“And to my father did thou send much gold,
An oblation dish of solid gold and a Cup of solid gold,”
showing that the Cup symbolised not only a connection with sacrifice, but was also a bond of friendship. Votive cups are found in the temple of Osiris, showing that they were used in his worship. Some are very small, as if intended for children to use.
The “Cupbearer” to Royalties in Babylonia and Egypt was a most important post, for the person was chosen for faithfulness, since poison could be so easily conveyed in wine and drunk unsuspectingly by the king. The “Sakibearer” or Butler of Persia became one of the heroes or gods. He was also called “the Spiritual Instructor,” showing a connection with the priesthood, or “He who hands a Cup of Celestial Love,” which is typified by the wine as well as the Cup. “Jamshid, one of the greatest rulers of Iran” (Persia), says Major Sykes, in “The Glory of the Shia World” (page 139), “was able by means of his seven-ringed Cup not only to predict the future, but also survey the entire world.” This Jamshid had many of the qualities of Thoth Hermes attributed to him, for he introduced into his country the use of iron, the arts of weaving, wine-making, and healing, with many other arts and sciences, his memory is greatly revered. Omar Khayyam sings of him
“Iran, indeed, is gone with all his Rose
And Jamshid’s sev’n ring’d Cup,
Where? No one knows.”
The Cup placed in the sack of his brethren by Joseph was no mere accident, as it had for them a most important and symbolic meaning that is indicated but not enlarged upon in the Bible. Babylon is called “A golden Cup in the hand of the Lord.” (Jeremiah li:7.) That it was a symbol connected with power, priesthood, sacrifice, and friendship is indicated whenever it is mentioned in the Bible—for instance, Psalms lxxv:8, where it is said: “For in the hands of the Lord there is a Cup”; or the thirty-seven other times it is again spoken of in the Old Testament, and the thirty-two references to it in the New. The cups discovered in Babylonia and Egypt are of many different shapes that indicate the particular uses to which they were to be put. Those intended for holding the sticks when consulting the oracle of Thoth resemble a modern dicebox, as well as the box still used for sticks in China and Japan.
In Egypt immediately after death the soul was supposed to descend to the Lower World, and was then conducted to the Hall of Two Truths, where it was judged in the presence of Osiris and the forty-two Dæmones (the Lords of Truth) and Judges of the Dead. The Director of the Weights was Anubis, who placed in one of the scales of Justice (or Ma) a figure of Truth, and in the other a Cup containing the good actions of the deceased, while Thoth stood by, tablet in hand, to record the result. This shows the positive connection of Thoth with the emblems that afterwards became one of the devices of Mercury when he succeeded Thoth in both the upper and the lower worlds.
Late discoveries in Crete show frescoes representing handsome youths as cupbearers to King Minos.
The Espadas or Sword suit speaks for itself, and here, as well as in the name of the Club suit, the origin of the Spade is preserved, for Les Piques of the French pack (that represents the Halbert of mediæval times or the guardians of the person of the king), resembled garden spades to the English, who called them by that name, that when spoken recalled the pronunciation of the Spanish pip Espadas. A Harpé or Sword was presented by Jupiter to his son Mercury as a token of bravery and skill when he was the Messenger who killed Argos, or the herald of Mars. His title was then Mercury Argiphontes when he represented the best qualities of the warrior, such as courage, bravery, decision, and temperance. The suit typifies dark people and the element of air, and protects those who fly, whether birds or men. Altercation is also denoted by the Sword suit, as are troubles, sorrows, transformations, lawsuits, hatred, enemies, spies, or rivals. The word in Hebrew signifies lightning, brightness—as in Job xx:25, “the glittering sword cometh out,” which is particularly typical of the bright planet and the god of lightning. The Sword as “Messenger” is frequently referred to, as in Numbers xxii:31, “The angel of the Lord standing in the way and his sword drawn in his hand.”
The Cup and the Sword pips are recalled by a game played in Korea called Pitch-pot, one of the oldest games known to history. Arrows are thrown into a vase of water placed two and a half lengths from the player, who kneels on a mat to throw his weapon into it. After all the arrows have filled the cup the loser must drain it at one swallow.
The Money suit not only recalls the connection with merchants, with Mercury as their protector, but probably had an earlier origin in the mystic circle so beloved by occults. Isaiah xl:20 mentions the one “that sitteth upon the circle of the earth,” which quotation is fraught with symbolism. The royalties on the Egyptian tombs always wear a broad collar or necklace, the narrow cord being the emblem of the slave; but the King wears it as denoting his submission to the gods, while claiming to be supreme among men. The circle placed on their heads was a sign of unceasing power, and the zone or belt worn by female goddesses or princesses signified maidenhood or supremacy and had other mystic meanings. The coin placed on the cards signified many things besides merchants and their occupations, but it was generally connected with the material things of life. The Chinese coin still retains the hole in the centre, making it a hollow round. It is supposed by some that the coin was originally the mystic serpent with tail in mouth, thus completing the circle. Zwvoi meant the Serpent which girdles the globe and represents the Zodiac or Ecliptic line denoting the path of the sun.