Category: The Hero’s Journey

The Hero’s Journey and the Tarot Major Arcana: The Fool

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I met him once. I was doing a guided meditation on The Fool, and  had just stepped into the card. I was high in the mountains at the edge of a cliff, and I wasn’t thrilled to be there—I don’t do well with heights. The Fool appeared out of nowhere, laughing maniacally. I gazed into his insane, Gene Wilder eyes, shivered, and turned to run. I wasn’t fast enough. He grabbed me up, and jumped off the cliff. The Fool is the wild card, the Joker, and the divine androgyne. It’s number is zero. Paul Foster Case has this to say about zero: “An ellipse, representing the Cosmic Egg….Zero is a symbol of absence of quality, quantity, or mass. Thus it denotes absolute freedom from every limitation whatever. It is a sign of the infinite and eternal Conscious Energy, itself No-Thing, though manifested in everything…. Boundless, infinite potential, living light, it is the rootless root of all things…..” It’s Hebrew letter is Aleph, which sounds… Read More »

The Hero’s Journey and the Tarot Major Arcana—Part 5

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The Shapeshifter, The Shadow, The Ally, The Trickster The Shapeshifter Everyone “…contain(s) multitudes” as Walt Whitman said, and shapeshifter characters dramatize this. From a baffling lover that is constantly changing moods and convictions, to a villain who does something nice, to a wimpy guy who morphs into a superhero, the shapeshifter’s purpose is to provide excitement, tension, and suspense. The Shadow The dark side, things hidden or rejected, anything we don’t like about ourselves. The shadow lurks in every character, but it sings in the villain. And the villain is really the most important character in the story. Think about it, without the villain there wouldn’t even be a story. Therefore, the villain must be crafted as carefully as the hero. She can’t be just bad, she must be terribly, hauntingly, and soul searingly bad. She must resonate with the shadow in all of us. The Ally Don Quixote’s Sancho Panza, The Lone Ranger’s Tonto, Bambi’s Thumper, Captain Kirk’s Spock, Frodo’s Sam. Dorothy’s Scarecrow, Tin… Read More »

The Hero’s Journey and the Tarot Major Arcana—Part 4

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The Hero, the Mentor, the Herald, and the Threshold Guardian The Hero This is the person that makes the most things happen. He may or may not change. He can be anyone, but he can’t be just a hero. He can be a trickster like Brer Rabbit, Or a shapeshifter like Spiderman and Superman. He may be thwarted in love or orphaned or both—Spiderman again. Many are tormented by a shadow side of their nature. The Mentor Without a Mentor, many heroes would be dead before they even really get started. This is the person who teaches our hero what he needs to know to succeed in his quest and often provides essential equipment. In Greek mythology, Mentor was a friend of Odysseus and advisor to Telemachus. He often embodied Athena, the goddess of wisdom, who does lots of mentoring. Before he went off to kill Medusa, Athena gave Perseus a polished shield to catch the Gorgon’s reflection, because if he looked at her directly… Read More »

The Hero’s Journey and the Tarot Major Arcana, Part 3

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Archetypes Archetypes are, according to Swiss psychiatrist Carl Jung, innate universal psychic dispositions that form the substrate from which the basic themes of human life emerge. Each (life) stage is mediated through a new set of archetypal imperatives, which seek fulfillment in action. … en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jungian_archetype “Archetypes are universal, and, in subtle or extravagant ways, interchangeable.” Tanith Lee “While archetypes may emanate through us for short periods of time, in what we call numinous experience, no woman can emanate an archetype continuously. Only the archetype itself can withstand such projections such as ever-able, all giving, eternally energetic. We may try to emulate these, but they are ideals, not achievable by humans, and not meant to be. Yet the trap requires that women exhaust themselves trying to achieve these unrealistic levels. To avoid the trap, one has to learn to say ‘Halt’ and ‘Stop the music,’ and of course mean it.” Clarissa Pinkola Estés (Women Who Run with the Wolves) The above authorities have done everything but… Read More »

The Hero’s Journey and the Tarot Major Arcana, Part 2

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The Story Arc—or Circle So, where does it all begin? The Hero’s Journey always begins in the ORDINARY WORLD. Even if the tale begins in the midst of things, back-story must be added to let the reader know where the hero came from and what motivated her. And that motivation has got to be a big deal—at least to her. Being a hero is hard, dangerous work, not something one does on a whim. Then comes THE CALL TO ADVENTURE. Obi Wan Kenobi shows Luke Skywalker Princess Leia’s desperate plea for help. All he has to do is defeat Darth Vader and a few hundred storm troopers. “You’ve got to be kidding!” Luke says. This is the REFUSAL OF THE CALL. It doesn’t always happen, but if our hero has any sense or choice in the matter it usually does. Luke changes his mind when he returns home to find that the Empire has barbecued his Aunt and Uncle. With no home and no family… Read More »