Thirteen
I agree entirely. But Jesus did say, "Come with me and sin no more" whatever that sin is, and he did argue that the rich should give up their wealth, and that the meek will inherit the Earth. Whoever Mary M. was before she met him, she did give up that life in order to follow him.magpie9 said:In the first place I don't consider the prostitution slander to be true. It's based on one ambiguous sentence in one version of the story.
You're quite right that the husband isn't there, nor is the family. She might be alone with all that wealth. Though, yes, we assume as a Queen she probably has or *HAD* a King (King/Pent in this deck is a skull!). My point wasn't that she did, absolutely, have a great husband and kids. Only that I didn't buy your story that she had sold herself into a loveless and infertile marriage. That, to me, was not evidenced in the picture any more than my story of her having a happy marriage is.Where indeed is the charming husband, the happy family and the gilt-edged guarantee that she does not have it in her to give up anything for something greater, be it for love, duty or spirituality?
We can make up any story of her marriage and family we like, but what I'm personally after is the story told by the card image. I didn't see anything suggesting a miserable marriage or family life because the one and only big clue to her life in that picture is what she is looking at--and it's a picture of Mary M. Not a mother with children, or lovers. So I presume that her biggest, uncomfortable issue isn't that her husband isn't happy with her because she's infertile.
Given her good taste, I'd say that was a valid point. Which begs the question, why hasn't she gotten rid of it? Why must it ruin her otherwise beautifully arranged living room?Perhaps her reaction to the picture is simply because she thinks it shockingly bad art!
I know you'd cast her as Queen/Pents, and again, if that's how you see Queen/Pents it is fine with me. But personally, I'd cast Katherine as either Queen/Cups for her kind, spiritual heart, or Queen/Wands for her evangelicalism--as Wands are most often the card of those who are fanatics. But again, it begs the question. However sumptuous the silks and velvets Catherine wore, in HER rooms there were crosses, altars, statues of saints and Bibles. Yet this Queen, who is very much in her room has only one picture of Mary M. and she doesn't seem to like it. Detective wise, I don't think the evidence of her being a religious fanatic under that beautiful dress is likely.I am trying to speak for a different view of the Q of P, which --at least in this deck--is as likely as the traditional one. Look at Henry the VIII's first Queen, Katherine of Aragon. She felt it was her duty to be Queen, and under her sumptuous silks, velvets and brocades wore a hair shirt. She spent hours on her knees every day, praying, and spent most of her discretionary money on Charities of various kinds.
To the contrary, maybe she hates that painting because she was raised in Katherine's house, forced to wear a hair shirt, pray all the time, etc. Now, she's free of it. And she's going to make sure her own castle is sumptuous and as free of reminders of religious aestheticism as possible.
Which by not means implies that she refuses to give generously to charities or being a kind person. Only that she might be more like King Henry VIII than Katherine. Henry, as a youth, was geared for the church and forced to pray all the time, and had a miserly father who made his sons live on the cheap; once given his father's wealth and power, Henry went in the opposite direction and indulged in all that he'd been kept from during his childhood and teens.