Sunday, August 28, 2011

Tarot musings: Journey through the major arcana

Something just occurred to me as I was organizing the tarot into suits (I wanted to go back to some older readings and see if I had any further insights with hindsight)... It's something that should be obvious but I never really thought of it before... Each card of the ten card cycle has some relationship to the corresponding card(s) of the next cycle(s) (0 and 1 have three corresponding cards, while the rest have only two.)

Each cycle is goes around a life once, then comes back and goes through the same cycle, but at a higher level: first 0 to 10 o 20, 1 to 11 to 21, then 2 to 12 and so on. Each series can be seen as a progression from lower to higher levels of growth. Combined with the Tree of Life numbers:


0: Malkuth/"The Kingdom"

The end of all roads, the return to the realm of the spirit. It is the true, spiritual result of the journey, if you only have the Wisdom to understand it.

The Fool, the beginning of all journeys - leads to the Wheel of Fortune, the endless cycle of reincarnation - finally ends at Judgment, when all past sins are washed clean and we begin again. At the first stage, we only see beginnings, knowing nothing. The first time we go through the cycle, we come to understand that it is endless, beginning leading to ending, then back again. But as we gain spiritual understanding, we realize that karma doesn't exist - we can get off the endless cycle and be truly reborn.

Brought down to the mundane level: at first we don't know why we do things, then we realize we're making the same stupid mistakes over and over, perhaps generationally. If we can gain wisdom and understanding, we can stop that cycle and be reborn into someone new, someone cleansed of that compulsion


1: Keter/"Crown"

The point beyond which our comprehension of the Nothingness cannot go, the First Thing which explodes into being from the Nothingness, the primordial energy from which all things are created. In life, it is promise, potential, premonitions.

The magician, channeling power from the world of the spirit to the mundane world - to Justice, the laws of Karma - to The World, wholeness and completion. At first, we come to realize our power, how we have the great forces within our grasp. Then we realize the natural constraints placed upon us, particularly as encapsulated by the adage "You reap what you sow." Finally, you realize that all is one, you step back from your struggles and realize that you are already whole.

The mundane world version is close to the spiritual one: First, you must realize your own power. Then, that your actions have consequences. Finally, that it was all for the good - all that happened to you, all that you did, has made you who you are. It's all part of you.


2: Chokmah/"Wisdom"

Singularity expands forth into space and time, pure dynamic energy forever expanding forth. It is generation, the coming into being.

The division of Singularity into Duality - the division of the world into night and day, down and up, female and male. The High Priestess, the mysteries of the universe that are dependent on keeping - The Hanged Man, voluntary releasing one's ego to comprehend those mysteries and let them act on you.

Not quite sure what it translates to in the mundane world. Both are internal and contemplative, but the High Priestess seems passive, or at least she doesn't care to apply what she knows. She's just happy with knowing it. whereas the Hanged Man is definitely seeking something, even if he seems as passive as the High Priestess - he's made an active choice to be inactive, allowing wisdom to come to him in his stillness. Maybe in one you know but don't know, where in the second you have to make the choice to be still?


3: Binah/"Understanding"

Primordial feminine energy, the Great Mother of the Universe, cooling and nourishing the primordial fire into a multitude of forms. It is the fruition of the generation of Chokmah.

Birth and death - 3, The Empress to 13, Death. In most older religions, Death was a Goddess - the mother was seen as the Source of all life and the Devourer, and we know that one cannot be without the other.

In our lives, this is clear as one leads to the other - we become, then we let go of those selves so that something new can come into being.


4: Chesed/"Mercy"

Solidification, materialization. Things have begun to manifest. It is the end of the first stage and the first result, when what up to now was just idea has become reality.

The Emperor, making things come into being through the application of your will - to Temperance, balance in all things.

This is a very Tao concept - at the first stage, you learn to apply your will to the world, to shape it. But a wise ruler, whether or a kingdom or only the kingdom of the self, learns to apply their will in concert with the rhythm of life. Like a martial arts practitioner, they learn to harness their opponent's energy, thereby creating the greatest effect with the least effort.


5: Geburah/"Strength"

Upset of a stable system, the appearance of storm and stress, the potency and vigor of the feminine principle. The primoridal generative power of Binah in the material plane. In life it is reversal, the turning of the wheel that instigates change and growth.

The Hierophant, the power of the tradition to keep society together - to The Devil, the power of the instinct. It's interesting that The Devil is at a higher level than the Hierophant - first we need the conservative influence that keeps society united, but at a higher level is the need to keep the channel open to the primitive, passionate instinct. What's also interesting is that these are both in the place of destabilization - 5 in the tarot is always the place where the solidity of 4 breaks downs. It's a generative number, connected to the "primordial generative power of Binah," number 3. Still not 100% sure of what it all means...

Our own lives often follow this sequence - we live our lives according to what society tells us we should, and then something in us rebels and we connect to the deep reservoirs of passion within us.


6: Tiphareth/"Beauty"

Consciousness in it's most harmonized and balanced form (and it is in form, not idea), the four elements at their practical best. The center of the system and the only physically manifesting sephiroth that is directly connected to Kether, the First Cause, and can easily rule over the rest of the sephiroth. It's the number of Aphrodite and her union of opposites; male and female, spiritual and physical. It is harmony. In life, it is movement from the reversal of Geburah.

The Lovers, the harmonious union of opposites - to The Tower, the violent upheaval that creates at the same time as it destroys. Seen in relation to the upheaval of 5, The Lovers is the passionate desire for union that's the result of, and antidote for, the concern with the stability of society of the Hierophant and the Tower is cleansing that often comes from the eruptions from the Id of the Devil.

Love has a disrupting influence - it can destroy lives, but even when it does, it usually does so by clearing away what was actually dead and clearing the space for new life, and new hope.


7: Netzach/"Victory"

Unbalanced, taking a great risk and doing it by frantic struggle. In life, it is the effect of the movement of Tipareth.

The Chariot, control of one's emotions by feeling them - to The Star, hope in the darkness. Again, both of these naturally lead from the previous cards, The Lovers and The Tower, but both are connected to each other - in the first cycle, we learn to control our feelings, but in the higher cycle, we learn to have faith, no matter what our feelings are doing, whether we're speaking spiritually or in the mundane world.


8: Hod/"Splendor"

Chokmah on the earthly plane. Bringing into being rather than coming into being, it is the work that must be done to grow.

Another set of cards that's related to previous cards, this time the Emperor and Temperance. Strength, inner strength and persistence necessary to tame the inner beast - The Moon, going into the beast itself, into it's darkness, without any light, not even inner light. Surviving through the dark night of the soul through nothing less than persistence. The work needed to bring about either material or spiritual results.

In the first cycle, we learn to control our passions through patience and persistence. In the second, we learn to survive in the belly of the beast through patience and persistence.


9: Yesod/"The Foundation"

Stability, crystallization of the journey. It is the temporal, earthly final result.

The Hermit, learning that that which we are seeking is within us - The Sun, learning that that which we seek is what we already are. The "inner light" which lights our way is our inner Sun, which is the God Within, or we ourselves.

In our lives, it's first learning that everything we're doing is really about something inside of us. Then that it's what's inside of us that is what we're seeking.


I'm not 100% sure of any of these - they're just early thoughts - but I have a definite feeling that they're connected to each other. As always, this is a work in progress.


No comments:

Post a Comment

I'm not back but I will stop ignoring this blog

I just recently decided to check in and see what, if anything, was going on. And it looks like this is actually quite active! Apolog...