La Via dei Tarocchi - Alejandro Jodorowsky
The Tarot. Alejandro Jodorowsky
Arcani Maggiori
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LE•MAT (Il Matto)
Libertà, grande apporto di energia
Viaggiare
Libertà • Energia • Viaggio • Ricerca • Origine • Progredire • Essenza • Forza liberatrice • L'irrazionale • Caos • Fuga • Pazzia
Il Matto ha un nome, ma non il numero. È l'unico Arcano maggiore a non essere identificato numericamente. Rappresenta l'energia originaria senza limiti, la libertà totale, la follia, il disordine, il caos, o anche l'impulso creatore fondamentale.
Si vedrà Il Matto come una creatura libera da ogni necessità, da qualunque complesso, da qualunque giudizio, al di là di ogni divieto, un essere che ha rinunciato a qualsiasi domanda: un illuminato, un dio, un potente gigante nel flusso dell'energia, una forza liberatoria incommensurabile.
Il Matto rievoca un forte impulso di energia. Dovunque vada, porta con sé questo impulso vitale.
Se si dirige verso una carta, la carica con la propria energia creativa.
Se si allontana dalla carta che lo precede, abbandona una situazione per apportare forza a un nuovo progetto, a un nuovo luogo, a una nuova relazione.
Rappresenta allora una liberazione, una fuga (materiale, emozionale, intellettuale o sessuale). In altre parole, questa carta pone il problema di sapere in quali condizioni versa l'energia del consultante, in che cosa egli impieghi le proprie energie.
Il vestito de Il Matto è rosse e verde: contiene dentro di sé la vita animale e la vita vegetale. Ma le maniche azzurre indicano che la sua azione, simboleggiata dalle braccia, è spiritualizzata, e il copricapo giallo esprime la luce dell'intelligenza
A volte, quando si identifica con un personaggio, Il Matto rappresenta la follia o la leggerezza. E, naturalmente, un pellegrinaggio, un viaggio, una forza che si muove. Il problema è sapere in quale direzione di muove: Il Matto di per sé non ha preferenze.
Questa carta che insemina energia potrà esacerbare, nutrire o spogliare le carte che lo circondano. Specchio dell'Arcano senza nome, che potrebbe esserne lo scheletro, Il Matto ci rivela che la capacità di agire si aquisisce anche mediante la traversata iniziatica della follia e della morte.
I LE•BATELEUR (Il Bagatto)
Beginning and Choosing
Start
Shrewdness • Initiation • Beginning • Need for Aid • Dexterity • Youth • Potentiality • Gives Something Concrete Expression • Disciple • Malice • Verve • Talent • Trickster (sacred)
The Magician bears the number one. This figure contains the whole in potential; it is like the original point from which a universe emerges. For The Magician all is possible. He has a series of elements on the table in front of him that he can use as he pleases, and a pouch that is easily imagined to be inexhaustible, like a horn of plenty. From his table this figure acts toward the cosmos and toward spiritual life.
Although represented by a male figure, The Magician is an androgynous individual working with light and shadow, juggling from the unconscious to the superconscious.
The Magician could be a prestidigitator who is hiding something under the table or, to the contrary, an initiate.
The Magician indicates a beginning. Reasoning is quick. There is no lack of astuteness and talent; all that remains is to take action. This card also indicates the necessity of choosing, deciding, to go into mourning for the “everything is possible” that is the mark of youth.
His table has three legs. It is conceivable that the fourth leg is located outside the card. It is by going beyond the stage of possibilities and moving into the reality of action and choice that The Magician gives concrete expression to his situation. But we can also see that the 3 is the figure of the mind, and light blue is the color of spiritual receptivity. Similarly, the yellow shoes of The Magician indicates he touches the Earth intelligently—an earth saturated with the red blood, humanity—while receiving the summons of divine strength. This is a spirit that seeks to situate itself within the human world and find solutions for material life. This card is therefore one that will evoke all the questions concerning employment, work, and profession.
In the family or the psychological world, this is the boy, the boy one still is even after forty years have passed, the boy one should have been if not born a woman, the boy that one has raised and the boy that one has trouble letting fly on his own wings, the boy one meets and with whom one is preparing to form a couple in which everything is to be invented.
The Magician shows that something is possible, that a new beginning can be made and that nothing is opposed to initiating a new action. His wand could represent a request for help or an inspiration waiting to be charged by a more mature force, or perhaps by the progress of maturity itself.
Even though he is the first of the Major Arcana and an initiate in his own right, The Magician still has a road to travel ahead of him. This is the card of the unity that must choose a way to take action.
II LA•PAPESSE (La Papessa)
Gestation, Accumulation
Accumulate
Faith • Knowledge • Patience • Sanctuary • Fidelity • Purity • Solitude • Silence • Severity • Matriarchy • Rigor • Gestation • Virginity • Cold • Resignation
The High Priestess bears the number 2, which, in the most common numerology systems, is associated with duality. But in the Tarot 2 is not [1 + 1]; it is a pure value in itself that means accumulation. The High Priestess sits on an egg. The first woman of the Major Arcana, she appears to us as a cloistered woman sitting next to an egg that is as white as her oval face. She is doubly in gestation, both herself and this egg.
Symbol of total purity, The High Priestess reveals the intact part inside us that has never been wounded or touched, the virginal witness we carry, sometimes unknowingly, who represents for each of us a well of purification and trust, an unexploited virgin forest that is the source of much potential.
Her imprisonment within the convent, temple, or cloister is symbolized by the curtain hanging from the sky, which is also curling inward. The High Priestess has often been seen as an initiator or a sorceress.
The High Priestess will often refer to a female individual, the mother or grandmother who has handed down either an ideal of purity or an authoritarian coldness. She will also incarnate the cold mother, the sexless woman, who finds justification in a religious ideal or morality, and who does not know how to be tender. But her demand for purity can put us on the trail of a woman of high spiritual stature, a priestess, a therapist, a female guide, who could be of any age. In love, The High Priestess is ready to form a couple based on the union of souls.
The book she holds destines her to study and knowledge. Flesh- colored, it tells us that she is studying the laws of human incarnation. Because she is not reading it, it gives us reason to think that this open volume is nothing other than herself, waiting for someone to come to decipher it, to awaken her. It also refers to the Holy Scriptures: The High Priestess collects the language of God the Father, the living language. Finally, the seventeen lines signal her kinship with The Star: the horizon for the accumulation of The High Priestess is the action of Arcanum XVII. In the positive and initiatory sense, The High Priestess is preparing a hatching. She is waiting for God to arrive and inseminate her egg.
The book she is holding can also direct us to the concerns connected to study or writing of the subject of the reading. The High Priestess then becomes a writer, the plan for a book or any other kind of work, the gestation necessary for an action, even an actress who has received a role to study, or an accountant, or a meticulous reader. Or even the Virgin Mary in person.
Cloistered, The High Priestess evokes isolation, waiting, or solitude—of her own choice or imposed upon her. Her white color can suggest a desire to be reheated by amorous, spiritual, or creative passion. Sexually, she at best represents sublimation and at worst frustration.
The answer to the mystery of The High Priestess may perhaps be found in her attitude toward the egg accompanying her. If she incubates it in lofty solitude and is guided by high standards, a living god may be born from it. Isn’t the ostrich egg in Catholicism regarded as one of the symbols of the birth of Christ?
III LIMPERATRICE (L'Imperatrice)
Creative Outburst, Expression
Seduce
Fertility • Creativity • Seduction • Desire • Power • Feelings • Enthusiasm • Nature • Elegance • Abundance • Harvest • Beauty • Hatching • Adolescence
The Empress, like all the cards of the third level, signifies a bursting without experience.
Everything that accumulated in the second level explodes in thunderous fashion, not knowing where to go. It is the transition from virginity to creativity; it is the egg that opens to life and allows the nestling to emerge. In this sense The Empress comes back to the energy of the adolescent with its extreme vital strength, its seduction, its lack of experience. This is also a period of life when full growth is taking place, when the body has the potential for exceptional regeneration. This is also the age of puberty, the discovery of desire and sexual power.
The Empress will inspire thoughts of creativity, the female part of the individual, or even a woman full of fire and energy, animated by a boiling enthusiasm. She is prepared to go beyond boundaries, to “burst out”, no matter how old she is. She is the soul of adolescence with its joyous fanaticism, its inability to recognize the consequences of its actions, its faith in action for the sake of action. This card is also, when drawn in a reading for an elderly person, the rebirth of an energy thought long vanished. The Empress recalls the dreams of youth and urges us to fantasize from them, a thirst for the absolute that may well have been forgotten.
This card will also evoke all the same associations for a man, or simply a seductive woman who has appeared in his life.
In her splendor, The Empress is also a woman of power, warm-hearted but capable of dominating impulses. She loves to conceive and to rule.
Seen under a more injurious aspect, The Empress can also indicate an opportunity to act that was missed or, in contrast, a thoughtless action. She can also refer to sterility, a negative image of woman, a female energy (sexual, creative, intellectual, emotional) that was blocked during adolescence. The hand resting on the shield is ambiguous: it can be seen as an outside element that has taken possession of this woman, one that has sought to imprison or reduce her. When expression is frustrated, abused, or limited, The Empress becomes capable of resentment, maliciousness, and venality.
But when she is enthroned at the peak of her nurturing power, we learn that everything living can be seen in her beauty.
IIII L’EMPEREUR (L'Imperatore)
Stability and Mastery of the Material World
Command
Stability • Domination • Power • Responsibility • Rationalism • Support • Government • Matter • Solidity • Leader • Balance • Order • Power • Father
The Emperor bears the number 4, associated with stability like the design of the square, the very symbol of material security. A 4 is incapable of falling unless there is a large revolution. A cross with four branches can be seen on The Emperor’s chest. With it, the laws of the universe are soundly established.
The restoration of the Tarot has made possible the rediscovery that the Emperor’s eagle is sitting over an egg. Just as the feminine Empress has a male core, The Emperor is accompanied by a receptive eagle, in full incubation like The High Priestess. Is he absorbing her power, or is he supporting himself on her?
The figure can be seen seated and stable or, to the contrary, already standing propped against his throne, ready to act if he so desires. He is strength at rest.
The Emperor will easily represent the father figure as the central constituent element of the personality. The direction he is looking can orient us upon the centers of interest to a father: is it toward the family, or toward the outside? Toward his daughter, his wife, his son? Toward his own parents? Well placed, The Emperor evokes a stable companion and protector and a balanced home. For a young man, it could also pose the question of masculinity: how has it been passed down by the father, what are the means of fulfilling oneself as a man in reality?
His finely worked throne indicates the refinement of his mind. Above his left shoulder we can see the symbol of gold, of knowledge. His head is crowned by intelligence (the yellow of his helmet, on which an orange compass can be seen) and radiates like a sun in its red tips. His light-blue beard and hair display his spiritual experience: the power that he exercises is not only material. Furthermore, we can detect in the arrangement of the arms and hat a triangular diagram, symbol of the mind, above the square sketched out by the legs.
Questions concerning money and economicsecurity are also connected to this card. They refer to the possibility of becoming the master (or mistress) of one’s material life, of taking in hand the means through which one can guarantee one’s security.
When he appears in a draw oriented toward spiritual questions, The Emperor can refer to the patriarchal figure of God imagined as a father, but also with the relations maintained by the “square” rational mind with dimensions that are beyond it.
A figure of earthly power, The Emperor is seen in profile. Perhaps his gaze is so intense it could disintegrate us …
V LE•PAPE (Il Papa)
Mediator, Bridge, Ideal
Teach
Wisdom • Ideal • Communication • Teaching • Verticality • Plan • Mediator • Faith • Guide • Example • To Marry • Spiritual Power • Saintliness
The Pope bears the number 5. This number has evolved from a complete foundation in reality (the number 4) to acquire an objective beyond its position. The Pope takes one more step than The Emperor; he establishes a bridge that makes it possible to proceed toward this ideal. In his activity as teacher or pontiff, he is receptive to the upper realm, Heaven, and active in the lower realm, Earth. What he receives from on high, he transmits beneath him to his disciples. Similarly, he transmits the prayers of his students to the deity, thereby joining Heaven and Earth. We could say that he represents the point where opposites meet, the center of the cross between high and low, left and right. He is therefore a site of circulation among these different poles, which are able to communicate through him.
The Pope could represent a master, a teacher, or a guide, but also an idealized paternal figure (the acolytes would then symbolize his children), a married man, a saint. He also symbolizes an act of communication, a union, a marriage, and all the means used for communication. As a bridge or pontiff, The Pope evokes a guided communication that knows where it is heading.
After the accumulation of The High Priestess preparing for birth, the aimless bursting forth of The Empress, and the stability of The Emperor, The Pope brings an ideal. While remaining part of the material world, he points the way to an ideal dimension with certainty.
VI LAMOVREVX (L'Amante)
Union, Emotional Life
Exchange
Eros • Heart • Choice • Emotional Domain • Conflict • Ambiguity • Trio • Social Life • Community • Siblings • Doing What You Love
VI represents in Tarot numerology the first step into the square of Heaven. It is the time when we stop imagining what would please us to begin doing what we like.
The major tone of this card concerns pleasure and emotional life. This is the very reason why it is so complex and so rich in conflicting meanings. It opens the field to countless projections, and a thousand meanings can be attributed to it, each of which can be right at a given moment. What is taking place with this trio? Is it a quarrel, haggling, a choice, a union? The two figures on the left are looking at each other, while the one on the right is looking off into space. The whole of humanity can be comprehended through this card. The relations of its protagonists are extremely ambivalent.
The interpretations are inexhaustible. All of them lead us to the conclusion that The Lover is a relational card that depicts the beginning of social life. It is the first Arcanum on which several individuals are presented at the same level (The Pope’s disciples are smaller than he is and seen from the back). This is a card of union and disunion, of social and emotional choices. Several clues present in the card direct us toward the notion of union. On the one hand, the number 6 is associated with the letter in the Hebrew alphabet Vav, “nail,” which represents union. On the other hand, we can see patches of color (light blue, then red) between these individuals’ legs that also represent a continuity, a union between them. On the symbolic plane, we could say that the three figures represent the governing centers of the human being: the intellect, the emotional center, and the sexual center joining together to become one.
The spelling “AMOVREUX” with the “V” instead of the “U” creates a visual and sonorous link to the word “Dieu” in “LA MAISON DIEV” [The God House—The Tower]. We could say that the sun spilling its rays upon this scene represents the great cosmic Lover, the deity as the source of the universal love that guides us to conscious and unconditional love. The small Eros serves him as a messenger and suggests to us, because of his depiction as a child, that this love is perpetually renewing itself.
This ambiguous card prompts us to question our own emotional state: how is our emotional life going? Are we enjoying peace or experiencing conflict? Are we doing what we love? What place does love hold in our lives? Does the situation that is our chief concern have roots in our past, and if so, what are they? This card can refer to questions concerning the place we’ve been assigned within our family unit, and to work identifying the projections we cast on those now around us. The Lover will be one of the figures on the card, chosen by the subject of the reading, whose relations he or she can analyze. Whatever the question may be, it will be helpful to remember that the central Lover remains the large white glowing sun, which sheds its light on all living things without discrimination.
VII LE CHARIOT• (Il Carro)
Action in the World
Conquer
Action • Lover • Prince • Triumph • Ease • To Fertilize • To Colonize • To Travel • To Dominate • Noninterventionism • Warrior • Eternity
The Chariot is number 7 in the first series of the Major Arcana. This is a primary number, divisible only by itself, and it is also the most active of the odd numbers. The Chariot is therefore the preeminent representation of action in every domain, in the self and in the world. In contrast to The Empress, who occupies the corresponding position in the earth square and indicates a bursting forth without any preconceived purpose, The Chariot knows full well where it is heading. The two horses pulling his vehicle are depicted like the dog of The Fool, with light-blue hides. Once again animal nature has been spiritualized. Furthermore, we can identify the horse on our right, with its long eyelashes and closed eyes, as a female element, and the other horse as a male element. The two complementary male and female energies are realizing unity here. While their front feet give the appearance of pointing in opposite directions, the heads and gaze are the same: this is because they represent the union of opposites on the energetic plane.
The Chariot is often seen as a conqueror performing powerful actions, or a lover with a triumphant sexuality. Sometimes he heralds a voyage. Some even see him as an announcement of success in television or the movies, because the figure appears in a frame like a marionette in a theater. In all cases this is a card that is moving forward toward success. His sole dangers are the lack of caution and inflexibility of the conqueror who harbors no doubts about the validity of his conquest. A virile and extremely active card, it is sometimes seen as suggesting to a woman that her parents wanted a boy. The Chariot also prompts questions about the methods one implements for acting in the world and the way one is guiding one’s life.
Two masks on his shoulders represent, if you like, the past and future, or the positive and the negative, or time and space, for which he is the meeting point and unity. Acting fully within the present, he is open to past and future, joy and sorrow, light and shadow. He is a complete individual who acts on three planes simultaneously.
Red plants full of energy are growing at the base of The Chariot, also adding to the energetic tone of this card.
VIII LA JUSTICE (La Giustizia)
Balance, Perfection
Balance
Woman • Maternity • Sovereign • Balance • Court • Completion • Taking a Stand • Valor • Judging • Perfection • Presence • Conning • Authorizing • Forbidding • Balancing
Justice, number 8, symbolizes perfection. This is the peak of the even numbers. Following the accumulation of the 2, the establishment of the 4, and the discovery of pleasure of the 6, the 8 has attained the stage where there is nothing left to add or take away. The 8, an Arabic numeral, is formed by two superposed circles: perfection in Heaven and on Earth. In the Tarot numerology, it is also the double of the 4, therefore a double square: stability in both the material and spiritual worlds.
The symbol of fulfillment, Justice balances our lives with her scales. But balance and perfection are not synonymous with symmetry. Just as the sacred art of the cathedral builders rejected the symmetrical as being diabolical, the card Justice is structured asymmetrically.
Justice, the most accessible incarnation of the great female archetype of The Moon (XVIII), will often represent the mother or a pregnant woman. This card also opens the field for strong projective interpretations: it can refer to a dictatorial, castrating maternal figure, and to all destructive verdicts. It will also stand then for a demand for perfection that is so strong that it hampers the reading subject in his or her realization, prohibiting the subject in advance from making any mistakes. Similarly, Justice often refers to state institutions (courts, police, administrative offices) whose decisions cannot be appealed and who awaken in the reading subject the threat of punishment and guilt.
Firmly seated on her throne, Justice, with her active attributes (the sword) and receptive attributes (the scales), is the first figure to face us directly, just as later The Sun and the angel on the card Judgment will also look at the subject of the reading. This is how Justice invites us to undivided introspection and to dive into the present.
Beneath her right elbow we see a patch of violet, the largest one to be found in the entire Tarot. This extremely rare and secret color is a symbol of wisdom. Justice is moved by wisdom. With the hand holding the scales, Justice is making a sacred gesture, a mudra in which the four fingers of the hand, representing the governing centers of the human being (thoughts, emotions, desires, physical needs) meet together at the thumb. Arcanum VIII is delivering a message of unity here.
Seen positively, her qualities of balance, her spirituality (she occupies a double square that is material and spiritual), and her clear ideas when facing reality can be valuable allies. The lesson of Justice with her sword and scales is to give oneself exactly what one deserves while implacably removing oneself from what one does not want. She teaches how to say yes and no, to distinguish subjective from objective judgments. To achieve this, she knows how to put herself in the shoes of the Other.
VIIII L’HERMITE (L'Eremita)
Crisis, Passage, Wisdom
Enlighten
Solitude • Wisdom • Letting Go • Therapy • Crisis • Experience • Poverty • Shedding Light • Ascetic • Very Old Age • Walking Backward • Cold • Receptive • Ancient • Silence
The Hermit abandons Arcanum VIII by retreating in order to go forward, offering his back to the end of the first decimal cycle and the beginning of a new cycle. He can be compared to the fetus that in the eighth month has attained its full development in utero. All his organs are already formed, and he is lacking for nothing. During the ninth month, the fetus prepares to abandon the womb, the sole environment it knows, in order to enter a new world.
Along a similar line of thinking, the Gospels teach us that Jesus was crucified at the third hour, began his agony at the sixth hour, and expired at the ninth hour. The number 9 announces both an end and a beginning. The Hermit actively terminates his relationship with the old world and becomes receptive toward an unknown future over which he exercises no mastery. In distinction to The Pope, who cast a bridge toward an ideal and knew where it went, The Hermit represents passage into the unknown. In this sense, he represents the highest form of wisdom as well as a state of profound crisis.
Just like The High Priestess, The Hermit is a very undercover figure. His layers of clothing suggest cold and winter—Saturn-like characteristics that are often attributed to him and which also reflect a certain chilliness of wisdom and the inner solitude of the initiate. We can also see them as “layers” of life experience; and, similarly, the copious hatching that shadows his garb can be interpreted as the mark of his great experience.
In his forehead, on the other hand, three wrinkles renew the message of mental activity. His gaze loses itself in the distance. His blue hair and beard make him kin to The Emperor: his blue glove, similar to that of The Pope, gives profound spirituality to his choices, actions, and itinerary. Inside, at the center, it is the color green that envelops him. We have already seen that in Sufi and kabbalistic tradition, green is the color of eternity.
This card often symbolizes a crisis that cannot be avoided, a profound change that needs to be confronted and accepted. It evokes the idea of a teacher, a therapist, or a guide. But in a crisis, there is an equal possibility that The Hermit will renew himself or die. He therefore also refers to poverty, solitude, and even decay and degeneration. He can be seen as a “vagrant” or even an alcoholic who is hiding a quart of red wine in his lantern.
Arcanum VIIII is the most human and coldest counterpart of the great paternal archetype of Arcanum XVIIII. In this way he can depict an absent father, or one who is taciturn, remote, or has vanished. He also refers, for the subject of the reading, to an inner solitude, to the secret and dark space where a spiritual transformation is prepared.
X L’A•ROVE•DE•FORTVNE (La Fortuna)
The Beginning or End of a Cycle
Accept
Fortune • Block • Renewal • Enigma • Solution • Cycle • Impermanence • Change • Eternal Return • Beginning and End • Body-Heart-Mind • Fate • To Revolve
The Wheel of Fortune, number 10, terminates the first decimal cycle of the Major Arcana. Its circular shape and the handle attached to it indicate its primary meaning: the end of one cycle and the pause to wait for the strength that will set the following cycle in motion. In the continuity of the Tarot, it is Arcanum XI, rightfully titled Strength, that succeeds The Wheel of Fortune and sets off the next decimal cycle. More than any other Arcanum, The Wheel of Fortune is clearly oriented toward closure with the past and expectation of the future. For this reason, the position held by this card in a reading will allow us to say if a plan for life needs to be finished to make a place for the new plan, or if a new era is already underway. If we decide to analyze this card as a setback, it is for revealing that failure is not the end of everything but a chance for redeploying our efforts: a change of path.
At first glance, this Arcanum gives an impression of inertia in which the movement of waves is carved into the light-blue ground. The message could be that reality, under the appearance of solidity, is perpetually changing like waves of the sea. Everything is condemned to vanish; the real is an ephemeral dream and the Earth an illusion of the cosmic ocean.
The Wheel of Fortune is a card with a multitude of interpretations whose reading depends much upon the circumstances alluded to by the subject of the reading. It indicates the point the subject has currently reached in his or her life. If it is present at the beginning of the drawing, it evokes the closing of a past cycle and the beginning of a new one. In a reading it can herald a work that has squarely come to completion and thus represent the turning of a page, a complete cycle. But often, coming at the middle or at the end of the draw, it indicates a block that needs to be overcome. It is then helpful to draw an additional card to see what will turn the handle or to elucidate the emotional mystery (represented by the blue animal) that it suggests.
Because the word fortune appears in this card, it represents financial profit in folk notions. It sometimes refers to a center of interest or system that is structured upon a circular shape: the wheel of karma, astrology, and even the big wheel of the lottery. The cycle of death and rebirth, in the large sense, can be seen in it as well as the circulation of life.
The Wheel of Fortune invites reflection upon inevitable alternations of ascents and falls, of prosperity and austerity, of joy and sorrow. It orients us toward change, whether positive or negative, and acceptance of the constant transformation of reality.
XI LA•FORCE (La Forza)
Creative Beginning, New Energy
Dominate
Animal Nature • Wild Beast • Creativity • Depth • Voice • Puberty • To Speak • To Stop Speaking • Rebirth • Force • Beginning • To Communicate • To Feel
It is she who opens the path for unconscious energies. It will be noted (the sole card among the Major Arcana to show this peculiarity) that her name is written on the far left of the cartouche, whereas on the right twenty lines are collected together like a trigger that will enable a new energy to gather its strength. Twenty is the number of Judgment, the card that ends this decimal cycle. Here again we see an intimate connection between the first and last cards of the cycle. Strength holds in potential everything that Judgment will realize, which is to say the emergence of the new consciousness.
Strength’s message is quite clear: this work of consciousness first passes through a relationship with the instinctive forces. Whereas The Magician, her counterpart of the first series, works from the waist upward and exercises his intelligence, Strength works from the waist to the bottom, allowing the teachings of the depths to communicate with the spiritual authorities of her being.
Strength refers to the beginning of an activity or a period of life placed beneath the sign of instinct, of creativity. It can also indicate problems of a sexual nature, or the emergence of one of the individual’s governing centers that was hitherto hidden and is now seeking expression for the first time. We shall need to ask ourselves if the young woman of Strength is allowing the animal to express itself or if she is attempting to rein it in. After an illness or the end of a cycle, Strength represents the return of vital energy.
All her activity is concentrated in the relationship with the animal, in the hide of which the yellow or golden force of intelligence incarnates in the flesh-colored part. The spirit incarnates in the animal nature, which, in turn, makes itself available to communication with the spirit. Strength works with bare hands, grasping animal nature, the manifestations of the unconscious, and her own bodily sexuality: the animal’s head is located at pelvis level. Her relationship with the forces at play in the movement of her hands in connection with the animal’s jaw opens the field to multiple interpretations. Her hand on our left is pressed against the beast’s muzzle but seemingly without holding or forcing it. The eight spots drawn on this muzzle indicate that there are no grounds for altering this animal energy; it is perfect as it is.
But depending on the understanding or misunderstanding that is reached with the mind, either creativity and illumination will emerge, or blocks and repression. Strength teaches us that essential stakes are involved in this relationship with our animal nature and that we should not neglect this part of ourselves.
Of all the animals present in the Tarot, the lion, which we find in the card of Strength and in that of The World (XXI), is the only one capable of eating the human being. The woman that finds harmony with it represents the most sublime dimension of the soul, the one through which the forces of miracle pass.
XII LE•PENDU (L'Appeso)
Halt, Meditation, Gift of the Self
Sacrifice
Sacrifice • Halt • Not Choosing • Gestation • Fetus • Meditation • Gift of the Self • Depth • Upside Down • To Wait • Delay • Suspension • Rest
The Hanged Man, Arcanum XII, corresponds to the second degree of the second decimal series, the equivalent of The High Priestess in the first series. Like her, he indicates a state of accumulation, arrest, and reclusion. Like The High Priestess, he has exiled himself from the human world, to which his only bond is the rope that attaches him to a flesh-colored lintel between the two trees holding him up. We have seen that starting with Arcanum XI, all the numbers are going to complete a descent toward the source of the original force in the abysses of the unconscious. The Hanged Man obeys this attraction toward the bottom and, through his accumulative nature (the 2), he expresses it by a complete halt, suspended upside down with his hair diving toward the depths as if to root itself there.
If The High Priestess was incubating, The Hanged Man is incubated: he has entered gestation to create the new being. We find here again the symbolism of the egg present in Arcanum II. If The High Priestess is the mother, The Hanged Man is the son.
This card indicates a moment of suspension that we can turn to our advantage for refining our plans in greater detail, self-knowledge, and inner work. It can also refer to a block or an inability to take action. Often this card will let us know that the time is not right for making a decision, that the situation or own view needs to ripen further. The Hanged Man can be literally seen as the mirror or reflection of Arcanum XXI, The World, in which the position of the legs is similar. But the woman at the heart of the mandorla of The World is dancing, whereas The Hanged Man is at a complete standstill. He represents the immobility that is complimentary to movement, the fetus in the maternal womb, or even the profound contact with the self that gives birth to all realization in the world.
We can also see, in a reversal of vision and perspectives, the upside-down status of his physical body: the intellect has been thrown down and the rational has ceased dominating behavior, while the mind makes itself receptive to profound inner wisdom, as shown by his dark-yellow hair. Our point of view on life changes. We disconnect from a view of the world inherited from childhood, with its retinue of illusions and projections, to enter into its singular essential truth.
However, knowing that the Tarot is imbued with the influence of the three great monotheist religions, we can also see an allusion to the kabbalistic tradition and the ten Sephirot of the Tree of Life in the ten buttons on The Hanged Man’s tunic. The first button, starting from the throat, bears a dot, the origin of all creation. The next four alternate between an active element and a receptive element. The sixth button, which corresponds to the Sephirah Tipheret, takes the form of an eight-rayed sun, perfection of the beauty uniting all the other elements. This is again followed by a receptive element and an active element, ollowed by a ninth button bearing a moon and a tenth on which a square, the symbol of the Earth, has been inscribed. The Hanged Man’s meditation gives him access to the universal wisdom that rests within him.
XIII
Profound Transformation, Revolution
Eliminate
Change • Mutation • Revolution • Anger • Transformation • Cleansing • Harvest • Skeleton • To Cut • Advance • To Eliminate • To Destroy • Rapidity
Of course the central figure we see here is the scythe-wielding skeleton that represents death in popular tradition. However, there are numerous elements that allow us to move away from this simplistic interpretation. On one hand, Arcanum XIII does not have a name. After the emptying and deepening work achieved by The Hanged Man, this card invites a radical purification of the past, a revolution that takes place in the nonverbal or preverbal depths of the individual, in the shadow of that black terrain, that unknown region of ourselves, from which emerges, like a matrix, our humanity.
If this card represents an ending, it would probably have the number 22. Its position at the heart of the Tarot prompts us to see it as a work of cleansing, a revolution necessary for the renewal and the ascent that follows after it, one degree at a time, toward the total realization of The World.
This numbered but untitled card echoes The Fool, who has a name but no number. The similarity of the postures of the two figures is obvious: the skeleton of Arcanum XIII could be that of The Fool seen on an X-ray. We can deduce from this that these two Arcana represent two aspects of the same fundamental energy. But if The Fool is first and foremost an advance, a contribution, a liberation, Arcanum XIII evokes work similar to plowing or a harvest, preparing the terrain for a new life. Here again an obvious clue takes us away from the simplistic interpretation: this skeleton is flesh-colored, the preeminent color of organic life. This is the skeleton we carry inside of us, the bone, living essence, and structure of all movement, and not the skeleton we leave behind us when we depart this life.
The black ground on which Arcanum XIII is working is reminiscent of the nigredo of alchemy, or the mire from which the lotus emerges in Buddhist tradition. It is the color of the unconscious, emptiness, deep mystery.
This figure carries divinity within, but it is not entirely divine; it is working in the plane of incarnation. The pelvis of the skeleton and its spinal column borrow the colors of its scythe: azure and red, as if these two colors (vital action and spiritual receptivity) formed the base of the growth along the column, like a blade of wheat, up to the red four-petal flower supporting the head. Hidden in the figure’s pelvis, a blue heart tells us it works with love.
This card requires great delicacy of interpretation. Negative predictions are toxic and useless: it is not necessary to read death, mutilation, or illness in this card. Some reading subjects become terrified from simply seeing this card in a spread. What’s called for here is to discover with them what major transformation it evokes, what changes are desired or already at work, and perhaps what threats it may permit them to avoid. It can sometimes involve a mourning to be performed, also sometimes great internalized anger that needs to be expressed. Then again, Arcanum XIII sometimes evokes an unconscious aggressiveness or the need to manifest an energy that the consultant does not know how to express positively. It is good in this case to see if the energy of The Fool (same direction, same movement, but less-negative connotations) would not be more appropriate. However, when a revolution is what’s called for, Arcanum XIII brings it with radical rapidity, which can inspire a great relief.
XIIII TEMPERANCE (La Temperanza)
Protection, Circulation, Healing
Calm
Guardian Angel • Measure • Blend • To Circulate • Harmony • To Heal • To Protect • Benevolence • Prudence • To Moderate • Health • Even-Tempered
This card arrives after the profound work of Arcanum XIII that has swept away the useless, creating the emptiness necessary for the reestablishment of inner circulation. The time for peace and health has come. We should note that “Temperance” has no article, no masculine or feminine. We can speak about it in both genders: he with respect to the angel, and she with respect to Temperance. Just like The Emperor in the first decimal series, Temperance is a 4, the number of stability. The angel is anchored in the earth and does not fly, although its light-blue wings give it that possibility. Temperance has gone beyond the carnal, and he/she can soar into the most subtle regions. The gaze and hair of Temperance are filled with divine light, and the five-petaled red flower opening at the top of the head indicates that he/she bears the quintessence. His/her thoughts manifest in the form of a marvelous perfume beyond speech.
This card often appears as a sign of healing or reconciliation. We are protected. It urges the search for balance amid apparent opposites. People frequently live with an internal rift, for example between the intellect and the rest of the self or, to the contrary, between the body and the rest of the personality, if one is very athletic; between the front and back of the stage for people who are often performing; between a very elevated spiritual concept and imperious sexual desires; and so forth. In all cases Temperance is calling us to take the middle path, to seal the union with ourselves, then starting from this point to deal with the rest of the world. This Arcanum also sends a warning to alcoholics and drug abusers, to all those who know they are imbalanced because of their own actions.
The four yellow triangles on his/her chest evoke the four centers of the human being: intellectual, emotional, sexual, and corporeal. These centers do not intercommunicate but are juxtaposed, each with its own law. But we see a yellow circle above, the symbol of perfection, in which a triangle has been carved that will permit each element to fit into it perfectly. This is the fifth element, the essential Being in us that communicates with each of the four centers, allowing harmony to be established in the human being. Similarly, a hand, the symbol of luck and peace, can be seen in the flesh-colored panel over the angel’s chest: his/her heart radiating charity.
The work of Temperance does not consist of cutting but of adding a value that moderates the passions that cause us harm: trust to jealousy, sobriety to greed …
XV LE•DIABLE (Il Diavolo)
Unconscious Forces, Passion, Creativity
Tempt
Temptation • Passion • Attachments • Sequence • Money • Contract • Depth • Darkness • Fear • Taboo • Subconscious • Sexuality • Impulses • Creativity
In the numerological order, The Devil corresponds to The Pope, Arcanum V, the fifth degree of the first decimal series of the Major Arcana. He also represents a bridge, a transition. But while The Pope represents a path toward the spiritual heights, The Devil appears as a tempter, showing the way to the depths of the being.
The figures on this card are a blend of the human and the animal, which makes reference to our primordial powers, the prehistoric memories buried in the deepest depths of the nervous system. This feature reminds us, through the various esoteric signs adorning these figures, that the initiate, to achieve illumination, should not refuse his animal side but accept it, honor it, and guide it to angelic light.
The Devil can refer to a sum of money coming in or everything associated with large financial transactions, which may sometimes be shady or secret. He is the great Tempter who, in the material domain, refers to the desire for wealth. He will also represent a promising contract, but one that needs to be studied closely to avoid being deceived. The Devil can in fact lead, impartially, to fortune or ruin.
On the other hand, he is always a good omen for questions concerning creativity. He evokes the depth of talent, the wealth of inspiration, the tendency of a true artist, and intense creative energy.
The three figures are crowned with horns, indicating that this Arcanum is that of passion above all else: amorous passion and creative passion. This card contains all the hidden potentials of the human subconscious, both negative and positive. This is also the card of temptation: a summons to search for the occult treasure, immortality, and powerful energy buried in the psyche, which is necessary for all great human endeavors. Obviously this card can also represent a fraudulent contract in the Faust tradition, sexual deviance and degeneracy, infantilism, deceit, mental delirium, economic rapacity, gluttony, and all self-destructive attachments. Just like Arcanum XIII, The Devil can frighten the reading subject a priori. He is charged with all moral and religious taboos and reflects the very image of evil. The tarologist should therefore orient the reading to enable the person consulting him to go beyond the sexual or creative prohibitions that have been imposed upon him or her, and to reconnect to the power of the depths in which our subconscious is rooted. This is also the place where the passions are anchored. The Devil often refers us to the sexual dimension of a relationship: a bond of passion. He can also refer to the desire to know this kind of union.
In the popular mentality, The Devil evokes money. He shows up to tempt humans with a promising contract, quick and easy wealth; he is also associated with the declaration of a great passion, temptation, or liaison. All this lies atop the same spiritual reality: a part of ourselves tempts us with unknown possibilities, just as Christ was tempted by his inner devil. Esoteric tradition says that when Christ died, he went down from his tomb to look for his elder brother, the Devil, to unite with him and form one being.
He will sometimes evoke physical or mental dependencies, whose unconscious roots will need to be identified. Problems of drugs, alcohol, sexual dependency, self-punishing behavior, repetitive patterns in emotional life, and so forth are all things that can be unknotted if we accept undertaking work in the depths.
In all cases, this card directs us toward our personal nature and commits us to not hiding beneath a mask. The realization consists of being who one is. This presumes the acknowledgment and guidance of our desires.
XVI LA•MAISON•DIEV (La Torre)
Apertura, emergere di quanto sta rinchiuso
Celebrare
Tempio • Costruzione • Allegria • Debordare • Choc • Espressione • Celebrazione • Danza • Stappare • Apertura • Trasferirsi • Esplodere
Il messaggio di questa carta dà un grande sollievo spirituale. Eppure, prima del restauro dei Tarocchi di Marsiglia, in genere si vedeva nella carta XVI un riferimento alla Torre di Babele. Le interpretazioni più comuni parlavano di castigo dell'orgoglio, catastrofi, divorzi, castrazione, terremoto e rovina.
Più che un castigo, la distruzione della Torre è la soluzione di un problema. Crea soltanto la diversità delle lingue per separarli. Si tratta di una benedizione più che di un castigo. Gli uomini ripartono alla conquista della terra e tornano a lavorarla.
La Torre indica che qualcosa che stava rinchiuso esce all'esterno. Può essere un trasloco, una separazione, un momento di grande espressività, il desiderio di andare a vivere in campagna o in un altro paese, un segreto rivelato… O anche un colpo di fulmine che sfocia in una “catastrofe”.
Rimanda, come si è visto, a una gioiosa danza di festeggiamento, e anche ad acrobati che fanno le loro evoluzioni in uno scenario teatrale. Potrebbe essere la nascita di qualcosa che da tempo è in gestazione e che qui acquisisce un doppio aspetto, i gemelli animus e anima che collaborano a un'opera lungamente meditata.
A volte, quando una persona vede soltanto un aspetto del problema, La Torre rivela l'esistenza di un secondo aspetto, di una seconda possibilità meno evidente, rappresentata dal personaggio che fuoriesce soltanto a metà. La connotazione fallica della torre ne fa un simbolo di sesso maschile e di tutto ciò che è legato all'eiaculazione.
Quando assume un significato più duro di separazione brutale o di espulsione, La Torre può rimandare a un esproprio, a una rottura, a un parto conclusosi male, o al fatto che dei fratelli uno era desiderato (il personaggio che esce per intero) e l'altro no (quello che esce soltanto per metà). In questa carta si può anche leggere il riferimento a un grande movimento tellurico, un sisma, una catastrofe naturale.
Il messaggio principale dell'Arcano XVI potrebbe essere: smettiamola di cercare Dio in Cielo e troviamolo sulla Terra.
XVII LE TOILLE (La Stella)
Agire nel mondo, trovare il proprio posto
Donare
Fortuna • Nutrire • Sacralizzare • Rispettare • Fecondità • Dono • Ispirazione • Femminilità • Canto • Siderale • Cosmico • Ecologia • Irrigare • Trovare il proprio posto • Star dello spettacolo
L’Arcano XVII rappresenta il primo essere umano nudo dei Tarocchi, prima degli Arcani XVIIII, XX e XXI. Con esso comincia l’avventura dell’essere che è giunto alla purezza, al distacco. Al di là delle apparenze, La Stella non ha nulla da nascondere, deve soltanto trovare il suo posto sulla Terra. L’atteggiamento della Stella suggerisce pietà e sottomissione: ci si inginocchia in un tempio, o davanti a un re o a una regina. Possiamo dunque dire che rende omaggio al luogo in cui si stabilisce. Ma il ginocchio posato per terra può anche essere un segno di ancoraggio: ha trovato il suo posto sulla Terra ed entra in comunicazione con il cosmo.
Nella numerologia dei Tarocchi, il 7 è il grado più elevato dell’azione nel mondo. Ma se Il Carro penetra nel mondo come un conquistatore, La Stella agisce sul mondo irrigandolo, nutrendolo. I seni nudi rimandano alla lattazione, e si potrebbe vedere nelle stelle un’allusione alla Via Lattea. Queste stelle, che sono otto, ci indicano che qui si è raggiunta una perfezione: la perfezione del dono.
La Stella rappresenta una fase in cui ciascuno trova il proprio posto per agire nel mondo, abbellirlo e nutrirlo da un luogo che ha fatto suo. A volte spinge a non scegliere tra due opzioni apparentemente inconciliabili ma a conciliarle. Tradizionalmente viene vista come un segno di fortuna, prosperità, fertilità. Simboleggia l’azione generosa. Viene anche associata all’amore divino, alla speranza, alla verità (che emerge nuda dal pozzo). Rappresenta una realizzazione creativa che implica il fatto di trovare il proprio posto.
Dal puto di vista del lavoro psicologico, potremmo dire che La Stella, purificando il proprio passato, purifica il futuro e l’ambiente circostante. A mano a mano che svolge la propria azione, fertilizza e schiarisce il paesaggio, terra, sabbia, alberi, acqua.
Per un uomo è l’amante per eccellenza, o la bellezza della sua femminilità interiore a partire dalla quale può agire. Per una donna, è la realizzazione della propria presenza nel mondo, un’azione fedele ai propri desideri e alla propria natura profonda. Il suo rapporto consapevole e generoso con la natura ci guida verso l’ecologia, lo sciamanesimo, tutte quelle credenza e discipline che considerano il pianeta come una creatura vivente. Se La Stella rovescia il contenuto delle anfore nel passato o nel vuoto, occorrerà domandarsi perché mai stia sprecando la sua energia, per colpa di quale problema irrisolto.
Questa carta per la sua nudità e la sua natura stellare rievoca anche Venere, la stella de pastore, l’astro più splendente che permette di orientarsi nella notte.
XVIII LA•LUNE (La Luna)
Receptive Female Power
Imagine
Night • Intuition • Feminine • Cosmic Mother • Dream • Receptivity • To Reflect • Mystery • Attraction • Imagination • Magnetic • Gestation • Madness • Poetry • Uncertainty • Phases
The moon is one of humanity’s oldest symbols; it represents the maternal feminine archetype par excellence, the Cosmic Mother. Its essential quality is receptivity: the satellite body of the moon reflects the light of the sun. In Arcanum XVIII, we find ourselves in the middle of the night, but it is a night illuminated by this humble receptivity. The moon is also the world of dreams, the imaginal realm, and the subconscious, traditionally associated with night. The Tarot depicts the moon, like the sun, with a face. But it is not looking directly at us. It is a crescent moon seen in profile. While still forming part of it, it remains invisible. In this regard The Moon symbolizes the mysteries of the soul, the secret process of gestation, everything that is hidden.
This card will generally refer to the world of the mother, to all the aspects of the subconscious, intuition, and the personal mystery of being. We can then direct the reading toward the relationship of the person consulting the reader with his or her mother, or his or her concept of femininity. For a woman this card can be the omen of a profound realization. For a man, it is a prompt to cultivate traditionally feminine qualities like sensitivity, intuition, and so forth. The Moon is a good omen for anyone wishing to devote himself to poetry, to Tarot reading, to all disciplines based on receptivity. Equally resonant in The Moon are fear of the dark, nightmares, and all sorts of worries linked to the unknown, sometimes without constraint. It can symbolize poorly defined anxieties, but also a voyage across the sea or arrival at a port. It tends toward reverie, and to all the states of soul generally associated with a “lunar” or “lunatic” nature.
Its infinite receptive potential is its greatest treasure.
We should nonetheless note that each of the dogs has one ear of the complementary color, just as in the symbol of the Tao each pole carries the seed of the opposite pole.
Therefore, depending upon how we look at this card, it will either represent deep intuitive communication or solitude and separation.
XVIIII LE SOLEIL (Il Sole)
Paternal Archetype, New Construction
Create
Heat • Love • New Life • Construction • Passage • Awareness • Cosmic Father • Twinship • To Radiate • To Cross • Childhood • Success • Evolution
The Sun, Arcanum XVIIII, looks us straight in the eyes, like the figure of Justice and the angel of Judgment. He has numerous points in common with The Devil (XV), starting with the fact that he is slightly cross-eyed. It is plausible that The Devil lit his torch from the fire of The Sun, the primordial heat and light of the deity. This is, in fact, the first interpretation of the sun, the symbol of life and love, archetype of the universal Father. Master of the heavens, source of all heat and light, he gives life to all creatures.
We could say that the energy found in the darkness of Arcanum XV has now emerged in broad daylight, and that the bond of passion joining those two figures has been replaced by relations of mutual aid, human love in its pure state. This is a profound and free friendship under the high benevolence of The Sun.
The Sun is a good omen for all new construction; it indicates unconditional love is at work and foretells success based on an ardent and enlightened approach. This is the crystallization of the amorous couple, the achievement of success, a realization in any domain of human life—in its emotional, intellectual, creative, or material aspects. It is also the beginning of a new life in which past difficulties are left behind; the meeting of a kindred spirit, signing a good contract…
Of the shackles of the two imps, these figures have retained only an active red necklace around their throats, a place of passage, and a demarcation line on their chests between the right and left sides, a delimitation and union of the active and the receptive (see pp. 42 and 57). The figure on the right is standing on a piece of white ground that appears purified; between his legs the landscape has been replaced by a pure azure space. It seems that he may have already passed over to another more spiritual dimension on the other side of this river, over whose waters the other figure is walking to join him again with the help of his hand.
We can see in these twins a metaphor for inner work: the conscious part of the individual helps the more primitive animal part gain access to a different reality. The adult guides the inner child to joy.
The Sun also represents the ideal values of the paternal archetype, including the awakening of the male spirit and intelligence in the heart of the feminine. It can also indicate the dominance of the father image in the question that has been asked, that the questioner has been deeply stamped by his presence (an impassable father) or absence, which would have led the questioner to forge an ideal image of the father that could well be too mythical to match reality.
The heat of the sun is available to everyone at every moment. However, we should not forget that too much sun causes death and aridity and can transform the land into a desert.
XX LE•IUGEMENT (Il Giudizio)
New Consciousness, Irresistible Desire
Live again
Vocation • Call • Birth • Renaissance • Consciousness • Work • Union • Family • Transcendence • To Emerge • Music • To Prompt
All the Tarot’s energy is concentrated in the card of Judgment. Following the receptivity of The Moon and the new construction undertaken in The Sun, we see here the birth of a consciousness, framed by a female principle on the left and a male principle on the right. This emergence, summoned by the angel and his trumpet, is introduced to us as an irresistible desire. The work has been realized. The anima and animus attain peace through prayer. By themselves, they have created the divine androgyne who obeys the call of supreme Consciousness represented by the angel.
This being emerging from the depths has been endowed with a light-blue body that cannot help but bring to mind that of The Devil (XV). But while The Devil’s tongue is red and aggressive, perhaps charged with cunning and sarcasm, the angel’s tongue is permeated with wisdom and kindness.
Judgment frequently recalls the circumstances of how the person receiving the reading experienced his or her birth. This includes all the possible variations of a problematic labor, a disturbed gestation, or a difficult situation surrounding the actual moment of birth that could have formed an obstacle. The person consulting will then live, to one degree or another, consciously or not, as an individual who was not wanted, whose birth was not intended. The neurosis of failure, despair, or incomprehensible difficulties will ceaselessly tug this individual to the bottom, toward the floor of the tomb from which he or she has been summoned to emerge.
The meaning of this Arcanum consists of discovering, through therapeutic work or other means, that every individual being that is born is absolutely wanted by the deity (or the universe) that allowed him or her to be engendered. The difficulties the individual will feel around the desire to live, or artistic or professional vocation, are so many forms of resistance to his or her deep nature, to the level of consciousness he or she (and all of us) can offer the angel. This card may also appear to point out a problem related to the act of judging or being judged. If the call is of divine origin, whoever stands up as judge lies [juge ment]. There is no human judgment that holds any value here.
It manifests in the form of an imperious call to live in a new dimension. The angel is looking straight ahead, and, with his trumpet at his mouth, he symbolizes the announcement of this awakening. The circular light-blue cloud surrounding him could represent the opening of the mind. This same opening appears on the head of the being emerging from the depths of the Earth: the mental emptiness he has realized is symbolized by the small central dark-blue disk, which revolves around itself in the surrounding light-blue whirlwind in order to then remount the twenty-two grades of the trumpet up to the golden egg etched on the angel’s head, which represents God in action.
For a couple, this card is urging them to undertake a shared task, a real or symbolic child, suggesting that the meaning of the male/female union is to produce a third element bathed in love and awareness. The play of looks is interesting: the woman is looking at the man and/or the child, she represents human love and love of the work; while the man, his eyes lifted toward heaven, embodies divine and cosmic love. The angel is gazing directly at us. His action is addressed to everyone. He reminds us that, for want of recognizing our deep desire and the divine desire that prompts realization, we are only the living dead.
Judgment finally refers to the emergence of a desire, a vocation, a call to some kind of order.
This is a card of ecstasy, profound rebirth, and prayer immediately granted, where energies are simultaneously rising from Earth to Heaven while descending in the opposite direction. We should recognize in this card the last step before the total realization of The World.
XXI LE•MONDE (Il Mondo)
Total Realization
Triumph
Realization • Soul • World • Fullness • Success • Heroism • Genius • Holiness • To Dance • Ecstasy • Universal • Fulfillment • Totality
This Arcanum bears the number twenty-one, the highest numerical value of the Tarot. It represents the supreme realization. On it we see a woman dancing in the middle of a crown of light-blue leaves with a flask (receptive principle) in her right hand, and a wand (active principle) in her left. As in the Taoist symbol, Yang supports Yin and vice versa. A blue scarf (at the top behind her) passes over her body and becomes red. Although this figure is undeniably female, it is the union of principles (androgyny realized) that she suggests.
The final stage of the path of the Major Arcana, The World is a call to be recognized in its deepest reality and to accept fullness and realization. It is also the moment when, freed from self-destruction, we begin to glimpse the suffering of the Other and put ourselves at the service of humanity.
Because it has been placed as the final point and in the position of fulfillment, The World indicates a major realization. It is an accomplished woman, a soul in full joy, a perfect world, a happy marriage, worldly success. This card can also inspire travel: the discovery of the world in the literal sense of the term.
Just as Arcanum XVI, The Tower, can evoke a male penis in the process of ejaculating, Arcanum XXI brings to mind a female sex organ inhabited by an exultation (orgasm) or an individual (pregnant woman).
On the other hand, if the card appears at the beginning of the reading, it will represent a difficult beginning: realization is demanded before any action. The card is not in its rightful place and becomes an imprisonment. We could then look for traces of the first traumatizing experience in the intrauterine life or birth of the person receiving the reading, which has therefore formed an obstacle to future development. If we wish to avoid these kinds of speculations, we will need to take into account the closing evoked by Arcanum XXI placed at the beginning of the spread, and ask ourselves how and why this person is “stuck in his or her shell.”
The flesh-colored animal at the bottom left of the card cannot be clearly identified; whether horse, ox, or bull, it is, in any event, an animal symbolizing offering, aid, sacrifice. The other three figures are cosmic elements: the angel represents emotional perfection, holiness, and a heart full of life devoted to giving (Cups). The eagle, with its halo, would symbolize the fulfillment of the mind, genius that is also a void which cannot be identified in words (Swords). The lion, also bearing a halo, represents the culmination of desiring and creative energy, a sublimation that leads untamed effort to conscious creation, the figure of the hero who does not hesitate to sacrifice his life (Wands).
The four energies radiate around this center entirely realized. And inside its blue egg, filled with consciousness and love for the entire universe, the central figure is dancing while looking toward the left, receptivity.
