I like the idea of forgiveness as cutting away the emotional resonance and importance of something. It's similar to something I said in a comment to supergee recently on the topic. However, I think there is something between forgiving the act and forgiving the person, which is forgiving that part of the person. For instance, some of the ways my parents hurt me about weight clearly sprang directly from their issues with weight. Working past that wasn't a matter of forgiving whole-Mom and whole-Dad, but of forgiving the parts of them that (imho) had been warped by a fat-phobic society and had just handed it on. That is a part that it's good for me to pitch the emotional resonance and importance of.

I also agree with you about Mercy and Justice. I first encountered that polarity in Crowley's tarot deck, and then learned it was cabalistic. I like things that remind people that justice isn't the be-all and end-all, sometimes isn't even desirable.