Mirrors
"Kafka observed that ‘Art is a mirror which sometimes runs fast like a clock’.
The
accelerating increase in the volume and variety of scientific, artistic
and intellectual
production in the West since the Renaissance has meant that at some
point the entire
culture started ‘running fast’, taxing to breaking point the capacity of
human beings to
process the information with which they are bombarded and still create a
coherent,
homogeneous world view. In these conditions notions such as ‘normal’ and
‘well-adjusted’ become deeply ambivalent."
- Rebirthing the West: Time, Modernity and Fascism
"The "schizoid" strategy should finally also be examined in light of the
brutal speed
catapulting everyday life in the present moment -- a condition
constantly exacerbated
by mind-boggling technological developments. Whereas the 1960s slogan
warned
amphetamine users that "speed kills", the sociocultural speed at which
we are
increasingly required to engage Others, the self and the everyday might
also induce
addiction, disorientation, inappropriate emotional responses,
exhaustion, and
accidental death (Morin 1993). As a relatively unexplored dimension
increasingly
guiding everyday life and interaction, speed could end up being an
essential variable
for a more critical understanding of postmodern selfhood and its "mental
disorders".
Like the general weakness, nausea and vomiting accompanying car-, air-
and
sea-sickness, a constricting of the heart, a chronic decrease in
emotional temperature,
and a sullen detachment from Others may be at least partly symptomatic
of a toxic
speed sickness."
- The Pains of Everyday Life
Projective Identification -
Mirrors
"Mutual projective processes are
powerfully described by Tom Main. He provides excellent analyses
of projective mechanisms in individuals, couples and large and
small groups. I repeat his conclusion:
'Certain pairs come
to live in such locked systems, dominated by mutual projective
phantasies with each not truly married to a person, but rather to
unwanted, split off and projected parts of themselves. But the
husband, dominant and cruel, and the wife, stupidly timid and
respectful, may be miserably unhappy with themselves and with
each
other, yet such marriages, although turbulent, are stable,
because
each partner needs the other for narcissistic pathological
purposes.' (Main, 1975, pp. 100-01).
- Ambiguous Space: Projective Identification
"Often a person who is rigidly upright
(the
"straight
man"
)
and
has very high standards of behaviour will envy the one who goes
through life with insouciance and a very liberal notion of ethics
and morality.
(the
"late
man")
Then
the paragon's unacknowledged, shadow aspects will be projected on
to the scamp and he will be perceived by the envier as utterly
evil."
- Cronos and His Children: Envy and Reparations
Mirrors
portrays the hopelessly conflicted inner state of
the schizoid man. The impression is of "first this way and then
that way", of two locomotives ...or, perhaps, two horses
attempting to gallop off in opposite
directions.
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Victoria - Nike - Victory
Victory (Chariot) Tarot Card
(Pythagorean Tarot)
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"When every man is torn apart
With nightmares and
with dreams,"
"On the level of PS
(paranoid-schizoid position) repetitive swings from one pole to
the other--from being in (=engulfment) to being out
(=abandonment), the "borderline dilemma" threaten to go on
interminably."
- Metaphor and the Mind
THE SCHIZOID
WORLD
"British Object Relations theorists called certain
people schizoid because of "schisms" in the personality. Akhtar
has observed that these "schisms" are based ...upon conscious
versus unconscious oppositions... (Akhtar, 1992, p.
139)."
- Diagnosing the English Patient
"One
of the most powerful and influential images of the psyche is
found
in Plato's philosophy. In the Phaedrus the soul is pictured as a
charioteer driving two horses, one representing the bodily
passions and the other the higher emotions. This metaphor
encapsulates the two approaches to consciousness -- the
biological
and the spiritual -- which have been pursued, without being
reconciled, throughout Western philosophy and science. This
conflict generated the "mind-body problem" that is reflected in
many schools of psychology, most notably in the conflict between
the psychologies of Freud and Jung."
- Fritjof Capra, The
Turning Point (p. 69)
"Phaedrus was translated into Latin in thirteenth-century Sicily, under the
Emperor Frederick II."
- Rational Constructions
"Schizoid patients yearn for a
relationship, but the possible injury associated with even slight
emotional contact is more than they are willing to bear. They are
continually faced with dual fears of both isolation and
engulfment. There is no comfortable direction for them to turn.
Afraid of direct contact, they attempt to express their locked-in
emotions through artistic expression, or they retreat to the safe
haven of intellectual thoughts and pursuits. Control is an
obsession in their lives because they cannot risk the emotional
upheavals that might result from a situation that gets out of
control (Mansfield, 1992, p. 254)."
- Oppressed Group: Schizoid - A Personality not a
Disorder
VIII. Victoria - Nike - Victory
Magister Gladii - Master of the Sword
Trigram: I::
Name: Chen = the Arousing. Image: Thunder. The First Son,
associated with initiative, action, incisiveness, vehemence,
strength. Southeast in the Earlier Heaven.
"A winged
Victory, in flowing purple robes and holding a laurel wreath,
hovers above a Hero, who drives his chariot directly towards us.
He is a young man, strong and determined, with short, curly, red
hair and no beard. He is dressed in full armor (bronze
breastplate
over a short, red tunic, and bronze greaves), and wears a helmet
with a tall, horse-hair crest. The charioteer stands, holding a
hasta (long spear) upright in his right hand and the reins in his
left. A dog or wolf sits in the chariot in front of the
charioteer's right leg, and to the his left is an ancile, a large
Bronze Age "figure 8" shield. On the shield is a special form of
the sign for Mars: an apple surmounted by a spread-winged
Victory.
The Chariot is the vehicle of the Hero, both to sally
forth on new adventures, and to celebrate his triumphant return.
It is especially important that the Hero master and
control the raw animal energy of his horses - physical and
spiritual - which pull in different directions.
(see above: "Control is an
obsession in their lives because they cannot risk the emotional
upheavals that might result from a situation that gets out of
control.")
The
charioteer holds the spear in his right hand, indicating that is
the instrument of his conscious action; the reins are in his left
hand because he has internalized (made unconscious) his ability
to
govern his drives and actions.
(again, see above: the "locked-in
emotions" of the schizoid)
The two reins represent
intelligence and will (Cooper s.v. chariot), and the
corresponding
horses represent physical energy (red roan) and spiritual energy
(blue roan) (Nichols 141).
The Chariot is a symbol of the
outward journey toward "individuation," that is, toward the fully
integrated self (Nichols 139, 149).
The color red
dominates our image for manifold reasons. In general terms it is
the color of physical energy, blood, vitality and fire. It is the
color of war gods, and specifically of Mars, the red planet. It
is
also the color of the sign Aries. (Cooper s.v. colours)
In
Petrarch's "Africa" and Albricus' "Allegoriae Poeticae" Mars
comes, furious, full-bearded, in his blood-stained, three-horse
chariot; he is in full armor, a shining helmet upon his head, a
three-roped flail in his left hand. On his left, the cock crows
on
a block, and a wolf runs beside him, carrying the child in its
mouth. The screaming Furies follow close behind.
(Recall that the
screaming Furies sought to punish Orestes for the murder of his
mother.)
I
believe that the Chariot, like Mars, corresponds to Aries. First,
Mars is the planet that rules Aries, and Mars displays the
characteristics attributed to Aries. Second, Mars is intimately
connected with the vernal equinox and the efflorescence of
nature;
he gave his name to March, which was the first month of the
pre-Julian Roman calendar. His birthday was celebrated on the
first of March, and he had important festivals throughout the
month. March initiated the war season, and the traditional
iconography of March is filled with symbols of Mars. (de Mailly
Nesle
130-1; OCD s.v. Mars; Oswalt 180; Salzman 106-11)
The danger facing the Hero is hubris, usually translated
"overweening pride." If his ego inflates and becomes invested
with
the trappings of victory, then his negative qualities will come
forward, and the seeds of defeat will have been sowed (cf.
Nichols
144-6). Then he will be like Ares, "hated by gods and mortals,"
the embodiment of unrefined brute strength and blind violence,
obstinate and eager for strife, yet not nearly so successful as
the more prudent Athena (his dual) (Larousse 124-5; Sharman-Burke
& Greene 39-41). However, true victory is possible if Mars is
accompanied, as he often is, by Honos (Honor) and Virtus (Virtue)
(Larousse 202).
Furthermore, Chariot (Ares) and Justice
(Athena) form a natural pair (blind violence versus cool,
intelligent courage)."
(The "cool intelligent courage" of
I Talk to the
Wind
, perhaps?)
- The Pythagorean Tarot by John Opsopaus
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As
mentioned in chapter two, in his book,
Tarot and the
Millenium
, Timothy Betts points out that the original
character on the Emperor tarot card is Frederick II. The Victory
tarot card is also known by the name"Victoria". The most
significant incident of hubris and conspicuous consumption
(Promethean over-reaching) in the life of Frederick II took place
in a city called "Victoria".
VICTORIA
"With the approach
of autumn Frederick began the erection of a siege-city outside
the
walls of Parma to which he gave the name, somewhat
over-optimistically, of Victoria. It is apparent however that he
intended Victoria to be something more than a temporary city -
probably a permanent memorial to what he confidently anticipated
would be a decisive victory. Like the cities of antiquity
Victoria
was laid out ceremoniously under the auspices of the court
astrologers."
- Thomas Curtis Van Cleve
The Emperor
Frederick II von Hohenstaufen
Immutator Mundi
(p.
510-11)
"The new town was to arise under the sign of Mars : astrologers and augurs had
to calculate an auspicious moment while the site of the new town was marked
out."
- Frederick II
by Ernst Kantorowicz
(p. 654)
"It was to be a city large and populous...Within its
walls Frederick planned the erection of a splendid cathedral in
honour of St. Victor. Here also he established his chancery, his
courts of law and the other agencies of the royal court. It was
said that he brought there his menagerie including elephants,
dromedaries, panthers, lions, cheetahs, lynxes, and white
bears,also his hunting dogs, birds of various kinds, including
goshawks, gyrfalcons, and owls. Here also was his harem, women of
great beauty, held captive in pleasure gardens under the
surveillance of eunuchs. On the outskirts of the city were
villas,
vineyards and orchards.
But with all these preparations so
confidently undertaken, Frederick greatly underestimated his
opponent Gregory of Montelongo who soon found an opportunity to
strike the Emperor a shattering blow.
("The danger facing the Hero is hubris,
usually translated "overweening pride." If his ego inflates and
becomes invested with the trappings of victory, then his negative
qualities will come forward, and the seeds of defeat will have
been sowed.")
Fredericks absence on a hunting expedition gave the
Parmesans the chance for a successful assault. Parmesan troops
together with a motley throng of citizens with their wives and
children, suddenly attacked the siege-city, killing or else
putting to ignominious flight the defending forces. They razed
and
burned the city of Victoria, capturing Thaddeus of Suessa, the
learned Justice. With him they also captured an inestimable
treasure."
- Thomas Curtis Van Cleve
The Emperor
Frederick II von Hohenstaufen
Immutator Mundi
(p.
510-11)
"The imperial camp was laid waste. The Emperor's
quarters were raided: gold, silver, jewels, fine cloths were
found
in amazing quantities; even the imperial crown was
stolen."
- Frederick II A Medieval Emperor
by David
Abulafia
"So serious was this defeat that it was long
treated by historians...as a turning-point in the life of
Frederick II, leaving him a defeated and broken man."
-
Thomas Curtis Van Cleve
The Emperor Frederick II von
Hohenstaufen
Immutator Mundi
(p. 514)
"He would
suffer patiently the scoffings, and mockings and revilings of
jesters, and often feign that he heard not. For after the
destruction of Victoria by the men of Parma, he smote his hand on
the hump of a certain jester, saying 'My Lord Dallio, when shall
this box be opened?' to whom the other answered, ' 'Tis odds if
it
be ever opened now, for I lost the key in Victoria.' The Emperor,
hearing how this jester recalled his own sorrow and shame,
groaned
and said, with the Psalmist, 'I was troubled, and I spoke
not.'"
- The Chronicle of Salimbene
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