Category: Tarot

The Major Arcana and the Hero’s Journey: The Devil, Part IV

Posted C. LaVielle2 CommentsPosted in Major arcana, Tarot, The Hero's Journey

Ayin, or eye, is the Hebrew letter attributed to The Devil. Our eyes flood our mind with images and color and we rely on them more than any of our other senses. For this reason the eye serves as a symbolic shorthand for all of our senses. The implication is that this key is about being limited to the physical realm, the world that we can see, hear, taste, smell, and touch. The Talmud (Shabbat 104a) describes the letter Ayin as having two eyes. The good eye looks toward the preceding letter, Samech (support, Temperance) and manifests benevolence and charity. Remember that Hebrew is written right to left. The bad eye looks toward the next letter, Pey (mouth) and manifests greed and envy, which will eventually lead to destruction (The Tower). The Devil does everything he can to convince us to look toward The Tower, because this way limits us to physical reality and blinds us to the comfort and power of the divine that… Read More »

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

Posted C. LaVielleLeave a commentPosted in Major arcana, Tarot, The Hero's Journey

The Devil squats in darkness on a half cube. Two chains lead from a ring in the half cube to loop around the necks of a man and a woman. This is the nightmare version of The Lovers. To make sure we don’t miss the connection, nearly all modern decks make The Lovers key 6 and The Devil key 15 (1+5=6). A quick review of The Lovers card reminds us that it is about how to make wise choices. The man, or conscious mind, opens himself to, or is in communion with, the woman, or subconscious mind, who is looking up and communicating with the Angel Raphael. In other words, we can make much better decisions if we are in touch with the universal consciousness, or higher beings, or the divine, or whatever we choose to call it. This is why, when faced with a problem, a wise person will not only look at it logically, but also “pray on it”, or “sleep on it”,… Read More »

The Major Arcana and The Hero’s Journey: The Devil, Part II, Sympathy for the Devil*

Posted C. LaVielle3 CommentsPosted in Major arcana, Tarot, The Hero's Journey

In the Middle Ages Satan falls yet again—from fallen angel to monster. He is usually red or black with fangs, bulging eyes, pointy tail, and claws, although he is occasionally pictured as a goat. The Catholic Church wanted to paint the most terrible portrait of the archfiend that they possibly could. But, according to Ronald Hutton,** the Devil wasn’t depicted as a man with goat horns and legs and cloven hooves until the late 1800s and early 1900s. This was a Christian reaction to the neoclassical movement, which occurred at this time and celebrated all things Greek. Wild and lusty Pan, spreader of unreasoning terror and more than a few thighs makes frequent appearances in the literature of that time. He, of course, fascinated the Victorians and Edwardians, and horrified most God-fearing Christians (or at least they said they were horrified). The goat imagery is very appropriate because the Devil is a scapegoat. He is a construct that monotheists use to explain the presence of… Read More »

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

Posted C. LaVielle6 CommentsPosted in Major arcana, Tarot

Who or what the devil is The Devil? He is a construct of the monotheistic religions. When all you’ve got is one god and he’s perfect, how do you account for all evil that “lurks in the heart of man?”** You blame it on The Devil, of course. You make him the source of all evil, whose sole purpose is to corrupt god’s perfect creation (that would be us) through lies and deception. Problem solved. The pagan religions that predate monotheism have lots of bad guys, but, unlike The Devil, they are not totally evil archenemies of the human race. They are often regarded as the black sheep of the family, but they are still a part of the family or pantheon of gods, They are tricksters, like Loki, Hermes, and Coyote—untrustworthy gods who delight in teaching humanity lessons through deception. Or wild ones, like Dionysus and Pan, who give the gift of divine ecstasy. Some, like Set, who killed his brother, Osiris, chopped him… Read More »

Truth or Fiction? or Yes, I’m Still Working with Temperance.

Posted C. LaVielle11 CommentsPosted in Major arcana, Tarot, The Hero's Journey, Uncategorized, Writing

A few months ago Clio, my six-year-old grandniece, let me read a story she was in the process of writing. It was about a group of owls, and about how the smallest owl decided to leave. I was hooked until I came to the part about the little owl flying away in the middle of a bright sunshiny day. “Clio,” I said, “this is a great story, but owls don’t like to be out in the daytime. Why did the little owl leave at high noon?” “I don’t need a reason,” she replied. “It’s fiction, and I can write anything I want.” And she is absolutely correct. Everyone knows that fiction isn’t true. However, if you want to write fiction that keeps your readers turning pages, you must convince them that perhaps it could be true. Or, at the very least, convince them to suspend their disbelief for the duration of the story. This won’t happen if they spot glaring errors in your work. How… Read More »

Imbolc, Brigid, and Temperance

Posted C. LaVielleLeave a commentPosted in Major arcana, Tarot, Wheel of the Year

February 1st or 2nd , depending on who you talk to, is the Festival of Imbolc, or first light. This is the time of year when we begin to notice that yes, indeed, the days are getting longer. Bulbs are beginning to push up green spikes, and the snowdrops are in full bloom. It is a time of anticipation, new beginnings, and inspiration. Imbolc probably derives from the Old Irish i mbolg “in the belly”, which refers to the fact that this is the start of lambing time in Ireland and the rest of Europe. It is also a perfect metaphor for the season. The year is pregnant with the coming of the sun, which brings new growth. At this festival pagans honor Brigid: goddess of water and fire, wells and forges, healing and inspiration, smith craft and childbirth. I see the angel on the Temperance tarot card as a perfect representation of Brigid. He/she stands between two opposing forces and works to reconcile them… Read More »

Strength and the Werewolf

Posted C. LaVielle4 CommentsPosted in Major arcana, Tarot, Writing, Young Adult Fantasy

Whenever I read a story about werewolves, the lion on the Strength card roars in my head like the start of an old MGM movie. A tale about werewolves is always about the eternal struggle between our animal desires, instincts, and power and our logical, self-controlled, altruistic human side. At the end of the 2010 remake of the 1941 movie, The Wolf Man, the Wolf Man attacks his fiancée, forcing her to shoot him with a silver bullet. Her words, which end the movie, states the moral dilemma posed by Strength and the werewolf beautifully. “It is said there is no sin in killing a beast Only in killing a man But where does one begin and the other end?” In his latest book, The Last Werewolf, Glen Duncan’s line between man and beast is fairly clear and painfully raw. Jake is a werewolf from hell. A week before full moon the wulf, as he calls, it begins to mess with him. Phantom fangs and… Read More »

The Major Arcana and The Hero’s Journey: Temperance, Part IV

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

When Temperance appears in a reading, The querent is, was, or will be up to his ass in alligators and trying to remember to drain the swamp. If he doesn’t become gator chow first, the exercise will make him stronger, more flexible, and better able to cope with the next major glitch in his life. He has come to a point where he must combine, reconcile, or referee the opposing forces and people in his life. His wife and mother may be at each other’s throats. He may be dissatisfied with his job and trying to manifest a better one. He may be dealing with spending, eating, or other addictive disorders, or healing from a serious illness. Temperance reminds us that patience, open mindedness, strength, good management of time and resources, willingness to try and try again, and lots of prayer and help from the divine are necessary in resolving life’s problems. If the card is upright, it indicates that the querent has enough of… Read More »

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

Posted C. LaVielleLeave a commentPosted in Major arcana, Tarot, The Hero's Journey

Samekh is the Hebrew letter associated with Temperance. Most sources say that its original meaning is tent peg, or support. But the letter itself is round, in fact the cursive figure for samekh is a circle. It looks nothing like a tent peg.The Wikipedia article on Samekh points out that the Phonecian pictograph for Samekh looks a bit more like a tent peg and is probably derived from the Egyptian djed, the pillar shaped hieroglyph that means stability. So how is a circle like a tent peg? They didn’t just make this stuff up. Well, yeah, they did, but what was the method in their divine madness? The mystic interpretation of the letter samekh given by most sources is “the endless cycle”, which does match the shape of the letter. The endless cycle is something my pagan brain can grab onto. Pagans and Hebrews both see the universe as moving in circles. Black Elk, Oglala Lakota, 1863-1950 said it best: Everything the power of the… Read More »

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

Posted C. LaVielle2 CommentsPosted in Major arcana, Tarot, The Hero's Journey, Writing

When Temperance appears in a reading it’s not uncommon for the querent to groan and say, “I’m not giving up alcohol!” I assure him that the tarot card has nothing to do with the Temperance Movement of the late 1800s and early 1900s, which eventually led to the passage of the 18th Amendment in 1919. The Amendment made consumption, possession, or manufacture of most alcoholic beverages illegal, except for medicinal purposes. The initial intent of the American Temperance Movement was to moderate the alarming increase in alcohol consumption that began after the Civil War—hence the name Temperance. But the movement eventually started advocating total abstinence as the more radical members seized control. Abstinence may also have been encouraged because, even back then, I have no doubt that reformers knew that it is impossible for alcoholics to moderate their drinking; they have to stop completely. And so “total abstinence from alcoholic beverages” is now the second or third definition of the word temperance, whose first definition… Read More »