THE LORD OF THE WIDE AND FERTILE LAND;
THE KING OF THE SPIRITS OF EARTH
The Knight of Disks – King of Gnomes
FIRE of EARTH
Meditation pattern: Place 7 of Wands, 8 of Disks, and 9 of Disks side-by-side, with the
Knight of Disks above them. Below the two Disks, place Atu IX, The Hermit.
Traditional Description: A dark, winged warrior with winged and crowned helmet, mounted
on a light brown horse. Equipment as the Knight of Wands. The winged head of a stag or antelope
as a crest. Beneath the horse’s feet is fertile land with ripened corn. In one hand he bears a
scepter surmounted by a hexagram; in the other, a Disk similar to that of the Apprentice Adeptus.
YOD of HEH-Final (FIRE of EARTH): Yod of Earth is the seed-power of earth – the vital,
generative, procreative power of Yod seeding the receiving and fertile earth. From this we obtain the
central idea of this card, expressed in the word “husbandry.” He is also Yod in Assiah, the aliveness
of Creation, evident in every detail of our surroundings. The King is one with the land. Each
thing that is, is right; for it is a consequence of an omnipotent and divine Will.
He rules from above 20° Leo to 20° Virgo. The first two decanates of Virgo, ruled by the Sun and
Venus, are called PRUDENCE and GAIN. What better expression of the quality of husbandry than
this careful, responsible nurturing of his domain? Sun and Venus are themselves representative
of him; for, as the creative power in Earth, he is all that we mean by sunlight; and from Venus is
his nurturing aspect reinforced. He cultivates, be it land, people, or ideas. The solar decanate indicates
intelligence, skill, diligence, care to detail, and industry. With regard to Virgo in general,
we recall that he is Yod, and all that this letter symbolically means to the Qabalist.
His shadow aspect is the last decanate of Leo, ruled by Mars and called VALOR. There are
times his heart aches for heroism; but to indulge it is to abdicate his real focus of care.
In divination, the character is sage, skillful, diligent, attentive to detail, patient in material
matters, hard-working, steady, and reliable; gain through prudence, attentiveness, intelligence,
and labor; generative and procreative; cultivates what is his to develop. Unless well-dignified, he
can be dull and material. If ill-dignified, he is avaricious, grasping, dull, and jealous. Tradition
says he is not very courageous unless assisted by other symbols.