Grace

[WalesWoman]

Well, in keeping with tongue in cheek, smart assedness... my first thought of Grace is not tripping when walking across the room and an just incase, it does happen that when falling on one's face, that it is more of a gliding, slow motion floating downward, in an artful manner... none of this grimacing, arms and legs akimbo, embarrassement of looking like an ass.

So Grace could be the World/Universal Dancer, the High Preistess, and Temperance. Because of it's stateliness, it's demeanor, it's sureity and completion, in a sense... and also keeping ones balance.

As for being in the state of grace... all I'm sure of is, it sounds good. Being in someone's good graces to me means not being on their "shit list."... so again I'm guessing that it would be recieving the blessing of the Hierophant... towing the line and keeping within the limits... which now begins to sound like the Emperor and Chariot. Which makes me think of horses running and what is more a picture of beauty and grace in motion?

Then there is Justice, possibly the decider of who meets the standards or not of achieving this blessed state. She sees the potential of arriving at this state, so bites her lip and doesn't bust out laughing when watching one land on ones' derrier, gracefully... like a swan of course.

Ok, now I can go back and read all the replies and then go put my self in a corner... gliding all the way there.

 

[PlatinumDove]

Not having read the replies, I'm going to jump in:

If you google "define: grace" you get (just the Christian theological definitions):

-(Christian theology) a state of sanctification by God; the state of one who under such divine influence; "the conception of grace developed alongside the conception of sin"; "it was debated whether saving grace could be obtained outside the membership of the church"; "the Virgin lived in a state of grace"
-Christian theology) the free and unmerited favor or beneficence of God; "God's grace is manifested in the salvation of sinners"; "there but for the grace of God go I"

A good website that I found for definitions of grace is: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grace_(religion)

Based on all this, I would see the Ace of Cups as a card for grace.

 

[kwaw]

Aha...oh yes, Judgement. The spiritual awakening...this awakening could be an illustration of the moment of being touched by Grace.

"Grace is deceptive,
Beauty is illusory;
It is for her fear of the Lord
That a woman is to be praised."

Proverbs 31.30.

Proverbs 31 ends the book of proverbs and the last 22 verses are an acrostic, each verse starting with a word beginning with a letter of the alphabet, alef to tau. The above paragraph is the letter Shin paragraph, the verse beginning with the word ShQR meaning 'deceitful'. In the English Hermetic Tradition the letter Shin corresponds to the card 'Judgement'. Some words beginning with Shin which relate to the Judgement card are:

ShVFR - trumpet
ShVF - to blow
ShVFT - judge, judgement

So the words for Trumpet, to Blow and Judgement all share the same three initial consonants shin - vau - pei [Ph or F], which are also the first three letters in ShVFRA, which means 'Grace'.

The root of both ShVFRA [grace]and SHVFR [trumpet] is ShFR - to cleanse, make pleasing, to beautify; conciliate, harmonize. As in Sotah 11b [Talmud]where it says :"The Lord sent an angel from on high who cleansed them and made them beautiful, like a midwife that cleanses a child." So we may say the blow of the trumpet not only awakens, but is simultaneously an act of Grace that like a wind cleanses away the dust of the earth, the stain of our sins; like a midwife that cleanses the newly [re]born; and makes us beautiful before G-d.

The name of the letter ShYN itself is the root of the word ShYNH - second coming, and of ShYNA - sleep. Other words beginning with Shin include:

ShAVL [and ShChVThA] - netherworld, pit, grave [pit, grave];
ShKDA - asleep, corpse;
ShV - change, reverse, something bewildering;
ShY - repeat, do a second time.

Re: the phrase Fear of the Lord, commentary in the Jewish Study Bible comments: "Fear of the Lord is the culminating virtue of the Woman of Strength, just as it is Wisdom's starting point and high point."

Kwaw

 

[Sophie]

Oh, that's a good exegesis, Kwaw (not to mention an argument in favour of alef = Fool). Thanks. I like the Judgement for Grace.

But for the Grace of love, for the Grace of beauty, for the unbidden Grace of God - I'm with PD: the Ace of Cups.

 

[tarobones]

grace everywhere

What a wonderful thread! I find it difficult to choose just one card, and in many ways every card in the deck has been part of a "grace-filled" moment for me. As a matter of fact, every reading done while connected to Spirit, is grace-filled, I feel. I even consider Tower as a grace-filled card.........I've always seen it as "shaking of foundations" or "major breakthrough" or even the addict's "hitting rock bottom so you can begin to live again." In all of these, painful as they are, Tower moments are also graced moments. So how choose? I just can't really. Ace of Cups filled and overflowing does come to mind, but as I said, in a way, they all have been so for me. Thanks again for this wonderful thread! BB, Michael

 

[contradiction]

I am not sure which card I would liken to grace, but the best definition I can give is actually a comparison. Thirteen, actually had the correct defination.

Mercy is NOT giving someone something they deserve, Grace is giving them something good they DO NOT deserve. According to the Bible we are all sinners, deserving an eternity in hell (an actual place, not a bad word), but God was merciful toward us, and bestowed His grace toward us by making a way for us to escape hell, and spend eternity with Him, if we are willing to accept it.

 

[shaveling]

I often read The Star as grace in the Christian sense. I'm apparently thinking of grace as a thing poured out, instead of grace as a thing in itself (Ace of Cups?) or grace as a thing received (The Fool? Judgement?).

Since I think of the central figure in The World as Sophia (or the New Jerusalem, as the earthly reflection of Sophia), this leaves me with two Christ figures in the deck, both of them naked women. I'm fine with that, but someone else might think it too much.

 

[MercyMe]

Grace -- the unmerited favor of God. It's really a difficult concept for us to wrap our minds around which is why religions create all the Do's and Don'ts that supposedly curry favor with God. There aren't any. We are loved because God loves. We are cared for because God is the Great Mother. We are forgiven because God forgives. Not because we do something in particular, not because we are something beyond God's own. That's grace. And people were so freaked out about it (What? No rules? No punishment? Where's the reason behind that?) they had to make rules. But that's not grace. That's law.

Though there is something called the Law of Grace, which says that you are free and you are loved and you don't have to prove it. It's such a wonderful gift because once you DO wrap your mind around it, it feels so tremendous that you wish everyone understood, so you begin to live your life in such a way that displays that grace to others. Which ends up, when in action, fulfilling what is sometimes referred to as Jesus' Royal Law of Love: "Love one another as I have loved you."

Grace comes from the Fool who does not judge, not even himself. Grace is the Magician who understands and uses its great power. Grace is the High Priestess who knows all about it and lets you in on the secrets. Grace is the nurturing Mother the Empress and the protective Father the Emperor. Grace instructs you like the Heirophant. What would the Lovers know of love if not for grace? It propels you like the Chariot and is the Strength brought to bear on the beast that subdues it. It must be sought like the Hermit and when it is found gives light. With grace we must ride the Wheel else lose all hope. There would be no true Justice without it. Grace illuminates your mind as the Hanged Man and helps you to see from another's perspective. Grace sees you through Death and teaches the value of Temperance. It is by grace we might slip past the Devil and it is to grace we go when we release ourselves from his chains. And if we should forget grace it has a way of bringing the high low like the Tower. It is the Star that shines in the dark times. Grace guides you through the Moon times and fills you with joy in the Sun. Grace calls you from the dead to new life as Judgement and it is with grace you find yourself dancing as the World.

~Mercy

 

[firemaiden]

Proverbs 31 ends the book of proverbs and the last 22 verses are an acrostic, each verse starting with a word beginning with a letter of the alphabet, alef to tau. The above paragraph is the letter Shin paragraph, the verse beginning with the word ShQR meaning 'deceitful'. In the English Hermetic Tradition the letter Shin corresponds to the card 'Judgement'. Some words beginning with Shin which relate to the Judgement card are:

ShVFR - trumpet
ShVF - to blow
ShVFT - judge, judgement

So the words for Trumpet, to Blow and Judgement all share the same three initial consonants shin - vau - pei [Ph or F], which are also the first three letters in ShVFRA, which means 'Grace'.

Kwaw, your whole post was absolutely fascinating. Thank you.

 

[gypsy_morrigan]

This is a particularly favorite topic of mine.

Has anyone read Kleist's essay on grace? Here is a link to Idris Parry's translation (with some commentary): http://www.southerncrossreview.org/9/kleist.htm

For this kind of grace, which is earned after the initial grace is lost, I would assign the World. Unconscious grace is the Fool. His journey demonstrates the winning back of a better, new type grace.

These ideas of grace are also discussed in Philip Pullman's "His Dark Materials" trilogy, which is interesting to me because it involves the ability to "read" a device called an alethiometer, or truth-measure, in a manner very much like tarot. The main character is able to read the device because of her unconscious grace; once she loses it, she must regain the ability by study and hard work. I wonder if any of us can relate to that.