No sooner have we spoken of structure and limits, as we did in our discussion of (14) Temperance on Sunday, than the lord of misrule, the (0) Fool appears as the rulers of our psyche for the week! However, the (0) Fool who appears during the 22nd week after Trinity does so in the week of the (0) Fool as initiate into the mysteries of the Upper Arcana, the child of the Holy Spirit. This is the Pauline (0) Fool who approves all things that are excellent, and who is sincere without offence, as the collect for the 22nd Sunday after Trinity puts it.
The Last Quarter of the Moon
Later today we enter the final quarter phase of the Moon for this cycle, moving through a sense of gratitude to a time of forgiveness; forgive yourself and others of past mistakes, bad habits and any foolish mishaps, emptying ourselves even as the Moon is now emptying itself.
It may be that such a process opens itself to a certain saturnine melancholia as we look into the abyss of black folly and of our subconscious drives, especially as Saturn is currently close to Pluto in expansive Sagittarius. However, any melancholia will be borne lightly and with good grace by the (0) Fool. Indeed, there is a golden delight to be had when the melancholy of Saturn is accepted in this way as it allows us to accept ourselves as we are and ultimately to move on and approach every situation from a place of love.
Ficino on Lunar People and Saturn
Keep in mind that the (0) Fool has appeared to us on a Monday, which is dedicated to the Moon, together with Sagittarian (14) Temperance as our solar arcana for the week, and the teaching of Ficino that follows will make good sense:
Those lunar people whom Socrates describes in the Phaedo, inhabiting the highest surface of the earth and still higher in the clouds, watching prudently and content, in moderation, and dedicated to the study of secret wisdom and to religion, enjoy the happiness of Saturn. They live a prosperous and long life, so that they are considered not so much mortal persons as immortal daemons, whom many call heroes and the Golden Race enjoying the age and reign of Saturn.
Marsilio Ficino, Opera, p. 496, quoted by Thomas Moore in The Planets Within, pp. 172-3
Do we not see the (0) Fool on the cliff edge in Ficino’s description of lunar people as “inhabiting the highest surface of earth and still higher in the clouds”? Our (0) Fool has been studying secret wisdom through the twenty one weeks of Trinity.
And do we not see in Ficino’s reference to “prudence and moderation” (14) Temperance who rules the (0) Fool and the rest of this week? The presence of (14) Temperance in today’s (0) Fool arcana is alluded to by the rising sun in the top right corner, for it was on Sunday that (14) Temperance appeared to us.
So, use this time prudently, accepting any melancholic gifts from Saturn for the gold they bring. Be forgiving of others and of yourself as you prepare to leap into a newer phase of life over the course of the week.
Recent Comments