Princesses and Aces: “Doubling-Down” on Opportunity
AUTHOR’S NOTE: In tarot reading, the Aces and the Princesses (Pages in the Waite-Smith deck, Knaves or Valets in the Tarot de Marseille) embody the idea of “beginnings” and of entering a new chapter, a quality they share with the Fool and Judgement of the Major Arcana. Here I’m translating this emphasis on the pursuit of new horizons into the concept of “opportunity.”
In the Golden Dawn’s system of Chaldean correspondences, the Ace and Princess of each suit occupy one-quarter of celestial space around the polar axis. The mystical premise is that each Princess serves as the “throne” for the spiritual force of the Ace, from which the latter projects forth into the cards of the rest of its suit that are arrayed around the ecliptic. The Aces could be seen as literally “springing from the lap” of the Princesses in a form of “birthing.” (I’m leaving the RWS Pages and TdM Knaves out of this because they are immature and aren’t “birthing” anything beyond their own incipient ambition.) While the Princesses may be youthful, they are anything but callow.
The encouragement for this essay came from my earlier thought that a good “tarot euphemism” for the Ace of Pentacles would be the “golden opportunity” card. It is a card of pragmatic initiative that has a purposeful aim, all it needs is a “kick in the pants” to get it moving toward the goal. The Princess of Pentacles is level-headed and resolute, but also possesses the “juice” of adolescence to motivate the Ace to act and not just sit on its hands. If they appear together in a spread (and particularly if they are adjacent), the “golden opportunity” would be that much more likely to transform into concrete achievement. Other cards could certainly inspire the Ace in its mission, but these two are of like mind and similar status: each is the first expression of its series and carries the “seed” of that promise.
The Ace of Wands is a card of inspiration and incentive; it is the “spark” that lights the fire symbolized by its suit. Its “tarot euphemism” is the “Just do it!” card, and it is easily infected by the impatience and impetuosity of the Princess of Wands. The Princess commands “Jump!” and the Ace immediately asks “How high?” The challenge when they appear together in a spread is to avoid leaping into action unprepared, usually in the “heat of the moment.” As the saying goes, in the service of unbridled ambition “One would lie and the other would swear to it.”
The “tarot euphemism” for the Ace of Cups is the “All You Need Is Love” card, and it can be indiscriminate in where and how it bestows its favor. My favorite analogy for it (courtesy of the Thoth version) is “a water balloon splatting on a pavement:” one big gush of unalloyed emotion. It invites all manner of intercourse and doesn’t always vet its suitors sufficiently before letting them into its boudoir. The Princess of Cups is “of a piece” with the Ace of Cups: charming and ingratiating but not particularly critical. If what you want is a shot at an emotional tête-à-tête with no questions asked, this pair in a reading should serve it up in spades.
The Ace of Swords is the “bright idea” card, and it is well out in front of any practical considerations that might limit its reach. It doesn’t want to hear “You can’t do that!” but on the other hand it has no sound explanation for how it might do so. It is the “brainstorming” card with no clue how to purge the storm drains of its mental debris, so it can choke on its own intellectual brilliance before creating anything useful out of it. It needs a competent facilitator but the Princess of Swords ain’t it; she can be petty and malicious, playing right into the imprudent ways of the Ace. When together in a spread, they could feed off one another and shouldn’t be trusted to present a sensible argument regarding the subject of the reading.
These brief, impressionistic “logic exercises” are a lot of fun to ponder while also offering useful insights into the kinds of opportunity that cards in combination can generate.
Originally published at http://parsifalswheeldivination.wordpress.com on July 3, 2023.
