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

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Continued from previous post…. Peh or pey, the Hebrew letter attributed to The Tower, means mouth and by extension speech or communication. Our ability (or inability) to communicate is what precipitates many of the Tower moments of our lives. We are experts at talking our way into all kinds of trouble. Tower moments are also the way the Universe communicates with us, telling us that what we are doing no longer feeds our souls and it’s time to do something different. The Tower’s planet is Mars, god of assertiveness and force. There is nothing subtle about this card. This card is what happens when we listen to The Devil (previous key). When we become obsessed with the physical world, or as the Taoists say, The 10,000 Things, we lose sight of what truly matters in our lives. Since we are creatures of solid, stable earth, we avoid change like the plague and will fight desperately to keep things as they are, even when they no… Read More »

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

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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 »