XXI The World

Weekly Card XXI The World and All Its Stories

150108 XXI Thousand and One Nights
Tarot of the Thousand and One Nights

Sometimes experiences elevate us to a whole ‘nother level of being.

We’ve looked at XXI The World a few times before, here, here, and here. And we know, from Tarot . . . It’s Easier Than You Think, that this Major Arcana energy is about Paradise. That’s definitely a whole other level of being for most of us.

The Tarot of the Thousand and One Nights takes its images from the exotic Arabian Nights tale of Sheherazade. She was wed to a Sultan, which we would think is a good thing to have happen. Not so much, if you remember. This one thought all women were evil and killed each of his many wives after only one night of marriage, so they wouldn’t cheat on him. Sheherazade’s escape strategy was to tell her new husband only enough of an exciting story each night so that he’d keep her alive to hear the next installment. It took almost 3 years, but her strategy eventually worked permanently.

Here we have a couple rather than an individual gaining Paradise. For all you who think your life will start when you’re part of a couple, you might want to remember that Sheherazade did all that story-telling without a lick of help from her husband. And her success brought her to a state of union with what had been most likely to cause her death. Literally. Her specific mission was to use all her gifts to stay alive until her husband called “uncle”. Once he recognized what a magnificent being she was, a true marriage was possible.

Sometimes our own courage and brilliance have an impact on others. We live fully, even in seemingly impossible circumstances, believing in our abilities and our wisdom. And others are able to live more fully as a result of what we give.

Celebrate the ascension!

 

 

I’ll be teaching tarot through the Berkeley County Adult Ed program on 20th March and 1st May. Call 304-267-3585 for more information and to register.

And you know where to find me for phone, email, or in-person tarot counseling.

XIX The Sun Sets a Holiday Table

141127 XIX The Sun Leaves
Tarot Leaves

Since XIX The Sun insists on dominating this month, let’s let it host a Thanksgiving feast.

As you remember from Tarot . . . It’s Easier Than You Think – as well as the recent XIX The Sun posts – the Sun is self-actualisation. Those three dots under the sun on the maple leaf of Tarot Leaves bring to mind body, mind and spirit fully engaged in living and growing.

Who else shall we bring to bask in the life-giving energies of the self-actualised Sun? How about the varied lot that we’ve met over the past couple of months.

How would XIX The Sun interact with the welcoming XXI The World? And how are the Father of Water (King of Cups) and XIX The Sun getting on at their corner of the table? How about the anxious 9 of Swords and the wise IX The Hermit? What do XIX The Sun and XXI The World have to offer 9 of Swords?

XIX The Sun seated the Ace of Cups on the other side of the Father of Water. How are the beginning and end of that suit getting on together? The volatile Knight of Wands is next to XII The Hanged Man. Who’s likely to be most influential in that pair?

Imagine as many combinations as you can at the Thanksgiving table. How do the cards help each other? Where do they clash? The discoveries you make will help you when reading multiple card spreads.

Enjoy the full spectrum of energies available to you through the tarot this week!




I’m grateful to all the students and blog readers for your part in my professional life this year. May you have much to be grateful for in the coming year.

Weekly Card XXI The World Revisited

141106 XXI World Gaian
Gaian Tarot

 

We’re beginning November in the Tarot World of Paradise!

We’ve been here before, more than once. It’s not a one and done deal in Tarot to reach XXI The World. We spiral in higher – or deeper – levels of growth, returning home to our most-fulfilled selves at the end of each spiral in our journey. We integrate new potentials, new lessons, new experiences, to become more truly our Selves.

What a beautiful place to come home to, especially in the Gaian deck. We have the Earth Mother herself welcoming us in with her smile. She includes the whole world in her gesture. Her age gives her wisdom, the golden, sun goddess halo labels her as sacred. She’s wearing spiritual purple. How do you identify with her? Is she you? Someone in your life? Someone you wish you could be?

A wreath of sage, lavender, cedar and sweetgrass surrounds Gaia, cleansing, healing, purifying, blessing and protecting our wholeness. Those are all parts of the process of growth (also indicated by the butterfly of transformation), aren’t they? Where specifically have you grown in this cycle? The wreath is in the shape of a vesica, the shape that’s made when two circles overlap. Within the vesica, all is well, all is blessed, all is cleansed and protected.  Where in your life is this true right now?

All aspects of our being and areas of our life are protected by the creatures in the corners. The eagle lets our thoughts soar through the air element, guiding us as we travel to the east, where the sun rises and growth begins. The snake, with its psychic wisdom, presides over our fiery spirit, taking us through the day, when the sun is high in the south. The salmon swims fluidly through watery emotions, connecting us to our feelings when experiences are complete and the day is done, with the sun setting in the west. The deer is our guide through the earthy practicalities of our mundane lives, helping us create paths through the solid north. What have you mastered? What is yours no matter where you go, no matter what you experience?

The prayer flags promise that each wind will spread the intention of peace throughout the world. A beautiful meditation for XXI The World is to allow the intention of peace to spread outward around you with each exhalation.

Allow circumstances to complete another cycle of your growth. Make space in your life for Paradise!

 

If you’re looking to learn more about Tarot, I’ll be teaching level 1, Tarot . . . It’s Easier Than You Think, on Wednesday, 5th November, and level 2, Tarot 2 . . . We’re Not in Kansas Anymore, on Friday, 12th December, through the Berkeley County Adult Ed program.  Call 304-267-3585 for more information and to register.

And you know where to find me for phone, email, or in-person tarot counseling.

We had another look at XXI The World here to see how we can have an impact on others.

Weekly Card XXI The World Revisited

140417 Oswald Wirth XXI World
Oswald Wirth Tarot

Since we’ve looked at XXI The World before, let’s use it to consider a little slice of the world of tarot.

Tarot cards didn’t just spring forth in the forms we know them now.  Less Ta Da! and more evolutionary journey.

Most historians (yes, even in tarot, they’re an argumentative bunch) trace the first tarot deck back to Milan, Italy in the mid to late 15th century.  And most agree that the deck that was designed for the Visconti family was a deck for gaming, rather than for reading and personal spiritual growth.  You’ve seen one of the cards in an earlier post.

The Visconti deck made it to France via the usual political transfers of power, and companies in Marseilles began printing tarot decks.  And here’s where tarot as a transpersonal tool had it’s start in the early 1700s.  There’s a style of decks known as Tarot de Marseilles, which are based on a few early decks.

The XXI World card pictured above is from the Oswald Wirth Tarot, which is a Marseilles-based deck.  Wirth was a Swiss kabbalist who studied in the French tarot tradition.   He designed his deck in the late 1800s with a great deal of input from a couple of his French mentors.  Like the Visconti, it was a majors only deck.

It’s a big world that our tarot tradition is a part of.  There are other arts that have made the cross-cultural migration.  Ballet is another that made the journey from Italy to France (Catherine diMedici married Henri II and was very influential vis a vis the court “theatre”).  I have to mention that, given the dancer on XXI The World. :-}

But, more importantly, it’s another example of the falling boundaries that XXI The World indicates.  No matter what’s gone before, there’s always a way to break through to wholeness and freedom, and it’s often the least expected avenue.

Celebrate transcendence!

We had another look at XXI The World since this post.  See how to grow into Paradise here.

Here we looked at how we can have an impact on others.

 

 

 

If you’re looking for personal help with your tarot learning or for phone, email, or in-person tarot counseling, here‘s where to find me.

 

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