Re: Images from a Ferrarese prophetic manuscript (1450 ca)

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SteveM wrote:So if we interpret the Star and the sign Aquarius in terms of a Christain paradigm, the question for me is how do we interpret the two folloing bodies in the same light?

Below the figures of the celestial bodies star, moon and sun are three tableaus associated with the zodiacal signs Aquarius, Cancer and Gemini.
Or perhaps more simply the designer or their patron was a Gemini, with Moon in Cancer and Aquarius rising.* :D

SteveM
*Only possible of course if the Star represents the morning (sunrise) in general, and not the Morning Star in particular (as it is impossible for Venus to be in Aquarius if the Sun is in Gemini).

Re: Images from a Ferrarese prophetic manuscript (1450 ca)

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Ross G. R. Caldwell wrote:
For me this was the benefit of Marco's first post on this thread with the images from a c. 1450 copy of Telesforo of Cosenza's prophecies. It showed that an image of a burning tower could be used both to illustrate Satan's 1000 year prison (folio 43r), as well as, in combination with Satan, a synecdoche for Gog and Magog, while the angel with a sword (and perhaps a flash of red if we had a color version) takes the place of "fire from heaven" otherwise (as far as I can tell) not shown in the picture (folio 58v).

So a good question might be, if a burning/lightning struck tower is an appropriate image for one or both of these events, how does that fit into a narrative interpretation of the final seven cards?

Ross
For me, the tower in the card seems to be the key pictorial element to explain. As you say, the card was not orignally called la torre, but Fire, Hell, and so on, which would indicate that it is not the main feature. So if fire is the main idea, this could relate to either Hell or Purgatory or the 'fire from heaven' in Revelation 20:9. But if this card is showing that fire, then the next card is jumping way back to the beginning of the gospels, as an advent of the birth of Jesus.

The images that are the subject of this thread make it more likely that a tower could be the place where the Devil is confined, but it still leaves the two figures and the crown to be explained. My guess is these would have to be gog and magog, since it is they (not the Devil) who are the ones devoured by the 'fire from heaven', after which the Devil is put into the lake of fire with the beast and the false prophet. Was this card called 'fire' because the fate of both the Devil and gog-magog is fiery? Are both events being conflated in this card? Probably not, since the fire is coming from above, and there is no lake present. Which leaves the possibility that it is combining both the release of the Devil from captivity, and the destruction of gog-magog. Which leaves the crown of the tower to explain. When did that become a feature of the card?

Re: Images from a Ferrarese prophetic manuscript (1450 ca)

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SteveM wrote:Judgment begins with the house of God.
1 Peter 4:

12 Beloved, do not be surprised at the fiery trial when it comes upon you to test you, as though something strange were happening to you. 13 But rejoice insofar as you share Christ's sufferings, that you may also rejoice and be glad when his glory is revealed. 14 If you are insulted for the name of Christ, you are blessed, because the Spirit of glory [1] and of God rests upon you. 15 But let none of you suffer as a murderer or a thief or an evildoer or as a meddler. 16 Yet if anyone suffers as a Christian, let him not be ashamed, but let him glorify God in that name. 17 For it is time for judgment to begin at the household of God; and if it begins with us, what will be the outcome for those who do not obey the gospel of God?


The oldest recorded name for this card is Sagitta; in keeping with the theme of Judgment I suggest it is in reference to the 'burning arrows' or 'Arrows for those that will burn' as Augustine calls them:

quote:
"Augustine’s discourse on Ps.7: “This bow, then, I would readily assume to be the Holy Scriptures, in which the strength of the NT, like a bowstring, has bent and overcome the rigidity of the Old. This bow has shot forth the apostles like arrows (Hinc tamquam sagittaie emittuntur apostoli’)’. Augustine notes that the ‘burning arrows per se are not found in the Greek text of the psalm but rather ‘arrows for those who will burn’ (‘Sed siue ipsae sagittae ardeant, siue ardere faciant’), and he goes on to connect these burning arrows with the Last Judgment... as does Ps. 59:6....


Augustine further discusses the arrow in relation to the House of God:
“In his discourse on Ps. 59 Augustine cites 1 Peter. 4: 17-18: ‘Tempus est ut iudicium incipiat domo Dei’, and goes on to say that he farther the string of the bow is drawn back the more impetus is given to the arrow; thus the longer God withholds his Judgement, the more severe his punishment. For the faithful, however, the longer the time allowed for repentance the more deserving they will be.”


SteveM
Quotes from Dives and pauper by Priscilla Heath Barnum p.292/3

Re: Images from a Ferrarese prophetic manuscript (1450 ca)

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SteveM wrote:
"Augustine’s discourse on Ps.7: “This bow, then, I would readily assume to be the Holy Scriptures, in which the strength of the NT, like a bowstring, has bent and overcome the rigidity of the Old. This bow has shot forth the apostles like arrows (Hinc tamquam sagittaie emittuntur apostoli’)’. Augustine notes that the ‘burning arrows per se are not found in the Greek text of the psalm but rather ‘arrows for those who will burn’ (‘Sed siue ipsae sagittae ardeant, siue ardere faciant’), and he goes on to connect these burning arrows with the Last Judgment... as does Ps. 59:6....
quote:
14. And in it He has prepared the instruments of death: He has wrought His arrows for the burning Psalm 7:13. That bow then I would readily take to be the Holy Scripture, in which by the strength of the New Testament, as by a sort of string, the hardness of the Old has been bent and subdued. From thence the Apostles are sent forth like arrows, or divine preachings are shot. Which arrows He has wrought for the burning, arrows, that is, whereby being stricken they might be inflamed with heavenly love. For by what other arrows was she stricken, who says, Bring me into the house of wine, place me among perfumes, crowd me among honey, for I have been wounded with love? By what other arrows is he kindled, who, desirous of returning to God, and coming back from wandering, asks for help against crafty tongues, and to whom it is said, What shall be given you, or what added to you against the crafty tongue? Sharp arrows of the mighty, with devastating coals: that is, coals, whereby, when you are stricken and set on fire, you may burn with so great love of the kingdom of heaven, as to despise the tongues of all that resist you, and would recall you from your purpose, and to deride their persecutions, saying, Who shall separate me from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? For I am persuaded, he says, that neither death, nor life, nor angel, nor principality, nor things present, not things to come, nor power, nor height, nor depth, nor other creature, shall be able to separate me from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord. Thus for the burning has He wrought His arrows. For in the Greek copies it is found thus, He has wrought His arrows for the burning. But most of the Latin copies have burning arrows. But whether the arrows themselves burn, or make others burn, which of course they cannot do unless they burn themselves, the sense is complete.
Exposition on Ps. 7 by Augustine.
Augustine further discusses the arrow in relation to the House of God:
“In his discourse on Ps. 59 Augustine cites 1 Peter. 4: 17-18: ‘Tempus est ut iudicium incipiat domo Dei’, and goes on to say that he farther the string of the bow is drawn back the more impetus is given to the arrow; thus the longer God withholds his Judgement, the more severe his punishment. For the faithful, however, the longer the time allowed for repentance the more deserving they will be.”
quote:
6. Wherefore this? You have given to men fearing You, a sign that they should flee from the face of the bow (Psalm 59:4). Through tribulations temporal, he says, You have signified to Your own to flee from the wrath of fire everlasting. For, says the Apostle Peter, Time it is that Judgment begin with the House of God. (1 Peter 4:17) And exhorting the Martyrs to endurance, when the world should rage, when slaughters should be made at the hands of persecutors, when far and wide blood of believers should be spilled, when in chains, in prisons, in tortures, many hard things Christians should suffer, in these hard things, I say, lest they should faint, Peter says to them, Time it is that Judgment begin with the House of God, etc. What therefore is to be in the Judgment? The bow is bended, still in menacing posture it is, not yet in aiming. And see what there is in the bow: is there not an arrow to be shot forward? The string however is stretched back in a contrary direction to that in which it is going to be shot; and the more the stretching thereof has gone backward, with the greater swiftness it starts forward. What is it that I have said? The more the Judgment is deferred, with so much the greater swiftness it is to come. Therefore even for temporal tribulations to God let us render thanks, because He has given to His people a sign, that they should flee from the face of the bow: in order that His faithful ones having been exercised in tribulations temporal, may be worthy to avoid the condemnation of fire everlasting, which is to find out all them that do not believe these things.
Exposition of Ps. 60 by Augustine.

The arrow and the jugment on the house of God are the wounds of love, Caritas. It is also through Caritas, and Caritas alone, that the Sons of Perdition and the Sons of the Kingdom are divided at final Judgment, figuratively placed on the right hand (Kingdom) or left hand (perdition).

quote:
7. That Your beloved may be delivered: save me with Your right hand, and hearken unto me (Psalm 59:5). With Your right hand save me, Lord: so save me as that at the right hand I may stand. Not any safety temporal I require, in this matter Your Will be done. For a time what is good for us we are utterly ignorant: for what we should pray for as we ought we know not: Romans 8:26 but save me with Your right hand, so that even if in this time I suffer sundry tribulations, when the night of all tribulations has been spent, on the right hand I may be found among the sheep, not on the left hand among the goats. Matthew 25:33 And hearken unto me. Because now I am deserving that which You are willing to give; not with the words of my transgressions I am crying through the day, so that Thou hearken not, and in the night so that Thou hearken not, and that not for folly to me, but truly for my warning, by adding savour from the valley of salt-pits, so that in tribulation I may know what to ask: but I ask life everlasting; therefore hearken unto me, because Your right hand I ask....[/i]
Exposition of Ps. 60 by Augustine.

Psalm 7 according to its opening is sung for the Cus, the son of Gemini, which according to Augustine means right handed:

quote:
1. Now the story which gave occasion to this prophecy may be easily recognised in the second book of Kings. (2 Samuel 15:34-37) For there Chusi, the friend of king David, went over to the side of Abessalon, his son, who was carrying on war against his father, for the purpose of discovering and reporting the designs which he was taking against his father, at the instigation of Achitophel, who had revolted from David's friendship, and was instructing by his counsel, to the best of his power, the son against the father. But since it is not the story itself which is to be the subject of consideration in this Psalm, from which the prophet has taken a veil of mysteries, if we have passed over to Christ, let the veil be taken away. (2 Corinthians 3:16) And first let us inquire into the signification of the very names, what it means. For there have not been wanting interpreters, who investigating these same words, not carnally according to the letter, but spiritually, declare to us that Chusi should be interpreted silence; and Gemini, right-handed; Achitophel, brother's ruin. Among which interpretations, Judas, that traitor, again meets us, that Abessalon should bear his image, according to that interpretation of it as a father's peace; in that his father was full of thoughts of peace toward him: although he in his guile had war in his heart, as was treated of in the third Psalm. Now as we find in the Gospels that the disciples of our Lord Jesus Christ are called sons, (Matthew 9:15) so in the same Gospels we find they are called brethren also. For the Lord on the resurrection says, Go and say to My brethren. (John 20:17) And the Apostle calls Him the first begotten among many brethren. The ruin then of that disciple, who betrayed Him, is rightly understood to be a brother's ruin, which we said is the interpretation of Achitophel. Now as to Chusi, from the interpretation of silence, it is rightly understood that our Lord contended against that guile in silence, that is, in that most deep secret, whereby blindness happened in part to Israel, (Romans 11:25) when they were persecuting the Lord, that the fullness of the Gentiles might enter in, and so all Israel might be saved. When the Apostle came to this profound secret and deep silence, he exclaimed, as if struck with a kind of awe of its very depth, O the depth of the riches of the wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are His judgments, and His ways past finding out! For who has known the wind of the Lord, or who has been His counsellor? (Romans 11:33-34) Thus that great silence he does not so much discover by explanation, as he sets forth its greatness in admiration. In this silence the Lord, hiding the sacrament of His adorable passion, turns the brother's voluntary ruin, that is, His betrayer's impious wickedness, into the order of His mercy and providence: that what he with perverse mind wrought for one Man's destruction, He might by providential overruling dispose for all men's salvation. The perfect soul then, which is already worthy to know the secret of God, sings a Psalm unto the Lord, she sings for the words of Chusi, because she has attained to know the words of that silence: for among unbelievers and persecutors there is that silence and secret. But among His own, to whom it is said, Now I call you no more servants; for the servant knows not what his lord does; but I have called you friends, for all things that I have heard of My Father I have made known unto you: (John 15:15) among His friends, I say, there is not the silence, but the words of the silence, that is, the meaning of that silence set forth and manifested. Which silence, that is, Chusi, is called the son of Gemini, that is, righthanded. For what was done for the Saints was not to be hidden from them. And yet He says, Let not the left hand know what the right hand does. (Matthew 6:3) The perfect soul then, to which that secret has been made known, sings in prophecy for the words of Chusi, that is, for the knowledge of that same secret. Which secret God at her right hand, that is, favourable and propitious unto her, has wrought. Wherefore this silence is called the Son of the right hand, which is, Chusi, the son of Gemini.
Exposition on Ps.7 by Augustine.

SteveM
Note: Augustine's expositions on the psalms are available online here:
http://www.newadvent.org/fathers/1801.htm

Re: Images from a Ferrarese prophetic manuscript (1450 ca)

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So the arrow of caritas begins with the house of god and ends with the final judgment; the end of the Augustinian ascension of love is the consumation of love in the sacred marriage, as may be represented by the triumphal entrance of the prince (VII) into the city (XXI), of groom (VII) and bride (XXI).

The theophanie of Christs divinity in his first miracle, the turning of water into wine at the marriage of Cana as already discussed in relation to the star, is also represented in the figure of Temperance; in the first miracle is a figure of the final purpose, that is the ascension through love and its consummation in sacred marriage.

Among the first seven (I-VII) there is an arrow of love too. The arrow of cupiditas leads the worthy citizen of the City of God from the love of the revealed, the visible, to the love of the hidden and invisible, that is God. From love of God arise the virtues than enable the good citizen to combat the trials and tribulations of this world, to the perfection of the Soul that will be married in Christ.

The Augustinian conceptions of ascension through love and of being led to the invisible via the visible is rooted in his neoplatonic influences.

Thus I see the three levels of the Tarot de Marseille order as being of 3x7 ending in the Chariot, Temperance and World; as opposed to amor, death and judgment (cupiditas brings death into the world, caritas bring the 'death of death'). I agree the end is love (as may be represented by this 6th column), but lthe final object of love is its consumation in marriage (VII, XIV, XXI).

The nature of these two loves is discussed by Augustine in the figures of two houses, the house of the devil that must be burnt by the arrow of God's love to be rebuilt as a House of God; the house is the prime element of the City; and Augustine's major exposition on the nature of the two loves is in terms of two types of City and Citizen in his 'City of God' (in 22 chapters, the number 22 have sacred significance as the number of letters in the Hebrew alphabet and of books in the Alexandrian Canon, as may be found delineated in St. Jerome). From the school of Chartre in the 12th the discussion of the two types of love in terms of the two venuses becomes popularised.
cron