The Hymn of the Pearl and the Fools Journey…

Let us see if The Hymn of the Pearl can be fruitfully be compared to what is sometimes called The Fools Journey in the Tarot.  Try meditating on the cards below as you listen to this narration (the video annotations are not necessarily recommended).

As The Hymn of the Pearl is being narrated, the cards may be reflected upon as follows:

Begin with The Lovers, and follow the narrative from right to left…

lovers fool wheel moonOne possible interpretation:

  • The Lovers suggests our original unity in the house of our father…
  • The Fool is about to step off the precipice into duality–the world of the serpent…
  • The Wheel of Fortune represents dualistic phenomena…
  • The Moon represents the egoic mind and our human all to human intellect…

Drop down to The Tower, and follow the narrative from left to right…

tower ace-cups star temperanceOne possible interpretation:

  • The Tower represents the destiny of any finite mode with which we may become identified (or to which we may become attached).  But it especially represents those projects in which our ego is heavily invested as a means of defense against its inevitable dissolution (cf. the Tower of Babel).
  • The Ace of Cups represents the Word in the form of a letter from on high…
  • The Star represents receipt of the letter and our recollection of our race and worth.
  • Temperance, too, suggests an increasing sensitivity to our Divine calling…

Finally, drop down to The Hanged Man, and follow the narrative from right to left…

hanged-man judgement sun worldOne possible interpretation:

  • The Hanged Man, represents one who is fully awake–one who has a different center of gravity…
  • Judgement represents the stripping away of our old garments as we are raised in newness of life…
  • The Sun represents those who having taken up their cross– and having become like little children –enter the kingdom Now.
  • The World represents our return to the Divine intelligence in which we live and move and have our Being–which is, from another point of view, the advent of the Kingdom of Heaven…

Other (or different) cards might also be used and they might be ordered in a variety of ways.  And, of course, these cards would also lend themselves to a variety of interpretations.  But this is one way of understanding them in conjunction with The Hymn of the Pearl.

We shall not cease from exploration
And the end of all our exploring
Will be to arrive where we started
And know the place for the first time.
~ T.S. Eliot

His disciples said to him: On what day will the kingdom come? <Jesus said:> It will not come while people watch for it; they will not say: Look, here it is, or: Look, there it is; but the kingdom of the father is spread out over the earth, and men do not see it (The Gospel of Thomas 113).

–> The Pearl of Eternity

The Pearl of Simplicity