All Text, Music, and Illustrations, including Paintings, Photographs, and 3D models, Copyright © 2022 by Jim Robbins.
LORD OF MATERIAL SUCCESS
As Nathan was riding through the realm, he noticed a knight giving golden coins to beggars. Nathan knew that the knight had been severely wounded in a battle a few years before but had somehow managed to recover. Nathan's heart was touched, but he was confused about why the knight was holding a weighing scale in his left hand as if measuring the worth of each beggar.
Nathan came upon the King of Pentacles near the castle. Nathan dismounted and bowed before the King. "I serve thee always, great King, but I have a question."
The King responded, "Yes, dear knight, what is your question?"
"I just witnessed a courageous knight who was once horribly wounded in battle giving his money away to beggars in the street. Why would such a vulnerable man do that?"
"In this realm, my dear knight, we can all be brought low by disease or misfortune. As a knight, I am sure you are keenly aware that you can be crippled in battle and even become a beggar yourself. Through our misfortunes, we come to understand the meaning of sacrifice, and we develop compassion. We realize that we are all vulnerable. Your fellow knight was performing an act of compassion and personal sacrifice to bring balance to society, not just to the individuals begging for assistance. Poverty unfortunately prevails in the realm despite the fact that each one of us is a divine spiritual being. Each one of us contains the holy Tree of Life within us: Universal Consciousness exists within each individual consciousness. We have a duty to feed and shelter and clothe the poor because all life is divine, all energy is holy. We are each like the moon that reflects the sun, the source of all physical life. The moon is sometimes full and sometimes dark. You cannot say that one person is better than another just because they have more wealth. In truth, many poor people have greater spiritual understanding than the wealthy because the poor have experienced the darker phases of life, which might include terrible suffering and misfortune.
"Your fellow knight understands that you can be nearly obliterated as a human being but in the process transcend human consciousness and know Universal Consciousness.
"The life-force is constantly in a state of flux but creates and maintains balance. Balance is achieved on the human level in the physical realm through understanding and compassion, and each individual can be a co-creator with Universal Consciousness to create balance. Unfortunately some people disrupt that harmony because of their own self-interest. Nevertheless, the life-force tends to reward those who strive for harmony and balance and mastery. I know that as a knight you are striving for mastery, just as an artisan or musician or alchemist or mason strives for mastery. You might not be rewarded with numerous bags of gold, but through mastery you can attain a type of inner satisfaction that surpasses the shallow gratification associated with accumulating piles of wealth. Sometimes other people interfere, but the life-force tends to reward those who make the intention and effort to attain mastery and maintain harmony. Each person has the potential to achieve harmony and mastery, but many are thwarted by poverty, abuse, trauma, betrayal, disease, loss, and war. Your fellow knight was showing that we need to carry compassion for others within us as much as humanly possible in order to create and maintain harmony within ourselves and society."
Nathan thanked the King and rode away to a secluded place in the forest where he could perform a ritual. The holy man in the castle had revealed that The High Priestess and the Hierophant are both deeply connected to all the paths of the Tree of Life and therefore complement each other. The High Priestess, he said, represents the female spiritual aspect of the psyche, and the Hierophant represents the male spiritual aspect of the psyche, and together they represent a deep connection, as The Moon and The Sun, with all of the paths of the Tree of Life.
They are brought together in the Six of Pentacles, The Moon in Taurus, a card also associated with the Emanation of The Sun known as Tiphareth, or Beauty, the Christ-center of sacrifice and compassion and harmonizing love.
Since Earth is a passive element, Nathan used the Passive Invoking Spirit Pentagram while laying down the foundation cards, the Aces, starting in the lower left corner of the pentagram, moving to the upper right corner and continuing from there. After he placed all of the cards, he tapped each card in the direction of the Passive Invoking Spirit Pentagram, making sure to tap the one in the lower left corner to complete the pentagram. Then he placed The Hierophant in the middle of the pentagram. Then he placed the modifier, The High Priestess, on the Ace of Pentacles in the lower left hand corner of the pentagram.
As he placed The High Priestess on the Ace of Pentacles, he said while tapping the card, "The High Priestess, The Moon."
Then he drew the Passive Invoking Spirit Pentagram and the spirit wheel in the air in brilliant white above the Six of Pentacles on the altar, charging the pentagram and the spirit wheel in the usual way with the Sign of the Enterer. After that, he drew an Invoking Pentagram for Earth directly over the Invoking Spirit Pentagram, charging the pentagram and the symbol of Taurus in the usual way. At that point, he imagined the symbol of the bull's head becoming the living image of The Hierophant. Then he imagined gnomes flowing from the Archangel Auriel and filling the living image while at the same time the bright points of the Earth element flowed from his aura and filled the living image as well.
Then he said, "I name you Hierophant, Taurus, keeper of wisdom," which is a spiritual principle associated with the card. Then he tapped the modifier and said, "The High Priestess, The Moon, the descent of the divine."
Then he said, "Through my higher self, help me know the Tree of Life more fully and deal with human vulnerability with compassion, and help me to create harmony and balance in myself and within the realm."
Then he stated, "Perform this task and return to the element of Earth, doing no harm. So mote it be!"
He imagined for a few minutes the living image of the Six of Pentacles filling him with compassion and the ability to create harmony and balance in the realm. He, of course, performed the Lesser Banishing Ritual of the Pentagram before he completed the ritual.
After the ritual, Nathan realized as he rode through the realm that he felt more compassion for others, and he made a lasting vow to strive for greater harmony and balance.
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