Corrupted Power

This week I'll be using the Tarot of the Masters, created and self-published by James Ricklef. (I'll also be referring to Ricklef's Tarot Affirmations book.) The oracle deck I'll be using is The Key to the Kingdom, a transformational cards and booklet set created by Tony Meeuwissen and published by Running Press. Today's draws are the High Priest and the Queen of Diamonds:

Ricklef's drawing is based on Raphael's painting of Pope Gregory IX, a man known for issuing decretals (papal decrees concerning canon law) and for instituting the Papal Inquisition (groups charged with suppressing heresy). He is a prime example of how tradition gets mistaken for truth and guidance becomes corrupted by power. On the heels of the devastating news about the Supreme Court's reversal of Roe vs. Wade, this card feels oppressive and tyrannical. If those 'christian' justices would read Exodus, they would see the unborn were treated as a treasured possession but not a human life. Yet the Queen of Diamonds asks that we maintain our commons sense rather than rely on opinions and assumptions. As a chess piece among other game pieces, she asks us to use our intellect to form a strategic plan rather than be jerked around by our emotions. There will always be those who try to contain and suppress others with their personal beliefs, but as William J. Brennan, Jr. wrote, "Law cannot stand aside from the social changes around it."