Mary-El Tarot

KING OF PENTACLES

This very earthy looking image is really a picture of the Universe. It is Atum the first creator God, and it is Iusaset his hand, the great acacia tree, tree of ife, the Ka of Atum, us, the physical universe.

Atum had sex with himself; he sucked his own phallus making himself the Ouroboros. He spit out the semen creating air and moisture (and probably the first rainbow ever), beginning the creation of the whole universe from his own flesh. This beginning of matter becomes a tree, a fantastic acacia tree theat grows and branches containing all life that ever exists, all matter. The whole of the manifest uiverse is a giant tree growing at bothe ends, flowering, branching, and fruiting (remember, Iusaset is the one who grows and comes).

And at the end, this salt and mercury, this god and goddess, this god and his hand, this god and his soul, this world of matter and world or spirit, have sex and from that sex comes fruit, and that fruit, in the end, is eaten by Atum ending the cycle and ending the Universe. He eats his own fruit and the universe collapses back into One. The King of Disks is the completer, the finisher, which is what the word "tem" that Atum is based on, means.

He is the Manifest King, the king of all the elements, and he is eating the fruit of life. As God eats the Universe he creates from his flesh. The Wheel turns. But it won't end today, maybe he will just lick it a little for now.

Meet life with lust!

Keywords:

Master of life, living, physical existence, joviality, of temptation(and not resisting it!), of laughter, of pranks, of sexuality, of living in the moment, of earthiness, of virility, of lust and lustiness, animal nature, of wickedness, of satisfaction, of risk taking, of accepting unpleasant results in favor of excellent experiences. Eat the forbidden fruit with relish!

Reverse:

Taking life too seriously. Forgetting to live. Not expressing love. Not expressing joy. Not being your true self.

Traditional Divinatory Meanings:

A fair man. Unfriendly or indifferent. Merchant or professor.

Reverse:

Vicious old man.

Monday, July 07, 2003

Back to what I was thinking about last night, that one of the last cards I did was the King of Disks. I don't know what the public perception is of him, but I love him. I think he is so mischevious! Of course as I was painting him I had Pan in mind, who better to be the king of the earth and earthly things?

I realized last night for the first time that if I were to put all of the cards in a linear order the King of Disks would be last, card number 78. 7+8 is, of course, 15, the number of the Devil card in the major arcana. 15 with three fives, if you please.

It occurs to me that a King of Disks who is the Devil made out of the Chariot (7) and Justice (8) is an interesting King! And I wonder how he differs from a devil made up of, say the Lovers (6) and the Hermit (9)? One is healthy and balanced with an inside and an outside able to enjoy life, the other seems lonely, cast out, in solitude. Hmm, which card is 69? Hmmm so why am I not surprised that it is the 5 of Disks?