BACK TO VENUS NOTES   THE BIVIO

 

I am deeply involved at this very moment with a study of Edgar Wind, in relationship to the Tarot. I would like to add the following quotation:

 

 If we further consider that all communion between mortals and gods was established, according to Plato, through the mediation of Love, it becomes clear why in Ficino's and Pico's system the entire Greek pantheon began to revolve around Venus and Amor. All the parts of the splendid machine (machinae membra), Ficino wrote, 'are fastened to each other by a kind of mutual charity, so that it may justly be said that love is the perpetual knot and link of the universe: amor nodus perpetuus et copula mundi'. Although Venus remained one deity among others, and as such the bestower only of particular gifts, she defined, as it were, the universal system of exchange by which divine gifts are graciously circulated. The image of the Graces, linked by the knot of mutual charity (segnesque nodum solvere Gratiae), supplied a perfect figure to illustrate the dialectical rhythm of Ficino's universe.

 

Edgar Wind, Pagan Mysteries in the Renaissance, Peregrine Books, 1967, p. 39.

 

Now in the so-called Mantegna Tarot we see the Three Graces on the Venus card, as well as a rather crude Venus in the act of being born from the waters, or sea. Wind presents overwhelming evidence on the relationship between Venus and The Three Graces, as well as The Two Venuses . . .  the Sacred and the Profane,  that we cannot but associate this archetype with Arcanum 6. Commonly known as The Lovers, it is called The Two Paths, and there is a beautiful word for this: bivio.  It relates to the decision Hercules had to take before setting out on his labours, hence the Venusian interpretation of the card as Temptation.

 

Also in the Kabbalah, Venus -  Tippereth or Tiferet -  is to be found in the Centre of the Centre of the Sephira Yetsirah. Most representations of The Lovers do not adequately represent the subtle processes at play. By this I mean an exhaustive examination of the iconography of The Three Graces, especially as documented by Edgar Wind, reveals a variety of inter-twinings of the arms and body positions of the Three Graces.  This is shown in the  Church of Light deck, where the central male figure, crosses his arms. His right arm holds the lady on his left and his left arm holds the lady on his right. This position is to be seen in Ancient Egypt, and I suspect it represents the cross wiring of the left and right hemispheres of the brain.  In other words Love cross-wires the brain.

 

I have another opinion on the: I+II+III=VI paradigm:

According to the Hermetic view, the One and the Two are on the Hermes-Mercury side of emanation and the Three and the Six, definitely, on the Venusian, or Aphroditic.

 

In the Solar System, Mercury and Venus are in sequence after the Sun. After all, The Empress/Unveiled Isis, is clothed with the Sun. The astrological symbols for Mercury and Venus are almost identical, the difference being the crescent Moon on the top of the Mercury glyph.  In this sense the Mercurial and the Erotic intertwine,  but Eros remains, according to evidence, dynamically within the Venusian domain. If Love cross-wires the brain -  then Mercury communicates between the reptilian brain at the back and the new cortex regions in the front.  In the Egyptian Tarot, Mercury the Magus, the Magician, has a golden belt in the form on an Uroboros.

Countless amplifications, for imaginal delight, branch out from the above . . . and we see that the archetypes themselves are in a state of perpetual osmosis with one another. Our divinations, if we open up to them, beyond the mean and the mundane, will enrichen further speculations.

Sincerely,

Samten de Wet

 

WEBSITE: http://www.luxlapis.co.za/index.html

Even though you tie a hundred knots
The string remains one.
         Rumi

From: "Samten" <samten@mweb.co.za>
To: "TarotL" <TarotL@yahoogroups.com>
Subject: Venus in the Tarot
Date: Sunday, December 18, 2005 12:11 PM

Simo Parpola traces the Sefirah of Tiferet as female, back to Babylonian times.

"Note simply Istar's well-known identification with Aphrodite and Venus and the epithet "lady/goddess of beauty and love,"

_ and_  "lady of love, the loving one, the one who loves all mankind."  _and_ "You are the mother, Istar of Babylon, the beautiful one, the queen of the Babylonians. You are the mother, a palm of carnelian, the beautiful one, who is beautiful to a superlative degree."

See: Parpola, Simo, "The Assyrian Tree of Life: Tracing the Origins of Jewish Monotheism and Greek Philosophy," Journal of Near Eastern Studies, Vol. 52, No. 3 (July 1993), pp. 161-208 n. 97, and Charles Poncι, Kabbalah, pp. 127 f.


From: "Linda Proud Smith" <Linda@proudsmith.freeserve.co.uk>
To: <luxlapis_research@yahoogroups.com>
Subject: RE: [luxlapis_research] Venus in the Tarot responding . .
Date: Monday, December 19, 2005 7:19 PM

Thank you, Samten (and Kwaw). Would it help - and make us more communicative
- if we knew who else is in this group? Perhaps we could each give a short
biography and say what our interests are. I'd be happy to start the ball
rolling.



All best

Linda



Godstow Press

60 Godstow Road

Wolvercote

Oxford OX2 8NY



tel. 01865 556215

www.godstowpress.co.uk



-----Original Message-----
From: luxlapis_research@yahoogroups.com
[mailto:luxlapis_research@yahoogroups.com] On Behalf Of Samten
Sent: 18 December 2005 05:32
To: luxlapis_research@yahoogroups.com
Subject: [luxlapis_research] Venus in the Tarot responding . .



Dear All, and Linda - 

My answer to Kwaw was to a post that he sent to TarotL - the group that I
sometimes post to . . . I place his post here beneath - I am sure he will
not mind . . there are so few people on the Luxlapis Research - and over
1,000 at TarotL. 

This is part of my ongoing work at the moment on the Birth of Venus, as seen
in Renaissance Art and in the Tarot. 

More anon . . .

_____ 

Message: 24 

Date: Fri, 16 Dec 2005 10:59:51 -0000

From: "quincunx93" <quincunx93@yahoo.co.uk>

Subject: Re: Allegorical suit signs (Michael)



--- In TarotL@yahoogroups.com, "quincunx93" <quincunx93@y...> wrote:



> The move from singularity to plurarity would suggest the mathematical
operations of swords-division [the 'divine' generation of plurality] 



"According to the theologians", Plutarch writes, "both prose writers and
poets, God is eternal, but yet, under the impulsion of some predestined
plan and purpose, he undergoes transformations in his being...When the god
is changed and distributed into winds, water, earth, stars, plants and
animals, they describe this experience and transformation allegorically by
the terms 'rending' and 'dismemberment'.



In the symbolism of neoplatonic ritualism the image of dismemberment is used
to convey the act of divine creation; the divine being singular and simple,
the creation of many from the one is conceived as an act of breaking or
division [thus the one becomes two through division]. Pico de Mirandola
describing the ascent and descent of the 'ladder' of reason as the steps
upon which "we shall sometimes descend, with titanic force rending the
unity like Osiris into many parts, and we shall sometimes ascend, with the
force of Phoebus collecting the parts like the limbs of Osiris into a
unity." [Wind]



However, the first act [I_Bateleur] is one of division [beit - 2]
ritualistically or mythologically symbolised as dismemberment:



http://tarot-history.com/Jean-Noblet/pages/ll-bateleur.html



Among the neoplatonist of the renaissance another favoured figurement of
this was that of the 'mystery of the birth of Venus'. Venus Urania,
identified with the celestial virgin, is born from the sea foam that was
produced from the castration of Uranus, 'being the god of heaven, Uranus
conveys to formless matter the seed of ideal forms, according to Pico "and
because ideas would not have in themselves variety and diversity if they
were not mixed with formless nature, and because without variety there
cannot be beauty, so it justly follows that Venus could not be born if the
testicles of Uranus did not fall into the waters of the sea". [Wind]



Venus was attributed to the number 6 {Agrippa, Capella}, the highest throw
of 6 in dice was known as the Venus throw*. The correspondence of Venus-VI
seems an appropriate correspondence with 'The Lover' [TdM], both in
subject [love] and the presence of Cupid/Eros. Given the correspondence
with Venus perhaps it is possible to interpret the two women as the two
aspects of Venus.



According to the interpretation of neo-platonic love in the renaissance,
Love is the Desire for the Beautiful [which ultimately is the 'good', which
is 'god']. The love of the beatiful 'object' [as represented by the girl
with the crown of flowers in some Marseille decks, the earthly Venus, on his
left, the side of the relatively imperfect and mutable] is converted by
reason [represented by the girl with a crown of laurels or flames, the
celestial Venus, on his right, the side of the relatively perfect and
immutable] to the love of the beauty inherent in all things, and from thence
to its return to the 'invisible' and thus 'unseen' source and ultimate
object and source of love, God



This neo-platonic triadic process of emanation, conversion and return was
related the three graces, who were neo-platonic symbols of the 'unfolding'
of the triadic union 'infolded' in venus. These three aspects or graces one
could also relate to the three ranks of seven cards, the first seven to
emanation, the second to conversion and third to the return. 



Six is the baseline of the triangular number 21 [1+2+3+4+5+6=21] in which we
can see the triumph of the celestial Venus [the Cosmos comes from the Greek
for order and beauty] revealed [nakedness being a symbol of revelation].
The four holy creatures being symbols of the four angels of the Shekinah
[Michael, Gabriel, Uriel and Raphael].


The celestial venus and the earthly venus can also be taken as being
represented by card II, the papesse and card III, the Empress. The lover as
card I, the 'bateleur' [the number 1 is attibuted to eros, "Why is love
called a magician?" asked Ficino. Because it unites the lower with the
higher, the terrestial with the celestial, man with the divine.] So we have
I+II+III=VI.


Kwaw


ref: Pagan Mysteries of the Renaissance by Edgar Wind. 


*venus -eris f. [charm , loveliness; love; a loved one]; personif. Venus,
[goddess of love; the Venus throw, highest throw of the dice]; [online
latin-english dictionary].


Dear All, and Linda -

My answer to Kwaw was to a post that he sent to TarotL - the group that I sometimes post to . . . I  place his post here beneath -  I am sure he will not mind . .  there are so few people on the Luxlapis Research -  and over 1,000 at TarotL.

This is part of my ongoing work at the moment on the Birth of Venus, as seen in Renaissance Art and in the Tarot.

More anon . . .


Message: 24        <?xml:namespace prefix = o ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office" />

   Date: Fri, 16 Dec 2005 10:59:51 -0000

   From: "quincunx93" <quincunx93@yahoo.co.uk>

Subject: Re: Allegorical suit signs (Michael)

 

--- In TarotL@yahoogroups.com, "quincunx93" <quincunx93@y...> wrote:

>

> The move from singularity to plurarity would suggest the mathematical  operations of swords-division [the 'divine' generation of  plurality]

 

"According to the theologians", Plutarch writes, "both prose writers  and poets, God is eternal, but yet, under the impulsion of some  predestined plan and purpose, he undergoes transformations in his  being...When the god is changed and distributed into winds, water,  earth, stars, plants and animals, they describe this experience and  transformation allegorically by the terms 'rending'  and 'dismemberment'.

 

In the symbolism of neoplatonic ritualism the image of dismemberment is used to convey the act of divine creation; the divine being  singular and simple, the creation of many from the one is conceived  as an act of breaking or division [thus the one becomes two through  division]. Pico de Mirandola describing the ascent and descent of  the 'ladder' of reason as the steps upon which "we shall sometimes  descend, with titanic force rending the unity like Osiris into many  parts, and we shall sometimes ascend, with the force of Phoebus  collecting the parts like the limbs of Osiris into a unity." [Wind]

 

However, the first act [I_Bateleur] is one of division [beit - 2] ritualistically or mythologically symbolised as dismemberment:

 

http://tarot-history.com/Jean-Noblet/pages/ll-bateleur.html

 

Among the neoplatonist of the renaissance another favoured figurement  of this was that of the 'mystery of the birth of Venus'. Venus  Urania, identified with the celestial virgin, is born from the sea  foam that was produced from the castration of Uranus, 'being the god  of heaven, Uranus conveys to formless matter the seed of ideal forms,  according to Pico "and because ideas would not have in themselves  variety and diversity if they were not mixed with formless nature,  and because without variety there cannot be beauty, so it justly  follows that Venus could not be born if the testicles of Uranus did not fall into the waters of the sea". [Wind]

 

Venus was attributed to the number 6 {Agrippa, Capella}, the highest  throw of 6 in dice was known as the Venus throw*. The correspondence  of Venus-VI seems an appropriate correspondence with  'The Lover'  [TdM], both in subject [love] and the presence of Cupid/Eros. Given  the correspondence with Venus perhaps it is possible to interpret the  two women as the two aspects of Venus.

 

According to the interpretation of neo-platonic love in the  renaissance, Love is the Desire for the Beautiful [which ultimately  is the 'good', which is 'god']. The love of the beatiful 'object' [as represented by the girl with the crown of flowers in some Marseille decks, the earthly Venus, on his left, the side of the relatively  imperfect and mutable] is converted by reason [represented by the  girl with a crown of laurels or flames, the celestial Venus, on his  right, the side of the relatively perfect and immutable] to the love of the beauty inherent in all things, and from thence to its return to the 'invisible' and thus 'unseen' source and ultimate object and source of love, God

 

This neo-platonic triadic process of emanation, conversion and return was related the three graces, who were neo-platonic symbols of the 'unfolding' of the triadic union 'infolded' in venus. These three aspects or graces one could also relate to the three ranks of seven cards, the first seven to emanation, the second to conversion and third to the return.

 

Six is the baseline of the triangular number 21 [1+2+3+4+5+6=21] in which we can see the triumph of the celestial Venus [the Cosmos comes  from the Greek for order and beauty] revealed [nakedness being a  symbol of revelation]. The four holy creatures being symbols of the  four angels of the Shekinah [Michael, Gabriel, Uriel and Raphael].

 

The celestial venus and the earthly venus can also be taken as being  represented by card II, the papesse and card III, the Empress. The  lover as card I, the 'bateleur' [the number 1 is attibuted to  eros, "Why is love called a magician?" asked Ficino. Because it  unites the lower with the higher, the terrestial with the celestial,  man with the divine.] So we have  I+II+III=VI.

 

Kwaw

 

ref: Pagan Mysteries of the Renaissance by Edgar Wind.

 

*venus -eris f. [charm , loveliness; love; a loved one]; personif.  Venus, [goddess of love; the Venus throw, highest throw of the dice];  [online latin-english dictionary].

 


 

     Firstly, we take for granted that when using the Tarot to interpret mythology, we are not, using a euhemeristic interpretation. That is to say, that Mr. Uranus was castrated and Ms. Venus was born from that event. The same applies to Adam and Eve and the Garden of Eden. Carlos Suares, in his The Cipher of Genesis, gives the code of the Hebrew Letters, which is almost identical to that of the Church of Light Tarot deck. The Tarot can be – and is – used as an instrument of Kaballistic speculation, with these co-ordinates in place. Therefore in Hebrew, the letter Vau corresponds to the English V-U-W  - to Venus/Aphrodite – The Lovers - and in Hebrew,  the letter Jod or Yod, to the English, I—J—Y and Uranus, The Wheel of Fortune. 

Note that in English we also have iota, and jot. In Sanskrit: bindu, and in Tibetan tigle – with a rich history of similar nuclear monads is Islamic mysticism as well, especially the Hurufi Order, where number speculations are almost identical to the Hebrew Kaballah.

So we could say, that the VAU is born from the YOD.  Following this line of speculation, leads to an extremely esoteric area, where words often fail to express what is being said.

To deal with the more succulent aspects of this research I have set up a new group,  The Luxlapis Research Group –

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/luxlapis_research

 which with deal specifically with the Tarot and the Hermetic Transmission – and only use the Egyptian Tarot deck. All welcome, but application must be made with a short CV and introduction.

Yours sincerely

Samten de Wet


THE BIVIO 

Saxl Plate 60.         Venus seated on the Sign of Taurus. Venice, Palazzo Ducale, detail of capital at S.W. corner. (14th cent.) 

Saxl Plate 61.         Venus seated on the Sign of Taurus according to Arabic astrology. From M.A. Lanci, Trattato delle simboliche rappresentanze arabe, Paris, 1845 –46. Plate 1/2. 


22nd March 2001. 

The Two Valleys of "Hercules Choice" is the BIVIO.

Perhaps it is because I see myself at a "bivio" – that this theme is constantly nagging at the back of my head, The old "Practice what you Preach" tape. And by "practice" we mean taking the Hard Route – the LABOUR Path of Saturn. This Herculean task is also the Path of Compassion because it is by this route that the Great Beings, the Bodhisattvas and Arahats, descend into the conditions and concatenations of Matter in order to Serve All Sentient Beings. Likewise, we have the idea of the Avatar in Hinduism.

Samten de Wet

Shiva 

"As we noticed before, in the Satarudriya hymn Rudra is invoked as Giritra ('he who lives in the hills') and as Girisa ('lord of mountains'). Elsewhere, he is seen abiding in the woods, forests, glens, in both wooded and deserted wastes far from human settlements; he haunts lonely roads and encounters travelers at intersections ( which are, in India, as elsewhere, most inauspicious places frequented by evil spirits and robbers)."

J. Bruce Long, Siva, p. 195 

Thus The Two Paths, in the Tarot, points towards this liminal zone as well.