Friday: The Coronation. A Pledge To Faithfulness, But Often Destroyed & Undermined, With Future Judgements On What Has Been Lost
Friday 14th April 2023
For the final reading this week, I’ve chosen to do one on the upcoming Coronation, the preparations for and hoo-ha about which are hotting up in UK news right now.
I’m using the 36 card Piatnik 1901 Traditional Gypsy Fortune Telling Cards (a precursor to the Kipper as well as earlier versions to the Vera Sibilla), and have chosen Marriage as the key card to symbolise the ceremony involved so bear that in mind. The symbols should be very familiar to you by now.
Here are the cards I pulled.
I’m going to be using the “alternate” way of reading a 9-Card spread for this one, which is simpler than usual, but quite telling.
The Cards
Marriage: A bond or agreement, a promise
Constancy: Presented in this deck as the “All-Seeing Eye” which gives it its God-like quality, it means certainty, constancy, what can be relied on.
Ecclesiastic: A priest, of religion. Spiritual, holy.
Misfortune: Disaster, destruction
Fidelity: Loyalty, fidelity, faithfulness
Enemy: An enemy or opponent, someone or something undermining, the dark side
Judge: Lawyer, judgement handed down
Widow: A woman mourning a loss
House: Home, family, environment
The Reading
Here, I first read the cards to the left and right of the central card, Marriage, which is all about the ceremony itself.
To the left of it, is the recent past associated with the ceremony, that is, faith, spirituality, religion and the priesthood (Ecclesiastical) and that it has been primarily a religious, “In the eyes of God” ceremony. To the right of it, however, suggesting what is imminent, is somewhat alarmingly, the Widow card. This suggests a ceremony from which a woman will be mourning her losses or what has been lost, perhaps publicly. These, of course, could be losses of all kinds, metaphorical as well as physical, and we do not know who the woman depicted is.
The card immediately above the centre card gives more detail about it or what is being thought of. It tells us that the Coronation is meant to be a promise ceremony where fidelity and faithfulness is vowed. (Fidelity-Marriage). Beneath, however, showing the basis of what is happening right now, is the Enemy card. An opposing force perhaps wants to undermine it, or the promise is undermined by that which opposes it.
For the more distant past, we can look at the left corner cards together. Here, we see that there has been Constancy, so there is continuation, but that all seeing eye has also seen destruction of what the ceremony is supposed to stand for (Misfortune).
For the longer term future picture, we can look at the right hand corner cards together in relation to the centre. Here we have the Judge, so people will be passing down judgement on the House, so the family or institution, particularly around what, or perhaps who, it has lost.
If we were to read the cards horizontally also, we’d see that at the core, what the woman is mourning is the religious faith or spiritual element of it (Ecclesiastic, Marriage, Widow). Above that, we have the judgement of the all-seeing-eye, perhaps God or Fate, around the concept of fidelity and faithfulness (Constancy, Fidelity, Judge). And beneath, as underlying factors, we have a House with a history of destruction and Misfortune visited on it by an Enemy, an opposing force.
So with those negative cards, and apologies to any ardent monarchists, but it’s not exactly the most cheery picture, and at best, a rather cynical view of the whole proceeding.
A ceremony promising fidelity is undermined by an enemy or opposing force. It has been a religious faith ceremony, but the constancy and tradition has long been undermined by periods of destructiveness. Ahead, we see a woman mourning the loss of something, and the house, structure or institution as a whole being judged.