Author: C. LaVielle

The Tarot Major Arcana and the Hero’s Journey: The World, Part II

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Tav is the final letter of the Hebrew alphabet (or aleph-beth) and is associated with The World, the final card in the major arcana. It means signature or mark. The earliest representation of this letter was an equal armed cross, which is the astrological glyph for Earth and has come to symbolize the four quarters of the earth and the four elements. The four figures at the corners of the card also stand for the four elements and, of course, the four quarters of The World. See “The World, Part I.” It also symbolizes the union of masculine, conscious mind (vertical line) and feminine, not conscious mind (horizontal line) into a perfect whole. This is essentially what The World key is all about.  The cross evolved to an “x” in middle Semitic script. On a treasure map, “x” marks the spot where, after a long and arduous journey, the seeker will find the treasure. The World is, indeed, the treasure at the end of the… Read More »

Home Alone

Posted C. LaVielle3 CommentsPosted in Major arcana, Writing

Well, not really. Leo, our cat and true master of the house is still here, curled up beside me. But he is quiet, undemanding company. At least until he gets hungry. My husband, son, and a few friends are off for a weekend of camping on an island in the middle of the Columbia River. Unlike the island, the house is warm and silent and filled with joyous holiday energy. I have the entire weekend and Monday to catch up on my writing. There are several things I need to work on, all of which are emotionally charged for me in one way or another. I could do part two of The World. This is the last major arcana card and will be the end of the series that I have been working on for the past three or so years. I’ve enjoyed the work and feel sad that it’s coming to a close. I could work on a blog that continues the story of… Read More »

Wishing You a Bright and Blessed Winter Solstice!

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Winter Solstice is the longest night of the year; and it’s stuck smack dab in the middle of weeks of other really long, cold nights. Humans, as well as the rest of Mother Earth, are solar powered. Without the Sun, our planet would be a frozen ball of rock hurtling through dark, empty space. And so Winter Solstice is essentially all about light—especially for those of us who live above the 40th parallel. We invoke it constantly and fervently. Drive down almost any neighborhood street in the northern US after 5 o’clock. See what I mean? But at this time of year you can never get enough, and so I have posted two amazing displays for your light-starved eyes. This is a most spectacular offering. Click on the pic and scroll down the blog for an “amazing” video : And this is Carson Williams’ display–the one that probably started it all in 2005–and my personal favorite. Just click on the pic and scroll down to… Read More »

Happy Thanksgiving

Posted C. LaVielle2 CommentsPosted in Wheel of the Year

As we gather together and give thanks for all the joys of our lives—friends, family, a fabulous feast, a home full of warmth, love, and laughter—it is also important to remember that our wonderful world is only a tiny stitch in the tapestry of the Multiverse. Its vastness surrounds us and supports us and blurs the edges of our safe reality, inviting us to come out and play with the divine. And it is this thrilling yet scarcely perceived sense of infinite possibility that  makes life truly worth living. By reducing our worlds to the material, our thoughts to chemical reactions, our stories to illusions, and our experiences of the Other to delusions, Materialism rips from us the very tools by which we world the Other into the earth. While denying the Other and turning our desire and experience of it into mere psychological states and disorders, we find ourselves disarmed, alienated: we become disinhabited things. – Rhyd Wildermuth Thank you Gwyllm Llwydd

The World: The Hero’s Journey and the Major Arcana, Part I

Posted C. LaVielle4 CommentsPosted in Major arcana, Tarot, The Hero's Journey

She dances freely in mid-air, unconstrained by the laws of gravity and perhaps any of the other laws of this world. She looks totally feminine to me, but all my sources say she’s an androgynous being, which is probably why Pamela Coleman Smith and many of the other tarot artists discretely drape her private parts. Each of her hands holds a wand, suggesting positive and negative poles of energy. The symbolism here is thick and obvious. When we are able to integrate our masculine and feminine natures, our positive and negative sides, our conscious and not conscious minds, we enter into a state of being in which we can accomplish wonders (see my previous posts on The Sun and Judgement). “What can we say of an understanding, a freedom and rapture beyond words? The unconscious known consciously, the outer self unified with the forces of life, knowledge that is not knowledge at all but a constant ecstatic dance of being….”* A quick troll through the… Read More »

A Blessed Samhain to All

Posted C. LaVielleLeave a commentPosted in Wheel of the Year

Once again The Ways are much easier to navigate. Ghosts and spirits of all sorts swarm into our world, making this a very, shall we say, exciting time of year for those who have eyes to see. And so Samhain is a time to honor our ancestors, because they are close at hand. This is also a customary time for divination of all sorts. But we tend to forget that spellcasting, blessings, and prayers are also extra potent now, because the crack in the gates charges our world with powerful magical energy that’s just begging to be used. So cast your circles extra tight and be careful what you invoke!

A Ghost Story

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It’s October, the time of year when spirits walk and magic tweaks at our senses. The perfect time for a ghost story. I wish I could start this one out with “It was a dark and stormy night,” but it was actually a bright sunny day in August and I had just finished getting a healing from my friend, Heather. “So tell me what you saw,” I said. Heather sees dead people and lots of other strange things. Although I am careful to keep things both psychically and physically clear, several clients have told me that when I work the massage room sometimes turns into a spiritual Grand Central Station. So I always ask Heather what’s going on. “It was pretty quiet this time,” she replied. “But I did see this short, dapper man in a bowler hat and a three piece suit walk to the top of the stairs to this floor, check his pocket watch, look over at us, smirk, and walk into… Read More »

Judgement, Part III: The Major Arcana and The Hero’s Journey

Posted C. LaVielle6 CommentsPosted in Major arcana, Tarot, The Hero's Journey

  Continued from previous posts… The letter Shin corresponds to the Judgement key.  It means tooth and the sharpness that tears apart the limitations of the physical world and our sense of separateness. It represents Divine power as it is the initial letter of two of the Names of God. Qabalists call Shin the “Holy Letter.” Shin, along with Aleph (The Fool, air) and Mem (The Hanged Man, water) is one of the three mother letters of the Hebrew alphabet. Its element is fire, a perfect metaphor for the passion of spiritual awakening. In my experience, Judgement seldom appears in readings, and when it does I sit up and reassess the querent. Its appearance means that he is, was, or will be at a significant crossroads in his life—note the cross on the banner. He has arrived at that point as a result of some great catastrophe, or because all his options have gone and he is faced with only these paths, or because of… Read More »

My Stroke of Insight—Synchronicity Strikes Again

Posted C. LaVielle5 CommentsPosted in Book Review, Major arcana, Tarot

Several days ago I found Ellis Nelson’s latest post in my in-box. She doesn’t post very often, but when she does, it’s definitely worth reading. This one is no exception. It’s a review of My Stroke of Insight, a book by neuroanatomist Jill Bolte Taylor. When she was thirty-seven she suffered a stroke to her left brain which crippled her ability to think in logical sequences, move, and perceive what we call reality. It left her suspended in nirvana, state of being one with everything (her words, not mine). I watched in awe as this amazing woman told her story in a recent TED lecture. The right and left hemispheres of the brain look at the world differently. The left hemisphere uses linear logic. It reasons, explains, and acts. It’s what gets us from point A to point B by 3pm. The right hemisphere uses intuition, and it “thinks” in images and music. It doesn’t do words. It looks at the total picture while the… Read More »