Aces

Today was the Ace of Swords. I was happy to read a little of what Crowley wrote about it, since I’ve found that the Aces tend to boil down to “New beginning, divine gift, this elemental assignation, blahblah…” – He said it offered Objectivity, which I think is very powerful. It made me think that rather than see the divinity being offered in the Aces as a ‘pure’ form of the element in question, it broadens our experience of that part of life from the self to a more holistic, evolutionary understanding. In the case of Mind (Air), it extends our thoughts from the microscope of personal experience to seeing the bigger picture; Hence, objectivity. The divinity of mind is the ability to observe and communicate reality as it is, without bias. This gives us a clear view to practice our powers of reason and determination.

A friend and I thought about what the other Aces might offer as gifts; Cups may extend our feeling nature to empathize with others and grant us heightened compassion. Disks may allow us to look beyond our own material dilemma and grant us the opportunity for charity and healing. Wands would be what I generally read into all Aces, a deep inspiration, new feelings of will and motivation, and also a sense of meaningfulness and passion.

So, a new (old?) formula which one can consider with Aces is perhaps to treat them as an expansion from the personal to the transpersonal. Objectivity is the mind broadened. I like that new twist on Aces, and it helps me get out of the ‘new beginnings’ rut. At the same time, recognizing that Aces correspond to the fiery crown of the Qabalah allows me to see where the impetus to evolve still appears in each and every one of them.