Seal Three – The Black Horse

When he opened the third seal, I heard the third living creature say, “Come!” And I saw, and behold, a black horse, and its rider had a balance in his hand; and I heard what seemed to be a voice in the midst of the four living creatures saying, “A quart of wheat for a denarius, and three quarts of barley for a denarius; but do not harm oil and wine!” Rev 6:5-7

“The third horse is black and black can either reveal or obscure. It is easier to see a light shining in the darkness than it is to see a light in broad daylight. On the other hand black can hide within its breast that which is yet to be revealed. […]

If we are to become conscious to any degree then this will only occur through our own striving. It is this striving that strengthens our inner being. Our capacity to think things through, to weigh things up, depends entirely on the agility of our soul. The red horse revealed to us the value of experiencing but not expressing anger. The black horse shows us the value of judgment.

When anger takes hold of us it signals our opportunity to broaden our understanding about the person who made us angry. We are not always aware of the catalyst for their behaviour but at least we are open to consider that there may be a reason beyond our immediate view.

When the feeling associated with the red horse works in harmony with the thoughts associated with the black horse we have the opportunity to make a more thorough assessment of the situations we face in our lives. If our anger is too strong it hampers our ability to think clearly. If we can keep the anger at bay then we give ourselves the opportunity to judge a situation more logically.

Our ability to weigh things up depends on the dexterity of the three soul forces; feeling, thinking and will. Since it is the rider, the ‘I’, who carries the balance, this means that only when our Higher Self is controlling our thoughts are we able to judge correctly. Furthermore, this judging needs to be a continual weighing up rather than a final judgment.

The Greek word for judgment is krisis and it means a separating, then a decision. We wouldn’t mix the wheat and the barley together before we put them on the scales to assess their value; wheat, which isn’t as prolific as barley, costs three times more.”

Kristina Kaine from The Virgin and Harlot, an interpretation of the Book of Revelation

The Four Horsemen