symbolism
okay guys--
especially you jema
. yes, we plan on a book to go with the deck. it wouldn't be fair otherwise. (although i think we might leave a few things for you to discover on your own
)
here's a rundown on the symbols on the card. let's start from the top:
the temple.
marked on the upper portion with the hebrew letter 'beth' inscribed in a circle. beth is hebrew for 'house' or 'temple'. the pillars are colored red, yellow, blue and green for fire, air, water and earth. at the base of the pillars are the symbols for these elements.
i am not certain what lurks within this temple...
forward, and to the left and right are two short green pillars-- perhaps capstones would be a better description. they are translucent and represent the emerald tablets of thoth/hermes trismegistus, 'founder' of hermitism.
the one to the left has a crystal chalise full of wine (or maybe blood??) on it-- representative of cups. inscribed on the center front side is the symbol for mercury inside of a circle. there are two glyphs on either side of this symbol. they are letters from an alphabet called 'the writting of the magi'. reading down on the left the letters are 'a' and 's'; reading down on the right are the letters 's' and 'o'. these are said to conceal a great mystery.
the one to the right has an ibis standing on it. the ibis is sacred to thoth. he is often depicted with an ibis head. this ibis is holding a pentacle in its beak. thus, the two 'pillars' have the 'female' objects from the tarot. inscribed in the rectangle on the front of the pillar are three lines of 'text'.
the first line is hebrew for 'INRI', written, naturally, from right to left (yod, nun, rese, yod). the second line is composed of the astrological glyphs for virgo, the sun, and scorpio. the last line is the greek for 'IAO'. (you'll have to check with laurel for the exact meaning of these-- it deals with one of the golden dawn rituals. sorry).
at center bottom, we see a hand bursting out from another 'level' into this one. it is a left hand, signifying the higher 'occult' level. the hand is holding a wand which transforms to a sword. (this is a modified caduceus-- the snakes twine around it, and if you look carefully, you'll find the hint of wings... or perhaps it is the magician who is the winged one) this symbol blends the two 'male' suits of the tarot together.
the wand originates at the genitals, and rises upwards-- signifying the rising of kundilini. the jewel in the hilt of the sword is positioned at the magician's throat chakra symbolizing the power of the word. note that his mouth is open-- though what he speaks...
the lemniscate is a mobeus strip with the cross-over point at the magician's third eye. if you look at the magician's face, you can see that his physical eyes are closed, allowing his greater
'spiritual' eyes to open.
you may see more, but that's what i intentially put into the card
i'm hoping that laurel and i can put out a card every week. once laurel finished with her take on this card, i spent a few days in contemplation. finally, with pencils in hand, it took about four hours for the rough and eight to lay on the color. (not all at once though!!)
i'm using the method described in robin wood's book about her deck. once you have a rough draft finished, you cover it with a piece of tracing paper and color that. if you goof up or don't like the coloring, you just zip off the tracing paper. your original drawing is always intact and ready to go. it's a great method. and you can color on the back to get some really neat effects. (the magician is colored strictly on the front side of the paper.)
well, that's all for now. i'm hoping laurel want to do the high priestess next...
until next card
raven
