The Geniuses and Virtues [Class B: Cards 31-40]

Class B: Introduction

Class B of the Mantenga Deck is The Geniuses and Virtues. The silver background of each card in this class is accented by an intricate lattice of light blue. Blue was a rarely commented on color until the late medieval period. It is obviously the color of the sky and thus both of the classes of heavenly powers are backed with Blue. This blue is lighter than the blue of Class D cards, presumably because they are the higher powers and light blue connotes an airier more ethereal blue which “floats” higher.

Class B cards signify the cosmos’ control on the subject’s interior life, but this control is the control of an angelic benevolence as an exterior posture. Class B is high on the chain of being and these cards are gifts of grace that are given and one must employ their will to cooperate with. The first three are the geniuses, intelligence, senses, and vital functions. They are “proper to the person”. Nevertheless, they are gifts of the cosmos. In as much as we perceive them as “assumed,” we take them for granted. As “gift” they signify how even those parts of use we consider “our very self” is a gift from God and not to be grasped at as a possession. These gifts allow us to experience the rest of the cards as virtuous gifts from heaven.

The last seven are the seven virtues, the four cardinal virtues (temperance, prudence, strength, and justice) and the three theological virtues (charity, hope, and faith). These are angelic beings who deliver these graces as gifts to the subject as benefits unlooked for and undeserved. They are also easily seen as aspects of one’s personality, but more aspects one “has” (as a gift”) than aspects one “is”. It is the subject’s job to notice these graces, develop them and use them. They represent the best of transcendent / personal cosmological interface, in that they are how the cosmos gives summative spiritual aid to the individual. The Cardinal Virtues are graces that, once noticed and exercised, can easily form into habits, then sculpted into character. In the generative treatise Mythic History and Contemplative Prediction we discussed the difference between habits and character as they relate to free will, “A habit can be immediately broken once it is realized and once one desires to . . . Unlike habit, character is not immediately changeable by an act of will, though over a much greater period it can change. Character is when one’s habitual behavior has formed into one’s personality in such a way as to be immediate irresistible or compulsory.” Thus these gifts allow for natural ease of virtue against concupiscence. The Cardinal virtues aim at sharing in divine life, thus they are dispositions more than habits.

Class B cards form a chiastic balance with Class D cards (Apollo and the Muses). Both classes are angelic powers, but Class D cards are angelic powers of a lower variety. They are passions and inspirations and their effect is more of a stirring within one than a gift from outside. The Muses indicate spontaneous spiritual aspects that are excited as “part of one’s self”. Once excited they can either be controlled, developed and channeled. Or they can be left to their own devices and run roughshod over the experience. The virtues connote grace, a transcendent gift beyond one’s control that becomes part of one’s self if it is noticed, developed and utilized, but left on their own they become dormant and/or fade. One would want to notice how these cards interact in a pattern as a meditation on the interplay between grace inspiration. Classes B and D are oppositional to Classes A and E. Classes B and D concern access between the mirroring of the inner and the outer as well as the connection between the upper and lower of the cosmological hierarchy. The mirroring between Classes A and E is polar, as opposed to B and D which is integral. The relationship between A and B is absolute immanence and transcendence. Classes B and D present the integrating factor between both transcendent and terrestrial as well as inner and outer self. As the querent sees these classes interact they may want to meditate on their own perception of the relationship between transcendence and imminence in the cosmos as well as how they interface in their own life. Class C cards are the fulcrum of personal investment in the cosmos that balanced the deterministic chiastic parallels of AE, BD. In as much as Class B cards interface with Class C cards one may want to notice where one can use one’s knowledge, will and discipline to expand, grow and properly utilize one’s virtues as they are stimulated by one’s environment and present in one’s self.

If one encounters the virtues in meditation, one should certainly meditate on how the particular virtue plays out in their own life. Depending on the position in the layout, they may consider these virtues as they possess the virtue and/or how others offer it to them by others. In reverse one will want to notice a lack of personal virtue or virtue in one’s relationships with others. One may also remember that each virtue is the balance of a specific concupiscent disposition from among the seven deadly sins and may want to look into that disposition as one or one’s neighbor possesses it.

B.31. Iliaco (Intelligence: Genius of the Sun)

Significance

Intelligence is the most complex of the three graces of the “gift of self”. It takes as its symbol the Sun, as is evident in the seal of Apollo. Intelligence takes language and the ability to use it to organize the other two into coherence. It is the aspect of self that is over arching as it utilizes the entirety of class C to make sense of and engage with reality. As a gift Intelligence is the most peripheral grace, and most easily lost while still retaining one’s sense of self. It can also be relaxed and dulled to the point of minimal existence and one can still retain one’s sense of self. It is the aspect of self that takes the most conscious and willful development as one grows one’s “self”.

As the “rational animal” humans are distinguished by their intelligence. To apprehend and grow one’s intelligence is seen as the pinnacle of development of self. Thus as Theology is the summation of class C, Intelligence is the bridge card that takes all of these efforts and organizes them toward the end of theology and thereby, in the medieval mind, fulfilling one’s human purpose, to glorify God. In that respect, intelligence is the gift of teleological fulfillment.

As a Class B card, Intelligence signifies a gift of God to be able to consciously fulfill one’s destiny. Its development is what we most consider the development of the person. In many ways, it signifies the totality of Class C, the Arts and Sciences, but as an exercise of self rather than an example of discipline. Intelligence and Apollo make perfect book ends to the Arts and sciences, as each one is directly related to how one uses one’s consciousness regarding their class of cards.

Visual Symbology

Like all of the geniuses, Intelligence is pictured as a giant cherub. Intelligence is adorned with wings. The wings symbolize the heights that well applied intelligence, especially exercised in the highest art and science, theology, can take one. Intelligence stands in a field with a backdrop of trees that the celestial being dwarfs. The size of each of the Geniuses may indicate the standing of human life in the terrestrial cosmos. The forces that give us our fundamental being and allow us to exercise the Arts and Sciences as well as develop virtue puts us in large standing on this earthly plain. Intelligence holds the Sun, which has a face staring back. Again, the Sun, the emblem of Apollo, is the masculine intellect and the face starting back is significant of introspective intelligence.

Application

To meet intelligence in a reading is to meet the matrix of all the Arts and Sciences. What is thematic in Class C cards is surmised in this one card. To encounter it the querent would be wise to take stock of their own skills of learning and discipline and assess which are best applied or who is applying them and why. The card could be beckoning one to find someone of intelligence or presenting one in the situation for contemplation.

In Reverse Intelligence could very obviously signify a lack thereof or intelligence misapplied. Thus the querent may want to consider if they or someone being considered has properly developed this gift. Or, if intelligence is manifest, is it applied appropriately? Is one side tracked on pointless questions, or trying to force skills unsuited to the situation? One is reminded that intelligence is not wisdom, and one may want to probe the latter considering how intelligence is applied to the situation.

B.32. Cronico (Senses: Genius of Time)

Significance

The intellect helps the individual frame the world in an understandable way. Intellect also allows one a sense of self perception, a basic element for a “personal being”. The Senses themselves are even more fundamental to the self and thus are even more likely to be taken for granted. The reality of the senses is so basic that one does not even “consider” them as part of one’s self, they just are the self. They are the means by which one reaches out to the external world as it exhibits flux and change (i.e. it exhibits time). The impressions and data garnered there shape how one’s internal life is ordered, mostly by visual images and auditory language.

In the treatise The Three Tiered Integration of Self we discussed how sensation is a means to connect the inner to the outer by means of the “auxiliary self” (the body). This card signifies that ability, but as precognition. In the most primal state animals “are”. Yet as a meditation, the Senses remind one of the gift of sensation. In this cosmology, the Senses are an angelic being(s) who grants access to this knowledge of the world. Yet, simultaneously the senses are the result of “corporeal instruments” (ex. The eye, nose, ear, tongue, skin)., and they are our fundamental self phenomenologically. In each of these facets the Senses signify a deep connection between the inner and the outer. In fact, it could be argued, not a “Connection”, rather a confluence.

Visual Symbology

The Senses is portrayed as an angelic being standing lackadaisically in a field, once again, dwarfing the trees in the background. In this case, the wings of this angelic being represent the hight toward the divine that the Senses can take one, particularly through sacramental engagement of the cosmos.

His left hand is tucked into his hip, almost seeming to make the gesture Jesus is often seen to make in the iconography of western Christendom. That would be raised two fingers and three touching together below. The three fingers signify the trinity. In the image of The Senses, these fingers are tucked beneath the fold of the angel’s clothes. The two fingers signify the two natures of Christ, the fact of the incarnation. Thus the Godhead abides beneath or beyond sensation. But the incarnation is an event of sensation. In it divinity partakes of the human sensory experience. In it humans are able to perceive divinity through their senses; two millennia ago, and today through the sacramental system imparted by the event of the incarnation.

In his right hand, the angelic being holds aloft an ouroboros. An ouroboros is a serpent circling and biting its own tail. It is an ancient mythic symbol that has cross cultural resonance. Most basically it signifies the union of opposites thematic in mystical and esoteric fields of thought. In this case, the angel is staring at the ouroboros to signify the reciprocal nature of the inner and outer worlds as joined by the matrix of sensation.

Application

To encounter The Senses in meditation should lead one to contemplate their fundamental relationship with the outer world. If a query regards some experience, what was sensorially witnessed that brought this situation to a head? Are things as they seem? Is the interpretation of the sense data the only interpretation? In what ways can one’s sensorial experience be a comfort right now in the situation? In what ways have they been a comfort? If one interprets this card as an affirmation of three tiered integration by one’s self or another, it may be an invitation to share skills concerning technique.

In Reverse The Senses could indicate an inner/outer bifurcation. Has one become too invested, either in one’s experience of the world, or one’s analysis of that experience? An oppositional could lead the querent to contemplate negative sensorial experiences one has had. These are best approached as opportunities for some kind of growth.

B.33. Cosmico (Vital Functions: The Genius of the World)

Significance

The Vital Functions card is the life force that binds and generates life in an organism. Biologically, Vital Functions indicate the involuntary mechanisms of the body, such as breathing or heartbeat, that maintain the organism, absent and awareness. The original name of the card is “Cosmico” which seems to resonate with the life force as present in the universe. These each represent the fundamental “given” when contemplating one’s life. Each interpretation frames the fundamental person as an “external operator”, either the laws of physics through biology or an angelic (animistic) principality that sustains life. Vital Functions is the animistic principle that balances A.49, Celestial Power, which is dynamistic.

Vital Functions are the most taken for granted aspect of the self. It is only with training and absolute concentration that anyone can recall these and realize the gratitude necessary to appreciate them as the fundamental gift of the cosmos. This leads to the major significance of this card. The foundation of true religious devotion, piety, morality, joy, etc., in short the true foundational motivation of religious experience, is gratitude. The advanced practitioner realizes that a rewards and punishment approach to religion is a stepping stone to this perfected impetus. A reflection on Vital Functions reminds the querent that he owns nothing, not even himself and that all of his life is a temporary gift. Foundationally this card exhibits a call to gratitude for things taken for granted.

Visual Symbology

Vital Functions is presented as an angel looking at the querent. He is the only of the three Geniuses whose gaze is not on a symbol, but on the querent, because he demonstrates the basics of what the querent “is”. In this case, the figure’s wings represent the height of religious experience one can achieve by contemplating the role of Vital Functions and being overwhelmed by gratitude for life. The angel holds aloft a sphere in its right hand. The sphere contains the union of heaven and earth. Vital Functions presents life spirit to physical reality, thus it is appropriate for Vital Functions to have the sphere that exhibits both spirit and corporality.

Application

To meet Vital Functions in meditation is to encounter an invitation to gratitude for what has been taken for granted. This could be the fundamental nature of life or something particular to the situation that is going unnoticed. If gratitude is not an issue, the card could also be aiming the querent to consider the fundamental aspects of the situation period. How are things previously unnoticed in the situation generating, animating, and affecting it?

In Reverse Vital Functions could indicate dormancy of something in a situation that needs to be given life. The querent is invited to contemplate what this could be and how to bring animation to the situation. Oppositional Vital Functions could also indicate the fact that something that is generating the situation needs to be made dormant (i.e. neutralized ) in order to help the situation.

B.34. Temperanza (Temperance)

Significance

Temperance is a righteous habit that allows one to govern their concupiscent extremes in accordance with sound reason. In one sense temperance may be regarded as a characteristic of all the moral virtues; the moderation it enjoins is central to each of them. In the treatise Compounding Concupiscence and Cross-Spectral Mutual Pedagogy, we discussed the problem of concupiscent centrifugal effect. The only extreme lauded in Christianity of the love of God. All other things are brought into balance by dyadinal paradoxes. Temperance is the gift of discernment to recognize one’s proper position concerning a spectral paradox, and the ability to live that position is the gift of temperance.

Though it is usually portrayed as tepidness, temperance signifies the ability to abide comfortably in paradox. For example, a temperate person can abide in mercy and justice. They will not become pharisaical, nor will they allow a person the liberty to destroy themselves.

As the first cardinal virtue, Temperance begins a process from virtues that are interiorly focused on virtues that primarily project outwards. Temperance is generally spiritually focused and conveys an inner balance. Even here, as we shall see, the spiritual disposition is not simply self contained. All facets of the human person are meant to relate outward to neighbor and to God.

Visual Symbology

Temperance is seen standing on a plain. She has two pitchers reminiscent of the chalices in XIV of the Rider Waite deck. But in that image, the celestial being pours liquid from one chalice into the other. Temperance’s motion in the Mantegna deck appears more like XVII, having just finished her task. She appears to have just poured water into a basin. There, a curious animal is investigating its reflection in the pool and appears to contemplate taking a drink while Temperance regards it pensively. If the Rider Waite card implies some sort of spiritual and intuitive (water) balance, the Mantegnan image seems to portray a more cosmic balance between the inner and the outer, how the greater serves the least, the sentient being aiding the lower life form. Since she holds two vases, perhaps the spiritual balance of RW Card XVII has already taken place and this card focuses on the exercise of the internal to the external. It is significant that by this exercise of service the “lower bieng” has a newfound regard for itself.

Application

To meet Temperance in meditation is to meet a spiritual gift, applied to a situation. How can one bring balance to the situation and allow others in it to have a better, more temperament self regard by one’s actions? With the presence of this card, one will want to note all other virtues and how they form an intricate dance in the situation. Then one will want to notice how that spiritual dance forms a broader relationship to specific actions in the situation. Such an account could bring clarity to some angle of the query.

In Reverse Temperance brings the querent’s attention to concupiscence at its centrifugal extremes. Concupiscence is often a virtue taken to the extreme; manifesting in damaging and unhealthy ways. Thus if oppositional Temperance is interpreted as a spiritual indicator, the querent would be wise to take stock of what they perceive as their virtues and make sure they are well balanced and effectively applied. If reverse Temperance is seen as referring to the external, one may want to make sure their inner and outer lives are balanced. Has one used their carefully crafted spiritual gifts to the benefit of others? Are one’s acts of charity done out of virtue or other motives?

B.35. Prudenza (Prudence)

Significance

Prudence is the gift of wisdom in judgment. It is the discerning judgment of two paths, one more virtuous than the other. Prudence involves the intellect more than the will. It is an understanding of actions taken, not the desire nor the ability to take the action. Prudence is directive toward the other virtues. The gift, if noticed and practiced, is habitually formed to one’s character as an intellectual ability to judge the merits of a situation well.

Like all the cardinal virtues Prudence signifies an ability, intellectual judgment. Yet at the same time, once one realizes the Geniuses as gifts, one cannot but recognize the spiritual gifts of the virtues. This gift allows one proper use of some of the extremes of existential bifurcation we warned against in Mythic History and Contemplative Prediction. One is able to analyze the past and direct the data to the future in order to find the correct path. But the notion of “correct” in this card is not just efficient or practical. It is correct in building the person to their teleological end, the glorification of God.

Prudence is a spiritual skill geared to ultimately effecting action in the outer world. Unlike temperance, which is effective as an interior disposition, and secondarily it extends outward. But as a virtue, it can remain as an inner calculation never to be exercised, unlike Fortitude which brings with it a connotation of necessity of action.

Visual Symbology

One sees Prudence standing with poise. She holds a compass in her right hand seeming to measure the space of her bosom that spans her heart. This speaks to calculation that is not bereft of empathy and emotion, a holistic calculation. She holds a mirror aloft in her left hand which she gazes into, seeing her reflection. Like Theology, Prudence is imaged with the faces of Janus. She is able to see the future by means of seeing the past. But the mirror implies that the future holds a better self (or at least self reflection) because her judgments are the result of the development of celestial gifts. As opposed to the classical snake held by Prudence, at her feet is a basilisk similar to Logic. But prudence is able to resist the gaze of the basilisk and see a better future.

Application

To meet Prudence in a meditation is to meet the developed habit of good judgment. It calls one to seek the presence of Prudence in the situation, either in one’s self or in others. By itself, Prudence does not necessarily mean good judgment executed, but the position of the basilisk in the card implies that Prudence properly positioned is Prudence well executed. The card may call one to review the good decisions one has made in order to continue on a path. The card may also signify trust in one’s ability to make sound choices in the situation. Lastly, the card may imply another person with this gift who is available to the querent or should be sought.

In Reverse Prudence could signify a prudent choice unrealized. Intellectually grasping the right choice is not an exercise of will, and one may still actually choose wrongly. It could also hint at imprudence, the lack of ability in the querent or someone in the situation to practice good prudence. Lastly, oppositional prudence could indicate rashness, haste or indecision.

B.36. Fortezza (Strength)

Significance

Strength is the virtue of Fortitude. Fortitude is the gift of endurance toward one’s end, as a virtue, it assumes one’s spiritual end. As a celestial gift, Strength goes beyond the natural aptitude of the experient. It is a celestial grace, that is a gift to be participated with and exercised by corporeal participation in the external world. Often we see strength as something we earned through our discipline, but as a virtue, there is a stark negation of self reliance. Here is the paradox of divine strength that fosters gratitude in the recipient, instead of the condemnation of being “strong in spirit”.

Strength is the virtue that grants the ability to confront fear, uncertainty, and intimidation. It could be a simple end such as a temporary self imposed discipline, such as a Lenten sacrifice. It could also refer to the gift of endurance needed to achieve one’s ultimate goal, salvation. As life offers challenges, one must meet the situation and strive toward one’s objective. The challenges could be the consequences of past poor choices by one or others in one’s life. They could be perceived evils that are ordered trials. Or they could be the work of malevolent celestial beings that try one, and by that trial end up helping one build fortitude as we discussed in the former treatise Calculated Demonic Attunement

As temperance is a definitively internal spiritual virtue that is incidentally expressed externally. Prudence is an internal disposition that can remain internal but is meant to be expressed in action. A a drive that is internal it must be expressed externally or else it is not fully authentic. The next card is Justice, is Fortitude's balance as it is an external relationship that reflects an internal disposition.

Visual Symbology

Strength is pictured adorned as a lion. Both her breastplate and her hood bear the resemblance of a male lion with a mane. She holds a scepter as a sign of strength and the ability to use it authoritatively. She grasps a broken pillar. If the pillar is the foundation of a problem to be overcome, the broken pillar signifies one who, if they have not already practically succeeded, is well on the way to overcoming the problem. In the background stands a lion. Its face looks dejected. If, similar to temperance, this scene presents the after scene of Rider Waite VIII, then the lion is well subjected to the celestial being. If the lion represents the ferocity of struggle, the being stands ready to give one the benefit of conquest.

Application

To meet Strength in a reading means all the things one could intuitively expect. So the card implies strength present in the querent or someone in the situation and calls the querent to seek and recognize that strength and utilize it. It is to be remembered that this is a virtue, a gift of the heavens. Thus it is likely that at least as an undercurrent the card calls to mind gratitude for strength not one’s own. Considering the cosmological makeup of this deck the card could indicate what is generally interpreted as a position of weakness in the world in which we find strength from God.

In Reverse Strength implies a lack thereof. Reverse strength could imply the deadly sin of sloth, over contentment and not living up to one’s God given potential. Oppositional Strength could also be natural Strength, as the world defines it, which one invests in, yet this investment allows one to neglect gratitude for fundamental divine assistance, thus this strength is stifling one’s spiritual fortitude.

B.37. Guistizia (Justice)

Significance

Justice is the gift of a moral quality, which perfects the will and inclines it to render to each and to all what belongs to them. It is not so much an act of intellect as an urge to will and the discipline of that urge. Prudence will offer the intellectual groundwork for any decision concerning acts of justice. Justice itself is the gift of will to exercise those acts. Thus will in and of itself is completely exteriorly oriented.

When considering a vision of justice, one should not remain completely object oriented. Certainly, physical possessions are to be rendered in a just manner. But relationships require a certain justice as well. For example, when praise is due, it is unjust to withhold it, when truth is helpful it is unjust to withhold the truth. Also, justice demands that positions in society, such as is rendered in Class E cards, retain their proper authority and are allowed to fulfill their proper role for the common good. It is unjust for the rich man to beg, it is unjust for the poor man to be forbidden to beg, and it is unjust for the rich man to neglect charity to the poor man.

Lastly, when considering justice, it may help to distinguish it from what is “fair”. For simplicity, we can define fair as everyone gets the same. Justice is everyone gets what is proper to them, what they deserve or need. It helps to keep in mind that what two people need may be disproportionate when the metric is fairness.

Visual Symbology

Justice is pictured fairly classically. She holds a sword upright in her right hand and scales in her left. These implements imply the correct us of temperance and prudence (scale) and execution of the judgment (justice). One interesting thing about this image is that, contrary to the classic image, she is not blindfolded. The blindfold is indicative of justice as fairness in civil matters, a law that is impartial to the person. This impartiality is necessary in this postlapsarian world, because we do not necessarily know the heart of a person, and want to judge by law equally (fairly) applied. Yet this card presents a celestial being who does accurately know circumstances and is willing to work with temperance and prudence and gift what is needed in order to clearly act with true justice, a justice that sees.

Application

To meet Justice in a reading is to meet some aspect of Justice well applied to the situation. That could be concerning objective goods, relationship or subsidiarity. One will want to look for opportunities to enjoy the benefits of this justice and its exercise. Also one may want to particularly pay attention to how the exercise of Justice rendered by the querent or another, can aid the situation.

In Reverse Justice obviously stands for injustice. Meaning that some person or persons in the situation are not getting what is proper to them. Again, this lack could be of possession, but it could just as easily (or simultaneously) be a relational lack or a lack of due subsidiarity. Oppositional Justice could also indicate a situation that is “fair”, a situation that appears just because it is equal, but in fact, Justice is being denied. Lastly, reverse Justice could indicate worldly justice, or causal justice (Karma). Worldly justice is a blind justice of laws not of people, thus, it can deny people what is properly theirs. Karmic justice is a justice of cosmic causality. In this world corrupted by sin, such forces do not always align with the virtues of Justice and prudence.

B.38. Carita (Charity)

Significance

Charity is the greatest virtue. It is a divinely infused habit, inclining the human will to cherish God for his own sake above all things and to cherish others for the sake of God. Again, it is distinct from the inborn inclination of loving God in the natural order. Charity is a special gift. It implies the fullness of invested love, thus it is often equated with agapic love, the calculated love of self sacrifice.

Though Saint Paul defines it as the greatest virtue, it occurs in this position (B.38. as opposed to B.10.) because the theological virtues seem to be arranged from terrestrial orientation to divine orientation and this virtue is proper to the greatest and second greatest commandment. Thus, Charity concerns how one loves God and how one loves one’s neighbor, whereas hope is divinely directed with terrestrial consequences, and Faith is completely divinely directed. Again, the entire scope of the virtues takes one from inner, first outward, then “upward” by a series of virtues that specially breaches each field of engagement.

Visual Symbology

Charity is pictured feeding a group of birds crumbs from a bag. The bag is completely turned upside down with the mouth wide open, signifying the absolute nature of this divinely gifted virtue. The birds consist of a mother and her chicks. The mother stands poised with her wings out in protection and as a communication of available sustenance as she feeds the chick, who are eagerly eating from her mouth. The flow of charitable commerce implies the chain of being represented throughout the entire deck, as well as two prominent lessons, subsidiarity and Christian power dynamics, “the greater serves the lessor.”

Application

To meet Charity in meditation is to call to mind self giving agapic love in practice. Remember, agapic love is self sacrificial and is an exercise of knowledge and will as opposed to an experience of desire. It is absolutely conscious and rarely easy for humans. Charity calls the querent to evaluate the relationships in the situation and look through the lens of mindful self giving and purposeful regard of the needs of the other. Again this could be present in the querent or another in the situation. If someone in the situation is suspected of ulterior motives, perhaps a second look is warranted. Depending on the position, it could also be a call for the querent to invest further in self sacrificial love. Lastly, it may be a call to observe the target of charity, God or neighbor and evaluate if one’s object is correct for the situation and how to alter one’s disposition.

In Reverse Charity points to a lack of agapic love. This could be a person overthrown with concupiscence and dulled to the practice of Charity or an overfocus or eros/filial love when agape should be applied. Conversely, the querent may want to consider whether oppositional Charity could be a call to invest in eros as opposed to Charity. Lastly, the querent may want to reevaluate the assumptions of their sacrificial love. One may practice the golden rule poorly (treating the other as if they WERE oneself as opposed to how one would want to be treated if one were the object of charity).

B.39. Speranza (Hope)

Significance

Hope is the gift of a confident expectation of a happy issue to our efforts concerning salvation against the difficulties we encounter. It implies an understanding that there can never be a situation in which one must despair of or presume salvation. Hope is the gift that avoids the unforgivable sin, blasphemy against the Holy Spirit. Hope should give one the motivation to fulfill duties which involve an act of this supernatural confidence.

Hope is directed toward transcendence in that our hope is gifted from God and is in God’s power. Yet it motivates toward engagement in this terrestrial plain. It is also a lens for interpretation of events in one’s life. It is the ability to trust that when God looked at everything he had made on the 6th day he “saw that it was good” and it is the inspiration for Saint Paul’s claim that “all things work for good for those who love God.”

Visual Symbology

Hope is pictured in pious prayer. Her hands together, she looks upwards, but not straight to the heavens. Rather her gaze is “afar”, implying both the celestial and terrestrial significance of Hope. At her feet is a phoenix rising out of a fire to new life. The phoenix is cyclically born again out of fire and is thus associated with the Sun. This leads to a connection in the Christian psyche with resurrection, thus the phoenix can be a symbol of Christ or of the general resurrection of humanity. The General resurrection is our common Hope and Christ’s resurrection is where our Hope lies.

Application

To encounter hope in a reading is to meet a deep supernatural expectation beyond standard evidence. Depending on the position Hope can draw one’s attention to a past hope fulfilled, or direct one to a sure future Hope, participation with which will bring benefit. It could also help one recognize an object or person that inspires hope or a person who one inspires hope for. Lastly, hope may appear to summon in the querent inspiration to correct action.

In Reverse Hope most directly indicates despair, a past hope unfulfilled, or the slipping away of one’s sense of Hope. Again, oppositional hope may indicate an object or person who leads one to despair or indicate that one leads others to despair in a situation.

B.40. Fede (Faith)

Significance

Faith is semantically distinguishable from certainty. One is “certain” of things they would never consider questioning. Thus, Faith assumes a consideration of doubt. Objects of theological Faith lean strongly toward those things that God needed to reveal, as opposed to things one must believe due to natural aporia. Thus, Faith is the gift of acceptance of divine revelations that appear implausible, or are hard to fit into one’s existing worldview.

This card signifies various things about one’s worldview that would necessitate the gift of faith. First, the reality of the gift of Faith can signify, as mentioned, the presence of a conscious doubt, and a worldview that is not inclined to cosmic truth, which therefore needs the presence of Faith. Faith as a virtue also signifies the reality of original sin, such that the true nature of the cosmos is not immediately clear. Lastly, the gift of Faith relates to Charity because God’s revelation teaches us how to be charitable and Faith relates to Hope because through revelation God offers his promise of salvation.

Faith is a great lead into the next Class of cards because they are so radically transcendent that they require Faith in order for a human to have a relationship with them. For example, the next card if the Moon, which is deeply connected to the subconscious and the dream world. We noted in the treatise Somnium Spirituality that the dream world is a great danger to our secular and empirical understanding of knowledge. It is a place where everyone goes regularly and the mode of existence is symbology rather than causality. Thus there is a constant need to minimize and devalue the dream world.

The dream world poses many specific and damaging problems for the exclusivist secular scientific worldview. First there is the absence of specific verifiability of the dream world. One cannot publically reproduce the specific situations one experienced there. One can only share the fact of the dream world experience with others who happen to remember their own experiences there. The lack of public verifiability concerning how events relate in the dream world undergirds the assumption of the pointlessness of the dream world.

However the dream world, as a world that operates by symbology, is a perfect balance to the physical world and keeps our hubris in check about our knowledge allowing us the freedom to choose faith when appropriate.

It must be remembered that the view of the dream world as simple figment is connected to the scientific empirical focus on causality as a fundamental and ontologically defining law of nature as opposed to a view that was radically empirical. Thus the “exterior sense data” has a causal effect on the physical brain and manifest as figments in the dream state. The assumption of this causal relationship allows for psychologists to assert that past data from the physical world effects the dream state, but the assumption is that the dream state only relates to the future with regards to one’s awareness of the dreams and how they use them pragmatically. Interestingly this assumption once again devalues the dream world and how it interacts with the future physical world adding to the suspension of ontological validity of the dream world. If one suspends absolute rigidity with the assumptions of the physical world being the only “real” world, then one could recognize the common human experience of how the dream world affects the “physical world” and not just one’s perception of it.

From this we can see that the toggling between the two valid worlds allows for a multivalent cosmology and the ability to have Faith is things beyond any one set of validation for knowledge.

Visual Symbology

Faith is seen standing next to a dog sitting obediently. The dog brings to mind a hierarchical structure of obedience, dog obeys human, human obeys God. This obedience relates to faith as an assent of belief against intuition or even data.

As we noted above, original sin and often our particular worldview cloud how truth is manifest in reality. Thus in her right hand Faith is pictured holding a chalice with a eucharistic host hovering above it. Imprinted on the host is an image of the crucifixion. The cross is in the middle, and the figures of Mary and John stand on either side. What is in her hand is the summation of multiple themes mentioned; worldview, revelation, the convergence of faith with hope and charity. The host is the summation of revelation because it demonstrates the deepest revelation of God in the passion and crucifixion of Christ. It conveys a worldview in that the Eucharist is the summation of sacramental ritual and is incomprehensible (thus requiring profound faith) without investment in a sacramental cosmology (a rare cosmology these days). The host signifies the convergence of Faith with charity and hope because it images Christ’s sacrifice which simultaneously is his charity and our hope. It is also the access to the graces of that Charity. The Eucharist is a baffling belief for those not in tune with its significance. It is rarely a ritual that one participates in with certainty. Most everyone has some aspect that they have doubt on and thus as a ritual, it requires great faith.

In her left hand Faith clutches a rod close to her chest. The rod signifies the strength of will it takes to accept faith in divine mysteries.

Application

Meeting Faith in meditation should wake in the querent the reality of doubt in their life. The querent should probe where doubt is creeping into their spiritual lives and their relationship with God and God’s self revelation. These may be areas where Faith is directing one to keep vigilant. This card could also be reminding one to reinvest belief in the mysteries that will lead one to experience Hope and practice Charity.

In Reverse Faith could indicate a misalignment of truth through certainty in false realities that need to be uncovered. In this case, the card beckons the querent to reveal these false notions and invest in doubt in order to dispose oneself to invest in Faith. Reverse Faith could also direct one to a misguided faith. That could be faith in something that is not true. Or it could be faith in truly revealed realities, but someone in the situation (possibly the querent) is using them in unhealthy or detrimental ways. It could also be that someone in the situation is being taken advantage or manipulated by means of their pure faith. Lastly, polar Faith could mean that someone is being persecuted because of their Faith.

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