A King's dilemma & a hand of Tarot

If you think you have it tough, try sitting on a throne for a day.
Let’s play a game of role-play. Take a seat at my table and let’s shuffle some cards. Take five. It’s not your typical set¹.
Look at the hand you’ve been dealt:

The Emperor * Strength * The Tower * Judgement * The Earth

Disclaimer:
This is a work of fiction. Resemblance to actual events or people is a throw of dice.

كذب المنجمون ولو صدقوا
Fortune tellers lie even if they tell the truth. (Arabic proverb)

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IV: THE EMPEROR

You are a ruler of an (almost) land-locked Kingdom, with a Sacred River to its West. A river that connects a northern great lake to a southern crimson sea. Once upon a time, people were reborn in that holy river. Pure and abundant before countries were drawn, reduced to a murky creek of tears. A crossing for refugees.

On the opposite river bank is another once-Kingdom now a State where a Foreign Entity has expelled thousands of indigenous peoples – many of whom made their homes in your governance. The people of the two banks intermarried, as you have. For a while, the kingdom ruled over parts of the river’s western bank, but that was stripped away. Nonetheless you’ve maintained custody of the most holy sites there. Your father tried to make peace with the Entity. It could have been promising but his counterpart was assassinated soon thereafter and the deal died before it was born. Diplomatic relations were established nonetheless. New border-crossing opened in the north and south. Most laymen did not support this, but businessmen welcomed it with open arms. Trademarks and Franchises finally blessed the country. Those were signs of becoming civilised.

In the eye of the storm.

All countries of the region have suffered turmoil. Many waged wars against each other. But the king in this deck befriended them all, while maintaining harmony amongst the not-always-satisfied population nor best informed [composed of a minority of local clans, a majority of refugees from throughout the ages, and the made-to-settle-nomads… not to mention a few dormant radical cells.] A competent secret service helps to keep strife under control - trained by the best.

With no resources to mention, except for some archeological treasures threatened to be stolen, the kingdom leaned on conditional aid from Superpowers with their own agendas that didn’t always correspond to the local desires or sentiment². It’s not been easy… balancing on a tight and flammable rope.

XI: STRENGTH

You’ve managed. Strength and resilience are in your blood. Your father was a professional tight-rope acrobat. The ultimate diplomat. Loved by his people and trusted by the powers that be. A lion that could walk through rain and not get wet.

XVI: THE TOWER

Sudden upheaval shook your world. The ultimate Superpower demanded that you take in a million refugees from across the river. Accepting this would mean submitting to ethnic cleansing. Your people unified against the notion and you represent their stance. However, the Supreme Power could directly and indirectly undermine the Kingdom - as it has done to others. Such a scenario would serve no one. But you have the card of Strength in your hand. You refused the charge, taking a humanitarian stance instead, by taking in a large number of sick children for treatment. These would most likely be accompanied by their parents and siblings, which would triple their number at a minimum. Ideally, they would all return to their homes by the shore - or better even if one dares to dream - to the villages they had been expelled from before. But if history repeats itself as it usually does, more people will be expelled until the job is done. Emptied. Thus said, your stance abated the immediate danger and thwarted the plans for expulsion, but for how long?
There is a larger agenda at work.

[On that day the Lord made a covenant with Abram and said, “To your descendants I give this land, from the Wadi of Egypt to the great river, the Euphrates (Genesis 15:18)] The use of the word ‘descendants’ however implies both his sons, Isaac and Ishmael. Interestingly, I and I are said to have both generated 12 tribes. In Arabic, ‘Arabi (Arabic) and ‘Ibri (Hebrew) have the same letters, only arranged differently.

The lighting is not only striking our tower alone. A global storm is underway. The Great Tower itself will soon collapse under the gold it has accumulated and the skeletons of those it’s enslaved. They say it’s the time for the underdogs to rise—good news for us. Analysts anticipate a great fall of entities, superpowers and systems. The stars point to a dismantling of old power structures. The end of the world as we know it. The end of time prophecies are showing their signs. But it does not need to be an apocalyptic event. On the positive side, a mass awakening is predicted. A paradigm shift.

In this shuffle of cards… how can one stay upright?

XX: JUDGEMENT

This card calls to face the past before moving on. But the kingdom in this story has roots too deep to dig in one round. So we spin the roulette and let Tyche decide. The ball drops on 1.9.1.6.

To the reign of the great-great grandfather of the King in our deck, a visionary Caliph from Al-Bayt al-Ateeq, the most ancient House to the East. He led a great revolt against the Power that had conquered him and his brethren for four centuries. He was supported by the Great Empire of the white man who promised him sovereign rule from the gulf of the Indian ocean to the Mediterranean sea. Meanwhile, that same Great Empire signed secret treaties with other empires to split these same territories. A year later, while the revolt was underway, the same Great Empire promised a Foreign Entity the western bank of the Sacred River that boarders our Kingdom of today. Plans to establish a foreign entity however had started much earlier than that, which sheds a different light on the predicament of a warring world and the eternal suffering for the sons of Abe.

The New York times, 1899

The Great Empire betrayed the good intentioned Caliph, as they continued to dupe and deceive. They occupied the land and called it a mandate, plotted against the Caliph and sent him to exile. They weaved a web of lies and trapped his heirs as princes; establishing a transitory country east of the Sacred River in the year 21, and in 46 granting it independence as a kingdom under the illusion of sovereignty. Its neighbours faired no better - none had true self reign. Leaders who have tried were poisoned, murdered and defamed; their brutal death broadcasted for all to see.

Nothing should come as a surprise. A fool like the one dealing these cards might conclude that the poor kingdom was conned from the beginning, established as a (temporary) alternative homeland for those to be dispelled from the western bank. It would first serve as a buffer zone and military post against ‘enemies’ to the East, until it would eventually be claimed in the expansion of the Entity, as god had presumably promised - with the help of the Superpower.
It’s a ticking bomb. And this is the Eleventh hour.

XXI: EARTH

The last Major Arcana. It speaks of great achievements. Success and completion. The feminine and masculine in harmony - the sacred balance. A beautiful end - a new beginning. But how, oh how could one get there, given the above?

O, what a hand! I would not choose it.

“Each player must accept the cards life deals him or her; but once they are in hand, he or she alone must decide how to play the cards in order to win the game.”

―Voltaire

What do I know of winning, politics or history… the future or the Tarot. All I am is a reckless fool with a deck of cards and some stories… and a soft spot in my heart for that place.

All I can do is view this a dream and say:

If this were the hand I’ve been dealt, I would…

fall ill with worry. It is too much weight for one person to carry. I’d call on my larger family, Ahl Bayti, my father’s sons AND daughters, as well as his siblings. How can we achieve true sovereignty and maintain harmony? What are we willing to sacrifice? To what are we willing to commit? What mistakes have we made; how can we learn from them?

I would exercise al-Shoura, collective decision making. We are strengthened by each other, and especially by our differences. United by blood and by duty, enriched by our maternal lines and marital alliances. I’d aim for consensus— a natural progression when we aim for the good of all.

“To rule is to serve.”

I would take the advice of the wise in the outer rings. Not the hypocrites and corrupt, but those who represent my people and love their country more than their pockets. We might not have material resources, but we have a greater wealth³. As the great king once said:

“الانسان أغلى ما نملك” : Our people are our most valuable asset⁴.

I would be bold in my vision and take the recommendations to the great Summit. I would suggest a parallel summit for the wives of presidents and kings. It’s never been done and would likely be scorned, but we can’t actualise the last card in our deck without both male and female around the table (XXI). Of course, the true actualisation of this card would only be possible when there are Female Heads of State. Patriarchal leadership alone will never solve things.

The lands of those who speak our tongue are wide and diverse. We can do anything if we join resources, forces and diplomacy. Yes… I’m still dreaming of riding that train across no-borders. Call it the Arab Union or the United States of Arabia or somethin’.⁵

As for the King’s promise of medical treatment, I would go above and beyond. Not only treating the bodies of the ill children, but their psyches, as well as their parents and siblings. I’d employ all that could be effective, from nutrition (for that’s number 1) and alternative medicine (for the pharmaceuticals are keeping us sick not healthy) to counselling, art/drama/dance; sound healing, biogeomerty, spiritual support, plant medicine assisted therapies (ideally in natural setting instead of hospitals.)

The trauma the people from the Gas-Shore have suffered is beyond comprehension. If we can help them heal, we’re helping to heal the world.

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And you… if this were the hand that you’ve been dealt, what would you do?

The Fool card from The Dreamer’s Journal, B.Moore.

‘If you could be anything else,’ asked Alice, ‘what would you choose to be?
’A vagabond,’ the prince responded. She laughed, ‘my thoughts exactly.’

Thank you for playing.

1. The deck used for the spread-image comes from: The Brotherhood of Light Egyptian Tarot Cards. However, the names and attributes of the cards follow the standard/common Tarot (which I’m just getting into:)

2. Over conditional aid: Makes me think back to when I almost worked for a project funded by the USAID in Jordan. It was an environmental grant to conserve water, which involved using a faucet aerator that reduced flow. It required a new kind/imported faucet to be installed. Both the aerator and the faucet would be bought from an already designated US company. In a similar fashion, the US gives military aid to Israel as long as they buy their weapons from the US. One hand gives the other one takes.

3. An heart-warming call for action recently on LinkedIn: “It's time for a very quick, and urgent decision from all state institutions, ministries, the private sector, banks and investors to work together to launch the Jordan Agency for Local Development and adopt all the projects that stopped suddenly and without notice under the umbrella of USAID, which cover the sectors of education, health, water and environment and return to launch at the same pace, the same team and the same plans…” (Zaidoun Karadsheh).
I’d say first review the projects to assess the ones that actually serve and then proceed.

4. The more recent translation reads: ‘Our most precious asset is the individual citizen.’ The literal translation however is ‘The human(being) is the most valuable (thing) we own.’ The word ‘own’ used here is ‘nambluk’ which comes from the root of Malek, king. Akh…Arabic might just be the best thing the Arabs ever came up with.

5. None of this negates the fool’s stance that most leaders across the world (regardless of the tongue they speak) are corrupt and ruled by the great dollar. The mightier the crookeder. This is an interconnected and co-dependant global disease. However, I’d rather we find ways to fix it by improving hygiene without needing a root canal. You’d be amazed what one can do with baking soda!