The Suit of Coins: Sacramental Engagement / A User Guide to R.M. Place’s Tarot of the Saints
A User Guide to R.M. Place’s Tarot of the Saints
Meditations for Pulp Spiritual Direction Through Applied Contemplative Prediction
Major Arcana Introduction: Balance and Development
Major Arcana: Card by Card Analysis
The Suit of Cups: Self Presenting Love
The Suit of Swords: Love Considered
The Suit of Staffs: Love Made Real
The Suit of Coins: Sacramental Engagement
Keyword Guide to Tarot of the Saints
Transversal Theology: Technical Glossary
The Suit of Coins: Sacramental Engagement
Coins: General Introduction
Standard Resonance
Generally, a card displaying the Suit of Coins will lead the director to focus on the physical body and how one engages with the exterior world and considering how these factors play out in the situation. The general narrative and pictorial focus of the cards in various decks tend to gear toward displaying work, production, and use and relationship to material possessions to help contemplation consider these elements. Oppositional Coins tend to imply being possessed by one’s possessions or inordinate attachment to things in the material world, a poor work ethic, or lack of production.
Apart from the general meaning, there are a Host of thematic implications that can at times be used to make connections in contemplation. Coins represent the interface between the spiritual, the corporeal, and external. In the Rider Waite Deck the coins are engraved with pentacles, five-point stars, to symbolize the five extremities of the human body, the five senses that we use to engage the physical world, and the subjective point of view toward the four corners of the world. The coin is indicative of the three tiered field of experience. The first of these tiers is the sense of the “interior self”, the psyche. The interior self does not seem to exist as part of the physical world. The second tier is the sense of the self as bodily, this is one’s “self” as it abides in the physical world. In previous writings, we have also called the body the auxiliary self. This term for the body connotes the fact that the body is seen as both intimate self, but also “other” because it is part of the material world. The term hints at how the body itself can be used as the bridge between the inner self and the exterior world. The third tier of experience is the sense of the “external world” which is the physical world beyond the body. A coin is a symbol of one’s labor in the exterior world and is how one “transacts” with it among peers. As such it is a general symbol of transaction between the inner and the outer, and the effect one’s inner has on the outer. Thus the coin can symbolize both the physical world as manipulated or engaged with and the body as the auxiliary self.
The three tiered field of experience and the body as the auxiliary self becomes important when regarding the three tiered integration of the self. The three tiered integration of the self is an expansive giving of self to the “other” in a way that is binding, even to an ontological level. The purpose is to heal the divisive alienation (broken relationships) shot through creation by original sin. It is a collapse of three tiered field of experience into self, such that one experiences Christian ontology as a reality, that all is simple and manifold at the same time. Thus, one’s interior life, one’s corporeal life, and what one had perceived of as “the external world” are all now perceived as one’s self. In the treatise The Three Tiered Integration of Self we discussed this spirituality. It represents the flip side of the Suit of Coins. On the one side, it is the dissected three tiers, on the other, it is the integrated whole of the XXI arcana.
The Suit of Coins is traditionally paired with the Suit of Cups as the two “feminine” suits, balanced by the masculine Suits of Swords and Staffs. This resonance may appear sexist, but the presentation takes femininity as a force “yin” and then uses the nature of Coins and things associated with them to convey that force artistically and intuitively.
Where is the masculine is transcendent, the feminine is imminent. Thus Cups is the deep self, the unconscious. The Suit of Coins is the body and the land. It should not be surprising that the feminine is relegated to the corporeal. Females are absolutely objectified for their physical reality. Both as sexual objects in our culture and as producers of children in past cultures. The male body expresses as linear and is portrayed as a stasis. The female body is dynamic, cyclical, and is a vessel for growing another human. As much as these biases inform misogyny and oppression of women, there is the possibility of taking them with respect as the power of femininity. The immediate regard of feminine corporeality lines up with the Suit of Coins because the coins symbolize engagement with the body as the auxiliary self.
Coins also speak to the alignment of the female body and the exterior world. As coins represent our “commerce” with the exterior world, so does the female body. We noted in the treatise On Promotion of a Theocentric Ecological Consciousness
The female body and the land (the Earth) are intimately tied together in Judeo-Christian imagery, in pan-human myth, and therefore, probably in the collective unconscious. Not so subtle examples from scriptures are the reference to women who are “fruitful” just as land is fruitful, the reference to sperm as seed, just as seed is put into the land to create and grow fruit. These connections are not accidental, nor is the awareness that the cycles of fertility and barrenness of the land through seasons macrocosmically images the microcosm of the female body’s cycle of fertility and infertility.
This same imagery is symbolized by the feminine Suit of Coins. The engagement of the coins concerns the body, the senses, and the physical world, all of which traditionally line up with the feminine immanent, as opposed to the masculine transcendent. This leads to the elemental resonance of the Suit of Coins with the element earth. Coins are forged from metal pulled from the land. Since the other suits have spiritual resonance, the one suit that analogically engages the exterior world would be the Earth or the land.
The suits are also related to the social structure of medieval society, and in that framework, Coins are related to the merchants. Coins are obviously used in mercantile exchange, and so the suit naturally corresponds to the merchants. But the merchants are the creators and manipulators of the physical world. Their role in society is to facilitate exchange between parties as well as reform the material world and allow access to the new creation. It is fitting that the suit that gears toward symbolizing production, work, investment etc. is symbolized by the merchant class.
Scriptural Resonance
We pointed out in Pulp Spiritual Direction the necessity of knowledge of myth and scripture. The successful director will know the myths employed by the given deck and be able to salvage them for use as they apply to salvation history. This takes application of mythic-existentialism. “The director must be able to deconstruct the existential backdrop of any given mythic genre according to standard Jungian archetypal construction and work with that meaning in real time as cards and narratives unfold.” The advantage of the Tarot of the Saints is the step of “translation and fulfillment” from an alternative myth to Christian Salvation history can be skipped because the deck uses Christian scripture, history, symbology, and aesthetics as its mythic backdrop. With that in mind, this section is meant as a spark of inspiration to begin considering avenues one can take as the conversations develop during direction.
On one basic level, one can draw on the element of earth or rocks to find scriptural resonance with the Suit of Coins. There are many varied references to “the Earth” as an agent that praises God. We noted in the treatise Sacramental Cosmology, “ the progression in Psalm 148 from heavenly realities, to natural elements to inanimate objects and creatures to people of all varieties, from the most important to the least. An important device within the Psalm that points to a sacramental cosmology is the observation that these creatures and things are called to praise God, either in and of themselves or by their existence they praise God for the human mind and experience when observed by a properly disposed human.” From there we noted a host of examples that indicate the same. Any story where God uses the elements to convey his power of glory is good fodder for contemplation on the Suit of Coins.
Another object to look for in the scriptures is coins themselves to garner useful material for engagement of coins. In human society, the coin has a symbolic function. It stands in or mediates labor or investment in the material world to be exchanged for other labor or investment in the material world. In as much as the scriptures mention coins, they are discussing this same symbolic mediation. With such an interpretation of “the coin” the parable of the lost coin makes so much more sense. What the woman has lost is her ability to access some aspect of her environment and make use of it or have a connection with it. The parable of the talents was so effective in this symbology that the word for the monetary unit “a talent” became a world for ways one engages in the world “one’s talents”
In opposition, coins represent avarice and all that is wrong with how we engage the physical world, so one of the best stories will be discussed as the “Four of Coins” the story of Judas’ betrayal. Interestingly, Jesus’ quarrel with the Pharisees also offers key insight into the mode of oppositional Coins. His problem with Pharisees is that they regard engagement with the physical world exclusively through a manipulable series of rigid laws, not as a communication of love. Jesus’ maximum, “The sabbath was made for man, not man for the sabbath” seeks to set this dysfunction right. The physical realm is not simply a realm of rigid rubric engagement. The rules and traditions can definitely help us express love. But if those rules are blocking an expression of interpersonal love and compassion, then the rules are not engaging the physical world in a way that it was meant to be engaged.
Expanded Resonance
Since this deck is particularly Christian, we have decided to apply an extra level of interpretation to apply during pulp spiritual direction. This extra resonance will be extremely helpful in the evangelical aspect of pulp spiritual direction. For the Suit of Coins, we are going to apply the lens of sacramental cosmology. The previous suits were all interpreted as aspects of love, Eros, Philia, and Agape. They all analogously align with aspects of the inner psyche. But the Suit of Coins is engagement with the external world, thus it is reflective of the way that ancient Christianity understands that engagement.
In the treatise, Sacramental Cosmology discussed the nature of a sacramental cosmology in great detail. There we pointed out that “A sacramental cosmology simply means that God created reality as a communication system of love and all of it is geared toward that end. Thus physical reality works in conjunction with spiritual reality to convey the grace of God and draw one specific part of that creation, the human, in a life of shared love with God.” We also noted, “A sacramental cosmology is an acknowledgment that God works through physical, tangible reality to convey grace and bring healing to humanity. At its core, this interpretation of reality is how one can believe in the God/man Jesus Christ. Jesus is a physical experiential reality that conveys the grace of God to those who encounter him. Also, as the God/man he surmises the communicator, the communication, and the one communicated to. Hence the incarnation is a pivotal point in created reality.”
In the communication of grace from God to humanity, the physical world is the agent of “commerce” conveying grace between God and humanity. The first communicative act of God, and the first miracle of the scriptures, is the speaking, “Let there be light” in the first story of creation. But for communication to happen there must be a perceiver of the communication. Thus once all of creation was ordered, God created the perceivers in his own image to receive the communication of Love. Thus all the elements of a sacrament are present. First, “form”, the words that must be spoken are spoken; “Let there be”. Second, “matter” the physical material necessary for the sacrament, in this case, simply physical reality. Third, the manipulation of sacral matter, in this case, functioning creation. With this in effect, grace is conveyed and before the Fall, this entire structure is the only “sacrament” and an enduring one. The second story of creation gives the same cosmology from a differing point of view. God makes the human, then listens to his needs and the communication is “need” and “need met”. God plants the garden for the man, then seeks to make him a companion based on his own needs. As the man speaks, God designs and redesigns, until the woman is made, a perfect companion for the mutual expression of love.
Thus in each of these stories, all of the cosmos is a communication of God’s love and humanity is made to receive it through the cosmos and to spread it mutually to each other. This communication is perfect until the fall, which disorders the human ability to perceive it, facilitating the incarnation and the institution of the ritual sacramental system of Christianity. But, sacramental cosmology is not a study of the rituals of the seven sacraments. It is more foundational. It is rooted in the three primordial sacraments, creation, marriage [the first interhuman relationship], and the Incarnation. In postlapsarian reality, the seven traditional rituals of the Church are needed to conform us to cooperation with the incarnate Son and his Mystical Body the Church (Baptism, Eucharist, and Confirmation), to continually heal us (Reconciliation and Anointing of the Sick), and to specifically target us as conduits and corporeal signifiers of Divine love to each other and to humanity (Holy Orders and Marriage). But these rituals are manifestations of an entire cosmological give and take between God and humanity as physical reality conveys grace to each of us.
As the Suit of Coins presents in pulp spiritual direction the ability to understand reality as a conveyor of grace, justification or sanctification is open for discussion. Or how the powers of this world and the effect of Original Sin have stymied our ability to see the grace available. The juxtaposition between a well functioning sacramental cosmology and postlapsarian striving with physical reality is highlighted by the upright/reverse relationship of the suit. But Robert Place does a brilliant job at portraying the “coins” as a mix between Eucharistic Hosts and Coins of Mammon. The Host is the fully actualized matter that presents the Body of Christ, soul, and divinity to the believer upon reception. It is small and round like a coin, but as “matter” it perfectly represents sacramental cosmology. The Coins of Mammon are all Greco-Roman era mintage. As a general interpretation, they represent the grasping at the material world for control, first manifest by the First Parents in Eden. That theme can possibly be played out through the image of each card, how it relates to the image, and how it relates to any Host present. With close study, one may even be able to discern differing meanings to the different Coins of Mammon. A prominent example is the Pion Acca, a Greek coin with Sphinx on one side and a Greek Amphora (vase) on the back. This coin may imply an unhealthy worldly synthesis. Another prominent coin present is the Judaea Capta coin. This coin was issued by the Roman Emperor Vespasian to celebrate the capture of Judaea and the destruction of the Jewish Second Temple by his son Titus in 70 AD during the First Jewish Revolt. It shows Caesar’s profile on the front and a dominated prisoner of war on the back. The presence of this coin may imply how the secular realm unjustly dominates or usurps the sacred order.
The two types of coins present in Tarot of the Saints represent the two currencies of what Augustine calls the City of God and the City of Man in his work City of God. The Host is the currency of the City of God. It is edifying and fulfilling. It offers grace and forgiveness. It is an invitation to renew and solidify one’s relationship with God, neighbor, self, and environment. The currency of the City of Man is dead matter sculpted through violence and is a sign of an alienating economy. It is a token of mistrust and merciless rules, of debt and objectification. The coinage of the city of God is a postlapsarian innovative technology, sculpted by humans out of a situation of alienation, and more often than not used as a tool of oppression. But, again, God can bring good out of evil. A querent should not look upon the coins of the City of man as “irredeemable”. One does give to Caesar what is Caesar’s, yet at the same time, one can use coins to effect great good in the world. Tools are morally neutral. As symbols of sacral engagement, the coin of the City of man can also represent the need of the Church to sacralize “the world” to fulfill the City of Man through adaptive integralism which includes fulfilling the role of the Coin of Mammon, a technology of the egregor Economy. In this case, what is being done is an imposition of sacramental cosmology through cosmic evangelization by conversion.
Understanding how to convey the reality of sacramental cosmology is paramount for the Catholic director. There are two powerful yet underplayed aspects of Catholicism that comprise summative evangelical material for the modern world. This first, not being discussed in this work, is the social justice tradition. The social justice tradition is called the “best kept secret of Catholic doctrine” and is extremely appealing to secular humanists. The other is the sacramental cosmology, which, if conveyed properly (as a cosmology as opposed to a set of ritual rubrics) is extremely appealing to esoteric syncretists (the “spiritual but not religious”). It is via the sacramental cosmology that the cosmos are enlivened with the grace of God. This is exactly the reality that esoteric syncretists seek. To be able to convey it in a way that is palatable and attractive would do much to advance an authentic conversion of such a person.
Regarding the expanded resonance, the oppositional aspect of the sacramental cosmology would be the deadly sins of greed and gluttony. Greed seeks to possess the physical world as the First parents sought to possess the fruit in the garden, and thereby possess the Garden itself. The cosmos is a gift of communication of love, and thereby already gifted to the first parents. But the blindness of concupiscence disallows us to see the gift for what it is, and we desire to possess it on our own terms. The physical world becomes objectified and is a commodity to manipulate in order to achieve advantage, pleasure, dominance, etc. Oppositional Coins bring the querent into a relationship with how we abuse the world, how we seek to grasp after it and forcibly manipulate it, as opposed to receiving the communication it has to offer us.
In the treatise Corporeal Unitive Fulfillment in the Eschaton we discussed gluttony as a capital sin counterposed to the lifegiving and communal [coimmunitive] nature of food,
Gluttony [is] the urge to possess and devour in overabundance out of fear of future parsity. Most people only link gluttony to engorging pleasure, yet it is more likely primarily a rebellion against trust in God, that he will provide. The purpose of food and eating is sustenance security and communal unity, but gluttony displays distrust, fear and self centeredness. … It communally binds and individually sustains. In this individual nature of sustenance gluttony is more easily manifest as it ties food to an individual and therefore it more probably becomes a self centered activity. It is only secondarily that gluttony is a problem of pleasure, and that comes in the consummation of food and its enjoyment without gratitude. Gluttony is a far more serious spiritual danger than most are willing to admit in this day and age.
Gluttony is an abuse of food, which, as the quote states, is a material that both sustains the gift of life and communally bonds. Understanding the nature of food is pivotal to understanding the sacramental nature of the cosmos. Of the six examples of fundamental sacral matter enumerated in the treatise Sacramental Cosmology, four of them were food substances. The reverse coin speaks to the inability to see food as the sacred thing deserving reverence with joy. Rather, the glutton sees food as a commodity, a pleasure to be overindulged in, or it is simply “medicinal” a necessity for bio-survival to be personally manipulated. Oppositional Coins carry the heavy critique of the modern gluttons relationship with food.
Lastly, Oppositional Coins can be a bit more abstract. It can be a means of discussing the dangers of a deistic view of reality. Possibly Oppositional Coins can be a chance to contemplate the dangers of a worldview overly empirical, or that is invested in material determinism.
Ace of Coins: The Monstrance
Scripture Passage
For I received from the Lord what I also handed on to you, that the Lord Jesus, on the night he was handed over, took bread, and, after he had given thanks, broke it and said, “This is my body that is for you. Do this in remembrance of me.” In the same way also the cup, after supper, saying, “This cup is the new covenant in my blood. Do this, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of me.” For as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the death of the Lord until he comes. -1Cor 11:23-26
Visual Symbolic Analysis
The Ace of Coins Shows a fairly simple Monstrance, with a Host in the middle. The monstrance is typically solar in appearance, with stout rays radiating from the center where the Host is on display. The Host has IHS, the Greek abbreviation for the Holy Name of Jesus, embossed on it with a small cross rising from the H. This embossment is typical of every Host present in the pips of the suit. Any Catholic who enjoys the tranquil silence (a rare commodity these days) of Adoration will immediately be struck with a sense of peace from the image. It evokes quiet contemplation of the deep mysteries of Christianity.
Meditation
In the treatise Inversal Unity and The Divine Triple Descent, we discussed three descents of the Logos into creation. The first was from heaven to assume human nature. The second was from the human body to bread. And the third was from the bread into the body of the sinner. The Ace of Coins demonstrates the reality of the second descent. As it is, it is the source and summit of our religious life,
One can begin to see that the species of the Eucharist itself contains all elements of the original hierarchy of Paradise within it, yet it abides as one reality, a perfect example of the true inversal unity of Paradise. It contains the soul and divinity of Christ, thus it contains the nature of humanity and the nature of divinity. It also contains the accidents of the sustaining elements of the environment of the Garden that sustain humanity, bread, and wine, grain and fruit, which the man would gather from the soil. One will notice that at the reception of the Eucharist all elements necessary to sustain the Church is present
It is encased in the monstrance which is a golden receptacle, often shaped like the Sun, radiating from the center where the Host is displayed. The monstrance is a jarring symbol. It is meant as an artistic devotion that accents the simple but supremely profound beauty of the Blessed Sacrament. But it also adds an element of distracting temptation. As the most precious metal there is the chance that a weaker soul would be tempted to focus on the element as the “thing of value” in the situation. Also, the Sun is an auxiliary giver of life and has been worshiped of old as a distraction from the one true God, either as a god or in modern times as a dynamistic life giver and energy provider. The tension between Monstrance as a distraction or as an artistic devotion lays completely on the subject adoring. The tension comes to symbolize the entire dynamic between Host and Mammon that plays out across the Suit of Coins. As they divide out we notice the difference, but in the Ace, they are working in perfect harmony, as long as the subject observes in their own spiritual harmony. It is here that the currency in the city of God takes the central role and the new formed element of the currency of the city of man is used to glorify it. If this can be achieved generally in life then the harmony of the Host, all elements of Paradise abiding as a unity extends out from the monstrance, all auxiliary matter, to the body to the soul and the inner and outer reach a consensus between the two.
The scripture passage is the oldest known reference to the Eucharistic ritual. Adoration is often encountered as an extremely solitary spiritual experience. But in that devotion, the Host is not consumed. The context of Paul’s description is the communal nature of the Eucharistic banquet. Typical of the Corinthian correspondence, there are divisive problems in Corinth. People are approaching the table of Eucharist having eaten and drunk in an exclusive way, to their fill, while others are going hungry. It seems as though the Eucharist is set in the context of a wider festive banquet which at times becomes a debauch on the part of certain members. Paul uses the significance of the Host, as presenting the sacrificial death of Christ to those receiving it to return an element of solemnity and to allow those involved to look outward, beyond their personal practice to how it effects others, and to calibrate how they engage others. The Eucharist is the binding collect of the sacrifices of the baptismal priests. If their sacrifices bring suffering, all suffer together. If their sacrifices bring joy, all should share in the joy. Again, we see a bifurcation between unified sacralized reality and another approach to the physical world which divides.
Concerning our expanded resonance, the Ace of Coins presents the moment of full actualization of the “exterior” world. The world, as creation, is meant to be a communication of divine grace to humanity from the beginning in Eden and will be that in full function again in the eschaton. The Host is jarring because it is a personal reality, but it is also an “inanimate object”. One must struggle according to the sense to relate to it in a personal way. But so it is with the cosmos. Writ large the entirety of reality is brought into existence by the Word of God and is thus a personal communication. But we see it as a dead mechanism. Thus The Logos descends into bread, the most obvious life giving factor of the cosmos, a factor that communicates security, comfort, and life. There we can recognize how God provides this entire creation and begin to have a new grasp on the sacral nature of the first primordial sacrament, creation itself.
Application
Meeting the Ace of Coins most generally implies a spiritual beginning, a fresh engagement in the world with a new outlook to virtue or grace. A querent may want to focus on the monstrance as a devotion and see how auxiliary beauty can be a helpful supplement in their spiritual life. The Ace of Coins may be an indication of a need for contemplative recalibration to the exterior world. Or it may be a chance to look at how one finds inspiration or divinity in the cosmos. Lastly, the Ace of Coins could imply some sort of sacrally balanced reciprocation.
In Reverse the Ace of Coins focuses on the monstrance as opposed to the sacrament. It is a chance to consider passing beauty as a distraction to true beauty. Or it could be a chance to consider recalibrating a sense of “worth”. Polar Ace of Coins could be indicative of a poor relationship with food or other sustaining elements. Lastly, oppositional Ace of Coins could imply a need for spiritual rather than physical engagement.
Two of Coins: The Stole, Cezar, and God
Scripture Passage
They sent some Pharisees and Herodians to him to ensnare him in his speech. They came and said to him, “Teacher, we know that you are a truthful man and that you are not concerned with anyone’s opinion. You do not regard a person’s status but teach the way of God in accordance with the truth. Is it lawful to pay the census tax to Caesar or not? Should we pay or should we not pay?” Knowing their hypocrisy he said to them, “Why are you testing me? Bring me a denarius to look at.” They brought one to him and he said to them, “Whose image and inscription is this?” They replied to him, “Caesar’s.” So Jesus said to them, “Repay to Caesar what belongs to Caesar and to God what belongs to God.” They were utterly amazed at him. -Mk 12:13-17
Visual Symbolic Analysis
The Two of Coins shows a Host over Coin of Mammon, each of equal size. The coin shows the face of Caesar. Wrapped around them is a stole, forming a figure eight, or a vertical lemniscate (∞). Drooping from each end of the bottom are the ends of the stole, each end with a simple cross embroidered on it. The stole is green, indicating ordinary time. The immediate sense one gets from the image is a properly prioritized relationship between the secular and the mundane, wrapped in a context of sacral or priestly engagement.
Meditation
There are two general ways that a Two of Coins presents. One is a figure “juggling” the two coins, with one higher than the other. This gives off a somewhat stressful presentation. The other is what is present on the Tarot of the Saints. Two coins are shown one higher than the other, but they are somehow “bound” on the image. The Two of Coins in the Tarot of the Saints shows a hierarchy of engagement between the sacred and the secular. The sacred, physical reality actualized by sacral ritual and signifying the paschal mystery as it presents the body and blood of Christ, is on top. The secular, Mammon with the face of a civil leader, is on bottom. In this case, they are bound by a priestly stole. The stole is a sign of the ordained priest. It is through his sacrifice in the mass, where the Host is consecrated, that the sacrifices of all baptismal priests present are united in the collect and offered through the ritual, bound to the one true sacrifice of Christ. The sacrifices of baptismal priesthood most often happen in the secular world as acts of charity, spiritual practices, penances, acts of reparation, devotion, etc. These acts are meant to sacralize the mundane world and facilitate the Eschaton through action of the mystical body of Christ. The image on the card demonstrates this dynamic of active liturgy, which sacralizes the world by a confluence of priestly offices.
The scripture passage shows Jesus’ enemies trying to trap him by means of the political machinations of the World. Should he say “pay taxes” he is in league with the oppressive Roman Imperial government. The taxes would fuel the brutal war machine that brings “peace” at the cost of dignity and compassion. With this answer, the bulk of his followers would abandon him. If he says “do not pay the taxes” then he has spoken treason and can be turned over to the Romans to be tortured and killed. Jesus’ reply is to inquire concerning the image on the coin. His question and the opponent’s answers seem nonclimatic if one does not relate the “image” stamped on the coin to the “image and likeness” stamped upon humanity in the first chapter of Genesis. The image shows ownership, and by his answer, Christ prioritizes what belongs to who, and who owes what to whom. In the end of the analysis, Caesar gets what he wants, but it turns out what he wants is practically valueless compared to what God is owed because Caesar is practically powerless compared to God. Caesar’s power and the power of money, only make sense in the context of creation. Taken out of God’s omnipresent domain, and they disappear. The problem of postlapsarian reality is that we operate as if God has no true authority, rather, Caesar and money are. The Two of Coins is meant to call to mind how absurd this amnesia is.
Concerning our expanded resonance, the Two of Coins very dramatically implies the sacralization of the world through the action of the laity in the Church. As the council states,
For all their works, prayers and apostolic endeavors, their ordinary married and family life, their daily occupations, their physical and mental relaxation, if carried out in the Spirit, and even the hardships of life, if patiently borne—all these become "spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ". Together with the offering of the Lord's body, they are most fittingly offered in the celebration of the Eucharist. Thus, as those everywhere who adore in holy activity, the laity consecrate the world itself to God.
This consecration is the coin at the bottom of the image, but it is wrapped by the stole, the ordained priesthood, into the Host, the sacralizing the world.
Application
To encounter the Two of Coins in meditation offers an opportunity to consider the proper balance of spiritual life and secular concerns. Particularly the Two of Coins considers how one presents Christ in the secular world. What in the situation is enlivened and relatable, and what is dead matter that is valued more than it needs to be? The Two of Coins could indicate inspiration in unexpected places or crafting inspiration out of unexpected materials. The two coins could also be spheres of influence in the situation, some more spiritually oriented that should hold sway over and/or interpret others. Lastly, the Two of coins implies a communal effort at bringing beauty or fulfillment to the material world. Who are the cooperators in the situation that use their respective gifts?
In Reverse the Two of Coins implies a domination of “the world” over spiritual priorities. Is someone in the situation ruled by greed for the lessor elements? Oppositional Two of Coins could be an indication of a misapplied image, that someone is looking for something in the “wrong place”, seeking to fulfill a need by means of the wrong venue. Other operable interpretations are oppression, mesmerization, or avarice. Lastly, polar Two of Coins could imply sloth, an unwillingness to bring out the beauty or inspiration in something that one could if one applied oneself.
Three of Coins: Saint Luke Paints Mary and Christ
Scripture Passage
Since many have undertaken to compile a narrative of the events that have been fulfilled among us, just as those who were eyewitnesses from the beginning and ministers of the word have handed them down to us, I too have decided, after investigating everything accurately anew, to write it down in an orderly sequence for you, most excellent Theophilus so that you may realize the certainty of the teachings you have received. -Lk 1:1-4
Visual Symbolic Analysis
The Three of Coins positions a Host over two coins showing each side of the Pion Acca, the Sphinx, and an amphora. The positioning implies synchronicity between the pagan worldviews, but a synchronicity that comes into the service of the Host. This interpretation is bolstered by the portrayal of Saint Luke underneath. The author of the Acts of the Apostles is one of the great evangelizers of the gentiles and a preeminent inculturation of the Gospel. Luke is seen painting a picture of the Virgin Mary holding the Child Jesus. He sits on a simple bench working on an esal. The Madonna and Child seem to be posing, yet at the same time, they are suspended in the air giving the impression that this is not a “historical” scene. The Madonna and Child seem to be a representation either of what is on the easel or what is in Saint Luke’s mind. The image evokes a sense of personal perspective or point of view, especially concerning Luke’s own perspective on the events of the early church.
Meditation
The Three of Coins generally portrays some sort of creative endeavor. The Tarot of the Saints holds true to form. Saint Luke is said to have painted a picture of Mary and Jesus. Being, already, a writer of a gospel, the only canonical author of early church history, and a physician, Luke is a creative dynamo. But the aspect of perspective portrayed in the image is hard to ignore. Luke is one of four gospels, each taking its own point of view. Some people see this as a weakness of scripture, that there are “contradictions”. But actually, the variance speaks to the fact that we all have points of view, and we are all dynamic in our relationships with others. To get an accurate picture of a true person one cannot simply seek one source, not even the person themself. Why trust that they would give a fully accurate account? Luke is one source. His painting shows us his perspective of the Virgin, but she has her own, as does Christ and all the others who knew her here on earth. The image shows us his mind’s eye, not objective reality. These varying points of view are incomplete, but together form a stronger connection to the Truth. This connects to the two Coins of Mammon on the card. The Greeks and Egyptians had profound insight into the nature of humanity and the cosmos. Their insights are not completely wrong just because they are pagan. Rather, they are often correct, but incomplete until they are joined with the Host, ordered to its meaning in the cosmos, and fully actualized. The Three of Coins brings all of this together in a consideration of communal creativity as we combine our various points of view to consider the mystery that is creation and Truth. Our task is to come together in creative communion and share the beauty that is present using our open skills, whether they be painting, writing, medicine, or theological speculation, or even procreation and parenting.
The scripture passage comes off as “objective” in character, but it certainly hints at the manifold point of view and the mysterious nature of what has happened. Luke is seeking to give an account to the best of his ability, but his admission of this task shows just how hard it is. He first acknowledges the multiplicity of sources. He does not say that the other sources are wrong or incomplete in themselves. He simply notes their existence and naturally assumes that further attestation done carefully and with craft can only help. He lays out his methodology, review of his personal experience, and a collection of the experiences of others. He also is very honest about the purpose of his craft. It is not simply to “record historical facts”. It is purposefully crafted in order to inspire belief in the gospel. That bias is particularly important and effects how he shapes his narrative, what facts he includes and how he arranges them. The reality of the personal in any art or creation cannot be denied. What is important is the nobility of the use of the art.
Concerning our expanded resonance, the Three of Coins is a portrayal of the craft of synchronicity toward Truth. The beauty of parenting, visual art, medicine, literature, and theological speculation, all come together as widows into the deep mystery of the incarnation. None are sufficient. Even all together they are not complete. Each comes with a perspective that offers insight. As a “mystery” the incarnation and salvation of mankind is not a closed topic, but an ever open and explorable one, always available for a crafting of expression by one who has truly encountered Christ. That craft will be reflective of the person doing the crafting, it will be their skills, their intelligence, their poetry. It also cannot stand alone but must be integrated into the complete body and find a place to reflect the glory of the craft of others, to illuminate and be illuminated by their further insight.
Application
To turn the Three of Coins in meditation generally means creativity from a point of view. It can also mean a creative confluence working in harmony to access some subject, especially a mystery. The querent may focus on the Coins of Mammon and look to varying systems of philosophy as they co-operate for insight into the situation. Or the card may imply availability of inspiration by means of cultural expression (art) in the situation. Lastly, this card can be used as a way of taking stock of how the various strands of interpretation in the situation are coming together.
In Reverse the Three of Coins generally implies an approach that lacks creativity or compartmentalization. It could be a philosophy that has crystalized and not developed to suit the situation. It could be an alienation between people whose creativity should harmonize. It could be the over focus on a medium as the sole interpretive lens, to the detriment of Truth. Polar Three of Coins could indicate a lack of artistic inspiration available and urge the querent to seek such inspiration. Lastly, oppositional Three of Coins could imply someone who is locked into their point of view.
Four of Coins: Judas Betrays Jesus
Scripture Passage
While he was still speaking, Judas, one of the Twelve, arrived, accompanied by a large crowd, with swords and clubs, who had come from the chief priests and the elders of the people. His betrayer had arranged a sign with them, saying, “The man I shall kiss is the one; arrest him.” Immediately he went over to Jesus and said, “Hail, Rabbi!” and he kissed him. Jesus answered him, “Friend, do what you have come for.” Then stepping forward they laid hands on Jesus and arrested him. Mt 26:47-50
Visual Symbolic Analysis
The Four of Coins shows four Coins of Mammon with no Host present. The coins form a diamond shape, with two coins in a horizontal line, a coin at the bottom, and the Judaea Capta coin predominantly displayed at the top. The lack of Hosts symbolizes a dead understanding of the cosmos, one where physical things take precedence over living things and persons. Below we see the scene of the betrayal of Jesus by Judas for sixty pieces of silver. There is a crowd of people. In the center is Jesus. His hands and arms are being secured by two Roman soldiers. Behind him, another man is employing a rope to bind him. Meanwhile, Judas is leaning in to kiss Jesus on the cheek in a sign of betrayal. The image evokes treachery, captivity, and a mercenary attitude.
Meditation
The Four of Coins often portrays a figure who has attained monetary success, but in the process has become trapped by that which he hunts. True to form, the Tarot of the Saints has Judas who has sold his master for sixty pieces of silver. The configuration of the coins in the image shows spiritual or religious sentiment vacant and subject to temporal concerns. In this situation priorities of the external world are flipped from the proper order to the cosmos. When the subject regards the cosmos, God should be the primary concern, then other persons, and lastly the physical world that we are put here to care for. When Judas betrays Jesus, we see a person who values God and humans the least. It is not even that Judas values the important aspects of the cosmos such as food or drink. He values money (Mammon), which is merely the potentiality of material goods, or material goods once had and now traded. Money is only the promise of material acquisition, but its promise is only as powerful as the one who backs it. If Caesar is powerful, his money is powerful. When Caesar falls, so does his economy. Ultimately if money is sought for its own sake it is an empty promise, which yields no life or joy.
The scripture passage shows the absolute reversal of good order manifest when concupiscence is allowed to rule unchecked. A kiss should be an intimate connection between two people. We noted in the treatise The Three Tiered Integration of Self that a kiss can be an action of Integration by Human Tactile Contact. A kiss can facilitate an interpersonal union of being when one properly employs cognitive emptiness to shift their locus of being via tactile perception of another human. This is a skill of meditation, but even culturally it is natural to understand a kiss as an intimate engagement. Judas’s kiss becomes a symbol, not of interpersonal intimacy, but of alienating betrayal. A thing that is meant to be intimate is objectifying, selling a personal reality for the “idea of” physical acquisition. This betrayal is further accented by Judas’ use of the term of respect and allegiance “Rabbi”, when, at this moment, he considered Jesus neither. Jesus replies with another title, “Friend”, showing that he values interpersonal realities over material acquisition, and he values the beauty of intimate interpersonal relationships over hierarchical, social structures, and even over his own life.
Concerning our expanded resonance, the Four of Coins shows how our corrupt conceptions of reality can turn everything upside down. Material reality is meant to be engaged and cared for. We are meant to be drawn to it as a communication of divine grace. But instead, we are drawn to the thing itself as the end rather than the means or medium. Saint Paul describes this exact dilemma in the opening chapter of Romans,
what can be known about God is evident to them, because God made it evident to them. Ever since the creation of the world, his invisible attributes of eternal power and divinity have been able to be understood and perceived in what he has made. As a result, they have no excuse; for although they knew God they did not accord him glory as God or give him thanks. Instead, they became vain in their reasoning, and their senseless minds were darkened. While claiming to be wise, they became fools and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for the likeness of an image of mortal man or of birds or of four-legged animals or of snakes
In this card, it is not even living beings that inspire awe, but man made ideas and theories of material exchange symbolized by sculpted metal, a dead reality. When we do this, even in our day to day lives, chasing money overvaluing God and our fellow human beings, we become enslaved to it and carry every bit as much guilt as Judas.
Application
To encounter the Four of Coins in contemplations is to meet betrayal by greed and avarice. It allows one to scan the situation for the influence of a person who is inordinately attached to material over the personal, especially money. It speaks to enslavement by inordinate attachments. Is there a view of the universe present that is based completely on human conceptions? An economic view, a mechanistic view, a view of political power? None of these are anything but human constructs that are only useful in as much as they serve God by expressing love between personal beings.
In Reverse, the Four of Coins can imply that someone has appropriate priorities of values, persons over things. Or it may indicate that someone has finally broken free of enslavement to the material. Oppositional Four of Coins could imply the presence of legitimate intimate interpersonal relationships. Lastly, polar Four of Coins could indicate the opportunity to form new relationships.
Five of Coins: Lazarus the Beggar
Scripture Passage
There was a rich man who dressed in purple garments and fine linen and dined sumptuously each day. And lying at his door was a poor man named Lazarus, covered with sores, who would gladly have eaten his fill of the scraps that fell from the rich man’s table. Dogs even used to come and lick his sores. When the poor man died, he was carried away by angels to the bosom of Abraham. The rich man also died and was buried, and from the netherworld, where he was in torment, he raised his eyes and saw Abraham far off and Lazarus at his side. -Lk 16:19-22
Visual Symbolic Analysis
The Five of Coins shows four Coins of Mammon forming a square, reminiscent of the four corners of “the world”. In the middle is one host slightly larger than the other “coins”. Below we see a rather desolate terrain. Sitting up next to a rock is a wild haired and bedraggled beggar. He is dressed in ragged clothes and he seems to be injured, his left leg wrapped in a bandage. He is holding a crutch across his lap with the armrest crooked into the inside his left elbow. In his left hand, he holds a begging bowl. His right hand is lifted aloft after the manner of the esotericist indicating “the above”. He seems to be indicating the host amidst the coins. The image evokes Luke’s Beatitudes, where material poverty is directly related to divine favor and grace.
Meditation
The standard Five of Coins show material hardship and carries a negative connotation. But as Tarot of the Saints is a Christian deck, poverty has very different connotations. Both Matthew and Luke portray poverty as a positive in the beatitudes. Whereas Matthew spiritualized the beatitudes, discussing the interior result of material poverty, Luke references direct material poverty in his version. It seems baffling to one accustomed to the world that poverty could be seen as a blessing. Basically, Jesus notes material poverty, hunger, and scorn as a fortunate state of affairs. But once one realizes that the current state of affairs cosmologically is so backward to the states of perfection at either end of time (Eden and the Eschaton) it begins to make sense. The truly impoverished are beyond want of money. What they want is good, they want sustenance. Money as the potentiality that distracts and tempts Judas is beyond the truly impoverished. They need not fear that distraction. Rather they seek immediate sustenance and money is, at best, a means to that. The sustaining nature of food is meant to queue us into the sustenance of God. At its withdrawal, we are near annihilation and we are forced to remember our contingency. We are kept constantly aware of God’s almighty sustenance. This is the true gift of poverty. They are not offered an opportunity to rely on any power but true divinity. This constant need instills all of the spiritual beatitudes of Matthew. In survival, the impoverished are constantly brought back to God who keeps them in being by his providence, and the impoverished remain in a state of gratitude if they learn to accept existence as a grace. The beggar in the image lifts his hand up to beg, he has at his disposal the world, the four Coins of Mammon. But he raises his hand to the Host because he has learned through experience the fleeting nature of the coins forged of metal rather than of life. “What profit is there for one to gain the whole world and forfeit his life?”
The scripture passage relays the parable of the rich man and Lazarus. It may seem unjust that a few decades of opulence is rewarded by eternal damnation, while a few decades of neglect is rewarded by eternal comfort. But it is not the conditions alone that set the terms of their eternal fate. If one notices the story, the rich man (unnamed because his name did not make it into the book of life) in life ignored persons and indulged his sense of opulence. Once he is dead his attitude remains, even there he still manages to treat Lazarus as an errand and message boy rather than a human person worthy of dignity and love. The rich man has become a possession of his possessions and now cannot effectively relate to persons. Once one has formed a relationship like this to material possessions, it is hard to recalibrate.
Concerning our expanded resonance, the Five of Coins shows us the benefit of poverty or at least detachment from material reality as a temptation. In the treatise The Onesiman Interface we discussed the ordination, by Christ, of the impoverished and indigent as a special variety of priest. We discussed how the anointing at Bethany and the Judgment of the Nations in Matthew seems to imply an investiture of priesthood of a particular kind for the impoverished. This kind is certainly not of the variety that officiates the sacramental system in the institutional church. The poor have a differing ability to stand in Christ’s stead. Like the priesthood in the institutional sacramental system of the Catholic Church, this ability is effective regardless of the character of the individual indigent. The individual indigent functions similarly to a priest in the institutional sacral system, he is an empty vessel through which Christ can convey grace. This grace is received by the baptized as receptive sacral matter through their effective baptismal priesthood via Christo-analogical interchange. This is the special blessing of the poor, who, “you will always have with you”.
Application
To meet the Five of Coins in meditation generally implies poverty and hardship. But with the Tarot of the Saints, this is not framed in a negative way. The Five of Coins may invite an interpretation of detachment from wealth for spiritual gain. It could be an invitation to encounter the impoverished in order to learn spiritual knowledge or to gain merit through acts of charity. Five of Coins may be an invitation to look past the material aspects of the situation to a deeper meaning or forgotten relationships.
In Reverse the Five of Coins implies one who is materially comfortable, but this comfort is causing distraction from what matters. Oppositional Five of Coins may indicate a person who objectifies others as means of material gain. Or it could bring light to an ignorance of poverty near to one in the situation. Polar Five of Coins could be interpreted as someone in the situation who has a damaging arrogance toward the impoverished. Or it could imply the bitterness of poverty that does not recognize the gifts of God. Lastly, Polar Five of Coins may evoke pity and compassion for those who are trapped by their wealth in the situation and an urge to help them seek liberation through the gospel and beatitude.
Six of Coins: The Pelican Pierces its Chest
Scripture Passage
Who would believe what we have heard?
To whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed?
He grew up like a sapling before him,
like a shoot from the parched earth;
He had no majestic bearing to catch our eye,
no beauty to draw us to him.
He was spurned and avoided by men,
a man of suffering, knowing pain,
Like one from whom you turn your face,
spurned, and we held him in no esteem.
Yet it was our pain that he bore,
our sufferings he endured.
We thought of him as stricken,
struck down by God and afflicted,
But he was pierced for our sins,
crushed for our iniquity.
He bore the punishment that makes us whole,
by his wounds we were healed.
-Is 53:1-5
Visual Symbolic Analysis
The Six of Coins shows three Coins of Mammon and three slightly larger Hosts. Four of the coins form a square, two Hosts at the top and two Coins of Mammon at the bottom. In the middle of the square are two coins in vertical, a Coin of Mammon on the top and a Host on the bottom. This forms two inter piercing triangles, the Hosts’ on top and the Mammon’s on the bottom. The configuration speaks to a meeting of the sacred and the profane and the result of this interconnectedness. Below there is what appears to be a basket with two laurels emerging on either side from below the basket. In the basket is a mother pelican feeding three chicks. The mother is using her beak to pierce her chest as blood sprays out upon the chicks. The chicks are positioned to be fed, their mouths wide open to accept the blood. The image evokes loving gift and eager acceptance, an acceptance that is perhaps not fully aware of the sacrifice involved.
Meditation
The Six of Coins most commonly portrays some act of Charity. Often a set of scales appears in the image, which seems to imply equity or a balancing of wealth through redistribution. Occasionally that charity is couched in a maternal framed such as we find in the Tarot of the Saints. The earliest complete account of image presented is offered in the 7th century by Isidore of Seville in book 12 of his Etymologies, “It is reported, if it may be true, that this bird kills its offspring, mourns them for three days, and finally wounds itself and revives its children by sprinkling them with its own blood.” Even the casual observer can see how this relates well the scope of salvation history culminating in the passion. The image in no way implies equity, but rather self sacrifice on one end. This is the sacrificial triple descent of the Son, who comes to this in order to bring life. The first descent was the divine to the human. The second descent was from the human to food. The last descent was from the food to the sinner. The process of these descents demonstrates the same care as conveyed in the pelican story, one of paternity, self sacrifice, and self giving for the sustenance of another. It is as he walked the Earth that Christ was pierced, willingly laying down his life for the sheep as both priest and victim.
The scripture points to the shocking nature of the effect of Christ’s sacrifice. In both cases, the pelican and the passion, there are twists of the unexpected. The pelican does not actually pierce its flesh to feed its children. Thus to hear the pelican story, especially for a modern conveys a shocking and unnatural image of self sacrifice. The same is true of Christ. The shock is not only his willingness to die but the effect of his death, salvation for all that is shocking. And finally, as the scripture points out, that this can be effected by “such a person”. Christ does not come with the appearance of “a god” or great hero. He does not generate an empire wide following. Rather he is a homeless wanderer, the likes of which are rejected by polite society. That such a person could fundamentally affect all of the cosmos is a radical notion. This effect was not a “balancing of the scales” sometimes seen in the images of the Six of Coins. There was no right of humanity or debt due. This was an act of sheer love. The “compassion” (fellow suffering) was assumed, for God needed not suffer the humiliation, pain, and death. All of this he did for our sake.
Concerning our expanded resonance, the Six of Coins is a card that implies charity as physical self giving. It is not wrong to give coins as the self justified do in the Temple as Jesus looks on in Luke 21. “ When he looked up he saw some wealthy people putting their offerings into the treasury and he noticed a poor widow putting in two small coins. He said, “I tell you truly, this poor widow put in more than all the rest; for those others have all made offerings from their surplus wealth, but she, from her poverty, has offered her whole livelihood.” But the Six of coins takes this same criticism one step further. Rather than coins, a symbolic medium of exchange, the virtuous is called to give of their body. The coin can be a symbol of goods (material things) or services (time). The Six of Coins implies a corporeal sacrifice that depletes life. Time is life. To give of one’s time directly physically in the presence of one in need is to give one’s life directly. This is the engagement of the two triangles we see the coins form in the Six of Coins, the practice of corporeal signification, and the further engagement among those in need as a living sacrifice through any of the four modalities of Christo-analogical interchange.
Application
To reveal the Six of Coins in meditation most generally implies charitable acts of giving and receiving. Further, the card symbolizes giving directly of self, of one’s time to another. The querent may want to look at the situation and judge who is in need of assistance and who can assist. Or the querent may want to look at issues of sustenance in the situation, who or what “feeds” who. Lastly, Six of Coins may indicate a nurturing parental relationship in the situation.
In Reverse the Six of Coins generally implies stinginess. Or it could symbolize minimal charitable investment. Polar Six of Coins could also indicate some lack of sustenance in the situation that is being ignored. Or it could imply self reliance or self motivation. Lastly, oppositional Six of coins could be interpreted as bodily integrity or autonomy.
Seven of Coins: The Parable of the Sower
Scripture passage
A sower went out to sow. And as he sowed, some seed fell on the path, and the birds came and ate it up. Other seed fell on rocky ground where it had little soil. It sprang up at once because the soil was not deep. And when the sun rose, it was scorched and it withered for lack of roots. Some seed fell among thorns, and the thorns grew up and choked it and it produced no grain. And some seed fell on rich soil and produced fruit. It came up and grew and yielded thirty, sixty, and a hundredfold. -Mk 4:3-8
Visual Symbolic Analysis
The Seven of Coins shows four Coins of Mammon forming the four corners of the Earth with a triangle of three Hosts abiding within. The triangle is formed into a square by the Sun, which is radiating across the entire card. The triangle of Hosts is pointing upwards from within the square of coins implying a spiritual reality growing out of a worldly situation. The upper configuration of the card offers a spiritual representation of the image below. The Coins of Mamon are the Earth, the Hosts are the Seeds of Grace and the Sun is the accepting intellect and will of the subject. The bottom of the card shows a man walking in the sunlight. He is on hilly soil. He is dressed simply and wearing sandals. He also has an apron filled with seed. His left hand is dipping in to scoop the contents while his right hand is scattering behind him. He does not seem to be considering where he is throwing the seed. Rather he seems to be walking absentmindedly as he does his task. The image evokes potential abundance and a carefree trust in providence.
Meditation
The Seven of Coins often portrays a plant ladened with the seven coins as a farmer surveys the produce or perhaps chooses one of the coins. The image usually implies abundance in reserve as well as careful and parsimonious use of these stockpiles. The Image from the Tarot of the Saints certainly conveys the potentiality. But the care or parsimony seems to be lacking. The figure scatters seed without thought. Again, Christian faith and hope come into play in the card. There is an array of levitical farming laws that keep the farmer from too much investment in their own labor. The temptation is to treat food as a commodity that is produced rather than a gift of God for all people. The Sabbatical laws of the Old Testament require that every seven years the land is required to lay fallow. The land is not to be “worked”. Any labor including plowing, planting, pruning, and harvesting the land, is forbidden. Additionally, any fruits or herbs which grow of their own accord and where no watch is kept over them are deemed hefker “ownerless” and may be picked by anyone. At the end of the Sabbatical year, all produce is divided equally between the entire house, including slaves and domestic animals, and a portion is given to the wild animals. These activities are not random. They instill trust in God’s dominion of the land and remind the farmer that the land yields for all people naturally, the “work” the farmer does only helps yield, but it does not produce anything. God and the land produce. This is the abundance of the land, but it does not “belong” to any person, it is only our fabricated economic system that forces regulation of ownership.
The scripture passage also shows a deep regard for trust. An ancient farmer would not be so foolish as to waste good seed on rocky soil, thistles, or on a path. But the farmer in the parable does. The farmer is often interpreted as God or Christ and the seed is love, grace, or the gospel. The simplest interpretation of the parable is that God spreads goodness without regard. Then it is up to us to accept and co-operate with that goodness in whatever form it comes. The parable seems to imply that a lot of God’s goodness “goes to waste”. But a careful reading of the texts proves otherwise. The “rocky” soil is a pun on the name “peter” (the rock) and the effect perfectly matches his excitable personality. God can produce from any soil he desires and is not subject to our expectations. This goes for agriculture and for the leadership of the Church. When the parable is applied to us, creatures in the image and likeness of God, we must learn to spread love, share charitable, and share the gospel without reserve. We also cannot expect that “our work” is what is going to have the effect. As Paul says, “I planted, Apollos watered, but God caused the growth. Therefore, neither the one who plants nor the one who waters is anything, but only God, who causes the growth.” In the passage the farmer applied his work poorly but freely without discrimination and the return was exponential abundance. So when it comes to spreading love, charity, or the good news we must act boldly without reserve and allow God to give growth.
Concerning our expanded resonance, the Seven of Coins cues us into our environment and how God works through it toward an end. We have work to do, but we tend to overestimate our effect. We are also poor judges of what exactly to do regarding God’s plan for our environment because we are not privy to the ultimate picture. We also tend to believe Locke’s labor theory of ownership. There is a nexus between God’s dynamic engagement in creation, our knowledge of its operation, our will and cooperation in facilitating and developing that dynamism. But the Seven of Coins and the entire ethos of scriptures seem to contradict Locke’s understanding of ownership or even the concept of absolute ownership at all. The Seven of Coins cues us into the dynamic action of God in our environment. The world is filled with the dynamic power and Spirit of God. We see this energy manifest in various ways, love, grace, even physical growth. These powers fill reality with a binding unity that restricts our ability to say “mine” in any fundamental way. This goes for physical possessions, ideas we craft, or even work we think we do. All things ultimately belong to God and are His medium for conveying grace.
Application
To find the Seven of Coins in contemplation generally means abundance. In this case, there is added recognition to an abundant return for minimal effort. What in the situation is a gift of the cosmic order rather than an earned situation. The Seven of Coins could imply a relationship in the situation that is effective, but active engagement is minimal. One may want to look in the situation for dynamic growth to be thankful for and find ways to express that gratitude. The Seven of Coins may also imply growth amidst the appearance of stagnation or in a hostile environment.
In Reverse Seven of Coins can indicate stagnation in a situation. It could also indicate inordinate possessiveness, especially because of an investment in labor. Oppositional Seven of Coins could imply crafty or skillful application. It could also be seen as toiling labor. Lastly, polar Seven of Coins can be seen as suspicious self reliance.
Eight of Coins: Jesus Works with Joseph
Scripture Passage
When his parents saw him, they were astonished, and his mother said to him, “Son, why have you done this to us? Your father and I have been looking for you with great anxiety.” And he said to them, “Why were you looking for me? Did you not know that I must be in my Father’s house?” But they did not understand what he said to them. He went down with them and came to Nazareth, and was obedient to them; and his mother kept all these things in her heart. And Jesus advanced [in] wisdom and age and favor before God and man. Lk 2:48-52
Visual Symbolic Analysis
The Eight of Coins shows seven Coins of Mammon in a haphazard circle around one larger Host in the middle. The Various symbols stamped on the coins seem to imply various venues of creativity or engagements of medium for craft; wheat for sustenance, laurels for competition, a vase for art, grapes for joy, a sphinx for reflection, etc. Below we see Joseph and the boy Jesus working their skill at carpentry. They are outside. There are rolling hills in the background and a shrub branch breaks the frame from the left. They appear to be framing a building. Part of the frame is standing to the back left of the image and they are pounding together fitted beams for the other half. The analogically inclined would assume the building is “the Church”. The boy Jesus holds the frames together while Joseph hits them with the back end of an axe. There is a two-man saw laying on the frame as they work. The Image evokes work that is foundational, cooperative, practiced via pedagogy, and ultimately transitions to greater accomplishments.
Meditation
The Eight of Coins often portrays someone working at a skill. In the Tarot of the Saints that work is done in a context of community and tradition. Saint Joseph is teaching Jesus how to ply his trade. The scene takes place during what is called the “hidden years”. Most of Christ’s life is not marked by dramatic miracles. These hidden years must have been noncontroversial and relatively uneventful such that they were not recorded. They were a time when Christ developed and matured into who he was. This speaks to deep formation in work and development. Any task or goal takes much preparation. The frame of a house is the preparation for the walls. When the house is complete we enjoy adorning the walls and taking comfort in their shelter. But we never consider the frame behind the wall, it is so deeply foundational to the structure. So too the work of Joseph as he quietly passes on his skill to Christ. The image of the card speaks to masculine pedagogy that transfers knowledge and traditions by word and example. But Joseph is known for his quiet action. By the time the building is in use, his words are forgotten and his actions are barely remembered. The Eight of Coins can easily be a meditation on foundational work. The foundations are Joseph and his relationship with the boy Jesus, as well as Jesus and his experiences during his hidden years, the incarnate logos learning the trade and experiencing life as a worker in Galilee.
The Scripture passage is the only example after the infancy narratives that the cannon offers of the “hidden years” of Christ. When Mary and Joseph find Jesus in the temple school they seem horrified that he disobeyed them and that he seemed to be learning about God there. They take him out of that place immediately. Apparently, the feeling of his parents was that he wasn’t ready for this type of engagement. They seemed to feel that they, as his family, were the better place for him to develop spiritually. His obedience to them is the obedience of a young person to a parent, trusting that they know best and act to the best of their ability. This is the trust in the love of God and neighbor, not trust in knowledge and debate skill, which he surely would have gotten in the Temple with the scribes and Pharisees. The work to be done was not building houses or winning debates, but building a church, a relationship of loving persons, those persons being the three persons of the trinity incorporating into their love all human persons who accept their offer of union. The hidden years are the foundational formation of the public ministry. It’s a time when cruel scrutiny is damaging and thereby forms cruel personalities. One can see this in teachers who are “playing the role” of a teacher who embarrassed them as a child, brutally crafted their learning, and now as a teacher does the same to others. Contrast such a teacher with one who “keeps all these things in her heart” or quietly leads by example. It is only after such gentle formation that Christ can face the loveless among the Pharisees and Sadducees and not succumb to the same tactics.
Concerning our expanded resonance, the Eight of Coins develops the idea of learning a craft. That craft could be rhetoric, but the suit tends to an interpretation of physical interface. Thus, the card implies creation of physical ways to encounter the divine and to evangelize. This can be by means of how one maneuvers receptive sacral matter (the human body), or any auxiliary sacral matter (everything else in the physical world). The card implies the context of a novice crafting their skill for a smaller audience, it may even be that the skill is auxiliary to how the artists will engage the wider world. These stepping stones and their intimate context allow us to experiment, make mistakes, arrive and connections and develop them apart from damaging scrutiny. It is after this that we can emerge confident and exhibit creative sacral engagement for humanity to the best of our ability
Application
To encounter the Eight of Coins in meditation allows the querent to consider work that is foundational. It could also be a chance to consider work that is cooperative, especially in as much as it is learned or passed from one to another. The Eight of Coins can also be interpreted as skills or work that ultimately transitions to greater accomplishments. Lastly, Eight of Coins can be indicative of skills or work someone is honing out of the public eye so as to perfect it before scrutiny.
In Reverse, the Eight of Coins can imply incidental hobbies or the solitary endeavors of self starters. It could symbolize the finalization of a major accomplishment. Oppositional Eight of Coins could mean sophomoric braggadociousness or display of one's abilities. Lastly, polar Eight of Coins could indicate entering an endeavor before one is truly prepared.
Nine of Coins: The Loaves and Fishes
Scripture Passage
When it was evening, the disciples approached him and said, “This is a deserted place and it is already late; dismiss the crowds so that they can go to the villages and buy food for themselves.” [Jesus] said to them, “There is no need for them to go away; give them some food yourselves.” But they said to him, “Five loaves and two fish are all we have here.” Then he said, “Bring them here to me,” and he ordered the crowds to sit down on the grass. Taking the five loaves and the two fish, and looking up to heaven, he said the blessing, broke the loaves, and gave them to the disciples, who in turn gave them to the crowds. They all ate and were satisfied, and they picked up the fragments left over—twelve wicker baskets full. Those who ate were about five thousand men, not counting women and children. -Mt 14:15-21
Visual Symbolic Analysis
The Nine of Coins shows a square of the Coins of Mammon with five Hosts forming a cross that fills the entire area in between. The arrangement seems to imply the world activated by sacramental grace. Below the coins are a pile of five loaves with three fish laid on top reminiscent of the miracle of Christ. The image evokes the abundance of the living God as manifest in creation, both naturally and miraculously.
Meditation
The Nine of Coins cards generally imply abundance and security on a personal level. In the case of the Tarot of the Saints, the card brings to mind the fecundity and sustaining environment that is creation. When Adam was placed in the garden, there was no need for toiling labor, only labor that fulfilled. It is still the case that food springs freely from the ground and multiplies of its own accord in the sea and in the pasture. It is only the human concept of economy that restricts food, the imminent sustainer of life, to property. The levitical agricultural laws were quick to remind those who owned a field that they are not in fact the owner, God is. Thus the produce was extremely regulated. The most famous regulation is the gleaning laws, which allow for the poor and the immigrant to pick food from the edge of the fields and take any produce that fell on the ground of the fields. The gleaning law was the law that the field owner was trying to circumvent when he chastised Jesus and the apostles for taking wheat as they traveled past his field on the sabbath. He was seeking to stop them from following the law, while making himself feel spiritually superior. The Nine of Coins demonstrates not the abundance of one person's property, because in Christianity if one person possesses an abundance while another possesses a lack, then neither is fulfilled. Rather, the abundance of the Nine of Coins is a free gift of creation itself to all people.
In the scripture passage, we see the multiplication of the loaves and fishes. Matthew's version is most apt to the interpretation wherein the example of the apostles leads to an epidemic of sharing and the miracle was a “miracle of the heart”. This interpretation is amiable to the meditation so far. But this event takes place in every gospel, which shows that whatever happened was supremely important. Also, in every gospel, after the crowd is fed, Jesus must flee in haste. In John’s Gospel, the reason given is that they want to make him king. The rapid flight makes a good case that there was a miracle of physics. That miracle was certainly impressive to the crowd. But maybe not in the way that it was supposed to be. This miracle, like the miracle of the water, turned to wine, is a “miracle of time”. These miracles simply take gifts already present and freely given by God and speed up the process. Actually, fish and grain already multiply on their own, through the natural course of reproduction. Actually, water, through the water cycle, is sucked into grapes, and fermented into wine. The sign becomes a sign of the greedy impatience and ingratitude of humanity, which wants immediate satisfaction over natural gifts of life and grace. Instead of the sign inspiring the awe for nature it should, it inspires people to seek Jesus to satisfy their needs immediately, and he must flee. How much better would it be if we learned to accept the gifts in due time, use them appropriately, and share them without reserve? Then we could see the constant miracle of God in all creation and receive grace according to the natural expression of the cosmos. This ability is the true wealth of the Nine of Coins.
Concerning our expanded resonance, the Nine of Coins shows a fully functioning primordial sacrament of creation. Here the communication of creation is a gift of sustaining life. All ends flow to the balance of sustained life and when we can no longer see it because of our concupiscent blindness, The incarnate Word uses this miraculous sign to remind us. Miracles are meant to instill wonder at the power of God. Creation itself is the first miracle of the Bible. With the proper eyes, we should be able to look at creation every day with a sense of wonder at the gift of God. With that disposition, we would truly understand the world we live in as a sacrament. Also, with that disposition, we would never be poor again. To hone the skill of wonder is to hone a personal wealth beyond any horde of money.
Application
To see the Nine of Coins in contemplation most generally means personal material achievement. But further, than “money”, this means the ability to see the gifts we have and appreciate them for what they are. The Nine of Coins indicates a rich and undeserved abundance. It can also imply multiplication of goodness in the situation. One can take it to symbolize sharing, whether from God or between people, for both happen in the story. Lastly, The Nine of Coins can imply an element of sustenance in the situation.
In Reverse the Nine of Coins can mean personal poverty of matter or spirit. It can imply deficiency or lack of needs or comfort. Polar Nine of Coins may indicate stinginess in the situation. It may also imply a period of dormancy or latency. Lastly, oppositional Nine of Coins can indicate greed, impatience, or ingratitude.
Ten of Coins: The Ten Coins of Mammon
Scripture Passage
“The lamp of the body is the eye. If your eye is sound, your whole body will be filled with light; but if your eye is bad, your whole body will be in darkness. And if the light in you is darkness, how great will the darkness be. “No one can serve two masters. He will either hate one and love the other, or be devoted to one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and mammon.
“Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat [or drink], or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more than food and the body more than clothing? Look at the birds in the sky; they do not sow or reap, they gather nothing into barns, yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are not you more important than they? Can any of you by worrying add a single moment to your life-span? Why are you anxious about clothes? Learn from the way the wild flowers grow. They do not work or spin. But I tell you that not even Solomon in all his splendor was clothed like one of them. If God so clothes the grass of the field, which grows today and is thrown into the oven tomorrow, will he not much more provide for you, O you of little faith?
So do not worry and say, ‘What are we to eat?’ or ‘What are we to drink?’ or ‘What are we to wear?’ All these things the pagans seek. Your heavenly Father knows that you need them all. But seek first the kingdom [of God] and his righteousness, and all these things will be given you besides. -Mt 6:22-33
Visual Symbolic Analysis
The Ten of Coins shows three coins in an arch at the top and three coins forming an inverted arch at the bottom. Between them are four coins, two vertical, showing Ceaser and a palm, two horizontal, showing scenes of the capture of and subjugation of Judea by Rome. The most evocative aspect of the image is that the Coins of Mammon are so numerous and there is no Host to be seen. The only other coins card that has no Host is the Four of Coins. It has an image of the Betrayal of Jesus. In that picture, we at least see Christ and can anticipate his victory after the passion. The Ten of Coins has no image other than Coins of Mammon, in the image of life at all except the embossed figures of Caesar and the dominators of the coins.
Meditation
The Ten of Coins is usually portrayed in a manner typical of ten cards, which demonstrate communal fulfillment of the suit. But in the Tarot of the Saints, this is not the case. We definitely see some sort of fulfillment of the coin itself, but this is presented as nothing but dangerous. The fulfillment is the total domination of Mammon over sacralizing sentiment. It is the opposite of the Ace of Coins, Where there is only a Host and the gold serves to accentuate. Being enamored with material wealth for its own sake is an easy situation to find one’s self in. There are certain tell tale tell signs which can indicate it. Anything we value more than God is an idol for us. With money, the idol is one of our own making rather than a natural being or power. At least to worship food or persons (for example) is an idol that has an investment of God in creation in order to have “commerce” with humans for conveying grace. Money is a man made system that is completely fabricated. The worth of food, people, or animals, or the beauty of creation is manifest as part and parcel of a sacramental cosmology that communicates grace from God and expands his loving domain. Money only has the worth that we give it. And once we value it more than God, just like the pictures on the coins, it becomes a powerful egregore and we become enslaved to it. This is the fulfillment of the coin in and of itself, for “the love of money is the root of all evil”.
The Scripture passage begins with a lesson about enslavement to money. The implication is that the value of money takes us one step further from the goodness of God by turning our eyes even from creation and only to our own created power. Then Christ seeks to draw the reader back to truth manifest in creation and illuminate the wages of worship of money. Care for money only brings anxiety. The natural order is not invested with such anxiety and slavery. Life is free, food is free, beauty is free. The natural order provides all of these without the anxiety that comes with a complex economic system. But once this economic system is given credence and takes the dominant place what we see on the card is what is manifest, no beauty, no sustaining food, no life. There is only cold dead metal with images of what could be, but are not. This is the potency of money, but not its reality.
Concerning our expanded resonance, the Ten of Coins shows a dead world, bereft of grace, life, beauty and love. All that is present is the metal of the coin, the material of the domain of Hades. In the flood story of Udnampishtum (precursor to the Bible) he takes with him all the stuff of “civilization”; weapons, craftsmen, and money. But when the Hebrew Bible revamps the story, Noah brings only what is necessary to humanity for restoring God’s creation. Noah brings family. Noah brings animals. Noah brings food. These are the essentials. When it comes to canon law the liturgy calls for precious metal for the sacred vessels. When it comes to tradition we need paper, scriptures etc. But when it comes to the true perseverance and basic operation of the Church we only need fundamental sacral matter. We noted what this is in the treaties Sacramental Cosmology,
The first male body is the ordained body, which stands in persona Christi in the sacramental system as sacramental matter. So, for example, the priest's body and the body of the sinner are the only matter needed for the sacrament of confession. The priest’s body will be needed to mediate the presence of Christ according to how the sacraments work as calculated rituals. A male and a female body are needed to perform the sacrament of marriage, their bodies in sexual congress being the matter of the sacrament. In this sacrament they image the invisible triune God as was the case in the first creation story. Hence, “Where every two or three are gathered in my name, there I am also.” The bodies of these three people are the temple, in which the spirit resides and through which the living sacrifices are made.
Water and olive oil are needed to perform baptism. Bread, made from wheat flour and water as well as grape wine is needed to perform eucharist. Olive oil is needed to perform confirmation and sacrament of the sick.
Thus what you need to make the Church function is a small set of things, each natural. ... [W]hatever requirements canon law may make, these six things, along with the knowledge and inspiration of the deposit of faith are all one needs to continue Christianity.
The Ten of Coins shows just how far humanity can fall if we stray from what is fundamental to our commerce with God. We become enamored in worshiping self-invested uselessness to the point of becoming enslaved to it.
Application
To meet the Ten of Coins in Meditation is to meet the slavery of Mammon. Most basically the card implies slavery to greed or to systems that are in no way beneficial to the one enslaved. One may want to look at the situation for signs of avarice. The Ten of Coins may also imply a lack of appreciation of the natural good and an exaltation of the synthetic or fabricated. Ten of Coins can mean a lack of true beauty or a withering of creative life. Ten of Coins can indicate potentiality or mediation. Lastly, Ten of Coins can mean wealth, but with all the negative implications aforementioned.
In Reverse the Ten of Coins can mean that one has broken free from the enchantment of wealth. It can mean the ability to use money without attachment. Oppositional Ten of Coins may imply an appreciation for truly life giving and useful things, as opposed to the potential or theoretical. Polar Ten of Coins may imply impoverishment. Or Lastly, Ten of Coins can imply grace or inspiration, flowing through one’s natural environment.
Page of Coins: Saint Norbert
Hagiography
Born to the nobility, Norbert was raised around the royal court and served as almoner for Emperor Henry V. In the court he developed a very worldly view, and took holy orders as a career move, joining the Benedictines at Siegburg. A narrow escape from death led to a conversion experience, and he began taking his vows seriously. He tried to reform his order’s local house, then became a wandering preacher. He founded a community of Augustinian canons at Premontre, France; they became known as the Norbertines or Premonstratensians and started a reform movement that swept through European monastic houses.
Visual Symbolic Analysis
The Page of Coins generally presents a young person holding a large coin aloft and gazing at it. The look on the Page’s face will convey the emotive tenor of the card. Norbert however is not holding the coin. The coin is a Coin of Mammon with the face of Caesar on it. The eyebrow of the figure on the coin is distinct and shows disfavor. Norbert has set the coin behind him and is clasping his hands and sullenly bowing his head in prayer. The image seems to convey Norbert’s own conversion story, wherein he learned to put away the trappings of this world for a life of prayer.
The rejection of worldly glamor is the first step of sacramental engagement. Norbert as The Page has taken this passive step and focused on his spiritual life, but has yet to attain the full dynamism of active engagement in sacral reality.
Meditation
The Page of each suit represents engagement in the significance of that suit at an exuberant, but novice or sophomoric level. To meet a Page in contemplation evokes consideration of zeal but also a lack of experience in persons involved in the situation. Generally, the Page of Coins implies a person who is interfacing with physical reality in ways that are ambitious, diligent, and goal oriented. The characteristics of the Card are of a person who is loyal, faithful, dependable. The Page of Coins portrays the new enthusiasm of engaging with the external world, but one who is easily entrapped by its glamor.
Norbert’s engagement runs a moral trajectory from one who has an unhealthy obsession with physical pleasure. His journey was in some ways contradictory. He starts with this zeal and ends as a wandering hermit who founded a contemplative order based on stability. These are the halting motions of one trying to find a way of engagement, but still reeling from the trauma of a disordered relationship to the physical world. Norbertine spirituality is contemplative but centered on devotion to the true presence in the Blessed Sacrament. This passive engagement typifies a less than dynamic approach of one who has newly come to realize the sacredness of the physical. The awe of sacramental cosmology has not translated to sacral engagement and action toward sanctification of the cosmos. The ambition of Norbert presents as the opposite of the normative Page of Coins. Norbert’s impressive goal is to reject the glamor of this world as opposed to pursue it. His rejection should ultimately facilitate a new way of engaging with the spiritual world that is actualized according to the new creation. But the first goal is to put off old ways. Such a rejection does take loyalty and discipline that are typical of the traditional Page of Coins. The founding of the Premonstratensian Order is significant of this loyalty and dependability.
Concerning our expanded resonance, Norbert demonstrates several neophyte levels of sacramental engagement. First, he is seen using the trappings of the ritual system to gain clout and further his position according to Coins of Mammon. When he has his conversion, we see him take a distance from all forms of physical engagement. He becomes a wandering preacher, not a great worker of compassion, successfully utilizing reciprocal sacral matter, is he known as a great priest or bishop. Rather his stance to material engagement is contemplative, focused only on devotion to the eucharist. This detachment is the first step in learning to actually actively engage in sacral matter.
Application
To meet Saint Norbert the Page of Coins in contemplation is to begin the process of sacral engagement. This genesis implies a reorientation to how one engaged the physical world. One may want to take stock of how they are attracted to the “worldly” and what parts of their lives need to be halted in order to begin a reorientation. Norbert invites passivity and contemplation, especially on the unseen aspect of a sacramental cosmology. What things need to be sacrificed to better adjust one’s relationship to the world?
In Reverse Norbert speaks to disorder attachment. The querent may want to probe the situation for evidence of attachment to physical things, especially attachment to the pleasure of them. Or the reverse could imply that the time of reflective detachment and reorientation is over and it is time to dynamically apply sacral cosmology. One may want to probe the situation to see where someone could use their physical possessions to the benefit of others or to foster harmony in the situation. Is there an aspect of the situation where one could use their physical possessions or even their physical self, to signify the love of God?
Knight of Coins: Saint Lawrence
Hagiography
Saint Lawerence of Rome: Third-century archdeacon of Rome, distributor of alms, and “keeper of the treasures of the church” in a time when Christianity was outlawed. Pope Saint Sixtus II and six deacons were beheaded, leaving Lawrence as the ranking Church official in Rome.
While in prison awaiting execution Sixtus reassured Lawrence that he was not being left behind; they would be reunited in four days. Lawrence saw this time as an opportunity to disperse the material wealth of the Church before the Roman authorities could lay their hands on it. Lawrence was commanded to appear for his execution and to bring along the treasure with which he had been entrusted by the pope. When he arrived, the archdeacon was accompanied by a multitude of Rome‘s crippled, blind, sick, and indigent. He announced that these were the true treasures of the Church. He was subsequently martyred.
Visual Symbolic Analysis
Saint Lawrence is pictured in liturgical robes holding a bowl of Hosts in his right hand and a gridiron in his left. The Hosts symbolize the activation of matter to a higher plane, such as Lawrence traded money and treasure for human dignity and worth. The gridiron is the symbol of his torturous death and the rage and wrath of those who cannot abide by dignity to all God’s Children. The image evokes both devotion and sacrifice.
Meditation
The Knight of each suit can be thought of as the employment or good use of that suit’s significance. To encounter a knight in contemplation allows the querent to reflect on how the suite the knight represents is best employed, or how it is being employed by someone in the situation. The Knight of Coins generally implies an active use of the material world, traditionally interpreted as monetary action. But this need not simply be the case. The knight can be a person that can produce money, but he can also be a person who sculpts artifacts or tools. In this case, artifacts and tools help accomplish tasks. Or the knight could be a person who sculpts an environment. In this case, the knight is able to effect efficiency or mood by their action. The knight could also be a person who keenly understands the culture of gift giving, and uses the environment to successfully convey such communication.
Saint Lawrence's story beautifully takes these interpretations even further. Norbert as Page rejects the glamorous misuse of the material world, but his rejection is passive and leaves the material world unchanged. Pope Benedict XVI famously said, “The world offers you comfort. But you were not made for comfort. You were made for greatness” Norbert heeded the first two sentences, but Lawrence heeds the whole because he actively transforms the material world and demonstrates a mastery far beyond Norbert. Commerce transforms labor and goods to comparable labor or goods by means of the coin. But the coin becomes a distraction seeming to hold value in and of itself. Lawrence offers a stark reminder of how this is inadequate. When he gives the treasure of the Church to the poor then offers the poor as the true treasure, he is employing a symbolic alchemy to make a point about the value of human dignity. The treasure he is offering is the ability to serve Christ in the poor. The value of this treasure is beyond compare. The enraged Roman authorities have him grilled alive, in a stark reversal, making a human into an object of consumption. But by his life and willingness to stand for the poor and crippled, Lawrence’s lesson is more powerful and the cruelty of the Empire only seeks to make his point all the stronger. Lawrence’s life forces us to consider how much value we put in money, a symbol of commerce, against how much value we put in people. Far too often we value the symbol over the true presence of Christ among us in the impoverished. Saint Lawrence the Knight of Coins reminds us to transform our actions and reorient them toward love of people over love of money, which is the root of all evil.
Considering the expanded resonance, one may want to consider the onesiman interface. The onesiman interface is a methodology we discussed in a treatise of the same name concerning how to personally act justly in a situation where one is forced to participate in the structures of social sin. The methodology involves a beatitudnal reorientation recounted by Paul in his letter to Philemon regarding the escaped slave Onesimus. Much of the treatise discusses how to honor the indigent in a way that actualizes their potential according to the sacramental cosmology. The Christian is implored to approach the indigent as an Alter Chrsitus and engage in a mutual sharing of the priesthood of Christ according to the four modalities of Christo-analogical interchange, the ability to find Christ in one’s self and others as corporeal sacral matter.
Application
To meet Saint Lawrence the Knight of Coins is fundamentally an opportunity to notice how one employs material goods in the service of relationship. This can include the medium of money, gifts, ritual, sexuality and any aspect of the physical world one uses to communicate. The Knight of Coins helps the querent seek how people in the situation use physical reality to do “commerce” with each other. The querent may want to analyze whether someone or something in the situation bolsters or detracts from human dignity because of economic concerns. The querent may want to probe how the situation involves the value and persons.
In Reverse Saint Lawrence implies exploitation, objectification, and alienation. What facets of the situation demonstrate the cruelty of Rome, that would treat a human as a piece of meat? One may look at miscommunications by use of physical reality in the situations, including all varieties mentioned in the upright position. LAstly, oppositional Knight of Coins can indicate a person in the situation who is controlled and moved by objects as opposed to the other way around.
Queen of Coins: Saint Elizabeth of Hungary
Hagiography
Saint Elizabeth of Hungary: Princess, the daughter of King Andrew of Hungary. Great-aunt of Saint Elizabeth of Portugal. She married Prince Louis of Thuringa at age 13. Built a hospital at the foot of the mountain on which her castle stood; tended to the sick herself. Her family and courtiers opposed this, but she insisted she could only follow Christ’s teachings, not theirs. Once when she was taking food to the poor and sick, Prince Louis stopped her and looked under her mantle to see what she was carrying; the food had been miraculously changed to roses. Upon the death of Louis, Elizabeth sold all that she had and worked to support her four children. Her gifts of bread to the poor, and of a large gift of grain to a famine stricken Germany, led to her patronage of bakers and related fields.
Visual Symbolic Analysis
Saint Elizabeth is pictured in profile crowned as a monarch. In her hand, she is clutching three coins that bear what could be laurel wreaths but are more likely wheat stalks that relate to her ministry of distributing bread to the poor. The coins themselves are symbolic of her use of the material world to bring sustenance and comfort to those in need. To accentuate this at her feet stands a child reaching up toward Elizabeth in a gesture of supplication, similar to how the three children reach up to Nicholas the Magician.
Elizabeth looks down on the child, her face is stern and eyebrows drawn downward and her lips exhibiting a slight frown. Her gaze is not contemplative, but judgmental and harsh. It can be surmised that she is not judging the child. Her reputation for compassionate charity is too great. It is to be guessed that her disfavor is of two things. First, her ire is drawn by the circumstances that lead to this child’s impoverishment. Second, her scorn may be the result of the disfavor she receives for being a compassionate soul.
Meditation
The Queen of each suit is generally interpreted as the mature feminine manifestation of that suit’s significance. Queens are the suit manifest as nurturing, protective, emotive, compassionate, giving, and caring manifestation of what a suit symbolizes. The King and Queen cards of a suit also represent the spectral extremes regarding the gender resonance of the suit itself. A queen card of the masculine oriented suits is going to present as the nearest one can get to the center of the gender spectrum regarding that suit. Whereas a queen card of a feminine suit is going to present the best manifestation of what that suit symbolizes as it is presented by masculine principles. The Suit of Coins is a suit that generally aligns with the feminine so the king and queen will align appropriately on this gender spectrum. The Queen of Coins is generally perceived as nurturing, sustaining, and caring. The reputation of the card is that of a “homebody” who is welcoming, sensual, and luxurious.
Elizabeth portrays all of these qualities, but typical of Christianity in a way that is in stark contrast to the ways of “this world”. Her home is her castle, high atop a mountain. But she descends this mountain, disregarding her royalty, to be with her people,. At the bottom, she builds a hospital from which she dispensed healing, comfort, and sustenance to those around her. This building symbolizes the “home” of the Christian monarch, a home of service and civil edification. Saint Elizabeth's life as a queen is a perfect demonstration of Christian power dynamics, the greatest serves the least. Again we see in the hagiography of Saint Elizabeth the ability to manipulate and change physical reality. Norbert detached from physical reality in order to better acclimate to the spiritual. Lawrence was able to change worldly treasure to the treasures of Christ, the poor and lame. Elizabeth’s miraculous alchemy involves a revelation of the true nature of charity. The object of charitable giving, bread, is transformed to roses, which is a symbol of beauty and a symbol of summative feminine spirituality. The rose is predominantly a symbol for Mary the mystical rose and devotional target of the rosary. As a symbol subsequently becomes attached to a cadre of female saints who present the maternal nature of Mary to the Church in the form of charity. The transformation of food to roses is not a miracle singular to Elizabeth of Hungary. It was performed by a few female saints, always following the same hagiographical template, the woman seeks to give to charity, some male is fiercely opposed to such “waste”, the male catches the woman with a basket of donations, but when they remove the cover, the food has turned to roses. Further examples include Saint Germaine of Cousin, Saint Casilda of Briviesca, and Blessed Notburga. These women were all “caught’ seeking to nurture the poor through corporeal sustenance and in each instance, the food turned to flowers.
Mary as the mystical rose as it relates to our alchemic miracle with Elizabeth brings us to our meditation on the expanded resonance. We have moved from detachment to physical replacement, to “alchemic signification”. In the alchemic signification a miraculous change of matter occurs and the change conveys a meaning that relates a mystery of the Church. In the case of these women, the roses invest the bearer with a connection to the maternal love of Mary. They are en route to offer material support and comfort to the vulnerable against the oppressive direction of a patriarchal tyrant. This action of maternal love is an act of love that incarnates the message of the Magnificat. In this parallel one senses the baptismal priest’s function as an alter Christus bringing Christ to the world through charitable action. Here we see a prime example of corporeal signification attuned to sacramental cosmology. In this case, since their charity is born out of a sense of maternity against concupiscent patriarchy, they are specifically channeling the mediatory priesthood of Mary as described in the treatise The Manifold Priesthood of the Catholic Church. Thus the miracle of alchemic signification presents the bearer of the flowers as a birther of Christ after the fashion of the Queen of Heaven.
Application
To meet Saint Elizabeth of Hungary as the Queen of Coins in meditation is a chance to look for opportunities to practice maternal charity. This type of charity especially focuses on avenues that nurture and sustain, particularly physically. Is someone in the situation in physical need, or need of physical comfort? Saint Elizabeth implies someone in the situation who actively seeks to bring sustenance to others. Or she could indicate a necessary defiance in order to effect charity. Lasly, Saint Elizabeth could also indicate the need to redefine a space to be a space of charity and comfort for others.
In Reverse Saint Elizabeth, the Queen of Coins Seeks personal comfort over the comfort of others. She typifies gluttony and lust that objectifies physical and interpersonal relationships. The oppositional Queen of Coins manipulates through emotive attachment to the comforts of physical things, whether it be sexuality or culinary, both of which carry powerful draw for humans. Lastly, the Queen of Coins may be hinting at the usefulness of an ascetic denial of comfort in order to reorient to the physical world.
King of Coins: Saint Jude
Hagiography
Son of Cleophas, who died a martyr, and Mary who stood at the foot of the Cross, and who anointed Christ’s body after death. He is the brother of Saint James the Lesser. Nephew of Mary and Joseph; blood relative of Jesus Christ, and reported to look a lot like him. He was an apostle and may have been a fisherman. Saint Jude wrote the canonical Epistle named for him. He preached in Syria, Mesopotamia, and Persia with Saint Simon. He is known to have been a healer and an exorcist. He could reportedly exorcise pagan idols, which caused the demons to flee and the statues to crumble.
Visual Symbolic Analysis
The image of Saint Jude the King of Coins shows Saint Jude standing with his staff in his right hand and with his left hand he holds his emblematic coin with the face of Christ up to his heart. This coin refers to the ancient legend of Abgar, King of Edessa. Abgar was stricken with a terminal illness; possible leprosy. He somehow heard of Jesus as a miracle worker and healer. In desperation, he sent a servant named Anania, to ask Jesus to heal him. Jesus responded that, while he could not personally come, He would send one of his apostles, namely, St. Jude, to console him. Jesus pressed the cloth to his face and left an imprint of himself on the fabric, which since then is known as the Mandylion of Edessa.
The coin show and the Mandylion represent the physical link between the healer and the healed. Saint Jude, the miraculous healer, carries this token that reminds the observer that he is an agent of cosmological commerce. Christ offers healing. Jude, as an agent of Christ's healing, mediates that healing as a coin mediates labor or goods in an economic sense.
Meditation
The King in each suit is generally interpreted as the mature masculine manifestation of that suit’s significance. In contemplation, the presence of a King card invites the querent to consider aspects of traditional masculinity, father figures, social order in the situation. The King and Queen cards of a suit also represent the spectral extremes regarding the gender resonance of the suite itself. A king card of the feminine oriented suits is going to present as the nearest one can get to the center of the gender spectrum regarding that suit. Whereas a king card of a masculine suit is going to present the best manifestation of what that suit symbolizes as it is presented by masculine principles. The Suit of Coins is a suit that generally aligns with the feminine so the king and queen will align appropriately on this gender spectrum. The King of Coins if the masculine provider. He is a bountiful gift giver and shows his love by providing a stable and secure environment filled with objects that are useful and comforting. Such a person offers token gifts, usually related to one’s personality, to let them know he is thinking of them. Such a person gains joy when those around him do not even note his presence because they are so secure.
Where the Queen of Coins Elizabeth of Hungary nurtures, the King of Coins Saint Jude heals. These are two different powers that humans draw on to keep their existence. Sustenance assumes a baseline of well being that is maintained. Healing assumes a malfunction that must be corrected to return the patient to the baseline. Jude as the masculine agent of this dynamic is a mediator, more than a provider. It is Christ who heals and sustains, but Elizabeth, as a woman, nurtures from her own physical being. Jude heals by apostolic investment. He is “sent” to heal, speaking to masculine transcendence and objectivity. In this case, his physical presence is not the agent of nurturing, but rather the sign of healing. The difference between agent and sign in a sacramental cosmology is the difference between an imminent focus and a transcendent one. In each case, the cosmic order of God is assumed. In each case, a physical person effects the action by their being.
As the healer and as the suit of sacramental engagement with the material world Saint Jude’s reminds us of the rituals that bring healing of various kinds. On the terrestrial plain, these may take the form of expulsions and reintegrations into a community, biological repair rituals, spiritual repair rituals etc. The King of Coins uses physical engagement, ritual, medicine, physical touch etc. to bring such healing and reconciliation to individuals and to the community. Concerning transcendence,the King of Coins reminds us that our bodies are corporeal signifiers, able to make divine mysteries present in the world if properly invested. The King of Coins can seek healing between transcendence and terrestrial either by using their body to facilitate restoration of an appropriate relationship with God or by full integration with divine life. The execution of these maneuvers are a blend of ritual life or ministerial signification. Saint Jude as the King of Coins is the facilitator of healing through intercession. He brings physical reality, particularly corporeal existence, back into harmony with the cosmos, rectifying the damage done by the wear and tear of post lapsarian existence.
One other physical aspect that Saint Jude brings up is the interconnected nature of kinship form the human family and especially our mutual kinship to Christ, which is not simply an assent, but an ontological reality through the sacramental system. Saint Jude is a physical relative of Christ. Christ asks, “who are my mother and my brothers? … Whoever does the will of my heavenly Father is my brother, and sister, and mother.” Yet the lineages of the scriptures make a point of relaying how we as a human family are all interrelated. The people of Israel share kinship with all other nations, and all people come from Noah and Adam before him. When we are baptized we are bonded to Christ’s body, which puts us in a spiritual kinship relationship with him, but that is not a discount of our already shared bio-kinship relationship simply by being part of the human family.
Application
Generally, the king of Coins implies the presence of a masculine provider, especially of comfort, in the situation. The appearance of Saint Jude King of Coins during contemplation is an opportunity to seek healing or be a healer in the situation. This opens by inquiring after deficits in the situation that need healing. These could be physical or spiritual, but the suit tends the carnal. Possible avenues to explore are medical healing, petitionary entreatment (even to Jude himself), rest and self care, or contemplative prayer. Saint Jude could also be asking us to explore our own kinship with our neighbors or with Christ.
In Reverse Saint Jude King of Coins implies risky unhealthy engagement with the physical world, especially as it concerns gluttony and lust. Both of these break the bonds of kinship because food sustains individually and bonds communally, while sex sustains communally and bonds individually. Are these examples of unhealthy behaviors causing physical problems or breaking bonds in the situation? Polar King of Coin could imply a person who uses gifts to manipulate, or expects a return for his investment rather than providing out of love. Lastly, polar King of Coins could be an invitation to a spiritual strategy to connect to transcendence such as contemplative prayer or discernment.
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