Commentary: Litanies of the Royals
Commentary: Litanies of the Royals
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 Pages
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. The page is ready to engage in the matter at hand, but not wearied by experience or locked into a trajectory of action. Possibilities are still available and the page can represent a fresh look at what the suit has to offer the contemplative.
The Litany of the Children is composed of saints who died before they were eighteen years of age. The Saints on this list cannot be interpreted as deep theologians or workers of mighty deeds. Their sanctity is inextricably situated in the state of childhood, a condition of vulnerability and yet absolute potentiality. This makes these saints perfect for the Page as the arcana of sophomoric exuberance. Many of the children on the list are martyrs who were cruelly killed by oppressive regimes. This definitely represents a tendency in our world to crush potential development away from our way of thinking. To a lesser extent, there is a variety that are stricken by illness and bravely die a good death. These sufferers show what must be sacrificed in order to achieve fulfillment. In this case, they sacrifice what we perceive they were “owed”, that is, decades of a healthy life.
The Knights
Litany of Regimentation Sanctified
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 present suit is best employed or how someone in the situation is employing it. The knight implies skilled and strategic action, not brute force. The knight in its best manifestation also symbolizes the quest to exhibit, uphold, or protect the good and vanquish the negative or evil.
There are three major varieties of soldier saints. One is the penitent soldier we met in Arcana XIV: Temperance. The second is the soldier martyr, who exhibits the bravery of a soldier who will die for the cause of justice and truth. The third most embodies the Knight as an Arcana which is an employment of skills. The Litany of Regimentation Sanctified consists of Soldiers who left the military to use the marshal skills organization, discipline, and fortitude for the benefit of the church. The litany consists of soldiers who went on to either found communities (monasteries or religious congregations) or lead a diocese as bishops. In each case, the marshal skills of organization and action are well used to direct a community toward coherence. These special saints are able to convert abilities formerly used for death and destruction to abilities that build the community and the Kingdom of God.
The Queens
The Queen of each suit is generally interpreted as the mature feminine manifestation of that suit’s significance. Queens represent the suit manifest as nurturing, protective, emotive, compassionate, giving, and caring. Queens are often defined by their interaction with or balance to the King. As disturbing as such dependence may seem to the modern mind, one must remember that these archetypes represent cosmic concepts, masculinity, and femininity. For example, the masculine is transcendent and the feminine is imminent. The feminine dependence as well as the feminine ability to effect the masculine plays into the esoteric maximum, “as above so below”. In as much as a king may be a social organizer in the abstract, the queen presents how that organization is applied in a loving, nurturing, or compassionate way.
The Litany of Social Motherhood consists of all saints who were also queens. This makes them the social legacy of the “matriarch ” who would be mother, priestess, and queen. It is divided into two sections. The first consists of various titles of Mary that involve her queenship over the church and the cosmos. The Second consists of Saints who were historical queens of nations. It is an easy shift from history to archetype, but the hagiographies, if studied, yield interesting connections for each suit. Many of these queens were benevolent in all the ways expected of the arcana. Many hagiographies speak of how these queens patronized churches and divested royal treasuries giving generously to the poor. However, some were swapped, traded and betrayed according to the custom of patriarchal society. Careful examination can yield fruitful fodder for both contemplation and artistic representation in profound ways.
The Kings
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, and social order in the situation. Biblically kings are a sign of the secular order. Kings generate order and protect the order generated from outside influences that would destabilize. Kings also “set an example” of righteousness. Exemplification is a masculine attribute in that it is transcendently geared toward a freely operating “other”.
The Litany of Social Fatherhood consists of Saints who were historical kings of nations. This makes them the social legacy of the “patriarch” who would be father, priest, and king. Some kings are converts. Their conversion is significant because upon their conversion often the entire nation converts. In this, the king signifies a transcendent shift of an entire populace. Many of the kings act along two social trajectories, they promote the institutional church, and/or they promote the social welfare of the nation. By the first social trajectory, they financially back the hierarchical church by building monasteries and physical churches. The second social trajectory builds the mystical body of the church by alleviating suffering and ordering society in such a way as to allow its participants to engage most easily in sanctifying engagement. These regal engagements show paternal care for the community through justice, compassion, discipline, and guidance.
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