Princess as the Throne for the Ace

Richard

James A. Eshelman's Liber Theta gives an astronomical explanation of the "throne" idea, without dragging in the ToL.

The Princesses rule fourth-parts of the celestial heavens that lie immediately about the North Celestial Pole, above the respective Kerubic (Fixed or Hub) signs of the zodiac; for exampole, the Princess of Swords rules the 90° segment centered on the Air Kerubic constellation Aquarius. The Princesses thus form the thrones of the powers of the four Aces, which correspond to the pole. The other 12 Court Cards (the four Knights, Queens, and Princes) rule the dominion of the Celestial Heavens between the realm of the four Princesses and the zodiac, as will be hereafter shown; and they link together the signs.​
 

Barleywine

James A. Eshelman's Liber Theta gives an astronomical explanation of the "throne" idea, without dragging in the ToL.

The Princesses rule fourth-parts of the celestial heavens that lie immediately about the North Celestial Pole, above the respective Kerubic (Fixed or Hub) signs of the zodiac; for exampole, the Princess of Swords rules the 90° segment centered on the Air Kerubic constellation Aquarius. The Princesses thus form the thrones of the powers of the four Aces, which correspond to the pole. The other 12 Court Cards (the four Knights, Queens, and Princes) rule the dominion of the Celestial Heavens between the realm of the four Princesses and the zodiac, as will be hereafter shown; and they link together the signs.​

Even astronomically, this has always left me clutching at straws. For example, these "segments of the celestial sphere:" how far down in celetial latitude do they extend? All the way to the zodiacal belt? Or are they more like an "umbrella" that sits like a Mai-Tai parasol over the polar region? (I'm not trying to be facetious, just groping for a reliable image.) Or maybe they're coincident and overlapping, like the layers of an onion? Then, do the other court cards occupy an intermediate zone between the polar regions and the zodiacal belt, or are they also layered? I've seen all of this in two dimensions but have never seen a 3-D model that attempts to show it. I may have to make one for myself that works conceptually, but I think I'm missing some key parameters.

ETA: I took a look at the 2D map someone provided here a while ago, trying to view it as a 3D model of the top half of the celestial sphere as seen from above, with the Princess and Aces distributed around the polar region. I can see that the Princesses and Aces might be viewed as an overlay that extends all the way to the celestial equator, infusing everything "below" it. I think I would restructure it, though, placing the signs of the zodiac in the outermost ring farthest from the pole, the decans in the adjacent ring inward, and the rest of the court cards between the polar segments and the decans. But to more accurately reflect the conceptual model which considers the Princesses and Aces as depending from the rest of the hierarchy, I think I would create a "collar" or "funnel" for the Knight/Queen/Prince series that sets them off at right angles from the surface of the sphere. In that way, the Aces would communicate directly with the decans, and the Princesses - as agents of the Knights' "power and authority" - would be the "source field" for the Aces. If I can draw this convicingly, I'll post it. If not, I'll create a 3D mock-up and post a picture. I would really like to finally nail the workings of this system down in a visual way.
 

ravenest

I thought I have seen that 3D depiction (in 2D) in the gD Book so just checked the section.

No, but it shows two circular plans one the north and the other the south hemisphere ;

GD by IR ; Of the Operation and Rule of the Tree of Life in the Celestial Heavens Projected as if in a Solid Sphere (Crowley's source ) ; " S. A.'s Key Plan of the Tarot." diagram.


Perhaps I saw the more 3d one in Wang ?

From memory it seemed unbalanced (to a Southerner ) and the text also contains prejudicial comments .... it may be explained why in a previous post of mine here or in my 'astro tarot 'layout' thread ?

This imbalance led me to tweak it a bit ( resulting in the 'astro tarot layout' model) , here the Aces 'sit' on the Princesses but through the axis of the Earth, the courts move to define terrestrial areas ( where the 'personalities' reside - the elements of the cosmos being manifest in variant human types- and other things) by latitude and the elemental divisions being by longitude .


Be interested to see your model - I always wanted to make a sphere framework to hold my model and lay all the cards on it in 3D space , actually, the framework would look like Saturn with its rings .
 

ravenest

James A. Eshelman's Liber Theta gives an astronomical explanation of the "throne" idea, without dragging in the ToL.

The Princesses rule fourth-parts of the celestial heavens that lie immediately about the North Celestial Pole, above the respective Kerubic (Fixed or Hub) signs of the zodiac; for exampole, the Princess of Swords rules the 90° segment centered on the Air Kerubic constellation Aquarius. The Princesses thus form the thrones of the powers of the four Aces, which correspond to the pole. The other 12 Court Cards (the four Knights, Queens, and Princes) rule the dominion of the Celestial Heavens between the realm of the four Princesses and the zodiac, as will be hereafter shown; and they link together the signs.​

Without dragging in the ToL ?

Tell Jim the concept is all about the ToL . The 'problem' ( what confused people) is that 'someone' decide to use tarot cards to denote a ToL model. And people ever since have been confused thinking it relates to tarot and the ToL 'additions' to the model just complicate it.

Blame Crowley, I say, for slipping that snippet in about princesses thrones and aces without explaining it

... and that concept about the Great Pyramid that goes with it ! Balderdash Crowley, I say balderdash (it's just the style of 'map projection' used ! ) Why should not cups be centered over that quarter of the globe that is the Pacific ocean ? !

I better stop there .
 

Richard

The problem in not with the ToL but with the fact that it is misinterpreted as a physical model indicating spatial relationships rather than a diagram of dynamic interrelationships between emanations. People think that the Aces cannot "sit" on the Princesses because the Aces are in the Kether circle at the top of the diagram, and the Princesses are in the Malkuth circle at the bottom. So they compound the matter by considering the chain of ToLs in which the Malkuth of one is the Kether of another. So now it is supposedly easy for the Aces from the lower ToL to sit on the Princesses of the upper Tol. (Actually this makes it seem more like the Princesses are sitting on the Aces. :D)
 

Barleywine

The problem in not with the ToL but with the fact that it is misinterpreted as a physical model indicating spatial relationships rather than a diagram of dynamic interrelationships between emanations. People think that the Aces cannot "sit" on the Princesses because the Aces are in the Kether circle at the top of the diagram, and the Princesses are in the Malkuth circle at the bottom. So they compound the matter by considering the chain of ToLs in which the Malkuth of one is the Kether of another. So now it is supposedly easy for the Aces from the lower ToL to sit on the Princesses of the upper Tol. (Actually this makes it seem more like the Princesses are sitting on the Aces. :D)

This gets at some of my discontent with the existing models. I've been looking at Regardie's and Wang's "Tree of Life in Three Dimensions" for a long time now, as well as Eden Gray's seemingly hare-brained one, but they don't really work for me in any astrodynamic sense. I just haven't found the key, I guess; maybe I need one sitting on my desk.

My main problem is that the 2D models seem to show the Princesses and Aces, sitting at the celestial pole, as being superior to the Knights, Queens and Princes. About the only way I can get my head around this is to realize that the Princesses and Aces are mainly acting upon the inferior material world of Malkuth (the Princesses as the "Earth" of their respective elements and the Aces as the "root" of those elements in manifestation. Symbolically, the Knights, Queens and Princes don't descend below Tiphareth in their operation, so they are really more principles of the superior regions. I don't really have difficulty with "who is sitting on whom," since the Aces seem to be more a function of the polar axis (the "handle of the parasol," if you will) while the Princesses revolve around it. Or how about, more graphically, the Ace as the "nipple" on the teat that dispenses its nourishment into the phenomenal world? (I think I need more sleep, that last notion has got me thinking more of the "Napper Crapper" of the John Ritter movie Stay Tuned than any kind of exalted royal perch :))

Anyway, I have a vision of what would work for me as a 3D model and will be drawing it up today. I have the distinct impression that I've seen something like what I'm after somewhere before, but just can't put my finger on it.
 

foolMoon

Princesses don't stay as them forever. They move on with time and events, and become Queens. So potentially, they are on throne.
 

Barleywine

Here's what I have so far. Although the analogy is imperfect (the dynamics and "current flow" are atypical) it suggests the idea behind an electrical generator, with its stator, rotor and shaft. The "rotor" (Princess) picks up the "current" from the "stator" (the associated Prince in the orbital "ring") and concentrates it, delivering it to the "shaft" (Ace) for transmission to the "battery" (world of matter). A metaphysical "induction coil" is another thought, with the Knight/Queen/Prince ring as the "outer winding" and the Princess as the "inner winding", while the Ace acts as the "core."

To get around the complexity involved in showing a fully 3D structure, I did this as a "vertical slice" showing the single central degree (15 Aquarius) within the Princess of Sword's quadrant. The picture also makes me think of a pennant on a flagstaff that rotates through 360 degress of the sphere. But I like the "electrical generator" idea better since it more fully expresses how I see the dynamic.

Note that I left out the Major Arcana this time around, but will examine how to best fit them in at the next (hopefully "prettier") iteration.

ETA: In retrospect, that "orbital ring" should really be depicted as a "stacked" three-tiered design (Knight/Queen/Prince in descending order), similar to the Hierophant's crown and scepter in the RWS image. That way, all 12 of the remaining court cards could be loaded into the 360 degree model.
 

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Abrac

I see what you're getting at. Very interesting to say the least. :)
 

Barleywine

On Second Thought . . .

Rather than "stacking" the other three court cards, I decided that distributing all of them around the ring is more in keeping with the rotational idea.

ETA: I got to thinking along slightly different lines with this model: the Prince is the fecundating dynamic; the Princess is the acquiescent womb; the Ace is the "seed Idea" that is planted there; the decan describes the "planetary urge" prompting its germination; the zodiacal sign reflects the mature organism "in full flower;" and the associated Major Arcanum is the fruitful yield of the whole process, providing the "seed Idea" for the next step in the cycle. The main weakness in this line of thought is that the only Trumps it includes are the zodiacal ones; the planetary and elemental Trumps are excluded, so there are some gaps in the logical continuum. It would also seem to argue that the numbering of Lust and Adjustment should be swapped back to "normalize" the sequence as "4-5-6-7-8-9-11-13-14-15-17-18."

In the present example, the "seed Idea" for the Princess of Swords in the decan of Mercury would be the Devil and its assocaition with Capricorn - the blunter, coarser expression of Saturn (although slightly softened by its initial passage through the decan of Venus). The discriminating action of the Princess, the Ace of Swords and Mercury would reshape Saturn into its more abstract, theoretical form as traditional ruler of Aquarius; the more evolved "seed Idea" represented by the Star would then be moderated by the decan of the Moon before being passed on to the Piscean phase of the sub-cycle.
 

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