“Heavenly Fourth”
AUTHOR’S NOTE: Nothing profound today, just a bit of whimsy from the Monty Python — Mel Brooks collaboration Yellowbeard that I find amusing from a tarot perspective.
There has been much conjecture about the intentions of the angelic hand emerging from the cloud in the Waite-Smith 4 of Cups as it offers a fourth chalice to a man who seems unimpressed with the three he already has (and in fact he could even be sleeping through the whole thing). We could say that he must look past the pushy outstretched arm to find the source of spiritual inspiration that will convince him that the contents of the new cup are any more compelling than what he found in those at his feet. He clearly doesn’t want to engage, and the scene almost looks like a foreshadowing of the 8 of Cups, where the disenchanted man gets up the gumption to rise and walk away (and perhaps the angel here senses what’s coming if he keeps “piling on”).
Those who have watched the 1983 comedy with Tommy Chong playing a lisping Spanish colonial inquisitor may remember “El Nebuloso” railing at Yellowbeard’s ragtag band of pirates “I shall smite you with heavenly forth!” Seems like a line the angel in the RWS cloud could use if he gets pissed enough about the refusal of his agenda. I’ve often thought that the fourth chalice is being wielded more as a threat than an enticement: “You will take your medicine or else!” Heavenly fourth indeed!
Originally published at http://parsifalswheeldivination.wordpress.com on December 19, 2022.
