5. The Master of the Arcanes

I hope this is not your guy...

5. The Master of the Arcanes. Here is an earthly power, a Pope, holding the triple cross which touches the earth. He mistakes his earthly power for spiritual force. This symbol is in direct contrast with the circle-rod of the master of the cubic stone, whose instrument does not touch the earth but is raised toward heaven. The master of the cubic stone is spiritual, this Pope temporal and physical. The contrast of these two cards is the contrast between religion and true faith. True faith in God requires no denomination, no earthly master, no magnificent temple.

Without the seeker placing his faith in the one true and living God, he will be subject to the domain of the Popes of this world, to religion and bondage and suppression by physical buildings. The seeker will miss some or all of his calling by parking too long and too wholeheartedly in the province of the popes.

Unlike the master sitting content on the stone on card 4, this man seems only personally fulfilled when he has human beings, to whom he is really only an equal, bow down to him. The card shows two imps, much smaller than the pope. That is always the way with earthly popes. They are great and large, their subjects small and diminutive. Giving up the part of themselves that could fulfill their true calling, using their own powers of mind and decision-making. These subject-imps dwarf their humanity when they give blind allegiance to the pope. Under the guise of helping and bettering them, the pope strips them of themselves.

That the pope could live with such a lopsided and megalomaniacal view of life shows that his arrogant buoyancy is a species of mental disease, one nearly impossible to diagnose...can you help the masters of the arcane in your life to see the light? This is a mission impossible, but hey, if you don't try to help them....who will? Be courageous.

A magnificent cathedral or an austere cubic stone...