Category: The Hero’s Journey

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 »

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 »

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

Posted C. LaVielle1 CommentPosted in Major arcana, Tarot, The Hero's Journey

One of my first tarot teachers was fond of saying, “Always remember that Temperance stands in between Death and The Devil.” That angel may look calm and serene, but he/she is struggling to reconcile opposites. He/she is a hermaphrodite, with one foot on stable land (consious mind) and the other in a pool of water (subconscious mind). On his/her breast is a triangle (creativity) inside a square (stability). On his/her left are two (polarity) irises. Iris is the Greek goddess of the rainbow, a symbol of promise and diversity. On his/her right is a single path to mountains topped with a golden crown, a symbol of success, but only if one keeps to that single path. The previous card is Death—transformation through letting go of the material world or the perceived status quo. The next card is The Devil—faith in materialism or the perceived status quo. The central image of the card is two cups. But they aren’t just sitting there being apart, aloof, or… Read More »

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

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

When Death appears in a tarot reading things suddenly get very serious. The querent’s warm, happy feelings about having someone tell him all about himself vanish and dread settles in. He reaches out and touches the card. “This doesn’t look good,” he says. The reader swoops in with the comforting words, “This card doesn’t actually mean death, it means transformation.” About thirty years ago, Death appeared as a future card in a friend’s reading. I reassured him that the card “just” meant that he would experience a life-altering transformation. A week later his father died. But this is the only time in all my years of reading tarot that Death has actually predicted a physical death—at least to my knowledge. I have no way of knowing what happened to the strangers I’ve read for who pulled Death. This is one reason I really like reading for people I don’t know. So, if it almost always signifies transformation and not physical death, why not call the… Read More »

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

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

JAMES BOND: What do you expect me to do, Goldfinger? GOLDFINGER: Why, Mr. Bond, I expect you to die. From Goldfinger screenplay by Richard Maibaum and Paul Dehn We are all expected to die. We don’t know when. We don’t know where. We don’t know how. And we don’t know what, if anything, will happen afterward. The only thing we know for certain is that it is the end of life on earth as we know it. So if it’s the end, why isn’t Death the last of the major arcana cards? If the card has a number, it is always 13, that most infamous of integers. Even today many buildings do not possess a thirteenth floor, and otherwise sane citizens look over their shoulders a bit more often whenever Friday the 13th rolls around. It’s not an auspicious number, but it’s not the last number, which is 21, The World, completion. According to the tarot, Death is not the end. Since the major arcana… Read More »

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

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

Water is a mysterious substance. It expands when it becomes solid instead of contracting like any other self-respecting compound, and it contracts instead of expanding when it liquefies. It flows easily into any shape you choose, but no matter how hard you compress it, it won’t get any smaller. Without it life as we know it would be impossible, yet everything will eventually dissolve in its persistent caress, especially if you add a bit of salt and turn it to tears. It can be as gentle and refreshing as a warm summer rain or as dangerous and cruel as a raging sea. It is everywhere. 90 to 94 percent of the human body is water, and it covers two thirds of the earth. Swirling with opposites and contradictions, it is The Hanged Man’s element. Neptune, the planet of mysticism, spirituality, deception, and illusion, is also associated with The Hanged Man. Its Hebrew letter is Mem, which means water. In this case it refers to the… Read More »

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

Posted C. LaVielle1 CommentPosted in Major arcana, Tarot, The Hero's Journey

Justice, key XI and the Wheel of Fortune, key X sit at the balance point of the Major Arcana. Ten cards precede them and ten cards come after them. Together chance and karma create the fulcrum around which the hero’s journey turns. If we consider the Wheel of Fortune to be the mechanism of manifestation, then Justice is the force within the cosmos that brings balance to the wheel. The wisdom of the tarot matches the Egyptian concept that it is Justice that brings balance to the universe. Libra, the scales, is the astrological sign attributed to Justice. It sits smack dab in the middle of the zodiacal year at Fall Equinox and it’s all about balance, harmony, and beauty. The Hebrew letter Lamed corresponds to Justice. As a verb it means “to teach or instruct” and as a noun it means an ox goad. The meaning of the letter Aleph is ox, and Aleph corresponds to The Fool who signifies pure cosmic energy. And… Read More »

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

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

The Ancient Greeks’ concept of Justice was more pragmatic than the Egyptians’. According to Egyptian mythology it was Maat, or Justice that set order to the universe at the moment of creation, and so Justice is the primary force of their world. (see Justice, Part I) The Greeks claim that it was Ananke, the primordial goddess of compulsion, inevitability, and necessity, that set everything to order. She emerged fully formed at the very beginning of time, a serpentine spirit intertwined with her mate, Khronos, or Time. Together, Time and Necessity hold the egg of the universe fast in their powerful coil. She is the mother of the Fates, or Moirae and although even mighty Zeus defers to her, she’s not a popular or commonly worshiped goddess. Nobody, except perhaps a politician, enjoys bowing to her. As far as we know, only one temple to Ananke ever existed. It was in Corinth, and this most powerful of all goddesses had to share it with Bia, meaning… Read More »