Arieli's Two of Candles

Month: Nisan (Days of Sun)

Numerology: The number two indicates choice, duality, and the attempt to find balance. In Pythagorean philosophy, the number two (dyad) is the principle of separation and creation. Twos suggest dialogue, communication, and the potential to create something. According to Joanna Powell Colbert, twos mean balance, receptivity, attraction, or a test of choice. The second sefirah on the Tree of Life is Chokhmah, Wisdom.

Arieli’s Two of Candles: The card shows solitary scholar sitting in a dark room. Flames from two candles illuminate a book on a reading stand, part of his face, his payot, and his graying beard. He may be reading Tanakh, the Bible. (If the book were the Talmud, the pages would be formatted distinctively, with a passage of Gemara in the center of each page and commentary surrounding it.) The book could be a holy text from any era of Jewish history.

Arieli assigns these meanings to Two of Candles:
Upright: studies, learning, acquiring knowledge and understanding, aspiration to discover the hidden
Reversed: difficulties in overcoming darkness, delusions, ignorance

Arieli’s description of the card: The study Jewish holy texts (collectively called Torah) is central to Judaism. Tehillim, the Book of Psalms, offers this instruction, “Happy is the man who does not walk on the counsel of the wicked… rather in the Torah of HaShem is his desire, and in His Torah, he meditates day and night.” (Tehillim 1:1) Many sages of Israel studied both day and night. Some rose at midnight to recite penitential prayers or to learn the secrets of Kabbalah. Indeed, the Jewish sages saw a special significance studying at night, when the silence and peace of the surrounding world allow the mind to comprehend secrets. In this card, the sage is looking for knowledge in the pages of a sacred text, which are illuminated by two candles. Even in the dark of the night, he does not close his eyes, but continues to stare at the old volume in the light of two candles. The image depicts the struggle between the inner light emanating from the soul striving for attainment, and the darkness that surrounds it. Sometimes great light comes from the darkest places. [Arieli cites Yirmeyahu (Jeremiah) 3:6, but provides a quotation I can’t find anywhere in that chapter.]

The RWS Two of Wands: A well-dressed man looks from the wall of a castle or fortified city over a town and towards the coast. He holds a globe in his right hand and a staff in his left. Another staff is attached to a crenelation in the wall. Roses and lilies from The Magician card appear on a coat of arms attached to the wall.

Traditionally, the Two of Wands signifies: planning, considering a choice or course of action, overthinking and not trusting your intuition, “surprise, wonder, enchantment,” harnessing ideas to create something new. Twos indicate choice and Wands indicate passion; this combination indicates the need to make a choice so you can focus wholeheartedly on a single task. Reversed, it may suggest: fear of the unknown, not wanting to risk what you have already achieved, dissatisfaction with life, or “the sadness of Alexander amidst the grandeur of this world's wealth.”

Comparison between the Arieli and RWS cards: Both cards show explorers. The figure in the RWS card is contemplating the world around himself. The scholar in the Arielli card seeks spiritual knowledge and looks within himself. Both figures may bring more light to the world.

Hebrew Letter Correspondence: The numeral 2 is the letter בּ, which the Sefer Yetzirah connects to the moon and wisdom.

Relationship with Major Arcana: The Two of Candles is related to the second sefirah on the Tree of Life, Chokhmah, wisdom. Wisdom is the bride of God and she was present when heavens and earth were created. She is a female figure in Jewish literature, such as the 2nd century Sefer Yetzirah.

However, 16th century Lurianic Kabbalah, linked Chokhmah with Father and Binah with Mother. That may explain why Arieli assigns the Two of Candles and his Magician to second sefirah, Chokmah. The figures in both cards are engaged in solitary, otherworldly pursuits.

Tarot has a couple of bizarre twists on mathematics. In one system, you add the digits of a card to reduce it to a single number. In the other system, you reduce a card’s number by ten. Thus, each of the following cards has a value of two:

2=2 Arieli’s Magician (RWS High Priestess)
11=1+1=2 Arieli’s Wheel (RWS Justice)
20=2+0=2 Arieli’s Sun (RWS Judgment)
12=12-10=2 Arieli’s Justice (RWS Hanged Man)
22=22-10=12-10=2 Arieli’s World (no RWS card)

The Two of Candles and Justice seem connected, because the study of Torah should lead to good works. Visually however, Arieli’s High Priestess, called Shekhinah (Divine Presence) and numbered 3, seems most resonant with his Two of Candles. She is Torah, the wisdom he seeks to know.

All of the RWS assignments listed above, work well in the Robin Wood deck, but visually, Robin Wood’s images of Justice and The High Priestess resonate most closely with her Two of Wands.

Magical uses according to Tyson: to exert initial influence over others; to express power; authority, dominion.