The Hall of Stars in the Palace of the Queen of the Night - Karl Friedrich Schinkel
This text is taken from my book Ideology of the Tarot.
If you want to buy this book, write to dorijan.nuaj@gmail.com
Supporting the asterism (although this is not a precise term) of the minor arcana is the classification of forty-eight constellations presented in E. Raymond Capt's book, The Glory of the Stars. He assigned each zodiac constellation three non-zodiac constellations, which for our purpose could be the star-mythological attributes of the minor arcana in the context of the decans. By researching the mythological contents associated with the constellations and their main stars, we can somewhat grasp their general system of meaning:
I Aries – Star Hamal / Eastern
Height:
1. Cassiopeiae – Star Schedar, a
woman on a throne (Two of Wands / Southeast Height);
2. Cetus – Star Menkar, a sea
monster (Three of Wands / Eastern Height);
3. Perseus – Star Mirfak, a
strong armed man with winged boots holding the severed monstrous head of Medusa
full of snakes – Star Algol (Four of Wands / Northeast Height);
II Taurus – Star Aldebaran,
Pleiades Cluster / Eastern Horizon:
1. Orion – Stars Rigel and
Betelgeuse, a famous warrior or hunter holding a sword or club and standing on
a snake or hare (Five of Disks / Southeast Horizon);
2. Eridanus – Star Achenar, a
murky and deep river (Six of Disks / Eastern Horizon);
3. Auriga – Star Capella, a
charioteer or shepherd holding a goat and two kids in his left hand, and a rope
in his right (Seven of Disks / Northeast Horizon);
III Gemini – Stars Pollux and
Castor / Eastern Depth:
1. Lepus – Star Arneb, a hare
(or snake) chased by Orion and his two dogs (Eight of Swords / Southeast
Depth);
2. Canis Major – Star Sirius,
the great dog, the coming prince (Nine of Swords / Eastern Depth);
3. Canis Minor – Star Procyon,
the small dog (Ten of Swords / Northeast Depth);
IV Cancer – Star Altarf /
Northern Height:
1. Ursa Minor – Star Polaris,
the small bear, the small shepherd (Two of Cups / Northeast Height);
2. Ursa Major – Star Dubhe, the
great bear, the great shepherd (Three of Cups / Northern Height);
3. Argo Navis – Star Canopus,
the ship of the Argonauts, heroes of the initiation journey (Four of Cups /
Northwest Height);
V Leo – Star Regulus / Northern
Horizon:
1. Hydra – Star Alphard, a snake
being trampled under the feet of Cancer and Leo (Five of Wands / Northeast
Horizon);
2. Crater – Star Labrum, the cup
of excess under the snake (Six of Wands / Northern Horizon);
3. Corvus / Crow – Star Algorab
at its beak, the crow of doom tearing at the snake (Seven of Wands / Northwest
Horizon);
VI Virgo – Star Spica / Northern
Depth:
1. Coma – Star Diadem, the hair
of an Egyptian queen cut in mourning / the beloved child (Eight of Disks /
Northeast Depth);
2. Centaurus – Star Toliman, a
chimeric archer / knee shooter targeting opponents (Nine of Disks / Northern
Depth);
3. Boötes – Star Arcturus, a
great reaper or shepherd holding a staff and sickle (Ten of Disks / Northwest
Depth);
VII Libra – Star Zubeneschamali
/ Western Height:
1. Crux – Star Acrux, the
southern cross, the constellation toward which Sagittarius is advancing (Two of
Swords / Northwest Height);
2. Lupus / Wolf – Sagittarius'
sacrifice (Three of Swords / Western Height);
3. Corona Borealis / Northern
Crown – the one the Snake seeks to take, Star Alphecca (Four of Swords /
Southwest Height);
VIII Scorpio – Star Antares /
Western Horizon:
1. Serpens – Star Unukalhai, the
snake captured by Ophiuchus (Five of Cups / Northwest Horizon);
2. Ophiuchus – Star Ras Alhague
/ the snake charmer's head (Six of Cups / Western Horizon);
3. Hercules – Star Ras Algethi
(the hero's head), the great hero kneeling (Seven of Cups / Southwest Horizon);
IX Sagittarius – Star Rukbat
(Sagittarius' knee) / Western Depth:
1. Lyra – Star Vega (Eight of
Wands / Northwest Depth);
2. Ara / Altar – the heavenly
altar (Nine of Wands / Western Depth);
3. Draco / Dragon – Star Thuban
(Ten of Wands / Southwest Depth);
X Capricorn – Star Algedi /
Southern Height:
1. Sagitta / Arrow – Star Sham
(Two of Disks / Southwest Height);
2. Aquila / Eagle – pierced and
falling, Star Altair on the Eagle's neck (Three of Disks / Southern Height);
3. Delphinus or the
constellation of the nine Muses – Star Alkaid, camel rider (Four of Disks /
Southeast Height);
XI Aquarius – Star Sadalmelik
(on his right shoulder) / Southern Horizon:
1. Southern Fish – the fish
drinking the water poured by Aquarius, Star Fomalhaut – fish's mouth (Five of
Swords / Southwest Horizon);
2. Pegasus – winged horse, Star
Markab on Pegasus' wing (Six of Swords / Southern Horizon);
3. Cygnus / Swan – the one
bearing the sign of the cross, Star Deneb Adige on the swan's tail (Seven of
Swords / Southeast Horizon);
XII Pisces – Star Alrisha (the
rope linking the two fish in the depiction of this sign):
1. The ribbon linking the fish
in the sign of Pisces (Eight of Cups / Southwest Depth);
2. Andromeda (the chained woman)
– Star Alpheratz, Andromeda's head (Nine of Cups / Southern Depth);
3. Cepheus
/ crowned king whose foot is set on the North Star – Star Alderamin, on the
king's right shoulder (Ten of Cups / Southeast Depth).
