Mary-El Tarot

SEVEN OF CUPS

The vision I had for the Minor Arcana was that they would reflect the Major Arcana with the same number value. Thus the 7s would be elemental representations of VII The Chariot and XVI The Tower. My Chariot is drawn by wolves and so I wanted them in the 7 of Cups and the 7 of Wands. The wolf above is the black wolf, equivalent of Plato’s Dark Horse. This is the second version I have painted of this wolf. The first was done like most of my other paintings, with a lot of pre-planning and preparation. This new one, though, is different. After a few false starts I decided to just sit down and let the painting come forth with no pre-planning at all, just a feeling I wanted to portray. I sat down with a board which I had prepared with a tape border and a wash of burnt umber to avoid the blinding white, and I took a brush loaded with inky black paint and began to move it with the outline of the wolf I saw in my minds eye. It felt like I was doing calligraphy and felt very sure and free. There was a lot more focus on major shapes and values than little details.

Notes on the 7 of Cups 2/15/08

In the Minor Arcana of the Mary-el tarot I have endeavored to illustrate the symbology laid out by the Major Arcana further broken down into the 4 elements of Fire, Water, Air and Earth. The sevens thus would be likened to the card VII The Chariot and XVI The Tower.

In the Mary-el tarot the Chariot is drawn by wolves and so it was natural to feature wolves in the 7 of Wands and 7 of Cups. Wolves are a spiritual brother to humankind with a complex community, behaviors and instincts.

Inspired by Plato's allegory of the Chariot in the dialog Phaedrus the wolves' personality began to take shape.

" The right-hand horse is upright and cleanly made; he has a lofty neck and an aquiline nose; his colour is white, and his eyes dark; he is a lover of honour and modesty and temperance, and the follower of true glory; he needs no touch of the whip, but is guided by word and admonition only. The other is a crooked lumbering animal, put together anyhow; he has a short thick neck; he is flat-faced and of a dark colour, with grey eyes and blood-red complexion; the mate of insolence and pride, shag-eared and deaf, hardly yielding to whip and spur."

During the painting of these two cards I have been lucky enough to have real life representations of the black and white wolves, in the form of domestic dogs, come into my life so I could observe these concepts externally and physically. I believe the lessons from every persons white wolf and black wolf, the problems and solutions they bring and how to finally achieve balance and thus mastery of the Chariot, will be as individual as they themselves are; so I won't bog you down with what I have learned over the past few months! (And it isn't over, I still have the 7 of Swords and the 7 of Disks to go and the Tower energy (1+6 = 7) is already rearing its head!)

Some additional comments on the 7 of Cups: The 7 of Cups shows a black wolf leaping in mid-air. Behind him is a large 7 rooted tree. The 3rd and 4th roots are intertwined as 3 and 4, the Empress and Emperor, make 7. The only real color in the painting is in the eyes of the wolf, one of which is blue and one of which is green, also reflecting the Emperor and Empress. The top of the tree, Yggdrasil to me, appears to be one trunk but is really made up of many smaller branches all going in the same general direction which I think is similar to how we are all progressing in our lives, we and all of the manifest universe, in a state of creation.

The wolf is coming from the place where trunk and roots meet. The card immediately before this one, the 6 of Cups, shows an angel rising up through the deep, cold, black waters and just breaking the surface. I think that this wolf is the same now above the water and now physically manifest and rushing forth with a full cup of passion and libido.

(If you wonder why I don't sound more certain it is because while I have my theories I feel that I am only the recorder not the architect.)

Below the large image of the 7 of Cups you will find several smaller versions of it where I have marked some symbols. I noticed these shapes as I painted the 7 of Cups - they were unintentional.

kaartnaam: b7-2 ext_plaatje: .jpgThe first shows the outline of a crescent moon over two columns which is exactly like a glyph I often use for the High Priestess. The legs of the wolf correlate to the white and black columns, Jachin and Boaz, from the High Priestess. I thought it was very interesting to note that they are both attached to the same animal and only appear to be white and black in respect to their place in the arc of movement thus they are the same only affected by perception.

kaartnaam: b7-3 ext_plaatje: .jpgThe next image shows how nicely a 7 pointed star fits into the shapes of the head of the wolf.

I can't wait to see how this card presents itself in real readings!!!!

I hope you enjoy looking at it!