Excesses and Extremes

From the Millennium Tarot 2000 this morning was drawn the King of Swords:

I had a hard time reconciling Fochi's choice of Henry VIII for this tarot king, who is known for his objectivity, fairness and intellect.  When I think of Henry, I think of a self-indulgent man (his six wives and his obesity) who was more concerned with fulfilling his own desires than worrying about the rights of others.  But Henry is also well known for separating the Church of England from the Roman Catholic Church.  I had always assumed he did this because he wanted to divorce his wife, but there were actually more complex reasons than this motivation.  Henry felt England was treated like a stepchild by Rome.  He and his advisers believed that the pope was acting more like an Italian prince than a church leader, and they found it intolerable that major decisions about England were being decided by the Italians.  So while other areas of his life were characterized by excesses, the reformation and religious policies of King Henry VIII might be described as a search for the middle way.  This card reminds me to avoid extremes of both actions and attitudes today by relying on my intellect rather than being guided by my emotions.

     The card chosen from the Post Psychedelic Cyberpunk deck for my daily draw is "The Forest:"

Falkov writes, "...but in truth, there is simply nothing that can compare to the beauty and complexity of real nature.  Any truth you seek can be found there, for this is where our origins lie.  This is not a matter of worshiping nature, or even studying biology (though the latter can help enormously in one's appreciation).  One simply has to stay and observe to learn much."  I have to agree with Falkov, and hope that humanity will discover the treasure we have in our forests and wild areas, before we pave over everything in the name of "progress"...