All Text, Music, and Illustrations, including Paintings, Photographs, and 3D models, Copyright © 2022 by Jim Robbins.
LORD OF SORROW
As Nathan was riding during a rainstorm through the Tarot Realm, he envisioned three swords piercing a heart that was floating in the sky above him. The heart was not bleeding, and the swords were perfectly balanced, with one straight up and down and two crossing each other diagonally. Despite the balance, Nathan felt a deep sense of sorrow for the human condition and for himself. He felt confused because of the contrast between sorrow and balance. He just could not understand how terrible pain and grief could exist in a harmonious state.
After the rain ended, Nathan found the Queen of Swords. Nathan dismounted and bowed as he approached the Queen. "I serve thee always, my Queen, but I have a question."
The Queen gazed at him. "Yes, my devoted knight. What is your query?"
Nathan carefully described his vision of three swords in perfect balance piercing a heart. Then he stated, "I confess that when I looked upon the heart I had an overwhelming feeling of grief and loss, yet I also felt a sense of peace. I was hoping that you might help me understand my strangely conflicting emotions."
Holding her sword straight up and down, the Queen responded, "Bleeding Hearts are reminders for us to be compassionate for the suffering of others, and they are also symbols of undying love. The bleeding heart flower is often used in floral arrangements at both weddings and funerals. All people experience sickness and suffering and loss. Through love and compassion, we neutralize the negativity of suffering and create harmony for ourselves and others. Do you remember the mythological principle of Saturn?"
Nathan thought for a moment. "I do, your Highness. The 'Descent into the Underworld.'"
"Do you understand its significance?"
"Perhaps, your Majesty. I know that Saturn is the Father of the Gods. On one level, the God Saturn limits free-flowing spiritual force in physical form, and physical form always eventually breaks down, which can result in suffering and loss for human beings. Through suffering, we develop compassion, which helps us to understand that we are all part of the collective consciousness of humanity. In the process, many of us also come to understand that we are also part of one Universal Consciousness."
"What do you think the 'Descent into the Underworld' means?"
"Well, your Highness, in my personal experience, the 'Descent into the Underworld' means a descent into the subconscious mind. Personally, during meditation, I empty my mind. Sometimes I cleanse my consciousness by entering the void, and sometimes I purify my chakras by mentally draining negativity from my energy centers into the fires below the earth. At one point during the mental purification process, I realized that the energy centers in the aura are associated with the Tree of Life, and I also realized that by purifying our energy centers, we create harmony within the self and within our sphere of influence even if we have experienced great loss and suffering."
"Yes, my friend. What is the mythological principle of Libra?"
"Your Majesty, I know that the 'Justice of Heaven' is associated with Libra."
"What does Libra mean to you?"
"To me, Libra means harmony and balance even within constant change and suffering. Justice means the continual attempt to maintain harmony and balance for the highest possible good."
"Yes, my friend, and the establishment of harmony within our sphere of influence helps us to experience the energies of heaven."
"I think I understand, your Highness. Through loss and suffering, we develop compassion and learn how to neutralize negativity and maintain inner harmony, which tends to manifest also as external harmony within our individual personal life and within the realm."
The Queen nodded. "Understanding is the name for the third Emanation on the Tree of Life, the realm of Saturn and our beloved celestial Mother, and understanding includes sympathy for the pain and suffering of others. Understanding requires imagination, in other words, the ability to imagine what it is like to be in someone else's position. We develop sympathy and understanding through the experiences of illness and pain and suffering and loss. The justice of heaven stems from this understanding, in other words, from sympathy and compassion and love. Without understanding and without the experience of the justice of heaven, we cannot neutralize evil and negativity to create and maintain harmony.
"My friend, I know that you are thinking of returning to your homeland. I would like to remind you that a great deal of unnecessary pain and suffering exists in that realm. For instance, if you become seriously ill or lose your job, you can lose your home and your access to health care. You can find yourself in a position where you can no longer put food on the table. Tyranny prevails in that realm, and the people there struggle constantly with fear and negativity, but they are conditioned to blame themselves for their misfortune. I know of people in that realm who have lost their job simply because they have told the truth or have fought to protect their environment and their community. The people with wealth control the levers of power and usually do not appreciate or tolerate truth or equality or the attempt to protect the community and the environment because that threatens their wealth, so they purposely create divisiveness, which manifests in horrible ways. The people with wealth and power do not live with sympathy and imagination. They do not know the justice of heaven. They often invade our realm to enslave our people and plunder our resources. They are polluting the entire world and sowing the karmic seeds of disaster. Returning to your homeland will require a great deal of courage on your part, for the powerful in that realm often harm those who live for the justice of heaven. If you stand up for the oppressed, you will become one of the oppressed."
"Thank you, your Highness, I will remember your words of wisdom. I serve thee always." Nathan bowed and mounted his horse.
The holy man in the castle had once told Nathan that when dealing with a Tarot card where the same God or Goddess is associated with the Emanation on the Tree of Life as well as the the decan, only two modifiers can be used. Knowing that the Three of Swords has a Tree of Life correspondence of Saturn in Understanding and the decan association of Saturn in Libra, Nathan chose two modifiers: Justice, representing Libra, and The World, representing Saturn.
Nathan got ready to create an artificial elemental of the Three of Swords with the Tarot Pentagram Spread. First, since Air is an active element, he used the Active Invoking Spirit Pentagram while laying down the foundation cards, starting in the lower right corner of the pentagram, moving to the upper left corner and continuing from there.
The Passive and Active Invoking Pentagrams
After he placed all of the foundation cards, he tapped each card in the direction of the Active Invoking Spirit Pentagram, making sure to tap the one in the position of Fire in the lower right corner to complete the pentagram.
Then he placed the Three of Swords in the middle of the pentagram, saying, "The Three of Swords, Lord of Sorrow, Saturn in Libra, Saturn in Understanding," and tapped the card. Next, he included the two modifiers on the Ace of Swords: Justice, representing Libra, and The World, representing Saturn.
As he placed the first modifier on the Ace of Swords, he said, "Justice, Libra, 'The Justice of Heaven.'" Then he tapped the card. As he placed the second modifier on Justice, he said, "The World, Saturn, 'The Descent into the Underworld.'" Then he tapped the card.
Then Nathan drew the Active Invoking Spirit Pentagram and the spirit wheel in brilliant white above the Three of Swords on the altar, charging the pentagram and the symbol in the usual way with the Sign of the Enterer.
After that, he drew an Invoking Pentagram for Air directly over the Active Invoking Spirit Pentagram, charging the pentagram and the symbol of Aquarius in the usual way. At that point, he imagined the symbol of Aquarius becoming the living image of the symbol in the Three of Swords, and it came alive in his imagination. As Nathan visualized the living image, he imagined that sylphs flowed from the Archangel Raphael and filled the living image while at the same time tiny points of winged light flowed from his own aura and filled the living image as well.
After gazing at the cards for a moment, he stated, "Lord of Sorrow, help me to experience the descent into the underworld so that I know the justice of heaven." Then, he finished with the Lesser Banishing Ritual of the Pentagram.
From that point on, Nathan often in meditation experienced the descent into the underworld to neutralize negativity so that he experienced the harmony and balance of the justice of heaven.
(Please note: All AI generated images are based on paintings, 3D Blender renderings or photographs by Jim Robbins.)
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