THE TAROT WHEEL
The Human Soul has left the Underworld to climb the Seven Heavens. Also here, one card is missing in the Estensi deck, so I first show the corresponding cards of the Este deck that Ercole I commissioned for his marriage.
On the card representing the Star in figure 1.2.38 two astrologers debating about a new star that appeared in the sky. This card references to the Star of Bethlehem, and thus again to the Bible (Matthew 2: 1-2);
1. Now when Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea in the days of
Herod the king, behold, there came wise men from the east to
Jerusalem,
2. saying, where is he that is born King of the Jews? For we have seen
his star in the east, and are come to worship him.
The Trumps must have a logical order to retain it during the game. So on the Trionfi decks, the Devil was trumped by the Anger of God and the Anger of God was on its turn trumped by the Love of God. This is the message of the Star of Bethlehem, God has sent his son to Earth out of love for human mankind and to save their Souls by his own sacrifice. So the Star represents the Love of God.
On the second card, representing the Moon, the light of the sun is blocked, the Moon becomes red as blood, Apparently an eclipse of the Moon. On the card we see an astrologist who is calculating the event (in the Middle Ages and the Renaissance, anyone who was studying the stars was an astrologist) . And this is exactly what seems to be represented on the deck that Ercole I commissioned for his marriage. On the card of the Estensi deck we see a similar scene with 2 astrologists studying the event. In the Middle Ages and even the Renaissance, the people were very superstitious, they hated eclipses. It reminded them again of some passages of the Bible that they preferred not to think of. The Moon becoming red as blood was predicted in many places in the Bible (Isaiah 13:10, Ezekiel 32:2, Joel 2:31, Matthew 24:29, Mark 13:24, Acts 2:20), to have its final confirmation in Revelation 6 :
12. And I beheld when he had opened the sixth seal, and there was
a great earthquake ; and the sun became black as sackcloth of
hair, and the moon became as blood ;
The Full Moon becoming red was thus a very frightening moment, a sign that the end is near. In 1453, when Constantinople was under attack of the Ottoman Empire, the Moon eclipsed on the 22nd of May. Because of this event, the moral of the defenders collapsed, and less than a week later the city felt in the hands of the Turks. A lunar eclipse was one of those natural events for which in late Middle Ages no satisfactory explanation was existing.
The Moon has always fascinated humanity. The Moon is a greater light than the Stars, and when the Moon appears, many stars fade away. But, the Moon is not emitting light, it is just mirroring the Light of the Sun. More than any other card in the Trionfi deck, the Moon represents a mirror to our Soul. This card reveals our innermost secrets. In fact, we have to know ourselves, and correct our mistakes, before we can present our Soul in front of God for the final Judgement.
PAIR 2 - LIGHTS APPEARING IN THE NIGHT