King of Cups – St. Andrew
Originally written by me in December 2006.
St. Andrew is also know as Andreas, Andre, Endres. The Greek “andreia” means manhood, manly, or valour.
There is not much to say about Andrew since there is no certainty about him. As an apostle we can assume he was important after the death of Jesus in some way, but we don’t know the extent or place of his work. He was a disciple of John the Baptist and followed Jesus after that as his first disciple, but didn’t join Jesus full time until the famous scene in the bible where Jesus came to Andrew and his brother Peter while they were fishing and told them he’d make them “fishers of men.”
There are few stories about him and it is not certain how he died, although tradition says he was crucified as an old man on a transverse cross–one that is an “X” shape. That story didn’t really get started until centuries after his death though.
This type of cross is often called a saltire cross, a name that seems to have an origin in an ordinary heraldic symbol, using a French term possibly meaning stirrup-shaped, and taken from earlier Latin. However, the Romans called it crux decussata after decem which is Latin for “ten” — X being the Roman numeral for ten. I think it makes more sense to call it a decussate cross for this reason.
A white X-shaped cross on a blue background is called the St. Andrew’s cross, with the white representing clouds against a blue sky. Robert Place explains that this cross appeared in the sky to the Scottish before a battle and assured the Scottish victory. In medieval times, it was also common for the banners of national saints to become the flags of nations. It is for this reason that Scotland has adopted the St . Andrew’s cross on their flag, and it is also found in the background on the Union flag of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, representing Scotland there. There is a tradition that Andrew went to Scotland, and some of his relics were kept there, but no one really knows if he was there himself. In the middle ages, the Scottish were devoted to Andrew and pilgrimages were made to the area where the modern church of St. Andrews is located.
His relics might have been destroyed during the Scottish Reformation, but eventually the Pope sent some back in 1969! Hard to believe if no one truly knows specifically when or where he died, how do they know it’s his body and body parts? I didn’t quite understand the Church’s reasoning there, but they do have a habit of inventing relics like the toenails of saints and the foreskin of Jesus.
As the King of Cups, he reflects the compassion and nurturing qualities of the Queen. Apart from that, and without stories about Andrew, it’s pretty hard to tie him in here other than to subscribe the general faith leadership, and fortitude of an apostle to him, which ties into what Place says the card represents: intuitive faith, perseverance, and the ability to find fulfillment within ourselves.
I’m going to remember all the stuff about the decussate cross though, so not a total loss.
In the accompanying picture, I really like the painted wood statue of him, with the decussate cross behind him.
I have a book that I bought about a year after I started this study called Patron Saints that features some beautiful holy cards of Saints. They are rare cards collected by a priest in New York state. Here is poor Andrew lugging his decussate cross once again with what looks like a Scottish thistle in the lower right hand corner.
Tags: decussate cross, King of Cups, saltire cross, St. Andrew, Tarot of the Saints
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