Maison Dieu XVI - little round balls
Posted: 01 Jan 2020, 08:41
In a thread in Plato's Cave, I posted something about the little round balls on the TdM Maison Dieu. I thought it would be better if it were put in the proper section as it's not apparent that the TdM is being discussed there.
Now those little round "balls" that are falling from the sky. It has always been my theory, since the very beginning when I started studying the TdM, that these little balls are manna. I've never budged an inch in this theory, in fact, the more I study this card, the more I've convinced. And was very pleased, while rediscovering Gérard Van Rijnberk's book "Le Tarot : histoire, iconographie, ésotérisme" (a masterpiece - what a shame it's not translated) that he backs up my theory with facts.
Here is a copy of what I posted. It's my translation, but I think I've managed to do it faithfully. Van Rijnberk never states anything without having researched it. He's not the kind to just go with his intuition and gut feeling. He did some remarkable research and had the brain to match it.
***************
On this card XVI, the influx from above is represented by little coloured balls! On the two following cards, that of the moon and the sun, this influx is very ingeniously depicted by enormous pointed ellipsoidal flakes that seem to be falling from the sky. It is a way of representing all that falls from above: in the miniatures of old illumined manuscripts that most certainly predate the Tarot, we find these objects that represent the fall of the manna from heaven onto the desert, just like the sparks that lit the fire of Elijah’s altar. On a miniature of the Biblia Pauperum dated 1350, one can see the fire of an altar lit by a rain of fire, exactly in the manner of the cards XI, XVII et XVIII. The legend says:
Celita flamma venit
Et plelbis pectora lenit.
“The heavenly flame descends and calms the people’s breast”. This is a paraphrase of what can be read in the third book of Kings, Chap. XVIII, vs. 38, of the Vulgate : cecidit autem ignis Domini et voravit holocaustum et ligna et lapides pulverem quoque et aquam quae erat in aquaeductu lambens quod cum vidisset omnis populus cecidit in faciem suam et ait Dominus ipse est Deus Dominus ipse est Deus. “Then the fire of the Lord fell, and consumed the holocaust, and the wood, and the stones, and the dust, and licked up the water that was in the trench. And when all the people saw this, they fell on their faces, and they said: The Lord, he is God; the Lord, he is God.”
This manner of representing fire falling from the heavens is formulated in an inimitable fashion by Dante (Inferno, XIV, 28-30:
Sovra tutto ‘I sabbion d’un cader lento
Piovean di fuoco dilalate falde
Come di neve in alpe senza vento.
“O'er all the sand-waste, with a gradual fall, Were raining down dilated flakes of fire, As of the snow on Alp without a wind.”
When Renaissance art rendered similar episodes, the image of fire falling from Heaven is very different, it is more like a ball of closely-knit flames rather than separate sparks.
Now those little round "balls" that are falling from the sky. It has always been my theory, since the very beginning when I started studying the TdM, that these little balls are manna. I've never budged an inch in this theory, in fact, the more I study this card, the more I've convinced. And was very pleased, while rediscovering Gérard Van Rijnberk's book "Le Tarot : histoire, iconographie, ésotérisme" (a masterpiece - what a shame it's not translated) that he backs up my theory with facts.
Here is a copy of what I posted. It's my translation, but I think I've managed to do it faithfully. Van Rijnberk never states anything without having researched it. He's not the kind to just go with his intuition and gut feeling. He did some remarkable research and had the brain to match it.
***************
On this card XVI, the influx from above is represented by little coloured balls! On the two following cards, that of the moon and the sun, this influx is very ingeniously depicted by enormous pointed ellipsoidal flakes that seem to be falling from the sky. It is a way of representing all that falls from above: in the miniatures of old illumined manuscripts that most certainly predate the Tarot, we find these objects that represent the fall of the manna from heaven onto the desert, just like the sparks that lit the fire of Elijah’s altar. On a miniature of the Biblia Pauperum dated 1350, one can see the fire of an altar lit by a rain of fire, exactly in the manner of the cards XI, XVII et XVIII. The legend says:
Celita flamma venit
Et plelbis pectora lenit.
“The heavenly flame descends and calms the people’s breast”. This is a paraphrase of what can be read in the third book of Kings, Chap. XVIII, vs. 38, of the Vulgate : cecidit autem ignis Domini et voravit holocaustum et ligna et lapides pulverem quoque et aquam quae erat in aquaeductu lambens quod cum vidisset omnis populus cecidit in faciem suam et ait Dominus ipse est Deus Dominus ipse est Deus. “Then the fire of the Lord fell, and consumed the holocaust, and the wood, and the stones, and the dust, and licked up the water that was in the trench. And when all the people saw this, they fell on their faces, and they said: The Lord, he is God; the Lord, he is God.”
This manner of representing fire falling from the heavens is formulated in an inimitable fashion by Dante (Inferno, XIV, 28-30:
Sovra tutto ‘I sabbion d’un cader lento
Piovean di fuoco dilalate falde
Come di neve in alpe senza vento.
“O'er all the sand-waste, with a gradual fall, Were raining down dilated flakes of fire, As of the snow on Alp without a wind.”
When Renaissance art rendered similar episodes, the image of fire falling from Heaven is very different, it is more like a ball of closely-knit flames rather than separate sparks.
if I'm incorrigible, you're impossible bwhaaaa 
