Ace of Pentacles

 Ace of Pentacles: Selfhood

In the Tarot, all four Aces: Ace of Wands; Ace of Cups; Ace of Swords; and Ace of Pentacles, represent oneness, and new beginnings. The meaning and interpretation of all Aces can be linked to one’s personal selfhood. It’s a symbol of you/me in the course of this earthly existence. Any Ace received in a Tarot reading signifies, first, the numeral one, but can also signify a metaphysical sense of“Oneness,”—the archetypal essence of being. The Ace of Pentacles (The Ace of Coins in some

Ace of Pentacles TOCC

decks) symbolizes how you are manifesting your thoughts and dreams and how you do things in a material, real-world down to earth form. In a “reading,” this indicates a time to re-evaluate your hard work concerning practical matters in business, finance, in finding a job, caring for family, or doing manual day by day labor. And it also signals a time explore your vision and creative ability in the arts and architecture. 

 

“The Ace of Pentacles meant the things most men desire: opportunities in the worldly sense, stable foundations for future building security, ownership and property, 

rewards of practical effort in the world.” Barbara Walker, “The Secrets of The Tarot” (HarperCollins, 1984)

 

We usually start a reading with the age-old question of “Who am I”? What am I? Why am I in this body? What is my purpose? What am I supposed to do? We know that our personal selfhood begins when a pregnant mother releases “baby” into this life experience on Earth, who will soon have feet on the ground. In a broader sense, we begin our personal identification, with naming and getting our appearance underway while learning how to “hold on,” in the spin of Earth’s gravitation, so to speak.  We start to take part in daily human activity and absorb all that Earth provides. Now what? What’s next? First, basic survival. We know our “aliveness” requires food, water, shelter, and protection. “Feed me” continues throughout a person’s whole lifetime. For most people, we learn that we the have the ability to make choices, but there are additional required needs: Love, spiritual sustenance, happiness, a vocation, and a longing for freedom, peace and “justice for all.”  

 

“Know Thyself”(carved on the forecourt of the ancient Greek Delphic Temple)

 

Basically, as we progress, we undergo thousands of learning events: first, as a small child play time; we then endure the rumpled life of a hormonal teenager; and as we continue as an adult, we are loaded with various responsibilities. As we move on to middle age, mature, wiser behavior sets in, then we cope with old age and a final return to the cosmos. On another note, keep in mind that for some, in a darker context, either due to a lack of choices, or dire circumstances, some people’s lives may take the form of illness, anger, going to war, endless battles, and/or frightening incidents of abuse and injustice. This sums up life on Earth in a few short sentences, but what happens in between is endless, always changing, and extraordinarily different for every person. “Learning” and “becoming” never stops, and all of this activity requires patience, education, perseverance and community cooperation. 

From that first birthday forward, living a complicated daily life can take on staggering proportions of self-awareness for better or worse—in exploring one’s self-worth, self-knowledge, self-objectification, and self-gratification. Websters Dictionary (found on our computers or phones) says: “The self is an individual considered as having a personality, a single nature, or character.” 

 

“Self as a unique form of human existence, exists in space; destiny in time. Selfhood is being; destiny is becoming. What we call individuality is the seed-pattern of our being.”

Dane Rudhyar, “Astrological Insights Into the Spiritual Life”  (Aurora Press, 1979)

 

Descartes said, “I think, therefore I am.” God declares himself in Genesis 3:14, “I AM THAT I AM.” What a more profound way to state your identity, especially as we become aware of ourselves in an environment of oneness with the Universe. Oneness—this is not about numerical counting, but more about the character of “you” in a metaphysical or spiritual sense. There is no division in Oneness—all is one. Our lives revolve around unity and singleness of purpose. 

“We have become aware of our place in the cosmos as earth riders.”

Buckminster Fuller, “Operating Manual For spaceship Earth” (Southern Illinois University Press, 1969)

 

Our personal selfhood is the manifestation of our corporal presence. So, how do you present yourself? In a far-reaching overall perspective, how do you see yourself as a traveler on board the giant ball Earth in orbit around the Sun? What is your highest plan; your biggest goals for yourself? How are you caring for the Earth and every living being on it? The next question demands a sense of humility. You may have wondered: Is a person just an insignificant tiny dot on this big planet, which, in turn, is an even tinier dot in the starry Universe as seen through a telescope? That is an open door to the future! What does your future hold? What is your greatest dream or hope for yourself? But here, be watchful, this is where we might jump off into a fictional fantasy about who we are. We are not living in a “Star Trek” or “Star Wars” adventure movie. The Ace of Pentacles (Coins) reminds you to be realistic, pragmatic, “matter of fact,” and “down to earth” in your decisions and to not fall into the trap of an overblown ego and self-aggrandizement. 

 

“Self-consciousness  may be the beginning of folly…” 

[making up incorrect “stuff” about oneself].

                                    Leon Kass, “The Beginning of Wisdom” (Simon & Schuster, 2003)

 

Seeing ourselves through art and story-telling

            In ancient societies, we know from archaeological findings, that imaginative myth- making and story-telling was expressed communally in sacred religious ritual and visionary art forms—including mask-making, dancing, and the drama of “theater”—as early societies and tribal groups expressed their most sacred beliefs and secret intentions.

 

“Your story is what you have, what you will always have. It is something to own.”

Michele Obama, “Becoming” (Penguin, Random House, 2018)

 

In early European cultures, Mother-Earth was venerated in art form by little clay goddess figurines, human-like with protruding bellies, exaggerated buttocks and ample thighs, female symbols of fertility and abundance.  Certain harvest-time celebrations and “corn dollies” (seen at local European fairs) linger on today:Halloween (Samhain) and Día de Los Muertos (Day of the Dead, Mexico) celebrations, with

outrageous costumes, scary masks, painted skulls, and carved pumpkins—lots of creepy things. Local children in their costumes are rewarded with sweets and candies meant to appease the “ghostly spirits.”  

 

“The primordial deity for our Paleolithic and Neolithic ancestors was female, reflecting the sovereignty of motherhood. Paleolithic and Neolithic symbols and images cluster around a self-generating Goddess and her basic functions are Giver of Life, Wielder of Death, and as a Regeneratrix.”  Marija Gimbutas, “Civilizations of the Goddess”(HarperCollins, 1991)

 

In early Greek mythology, art forms, story-telling and play-acting, expressed in the drama of theater, was teeming with adventure stories of the gods. Skillful artisans created magnificent statues of the immortal gods and heroes (still seen in museums today), whose memories are still carried on in the names of the planets: Jupiter, Mars, Venus, Saturn, Mercury,and so on. They presented plays in outdoor theaters some of which still exist. And we are still reading the literature of Homer—"The Odyssey”and “The Iliad,” creative adventure stories of men thought of as heroes or, for some, rather disreputable characters—villains. (Currently, we are seeing the movie “The Odyssey,” where the adventures of Odysseus are played out by famous actors and, as someone quipped, “rowing around” in a rented 8^thcentury replica of a beautiful ocean-going Viking ship “Draken Harald Hartagre.”)  Modern-day artists of all cultures are still conveying symbols for their innovative visions in art form—making movies, story-telling, producing TV shows, and expressing themselves in music, art forms, and dance. 

 

In ancient Egypt, mysterious visages of the Egyptian gods: Ra, Osiris, Isis, and so on, are still seen today in painted sculptures and bas-reliefs carved in their temple ruins. In certain tombs, tourists view

painted pastoral scenes of common people at work in the fields. 19^th Century tomb workers, recognizable as artisans and craftspeople are seen painted on the walls of their own tombs and, most importantly, their names are included. (See “A Tomb of One’s Own” Archaeology Magazine Nov/Dec 2026). Centuries ago, after escaping the rule of the Egyptian Pharaoh, came biblical stories of Hebrew worship of the one God, Jehovah—the basis of Judaism and Christianity, Islam, followed in history by stories of the Crusades, stories of Catholic and Protestant wars, and Islamic feuds. We still view paintings by famous artists painted during the Renaissance, depicting their interpretations of historical ancient struggles and wars displayed in museums all over the world. (See Lo Scarabeo Tarot deck re-creations of Egyptian and Renaissance art: “The Tarots of the Sphinx;” and the “Leonardo Da Vinci Tarot.)

 

“Stories create a sense of self and world. Stories with a sacred dimension point to a source of meaning that gives purpose to people’s lives.”

Carol Christ, “Diving Deep and Surfacing” (Beacon Press, 1980)

Over the centuries, certain men and a few women have been declared as role-models of heroes, patriots, saviors—or vilified as evil villains. We still respect the stories of the most inspirational leaders: Jesus, Buddha, Gandhi, Celtic Boudicca, Joan of Arc, (Modern times: movies of “Superman,” “Wonder Woman”). But we also know of some really bad tyrants, dictators, evil people—Napoleon, Rasputin, Hitler, Bloody Mary Tudor, to name a few. (“Chucky”/ “Freddy” horror movies).

 

On a different note, in early cultures of indigenous people all over the world, each person identified as part of a tribe, a clan, or a certain group of people working together to live in safety and speaking the same language. In America and Canada, in their earnestness to stay alive during unfortunate colonization and disrespect, tribal consensus continued within some indigenous groups. Even today, as In the past, story-telling and imaginative myth-making origin tales are an important part of a sacred process of memory keeping and personifying the natural phenomena surrounding them. 

For Native American Hopis, Kachina dolls embody earth’s natural processes: wind, rain, sunshine, moonlight, including some forms of animals and plants. Invisible forces of nature are visualized as Kachinas; not worshipped, but impersonated by costumed dancers acting as intermediaries. Tribal

Sasquatch

decisions were/are made by consensus of the group rather than some hierarchical authority of the Chiefs. They see themselves as caretakers of the earth. North Coast indigenous people (Haida, Tlingit) were giving the invisible—visibility, and still are, by creating ancestral totems, ceremonial masks, and decorating their longhouses with emblems of the clan or tribes they were part of: Bear, Fox, Beaver, Eagle, Wolf, and so on. 

 

Contemporary times and people in the news

In 2016, on the Standing Rock Sioux Reservation, thousands of “water protectors” were camped trying to keep the Dakota access Pipeline from crossing under their land and water reservoir, Lake Oahe, the source of their drinking water. Militarized police tried to crush the protestors. One of the elder leaders, LaDonna Brave Bull Allard said: “We are here to protect the water. This is why we are still alive; to help humanity in its most pressing question: How do we live with the earth again, not against it”? Over 750 people were arrested, and the pipeline went ahead anyway). Tribal leaders said—we are not protestors but “water protectors” while chanting “mini wiconi” “water is life.” 

                        (From Naomi Klein’s book, “No is Not Enough” (Haymarket Books, 2017). 

 

“When humans are ranked instead of linked, everyone loses.”

Gloria Steinem

 

Freedom to be your complete self

            In the past, specific groups of black and brown people have not been allowed the freedom to be their complete selves. What about today? We need to look at the hierarchical order of earlier European societies (including so-called “white supremacy”) to get a better perspective of modern society today. There were the former power-over groups (European Aristocracy, Kings, Queens), money exchange and business groups (Hanseatic League, guilds), paid labor and unpaid labor, then slavery and, as in India, the former  “untouchables.” (See National Geographic article: “The Last Journey Into Slavery,” 02/2020) There is no way around the fact that indigenous people, people of color, and most women of all races have suffered various kinds of injustice and suppression and have been treated unfairly during colonialism and post-colonialism in America—right up to today. The lack of respect and victimization of women still continues in some form (abortion control, salary inequality, etc.) The range of injustice is astounding. What would freedom for women look like if we have the full participation of all shades of women in all phases of our culture? 

 

Roe Vs Wade ended on June 24^th, 2023 as the US Supreme Court ruled against a woman’s right to abortion. Some states are trying to make abortion illegal right down to the death penalty for women and medics who participate. Death penalty for having a miscarriage? Two years in Jail? What? A judge in Georgia said: “Women are not some piece of collectively owned community property…“ "It is generally men who promote and defend laws like the Life Act, the effect of which is decided by majority vote to require women to … engage in compulsory labor by carrying to term at the governments behest.”

 

“Theorizing about self-worth is ineffective. So is pretending. Women can die in agony who have lived with blank and beautiful faces. I can look at myself directly, risk the pain of experiencing who I am not, and learn to savor the sweetness of who I am.”

                                              Audre Lorde, “Sister Outsider”(The Crossing Press, 1984

 

As we now turn to have a reading based on the Ace of Pentacles, it is important to understand where you stand on some of the afore mentioned issues. 

 

In a reading, ask yourself these questions:

An Ace of Pentacles upright

1.    What positive influences have inspired you?

2.     How do you see yourself in group settings? Your self-image?

3.    What do you feel is your place in the world? Sense of self-worth?

4.    What are your “best” qualities?

5.    How do you express kindness and hope to your friends and family?

6.    What are you doing to keep yourself maintained, healthy in “good shape”?

7.    How are your applying your talents to the world’s needs?

8.    What positive influence do you bring in being a role model for others?

 

“Every one of us can turn Hope into optimism.” 

Barack Obama

Ace of Pentacles reversed

            

1.    Are putting forth a “phony “ persona? Do you see others doing that? Who?

2.    Have you made up false things about yourself. Do you see others lying, saying false things about themselves?

3.    How do you deal with so-called “con-men”? Have you “conned” someone?

4.    Are you projecting your faults on someone? Someone projecting their faults on you? 

5.    Have you avoided being self-righteous, a “know it all”? Do you know someone who is? How do you deal with them?

6.    Are you being fair to others? Selfish or secretive? Is someone being unfair to you?

7.     Have you been deluded yourself about your capabilities? Do you know someone deluding themselves in self-aggrandizement? Big Ego me, me?

8.    Are you “haunted” by memories of past mistakes and regrets for things said, done?

 

 

The Devil

The Devil: Evil and Warmongering 

     The Devil card in Tarot 

 “The hideous figure in this Arcanum typifies the spirit behind the dark forces which have sought to control and subjugate our planet since the beginning of human evolution…” Corinne Heline “The Bible and the Tarot,” DeVorss Publications 1993 

     We will begin this discussion right away by discussing the meaning of the word “Devil:” In Webster’s [old] Dictionary (1873) “The evil one, Satan; … is the father of lies, tempter, an evil spirit or false god; a very wicked person.” Webster’s New Collegiate Dictionary: “Gr: diabolos, the devil is the slanderer. In Jewish and Christian theology, it is the personal supreme spirit of evil and unrighteousness.” 

     The Anonymous author of “Meditations on the Tarot,” states that there are two principles of evil: 

(1) the seducing principle and (2) the hypnotizing principle. In discussing the Rider- Waite Tarot card of The Devil, he says that the ideas evoked by the beings chained to the Devil represent the slavery of those who “forfeit their freedom and become slaves to a monstrous entity.” He talks about Tibetan lamas who created painted demon figures and then destroyed them as lessons for adepts in order to realize that those monster figures were only creations of the mind— “illusory egregores of the imagination,”— false beliefs. 

        Seeing demons doodling around may not make much sense to modern mechanistic thought, so it’s probably better to refer to it as an ideological group think. Nazism grew out of this kind of thinking, especially as they were promoting so-called “white supremacy.” Whereas today, a lot of us just get hooked on “doom-scrolling.” We go on demonstrations and marches to put an end to things that don’t seem to be going right. 

            In a Tarot reading, all of this Devil-like and demon evil-doing can be metaphorically shoved down the “black hole,” a symbol of self-destructive action. The Devil is depicted in the Tarot of Cosmic Consciousness as an

The Devil TOCC

immense whirlwind sucking unscrupulous behavior down a black hole. 

 “Evil deeds, our own and that of others are being drawn into a powerful tornado that is cleaning up harmful and unhealthy behavior. Such wickedness and evil is caught in a ‘sewer siphon’ like a tornadic centrifuge and dissipated into space.” 

Tarot of Cosmic Consciousness © 2008 

    "Usually “The Devil” is restricting people from moving or acting freely, a trap, unable to make sensible, reliable choices” 

Gail Fairfield, “Choice Centered Tarot” (1984)

     Modern Tarot interpretations of the archetypal meaning of The Devil card say this is a fictitious satanic character representing a demonic, malicious evil spirit who is opposed to the archetype of Good, or God. Some misguided humans manifest these forces of darkness as wickedness and conjure up the lies of liars on the “Dark Side,” which are counterfeits of the truth. And there are other descriptive words that indicate such a diabolical presence: being hateful, devious, divisive, malicious, immoral, criminal, and/or destructive. 

    In past centuries, especially in Medieval times, certain artists painted society’s evil intentions as ugly, malevolent, devil-demons (which the Anonymous author calls “artificial beings”) doing obscene things. These grotesque renderings covertly exposed the cruelty, violence, death, and destruction of misinformation, and malfeasance, including corruption within the Church, as bizarre abominations (See the works of Hieronymous Bosch and Pieter Bruegel). 

Bosch, St. Anthony, demons

 St. Paul’s biblical admonition applies to any time period: 

  “For we wrestle not against Flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of darkness of this world; against spiritual wickedness in high places.” (Ephesians 6:12) 

 This current ongoing war of 2026 between Israel, Gaza, USA and Iran is nothing new. It’s been going on and off over the last 2,000 years in the Middle East. We can still read a complicated biblical narrative about Samson and Delilah in “Judges 13-on,” or better yet, watch Cecil B. DeMille’s 1949 Hollywood blockbuster movie: “Samson and Delilah,” and contemplate today’s Israeli destruction of Gaza.

      Nevertheless, in all time periods, wars fought or won still mean the same thing —they are the opposite of the momentous presence of PEACE. (No rest for the wicked) The list of wars around the world since 750 BCE, when Jerusalem was sacked, is long and each war has been more destructive than the last one, especially with the development of weapons of mass destruction.

 Warmongering: 

     The meaning of warmongering is described in the dictionary as “one who stirs up war; to strive violently.” Warmongering means to constantly promote war as a solution for solving conflicting differences. Warmongering men always want to invade or attack another country that opposes their beliefs but inevitably, there is a lack of ethics and a lack of empathy followed up by a catastrophic war of murder, cruelty and destruction. Today, as they see no other options to settle their differences, warmongering men are at it again. 

    Now we have another war in the Middle East. It started on October 7, 2023, when Hamas Palestinians attacked an Israeli celebration and killed 1,200 or more people and took hostages. On September 17, 2024, the Israeli Army attacked Gaza, and thousands have been killed, displaced and most buildings have been bombed and destroyed. On February 28, 2026, Israel and the USA attacked Iran and killed its leaders and now we have an ongoing war of bombs and devastating missiles from both sides, with Iran closing the Straight of Hormuz to deter the shipping of oil. 

     Over the centuries, for the military men in charge, the urge for war hasn’t changed much. It’s still the same premise: “destroy the enemy,”— only the weapons have changed. They have moved from swords, spears, axes, knives, chariots, bows and arrows, to machine guns, deadly bombs, missiles, cannons, jet planes, drones and tanks. One nuclear bomb can destroy a whole city as in the WWII destruction of the cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, Japan. Now its “bomb, bomb, bomb Iran” again, the chant we heard in the 1970s under the Carter Administration during that Middle Eastern war. This is pure madness gone amuck and a lot of other really bad swear words. 

On top of all the destruction and death, because of USA involvement, this war is using up millions of our tax payers’ dollars to pay for this ongoing insanity. 

 “The evil that men do lives after them, the good is oft interred with their bones.” 

Shakespeare, Julius Caesar

What we all hope for is the time and ability to appreciate the beauty, grandeur and glory “across the fruited plain” in the flora and fauna and elemental wonders of “Life on Earth”- in the celebration of PEACE. Where is the gratitude for the oxygen and water and crops and forests that keep us alive provided by Mother Earth? It’s not found in the all-consuming Ferengi greed for oil and profit that will eventually destroy us and the earth. Once again, we are faced with the death and destruction of war and evil intentions promoted by war-mongering men who are hell-bent on killing everyone out of hate and distrust of each other. What happened to the biblical admonition “Love one another?”  

 

“It is an Orwellian vision which says that we must be in a constant state of fear, that we must always have an enemy and that we must always be at war. It is a vision which says that we have unlimited amounts of money for bombs and guns for killing, but never enough money to feed our children, provide affordable housing or enable our parents to retire with dignity.”

         Bernie Sanders at the march on “No Kings Day,” March 28, 2026, in St. Paul, Minnesota

 

Will the power of truth and the light prevail over the power of darkness? 

What can we do to help alleviate this situation?

1.    Resist those trying to divide us. 

2.    Expose the misinformation and lying.

3.    March with others of like mind to protest all the things going wrong 

4.    Advocate for groups and those in power who can change things for the better.

5.    Protect and campaign for the rule of law in overturning lawlessness.

6.    Vote - don’t accept authoritarianism, dictatorship and thuggery

7.    Keep on with “we the people” and help make things right.

The Star 2026

The Star TOCC

The Star: Hope

 

“When you wish upon a star … anything your heart desires will come to you.”This song by Leigh Hartline, was the beginning of a 1940 Disney film: “Pinocchio.” Its intended meaning was filled with the essence of hope. In Tarot, the hope of accomplishment is the most important aspect of The Star card. It signifies the hope you must have to achieve your dreams and the hope of successes to look forward to. The good omen of The Star card in a Tarot reading inspires us to seek betterment of ourselves and can motivate us to look toward a bright future. Hopefulness implies time and patience. We may be reaching for greater success outside of our daily routines, so we hope for something better beyond our immediate trials and tribulations. Are you expecting a visit from a friend, or to patch up a relationship with a loved one? Finding a home? Adopting a pet? To meet the love of your life? Do you hope for a win at the casino or the lottery? A chance to travel? Do you hope for something bigger in life? What are your aspirations and goals you hope to achieve?

“While there is life, there is hope”

Cicero 43 BCE 

A spiritual sense of hope in Tarot Art:

    In Tarot of Cosmic Consciousness, the painting of The Star card contains a river-like flow of organized

The Star TOCC

gold dots emanating from a large 7-pointed star. The dots signify a never-ending “Life-force energy ” streaming abundantly from the Universe. Let’s assume that you and I, and all other living beings, are animated by this life-force. The art represents the living, breathing energy rooted in our bodies that can be best described as “aliveness.” Some would even say “consciousness.” It’s important to acknowledge this sense of aliveness every day as we often tend to overlook the obvious — the continuous perpetual motion of our breath and heartbeat that keeps us alive. We may not be consciously aware of this all the time, but when we get out of bed each day, we should look forward to filling that day with hope and gratitude. Even in our simplest actions and chores, or prayers, we need to remind ourselves of the positive affirmation of “things going well.”

 When we hear people say the overused statement “Have a good day,” let’s be grateful for the opportunities of a new day. Feel the beat! Have 

“Faith in the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen”(Heb.11:1)

 

In The Star card of the Rider-Waite Tarot deck, illustrated by Pamela Coleman Smith, and also the BOTA deck, an uncovered woman is pouring a liquid into a pond from a jug in her right hand, and also onto the land from a jug in her left hand. Tarotists have interpreted this as referring to the never-ending life-giving source continuously replenishing the earth. Medieval artist Giotto (1267-1337) painted Hope (Spes, Latin for hope) as an angel reaching toward Heaven in the frescoes of the Arena Chapel in Padua, Italy. The angel is shown reaching upward, perhaps hoping to receive a small crown from the hands of a smaller angel—a gift from God?

 

BOTA The Star

“Like the star that guided the Magi to the manager, The Star card announces the presence of imminence of grace, beauty and fulfillment.” Brian Williams, The Minchiate Tarot (Destiny Books 1999)

Hopeful expectations today: 

Over the past 250 years, immigrants have been coming to the USA with hope in their hearts —hope for a better life, hope for work, hope for a better future.  Some are escaping persecution, violence, chaos, war, or other disasters, occurring in their former countries. Currently, as so-called illegal immigrants are being sought out and arrested by unscrupulous masked government agents, so concerned citizens are marching and demonstrating against the inhuman violence going on. We are also seeing that our rights: “freedom of speech” and the right to express dissatisfaction, are being trampled. And yet, on the other hand, there are still those in government who have high hopes for achieving world-wide peace on earth and the elimination of endless wars. Through peace talks, negotiation and compromise, they still uphold the banner for freedom —“liberty and justice for all.” Luckily, that kind of hope carries a degree of optimism for peaceful solutions achieved through hard work in overcoming the anger and hate of war-mongering men who are determined to put an end to the lives of people unlike themselves. We remember Barack Obama said this in his Presidential inaugural speech in 2009: 

 

“On this day, we gather because we have chosen hope over fear, 

unity of purpose over conflict and discord.”

Overcoming fear:

The biggest obstacle to overcome in achieving one’s hopes—is fear. All of us at some time or other have struggled with conquering our worst fears. Recently, an extreme example of hopefulness was set for us all by a person who literally climbed the “highest mountain.” In 2017, we watched a young man, Alex Hannold, publicly demonstrate his mastery of fear as he solo climbed the impossible 3,000’ face of El Capitan, a granite monolith in Yosemite National Park, with no climbing gear — just his “fingertips and two thin edges of shoe rubber.” (See the film “Free Solo” documenting the climb inch by inch and the article, “Ultimate Climb,” by Marc Synnott in the National Geographic, February 2019).

 

Freedom from fear:“Fear is one of the greatest problems in life. A mind that is caught in fear lives in confusion, in conflict, and therefore must be violent, distorted and aggressive.”

Krishnamurti, Freedom from the Known (HarperCollins, 1969)

 

In a Tarot reading, the message of The Star card is to have hope for accomplishing your purpose in life and of overcoming your fears in order to be optimistic about finding the best outcome. The late primatologist, Jane Goodall (1934-2025) included the word hope in most of her lectures and books and today, her legacy stands alone in accomplishments: 

 

“The necessity of hope against the odds, against the trends, was among her most insistent themes. She understood that hope is a duty, not a prediction or a mood” 

David Quammen, National Geographic, December 2025

 

“Act knowing we are not alone and live with Hope.”

Jane Goodall, The Ten Trusts (HarperCollins 2002)

 

 

 Tarot Card The Tower 

 

“Falling from the Tower”

Why does the Tarot card “The Tower,” which is included in most Tarot decks, show people falling

Visconti Tower of Babel

headfirst from its top? How can we interpret this as we consider what “falling from the tower” means? Tarotists usually agree that early Tarot designers were referring to the biblical story of the “Tower of Babel”as the subject of the card (see Gen. 11:1–9). In that story, Babylonian builders imagined they were building a stairway to Heaven saying, “Let us make a name for ourselves.”The story describes a pragmatic and dangerous situation put forth by overly ambitious and prideful men that ultimately affected the workers. The builders were punished by God for their hubris and the workers began babbling in many different languages. Misunderstandings and miscalculations followed, and the tower was never finished. In its biggest sense, it is a continuing story of the “Fall of man” from grace that we read about in the beginning of Genesis. 

 

There is an essential lesson according to the biblical account. Before the problems of building cities and assembling its towers occurred, it says there was only one language spoken on earth. The impending construction disaster began with “Let us make a name for ourselves” (Leaders making up a fantasy about who they were). Their plan was for the tower to take them straight to Heaven, which would establish equality with divine authority. For Tarot readers, the main underlying assumption is summed up: They thought they were important leaders –“making a name for themselves.” The tower itself is interpreted in a reading as the build-up of self-aggrandizement. But when lies and corrupt behavior and wish for notoriety is exposed, (lightning bolt) the false persona collapses and “falls” away. So, as in the continuing saga of The Fall of Adam and Eve, (Gen. 2:15-17) the “fall from grace” continued and they could no longer communicate with each other. 

(Refer to my earlier Tarot blog of January 12, 2019 https://tarotofcosmicconsciousness.blogspot.com)

 

“The more that rude and ambitious men have to do with one another, the more they both need to fear and seek to outdo one another.”

Leon R. Kass, The Beginning of Wisdom  (Simon & Schuster 2003)

 

Bruegel Tower of Babel

Medieval artist such as Pieter Bruegel (1525–1569) painted their versions of the construction and inevitable Fall from the tower. He showed stone carvers, brick layers, crane operators and many ships unloading building materials, all at work before they couldn’t understand one another.

In another painting about The Tower of Babel, found in an illustrated Medieval manuscript, “The Bedford Book of Hours”(1410–1430), a group of builders are seen constructing a tower much like the one in the Bruegel painting using a lot of building materials. A man is depicted falling headfirst from the top. Above the top, an Angel of God bearing a sword is pointing at some people arguing and threatening each other. 

 

 As we Interpret the symbolism of The Tower card in today’s reality, we see lightning strikes the Tower. Here, the warning for us is not to build up some narrative fantasy about oneself. A person who has built their whole life on self-aggrandizement can suddenly collapse when their false identity is stripped away. 

Bedford Book of Hours Tower of Babel

A tower being constructed to enhance oneself is like “Empire Building,” which includes the attempt to control governments and finances while ignoring the laws and rules already in place to prevent such malfeasance. The Fall signifies the shattering of the build-up of egoistic self-importance. (The people babbled, stopped work and were dispersed). But what if they had continued with their plan? This could have led to a dictatorship from the overblown leaders where their behavior could lead to fascist control over everyone and everything. A dictator doesn’t pay attention to the advice of skilled or professional people. No, because they say to themselves: “I know best. Look at me, me, me—see what I can do!” Further, a dictator punishes those who don’t show loyalty and seeks revenge on those who criticize or chastise him by making them feel inferior: “Destroy them.” There are plenty of excruciating stories and examples of this in the biblical accounts of conflict among nations and persons since “The Fall,” and that was 4,000 years ago and, is still ongoing today.  As the song goes, “When will they ever learn”?

 In real life, after a person “falls,” that “fallen one” can experience disillusionment and depression as they try to convince the world what a hero (SUPERMAN) they were. But this means that now they must give up a false estimation of their selfhood and give up their desire to be superior to all others. It takes courage to admit the dangerous magnitude of one’s inflated Ego and to correct or alter contentious behavior for the better in the future.

 

The Tower card in a reading, ask yourself:

 

Are you articulating what you believe to others? Are they doing the same for you?

 

Are you defending your rights and others right to “free speech”?

 

Do you feel your rights are being ignored, trampled upon, by someone else?

 

Are you experiencing miscommunication, conflict in your home, office? Or harmony?

 

Are you feeling “bullied,” or are you “bullying” someone? 

 

Are friends or family trying to push “conspiracy theories” on you, or vice versa?

 

Do you always tell the truth? Is someone lying to you?

 

Are you feeling oppressed? Is there a dictator in your life? 

 

Is someone seeking retaliation or revenge against you?

 

Is someone trying to exercise authoritarian rule over you?