see this traveller as having recently encountered the fires of his own Tower - which does precede this Major in the Minchiate - and that the sudden overturning of egoic consciousness is the context of this man's Hope and coming transformation.

 

[Cerulean]

I do love this image...

...and I saw a related-to-me image in the Allegory of Love where a woman was crowning a kneeling man--just a glimpse in an old woodcut of an ideal allegory that speaks to me of old stories or tales, we half-forgot in behind the curtains of time...I've linked to it before, but if you wish, I think I can find it again.

Thanks for this post!

Cerulean

 

[Sophie-David]

Images of Love

...and I saw a related-to-me image in the Allegory of Love where a woman was crowning a kneeling man--just a glimpse in an old woodcut of an ideal allegory that speaks to me of old stories or tales, we half-forgot in behind the curtains of time...I've linked to it before, but if you wish, I think I can find it again.

Oh yes! The image of the Allegory of Love has been haunting me for some time. I would quite like to see it if you can locate it Cerulean.

Perhaps it is a bit like Diana Durham's book cover: I pretty much bought the book on the basis of its cover alone.

It probably would have been helpful to include a link to all of the Ancient Minchiate Etruria Majors so that you could follow my references to the other cards. I do find them quite delightful...

 

[Cerulean]

Image first, then context in my former thread

1. From the Taschen book "Theatre De L'Amour

http://www.taschen.com/pages/en/excerpts/classics/show/3/107.htm

Enlarge the image and to the right you glimpse the standing woman, with a crown, on the right hand side--the glimpse is kind of faint...


Here's the full text of the thread:

http://www.tarotforum.net/showthread.php?t=35978

Hope it's helpful! The deck fascinates me, as well.

Best regards,

Cerulean

 

[Sophie-David]

I can't really make out that image on my monitor, Cerulean, so I'll have to take your word for it. I see that later in the thread you connected your study with the Ancient Minchiate Love card, in which indeed the woman/goddess bestows the crown on the suitor.

 

[Cerulean]

Trying to load image detail and right image...

Hope this works.

 

[Cerulean]

Here's the right image...previous detail shot is the far

right of this picture.

Seems like the first picture link I posted is in the sequence of the Allegory of Love, but doesn't have the right small detail image. This picture link is the full and correct one--sorry for my earlier mistake.

The detail image that I posted just previous to this one is to the far right of this picture...hope I'm being clear.

Regards,

Cerulean

 

[Sophie-David]

Oh yes, thanks Cerulean! I think in the initial picture you posted the little scene on the right may be of the two lovers in lust rather than Love crowning the Lover.

 

[firecatpickles]

The link between the Minchiate Hope and Love cards are quite obvious. But I think the difference its one of divine love (Hope) and profane love. The ideas that are several different types of love, all valid predates Christianity: Eros, Philia, and Agape. V. Love is not one of the 7 Virtues by theological standards.

In the link "The Virtues and Vices in Medieval Society," very clearly this card XVI. Hope, sevres as the virtue "divine love," as is defined by its opposite

Wrath (ira) includ[ing] madness, blasphemy, insanity, provoking others to wrath, spreading scandal, homicide, and ferocity. [It is ]contrary [...] because it rejoices in the future...​

​

Your observation that "the standard Tarot placement of [the last card of augury] XV. The Tower [is in] Hope's position of [sixteen]" is a dutiful one. However, I disagree that Hope is "the pilgrim" simply because it is barefoot. If anything, this denotes poverty and the hope that anything better will come along. In medieval symbolism the pilgrim would be denoted with the seashell of St. James.

Furthermore, I do not believe you can compare and contrast this card with Saul on the road to Damascus, because Saul was a rich beaureaucrat, not a pauper. As for associating the XVIII. Faith card with St. Paul, the sex is all wrong. Mary Magdalene, perhaps.

It seems like much of the symbolism in Minchiate steers away from inherent Christian mythologies, as DoctorArcanus so delicately put in another thread:

"Florence was a powerful state, ruled by a Gran Duca, and often in conflict with its powerful neighbour: Rome and the Pope."

Much richer is the symbolism of Milton's Paradise Lost, of whom the artists of the Minchiate were familiar, it is more reasonable to think; ergo, the creators of an early 16th c. card game would more likely to draw examples from Milton than St. Paul:

Jonathan F. S. Post

“Paradise Lost is an epic of erotic and spiritual love, with many kinds of love described: male-female; male-male; angel to angel; man to God; father to son; God to his Creation; poet and his muse.”

Since Milton was writing within the context of the popular lexicon of his day, do you think that these kinds of love, rather than solely the divine aspects of love, are extant in the symbolism, and thus in the cards, of the Minchiate? I know my readings will be much more insightful.

KK

 

[Sophie-David]

Does Divine Love Equate to Hope?

The link between the Minchiate Hope and Love cards are quite obvious. But I think the difference its one of divine love (Hope) and profane love. The ideas that are several different types of love, all valid predates Christianity: Eros, Philia, and Agape. V. Love is not one of the 7 Virtues by theological standards.

In the link "The Virtues and Vices in Medieval Society," very clearly this card XVI. Hope, sevres as the virtue "divine love," as is defined by its opposite

While I would agree in a general sense that divine Love infuses all the virtues, I cannot see a direct equivalence between Hope and divine Love, nor do I see this equivalance supported in the references. Charity is the theological word for divine Love or Agape, as in the often quoted Thirteenth Chapter of First Corinithians, that ends:

For now we see through a glass, darkly; but then face to face: now I know in part; but then shall I know even as also I am known.
And now abideth faith, hope, charity, these three; but the greatest of these is charity.

This is from the so-called King James version - in modern translations, "Love" replaces the word "Charity".

For better and worse, Pauline theology is strongly derivative of Greek philosophy. I would suggest that the Minchiate card Love equates quite closely to the classical Eros.

Your observation that "the standard Tarot placement of [the last card of augury] XV. The Tower [is in] Hope's position of [sixteen]" is a dutiful one. However, I disagree that Hope is "the pilgrim" simply because it is barefoot. If anything, this denotes poverty and the hope that anything better will come along. In medieval symbolism the pilgrim would be denoted with the seashell of St. James.

I do not believe that Renaissance creativity was so slavishly encumbered by specific symbols: the absence of the seashell does not in itself rule out that this iconography represents a pilgrim. But what I do see within the context of the artist's deck is that blue represents an exaltation, as I illustrated above. The poor would typically not be wearing blue in this period, since it was an expensive colour. This image conveys humility to me, but does not have the appearance of poverty.

Furthermore, I do not believe you can compare and contrast this card with Saul on the road to Damascus, because Saul was a rich beaureaucrat, not a pauper. As for associating the XVIII. Faith card with St. Paul, the sex is all wrong. Mary Magdalene, perhaps.

For this very reason, the well-dressed appearance of the character in Hope, I think he ties in quite nicely with St. Paul. But I did not intend to imply that the St. Paul archetype was also reflected in Faith, nor in the Star. I was attempting to illustrate that the Star assumed aspects of the missing Pope, and that Faith paralleled the missing Papess. Thus I concur with your connection of Mary Magdala with Faith.

It seems like much of the symbolism in Minchiate steers away from inherent Christian mythologies, as DoctorArcanus so delicately put in another thread

Yes, I agree that this Minchiate uses a more liberal Christian iconongraphy, a reflection of the regenerative spirit of humanistic Florence.

Since Milton was writing within the context of the popular lexicon of his day, do you think that these kinds of love, rather than solely the divine aspects of love, are extant in the symbolism, and thus in the cards, of the Minchiate? I know my readings will be much more insightful.
KK

Yes, I do see an affirmation of multi-dimensional love within this deck. Thank you for a stimulating discussion!