Quincunx: Five Part Symbolism

In my recent readings I came across the concept of the "quincunx" which is an arrangement of five objects in a pattern with four in corners of a square and one object at the center. This pattern can be seen on the side of dice representing the value five. The pattern can also be seen in the World or Universe card which is the 21st card of the modern Tarot deck. My dictionary says it is also a pattern for planting trees, which I had not considered before.

Robert M. Place discusses symbol patterns in a number of his written works but I came across the quincunx in his companion book to the Tarot of the Saints, A Gnostic Book Of Saints. This book is another great source for some of the historical background of the Tarot itself. Mr. Place goes into the historical progress of this pattern in philosophical and spiritual symbolism. The culmination in the Tarot deck has the symbols of the four evangelists appearing in the corners of the World card with a figure, of various types, in the center of the card.

Looking at the first numbered Major Arcana card of some early Tarot decks, which is the Magician or iL Bagatella, you can see a die or dice on the table in front of the street performer. As a result the Quincunx pattern appears on both the first and last card of the Major Arcana sequence, the last being the aforementioned World card. The implication seems to be that the trump cards, or Major Arcana, are what hold the tarot deck together and are the fifth suit or quintessence of the deck.

The word "quintessence" is from the original latin meaning fifth essence. The concept being that there are four elements of earth, water, air, and fire all joined together by the fifth -- often called aether, ether, or aither. Aither was conceived as an invisible substance through which the planets traveled in celestial realms. It was also said to permeate all things and is essentially a concept of "spirit". It might even be said that the Force used in the Star Wars films is basically this fifth element.

The Quincunx is an interesting pattern for me because it seems so often that users of Tarot assume there are only four "elements" represented by the suits of the deck and tend to neglect the implied fifth element, or the quintessence, that is a unique part of Tarot symbolism.

As is well known today there are many more than five elements in existence. I have long since stopped calling the Alchemical five substances "elements" since they are in fact "states" of matter. For example, you can take almost any substance from the modern periodic table and pass it through states of solid, liquid, gas, and plasma using heat or other methods. These states are the original substances and as such "element" is the wrong term and "state" is more accurate to their implied meaning.

When considering these states one can see how more appropriate they are to the symbolism used in modern Tarot decks. That is to say that the Coins/Pentacles suit deals with things of matter or solidity, Cups with things that are liquid or emotional, Swords with things of airy, refined, or intellectual nature, and Wands with things of a fiery or inpirational nature. So the suits really represent states of being, not substances or elements. Thus the fifth suit represents things of spirit or one's higher nature.

A Gnostic Book Of Saints goes into much of this symbolism and history in more detail. I highly recommend the book and card set if you are interested in learning more about Christian Saints and some of the philosophical underpinnings of early Tarot symbolism.