Re: Re: Marseilles' World
Diana said:
Frank, this has also always struck me. Some people also say it is an androgynous creature, but I see no androgony there at all. I see a woman. It is curious....
Diana, what a naughty girl you are !!
There are many little inconsistencies in the Marseilles deck and we tend to ignore them .
If we compare the lady on the World card to the Devil , which is plainly androgenous, we do see a big difference. Clearly, the artist knows how to portray the shapeless form and ambiguous facial features of androgyny. Neither is he shy about showing both sets of sexual characteristics. But he certainly doesn't do that in the World card.
There is nothing about the World lady that is not feminine. Other early decks have some kind of shabby male figure in her place, which seems to me like a possible CORRECTION of something other printers found controversial or not in keeping with what they wanted there.
This is a very interesting quote taken from a studious tarot site listed below, made even more interesting because the author is dedicated to Christain associations :
"There are other known examples of feminine Christ figures in medieval art, but none like this. As with other unique images in the trump cycle, it suggests either a corrupt copy of earlier models, or conflation of different subjects."
http://www.geocities.com/cartedatrionfi/Pictures.html
He of course, assumes this model is an incorrect one, and not the reverse.
In his recent tarot lectures on net radio, author Whitley Strieber has called the lady on the World card of the Marseilles deck the same female figure who is in the Star card. He says the Star is the Queen of the Witches, though I am not yet sure how he comes to that conclusion. It is very interesting though.
He also says the 4 figures at the edges represent the riddle of the Sphinx .
I myself have previously wondered if the Christian symbolism of other artifacts was not originally something pagan with Christian figures subsequently imposed upon it, as was frequently done.
Returning now to whomever created this image, I sometimes wonder if he wasn't trying to say the female form was his personal idea of heaven, and about as much heaven as any fool was going to find on earth. Sort of thumbing his nose at all the pious promises handed out by the church , which sometimes sold passes into heaven to anybody.
So, if we keep an open mind and are willing to look, I am sure many interesting interpretations of this card may come to light.