Venus – IsleVue

Nine of Pentacles series II feature collage

9 of Pentacles A One Page Guide, Series 2

June 13, 2021 John Iacovelli Christian mysticism, Nines, One Page Guide, Pentacles, Venus, Virgo, Yesod

Venus and Virgo walk into a bar. The bartender, Dionysus, reminds us of somebody… oh, yeah, that funny shaped guy with the Popeye arms, from the Nine of Cups, that’s who. Well, Dionysus sees the big bull-headed guy, Yesod, walk over to the two dames, now seated at the bar. “Uh oh,” he sez to himself, “I seen this movie before. He who gets slapped…” We are in Venus in Virgo, and Waite makes a minor adjustment to the Order of the Golden Dawn’s assignments. He moves prudence from the Eight to the Nine of Pentacles. Yesod better watch out.

Tarot

4 of Wands A One Page Guide, Series 2

June 4, 2021June 4, 2021 John Iacovelli Aries, Fours, One Page Guide, Venus, Wands

The stage cards of the RWS deck. One would be justified in wondering whether they’re an editorial comment—All the tarot’s a stage, And all the majors and minors merely players; They have their suits and their sephiroth; And Adam Kadmon in his time plays many parts. There is one minor arcanum, the Four of Wands, in which the stage lacks all players. If no actors are on stage, either the curtain has just risen, and we await their entrance; or they just exited, and the curtain is about to fall. Sometimes you just have to ask what’s missing. Then there’s the story of Venus, Aries, Pluto, Persephone and a boozy Celtic interloper. John Barleycorn must hide.

Tarot

The Star, Goddess at First Light

February 7, 2020February 9, 2020 John Iacovelli Air, Aquarius, Binah, Christian mysticism, Major Arcana, The Star, Venus

You’ve got to hand it to Pamela Colman Smith on this one. She took one of the least attractive cards in the Tarot de Marseilles deck, and without substituting any major new elements, turned it into one of the prettiest cards in the RWS deck. But new or old look, The Star raises many questions. Who is she? What Star in particular? Why eight points on the star? Why eight stars? Its order in the majors is important, for one. It is first light after the darkness of The Tower. This is why it’s dawn. And the Goddess appears to be the female goddess from the dawn of civilization herself: Ishtar. There are a number of reasons for the eight stars of eight points each, some of which Waite rolled into his mystical Christian skewing of the tarot. Waite was as heavy-handed on this one as Colman Smith’s hand was deft. The Star is one of those cards where stories and myths abound; and it is through those stories and myths that we can understand it better.