Princess as the Throne for the Ace

ravenest

What system?

It is from the Golden dawn system see
'The Golden Dawn' by Isreal Regardie. 1982 Llewellyn. Book 7.- Clairvoyance, talismans, sigils, etc. (p218)
"The Tree of Life as Projected in a Solid Sphere (note by S.R.M.D.)."
Go ahead to the sub-chapter entitled; "The Following 12 Keys Govern the Celestial Heavens from the Ecliptic to 45 degrees of South Latitude." (p.225)
There the zodiac Trumps are listed with their celestial positions, then:
"Note: The keys answering into the Seven Lords who wander (planets) and the Three Spirits (the elements) are not assigned any fixed dominion." (p.227)

ie. 10 of the 22 Trumps are not attributed in this system. Nor are they shown in the diagram on p.235.
 

ravenest

so ....

Aces on Princesses Thrones.

The G.D. reference to the Princesses ruling the ‘Celestial Heavens from the North Pole of the Zodiac’ and ‘…they form the thrones of the four Aces that rule in Kether.’
(G.D.p.221) To justify putting a Kether Ace above a Malkuth Princess is fine if we are talking about a Tree of Life of one level or dimension. But where they link from a higher dimension the Malkuth, Princess or 10 is above or at a similar position to the Kether, 1 or Ace below it.

Isnt it ???

Crowley says something totally different; (Book of Thoth p.177) “Princesses rule the heavens around the North Pole. The meridian is The Great Pyramid and the elements rule … Asia, Pacific Ocean, Americas, Europe and Africa.” Clearly we are on the Earth and the pole A.C. is referring to is the Terrestrial North Pole (TNP) and the cards are fixed over continents and so are revolving with the Earth.

Robert Wang gets closer by saying (Qabalistic Tarot, p.50 –51) that the circular Tarot/Astro correspondence diagrams in his book are a simplistic attempt that does; “refer to the Earth and its TWO magnetic poles.” (my emphasis) But he then goes on to refer one to the G.D.‘s muddled system.

There is a little (or lot of) confusion here and not everything is being revealed. Lets forget the complications of Qabalah and Tree of Life in a G.D. Celestial Sphere for a moment and look directly at the astrology of the Tarot in the 'normal' Celestial Sphere.

The normal astronomical Celestial ‘Sphere’ doesn’t exist without reference to (and from) the Earth’s viewpoint, it and its ‘poles’ would not exist if the Earth was not rotating, so that is why the Earth could be included in the system (it is represented by the 3 elemental trumps).

The astrological Trumps obviously reside in the band of the ecliptic. The Decans obviously are within (or in front of) the zodiac band as 10 degree divisions of the Zodiac and 1/3 segments of each sign. The planets and planetary Trumps ‘wander’ in the zone between the Earth and the Zodiac, passing the forces from one to another, laterally (ie latitudinally, in the plane of the Solar System).

The 12 Astro Court cards, (representing people and the resultant energy of the Earth’s 3 elemental trumps radiating out and the 4 elements ruling the Zodiac radiating in) can be considered to rule over and be fixed to ( rotating with ) the Earth.

The Aces can be set around the TSP where the (pos.) magnetic energy comes out. The Princesses are around the (neg.) TNP where same energy comes in. The Aces do sit on the Princesses ‘thrones’ but through the axis of the Earth and in one ‘Tree’, or dimension.
(Who is to say which way is ‘up’ on a sphere?)

Look at a diagram of a magnetic field on a bar magnet or the Earth’s axis. At the centre, around the pos. pole the magnetic field lines radiate out, curve around the bar or axis, run parallel, curve back into the neg, pole and enter it. But right in the centre of these poles the energy is parallel to the axis or bar, ie. it comes straight out (pos) or straight in (neg). Where does it go or come from?

One could postulate that the lines of force emerging from the centre of the STP (Aces – active) go out and 'up' to the NTP (Princesses – passive). So the Ace (south pole) does sit above the Princess ( north pole). But now its qabbalisticaly reversed (as the Princess of the higher order should sit above – or equal with – the ace of the lower order). But at the here we do have a Princess of a higher one order sitting above an Ace of a the same order. But that still isn’t a G.D. Ace above a Princess. .. Ah! .. but it is if you look at it upside down, after all, what way is up on a sphere?

Also this section first embarrasses itself by declaring that the southern stars, constellations and CSP regions “bear witness to absence of reference to occult knowledge.” ??? Ummm … if one could break out of one’s post-Victorian occult English mind-set that saw ( / still sees ?) the peoples living under the southern stars and Celestial Pole as primitive and ignorant savages ripe for colonisation, one might discover an occult reference system to those stars that in some most cases goes back well over the 6000 years (graciously including ancient Egypt and Mesopotamia) of European occult knowledge .

I do however appreciate the G.D. attempts to link movement in the celestial Sphere with the Vision of Ezekiel. But that too includes the earth in the system as one has to consider 4 forces at work here. The fixed Court Cards on Earth and their divisions radiating out into space (like the astrological houses) and rotating with the Earth and the fixed Astro-trumps on the ecliptic with their divisions radiating in to Earth (like the Astro signs) but not rotating. Ie. One spoked wheel spinning one way within another spoked wheel spinning the other way – laterally or horizontally. The longitudinal Earth divisions by element and suit flowing vertically (well, near vertical – 23 ½ degree tilted) and flowing one way and the celestial (vertical) divisions (represented by the pole to pole great circles of the Solstitial and Equinoctial Colures) flowing the other way. Ie. another two wheels whose ‘perpendicular’ energy flow is reversed. All four wheels rotating different ways inside of each other. No wonder Ezekiel was spinning! The end of Ezekiel gives instruction (from these wheels) about dividing the dominions of the Earth.
[But don’t try to find the relevant passage in Ezekiel from the G.D. reference, that is wrong too, they quote (typo probably) a chapter of Ezekiel that is numerically beyond those in the Bible.]
 

rachelcat

Can someone help me out here?

So what I can gather from this thread is that the princess is the throne of the ace because she is Malkuth, which is the "seat" for the next Kether.

And maybe something about pregnancy. Although it's odd to say an expectant mother is the "throne" of her unborn child, it IS true that the baby is "sitting" within her. And if the baby's a king, then she's a throne? (Mary as a type of the Church, the body that brings Christ to the world.)

Or, since we're speaking of aces, the SEED of a potential baby is sitting within young women.

But logically, doesn't it make more sense that a person (young and female as she is) is seated on/in an inanimate object??!! And that a person is active (has the ability to move herself) while and inanimate object is passive/receptive (well, inanimate)? Making an ace a throne for a princess. Or whoever else wants to sit there.

Please let me know your thoughts on the princesses as thrones of the aces. I'm trying to get a mental handle on this for a project I'm working on. Thanks!
 

Abrac

The Aces do correspond to Kether in one system of correspondences; but enlisting them as roots for a new Kether in a new Tree seems a little overly-complicated to me.

A simpler explanation has a hierarchy that looks like this:

1. Trumps
2. Courts
3. Aces (Spirit)
4. Suits (Fire, Water, Air, Earth)

In their primary forms Fire, Water, Air and Earth are contained within Malkuth. So the Princesses contain the Aces and the Aces contain the 9 Suits. DuQutette has an illustration of this on page 163 only his doesn't show the Princesses, but they can be inferred. This arrangement makes Crowley's commentary in the BoT make more sense:

"The Aces represent the roots of the four elements. They are quite above, and distinct from, the other small cards in the same way as Kether is said to be symbolized only by the topmost point of the Yod of Tetragrammaton. In these cards [the Aces] is no real manifestation of the element in its material form. They form a link between the small cards and the Princesses, who rule the Heavens around the North Pole."​

I don't think Crowley's use of the Kether analogy means he talking about the Aces in Kether; in this case I think it's just an analogy. When he says the Aces have "no real manifestation of the element in its material form," this suggests a link (which he mentions) between the Princesses [the Heavens] and the Suits [material elements, or Earth]; that link is Spirit.
 

Michael Sternbach

As Thelemite L. M. DuQuette explains in his book Tarot of Ceremonial Magick, in the same way that the Court Cards are representing the four elements, the Aces stand for the fifth element, the quintessence or spirit.

As this is elevated over the other elements in the ancient Aristotelian model of the cosmos, it makes some kind of sense to think of the Princesses (earth) as the throne of the Aces (spirit).
 

rachelcat

Thanks for your reply. Yes, this seems much easier to follow, and makes perfect sense.

But then if the aces are a link between princesses in the heavens and minors on the earth, how are the princesses thrones? :confused:

Maybe the throne connection has to do with princesses being earth (while knights, queens, and princes are fire, water, and air)?

So if the Princess of Swords is earth of air, then she is the grounding [something] for the Ace of Sword, which is spirit of air?

(Just grasping at straws now . . .)

ETA: Cross-posted with Michael! Ok! Seems like I might be getting somewhere!
 

Abrac

When a monarch is said to be "on the Throne" it means they have power and authority; the Throne is a chair but it's also a symbol. In Book-T when it says, "Yet her power existeth not save by reason of the others [King, Queen, Prince], and then indeed it is mighty and terrible materially, and is the Throne of the Forces of the Spirit" it means the Princess [or the office of her Throne] is the source from which Spirit derives its power and authority. Right before this it comments on how the Princess isn't seated upon a throne: "The Four Princesses or Figures of Amazons standing firmly by themselves, neither riding upon Horses, nor seated upon Thrones, nor borne on Chariots." But with the combined power of the King, Queen and Prince behind her she becomes a source of power, not on a literal throne [she's still standing] but symbolically.

If you wanted to take it a step further, the Aces represent the "thrones" from which the Suits derive their power.

At least this is how I see it.

*Here's the full paragraph from Book-T if you need it.

'The Four Princesses are the Knaves of the Tarot Pack. The Four Princesses or Figures of Amazons standing firmly by themselves, neither riding upon Horses, nor seated upon Thrones, nor borne on Chariots. They represent the forces of Heh final of the Name in each suit, completing the influences of the other scales. The mighty and potent daughter of a King and Queen: a Princess powerful and terrible. A Queen of Queens, an Empress, whose effect combines those of the King, Queen and Prince. At once violent and permanent, she is therefore symbolised by a figure standing firmly by itself, only partially draped and having but little armour. Yet her power existeth not save by reason of the others, and then indeed it is mighty and terrible materially, and is the Throne of the Forces of the Spirit. Woe unto whomsoever shall make war upon her when thus established!"​
 

rachelcat

So I think we can coordinate these two ideas:

The princess is the lowest of the courts (earth), so she transmits the power of the courts through herself to the ace. (Which then transmits it on to the minors.) (Now I see why you were talking about hierarchy . . .!)

She's the throne because she's the "seat of power," really the transmitter of power. So the throne is above, not below, who "sits" in it.

I think I can get behind all this, but it may take a while to integrate it into my mind ground.

Thanks, guys, for the help! (Other ideas/angles welcome, of course!)
 

ravenest

One must realise what this concept is based on ; originally the Golden Dawn paper 'The Tree of Life Projected onto the Celestial Sphere'.
 

Barleywine

I never pushed the concept of the "throne" as a "seat of power and authority" quite this far. As the passive and negative Earth of its respective elemental hierarchy, the Princess always seemed more "organic" to me, like a gateway (or womb) for the passage of a new Idea into manifestation, which then ramifies into the multiplicity of its suit, or a fertile field in which the "seed" of that Idea germinates and takes root before flowering forth. Although it is usually cubic in form, as befits the element of Earth, a throne also has a generally patriarchal association that never squared (oops, random punning :)) well with the feminine principle behind the Princess, even if she is variously shown as armed and armored. I do think the Princesses come more into their own in the GD/Thoth model than the more subordinate Pages of the RWS, but I still see their function more as a conservator harboring (and husbanding) the nascent potency of the Ace than a regent administering the laws of the land.

Or so it has seemed to me, wihout thinking too hard on it. Maybe I just need to push the concept a little harder.