{The Mantelpiece (2) [continued (3)]}[21st December 1987]

[Redbook4:248-249][19871221:0000d]{The Mantelpiece (2) [continued (3)]}[21st December 1987]

19871221

[continued]

I suppose one should not be altogether surprised that Knaves* ['circle'] is a bit of a pig's breakfast. This does have the great merit of preserving the characters** of R~ (Avenger of God against the World of Lights / of the Luminaries (i.e. those pertaining to light) and S~ (Avenger of / Set over the Spirits who sin in the Spirit). Each now has an earlier 'turning' function at the beginning and end of Knaves Circle proper.

To some extent (although this may not be unique to it) this pattern does fit the first or 'Knaves' Quarter of life, which may loosely be characterised as Youth – and is probably (or may be) generally longer than I have previously suggested*** (and stretches back to birth, unlike my fictions):

Fool	(0	Spirit)
Magician	I	Incarnation		(Birth)
	----
High Priestess	II	Infancy		(Mother/nanny etc.)	Intuition
Empress	III	Primary education		(Generally female teachers)	Innovation
Emperor	IV	Secondary education	(Technical)	(Generally male teachers)	Implementation
High Priest	V	Higher education	(Academic)		Intellection
	----
Lover	VI			Crisis: of occupation, sexual pairing, etc.
Chariot	VII	Employment		Career

*[See last previous entry.]

**(& consistently extending the roles)

cf. [[Redbook4:7][19870705:1745g]{Archangels (1)}[5^th July 1987],] 7,

[[Redbook4:137][19871019:0925h]{Angelic Hierarchies [continued (11): Note on Cherubim]}[19th October 1987],] 137.

***ref. [[Redbook4:58][19870819(&20):0000]{Life Circles}[19^th August 1987] ] 58,

[[Redbook4:176-178][19871125:1630c]{Life Cycles}[25th November 1987],] 176

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{The Mantelpiece (2) [continued]}[21st December 1987]

[Redbook4:247-248][19871221:0000c]{The Mantelpiece (2) [continued]}[21st December 1987]

19871221

[continued]

If that* is so, the Knaves 'Circle' (or Way) of the Mantelshelf (T1- TVII), instead of following an Outer-Circle rotating pattern (as I had assumed Knaves would) from A~, and back again – instead leaps from A~ (T1) to R~ (TII) (via the close link frequently noted),** rotates in an Inner Circle direction R~(TII)-J~(TIII)-U~(TIV)-S~(TV), and at +C†I~ reverses sharply to start the Knights Outer Circle via S~ (TVII) again.

[Text of ms diagram of which an extract is shown above:]

				+C[†I~]
				0 Fool
	R~			VI Lover	←	←┐	S~
		II High Priestess	←┐	└ |	→VII Chariot	V High Priest
G~		↓	\	☼		↑		M~
(Invisible card 'Recorder'?)		III Empress	↑ →	↓ →↓→	→	IV Emperor		(Invisible card 'Actor'?)
	J~		└	I Magician			U~
				A~

[This diagram appears almost identical to the second at [Redbook4:243-244][19871219:1055j]{The Mantelpiece (1) [continued (4)]}[19th December 1987], except that unlike both of those it is a circle diagram not a square/rectangular one, i.e. with mostly curving arrows not straight ones.]

***

*[See last previous entry, especially final paragraph.]

**[See [Redbook4:242-243][19871219:1055i]{The Mantelpiece (1) [continued (3)]}[19th December 1987]. including footnote ** thereto.]

***God, these little diagrams are satisfying!

[continues]

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{The Mantelpiece (2)}[21st December 1987]

[Redbook4:246-249][19871221:0000b]{The Mantelpiece (2)}[21st December 1987]

19871221

[continued]

The Mantelpiece analysis* does raise problems. I can accept that each Circle of Knights and Queens is basically a whole Circle from and to +C†I~, while at the same time it can be perceived as one or other of the sections, TVIII to TXIV and TXV to TXXI, which form the original posts or pillars of the Mantelpiece. I can also accept T0 as the end, [the whole] King's 'Circle', as I have never been satisfied that a simple repeat of Queen's Circle was likely sufficiently to describe that stage. (I can also speculate and accept that as T0 is the beginning and the end of the Greater Trumps, so kings may represent the beginning as well as the end of the process – just as the Ace can (I understand) out-number or outrank all other Number and Court Cards,** and as the Joker (T0 translated for the game card sector) can pop up anywhere at any value.***

But Knaves ['Circle']**** is difficult. Try as I may, I cannot exchange TII and TV with TIII and TIV, even if I leave all Archetypes, Attributes and Qualities unchanged: despite the Eagles on TIII and TIV (I debated this in my mind some years ago), despite the original identification of xS with the Pythoness of Delphi on the Sistine Chapel ceiling, despite the unnerving tendency of a book called “The Empress of Cambridge”# to stop being about xP and and end up about xS#* – I cannot see how the Priests can be with A~ (Separation), and the Emperors with +C†I~ (Union).

The latter is easier to take than the former; there are reasons to reverse them, but the reasons for leaving them as they are seem, now as then, to far outweigh the reasons for exchange. Transformation (and Prophecy) are essentially Priestly roles; Imperial power is above all a matter of territory (whereas Kingship is first and foremost a matter of people – and thus Royal rather than Imperial).

*ref. [[Redbook4:241-244][19871219:1055h]{The Mantelpiece (1)}[19th December 1987],] 241.

**in some games – [W] confirms this.

***in a few games.

****[See next entry, first sentence.]

#[originally; Now '[2]' – Book II in the series 0, I, II,.... <930630>

#*(but this may be due to the writer's station at the time of writing) (See III) <871221>

(Despite also my recollected hesitation over xS's self-description as '...High Priestess... of the Most High' ([in] [2]).)

[continues]

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{Vertical Polarity}[21st December 1987]

[Redbook4:246][19871221:0000]{Vertical Polarity}[21st December 1987]

19871221

The period during which (as I recall) I was most seriously doubtful as to the relative polarity of +C†I~ and A~ – something about which I now have virtually no doubt – was the period of our computer business in London, when I was at and near the A~ point.

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{The Weatherman}[20th December 1987]

[Redbook4:245-246][19871220:0000c]{The Weatherman}[20th December 1987]

(19)

19871220.

[continued]

I do not believe that Men can control the weather by deliberate action (except marginally, e.g. by cloud seeding). On the other hand, it seems obvious that the weather can heavily influence Men. It may not be quite so obvious a process as it seems.

Several times in these Journals I have noted weather manifestations that seemed particularly appropriate to the Human events with which they coincided. By “co-incidence” [sic], I do not now imply either a causal relationship or a lack of causal relationship. Examples are the gales during the writing of [1];* the thunderstorm on the night before [S]'s wedding;** and the weather before and after last Christmas in [I, in Scotland].*** These things exist with us, in a mutual relationship of meaning which may, or may not, mutually affect matter.

It is a sad but satisfying**** sequel to my problem with my parents over the flat that after I had written my terminating reply to their Solicitors, typed and dated 15/10/87 (posted 16/10/87), on the night of 15-16/10/87 the worst storm for many decades changed course unexpectedly in the Channel and passed right over [the woodlands at C],# leaving in the best of the timber there (I am told) only one in twenty trees standing#*: this seems to be worse than the other cases I have heard of. The damage in loss of timber must, I guess, run to tens of thousands of pounds.

------

The gales, I am glad to say, missed us completely – here in [CH], the windy pass.

*[[Redbook2:259][19821106:2200]{[1]}[6^th November 1982]ff, especially 

[Redbook2:261][19821107:2300]{[1] Weather}[7^th November 1982]ff & 

[Redbook2:262][19821111:2145]{[1] Weather [continued(5)]}[11^th November 1982], & 

[Redbook2:263][19821112:2130]{[1] Voices}[12^th November 1982]ff]

**[No reference found; but the wedding was the culmination of many months of arguments.]]

***[There do not appear to be any journal entries around this time, but there was very cold weather with snow and ice around [I] that winter, not altogether surprisingly.]

****[Sic. In a strictly literary sense, presumably. At least 22 people were reported killed in England and France as a result of the storm. <20170624>]

#cf. II.[[Redbook2:365[19850707:1233b]{A Dream: of a Tornado}[7^th July 1985]]365 <871223-4>

II.[[Redbook2:198-199][19810908:1800]{A Dream of Bicycles and a Collapsing Tower}[8^th September 1981]]199 <880325>

[& there is a curious reference in an early writing by JRR Tolkein, written long before 1987 but pretending to be journals written before that year discovered after it, to (if I recall correctly) the Great Storm of 1987.]

#*[The larches in particular on top of the hill were long overdue for thinning.]

[Inserted in the ms at this point on <951030> is a clipping from the Guardian of 911021 at p31, “Weatherwatch: Storm in a capital teacup”, discussing recent and fairly typical gales, and continuing as follows: “The 1987 storm was a completely different animal. It was a remarkable short-lived but very intense storm, it came and went within nine hours, and the strongest wind blew to the south. There was, of course, no doubt about the exceptional nature of the devastation in the south – probably the worst since 1703 – but the are affected amounted to little more than 10 per cent of the surface area of the UK.” ]

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{Schizophrenia (3) [continued]}[20th December 1987]

[Redbook4:244-245][19871220:0000b]{Schizophrenia (3) [continued]}[20th December 1987]

(19)

19871220.

[continued]

As a creative and imaginative person (specifically), I have at times felt myself to be on the edge of mental imbalance or insanity. These times have been few: for example, possibly during my first year at Cambridge;* speculatively, at other times; in a controlled way, during the writing of [the original draft of] [1]; and momentarily, in Scotland.** But I suspect that I am lucky enough to have an underlying toughness of mind, determination and even self-discipline when the motivation or necessity is there.***

If so, and if I am also as creative and imaginative as I feel myself to be, then I am indeed lucky, and should be very grateful. Circles Analysis shows Creation and Fragmentation to be inextricably linked, and indeed to be poised on a narrow ridge between the Abyss of Materialism and the breakdown of the Mind. The creative writer in particular must be able to look into both these quarters, and yet keep his balance.****

*[During which time a letter from the writer’s College (of which the writer was unaware until decades later) enquired whether there was any history of mental illness in the family. <20170624>]

**cf. III.[[Redbook3:15-16][19860907:0612j]{A Dream: [(6)] of Madness}[7^th September 1986],]15-16.

***{e.g. the first person at my [primary-level boarding] school to have got his first swimming star by [swimming three lengths] doggy-paddle!}

****{See V.[]156 etc.

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{Schizophrenia (3)}[20th December 1987]

[Redbook4:244-245][19871220:0000]{Schizophrenia (3)}[20th December 1987]

(19)

19871220.

As a sad footnote to the remarks on Schizophrenia,* I have just been told that the (apparently) alcoholic and schizophrenic son of the former owners of [CH], and his apparently schizophrenic girlfriend, had a baby a few weeks ago, which is to be out out for adoption** (I am sorry to say that the neighbours are not interested: being farmers, they tend to be disciples of the Eysenck/Jensen (?)*** school in the argument over heredity and environment). In the context of the Circles patterns, there is an extra poignancy in this decision, however sensible it my seem and, indeed, be.

I have been told that [CH] was originally purchased for this son, after he decided not to practice at the Bar.

*[[Redbook4:230-232][19871215:2232]{Schizophrenia (2)}[15th December 1987]ff]

**I had thought that it was the parents' decision: I now learn that it was possibly forced upon them by the Social Services – a terrible thing. <19880108>

***[Yes.]

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{The Mantelpiece (1) [continued (3)]}[19th December 1987]

[Redbook4:243-244][19871219:1055j]{The Mantelpiece (1) [continued (3)]}[19th December 1987]

19871219.1055

[continued]

Of course,* the Knaves (Row/Circle) problem would be partly resolved if the vertical polarity of TII and TV, against TIII and TIV, was reversed, so that instead of (as at present) this:

[Text of ms diagram of which an extract is shown above:]

				+C[†I~]
				0 Fool
	R~			VI Lover	←	←┐	S~
		II High Priestess	←┐\	└ |	→VII Chariot	V High Priest
G~		↓	\↑\	☼		↑		M~
		III Empress	\↑\ →	↓ →↓→	→	IV Emperor
	J~		\└	I Magician			U~
				A~

(Inner Circle direction) This takes into account the link of A~ and R~.

(This as 'Knaves' does not fit Schizophrenia in late teens / early twenties – unless it occurs at Crisis [= +C].) <871220/21>

[In both of these (rectangular) diagrams there are diagonal arrows which cannot conveniently be represented in the typefaces acceptable for Blogger.]

– we would have this:

[Text of ms diagram of which an extract is shown above:]

				+C[†I~]
				0 Fool
	R~			VI Lover			S~
		┌	→	→↑↓→	→	┐
		III Empress		\↑\└ \↑\	→VII Chariot	IV Emperor
G~		↑		☼	\	↓		M~
		II High Priestess		↓ ↓	└←←←	V High Priest
	J~	└	←	I Magician			U~
				A~

(Outer Circle direction) Does this fit the Sistine Chapel Ceiling (e.g. Delphic Sybil) better?

I found the positions of of TII-[T]V too strong to change.

But what is curious is that a rigid pattern arrived at by dividing the numbered Tarots into 3 sets of 7, in 1980, should prove to be applicable, as it stood, to an apparently unrelated aspect of the Tarot Circle structure seven** years later.

.2300

There are a number of possible explanations for this sort of thing.***

*[See last previous entry.]

**!?

***{(See also [[Redbook4:246][19871221:0000b]{The Mantelpiece (2)]}[20th December 1987],] 246)}

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