Inner Shift

Posts Tagged ‘Tarot’

We begin our posts on the Minor Arcana with the Aces which represent the root force, purity of the forms of energy. When an ace appears in a tarot reading it represents great power.

There are many ways you can place the Tarot Trumps on the Tree of Life. Gray came out with a non-conventional way that makes much more sense than some of the traditional ways (e.g., the Golden Dawn). Mainly what he does is sort the Major Arcana by homogeneous ideas. Look it over and see if this arrangement resonates with you!

Cosmic Phenomena:

• on the central Pillar
• using the distance from the Earth outwards
• Moon – Malkuth to Yesod
• Sun – Yesod to Tiphareth
• Star – Tiphareth to Kether

External Rulers:

• temporality and religion
• Emperor – Chesed to Chokmah
• Emperess – Netzach to Chesed

Exoteric and Esoteric:

• the outer and inner Life
• Hierophant – Chokmah to Kether
• Hermit – Binah to Kether

Fatality:

• karmic laws dealing with compensation and balance
• how life deals with us
• in conjunction with the Cosmic Phenomena = the Space-Time Continuum
• Wheel of Fortune – Hod to Netzach
• Justice – Geburah to Chesed
• Judgment – Binah to Chokmah

Alteration:

• dealing with change
• Death – Binah to Geburah
• Devil – Hod to Geburah

Compensation:

• dealing with balance
• The Hanged Man – Tiphareth to Binah
• Temperance – Tiphareth to Chokmah

Energy:

• the uses of force
• Strength – Tiphareth to Chesed
• The Blasted Tower – Tiphareth to Geburah

Movement:

• nothing is static
• moving through Life
• moving in Life through the generations
• The Chariot – Hod to Tiphareth
• The Lovers – Netzach to Tiphareth

Inspiration:

• inspiring inner and outer action
• The Magician – Yesod to Hod
• The High Priestess – Yesod to Netzach

Who? What?:

• ideas of people and places
• The Fool – people
• The World – places

Notes on the Major Arcana (Trumps) ===
* Based on William G. Gray’s works
* Images are the Rider-Waite deck (I mostly use the Radiant Rider-Waite)

The Fool the Innocent Quester *Kingdom to Glory [Z]	The Magician Transmutation *Foundation to Glory [Y]	The High Priestess Inner Wisdom *Foundation to Victory [W]
The Empress Culture *Victory to Mercy [N]	The Emperor Right Rulership *Mercy to Wisdom [G]	The Hierophant Bridgebuilder *Wisdom to Crown [B]
The Lovers Love/Partnership *Victory to Beauty [R]	The Chariot Control *Glory to Beauty [S]	Strength Energy Drive *Beauty to Mercy [M]
The Hermit Spiritual Self *Understanding to Crown [C]	Wheel of Fortune Cosmic Cycles * Glory to Victory [V]	Justice Cosmic Compensation *Severity to Mercy [L]
The Hanged Man Between the Worlds *Beauty to Understanding [K]	Death Restorative Change *Severity to Understanding [J]	Temperance Modifying Balance *Beauty to Wisdom [H]
The Devil Opposition *Glory to Severity [Q]	The Tower Catalysis *Beauty to Severity [P]	The Star Guidance *Beauty to Crown [D]
The Moon Dream Consciousness *Kingdom to Foundation [Th]	The Sun Enlightenment *Foundation to Beauty [T]	Judgement Right Discernment *Understanding to Wisdom [F]
The World The Human Condition *Kingdom to Victory [X]	Shields [A] Swords [E] Rods [I] Cups [O] { Truth [U] }

The tarot (also known as tarocchi, tarock or similar names) is typically a set of seventy-eight cards, composed of twenty-one trump cards, one Fool, and four suits of fourteen cards each—ten pip and four face cards (one more face card per suit than in Anglo-American playing cards).

Tarot cards are used throughout much of Europe to play Tarot card games such as Italian Tarocchini and French Tarot. In English-speaking countries, where the games are largely unknown, Tarot cards are utilized primarily for divinatory purposes, with the trump cards plus the Fool card making up the twenty-two major arcana cards and the pip and four face cards the fifty-six minor arcana. The terms Major Arcana and Minor Arcana are used in occult tarot and are seldom used by card players. The divinatory meanings of the cards are derived mostly from the Kabbalah of Jewish mysticism and from Medieval Alchemy.

Occult tarot and divination

Tarot reading revolves around the belief that the cards can be used to gain insight into the current and possible future situations of the subject (or querent), i.e. cartomancy. Some believe they are guided by a spiritual force, such as Gaia, while others believe the cards help them tap into a collective unconscious or their own creative, brainstorming subconscious.

Common card interpretations

Each card has a variety of symbolic meanings that have evolved over the years. The many of the interpretations bear striking similarity to philosophy found in the Kabbalah or in Alchemy. Custom or themed tarot decks exist which have even more specific symbolism, although these are more prevalent in the English-speaking world. These are frequently created by amateur philologists who believe that they have a new insight into the proper analysis of the texts of Kabbalah and Alchemy. The literature specifies elements which must be present in each card for the deck to be proper Tarot. Artists are free to represent these elements in any they choose, and they usually try to draw the picture in such a way as to reveal a new truth. One example of how detailed they can get is the Major Arcana card The Moon. This card has several elements including a crawfish (or lobster), which is usually drawn very small, but is rarely omitted. Each card has several meanings, and the reader determines which meaning to apply based on the card’s location in the spread and which cards are turned up around it. Common sense is also used to discard meanings which have no relevance to the question asked.

Minor Arcana

The Minor Arcana closely match Anglo-American playing cards, having Ace-through-Ten and four face cards. The face cards are Page, Knight, Queen, and King. Each suit of the Minors corresponds to one of the four Alchemical Elements. Pentagrams corresponds with Earth, Swords with Air, Wands with Fire and Cups with water. The Face cards also correspond to the Elements. The Page is Earth, the Knight is Air, the Queen is Water, and the King is Fire. This makes the Page of Pentagrams, the Knight of Swords, the Queen of Cups and the King of wands very strong cards.

Major Arcana

The Major Arcana are a set of twenty-two cards, numbered zero to twenty-one, with no suit. There are usually many more elements in the images specified by the literature for this set of cards. These cards are often interpreted as describing the normal progression of a truly holy life, and often tell where a person is along their journey, or if they have strayed. Such an interpretation is called the “Fool’s Journey” and it originated with Eden Gray.

Source: Wikipedia