Jean Noblet - the World...

Hello

can you tell me why the Noblet deck has such a distinctive figure in the middle?

I can't seem to put it together in my mind at all so far. it is like a patching of different figures (stages in life??). can you share your views or what you have learned about this card?

thank you.
yara

Which aspects are those on which you are focussing, yaraluna?

That the figure seems to appear as Christ with breasts?

If christ where is the halo?

Why the loincloth of leaves? (bringing more to mind adam/eve).

I did wonder why one leg was a completely different color from the other.

Graham.

hmmm... Funny how we each have our own perception of things

when i use the card, the figure in the middle is out of wack-visually- to me. I never thought of it as a Christ . it looks more to me like an Arnold schwarzenegger with a bad tan.

the different colors and shapes doesn't make sense to me so far. that is why i ask to "experts" out there what the meanings of such difference in color and shapes is for this card.

gracias
ETA:
it looks to me as the leg of the lion on the left, the face of the angel-on the left-, the body of the star (or a woman), one hand with a glove...that is it.just pieces to me.

I think it looks like Fabio posing in a movie poster for a really bad low budget B movie.

kwaw said:

If christ where is the halo?

Why the loincloth of leaves? (bringing more to mind adam/eve).

Click to expand...

I knew as soon as I hit the 'reply' button that either yourself or someone else would question my choice of words and reference... is it, after all, possibly Christ? so much standard iconography is 'missing'.

But the halo is not one of them.

There are a number of images pre-dating tarot that do not show Christ with halo... or perhaps, another way to describe it, is to also see the whole 'wreath' as aureole.

Here are three from photos I took a couple of years ago of Christ without halo:



Even if seen as 'Adam' due to the loincloth, this adds credence to the representation being of the 'New Adam'!

And the breasts?

I think it is Apollo Christianised. The God of light and Truth and Prophecy, harmony, order, and reason- The Golden Mean and moderation- to name but a few. That is a laurel wreath over the genetalia (laurel is Apollo's symbol) - which are shades of Adam and Eve combined with their offspring Jesus. But mainly Apollo. Apollo loved both men and women.
It is such an ugly little deck and the woodcut is clumsy- but that is it's strength really- that figure could be anyone, even Elvis after he left the building. ~Rosanne

Julian of Norwich will be my start

Then, perhaps a modern study such as Caroline Walker Bynum's Jesus as Mother

Unfortunately, I do not have current access to images - though I have seen some in the past, and certainly wished I had kept them.

There are various textual references from the middle ages of suckling wine-milk from his breasts, and various descriptions that images him with feminine breasts.

I have tried (just now) various searches as well, but I'm not too apt at that when trying quickly... still, either I or others will undoubtedly find some very soon!