posted July 08, 2006 07:01 PM         

"The four characters are familiar to us as Harlequin (the Spirit); Columbine (the soul)—these two representing the celestial duality; Clown (the mundane spirit); and Pantaloon (the body)—these last two representing the outer or terrestrial dualism.

"Harlequin, like his ancient prototype, is always masked, and supposed therefore to be invisible and nameless. He wears a glittering dress of many hues, typical of the Heavenly Bow, or seven Divine Spirits and their several Tinctures. He carries a bâton or rod, the well-known Rod of sacred Mythos, the symbol of Divine will and power. With this rod he accomplishes any transformation he desires. By striking objects with it he converts their appearances, and removes or displaces them. The wills of persons with who he comes in contact are amenable to its control, and at the desire of its owner they acquire new perceptions or lose their senses. Harlequin’s spouse, Columba—the dove or human soul—is his inseparable companion. She is beautiful, aerial, and obedient to all his directions, but, unless with the rod of her spouse, she can herself work no wonders. He is the shining One, the all-pervading, the all-powerful; she is his faithful and lovely counterpart, Divine only in being his.

"The astral or mundane spirit is represented by the Clown, whose characteristics are, unlike those of the celestial pair, of a wholly material order. He is adroit, cunning, worldly-wise, and humorous. There is nothing spiritual or Divine about him; he has no power of transmutation, and all his machinations are adapted to low or gross objects. In short, he is the faithful presentation of the earthly mind. His proper colour is red, as is that of the lion, whose part he fills. This personage controls and directs his inseparable companion, the Pantaloon or body, who is always appropriately represented as as a decrepit, foolish, weak creature, with no power or foresight of any kind. The body is, in fact, a mere slave, the sport of the earthly mind, or intellect, and an object of contempt to the two celestial characters. The body, under the mask of Pantaloon, is shown to be but a feeble entity, supported by a stick, infirm, despicable, and continually buffeted. He is the fool of the play, as the Clown, or mundane spirit, is its jester or trickster.

"The pantomime, of which these four characters are the personæ, opens with some mystic prologue or allegory, of which Harlequin and Columbine, the Divine Spirit and soul, are hero and heroine. Ususally, they are presented as prince and princess, whose faithful and mutual love excites the rage and jealousy of the infernal deities, or ‘bad fairies.’ Their ordeals—which are none other than the Trials of the Mysteries—form the action of the drama, and their final union and eternal happiness, which are consummated in the ‘transformation scene,’ set forth the supreme object of all religious discipline and doctrine, the Marriage of the Spirit and the Bride, which contitutes the final act of the mystery-play known as the Apocalypse of the Diviner.

"Of course the whole action of the pantomime is, form beginning to end, astronomical, and depicts the course of the sun through the twelve zodiacal houses. Hence it was, and still is, represented only at Christmas-tide, when the solar course begins. Twelve is the solar or male number, as thirteen is that of the lunar or female cycle. In the ‘Tarot’ of Egyptian origin the sacred number was the latter, as being that of Isis, the goddess of the Egyptian Mysteries. This ‘Tarot’ survives among as in the familiar game of playing-cards, as M. Vaillant and Eliphas Levi have clearly demonstrated. ¹ The ‘Tarot’ is composed of four suits, two of which are red and two black. The red represents the Celestial dualism, the two black the Terrestrial. Of these the Diamond, or stone of the Apocalypse, is the Spirit, or Holy Ghost, of the human Microcosm, the essentially pure and shining One. The heart is the soul, the seat of aspiration, love, and desire, the feminine element of the human kingdom. The sword (or spade-head) is the earthly mind, incisive and relentless, like its Kabalistic symbol, the lion. Hard as iron and sharp as a blade, the human intellect analyses, delves, penetrates, and attacks. Lastly, the Club is the body, a figure which, like that of the ox, conveys an idea of physical attributes related to the earth only.

"Of these four suits there are three ‘Court’ cards, which, in their proper order, are Queen, King, and Knave. Modern usage has inverted the sequence of the first two. The Queen is Columba, the soul; the King is the Astral Lion, or mind; the Knave is the body. But of all these, the chief, at once Alpha and Omega of the whole series, is the Ace or Unit, the primordial Spirit. This Unit takes all ‘tricks,’ and controls alike Queen, King, and Knave. He is the First of all numbers and the Last, whose will is paramount and whose supremacy is absolute."