Tag: Major Arcana

The Fool’s Journey Through the Major Arcana: SunFest: The High Priestess

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

HPS: (Placing finger to lips) Shhhhhhh. There is a secret here. Do you wish to know what it is? Seekers answer “yes.” HPS: Very well, then. The Great Secret is this:  Your life—and the world you live it in—is a beautiful and terrifying…but instructive illusion. That which makes up your particular and personal illusion is behind that Veil. The purpose of your life—and yours, and yours—is to discover how to discover what is behind the Veil. And then to do it. Simple, isn’t it? (Shaking her head, ‘no.’) But take heart. The journey you are on right now will bring you at least a few steps closer to understanding. In the Place of Perfect Equilibrium, I stand watch over the Gateway of Knowing. Have you any questions? (When questioning comes to an end or no one speaks…) It is well. Now, pass on and continue your journey.

The Fool’s Journey Through the Major Arcana: SunFest 2016: The Magician

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

The Magician: And just where do you think you’re going? The Fools probably answer that they are seeking enlightenment. The Magician: Ah. And where do you intend to find it? (word the question to fit their answer.) The Fools only answer will be that they don’t know but that they need to cross the bridge. The Magician: As I suspected. You haven’t a clue. Now listen up. You can’t just go wandering around expecting things to fall into place. The Multiverse doesn’t work that way. First you need to decide exactly what it is that you’re looking for. Enlightenment isn’t good enough. Each of you is looking for something different. It may be as specific as “How will I make next month’s rent.” or as general as “What do I need to do next in my life?” But it’s a waste of your time and the Multiverse’s to ask the Multiverse for next month’s rent. Deep down inside, each of you knows what you truly… Read More »

The Fool’s Journey Through the Tarot Major Arcana: SunFest 2016: The World

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

I’m here to give some advice to a bunch of Fools who are starting a journey to enlightenment. And I know I’m in the right place, because I don’t think I’ve ever seen a more perfect bunch of Fools. I’m here to tell you that you don’t need to go wandering around in the woods to find enlightenment. It’s right here. All the beauty and perfection of the Multiverse is right here and right now. All you have to do is be still… and reach for it. But because you’re a bunch of Fools, you won’t listen to me. You’ll go running around looking for something you already have. So here’s some advice. If you’re going to be Fools, at least be divine Fools. Let go of the cares and worries and responsibilities of your everyday world. Because you’re not there anymore. You’re here, between the worlds, searching for something that’s right under your nose. Only a madman would do that—so be divinely mad. Forget… Read More »

The Fool’s Journey Through the Tarot Major Arcana: SunFest 2016

Posted C. LaVielle4 CommentsPosted in Gifts from the Multiverse, Major arcana, Tarot, The Hero's Journey, Writing, Young Adult Fantasy

Last year I was honored to be asked to write a “Fool’s Journey Through the Tarot” ritual for SunFest 2016. My first response was to run away screaming “Nooooooooo!” I know from previous experience that there is nothing more time consuming and brain warping than writing, organizing, and directing a large scale ritual. And then it dawned on me that The Fool’s Journey was exactly what I’ve been writing about on this blog for the past several years and it is exactly what my first book, Forging the Blade (which will soon be available), is about. And after doing the blog, the book, and countless readings for clients, I was a firm believer in the transformative, life changing power of tarot. So how could I not share this amazing tool with my community? “OK,” I said. “I’ll do it.” Fortunately, my community is composed of many amazingly talented people who volunteered to be in or help with the ritual, who serve on Other Worlds Of… Read More »

All You Really Need to Know About the Tarot Major Arcana

Posted C. LaVielle7 CommentsPosted in Major arcana, Tarot, The Hero's Journey

In her definitive book, Seventy-eight Degrees of Wisdom, a Book of Tarot, Rachel Pollack begins the first chapter with this spread:   These are the four most basic tarot archetypes arranged in a perfect pattern of spiritual evolution. I call this the “everything you really need to know about the major arcana” layout.  The vertical axis is The Fool and The World. The beginning and the end. The Aleph and the Tav. The Alpha and the Omega. Most authors describe these figures as androgynous and both figures are dancing. In fact, they are the only dancers in the major arcana. Death dances in some of the decks, but Death will always dance, and who are we to say it can’t. All of the other figures are pictured in static positions, like they’re posing for a photographer—they each represent a distinct, fixed state of existence.  The Fool is dancing along a precipice high above the rest of the world and looks to be about to leap… 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 »

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 »

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 »

Judgement, Part II

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

The Judgement key is an obvious depiction of Judgement Day. The Hierophant and perhaps The Devil are the other blatantly Catholic major arcana, although most of the keys have a Catholic feel to them. If you lived in Europe in the 15th and 16th centuries when tarot decks were becoming popular you were either Catholic or you were in trouble. The Church had zero tolerance for heretics, and Jews and Muslims were treated like dirt. This was also the time of the infamous European Witch Hunts. So it is not surprising that, even though their message is universal, the designers of the early tarot decks used a Christian theme to make their work more widely accessible. (See previous post on tarot origins) The death, redemption, and rebirth into a blessed afterlife concept lies at the heart of nearly every religion. It reminds the faithful that there is more to this world than what meets the untrained eye and challenges us to let go of our… Read More »