Uranus enters Gemini tomorrow! This will be our prelude, until it stations retrograde Sept 6/25 – Feb 4/26, during which, it will re-enter Taurus. When an outer planet retrogrades back into a sign it is leaving, it’s a bit like a Janus-face review, since so much can happen over the period of years it takes to make a sign transit. In Uranus’ case, 7-8 years, which is significant. Ringed Uranus – as mentioned in the previous article, Uranus in Gemini – Trickster from another Dimension – rotates on its ‘side’ (from our perspective), like a wheel. In Tarot de Marseille the 21 triumphs (major arcana) are divided into 3 x 7 = 21. Or 7 x 3, which I like to think of as the waltz step of the heavenly Muses.
Franchises Gaffurius (friend of Leonardo), Practica Musicae frontspiece, 1496
Speaking of Heavenly Muses…I would now like to introduce the good fairy of this transit, Urania, muse of Astronomy and Astrology. Venus is in Gemini right now (my own Venus sign) and is prodding me to write on something a little more inspirational for the occasion than bitcoin and freaks. I apologize if anyone was left uninspired previously. Hopefully this will make up for it.
In the woodcut above, created long before the discovery of Uranus, we see Apollo conducting the ‘music of the spheres’ (Pythagoras’ idea). At the bottom, Thalia, Muse of Comedy and Idyllic Poetry relates to Earth. Ha ha. At the top is Urania, relating to the starry realm. Astrologer Christopher Renstrom points out that while Jupiter was the sky god, it was more the day-to-day sky, not the starry night sky. Jupiter was a fertility god – he made rain and threw thunderbolts, affecting human life directly, thus myths of his decent to dabble in disguise with humans/human ladies abound. But Ouranos, the greater sky god and father of creation (Gaia/Earth being Mother), was not depicted in human form. Mostly we know him from the myth of his castration by titan son, Kronos-Saturn, whereby his testicles are thrown into the sea and Venus, in all her glory, is born out of the foam.
Urania’s Mirror, (London 1825), a boxed set of 32 cards [click image for more detail]So…Urania is the feminine aspect of Uranus; the suffix ‘us’ being masculine, ‘ia’ being feminine. The planet Uranus has come to represent ‘the heavenly realm of the stars’, but since Uranus will be entering the sign of the twins, while conjoined with Venus herself, perhaps we need to incorporate and equalize the genders for this planet. There has certainly in modern years been a marriage of inspiration (muse) and technology. We’ve wanted to understand the universe, travel beyond the Jupiterian sky and Saturnian limitations, and so we have continually re-invented the means to do so. Once upon a time, to be an astrologer, you would have had to be versed in astronomy, but now technology provides us with the calculations without ever having to look up. We need to look up, now. Waaaaay up. The muse of the starry heavens invites astrologers and others to look beyond the traditional planets. But not simply as an escape.
By-passing Jupiter’s eagle. John Singer Sargent, Chiron and Achilles, 1921
The opposite sign to Gemini is Sagittarius, ruled by Jupiter. The centaur was thought to represent Chiron, who is not a true centaur, but a ‘monster’ hybrid of horse and human parents (Saturn in the form of a horse raped his mother). Sagittarius, the eternal optimist, is ever aiming beyond that which binds us to the earth, and the heaviness of bodies controlled by unbridled passions and physical pain. I call it the ‘unbearable lightness of being Sagittarius.’ Uranus in Sagittarius’ polarity sign will encourage us to take it higher. With our faith in what is possible, may we evolve.
There is a currently a lot going on down here that makes it feel like we are devolving into bog creatures, or that we have entered the Hell realm. Indeed, as mentioned, some of the possible implications of Uranus in Gemini are frightening – technology running amok, US involved in a major war (its president a walking example of Uranus Gemini unhinged), bit coin hunger trashing the environment – BUT, these are fear and greed driven desires and precisely why we need to try harder than ever to envision a brighter future, even if that ultimately means becoming a real star some day (a privilege once reserved for pharaohs).
It’s worth noting that Uranus was also in Gemini during the height of the Renaissance. Arts and exploration flourished as skies and minds opened.
Da Vinci’s iconic Vitruvian Man, created in 1490, while Uranus in Gemini.
Uranus-Urania is not just about the sky ‘out there’ but the higher mind, that of the eternal spirit. There is always a period of darkness before the light. There is always a dark night of the soul (Pluto in Aquarius related), this is where inner light must gestate. The universe is a very dark place, but it is full of beaming stars, our distant ancestors. Listen to the music of the spheres! ~rb
On July 7, 2025, the planet Uranus will enter Gemini for approximately 7 years. Since Gemini is an air sign, this will be a noticeably different Uranian energy than has been expressed in Taurus. Although Uranus, the ‘higher octave’ of Mercury is said to be the planet of change, rebellion, discovery and so on, in Taurus, this was often felt more as rumbling urges and irritation. (We did see a significant amount of volcanic activity and earthquakes). Think of how mutable earth sign Virgo experiences ruler Mercury’s flighty, buzzing frequency in her earth body as stress. Now imagine Mercury on steroids (Uranus) stuck in in fixed earth (Taurus). So it’s going to be quite a release for Uranus in the Mercury-ruled, intellect-driven, mutable air sign of Gemini.
Traditionally, Saturn – who, like Mercury is a god of alchemy – rules the signs of Capricorn and Aquarius*, and sits in opposition to Cancer (Moon/Silver) and Leo (Sun/gold). The most dense and toxic on one side, the most pure and luminous on the other.
In medieval medical manuscripts, Capricorn was sometimes depicted as a unicorn. The unicorn’s horn was thought to purify any body of water it touched. Powdered, it was a supposed cure-all. Vikings would sell narwhal horns to Europeans, who valued them more than gold for their mythical properties.
A spiralling, calcified growth emerging from the third eye – what a very Saturnine embodiment of awareness, spiritual awakening …. or upgrade/refinement of the caduceus. Commerce and fast talking Vikings.
“We caught the beast called the Unicorn That knows and loves a maiden best And falls asleep upon her breast: We took from underneath it’s horn The splendid male carbuncle stone Sparkling against the white skull bone.”
The unicorn is a beloved mythical beast, but it’s also a monster, in the literal sense. And Uranus can, with its touch, create monsters – bombs, deformities, disasters, etc. Astrologers have been pointing out that the US, with its Uranus and Mars in Gemini, was involved in major wars (WW2 and Civil) during the last two Uranus returns. (Mind you, when has it not been at war, directly or by proxy?). ’47’ has Uranus in Gemini conjunct his Sun and North Node, conjunct the US’s Mars. When the atomic bomb was dropped on Hiroshima, Uranus and Mars in Gemini were conjunct the midheaven (MC).
Uranus can be the ‘terror of the scientific sun’ but it can also be freaks, weirdoes, and, in Gemini, a very odd twin. Alice Cooper has Uranus in Gemini sextile Pluto/Saturn and opposite Jupiter/Moon (47 also Uranus opp Moon). He was able to profit from his goth, nightmarish ‘other self’, but like Jekyll and Hyde, he said it began to destroy him, requiring drugs and booze to keep the stage persona alive.
In a radio interview, Alice Cooper told of how, at the premier performance of “Welcome To My Nightmare”, he was greeted backstage by Groucho Marx, who shook his hand and congratulated him for bringing back Vaudeville. “He got it. He knew what we were up to,” said Cooper.
Mercury and Gemini have a special relationship with theatre and acting (taking on personas/fakery/camp, etc). So with higher-tech Uranus here, the whole issue of AI in the film industry will likely be amped up. Aquarius and Gemini have to do with ‘friends’ and already we see there’s a whole new trend of inventing chatbot AI friends and other relationships. But we could be talking something more along the lines of alternate/mirror universe, with Gemini being doubles. Or a hidden universe that is like a ‘vanishing twin‘ to ours.
Twin flames? Aurora consurgens, St. Gallen 15th century
Uranus in Gemini will make a trine to Pluto in Aquarius and sextile to Neptune and Saturn in Aries. So two air and two fire planets all in cahoots. This is a completely new, volatile, un-formed energy which these planets will now be giving form to or being formed by (or de-formed by, as the case may be). Major ‘upping of frequencies’ going on. Some will find it difficult to handle the new air/fire vibration, and we are already seeing evidence of this, with things like plane crashes (Pluto in Aquarius, but also a metaphor for how our brains are having to cope with increased ‘air traffic’), and this disturbing new trend of cars being driven into crowds of people. Yes, the transit hadn’t officially started, but the apprehension felt at the last critical degrees of the previous sign is enough. There will be adaption, eventually.
Another already visible manifestation of Pluto in Aquarius and Uranus in Gemini is of course crypt-o currency. Pluto is god of the dead and of riches beneath the earth. The amount of minerals/mining required for bitcoin is monstrous and it is why 47 is so keen to have Greenland and Canada. 47’s pimply-faced bazillionare crypto-bromancing dinner (yes, the Banana Duct Tape kid was there) was a prelude. His Gemini stellium slid right into the crypto like well-fitting shoes. Leo is polarity of Aquarius, though, so I don’t imagine gold will lose its value, no matter how many kitschy objets were made from melted down Fort Knox bull-lion. [Look to Ancient Egypt, in the Age of Taurus, as an example of how strongly the polarity sign comes into play (Scorpio). Now we’re at the beginning of the Aquarian Age, which squares Taurus-Scorpio, the two signs governing ‘resources.’]
The Uranus/Gemini combination is very intellect-driven and can even be ‘out-of-body’. In fact, we can expect angels and aliens, ‘friends’ from other realms. There is already much more opening of awareness and communication to the spirit realm, judging by all the YouTube videos. Mediums abound. Gemini, when not grounded (and Uranus is anything but grounded, rotating on its side like a wheel), can also attract unwelcome entities.
So look to where Gemini is in your own chart, this area is going to become lit up and Uranus will demand you up the frequency, upgrade the equipment, open your mind, think different, sky’s the limit. ~rb
Mortal and immortal Gemini twins.
*Personally I’m not completely convinced we should be handing off Uranus, Neptune and Pluto [‘the alchemists’] to individual signs, since they have such long transits and powerful, generational effects. Astrological Uranus is by definition less like the sky god and more like Prometheus, who stole fire and gave it to humans, causing Jupiter to chain him to a rock with an eagle pecking out his (continually regrown) liver every day. Stealing fire to give to humans sounds like something Aries would do! So I do acknowledge the ‘modern’ rulership, but am still informed by the ‘traditional’. (There’s my Uranus/Saturn opposition talking, heh).
In Greek mythology, while transformation into a rock is usually a barren fate, a pattern emerges in which the heroines who were transformed into islands are lovers of the gods; just as islands, like cities, were usually personified as minor goddesses or heroes. [Wikipedia]
This is precisely what happened to Asteria, Titan Goddess of falling stars, oneiromancy (divination by dreams) and astrology (by stars), and mother of Hecate. She transforms herself into the Island of Delos, where her sister Leto at last gave birth to the lunar Artemis and solar Apollo, after an exhaustive search for refuge. The usual suspects were to blame; Zeus for making Leto pregnant, then pursuing Asteria, and jealous Hera’s subsequent curse, that Leto not be able to find solid ground on which to give birth, forbidding all places on earth to accept her. Hera also kidnapped the goddess of childbirth to ensure that Leto’s labour would be ultra painful. Asteria (‘star’) defied Hera’s orders, but as she had not succumb to Zeus’ advances, Hera, though angry, did not punish her.
Artemis was an easy delivery, but Apollo took 9 days and nights to come out (luckily, Artemis was able to assist). There are a few variations on the myth, as is typical. Delos means ‘to manifest or reveal’. It had been a floating island, ’emerged’ for Leto by helpful Zeus (the least he could do since he can’t seem to keep his Tower in his robe). Either it was uninhabited or it was and the people didn’t want her giving birth there, so Leto gifted the island with 4 anchors to keep it stable, which pleased them. Are these ‘anchors’ the 4 Royal Stars (Aldebaran, Regulus, Antares, Fomalhaut)?
‘Cary Sheet’ Star, ca 1500
“Hail. O heaven-built isle [Delos], most lovely scion of the children of bright-haired Leto, O daughter of the sea, thou unmoved marvel of the spacious earth, by mortal men called Delos, but by the blessed gods of Olympos (Olympus) known as the far-seen star (astra) of the dark-blue earth . . . For aforetime, that isle was tossed on the waves by all manner of whirling winds; but, when Leto, the daughter of Koios (Coeus), in the frenzy of her imminent pangs of travail, set foot on her, then it was that four lofty pillars rose from the roots of earth, and on their capitals held up the rock with their adamantine bases. There it was that she gave birth to, and beheld, her blessed offspring.” ~ Pindar, Processional Song on Delos (Greek lyric ca 5th B.C.) [Theoi.com]
Ancient Greek coin (date?)
Both Delos and Delphi, site of Apollo’s famous oracle and omphalos (navel), share the root word ‘del’ with ‘delphini,’ which means dolphin in Greek. Dolphins are sacred to Apollo, Dionysus and Poseidon. The Cary sheet hints at location with a fish-tail shape in the shoreline. Dolphins were considered by mariners to be a very good omen indeed, guiding and protective. They are also known to protect whales giving birth. So saviour-like are dolphins, that in the 14th century, French heirs began calling themselves ‘dauphin.’ It is beyond shameful and utterly reprehensible how modern humans have abused these sacred beings (the marine mammals, not the French kings).
Louise of Savoy instructing her son, Dauphin Francis I, ca 1505
Apollo wore his golden hair long and his sacred number is 7, associated with the traditional planets, stringed lyre and the Pleaides (starry rain-makers).
The cards do not give us absolutes, but evoke in a mnemonic, riddling fashion, so don’t be too confused by the lack of breasts on the Cary water-bearer.
After her transformation into Delos, several stars, deeply moved by her tale, aligned themselves in her honor. This formation, known as an asterism, served as a protective shield and a tribute to the goddess. For sailors navigating the vast seas and stargazers looking up in wonder, this celestial pattern became a symbol of Asteria’s indomitable spirit. [Olympioi.com]
Greek jug (both sides), 3rd-2nd c BC
It’s obvious that the birthing waters have broken, which explains why the card is somewhat incorrectly interpreted as illustrating the zodiac sign of Aquarius. Aquarius signifies a similar idea (and the constellation once included the Southern Fish, with Royal Star Fomalhaut in its mouth) – albeit in the dead of Winter we are talking more about inward, spiritual rebirth, ultimately necessary for a more evolved, physical return (Saturn).
The androgynous figure pours one jug onto the earth and one into the water, as she will do in the classic Tarot de Marseille card. We get the sense of purification by libation – libation of feminine fluids – as well as the cyclical nature of water, aka life, connecting with her arms in a continuum. In alchemy the liquid purification of spirit is considered Lunar and feminine, inner.
A sea of blood and milk…
Now it’s also possible that her two pitchers contain waters of Mnemosyne and Lethe – some Orphic lamellae (gold tablets) instruct the deceased to only drink from Mnemosyne’s streams, not Lethe’s, in order to avoid another, terrestrial birth or an eternity in gloomy Hades:
“You will find a spring on the left of the halls of Hades, and beside it a white cypress growing. Do not even go near this spring. And you will find another, from the Lake of Memory, flowing forth with cold water. In front of it are guards. You must say, ‘I am the child of Ge and starry Ouranos; this you yourselves also know. I am dry with thirst and am perishing. Come, give me at once cold water flowing forth from the Lake of Memory.’ And they themselves will give you to drink from the divine spring, and then thereafter you will reign with the other heroes.” ~ from Petelia, 4-3 BC
Other sources seem to indicate we’re to drink a bit of each. Hmm.
Chosson TdM, 1736, feat. one of many misspellings
The little black bird, which could represent the soul or ‘Ba bird‘, in the background is also a mytho-alchemical clue, for the crow in alchemy is symbolic of Saturn and the blackening (the first stage of the work, now fading in the distance, but not entirely forgotten). In another, Apollo myth, he sends his originally white bird to keep watch (spy) on his lover, Coronis (‘crow’). Unfortunately for everyone involved, the bird reports she’s been cheating with a mortal. Seething, Apollo scorches the messenger for his efforts, then shoots his woman down. Naturally, he regrets it, tries to revive her, but it’s too late, because Greek tragedy. In the opener image kylix detail, we see the blackened crow or raven as Apollo’s bird of prophecy. Are bird and lover one and the same? Only the shadow knows.
Apollo kills Coronis, 1590 engraving by Hendrick Goltzius
During the alchemical opus, there is something called the ‘impregnation stage’ wherein:
The star rises to the surface and thus connects both the upper spiritual part of the vessel and the lower substance. The bird flies upwards, the soul of the process also seeks union with the spirit. The Impregnation is the turning point of this phase, and indeed it marks the point in the whole process where we are no longer dealing with mere material substances, but the seed of the spiritualization of substance has here been sown, and from now on we will see, through the many following stages, just how this seed grows, metamorphoses, and develops. ~ Adam McLean, The Alchemy Website
The blackening of Apollo’s bird and the rising of the 7-pointed star
It’s been pointed out that in the Cary, there is an emphasis on 4 stars surrounding the main one, creating a starry quintessence, but problematic is the 5th ‘extra’ star in the figure’s right shoulder. In keeping with with the theme, however, this evokes the constellation of Orion, aka Osiris, with red star Betelgeuse placed thusly. Osiris was the god of death and regeneration par excellence, whose reappearance signified the annual rising of the Nile and the land becoming fertile again with birthing waters. (Hapi, who was male but had breasts, was the god of the actual flooding of the Nile, that became Aquarius).
Interestingly, one of the reasons Pythagoreans were superstitious about the number 17 was that Osiris was killed on the 17th day of the month of Athyr.
Eridanus, the cosmic River of Night, has a bright, fixed star at either end; in the north, Rigel, situated in the foot of Orion/Osiris, and in the south, Achernar, the ‘end of the river.’ The god-king has one foot in the water at the serpentine river’s mouth, as if being born out of it. (Article with more on this here).
Eridanus, John Bayer
If we count the number of little plants sprouting from the earth in the Cary card, they equal the number of small stars. As above, so below. Inner quintessence = outer/cosmic. This unification can only happen after the Tower – the structures we build around our minds from the outer, ego, etc – has been transformed. The star not only depicts ‘outer space’ but ‘inner space.’
Marriage stela of Tjanetiset feat. red and white Nut, ca. 825–712 BC (MET)
The ancient Egyptians saw earth as the mirror of the heavens. The sky goddess Nut is depicted, like Hapi of the Nile, holding two jugs that flow with the waters of creation/fertility.
Nut was the goddess of the sky and all heavenly bodies, a symbol of protecting the dead when they enter the afterlife. According to the Egyptians, during the day, theEgyptian decans would make their way across her body. Then, at dusk, they would be swallowed, pass through her belly during the night, and be reborn at dawn. She was often painted on the inside lid of the sarcophagus, protecting the deceased. The vaults of tombs were often painted dark blue with many stars as a representation of Nut.[Wikipedia]
Rosenwald sheet 15th c (National Gallery of Art)
In astrology the ‘big three’ of a natal (birth) chart are our Sun, Moon and Ascendant. The Sun indicates the time of year we’re born, energizing the present lifetime and our natural, outward expression of what we aspire to be this time around. The Moon shows time of the month (phase, day) and is indicative of the past and of our inner or nighttime realms – memory, dreams, soul lineage – what we bring with us, unconsciously. The Ascendant completes the picture with our precise moment of arrival/first breath. There is something very fated and acutely personal about this moment.
To the ancients, it was not so much the moment itself or even the rising sign, necessarily, but the star heralding or accompanying the Sun, as it rose on the day of birth (they didn’t have clocks) that was of prime importance. Stars on any angle or conjunct a luminary or planet are also significant, coming into play at different times during the course of a life. We could muse that this first star on the horizon is our navigational star, guiding us back to the ‘berth’.
Compass rose, France 1543 and sounding lead (for measuring depths), Marseille, 1st c
The TdM Star card is also interpreted as Venus, since she is symbolized with 8 points, but of course she can also have 5 (evening and morning star symbols). In the Tarocchi of ‘Mantegna’ print below, we find Venus in her river toilette (note the anagram, there), with her entourage of Eros and the Graces, looking suspiciously like the Star card figure. Meanwhile, in the unique, Leber-Rouen card, a witchy ‘Stella Maris’ looks like the wild twin of Botticelli’s serene goddess. (Might the cross/ankh around her neck have been an add-on?).
‘Mantegna’ Venus and Leber-Roen Venusian, mid 15th c
Lodovico Lazzarelli, in his De Gentilium Deorum Imaginibus (trans. William O’Neal) described the first one:
Nude Venus swims forth from the midst of the natal wave of the sea, and the fair one holds a sea-shell in her right hand. For she divests lovers from extraordinary cares and affairs. Nude Venus calls nude bodies to herself Indeed the sea shell engages itself in sexual union within its own body. Passionate love is ship-wrecked by a sea of troubles.
The victor stands with his quiver of arrows, and he is swift on his wings. The nude boy Cupid stands with eyes covered. At one time he hurls down golden arrowheads from his bow and at another time lead ones, and each strikes the hearts of men with a different wound. The lead-tipped arrows drive love away but the golden-tipped bring it about. As hatred is strong so also love is dear. The nude boy loves the defenseless. Love with eyes covered does not know at whom he aims. He drags his prisoners through hard places. And those ignorant of every road wander off through lonely places The boy calls young men to his camp. Love marks out their unstable souls for his swift wings. He causes wounds hastened along by his quivers.
The Idalian nymphs, the fair and pleasing crowd of three, stand together with their bodies unclothed. They hold their arms together bound by interchanging bonds as often interchanging Love ties the bonds. The first holds the light of her countenance and her eyes toward us. The rest of her group sees us in her gentle eyes. First, Pasithea enraptures us in her gentle fires. Aglaia revives those taken in with her flattery. Euphrosyne entangles them in fetters and strong chains, and she does not permit her captives to go back. Then, Venus, pitying those mangled in such sorrows encourages them with her sweet enticements and flattery. Poets have treated these many things from the star of Venus which lovingly presides over the triple place of heaven. This constellation stands in the highest part of heaven with a triple name. Of course, it has always been said to be Venus.
Sounds a bit like alchemy-speak, no? Lead and gold-tipped arrows? I’m still pondering the arrangement of her four doves. Anyone?
In the Leber-Rouen card, our Stella Maris is of course Venus-Fortuna, for she holds in one hand a large arrow-cum-spindle, its quiver wound (with hair?). In the other, she grasps a lock of her windswept tresses. It bears a similarity to Lazzarelli’s description – she lures or navigates ships through shifting weather in the same, fated manner as Cupid sends forth his arrows.
Dame Fortune wielding a large arrow, French, 1403
Sailors were a superstitious lot. They believed women, being ‘wetter’ (ie, more lunar) than men had a special power over the sea. Medical writers like Pliny the Elder, in his Natural History (77 AD) declared, “For, in the first place, hailstorms, they say, whirlwinds, and lightening even, will be scared away by a woman uncovering her body while her monthly courses are upon her. The same, too, with all kinds of tempestuous weather; and out at sea, a storm may be lulled by a woman uncovering her body.” Hence ancient goddesses, Isis in particular, but also the Stella Maris (‘Star of the Sea’, which could be Venus or any navigational star) became protector of ships at sea, and female figureheads were often bare-breasted.
The power of the jugs
Now, obviously I’ve focused only on the more cryptic Star cards, as mystery is what I find interesting, but there are just a few more worth an honourable mention, before wrapping up this essay. Their imagery, at first, may not seem to relate to our running theme, but let’s take a closer look…
Tarot of Paris early 1600s, Jacques Vieville 1650, ‘Mantegna Tarocchi’ Geometria 1460s
The third image is not a Star card but depicts one of the Liberal Arts inspiring these learned men: Geometry (‘to measure the earth’). Of all the Liberal Arts personified in the ‘Mantegna’, she is the only one floating in the sky above.
In the first card, the man sits at a drafting or reading table with books on it and holds the compass to his head, in thought. It’s hard to say whether he’s aware of the Star or whether it’s symbolic only, but divine, mathematical inspiration is being transmitted. I like to think of him as either an astrologer or an explorer creating maps.
Checkered floor of the alchemy lab
In the second card, the central Star and four little stars form a ‘quintessential’ arrangement. An astronomer/astrologer or mason (or alchemist) sits in contemplation or meditation before a cathedral-like building that has a clock or rose window in its bell tower. The division of the cosmos has now become a precision science, thanks to the sacred gadget. He appears to be measuring the heavens, but as in the Paris card, the compass almost seems to be a conduit and, held this way, it resembles the numeral V (5). The ground has a checkered pattern typical of masonry tiles and alchemists’ labs, but also resembling meridian lines of the earthly plain. Vieville or whoever created the the images for this deck was likely of the Rosicrucian Brotherhood. It’s just barely possible find a rose hidden under that red circle behind the figure’s head.
Like the Cary, in Vieville we find a 5th small star, this time in the clock/window face, connecting the above and the below. The Vieville Star card with its theme of enlightenment is in contrast to his Moon card, wherein an old woman sits spinning yard (and fate) under a tree, in the realm of night.
Geometry’s sacred tool.
The compass (actually called a divider) was specifically created in order to measure the heavens (hence time), while the much older square was used for earthly structures. These were the two essential tools of the stone masons and still form the well-known, Freemason logo. Because it allowed for the concept of eternity/divinity (the monad) to be perfectly drawn, the compass became a symbol of man’s spirituality and higher nature.
“It is said that the compasses’ two points represent spirit and matter, life and form; from these all the complexities of the fleeting, ever-changing mantle of the one-life are produced within the circle, self-imposed by the Being who has decreed the bounds of His Universe or His System.” ~ Harold Bayley, The Lost Language of Symbolism
Thus in these two variations, another aspect of the Star is emphasized: human intellect (Mercury/Aquarius) or indeed wisdom as the vehicle for uniting Heaven and Earth.
God/Christ the Geometer creating the world soul, 13th c
The sacred tool bears a notable resemblance to a stork or crane, birds associated with birth/immortality (like crow and raven, they are interchangeable, symbolically). We all know the greeting card baby delivery propaganda, but it was once the belief in Ancient Greece that they actually stole infants, like Harpies. [Fun fact: vultures evolved from storks.] Hera’s wrath again – this time at some haughty Pygmy queen who’d just given birth to a son:
The other Pygmies brought many gifts for the newborn infant, but Hera, enraged that Gerana would not worship her, elongated her neck and turned her into a crane. Wishing to keep close to her child, Gerana as a crane would fly from roof to roof, but the people armed themselves and chased her away, and thus arose the rivalry between the Pygmies and cranes. [Wikipedia]
“I’m crushing your head!”
Nevertheless, the nesting of cranes/storks on one’s rooftop is generally considered auspicious. People sometimes placed old cartwheels on the roof, to help initiate nesting. (Interesting we have named the mechanical monsters of construction after them, due to the resemblance).
Indeed, if we zoom in on the ‘Mantegna’ Geometria print, we find one of these very birds hunting in the river below….and it has caught a snake!
Master of the e-series, Ferrara, 1460s (MET)
From compass to compass, star to star, this concludes our sojourn of the 17th Triumph. Thank you for reading. To explore more articles on the Tarot de Marseille, simply type ‘TdM’ into the search, or scroll the Home page, where I list recent articles. ~rb
In case you’ve been too preoccupied with the whiplashing American news…
Formidable seismic activity began occurring on Feb 5 in Greece’s most popular tourist destination, Thira (aka Santorini) and people are being evacuated from the heavenly island in droves. Some old timers are choosing to stay, being fatalistic…perhaps they will take care of the animals left behind. All those cats! Authorities are saying there is ‘no need to worry’ about volcano eruptions. Hmm….I wonder.
Of course, seismic activity in the Greek Islands and the surrounding seasis attributed to the Titan God, Typhon, who, after a long and bloody battle, Zeus managed to seal up under Mt. Etna, a still very active volcano on the east coast of Sicily (Prototype for St. Michael and Satan). Still rattling his chains and fuming, Typhon is responsible for typhoons, tsunamis, quakes, volcanos, plagues and other such disasters. But in the mytho-alchemical sense, Typhon is like Mercury on steroids, similar to Uranus being called the ‘higher octave’ of Mercury and having the effect of creating sea changes. For example, when the Greek gods fled Typhon into Egypt, where they donned animal heads/masks for disguise, the great Pan jumped into the sea, transforming via crisis into our Capricorn sea-goat. Part 3 of this post about the TdM Devil goes into this Typhon material.
Detail in map of the Underworld, showing Typhon under the volcano.
As it turns out, there is a trans-Neptunian object (TNO) named after him, as there is for everything – a binary system (it has a Moon) – currently at 28 Scorpio. Athanasius Kircher had once associated Typhon to this sign.At the moment of the first quake, TNO Typhon was/is opposing Uranus and Moon conjunct at 23 Taurus (earth).
I have long ‘intuited’ 23 as being Uranian in nature due to the discordant vibration of this prime number that reduces to 5. Today this is actually a commonly accepted idea. Lately, with Uranus having just stationed direct at 23 degrees of Taurus (typically a sign that thrives on harmony), you must admit, there has been quite a lot of discord! We can’t but acknowledge the POTUS’ wrecking ball nature, with his North Node closely flanked by Sun and Uranus – his most elevated planet – in Gemini. (Both Muck and his outspoken 4 yr old Mini-Me also have Sun-Uranus conjunctions). The number between 45 and 47 is 46, which, divided by 2 is…23.
Barry Blitt’s ‘Anything but That’ …at 23rd St??
This isn’t to say 23/Uranian discordant energy is necessarily always bad, but it is often shocking – you don’t see it coming – and has the effect of breaking up the harmonic order it refuses to fit into.
Returning to the main theme, Typhon, I also learned that astral Typhon was discoveredFeb 5, 2002 – exactly 23 years to the day of this earthquake! (Yes, tremors started earlier, but it’s not an official quake unless it registers 5. on the Richter scale). Very mysterious, especially with Typhon’s distinctly serpentine attributes and it being a lunar EARTH SNAKE year.
Stamp featuring Zeus and Typhon duking it out
But is there a deeper meaning to all this, not just some wow-conspiracy-theory-sounding-coincidence? We have to remember that the Underworld, to the Greeks, was not yet the Hell of Christianity, although it did have a section like this for bad people and monsters, called Tartarus. Rather, Hades was an inverted, somewhat depressing mirror version of the above world of the living. Pluto is simply dark Zeus (also Dionysus, but let’s keep it simple).
Uranus, named after the sky itself, gets and sends its energy from the beyond the Saturnian sphere, ‘out of the blue’, often taking the form of inspiration (Urania) or strokes of genius. It’s fiery/airy. If Uranus is the higher octave of Mercury, then its ‘messages’ are going to come faster and more intensely. Typhon, similarly, rears up from deep below, sending shocks in the form of earth or water events, rocking our physical foundations.
Giulio Bonasone (Italian 1531-76), Jupiter, Neptune and Pluto dividing the universe. MET
When Jupiter and his two ‘brothers’ (actually all aspects of the one triplicity) cast lots and divided the realms, Neptune didn’t just get the sea, but the whole ‘middle realm’ where the other two worlds meet. We currently have the North Node conjunct Neptune in Pisces, trine Typhon/Scorpio, sextile Uranus/Taurus. Meanwhile, Pluto, Lord of Hades is in Uranus’ fixed air sign of Aquarius. We look to global events for clues to how and where the planetary aspects are manifesting. Greece is where our western ‘civilization’ began, The surrounding seas and islands are literally the realm of the old gods. Seems to me that some very shape-shifting, powerful chthonic and cosmic forces are at work or perhaps even doing battle, their combined effect being felt acutely by us middle-realm dwellers. Perhaps the frequency of 23 provides a conduit. ~rb
In the next instalment I will further explore 23 and Uranus in the charts of various air disasters.
People of Orphalese, beauty is life when life unveils her holy face. But you are life and you are the veil. Beauty is eternity gazing at itself in a mirror. But you are eternity and you are the mirror.
“After all, do seeds not contain within them the very hope for continuance of the entire species that bore it? This super-saturated state of the seed, where life condenses itself down into an intensely miniaturized holographic fragment of itself, promising the formation of future worlds within itself, is the very emblem of life’s immense and immortal power.”*
Soprafino Tarot
“Ascend above any height, descend further than any depth; receive all sensory impressions of the created: water, fire, dryness and wetness. Think that you are present everywhere: in the sea, on earth and in heaven; think that you were never born and that you are still in the embryonic state: young and old, dead and in the hereafter. Understand everything at the same time: time, place, things: quality and quantity.”
“At the still point of the turning world. Neither flesh nor fleshless; Neither from nor towards; at the still point, there the dance is, But neither arrest nor movement. And do not call it fixity, Where past and future are gathered. Neither movement from nor towards, Neither ascent nor decline. Except for the point, the still point, There would be no dance, and there is only the dance.”
Red White n Bluebeard (acrylic mediums and oil pastel on wood) SOLD
Red White n Bluebeard is a painting created during the first presidential campaign of Teflon Don of the Wild Rumpus. It is based on the folk story of Bluebeard, a cautionary tale for wives who dare to disobey their husbands, from the days when women were considered little more than property. Sadly, this is still the case in many countries, daughters are basically sold off to the highest bidder. Imagine the fear, not knowing what awaits, whether your new husband, often a complete stranger, will be kind or a demon. (It’s how new pets feel, too).
detail
Bluebeard is a magician of sorts, he gives his new bride a set of keys, upon leaving for a voyage, telling her open any door except one. Of course curiosity gets the better of her, and she discovers hanging in the forbidden room are the bloody corpses of his 6 previous wives. And the enchanted key is now permanently bloodstained. Innocence forever lost, forbidden knowledge akin to death. Fortunately her brothers end up arriving just in the nick of time to kill Bluebeard before he can make her number 7.
Red White n Bluebeard (different light/with frame) SOLD
Acrylic mediums and oil pastel on wood, set in an authentic, hand cut, antique folk wooden frame all the way from 1930s Poland. SIZE: about 15 x 20 inches.
With frame, colours in natural lighting…
The painting is not a portrait of the (soon to once again be) president, but rather a personification or allegory of the rage and racism that had begun rearing it’s ugly head in the US – permissible and encouraged – during his rise to power. The figure wears a mask that has become melded with his face. He both hates and fears the screaming people caught in his red white n blue beard. Inspiration was drawn from the contorted victims in Picasso’s Guernica, to illustrate those without rights or power, caught in the hairy flames and begging for mercy.
detail
Recently, Rumpus has made ‘jokes’ about Canada entering into an arranged marriage, shall we say, with the US, which I won’t repeat here. Many have noted his characteristic, tactical trolling, bullying, belittling. But it is also a form of hexing. Rumps is a magician skilled in word sorcery (Gemini Sun/Uranus). He well understands that all that is required is for a thorny little seed or egg to be planted in the collective mind, hypnotically repeated as a command to the subconscious, and it will grow there like a parasite until it bears ugly fruit. Rather like that frienemy who casually insinuates your spouse might be cheating. (How interesting his new health minister literally had a brain worm). This is how subliminal advertising has always worked, and he is a walking advertisement, set to (once again) head TV Nation. Don’t buy it, Canada. You know what’s behind that door.
In a fragment from his c. 375 BC play Semele or Dionysus, Eubulus has the god of wine Dionysus describe proper and improper drinking:
For sensible men I prepare only three kraters: one for health (which they drink first), the second for love and pleasure, and the third for sleep. After the third one is drained, wise men go home. The fourth krater is not mine any more – it belongs to bad behaviour; the fifth is for shouting; the sixth is for rudeness and insults; the seventh is for fights; the eighth is for breaking the furniture; the ninth is for depression; the tenth is for madness and unconsciousness.
These were sketched last October, after we’d lost my Mum the previous month. I hadn’t yet begun to process the overwhelming grief and shock.
She lived and died in Mexico, and the black paper I was sketching on was from there, so maybe some of the spirit of Dia de Los Muertos came through.
The photos are of local spirits that start coming out about now. ~rb
The Hanged Man/Le Pendu is surely among the most disturbing and evocative of the Tarot triumphs. He’s undergoing torture, but seems unwilling to reveal anything about his inner experience (I almost titled this piece, “We have ways of making you talk,” but this is now the title of some TV series). As it turns out he’s got a LOT to communicate to those who have crossed the threshold (XI) of Tarot’s ‘greater mysteries.’ Think of him as the babbling head of Orpheus. So let’s dive in, head first and dissect this frightful, human pendu-lum from toe to head; his mytho-alchemy, number symbolism, religious/cult connotations and more!
Charles VI Tarot (15th c) Note the 3 and 4 pegs beside his bags.
HUMBLE BEGINNINGS
Formerly called ‘The Traitor,’ the figure initially held a sack in each hand, presumably containing money he either stole or acquired in a dubious exchange (such as bribery). In the Charles VI card (above), he almost looks like he ran into a trap, baited with the dough. The image is thought to be modelled on pittura infamante(‘shame portraits’) of the Italian Renaissance – horrifically, this punishment was actually inflicted on criminals and Jews. We could also imagine these ‘hermetically sealed’ bags as containing something secret (like the Fool’s bindle) that he won’t release, even under duress – alembics, if you will. In some Minchiate decks (cousin of Tarot), he is simply holding two roundels and is cleaned up to like an acrobat/jongleur.
Although he wasn’t hung thusly, it is also perhaps a reference to Judas Escariot, who was paid 30 pieces of silver for betraying Jesus to the Romans. Silver is the Moon’s metal, gold is the Sun’s, and Christ, the other twin, is characterized as solar/gold – similar in the nocturnal/diurnal sense to Dionysus and Apollo, who both ‘possess’ Orpheus at different times.
Visconti Sforza 16th c, Jacques Vieville 17th c, Nicholas Conver TdM 18th c
In the Visconti Sforza card (left, above), the calm, golden-haired rendition, similar to our TdM figure emerges. We see no money bags (did he even commit a crime?) and his hands are now hidden (tied?) behind his back. If we zoom in, we can see red ‘flames’, ie, life force, dripping from his clothing. Obviously fire doesn’t drip, blood does, but it’s shaped like flames, similar to the red plume escaping from the Charles VI figure’s leg. These flaming blood drips are transferred to the cut branches of his gibbet in TdM.
Beneath his head, just touching his hair is a pool of blue water – again, we are reminded of the head of Orpheus, thrown into the River Hebron, by the maenads. His leggings are green, the colour of new life, yet to ripen, and his very prominent gibbet now resembles a golden doorway. Because of how his leggings seem to be ‘chomping’ him, this card always reminds me of the alchemical Green Lion devouring the Sun image (below), said to represent vitriol (sulphuric acid) dissolving gold.
V.I.T.R.I.O.L. or V.I.T.R.I.O.L.U.M. (‘visita interiora terrae, rectificandoque, invenies occultum lapidem’, or ‘visit the interior of the earth, and purifying it, you will find the hidden stone.’ This is another way of saying, ‘look within yourself for the truth’). This phrase must be present in all Masonic chambers of reflection directly facing the candidate.
Visonti-Sforza hanged Man and Alchemical Green Lion devouring the Sun
In the Vieville version (middle) the number is printed/situated so that we must turn him ‘right-side up’ to read it correctly, thus also bringing the Lunar and Solar mounds either side of his large-ish head into view. Note the Solar mound also contains the planetary spheres. His fingers seem to sprout like angelic wings from his shoulders, symbolic of Mercury elevating the spirit to the realm of the gods (we see this detail in Noblet and Dodal, also). As with the Marseille card, his gibbet now shows 6 cut branches on each side, only here the middle piece upon which he lands or dances has 4.
The Hanged Man dangles by his foot, not unlike a bunch of grapes clinging to a vine, and his wild hair in the TdM version does seem to evoke Dionysus. (Christ purportedly claimed to be ‘the true vine’, unlike that Pagan weirdo).
Grape flavoured Gods: The Wine Press by John Roddam Spencer Stanhope and Pompeii fresco Dionysus (both details)
ALCHEMICAL SCAPEGOAT
Ascending while or following descent is often expressed in myth by the ordeal of a [solar] god – Odin obviously comes to mind in relation to this card, but so do a few other resurrected or ‘twice-born’ gods. The Bacchic-Orphic mysteries also elude to a kind of simultaneous ascent-descent described as ‘rushing into milk’ (‘a bull, you rushed into milk’) or ‘falling into milk’ (‘a kid, I fell into milk’), found on a few of the gold tablets buried with initiates.
Alma Nungarrayi Granites, Seven Sisters MilkyWay Dreaming
Too involved to go into here (please check out the Orphic link posted above the three Pendu cards, if you want to know more), but ‘milk’ is thought to refer to the Milky Way and/or Paradise. Initiates would descend to the Underworld after death, where they were to tell the guardians they are ‘a child of the starry heavens, as you yourselves know,’ have been purified and wish to now return to their rightful place in the stars with their family of gods and heroes.
The Vieville card seems to elude to this concept, with its addition of heavenly spheres. He’s done or doing time here in human form, but will return. You decide which deity.
Ascend and descend: Franchises Gaffurius, Practica Musicae frontspiece, 1496
Aside: I asked musician friends for an example of ascending and descending notes being played/sung simultaneously, in order to possibly better comprehend the card on an emotional level, and was directed to JS Bach’s Chorale Harmonizations. These are just snippets, but have a listen.
In the classic Conver ‘type II’ version (right, above, next to Vieville), the mounds are just slightly differentiated and there is only one cut branch in the middle bough which has been reinterpreted as a little spoon, making 13.
For stirring up? Or making libations of wine on sacrificial victims?
Addendum: I only recently noticed in the Charles Cheminade deck (middle detail, above), one of the oldest existing type 1 TdM examples, the rope our Pendu hangs by is shaped like a spoon, so it must be a reference to the Fool and the ‘ultimate transformation’ process at hand.
His mane is firey like the Sun and his blue leggings are watery, so either things are upside down or the Sun has essentially sunk. A fallen angel? Or a drowned person with hair flowing in the water?
The Death of Orpheus by Jean Delville 1893
In alchemy, oftentimes what is meant by fire is sulphur and by water, mercury. These are the two prime materials or principals which, along with salt were the three ‘heavenly substances,’ or tria prima – philosophical elements, which, combined with the four classical elements, were thought to be the basis of everything. (3 + 4 pegs in Charles VI card, Empress + Emperor). It’s a bit confusing, because philosophical Mercury is spirit, even though it’s equated with water, and sulphur is soul, although it is fiery. Salt is the physical body. Think of the salt in an hourglass, Le Pendu being like a human version.
XII Le Pendu/The Hanged Man is the middle ‘3’ card (1+2=3); the first being III The Empress (3) and third being XXI The World (2+1=3). Previously, I speculated that The Empress represents the beginning of ‘the work’ and the alembic itself. (All the ‘3’ placement cards – III, VI, VIIII, XII, XV, XVIII, XXI – have this ‘combining’ theme).
‘From Me Life’ from a 1717 treatise
In this wonderful illustration, God/Yahweh shines above the slogan A ME VITA (‘from me life’). Messenger/psychopomp Mercury floats just beneath, in spiritual/philosophical form, delivering the life force with his caduceus (pointing it heads downward), waking and overseeing the transformation of the vulgar metals below – each corresponding to a planet/luminary.(On the far left is his own metal ore).The solar and lunar trees have 7 ‘fruits’ in each (a set of parents for every metal?). The space between them forms an alembic shape. From each metal mountain, a stream leads to the fire in an egg-shaped, earthy furnace (watery and fiery purification). In the flames is an orb containing two opposite triangles of water and fire together in perfect union, with a monad (gold/divinity/totality, etc) in the middle.
Compare with Le Pendu, hanging between solar and lunar trees (best example being the Vieville), his firey hair ‘becoming gold’ in a bizarre, purification torture ritual. He ascends as he descends, like two triangles meeting.
Payen (type I) Empress and Emperor cards-early 18th c
The two imperial eagles are akin to the two triangles, yet to meet, eagle being emblematic of ‘the work’ and the process of transformation [Scorpio] that is yet to occur. 3 x 4 = 12. ‘Lovers don’t meet/they are in each other all along.’ [Rumi].
Vieville Temperance (c 1650) and Flamel Mercury (c 1330)
It is Mercury’s passive feminine divine nature, that allows the alchemist to transform one’s life and live more in harmony with the laws of nature. Mercury to the alchemist of today, is a symbol of the sexual waters of creation and the spinal fluid, that brings the carnal desires into submission of the divine mind. Once the alchemist understands the principles of Mercury (mind) and finds balance between its feminine passive force, and sulfur’s (soul) active masculine force, within his or her salt (fixed matter/body), he or she will become the philosopher’s stone, able to turn lead into gold at will. ~ The Wandering Alchemist
Watery Hanged Man from Dali Tarot
TOE-DIP INTO THE OCCULT
The Dali Hanged Man (above) is based on the Waite-Smith Tarot, but gives him the Hebrew letter lamed, in accordance with the French occult school, even though the Golden Dawn assigned mem to this card. Mem means ‘water’ and has to do with (self) reflection.
There are at least five different arrangements of Hebrew letters to Tarot triumphs, which to me makes the whole concept a bit wobbly-legged. Based on the accommodating nature of TdM and what I have read so far on the Hebrew letters, if there is anything to see here, it is likely much more fluid and nuanced than simply ‘this card = that letter.’
Nevertheless, to my limited understanding, the Golden Dawn (and Crowley) choice of mem rather than lamed for the Hanged Man is kind of fitting, considering the wateriness, although in terms of self-reflection, it also works with the Unnamed/Death card.
‘Know Thyself’ Roman mosaic, 1st c AD
Most of these schools agree that The Empress = gimmel, the third letter of the Aleph-bet. Although gimmel is never assigned to XII or XXI, it bears a phonetic similarity the word ‘gibbet’ (13th c French). The earliest pictograph for gimmel was a foot. Here are some meanings associated with the letter gimmel. Does it describe the Empress?
– Foot, Pride, Camel
– Lift up (above god = pride)
– The benefactor or the giver of charity; ‘A rich person running to give charity to a poor person.’ – ‘According to Kabbalah, the design of the gimmel is composed of two letters. The first is a vav, represents a person who stands upright. To the person’s left side is a yud, which signifies both the foot and the act of giving.’ – ‘He descended to die for us, he ascends to resurrect us. He is Jacob’s Ladder.’
That last one immediately reminded me of Philippe Camoin’s theory. Jacob’s Ladder was the original ‘Stairway to Heaven’, a hypothetical set of steps by which angels (and thereby souls) ascend and descend.
Philippe Camoin’s ladder insight
The ladder is also a Hermetic symbol of initiation into esoteric wisdom, via exoteric knowledge, the first step. This fits with the position of the card, directly following XI, the threshold of the ‘greater mysteries,’ and X, wherein a small portion of of a ladder (two rungs) forms the base of the Wheel. Camoin also points out a little ladder in the Fool’s bindle.
Dante Gabriel Rossetti, How They Met Themselves (1851-60)
THROUGH A GLASS DARKLY
Esoteric (from Greek ‘within’) is a kind of knowledge that is only realized by ‘meeting it half-way.’ This is different from occult (from a Latin word meaning ‘hidden’), which suggests something outwardly revealed. The difference is subtle, and the two words are often used interchangeably (pet peeve!), but I think the TdM Hanged Man/Pendu exemplifies the esoteric. Each will come to know him on their own, personal terms, by their own projections and reflections.
Since ancient times, mirrors of some material or other have served the function of water (reflecting self/lunar) and fire (reflecting sun/solar). An example of the latter is the concave mirror with which the solar, Olympic flame was lit.
Bacchic-Orphic mystery initiation was thought to involve a simulated death experience wherein one essentially ‘met themselves’. This transformative and purifying ritual, of which little is actually known, was to prepare initiates for the real afterlife ordeal. The fresco detail below depicts the use of reflection in a metal bowl (spiked wine all drank), combined with the comedic death mask. It could be actual or a metaphor.
Consider also how the TdM Pendu’s face also bears a resemblance to the snake-haired gorgoneion – the mask concealing the greatest mystery of all – and how the six, ‘bloody’ branch cuts on each side evoke Medusa’s severed jugular veins; one that flowed with the elixir of rebirth, the other, of death. The Hanged Man hovers in the threshold between the two.
A scary revelation, Villa of Mysteries, Pompeii
Excerpt snagged from an alchemy group thread:
“The purpose of the mirror was not to allow a person to contemplate himself physically, because scarcely was the mirror put down, when the person lost memory of his own image. The Mirror represents the Divine Spirit. When the soul sees itself in it, it observes the shameful things in itself and rejects them. … Once purified, it imitates and takes as model the Holy Ghost; it becomes spirit itself; calm possesses it and it turns continuously to this superior state in which it knows (the divine] and is known [by it]. Then having become without shadow, it divests itself of the chains that are its own and those it has in common with the body. And what is the word of the philosophers? Know thyself. – from Julius Evola’s interpretation of ‘La Chimie au Moyen Age’ and has been translated into English by E. E. Rehmus
The Hanged Man may not appear to be suffering in physical pain for the simple reason that he isn’t undergoing any or it’s not really the point of this exercise. Rather, the appearance of an unbearable situation is for those of us on the outside to see, that we might grasp the nature of his/our inner process.
Always, the first truth revealed in darkness is…the darkest one; the face of that which we are ashamed or afraid of, hidden from or kept hidden from view, like whatever Le Pendu hides behind his back, while staring squarely at us. Always, the first stage in an alchemical opus is ‘the blackening.’
Uh oh…
Possibly the equal Sun and Moon of Vieville indicate an eclipse, ie, a temporary but significant darkening. Only after the shadow is brought into the light of our awareness can the light of the divine self be freely revealed as the complete being (ie, the ‘philosopher’s stone’) in the mandorla/vesica piscis of the World card. The shape is yonic as well as an opened eye; it represents rebirth through renewed vision, an awakening or ‘apocalypse’ which literally means ‘lifting of the veil’. Talk about words that become twisted beyond recognition!
Who hasn’t seen the reflection of their worst and best selves in the eyes of another, or God in the eyes of a beloved or a newborn? The ‘enlightened’ being reflects back to everyone their own, divine nature. 12 is 21, in the mirror.
Pierre Madenie World card 1709 and Leonhardt Thurneisser’s Anima Mercury 1570
SACRIFICIAL TO SACRED
Is this the ‘religious experience’ our Hanged Man, traitor to his divine ‘Christ’ self, has yet to experience? In making a sacrifice of his ‘sins’ or lesser being, the gods receive them as sacred gifts. Indeed, it was common practice to tear bits of clothing (or even body parts) from the sacrificed person, now magically imbued. The satyr Marsyas, while being flayed for his hubris at Apollo’s command, cries, ‘Why do you tear me from myself?!’ It’s to reveal the Apollonian within [Edgar Wind, Pagan Mysteries in the Renaissance].
Some literally do put themselves through ordeals and physical extremes in the name of ritual purification or sacrifice, similar to cooking/torturing the stone. Others, in the name of martyrdom. Jupiter is the traditional ruler of Pisces, 12th (last) sign of the zodiac, associated with self-sacrifice, self-undoing, martyrdom, and the whole Piscean Age we are currently birthing out of, into Aquarius.
Shiva devotee doing his daily practice. The Netherlands, 1727-1738
“The festival at which the king of Calicut staked his crown and his life on the issue of battle was known as the “Great Sacrifice.” It fell every twelfth year, when the planet Jupiter was in retrograde motion in the sign of the Crab, and it lasted twenty-eight days, culminating at the time of the eighth lunar asterism in the month of Makaram. As the date of the festival was determined by the position of Jupiter in the sky, and the interval between two festivals was twelve years, which is roughly Jupiter’s period of revolution round the sun, we may conjecture that the splendid planet was supposed to be in a special sense the king’s star and to rule his destiny, the period of its revolution in heaven corresponding to the period of his reign on earth.” – ‘The Golden Bough’, by James George Frazer (on the Killing of Divine Kings)
“At the end of their reigns, some Irish Kings were sacrificed or slain by having their palaces burned about them while they were either stabbed or drowned in a butt of wine or beer. That is to say, they were sacrificed by the two chief elements controlled by the druids, Fire and Water, the sacrificial draught and the funeral pyre. Their fate was perhaps ritual purification before natural death.” – The Penguin Dictionary of Symbols, Jean Chevalier and Alain Gheerbrandt, trans. John Buchanan Brown
God-King Kurtz’s bedtime stories in ‘Apocalypse Now’
Since the Solar cycle is a mini Jupiter cycle (12 months vs 12 years), the Sun is Jupiter’s (God’s) son, planetarily speaking. At the end of his 12 year reign, the king would have to die, preferably by suicide. Similarly, the 13th Lunar month in a Solar year ‘kills’ the Sun. “He’s murdering the time! Off with his head!” Frazer suggests that in some places, this led to the practice of a false king – a substitute victim. Robert Graves writes about similar in Ancient Greece in ‘The Greek Myths,’ and an alternate Gospel from the late Middle Ages declares Christ himself had such a substitute, namely Judas.
Moon and Sun trees (detail), Rosarium Philosophorum, 19th c
The Hanged Man might be seeing his reflection upside down in water, outer and inner worlds reflecting each other, so that 13 branch cuts doubled become 26, the number of YHVH (Yahweh, aka God, Jupiter, Odin, etc). We too might be seeing only a reflection, or someone beneath the water. He does appear bloated, like a drowned body (or perhaps holding his breath). Yet, this is where life begins – in water, in utero, in a bath of mercury…
Liquid Mercury mirror telescope [NASA pic] TO CONCLUDE
In its metal form, the surface of ‘quicksilver’ or ‘water-silver’ (Greek hydrargyros) is essentially a mirror. Mercury never shows its own face, only reflections – masks, as it were. Another fact is that our eyes see everything upside down, our brain turns what we see right side up. Hanging upside down for long periods of time will actually result in reversing this!
The Hanged Man/Le Pendu reveals that there are many different perspectives from which we can view things (Tarot, for one) and sometimes a new outlook can change the course of our lives. When turned ‘right-side up’, as many have noted, he appears to be doing the maenad jig, like the Hermetic-Bacchic-Orphic-Christ-Androgyne in the mandorla, thereby assuring us it’s all necessary, that we all turn upside down in water before undergoing birth trauma and finally re-emerging as a complete being in a state of grace. But at this point, 21 is still a long way off. The ‘dark night of the soul’ has only just begun. ~rb
poem b Efrem K. Weitzman, student at Cooper Union, 1943
(courtesy of Bill Wolf)
