THE SUN:

 Light and hope, a new day

     Each day with the sunrise, we are bathed in the sun’s radiant life-giving energy as its light vitalizes our planet. Green plants flourish in the warmth and energy of sunlight and grow to meet the new day. We soak up the sun’s rays outdoors on beaches and in our gardens, and power our complex multimedia devices with solar energy. The sun makes life as we know it possible on earth. When sunlight passes through a prism it is broken up into seven colors, red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo and violet. Our eyes perceive color, shapes, and form because of the light.

     Naturally, there is a Tarot card representing “the Sun.” Traditional decks show children playing in joy and delight under a huge golden sun with extended rays. We interpret the card as meaning success, achievement, joy, and the fulfillment of love and happiness. It represents basking in the light of optimism and hope. Receiving this card is the impetus to wake up and seek the Light and enlightenment of spiritual bliss.

     In the ancient Egyptian mystery stories, the Sun-god creator, Amun-Ra, was worshipped at the temples of Heliopolis and Karnack. In a daily transformation, Amun-Ra caused the sun to be born every morning and to travel in a sacred barque across the sky, only to be swallowed by the sky-goddess Nut in the darkness of night, and after passing through the dark Underworld, was reborn again in the morning. The Sun card of Tarot commemorates the observance of that daily rebirth for all the children of earth.

    

     “At dawn he was a new-born child, by midday he was a hero in the prime of life, and at sunset he became an old man tottering with feeble steps into the western horizon.” (Alan W. Shorter, The Egyptian Gods, Newcastle Publishing, 1937, p.5)    

    

     On a different note, this brings up the subject of solar cycle predictions and other disaster scenarios discussed today in the media. According to NASA scientists, we are approaching the maximum in the Sunspot Cycle in the spring of 2013, having experienced several large solar flares already. The worst that could happen might be power outages, and satellites afflicted by heightened geomagnetic activity.  But before that date, supposedly, the doomsday soothsayers predict the sun will be in alignment with the earth and the galactic center of our galaxy December 21, 2012, which will bring about some destructive force as we enter the Dark Rift of the Milky Way. Oh hum – more of “repent for the end is near.” How many “near ends” have we had over the centuries? (Pun intended) But after all that chatter, we’re still here aren’t we? Astronomers at NASA, and elsewhere, say this prediction is nonsense. E.C.Krupp, director of Griffith Observatory, says, “Others on the web…have declared that the Sun is now plummeting to the Milky Way’s center and dragging earth with it. The predicted result? Earth’s polar axis will shift. Most of what’s claimed for 2012 relies on wishful thinking, wild pseudoscientific folly, ignorance of astronomy, and a level of paranoia worthy of the Night of the Living Dead.” (E.C. Krupp, “The Great Doomsday Scare,” Sky and Telescope Magazine) Yes, changes are coming, but notice that they come again and again with each new day.

     In Tarot of Cosmic Consciousness, the illustration of The Sun is a great energetic ball of yellow and orange depicting its warmth, fire, and light. This means it is forever a steady lasting influence as it casts its light on orbiting planets seen against the darkness of space at the bottom of the picture. How should we interpret The Sun card in a reading?  We can sing with joy and bask in the Light of spiritual illumination. Every day brings a new beginning. Recharge yourself, and as the Sun continues to shine, let your light shine.

The Moon: Tides of Change

“The Moon, like a silver bow

New-bent in heaven”

A Midsummer-nights Dream

     The cyclic motion of the moon rules the night. When we interpret the symbolism of The Moon in Tarot it’s about the fluidity of inner change in our emotional lives. We may not be aware of it but we are always in flux, waxing and waning like the moon; alternating between light and dimly illumined shadows. The gravitational pull of earth’s mass on the moon, and vice versa, draws the oceans and, even the crust of the earth up and down every day. Their relationship creates a rhythm of perpetual motion. We can’t be sure how this affects each one of us literally, but we view it symbolically in Tarot as mood swings of our own emotional world.

     In a Tarot reading, The Moon card symbolizes our internal dialogue in a hazy realm of feelings, instincts, imagination, and dreams. The meaning emphasizes the need to release repressed anger, frustrations, fears, and uncertainty about past grievances and mistakes. It’s a time to forgive and forget and to allow yourself to experience how you really feel about things and then live with your feelings for awhile in order to understand yourself better. “The feelings are psychological expressions of biological instincts, which in truth, are waves and eddies in the tidal flow of the lunar forces acting upon the ‘moisture’ in man’s body and psyche.” (Dane Rudhyar, The Practice of Astrology, Penguin Books, 1968.)

     While visiting friends in northern New Mexico, I watched a huge full moonrise as it illuminates the cold, barren landscape; a sight I will never forget. Because the moon dominates the night there, it made sense that at Pueblo Bonito in Chaco Canyon, the early Publicans gauged its alignment and construction to the time-frame of the moon and sun’s rising and setting along the horizon. In 1977, a spiral carving was first discovered by artist Anna Sofaer that measures both the movement of the sun and the moon at Fajada Butte nearby. Landmarks and further building alignments have been intensely studied ever since by her group known as the Solstice Project. In addition to that, every 18.6 years, the moon rises at its most northern declination between the 2 towers of Chimney Rock. It’s apparent that it could be seen by “…watchers near the Chimney Rock Pueblo…” as astronomer, J. McKim Malville has concluded: “…the moon is intermediary between sun and earth…much of Puebloan lore revolves around women and children.” (See Malville and Putnam, Prehistoric Astronomy in the Southwest, Johnson books, 1993.)

     In early classical mythology, the moon was personified by Artemis (Diana) Goddess of the Moon ruling the tides, and feminine cycles of maternity. Overall, in astrology, the interpretation of the moon’s phases is that, with the New Moon, a new cycle begins. The waxing moon and Full Moon signify reaching fulfillment. During the waning moon, it’s an opportunity to recognize and shed erroneous blunders, evil influences, lunacy, folly, and disastrous illusions.

     The Moon card prompts you to listen to your inner voice and get in touch with your feelings. Work on understanding your nebulous unconscious imaginings. It’s time to examine your anxieties, fears, anger or resentment and illusions, and especially, pay attention to your intuition. 

The Star

Look to the stars

When you look up to the stars on a dark night what do you wonder about the universe? Twinkling lights cover the entire heavens. Planets orbit in gigantic galaxies of whirling gas clouds among masses of stars. Black holes suck up matter. Obviously, we are looking at a vast cosmos far surpassing our comprehension. This brings up a cosmic question: Why is there a Star card in the Tarot? It must be there to motivate us to think beyond our own small world; to contemplate the origin of life and the source of our becoming.

The Star card of Tarot of Cosmic Consciousness signifies the experience of the flow of Cosmic Energy in the healing waters of cleansing and purification from a never-ending Cosmic Source. In the painting, this Life-force is symbolized by a prismatic seven-pointed star from which a red river flows. It is pouring forth incandescent gold sparks of Cosmic Energy, a sign of rejuvenation in our lives and a promise of progress toward spiritual insight and rebirth. Gold dots in the red river appear to flow in an orderly pattern comparable to “Prana” in Eastern yogic practices. In Chinese Medicine, it is “Chi.” An acupuncture treatment stimulates the meridians of Chi in order to bring healing to our cells. The “Mother” (wife of Sri Aurobindo) claims to have somehow seen the sparks or dots in her mind’s eye as, “…a powdering of warm gold. I can’t say bright or dark; it wasn’t luminous either; a multitude of tiny gold dots…” Her statement was recorded in “The Mind of the Cells” by her assistant, Satprem, (Institute of Evolutionary Research, 1982, p. 89)

In Arthur E. Waite’s “The Pictorial Key to the Tarot” (University Books, 1910, 1959 p. 136) the artist Pamela Colman Smith, has depicted a woman pouring water from two vases, one into a pool and the other on the earth. Waite describes the woman as “the Great Mother” pouring the “…Water of Life from two great ewers irrigating sea and land.” In a biblical context, “…the river of water of life, bright as crystal…” is mentioned in Rev.22:1.

The heptagram star has been considered a symbol of the Eternal, containing the seven attributes of the Divine, all reflecting one another. To make a drawing of a heptagon that will yield a seven-pointed star, it cannot be exact because the angle needed to mark it on a 360° circle is a numeral of infinity (51° 428571….). In Tarot of Cosmic Consciousness, The Star card has been painted with the 7 colors of the rainbow – red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo and purple: a promise of hope for the future. Madeline Montalban states in “The Prediction Book of the Tarot,” (Blanford Press, 1983, p. 115) “The Star is hope; it tops the good fairy’s wand…hope signifies regeneration.”

The Tower

The Tower: Wake up!

Wham! A bolt of lightning strikes “The Tower” from out of the blue. Shock! Dismay! Are you feeling shattered and burnt out? Are you fleeing from chaos and disaster? A lot has been written lately about the “The Tower” card of Tarot, especially in the aftermath of the 9/11 collapse of the twin towers in New York City. The commentaries range from endless discussions in popular magazines, newspapers and blogs, to rants of biblical proportions (see Revelation 9:11). In Tarot, the meaning of The Tower differs from what we think about concerning the watchtowers erected on ancient city walls. However, we note that the belief of the populous was—if the watchtower fell during an attack or siege—it signified the doom of the city.

The traditional Tarot view of The Tower is considered an allegory, symbolic of collapse of the social order. In early Tarot cards, lightning strikes the tower knocking off a crown. Two people are seen falling from the top—usually interpreted metaphorically as the plunge from a build up of self-aggrandizement. This refers to someone who has succumbed to “the love of money.” It typifies greed and corruption as seen in promoting rampant selfish capitalism and the tyranny of the “will to power.” In a reading, it can mean its time for a necessary break-up of “towering defenses,” and a willingness to give up old habits. It’s an impulsion to restructure oneself. It’s about liberation from delusions, ignorance, and materialistic thinking. In some interpretations, the thunderbolt that topples the crown is seen as a symbol of celestial power. A lightning flash reveals sudden spiritual insight and awareness. “The tower of pride is here destroyed by the lightning bolt of God’s judgment,” says Joseph Campbell in “Tarot Revelations,” (with Richard Roberts, Vernal Equinox Press, 1982). In mythology, Jupiter throws thunderbolts, which are an emblem of his sovereignty and power.

In Tarot of Cosmic Consciousness, the background of The Tower card appears red, indicating violence as bands of lightning streak through a shower of sparks. The crown is falling off a broken brick structure, much like we see it in older decks. What is the significance of the “crown”? It’s a mighty emblem of sovereignty that takes a fall when a false will to power and puffed up egos are exposed.


Johannes Dorflinger portrays “The Devil” and “The Tower” together in his sculptures at Constance, Germany, as mentioned in the previous blog. There, a sign describes the juxtaposition of the two as: “A tenuous balance between aggressive and defensive impulses…” The significance of the falling people represents those who are experiencing a sudden flash of insight about the Higher Self as disaster strikes. Something has to change in a hurry.

J.E. Cirlot says that “…liberation rather than ruin is the esoteric meaning of this key,” in “A Dictionary of Symbols,” (Philosophical Library, 1962 p.75).

An arrogant and powerful king, Nimrod, was building a tower to reach the heavens in the biblical allegory of the “Tower of Babel.” But the workers, who originally spoke a common language, couldn’t understand each other’s speech anymore so the work stopped and the tower collapsed. The implication was that Nimrod’s vanity brought about its downfall. This was his punishment for his arrogance and pride. Only the “Book of the Jubilees” from the Dead Sea Scrolls mentions the actual destruction of the tower.

Cynthia Giles in “Tarot: History, Mystery and Lore,” (Fireside, 1994, p. 176) describes a Surrealist art exhibition held in Paris, 1947, where the Major Arcana, including The Tower, were exhibited as a stairway made of book ends. The Tower was referred to as “The God House” whose reference book was Goethe’s “Faust.The artists were comparing the symbols of Tarot to certain books that seemed to exemplify the themes of the Major Arcana.

In a reading, when you get The Tower card, its time to ask yourself: what is breaking up in your life? How can you restructure and improve your environment? Gail Fairfield in “Choice Centered Tarot” (Red Wheel-Weiser, 1984) says: “The flash of enlightenment is like the lightning hitting the tower. It starts off a whole chain reaction.”

The Devil

The Devil: Good versus Evil

It’s time to deal with the “nitty gritty” source of some of the world’s most complex problems. What better place to start a deeper examination then with The Devil,” ‘Da’ evil,’ in the Tarot. In the discussion of what is good and what is evil; keep in mind that the difference may not seem so black and white—we might see a lot of gray in between. The problem of defining evil begins with finding someone or something to blame for mankind’s seemingly innate destructive tendencies. So let’s blame the devil. Heh, heh! “The devil made me do it” The devil has been the personification for evil deeds since early civilization. In ancient times, a goat (hence, scapegoat) was loaded up with the evils of society and sent away into the desert, which may be why some Tarot decks depict the devil with a goat’s head. In ancient Middle Eastern religions such as Zoroastrianism, the evil Ahriman, god of darkness, chaos, and destruction, was the antithesis of Ahura Mazda, the good sun god—god of light. And devils inhabited certain evil-doers in the stories of the Old Testament. In the Gospel of John, the Pharisees argued with Jesus about who was inhabited by a devil, written 2,000 years ago. After Roman rule and Christianization during Constantine’s reign, the devil was characterized as the pagan god, Pan, later seen with horns and a tail in some Renaissance paintings.

In Tarot of Cosmic Consciousness, The Devil card is painted as a symbolic whirling black hole that sucks out the world’s evils and disperses them into space. It is a warning not to “get sucked in” to doing wrongful and harmful things that lead to disaster and one’s “undoing.”


Currently, on the internet, you can read all about evil in “The History of the Devil and the Idea of Evil,” by Paul Carus; placed there by J. B. Hare. (First published in 1900) Hare writes, “At that point in history it seemed apparent that evil would soon be eliminated by the onrushing forces of rationalism and modernism. The devil has been reduced to a literary character….” Then in hindsight, he continues, “However, the 20th century brought total war; genocide; nuclear, biological and chemical weapons; mind-control; double-speak; ecological destruction; and finally, indiscriminate mass terror.” Wow! What happened to the good?


“The evil that men do lives after them—the good is oft interred with their bones,” as Shakespeare says in Julius Caesar.


On a recent trip to Germany, in Konstanz, I was awed by the 22 abstract Tarot sculptures of the Major Arcana by Johannes Dörflinger. He portrayed The Devil as a simple powerful arrow bending The Tower next to it. His commissioned geometric work replaced an old wire fence that divided Germany from Switzerland. His interpretation of The Devil and The Tower he described as “A tenuous balance between aggressive and defensive impulses, a momentary standstill in an incessant struggle.”


So, what about the good? In Plato’s metaphysical concept of Forms, he proposed the Good (capital “G”) as a cosmological model: as the only reality; eternal and changeless. The Good, in his view, was harmony and unity as the first principle of everything, including intelligence and truth. Evil was some kind of temporary misinterpretation of the good, a counterfeit. For us, today, to solve the problem of evil, we can take action by discerning and separating the truth from lies; the symbolic engagement of evil by the Swords in Tarot.


Caitlin Matthews in her book, “The Arthurian Tarot Course” (Thorsons, 1993), mentions the “Dolorous Blow.” She says, “The land becomes overrun with opportunist foes who waste remaining resources and terrorize the weak. The kingdom becomes anarchistic as the structure of society breaks down” (p. 38). She points out that the “Wasteland” occurs when mankind is dominated by self-interest, greed, self-righteousness and hubris, neglecting and/or abusing the land. This hurts the lives and circumstances of other people and leads to oppression, doubt, fear, delusions, bondage, and destruction. An imbalance of the order of nature sets in that is hard to redeem.


How do we find the good in our lives? “Evil must not be avoided but rather, transformed,” says Sheldon Kopp, in “The Hanged Man” (Science and Religion Books, 1974, P. 223). We transform darkness by seeking the light in our own lives. Positive change for good involves an evolution in our consciousness. When we purposely put our energies into expressing compassion for others, we work on establishing an inner peace and non-violent solutions to oppressive situations. In this way, we find balance and forgiveness in our love for one another through acts of graciousness, kindness, and helpfulness. When we take responsibility for the world we have created, we must first transform things gone wrong within ourselves in order to see change in the outer world. Then we can find room for mercy and the hope that comes with redemption.


When you get The Devil card in a reading, stop and sense how you are feeling about everything. What has caused a turn for the worse in your life? If your answer is yes, are you filled with anger, dread, hatred, or revenge, and thinking of doing “bad things” to people? Or, on the other hand, is someone directing their antagonism at you? Let the “goat,” or the “black hole,” carry away your grievances and anger by rooting out the truth of the matter. Think about how you can turn this gloom around for good and, working toward being the best you can be. Find joy in “doing good” and benefiting others.

Temperance

The alchemy of mixing, blending, cooking


Hints of symbolic alchemical processes are visible in the Temperance card of Tarot of Cosmic Consciousness. A luminous figure appears to be “cooking” in a kind of transparent retort. Here the symbols of alchemy are not about making gold, but of distilling the spiritual “Gold” of ourselves—the Golden Elixir of Life. 

Two historical concepts are connected to alchemy: first, we’ve heard of the centuries-old early attempts to transmute base metals into gold using combinations of mercury, sulphur and salt. It seems that, over time, these medieval experiments have evolved into modern chemistry and metallurgy. Today, in an interesting side-note, mercury is used to separate gold from rock, a process that is endangering small-scale miners who inhale the toxic vapors, and is poisoning the environment. (See the National Geographic, “The Price of Gold,” January 2009.)

The other concept follows a more spiritual and psychological approach to alchemical symbols, as explored by Carl Jung and Maria von Franz, which is about achieving an inner spiritual transformation of the self. We are working on perfecting ourselves on the path to cosmic selfhood. “…alchemy is really a work one has to do on one’s own personality and is not just something one does by mixing things in the retort.” (Maria von Franz, Alchemical Active Imagination (Spring Publications, 1979).

What are we mixing, blending and cooking in ourselves throughout a lifetime? We are trying to understand ourselves spiritually and psychologically by evaluating our experiences and actions: our childhood, our relationships, our visions and dreams, in order to be the best that we can be. The key words for Temperance are: doing everything in thoughtful moderation and avoiding extremist views and attitudes. It’s going down the middle road and being careful about what you “cook up.” In earlier decks, Temperance is illustrated with an angel pouring a liquid equally from two vases. Some Tarot writers interpret this as combing the elements of the four suits of Tarot: Wands-motivation; Cups-emotion; Swords-intellect; and Pentacles-manifestation. There is a tone of balance and reconciliation in this card related to the Justice card. It applies to mediators, reconcilers and negotiators in finding solutions to conflicting situations. A “pay it forward” touch is also implied, of sharing one’s bounty, and overcoming selfish motives.


Adam McLean writes extensively on all phases of alchemy on his website. He says, “The tradition of interior development in alchemy is pursued by mirroring the transformations and processes of alchemy with our Soul…any symbol held in our consciousness is manifested as an electro-chemical plexus in the neuron net of our brain.” (“The Alchemical Vessel as a Symbol of the Soul”) The actions of calcination, dissolution, separation, incineration and fermentation, used to describe the alchemical process, are symbolic of the work we are doing to transform ourselves. At times we have been “turned to stone,” “dissolved in tears;” and “distanced ourselves.” We have “jumped from the frying pan into the fire, and” have been “frozen in fear,” all the while having been “steeped in misery.” Sound familiar?

Manly Hall quotes an old German alchemist's prayer in The Secret Teachings of All Ages (Philosophical Research Society, 1962) “…rising through His assistance out of the dust and ashes and changing into spiritual body of rainbow colors like unto the transparent, crystal-like paradisiacal gold…that my own nature may be redeemed and purified before me in these glasses and bottles.”

We see the darker side of the outgrowth of alchemy on a massive scale in the modern day retort for the transmutation of matter—the nuclear reactor—in nuclear fission, which has resulted in “weapons of mass destruction,” atomic bombs, and nuclear warheads. Alchemists may have occasionally blown up themselves and their equipment, but when we look at the results of the reactor meltdowns at Three Mile Island, Chernobyl and, currently, Fukashima, we must seriously reconsider our motivation for fiddling with such radioactive materials, and stick to working on bettering ourselves and our relationships to the nations of the world.

When Temperance comes up in a reading it’s time to put the brakes on, stay cool, and realistically assess what you are doing, and what you are saying; tempering yourself with wisdom and restraint; and most of all, avoiding extremes.

Death

The End…or is it?

Seeing the Death card in Tarot immediately starts a controversy. Horrific images of death and dying come to mind. In certain older Tarot decks, the Grim Reaper swipes away at people with a scythe, and some cards even employ the Biblical image of death riding a pale horse. (Rev. 6:7) Scary “doom and gloom” topics may come up in conversation during a reading when you get this card. But this is just the obvious. What is the underlying meaning?

Let’s do the doom and gloom part first and get that over with in order to come to grips with the veracity of dying. “Black Death” a plague of infected fleas killed nearly half of Europe’s population (also in China and the Middle East) in the 1400’s. But that wasn’t the end of the world. The artist, Guyot Marchant’s wood engravings of the Danse Macabre done in 1485 may have been some influence for the card’s imagery. This subject was also painted in several European Cathedrals—St. Anna’s in Fussen, Germany, for example. It was painted anonymously after the plague in 1590. In it, all social classes were portrayed dancing with the Grim Reaper.

Contemplate this: over 60 million people were killed in World War II in the 1940’s. The atomic bombs dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki in 1945 killed at least 1 million people then, and in the aftermath. The “Nazi death cults” (a term used by Susan Griffin, author of Woman in Nature and Made from This Earth) murdered somewhere from 11 million to 17 million people in their ghastly death camps and in the fields. The implications of the atrocities of the 20th century are horrendous and, this doesn’t include the Korean War, the Vietnam War or the Iraq War. That’s the worst sense of meaning in the Death card, not to mention the deaths every year from various diseases and starvation around the world.

Now that we are sufficiently overwhelmed and depressed, let’s look at the end of the world predictions for 2012. The late Jose Arguelles popularized the enigma of “The End” indicated by the “long count” of the Mayan Calendar in his book, The Maya Factor (Bear & Company, 1987). This date is debatable because it’s impossible to assert the actual starting date of the long count. Anthony Aveni, in an article in Archaeology Magazine (Nov/Dec 2009) says that the Mayans made no predictions, although the Dresden Codex contains a painting of a flood. He states that, “When the Maya odometer turns over, after 13 baktuns (5,125.37 years), the world begins anew.” (p.33) It marks the end of an era and the beginning of a new one that will be starting over again. In plowing through a lot of imaginative babble, I found that Arguelles did believe a new era would follow: “For it is through the open portals of the heart that the future returns in all of its radiance.”

Ah, that’s the key to the Death card. It signifies getting rid of the old in order to begin again, perhaps on another level. It doesn’t necessarily mean a literal death. We know there is nothing permanent about our lives. (At least that’s what Buddhists believe.) Instead, this card means it’s a time for renewal and a chance to make a complete break, to totally change the direction you are going. The positive aspect of this is to stop resisting change and to let go of old habits and convenient ruts; to change your perspective on life, and to evaluate what has gone wrong and what has been right, and begin again with new verve and intention.

The Death card in Tarot of Cosmic Consciousness represents celestial travelers going through a portal into the unknown. It’s the end of the old and the start of the new. The oval flying forms might represent for some—your soul, or spirit—moving on to another level of Cosmic Consciousness.

This brings up the concept of immortality. There are some who claim we are living in “The End Times,” and that certain people will be saved while others won’t. When you look at the history of the peoples of the world, including all past wars, earthquakes and volcanoes, some people have always been living on the edge of the end times. Think about this: If we are part of the infinite Mind of the Universe, then there is no death.