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Maison Dieu XVI - little round balls

Posted: 01 Jan 2020, 08:41
by Diana
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.

Maison Dieu grimaud.jpg


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.

Re: Maison Dieu XVI - little round balls

Posted: 20 Feb 2020, 09:20
by Papageno
Diana wrote: 01 Jan 2020, 08:41
“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.”
I interpret that as hailstones.

Re: Maison Dieu XVI - little round balls

Posted: 20 Feb 2020, 09:39
by Diana
Papageno wrote: 20 Feb 2020, 09:20
Diana wrote: 01 Jan 2020, 08:41
“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.”
I interpret that as hailstones.
Interesting, and maybe you're right.

I've been reading at lot in Van Rijnberk's book. It is remarkable. But... in spite of all his references and research, I am starting to doubt some of his findings. It would take too much research to do it all. Not worth it.

But he said about these flakes, and I mention it in my post :
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.
Stupidly, I didn't bookmark nor make a copy of the picture he is referring to. It took me ages to find it and I'm not in the mood right now for looking for it. But the miniature in the Biblia Pauperum he refers to doesn't look at ALL what he describes.

Re: Maison Dieu XVI - little round balls

Posted: 20 Feb 2020, 10:39
by _R_
There are a few different pauper's bibles, and the descent of manna, which bears some similarity to the balls or spheres of the Maison-Dieu, is found in a few different contexts. The resemblance may be approximate, but it is there to a certain degree nonetheless.

https://www.palatium-artis.de/bilder/k/k77/048.JPG

https://research.britishmuseum.org/rese ... 4&partId=1

https://iconographic.warburg.sas.ac.uk/ ... =1149&p=23

https://publishing.cdlib.org/ucpressebo ... _00106.gif

Re: Maison Dieu XVI - little round balls

Posted: 20 Feb 2020, 10:55
by Diana
Thank you _R_ for that.

The one Van Rijnberk was referring to is another one. I found the picture he was talking about with the altar and all, but the flames or whatever he refers to are not there as described.

From the pictures you referenced (wonderful finds you have there), it sure looks like Manna to me.

Re: Maison Dieu XVI - little round balls

Posted: 20 Feb 2020, 11:00
by Papageno
_R_ wrote: 20 Feb 2020, 10:39 There are a few different pauper's bibles, and the descent of manna, which bears some similarity to the balls or spheres of the Maison-Dieu, is found in a few different contexts. The resemblance may be approximate, but it is there to a certain degree nonetheless.
manna indeed, coins falling from the sky into baskets/buckets and grasping hands.

If you look closely, the scene on the left is a Bishop, the middle picture is Christ and his Apostles while the figure on the right has what looks a lot like horns.

These look like allegories of sacred vs profane. This makes sense to me especially since you indicate that these are from pauper's bibles.

I don't know anything about paupers bibles, but something in my dim memory recalls that Bibles or books of Biblical teachings for the uneducated/illiterate poor were rich in illustrations so that the reader could easily identify with and follow the meaning of the parable.

I realize that there is text at the top of the images, perhaps the text was meant for priests who would use these Bibles to instruct the multitude of the illiterate peasantry.

Thank you for posting these images, they're fascinating.

Re: Maison Dieu XVI - little round balls

Posted: 20 Feb 2020, 12:28
by Diana
Papageno wrote: 20 Feb 2020, 11:00

I don't know anything about paupers bibles, but something in my dim memory recalls that Bibles or books of Biblical teachings for the uneducated/illiterate poor were rich in illustrations so that the reader could easily identify with and follow the meaning of the parable.

For a moment, I thought you were talking about the tarot cards.

Re: Maison Dieu XVI - little round balls

Posted: 20 Feb 2020, 12:43
by Papageno
Diana wrote: 20 Feb 2020, 12:28
Papageno wrote: 20 Feb 2020, 11:00

I don't know anything about paupers bibles, but something in my dim memory recalls that Bibles or books of Biblical teachings for the uneducated/illiterate poor were rich in illustrations so that the reader could easily identify with and follow the meaning of the parable.

For a moment, I thought you were talking about the tarot cards.
You're such a smart a** :lol: if I'm incorrigible, you're impossible bwhaaaa :lol:

Re: Maison Dieu XVI - little round balls

Posted: 31 Aug 2020, 07:19
by A-M
I think the round balls are ego fragments...

Qoute from my blog on the Tower:
https://www.anne-marie.eu/en/tarot-16-the-tower/

The Tarot of Marseille

The internal fragmentation of man, which is the result of the withdrawing of God (the kundalini), is expressed on the Tarot of Marseille cards by the dots next to the tower. We can deduce from their round shape that these are not fragments of the tower. The different colors also indicate something other than pieces of stone. The three tower windows represent the three energy channels involved in a kundalini awakening. The top of the tower resembles a crown. This is a reference to the delusions of grandeur of the ego, that thinks it is king of the universe and the crown of creation.

The card now also has a title: The House of God. That this refers to the spine with the divine kundalini energy flowing in it, can also be found in the Bible. In the book of Genesis, patriarch Jacob has a vision in his sleep of angels climbing up and down a ladder (a metaphor of the kundalini flowing through his spine), and God speaking to him. When Jacob wakes up he says:

How awesome is this place! This is none other than the house of God, and this is the gate of heaven.” So Jacob rose early in the morning, and took the stone that he had put under his head and set it up as a pillar and poured oil on its top. He called the name of that place Bethel… (Genesis 28:17-19)

The Hebrew Bethel means “house of God.” Jacob sets up the stone on which he slept as a pillar, and pours oil over it. The erected stone refers to Jacob’s awakened spine. The “anointing” with oil symbolizes the transformation of his cerebrospinal fluid into amrita (drink of immortality).

Re: Maison Dieu XVI - little round balls

Posted: 31 Aug 2020, 07:22
by A-M
I think the round balls are ego fragments...

Qoute from my blog on the Tower:
https://www.anne-marie.eu/en/tarot-16-the-tower/

The Tarot of Marseille

The internal fragmentation of man, which is the result of the withdrawing of God (the kundalini), is expressed on the Tarot of Marseille cards by the little balls next to the tower. We can deduce from their round shape that these are not fragments of the tower. The different colors also indicate something other than pieces of stone. The three tower windows represent the three energy channels involved in a kundalini awakening. The top of the tower resembles a crown. This is a reference to the delusions of grandeur of the ego, that thinks it is king of the universe and the crown of creation.

The card now also has a title: The House of God. That this refers to the spine with the divine kundalini energy flowing in it, can also be found in the Bible. In the book of Genesis, patriarch Jacob has a vision in his sleep of angels climbing up and down a ladder (a metaphor of the kundalini flowing through his spine), and God speaking to him. When Jacob wakes up he says:

How awesome is this place! This is none other than the house of God, and this is the gate of heaven.” So Jacob rose early in the morning, and took the stone that he had put under his head and set it up as a pillar and poured oil on its top. He called the name of that place Bethel… (Genesis 28:17-19)

The Hebrew Bethel means “house of God.” Jacob sets up the stone on which he slept as a pillar, and pours oil over it. The erected stone refers to Jacob’s awakened spine. The “anointing” with oil symbolizes the transformation of his cerebrospinal fluid into amrita (drink of immortality).

Dodal - Jean Dodal 1715.jpg

Re: Maison Dieu XVI - little round balls

Posted: 31 Aug 2020, 21:37
by reall
& I agree!:) imo last 7 majors represent light of our consciousness:15 Consuming Fire, 16 Illuminating Lightning (Strike of misfortune that makes us aware of something we were not before, resulting questioning all our beliefs including ego) 17 Star is Hope & 18 Moon intuition/Dreams 19 Sun Joy 20awakening &21 completion