@melvingiganticus I am choosing to explore question 1...
The two Ferdinands strike me as being the opposing forces in the Lovers card, while the anima is the angel overseeing the operation. To be honest, this chapter wasn't that inspiring until the very end when she was talking about the way morally upright people have a harder time consolidating their shadow.
If the ego takes a one-sided ethical decision and a one-sided moral attitude and gets into real conflict with the shadow, there is no solution.
This reminds me of Jekyll & Hyde, in the case of industrialized society, Christian society as Von Franz calls it, morality of meek virtue cuts off the ego's connection to its more unconscious, shadowy elements. When the shadow is wrapped in logical excuses and moral righteousness, it becomes even more putrid. There is nothing more scary, in my opinion, as a person who proclaims themself arbiter of justice and morality while committing acts of violence. The two poles of the personality become so polarized and confused that it is hard to imagine a successful intervention capable of shocking that person into a clearer perception of their true thoughts and actions. There are innumerable examples of this in today's world and I doubt any moment of history has had any less.
Thelema is different. The only way we can ever progress in this work is by earnestly following the maxim "Know thyself" which encompasses all of the shit, too!
It reminds me of a quote from Ch. 2 in Liber L:
There is a veil: that veil is black. It is the veil of the modest woman; it is the veil of sorrow, & the pall of death: this is none of me. Tear down that lying spectre of the centuries: veil not your vices in virtuous words: these vices are my service; ye do well, & I will reward you here and hereafter.
Naming our vices, working with them, sharpens our clarity on what exactly we are working with in this lifetime. And the "we" is ultimately the anima in the tale, inspiration, or the still, small voice that is truly the current of life unfolding our experience.
That is how I am connecting to the Universe card right now too... as Shekinah or Shakti, the dance of life throughout the universe that depends on the interplay of polarities. The tension between light and dark produces the landscape of consciousness.
I am reminded of another quote, one of my favorites from Liber LXV, cap. V:
Bid Thy maidens who follow Thee bestrew us a bed of flowers immortal, that we may take our pleasure thereupon. Bid Thy satyrs heap thorns among the flowers, that we may take our pain thereupon. Let the pleasure and pain be mingled in one supreme offering unto the Lord Adonai!
The pleasure and pain of our virtues and vices are all offerings to Adonai when we rest in the balance of the heart. Granted, it takes work to locate this dynamic state of balance which requires wrestling with our shadow and ego, but eventually I believe we come to discover that both are necessary, one providing the context for the other. One steps and the other responds, and on the wheel spins! Finding joy at the center of it all is an interpretation perhaps of the marriage typified by the Lovers and Art cards.
Also, what about the queens?! There are no queens anywhere and have no idea what that means haha
