Something Else than Worldly Glory
An excerpt of the First Letter of Clare of Assisi to Agnes of Prague inspires the card of this second day of Advent. Clare of Assisi was a girl from well-off parents, who followed in the footsteps of Francis of Assisi. She was the founder and the abbess of a monastery for women, San Damiano. Agnes of Prague was a princess who rejected a marriage with Emperor Frederick II in favor of establishing a monastery for women. Agnes was poor, as Clare and her monastery. Their monasteries had no income whatsoever, the nuns need not bring a dowry, and they did not accept any form of steady income from profits. The nuns gave as much as possible to the poor, and were dependent on the gifts of the community. Clare congratulates Agnes with her choice to found a monastery in her letter, saying:
“(5) I rejoice because you, more than others, could have enjoyed public ostentation, honors, and worldly status having had the opportunity to become, with eminent glory, legitimately married to the illustrious emperor, as would befit your and his pre-eminence.
(6) Spurning all these things with your whole heart and mind, you have chosen instead holiest poverty and physical want, (7) accepting a nobler spouse, the Lord Jesus Christ (…).”
Agnes chose not for worldly status as the wife of an emperor. She accepted Christ as a spouse instead, dedicated her life to the poor, and lived in poverty. What do you do, or what will you do if you do not choose a life of worldly status The question for the first card of this Advent period is:
What road do I choose if I renounce worldly glory?
I have pulled Justice from the Victorian Regina Tarot. I’ve never, ever seen pictured Justice so fiercely.
I really like worldly glory. I am all in for that. Regretfully I do not have worldly glory. Although I love my work with tarot, and it means a lot to me, I do not earn a living with it, and more often then not, it estranges me from people I meet. So, I do not renounce worldly glory.
But whether I like it or not, I somehow choose to walk this other road, renouncing worldly glory. It was Agnes' choice, but the life she had before her choice was not so goo. What could she do differently than entering religious life? She was shipped off away when she was third years old for a marriage. When this man died, shipped off to another canditate, whose family found a better party. When it was Frederick's turn she did not want it any more.
The card of today shows me that this is a road on which I need to very confident. “Here I come, I am fighting to balance the scales in society: in my life by not having my own income, and in my career because I focus on soft values as personal growth, looking inwards, empathy, and in trusting non-logical ways of obtaining wisdom: tarotcards.
Surprisingly the card depicts one of the characteristics of Clare - one of the ways she was seen in during the Middle Ages. She was a fighter and an activist. Clare fought her whole life to get her rule of life for her nuns accepted by the pope, and Agnes fought with great persistance too for this lifestyle of poverty.
“(5) I rejoice because you, more than others, could have enjoyed public ostentation, honors, and worldly status having had the opportunity to become, with eminent glory, legitimately married to the illustrious emperor, as would befit your and his pre-eminence.
(6) Spurning all these things with your whole heart and mind, you have chosen instead holiest poverty and physical want, (7) accepting a nobler spouse, the Lord Jesus Christ (…).”
Agnes chose not for worldly status as the wife of an emperor. She accepted Christ as a spouse instead, dedicated her life to the poor, and lived in poverty. What do you do, or what will you do if you do not choose a life of worldly status The question for the first card of this Advent period is:
What road do I choose if I renounce worldly glory?
I have pulled Justice from the Victorian Regina Tarot. I’ve never, ever seen pictured Justice so fiercely.
I really like worldly glory. I am all in for that. Regretfully I do not have worldly glory. Although I love my work with tarot, and it means a lot to me, I do not earn a living with it, and more often then not, it estranges me from people I meet. So, I do not renounce worldly glory.
But whether I like it or not, I somehow choose to walk this other road, renouncing worldly glory. It was Agnes' choice, but the life she had before her choice was not so goo. What could she do differently than entering religious life? She was shipped off away when she was third years old for a marriage. When this man died, shipped off to another canditate, whose family found a better party. When it was Frederick's turn she did not want it any more.
The card of today shows me that this is a road on which I need to very confident. “Here I come, I am fighting to balance the scales in society: in my life by not having my own income, and in my career because I focus on soft values as personal growth, looking inwards, empathy, and in trusting non-logical ways of obtaining wisdom: tarotcards.
Surprisingly the card depicts one of the characteristics of Clare - one of the ways she was seen in during the Middle Ages. She was a fighter and an activist. Clare fought her whole life to get her rule of life for her nuns accepted by the pope, and Agnes fought with great persistance too for this lifestyle of poverty.