Commentary: Litanies of the Pips
Commentary: Litanies of the Pips
General Introduction: Skills and Definitions
Simple Canon of Arcana and Litanies
Introduction & Commentaries: Litanies of the Major Arcana
Introduction: Litanies of the Minor Arcana
Commentary: Litanies for the Pips
Commentary: Litanies for the Royals
Transversal Theology: Technical Glossary
The Pips of Aces
Litany of the Episcopal Generators
To draw an ace in contemplation is to consider two numerological possibilities. The first is the concept of the monad or object. “One” is the primal distinction or individuation. It is the unit that makes up the atomistic view of the universe. The Litany of the Episcopal Generators is filled with Bishops who gain their sacral power from Christ. He is the monad or the object of “humanity” in that he is the new Adam and all reality finds its fulfillment in him. The bishop is the chief ritual sign of Christ in the community. As Christ is the “one” of humanity, the Alpha and the Omega, so the bishop is the “one” for his flock. He is literally responsible for the souls of every person in his diocese (Christian or nonchristian). As Ignatius of Antioch said, “Where the bishop is there is the Church.”
The second possibility the Ace pip exhibits is such concepts as source, start, beginning, seed, or potentiality. To this end, The Litany of the Episcopal Generators presents bishops that fall under two categories. The first is “missionary bishops” who have no diocese because their job is to create one. These wandering bishops have a territory they are working in, but it is not “established” enough for a cathedral and cathedra. The second category is the bishops who are the first bishops of their diocese. Meaning the community has established itself well enough in a territory to form around the figure of a successive bishop. The bishops of this variety are the first in the succession.
The Pips of Twos
Litany of the Vocational Turnabouts
Numerologically, the Two Pips symbolize duality, compatibility, dyad, polarity, balance, harmony, or attraction. The images of the Rider Waite Deck run the gambit of these symbols and the choices that they force in a contemplative’s life. The staffs shows one contemplating a new beginning or new endeavor. The Cups shows a couple in a loving but imperfect relationship. The Swords show the reason and chance of making a choice. Lastly, the coins show the tricky balance of the dyad or the spectrum.
The Litany of the Vocational Turnabouts offers all of these in narrative form. In this litany, there are two smaller categories and one larger one. The two smaller categories are those that are drawn to or discerning one vocation and end up choosing another. So a small list of people drawn to consecrated life but ended up discerning marriage or vice versa being drawn to married life and ending up discerning consecration. The longer part of the litany is those who lived both lives. There is a balance between the states of life of celibacy and marriage. This harmony and simultaneous polarity in the church creates a fruitful back and forth that, when respected, makes culture richer.
Almost invariably those who live both states of life begin married and transition to consecration. Each narrative of transition can present the images on the Two Pips of the Rider Waite Deck. The polarities and balances are between the states of life considered that must be juggled and balanced resonance of the two of coins and the choices of the two of swords. In as much as the saints are in community (especially the married community) they reflect the struggles of communal life they reflect the two of cups and in as much as they ultimately choose and act they embody the two of staffs.
The Pips of Threes
Litany of the Temporal Liberators
Numerologically the number Three implies Object/Object/Relationship, the spectrum, or meaning between extremes. It can also be taken as the whole of each of these concepts. The number three has deep resonance with the concept of community, thus two of the images in the Rider Waite Deck portray communal relationships, the cups (emotive) and the Coins (creative). The three of swords is an image of literal heartache, which when being realistic comes with the complexity of community. Lastly, the three of Staffs is a card that shows the beginning of long-distance relationships through commerce and risks.
The Litany of Temporal Liberators may seem disconnected from all of this, but it shows each of these dynamics in stunning profundity. The litany presents saints who took as their signification the ransoming of slaves. This piety is born out of an understanding that Christ ransoms or redeems us from slavery to sin. Ritual redemption queues into the sacrificial meta-myth of the second person of the Trinity in order to offer redemption. It seeks to present that same experience to the slave who is redeemed; liberation in Christ. Certain Consecrated communities such as the Mercedarains and the Trinitarians had, and still have, this as their main ministry. Slavery is a bastardization of community. It is a diabolical division of labor. The temporal liberator seeks to restore proper order to the community, the joy of true community, emotively and collaboratively (cup and coins). They do this at great risk to themselves. The motto of the Mercedarian order is “My life for yours”, and they were known to take the palace of slaves in order to obtain their freedom. Such compassion can only be the suffering of the Three of Swords. Lastly, they offer a chance for reintegration into the bond of community as portrayed in the Three of Staffs.
The Pips of Fours
Litany of Continental Transposition
The Numerological resonance of Four expands from community to the world. Four symbolizes the four corners of the earth, the four elements, the four seasons, and the four directions. The images of the Rider Waite deck display no quick intuitive theme for the number four. Staffs show a domestic home, cups show one contemplating their way out of a choice, the swords show a sleeper, and the coins show one trapped by the gilded cage of wealth.
The Litany of Continental Transposition presents saints who travel the world, specifically, those missionaries who faced the hardships of leaving their home continent and making a great journey out of love for the gospel. It would take detailed research, but the elements of each suit of the fourth pip is represented many times among the saints herein. All of them start off in a homeland resonant of the staff, and all of them have discernments to make as presented in the cups. Many are hesitant to make their journey. Some traverse the continents and the dream and vision world, but more apropos, many more are simply exhausted by their efforts and labors in the mission fields, giving them strong suitability for the swords. Lastly, many were born quite wealthy and had an early life that exhibited enslavement to money before they cast it off to find whole new worlds of charity and self sacrifice.
The Pips of Fives
Numerologically the number Five is a number of extension through the Senses. There are five senses, five bodily extensions (1 head, two hands, two feet) and one sees from the point of view (1) to the four (4) corners of the earth (1+4=5). Thus the number can also symbolize the confluence of spirit and matter. The images of the Rider Waite Deck for the Five Pip are filled with strife and conflict. The Staffs show an amiable, but active battle, the Cups show choices of deep regret, the Swords show harsh dominance, and the Coins show impoverishment. It is understanding that an esoteric system would see such conflict in the number five. It is through sensation and worldly engagement that the otherwise peaceful and passive soul finds agitation and anxiety.
The Litany of Random Violence very much reflects the tenor of the Five Pips as presented in the Rider Waite Deck. The Martyrs die nobly and with purpose. Many saints sacrifice their lives helping plague victims or through deprivation in the missionary fields. The saints on the Litany of Random Violence were killed, and murdered, in the most random circumstances. Many were simply robbed and killed while on pilgrimages. Their random death shows the grief of the Cups and the violence of both the Swords and the Staffs. The poverty of the coins is often displayed because most of those saints who fall victim to robbers are murdered due to the wrath of those robbers discovering that they possess no wealth.
The Pips of Sixes
Numerologically, the number six can mean incompleteness or imperfection, just short of 7, the number of completeness and perfection. Since it is three times two, it can also mean communities in relationship. The Pips of Six have a dual presentation in imagery between motion and offering in the Rider-Waite Deck. The Wands and Swords show someone in motion, a mournful flight or exile for The Swords and a victory procession for The Staffs. The Cups and Coins show offering, an intimate innocent, and emotive sharing in the Cups and a Charitable offering in the Coins. The sharing and travel show both community building and extension typical of the communities in relationships symbolized by three. Yet the need for travel and sharing speaks to the incompleteness and imperfection of total communal binding.
The Litany of Pilgrim Almners demonstrates both the motion and offering of the Pips of Sixes. Each saint in this litany gave everything they had to the poor and became a journeying pilgrim. Some traveled to a specific place and remained, but many simply became pilgrims, restless wanderers moving from place to place. The giving of self and sustenance presented in the Cups and Coins can be seen in these lives in how they offer all of their previous lives over before becoming a wanderer. The wandering itself can be seen in both the Staffs, when it is a response to the love of God, and the Swords when it is a penitential response to the trauma of sin.
The Pips of Sevens
Litany of the Physically Diverse
Numerologically the number seven is the number of completeness or perfection. It is the complete number of planetary spheres. It is the complete number of the days of creation. Thematically the Rider-Waite imagery runs a wide gambit for the Pips of Sevens. The Wands show a struggle with a tentative upper hand. The Cups show a dazzling dreamlike array of choices, fraught with possibility and peril. The Swords show deceptive victory. And the Coins show contentment with parsimonious frugality. It is difficult to see a clear presentation of completeness or perfection except that it comes through potentiality and diversity according to its subject.
The Litany of the Physically Diverse presents saints who do not fit the standard iconographic image of a saint, tall, thin, and beautiful. The litany is divided into those considered “odd in appearance” (read ugly or deformed), the hunchbacks, the dwarves, and the obese. In Christianity, this pageant of the malformed demonstrates perfection in two ways. First, in our beauty obsessed society, the first are last and the last are first. The Litany of the Physically Diverse shows us the perfectly sanctified and how true beauty is presented in the unclear potentiality of our lives. This leads to the second way the litany teaches about perfection. Sanctity is not a visible reality. Thus as a spiritual disposition, it can present in any form, and when that form is off putting the fellow elect will readily recognize it. The hagiographies of this litany offer a host of fascinating and serendipitous details that make good fodder for both art and contemplation of the Pips of Sevens.
The Pips of Eights
Numerologically the Number eight has traditionally meant balance and harmony. As four and four it can also symbolize the coming together of “two worlds” as in two fields, two cultures, two conceptualizations, two paradigms, etc. The Images of the Rider-Waite Deck are heavy on the theme of motion, which is a process of coming together. The Wands show swift motion. The Cups show the mournful motion of abandonment or rejection. The Swords show imprisonment with potential motion (if one can see the way). The Coins show a sure and steady motion of production.
The Litany of the Converts presents saints who have made a motion from a natal religion to Catholicism. These saints wish to move toward a fulfilling perfection in their lives. Across the spectrum of saints, we see people who move both swiftly (Wands) and slowly, methodically, and skillfully (Coins). We also see Saints who had to sacrifice and leave behind (Cups) as well as saints who felt entrapped in their ways until finally freed by grace (Swords). It is by their spiritual motion that the saints in the litany present to pips. When one converts there is also often a coming together of worlds. Depending on the situation usually Christianity does not replace, but fulfills. So coming from paganism to Christianity the convert will retain much of how they viewed the world and even augment their Christian faith with it where they are compatible. This coming together of worlds happens in the matrix of the universal (catholic) church, which accepts all that is good in every culture.
The Pips of Nines
Numerologically the number nine symbolizes the attainment of success or fulfillment on an individual scale. It is the last of the single digit numbers. For each suit, this is the case in the Rider-Waite Iconography. The Wands show rest after a hard won victory. The cups show confident emotive personal contentment. The Swords show awakening of consciousness against unconscious dread. And the Coins show personal material fulfillment and pleasure. For this Pip, the meditation on numerology will be more fruitful than the images of the Rider-Waite Deck, given our theme, but those foundational even images can work well if creatively adapted.
The Litany of the Thanosyncs presents Saints who are closely connected to or in tune with death. In many ways, a good death is the only ultimate fulfillment for an individual human. The litany is divided into six types of saints. First, those whose holiness is known only after their death, showing the ultimate individual fulfillment is reserved exclusively for the afterlife. The second and third are those who were told the day of their death and those who predicted the day of their deaths, showing that in this life knowing one’s ultimate goal can be a stern but effective calibrator. The fourth category is those who dwelt among the graves, making their homes among the constant reminder of their destiny. The fifth category is those saints whose prayers brought about their own death, a shocking category of the ultimate nature of self sacrifice and knowledge of fundamental life. Lastly is the category of saints who were brought back to this life from death, showing us that we must complete our task here before moving on to perfect fulfillment.
The Pips of Tens
The Litany of the Universal Teachers
Numerologically the number ten is a number of communal fulfillment each suit of the Tarot has a ten pip that indicates its nature as applied to community attaining or on the verge of attaining common fulfillment. The Wands show sheer will almost brought to attainment, a peasant reaching a village carrying a burden of staffs. The Cups show an emotive community bound by both home and environment. The Swords show the visceral and divisive nature of community built solely on cognition and Apollinarian reason. Lastly, the Coins show a family, the physical communal fulfillment of the human body.
The Litany of the Universal Teachers contains all saints who have been declared Doctors of the Church. A Doctor of the Church is a “Universal Teacher” whose writings apply to any place and time of the Church. There is not a “normal” way of being a Doctor of the Church. Many are either academic, pastoral, or mystical, but some are simply unique. Their writings run the gambit of psychological resonances from treatises to homilies, to poetry to stream of consciousness. The more analytical will attune to the Swords, the more moral will attune to the Wands, the more mystical will attune to the cups and the more sacramental will attune to the Coins. Each of these saints has achieved a depth of knowledge and ability to convey it that is summative and worthy of recognition as communal fulfillment.
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