The Story of the Tarot

[MaryLupin]

Cornerstone Constellations

Bull (Taurus), the WaterBearer (Aquarius), Eagle (Scorpio), Lion (Leo). This (in part) has to do with the 4 faces of the cherubim in Ezekiel (Ezek. 1:10, 10:14, 20-22). See what I mean about how deep these myths go? In Ezekiel the bull is an ox; the eagle is the highest of 3 manifestations, the lowest being the scorpion.

One of the reasons they differ for me is that I live in Native North America and the animals that correspond to the energy sought after by the relationship between human society and the animals are represented here by different creatures. I have to say though that many of the Indian people I know put the buffalo in the north as well as the wolf. The sense of the bull is of power, tenacity, endurance and the potential of seed, rebirth, sexuality. This is carried in the wolf here with emphasis on power and carried in the buffalo with emphasis on the seed. The ox or bull carries quite a different set of connotations here and ones that aren’t what Crowley (or Ezekiel) imagined.

So here, even though eagles (well some of them) fish, a whistle made from its leg bone (a rather important spiritual tool here) is something that, through the agency of air, calls to the spirits of the place. There is also the sense that knowledge comes like a sun rise, like a yellow tide of warmth (or heat if it is unwelcome knowledge) that changes darkness into light and lifts you up through the clouds into the sun. Have you ever seen an eagle or crow flash white?

I am not arguing about what is right, by the way. Both symbol systems work for the respective people. What is wonderful is how similar they are as well as how intriguing are the apparent differences.

[MaryLupin]

The Earth Suit – Pentacles

1. To Mehta Ohpion – The Roots of the Powers of Earth shedding old life for new. The Ace of Disks; this is the world of the tree of life, the essence of material beginnings. It calls for method and attention to detail, for new projects, good sex, productivity of all sort.
2. 2 of Disks – Change; Jupiter in Capricorn; yin to yang, yang to yin; the ouroboros; Things are going to change. Be prepared and be in acceptance. Maintaining an open armed stance with regard to life, one must also pay attention to details in order to handle the shifting deck of your material life.
3. 3 of Disks – Works; Mars in Capricorn; assert yourself but through the details of life. This is dedication to work, (not necessarily your job) but to your life discipline.
4. 4 of Disks – Power; Sun in Capricorn; this is the castle built from the 4 elements, it represents a life of discipline, an accumulation that results from attention to details. However, having achieved this stability it is sometimes hard to let go and move on to new things. Power is always harder going out than coming in.
5. 5 of Disks – Worry; Mercury in Taurus; This is one of those “lessons of the 5” cards, so how this works out depends on how you balance wants and needs. Coming out of the stability of the 4 mercury is about mind, the person thinking about change. Taurus wants a steady state kind of reality but knows that it cannot always be so.
6. 6 of Disks – Success; Moon in Taurus; earthy and strong willed, there is a sensuality here that works well in the earthly realm. There is romance (and Romance) buried deep in the being of this person. It needs its expression. This card calls for the expression of the inner desires, to manifest the “soul” nature in the physical world.
7. 7 of Disks – Failure; Saturn in Taurus; Once the soul sees daylight, much begins to drop away. It is like a person who feels true desire for the first time; suddenly its pale shadows can no longer be tolerated and so old patterns and behaviors begin to fail. Saturn in Taurus is hard. It is fixed rigidity and a desire for stability. Change here is hard but of vast importance. It is facing, and needing to move through, the greatest personal difficulty and weakness. At its worst, this is the people who fear the body declaiming the evils of the physical world, or those who having a shallow intellect rabidly accusing scholars of “traitorous” leanings. The question to ask here is where do you do that in your own life, and in the lives of others. Also, the symbols on the Thoth card are organized to represent a part of the tree of life (Kabbala). The disks represent 2 (Wisdom) through to 8 (Splendor) but they are upside down.
8. 8 of Disks – Prudence; Sun in Virgo; This is for those whose lives are dedicated to the service of others. This is also the 8-fold path of the Buddhists. Prudence calls for prudence. Be careful and thoughtful (think of others as well as of self) and things should grow and stabilize at a new more beneficent level.
9. 9 of Disks – Gain; Venus in Virgo; this is love and perfection twining. Marriage here is a well thought out (planned) enterprise, one that attends to all the details that make things work. This attitude works well in the world but especially if love (Venus) remains as strong a focus as the need for perfection that comes with Virgo. When this is done gain is the result. With this attitude and kind of attention if you accidentally drop a cucumber from your grocery bag it will hit the dirt and grow a cucumber plant that will give you 10 more cucumbers.
10. 10 of Disks – Wealth; Mercury in Virgo; This is the kind of person who can make money just by talking. Analytical and communicative, the wealth card translates those gifts into earthly reality. This is often money but it can be in physical vitality (a wealth of health) or any other disks related area of life. So for example, old networks that you have established in your Virgo-like zeal can suddenly pay off. Inheritance. You now reap what you have sown.
11. Prince of Disks – Allegiance to the things of the earth; Remember this is numerically 11; pulled by the bull, the Prince has mastered the powers of earth. His weakness is his slowness and tendency to obstinate behavior and an unwillingness to learn new things. He is deeply sensual but can be a bit laissez faire about other people’s needs.
12. Princess of Disks – Cyclic awareness; Remember this is numerically 12; Her focus is on the dark creative power of rich earth. She carries the power of the animal as her crown. This is the capacity to manifest; to use move energy into matter.
13. Knight of Disks – Devotion; Remember this is numerically 13; The Knight’s helmet is the stag. He carries a sun shield and is stopped amid the fruited grasses. He is gazing of to the hills and further into the distance. He is astride his horse but at rest. This is the reward of devotion. The downside is that instead of being able to take pleasure in the fruited grasses (that comes from the peace made possible by his devotion to the Queen and the Land) he spends what down time he has gazing off into a space he does not inhabit.
14. Queen of Disks – Freedom; Remember this is numerically 14; The Queen is seated on a hill gazing over the fertile lands of her domain. The grasses arc over her to create a bower for her. She wears the horns of earthly power. This is a powerful woman. Stable because she knows when to move. Good with money, hard when she needs to be, fruitful when she can.

[MaryLupin]

The Air Suit – Swords

1. The Ace of Swords – The Roots of the Power of Air; inspiration, insight, new knowledge and understanding; the sword is 2-edged. New understanding cuts away old ways as much as it adds new knowledge. One must get rid of old understanding for new understanding to take root.
2. 2 of Swords – Peace; Moon in Libra; desire for harmony in one’s dealing with people. A sharp intellect but the desire for peace may see the intellect hide itself for sake of calm. The swords cross through the heart of the lotus but without destroying the flower.
3. 3 of Swords – Sorrow; Saturn in Libra; The swords meet in the heart of the flower but this time the petals are separated. Saturn is about responsibility, structure, the limitations of law. Libra is about balance, justice, relationship. The two together can work extremely well but only if those closest to you are into fair play as much as you are. This card can mean the need to assess and separate from those who simply cannot get the notion of justice and equality.
4. 4 of Swords – Truce; Jupiter in Libra; Not as balanced as the Moon in Libra from the 2 of swords but this card allows for more play and more movement. The flower is almost as large as the swords here and there is no disruption of the flowers body. In any social grouping there are things we must accept we cannot do to maintain a social corpus. This card represents that knowledge and that acceptance – and implies what will happen if that law is broken.
5. 5 of Swords – Defeat; Venus in Aquarius; Another of the “lessons of the 5” Venus and Aquarius together make for a sparkling jewel of a person. This kind of alliance creates a demand for scintillation and fun but is essentially emotional detached. This kind of love is hard on someone who falls deeper than his or her Venus in Aquarius lover. The demand for brilliance and brightness will often make these relationships of short duration. Hence defeat. For all the common sense of Aquarius, the untouchedness makes lasting relationships nearly impossible. A choice is asked for here: needs or wants?
6. 6 of Swords – Science; Mercury in Aquarius; The communicator together with common sense: the swords meet in the center of the flower which is at the heart center of the cross. This is the body/mind thinking as one.
7. 7 of Swords – Futility; Moon in Aquarius; Emotions mixed with common sense breeds a sense of surety about the silliest things. The main sword is cracked: common sense works at the behest of what we want to be true and not for what is actually true.
8. 8 of Swords – Interference; Jupiter in Gemini; Expansive exploration in a quick witted mobile sign. This can bring trouble like air piled on air can bring a storm depending on the temperature variation between the two masses. You think too much is often what the interference is about. There is nothing to ground the thought to the practical.
9. 9 of Swords – Cruelty; Mars in Gemini; Mars is the war god, of course. Gemini is the intelligent, quick witted changeable mind. Put together this can be a hard person to cross. If it is you then you should probably reassess your judgments of others. Despite the old saw, words can hurt quite as much as the sword. But this is also the war in the mind of the owner. This is the sense of despair that comes when one realizes that thought alone can never make its promise true: mind alone cannot answer questions.
10. 10 of Swords – Ruin; Sun in Gemini; The swords break upon each other; the lower three meet over the exposed heart. Gemini is a mental sign and mutable. The sun places the power of will in that element. It strengthens an already strong trait in Gemini, so much so that the absolutely necessary heart is lost in the glare. This is the culmination of swords, swords everywhere but nowhere water to cool the metal. A good sword must be balanced.
11. Prince of Swords – Intellectual Idealism; The Prince is flying pulled by his thoughts. In a human being ruled by this kind of passion, the feelings are usually hidden, the mind is alive and always thinking, but it is rare that this will be shared. You cannot get in unless invited. However, if this is not grounded by some empathetic ideal, if for example the ideal that is being sought is human perfection (patently impossible) then the Prince can become sadistic. Think Machiavelli at his worst.
12. Princess of Swords – Cyclic Ideas Erupt; This card earths air. This is a warrior against false ideals. She watches for the mood swings of the people, the endemic ideas that come up over and over in human society, the big one being “surely someone is to blame for how bad things are.” The Princess battles those eruptions as they threaten the balance of her Land.
13. Knight of Swords – Devotion; The Knight is devoted to his Queen’s Idea for her Land. He is flying fast-forward, his 2 swords ready to pierce any enemies. He is attended by the 3 birds of spiritual insight. They fly on his left and so he is largely unconscious of them. His devotion and warrior nature take up his whole mind. He has no room for pity and gives no quarter for those who he believes do not fit in with the “plan.”
14. Queen of Swords – Freedom of Mind; Get in her way she will cut off your head. In other words, she has the power to think with all the minds active (i.e. the unconscious as well as conscious). She has the freedom to move between the minds to seek what is necessary for her rule. She can be dangerous because she has access to that which is most often hidden from others. She can see the lightning bolt coming long before her enemy so she can step out of the way and just let it take care of things for her. She is perhaps most dangerous because she accepts death as necessary and in that acceptance agrees to use her power to cause others’ ends. She is Nietzsche’s Master.

[earthboar]

Note the four corners of the Wheel of Fortune card of the Rider-Waite Tarot. They are the angel, eagle, ox, lion. They are the four angelic beings in Ezekiel's vision. I enjoy the art work of other tarot decks, but it is for this reason I prefer the classical symbolism of the Rider-Waite deck.

Also, it was designed (not designed, but commissioned...you can read all about it in the link below) by Arthur Edward Waite, a very pedantic occultist who wrote about and connected the Medieval tarot, the Jewish Kabbalah, and the Golden Dawn system of magic. This deck is a sort of portal to Golden Dawn, which connects the writings of Israel Regardie, S.L. MacGregor Matthers, Dion Fortune, and even W.B. Yeats and yes, even Aleister Crowley. Beyond that, the Rider-Waite deck is consistent with Judeo-Christian mythology and theology. I'm stating this as a matter of history, not proselytizing, so that people who might be new to tarot can begin to see they are not just pretty pictures somebody dreamed up, but have some basis in older traditions.

By the way, the designs of this deck, strictly speaking, are in the public domain, the U.S. Games licensed edition notwithstanding.

note the letters in English read "T-A-R-O"
The Hebrew letters on the Wheel, beginning at the one o'clock position read: "Yod" "He" "Vau" He" (YHVH -> Yahweh)


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:Major_10.jpg

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rider-Waite_tarot_deck

Cornerstone Constellations

Bull (Taurus), the WaterBearer (Aquarius), Eagle (Scorpio), Lion (Leo). This (in part) has to do with the 4 faces of the cherubim in Ezekiel (Ezek. 1:10, 10:14, 20-22). See what I mean about how deep these myths go? In Ezekiel the bull is an ox; the eagle is the highest of 3 manifestations, the lowest being the scorpion.

One of the reasons they differ for me is that I live in Native North America and the animals that correspond to the energy sought after by the relationship between human society and the animals are represented here by different creatures. I have to say though that many of the Indian people I know put the buffalo in the north as well as the wolf. The sense of the bull is of power, tenacity, endurance and the potential of seed, rebirth, sexuality. This is carried in the wolf here with emphasis on power and carried in the buffalo with emphasis on the seed. The ox or bull carries quite a different set of connotations here and ones that aren’t what Crowley (or Ezekiel) imagined.

So here, even though eagles (well some of them) fish, a whistle made from its leg bone (a rather important spiritual tool here) is something that, through the agency of air, calls to the spirits of the place. There is also the sense that knowledge comes like a sun rise, like a yellow tide of warmth (or heat if it is unwelcome knowledge) that changes darkness into light and lifts you up through the clouds into the sun. Have you ever seen an eagle or crow flash white?

I am not arguing about what is right, by the way. Both symbol systems work for the respective people. What is wonderful is how similar they are as well as how intriguing are the apparent differences.

[MaryLupin]

The Fire Suit – Rods

1. The Ace of Wands – The Root of the Power of Fire; Will, eros, chi, power, spirit, kundalini, what ever you call it this is it, undefined and unfettered – and potentially dangerous as well as potentially wonderful. Sex is one of the most common expression of this “energy” but there are many others. Tantric training is about learning how to recognize this greater power as it is expressed in the body through the sexual nature of human beings. But it can be directed along other paths. A large part of various “magical” practices is taken up by learning how to channel this raw power. When it shows up in a reading it most often is talking about the potential for power that can be used in a different way. Not using power well causes horrible frustration and even illness or simple nausea. It’s like running too much electricity through a circuit: sooner or later its going to blow something up.
2. 2 of Wands – Dominion; Mars in Aries; A war god with the butt-headedness of a goat…Ok it can work but it soooooooo easily gets out of control. That is why the key word is dominion. When we have dominion over others that is often not so good for the other. Various words for that are slavery, totalitarianism, despotism, tyranny, etc. On the other hand dominion over self can work better. Self respect, self restraint, self acceptance, self control, not so bad. The problem comes when it is all about the fire and not about the other suits. 2 of wands people always need a balance in their life to keep them from tipping over into the tyrant strain that runs as a strong potential in this card.
3. 3 of Wands – Virtue; Sun in Aries; the staffs here have begun to blossom. This is the card of power in its natural vein. Living a life of virtue (as far as this philosophy goes) is not about living a life of abstinence, but rather living a life where ones’ life force is channeled through the life path best suited to its nature and circumstances. When that happens all kinds of other “blossomings” start to happen.
4. 4 of Wands – Completion; Venus in Aries; male and female aspects of self balance and here is where Aries can control himself and Venus can fully use her power without the fear of drowning the Other. They are matched power for power. The downside is that this couple can run right over their neighbors and not even notice the bump. The fear here is that the impulsive nature of this relationship combined with the resultant power surge will adversely effect others….and even the “gods” need others.
5. 5 of Wands – Strife; Saturn in Leo; Here you have 2 matched powers but their powers move in opposite directions. This is what causes the strife. Saturn is about rules and responsibility, slow hard decisions. Leo is about the golden ego, shining brightly, decisions made with self respect and role in mind. This card is the lesson of the 5 again. Again it is about learning to measure wants and needs and not always going with what feels good. Sometimes we have to go with what, to the slower, more calculating mind, is logically correct. The reason: sometimes feelings have us roar when we should remain silent and listen.
6. 6 of Wands – Victory; Jupiter in Leo; should the lesson of the 5 be learnt, the victory is the consequence. Suddenly what was a cold, hard decision feels like the Ghost of Christmas Present – the open armed Jupiter. And all it took was learning to think with a little more balance and to choose where that energy goes rather than let the feeling of desire (wants) make the decision for you.
7. 7 of Wands – Valour; Mars in Leo; Courage and the heart of the creative warrior. This is a lot of power. But this is also a lot of ego. I mean Mars the War God with Leo the King of the Universe! I mean melded together that’s one heck of a showman. Just be careful its not all an act.
8. 8 of Wands – Swiftness; Mercury in Sagittarius; Mercury is the communicator and Sagittarius is independent, free and the one who fires the first shot. This makes for a fast moving situation that is very likely to get at the heart of the matter but do it in a way that is probably not too conventional. The mind on fire; the will working through the mouth.
9. 9 of Wands – Strength; Sun and Moon in Sagittarius; When the sun and moon are together it means they are conjunct and that this is a dark moon time. The wise-woman rises from the deep: this is Hecate’s card. The moon is your emotions. The sun is your sense of purpose. They are together in this card, each power feeding the other. This situation is put in the house of Sagittarius which means that it is directed outward through exploration and enthusiasm but also inwards through understanding. This balance is the source of the strength.
10. 10 of Wands – Oppression; Saturn in Sagittarius; your energy is limited. You are restricted by things that are (at the moment anyway) beyond your control. Head in the direction you need to go but recognize that the progress will be slower than you like. You can lift a bit of the sense of oppression if you take time to see what is happening from Saturn’s point of view and not just champ at the bit to fly like Sagittarius’ arrow. This is the final completion of fire energy – the recognition that power no matter how great must be limited by the needs of the organism that carries it.
11. Prince of Wands – Allegiance to Power; This is the ability to be a leader, a showman, a shining extrovert and media hero. But it is also the ability to manipulate. Power is erotic but it must be channeled, used and not just for show. The Prince’s chariot is pulled by Leo and everyone knows who does most of the hunting in a lion pride – and it isn’t dad who brings home the bacon.
12. Princess of Wands – Cyclic; The Princess has the tiger by the tail (literally, that is what the picture shows.) This is an adventurous woman, one who will take you for a wild ride. But she also has an earthy streak which makes her fire-power (her intuition, will) of practical use. The earth element here also brings with it the knowledge that power, like anything in the earth, waxes and wanes. This is not avoidable and so it is silly to fight, rather one needs to learn to use the cyclic nature of fire to do what is needed.
13. Knight of Wands – Devotion; This is devotion to the will of his Queen and his essential nature. He carries a burning brand in his left hand and guides his mount (his will) in his right. This translates to the unconscious source of his power which makes his way and his conscious control of his decisions about where to point the power. This is a warrior’s warrior.
14. Queen of Wands – Freedom of Power; The Queen is regal with a sun-ray headdress, her right hand upon the sun-cat and in her left her Wand with its tree-seed tip. The icons point to the One who is the Source of power, or at least the one who is tapped in full-time to the source. The tree-seed (i.e. pine cone) is the heart of the tree of life. It is her symbol of power and her connection to the source. The fact that it is in her left hand means that her unconscious is the Source. Her right hand rests on the head of the sun-cat, a leopard. This indicates that her decisions are made with the world of fire under her conscious control. She is the master of Chi not because she can control it but because she knows how to surf it better than any other being in existence.

[MaryLupin]

Note the four corners of the Wheel of Fortune card of the Rider-Waite Tarot. They are the angel, eagle, ox, lion. They are the four angelic beings in Ezekiel's vision. I enjoy the art work of other tarot decks, but it is for this reason I prefer the classical symbolism of the Rider-Waite deck...Waite deck is consistent with Judeo-Christian mythology and theology. I'm stating this as a matter of history, not proselytizing, so that people who might be new to tarot can begin to see they are not just pretty pictures somebody dreamed up, but have some basis in older traditions.

Absolutely. I know a lot of Christian people who use the Tarot to try and understand things that they perceive as signs from god. Funny thing is I have taught a lot of them how to do it and I am rather unChristian. This ability of symbols to hold more than one possible meaning is one reason why Tarot works as a western philosophical system...it was created by us and resonates with our symbols, regardless of what surface meaning we choose to give to them. It doesn't matter to their efficacy whether the user believes an angel of god is helping them understand or whether they believe it is a fairy, or for that matter whether they believe it is just "all in their head."

note the letters in English read "T-A-R-O"
The Hebrew letters on the Wheel, beginning at the one o'clock position read: "Yod" "He" "Vau" He" (YHVH -> Yahweh)

Cool observation. Basic things that we observe as humans in a cultural tradition tend to get repeated in new versions of that tradition. So Oestra's Moon is Easter and the Wheel of Jupiter is YHVH's divining system.

[MaryLupin]

The Water Suit – Cups

1. The Ace of Cups – The Root of the Power of Water; This is the grail and the cauldron of Cerridwen. It is the source of life in both symbols. The stem of the cup rises through the heart of a lotus flower and from the heart of the cup rises a spout of water reaching up and outside the boundaries of the card. This is the power of feeling without goal, without an object for its affection. Just the source of feeling unconstrained.
2. 2 of Cups – Love; Venus in Cancer; The water is coming from the heart of the lotus and cascading over two golden fish and into 2 cups. In the mundane world of the human being this is love. Love directed by the desires of another. At a less corporeal lever this is agape or the love we have for the Beloved, whether the Beloved is a divine or a tree. The problem with this card is that when the other leaves it feels as if you are dying. This can make the 2 of cups a bit neurotic and not self-fulfilled but fulfilled by the other.
3. 3 of Cups – Abundance; Mercury in Cancer; This is the card of the empath. With Mercury in the house of the great mother, the nurturer and the sensitive soul, it is also strongly associated with the poet and other artist. As long as the cycle of self-sustaining flow is maintained, the source nourishes the roots and the roots grow more flowers, which produce the water which is the source. Break the cycle and one also breaks the abundance. Communication, writing time, etc are not a luxury here. It is essential. Without self-expression the whole system dries up and dies.
4. 4 of Cups – Luxury; Moon in Cancer; similar to 3 this (because it is the number 4) has more stability and is less likely to be jiggled out of tune. This card is one not of earthly luxury (that’s a disks concern) but of emotional luxury. It is a person with good friends who support and agree to be supported in return. It is the capacity to speak one’s heart and mind and have it received with both understanding and tolerance.
5. 5 of Cups – Dissapointment; Mars in Scorpio; The War Lord is back and now he is in the Scorpion King’s domain. When this combo comes into the emotions the battle is for a sense of personal security and fulfillment. Mars and Scorpio are both tenacious, but where one fights in obvious ways the scorpion tends to sting from behind. This is the source of the disappointment for the one involved with a person like this. The disappointment for the one carrying this load of fighting energy comes from the fact that others cannot provide the security sought.
6. 6 of Cups – Pleasure; Sun in Scorpio; This is one who needs to live as a hedonist. Feelings are the power house in this person or situation and the sense of self is tied up with how s/he feels, not with goals, thoughts, or desires but with the feelings rocketing through his/her body. Since this the 6, the pleasure is best shared with others (and usually more than one other).
7. 7 of Cups – Debauch; Venus in Scorpio; Both Venus and Scorpio are venerable powers but they need a little leavening. Together they get into the self-absorbed mode and cannot usually get out of it alone. This leads to emotional excess and sometimes physical debauchery.
8. 8 of Cups – Indolence; Saturn in Pisces; This is the addictive personality. The slow processes of Saturn have no purchase in Pisces and so they spin slowly down to the sea’s bottom. This is a card that calls for situations that force emotional learning, force the bearer to accept and cherish the real existence of the Other, in fact force the bearer to understand the fact that the Other is as real as the Self. This can be amazingly difficult for someone in the grips of emotional laziness.
9. 9 of Cups – Happiness; Jupiter in Pisces; One thing Jupiter can really do is party with the Other. In Pisces this becomes a love affair with the World (or with God if you prefer). The result is the perfect moment of happiness…not too much and not too little.
10. 10 of Cups – Satiety; Mars in Pisces; the image on this card is the full flowing tree of life, the kabbalistic tree, or the route map to the god within and the god without. This is the card of being completely surrounded by feeling – by love and acceptance. It is the card of the mystical moment of overwhelm, just past the ecstasy. This is the moment before all the lights get blown out in the mind. The danger with this is you now think there is nothing left to know or do. Remember this is a feeling card. It does not represent the whole universe, only one part of it. It is easy to forget that with emotions because they are so powerful in human beings, far more powerful than our minds or our will. In despair, for example, it is easy to believe that it will never go away; easy to get caught in the trap of believing it is the whole universe. It isn’t. This is the lesson of this card.
11. Prince of Cups – Emotional Idealism; This is the questor. This is the Prince who does all in search of the experience of eternity. This is the Grail Knight. This is the mystic in search of the Truth. Beware one who thinks he has found It.
12. Princess of Cups – Cyclic; This is the dreamer. She is the one who seeks understanding through the body of dreams. The animals and plants in the card represent aspects of what she has learnt and can learn about the nature and source of our capacity to feel. She is also the rider of tides, a wave swimmer, a killer whale in human dress. There is a swan over her head. This brings several images to mind. One is the lesson Leda learnt about taking the gods inside oneself and the other is the significance of AUM (meditation and chanting) with respect to eastern symbolism and its understanding of the swan. In other words, a little self discipline and practical application makes this seeker a useful companion.
13. Knight of Cups – Devotion; The Knight has the Great Mother alive and shining in the Grail/Cauldron. He holds it in his right hand and guides his mount with his left. He is winged and the peacock displays his tail. This is a warrior of the heart and one whose job it is, is to carry the Mother (source of life) with him on his journey.
14. Queen of Cups – Freedom of Feeling; The Queen has largely become water and so is barely visible to us. She holds a cup with a crawfish emerging from it in her left hand and a lotus blossom in her left. The crawfish represents fears and the unknown coming up from the depths and the lotus represents the peace and serenity that this can bring when balanced (the stork walking on the surface of the water.) It is always better to know your shadows no matter how difficult it may be.

[A MM]

Very interesting form of mysticism, it seems to me.
However, its all new to me.

I am reading up on the history links, from the Toth site link.
Thanks.

[MaryLupin]

Very interesting form of mysticism, it seems to me.
However, its all new to me.

I am reading up on the history links, from the Toth site link.
Thanks.

Hey no problem.

You are exactly the reason why I started this thread and why EarthBoar and I have kept it going. Have fun discovering cool new stuff and if you have any questions just ask.

[MaryLupin]

NOTE TO READERS

After tonight I am gone for the better part of a week (at least). See you when I get back.

[earthboar]

The World is numbered 21 in the Major Arcana, and is governed by Saturn:


The Wheel of Fortune is numbered 10 in the Major Arcana, and is governed by Jupiter.


Note the four corners of the World Card, which, just like the Wheel of Fortune Card, bears the symbolism of the four Sepharic or angelic beings from Ezekiel's vision: Angel, Eagle, Ox and Lion.

These creatures were associated with the four directions, and the four elements of alchemy
(angel=air; eagle=water; ox=earth; lion=fire):

During New Testament times, these would be associated with the four Evangelists, Matthew (human or angel), Mark (lion), Luke (ox), and John (eagle).
"The four Evangelists appear on the ceiling of the choir in the 15th-c. Church of St. Moritz in Rottenburg am Neckar, Germany." - from a Wikipedia entry on the Four Evangelists

angel - air - light blue - spirit - intelligence - east - swords
lion - fire - yellow - life - will - south - wands
eagle - water - dark or green/blue - soul - wisdom - west - cups
ox - earth - dark green or russet, brown - body - strength - pentacles/coins

[Demian]

This is a fascinating thread. I was wondering if the Holy Fool from Parzival was culled from the Tarot? His characteristics certainly match up. Thinking of the Holy Fool also reminded me of Phillip K. Dick (who used the Holy Fool from Parzival in his The Transmigration of Timothy Archer). Dick apparently used the I Ching to come up with the entire plot for The Man in the High Castle. Thank you both for this enjoyable thread!