A journey with the tarot

[Bryn]

W O R L D​

Achieving balance, realizing goals and prospering, attainment
of the heart's desire, fulfillment, peace of mind.


This is from Shadowscapes Tarot by Stephanie Pui-Mun. This deck will be available by June 2010. You can see all of her cards on Stephanie Pui-Mun Law - Shadowscapes Tarot - Fantasy Art. They are all gorgeous!

Here's the Fool that she did. Awesome!

F O O L
It begins with a whispered voice. Serpentine, the song threads through her days and her thoughts, beckoning. Come...come...come.... "Where?" she asks, curious, but there is no response.

She ignores the summons, until one day that siren song unexpectedly explodes and fills her to the brim. Its pulse is undeniable. "Where?" she asks again, and this time the steady beat of her heart is the response.

The Fool has come a long way, traveled from far beyond to come to this pinnacle that rises up upon the edge of the world; and yet her journey is just about to begin. She senses this with instinctive perceptions as she rises up upon her toes, caught up in the breathless embrace of the wind in the moment before the plunge. Her heart pounds and flutters in her chest with the force of a hundred beating wings struggling to break free of the cage of her being; until she feels she must be sprouting wings from her shoulders to glide forth from that place, transformed.

Wait! Don't! cries a thin trailing voice from within. Caution! Fear! it rails.

Hold back!

Unheeding, she steps forward, and....

 

[Bryn]

H I G H P R I E S T E S S

The High Priestess turns her face to the sky. She basks in the radiance the stars cast upon her upturned cheeks. She soaks in that tremulous incandescent light, feeling it glow within her mind, opening corridors and dancing into filigree patterns.

The stars chant:

we were here when the mountains were young
and the sea was only a dream
we've seen the hills bloom with countless millions of seasons
we've watched the clouds paint their visions
in a slow language across the centuries
let us speak


At the light brush of a moth's wing across her palm, she turns her gaze to it.

"Take this as a present to your mistress," she says. She plucks the filigree orb of light from the air and holds it out to the emissary of the Moth Queen. "I know my sister appreciates tales. Tell her that this holds the stories of the stars."

The little orb pulses with a fiery heartbeat, and the moth flutters as if to acknowledge. Meaning: Wisdom, knowledge, learning, intuition, purity, virtue. The Owl is a keeper of knowledge, and he bears a key to unlock mysteries. The pomegranate is an icon of Persephone, who tasted the seeds and thus tied herself to Hades -- it is a fruit of fertility and death; and the moons embroidered upon her garments wax and wane. The new crescent, and gibbous moon that create the full cycle, embraced in one.

Stephanie Pui-Mun Law - Shadowscapes Tarot - Fantasy Art

by Stephanie Pui-Mun Law, 2004-2009.

 

[Bryn]

e-pipeman, I like your poems too. this is a fun thread.

Bryn, it's certainly not for amateurs trying to read the cards, not that I am a professional. I have seen books that you can look up the meaning real quick. "The secrets of the Tarrot" take some thought and time to TRY to understand. Do you have any others that maybe be of interest to others.

Barbara Walker's "The Secrets of the Tarot" is great for history on tarot and yes I agree it's too deep for looking up the meaning. The best book to use for looking up is:

TAROT, Plain and Simple
by Anthony Louis

His book is well written and very clear. You can buy it from Amazon.com for 11.53 new. From other sellers...new & used from $2.95. His book has very good reviews by 49 customers and rated 5 stars. I copied one of his customers' comment:

By A Customer

I'm serious. This book is incredible. I have bought a ton of books on tarot that claimed to be for beginers and plain and simple. They ALWAYS left me confused. But not this one. It is really plain, I mean really easy to understand. I love the section on the use of numerology and astrology in the book as well. Truely opened my eyes, and a lot of the time I could be heard stting in the corner reading it going,"Oh, okkkk now I understand." I must say a million praises to the author for the clarity and ease in which in this book reads. If you a beginer- GET THIS BOOK AND SAVE YOURSELF A WHOLE LOT OF MONEY AND TIME.

 

[bigeyes]

Tarot Plain and Simple is great.

There are some great symbolism files online if you google 'tarot symbolism' that will help a lot, too. Things like buildings, birds, bodies of water and so on have specific meanings and it helps to have it all in one place while you're learning.

 

[Kate]

The Fool is the negative issuing into manifestation; the Universe [The World] is that manifestation, its purpose accomplished, ready to return.

The World is the body of reality, the temple of spirit.

YouTube - Size Of The Universe


YouTube - Foetus


YouTube - Monty python - universe song

 

[Kate]

Oops, I forgot to post the lyrics of the Monty Python song:

Just remember that you're standing on a planet that's evolving
And revolving at nine hundred miles an hour,
That's orbiting at nineteen miles a second, so it's reckoned,
A sun that is the source of all our power.
The sun and you and me and all the stars that we can see
Are moving at a million miles a day
In an outer spiral arm, at forty thousand miles an hour,
Of the galaxy we call the 'Milky Way'.
Our galaxy itself contains a hundred billion stars.
It's a hundred thousand light years side to side.
It bulges in the middle, sixteen thousand light years thick,
But out by us, it's just three thousand light years wide.
We're thirty thousand light years from galactic central point.
We go 'round every two hundred million years,
And our galaxy is only one of millions of billions
In this amazing and expanding universe.

The universe itself keeps on expanding and expanding
In all of the directions it can whizz
As fast as it can go, at the speed of light, you know,
Twelve million miles a minute, and that's the fastest speed there is.
So remember, when you're feeling very small and insecure,
How amazingly unlikely is your birth,
And pray that there's intelligent life somewhere up in space,
'Cause there's bugger all down here on Earth.

 

[Kate]

YouTube - Across The Universe Movie Video Beatles Hubble Images

Across The Universe - The Beatles


Words are flying out like
endless rain into a paper cup
They slither while they pass
They slip away across the universe
Pools of sorrow waves of joy
are drifting thorough my open mind
Possessing and caressing me

Jai guru deva om
Nothing's gonna change my world
Nothing's gonna change my world
Nothing's gonna change my world
Nothing's gonna change my world

Images of broken light which
dance before me like a million eyes
That call me on and on across the universe
Thoughts meander like a
restless wind inside a letter box
they tumble blindly as
they make their way across the universe

Jai guru deva om
Nothing's gonna change my world
Nothing's gonna change my world
Nothing's gonna change my world
Nothing's gonna change my world

Sounds of laughter shades of life
are ringing through my open ears
exciting and inviting me
Limitless undying love which
shines around me like a million suns
It calls me on and on across the universe

Jai guru deva om
Nothing's gonna change my world
Nothing's gonna change my world
Nothing's gonna change my world
Nothing's gonna change my world
Jai guru deva
Jai guru deva
​

What does "Jai Guru Deva, Om" mean ...?

... I give thanks (victory) (salutation) to Guru Dev (or heavenly teacher), om

Jai Guru Deva Om

 

[Kate]

... Eight different forms of energy exist to explain all known natural phenomena. These forms include (but are not limited to) kinetic, potential, thermal, gravitational, sound, light, elastic, and electromagnetic energy. The forms of energy are often named after a related force.

Any form of energy can be transformed into another form, but the total energy always remains the same. This principle, the conservation of energy, was first postulated in the early 19th century, and applies to any isolated system...

Energy - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia


.

.. Changes in energy in systems can only be accomplished by adding or subtracting energy from them, as energy is a quantity which is conserved. (Loosely, changes in the energy of systems also coincide with changes in the system's mass).

Energy in a system may be transformed so that it resides in a different state. Energy in many states may be used to do many varieties of physical work. Energy may be used in natural processes or machines, or else to provide some service to society (such as heat, light, or motion)...

Energy transformation - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

... Growth, development and metabolism are some of the central phenomena in the study of biological organisms. The role of energy is fundamental to such biological processes. The ability to harness energy from a variety of metabolic pathways is a property of all living organisms. Life is dependent on energy transformations; living organisms survive because of exchange of energy within and without...

Bioenergetics - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

 

[Kate]

Where is everybody, it looks like we're all lost. This symbol will become clearer later in the story I think (I hope ). This is one of the hardest concepts to grasp - manifestation, what it is and where it all came from.

Nature, in the broadest sense, is equivalent to the natural world, physical world or material world. "Nature" refers to the phenomena of the physical world, and also to life in general. It ranges in scale from the subatomic to the cosmic...

... The word nature is derived from the Latin word natura, or "essential qualities, innate disposition," but literally meaning "birth."

Nature - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The Virgin Universe [The World]

"We are come unto a palace of which every stone is a separate jewel, and is set with millions of moons.
"And this palace is nothing but the body of a woman, proud and delicate, and beyond imagination fair. ... It is impossible to say anything about her. ... And the hair of her head, that flows down to her feet, is the very light of God himself. Of all the glories beheld by the Seer in the Aethyrs, there is not one which is worthy to be compared with her littlest finger-nail. For although he may not partake of the Aethyr, without the ceremonial preparations, even the beholding of this Aethyr from afar is like the partaking of all the former Aethyrs.
"The Seer is lost in wonder, which is Peace.
"And the ring of the horizon above her is a company of glorious Archangels with joined hands, that stand and sing: This is the daughter of BABALON the Beautiful, that she hath borne unto the Father of All. And unto all hath she borne her.
"This is the Daughter of the King. This is the Virgin of Eternity. This is she that the Holy One hath wrested from the Giant Time, and the prize of them that have overcome Space. This is she that is set upon the Throne of Understanding. Holy, Holy, Holy is her name, not to be spoken among men. For Kore they have called her, and Malkah, and Betulah, and Persephone.
...
Thought cannot pierce the glory that defendeth her, for thought is smitten dead before her presence. Memory is blank, and in the most ancient books of Magick are neither words to conjure her, nor adorations to praise her.

... blessed be thy name for ever, unto whom the Aeons are but the pulsings of thy blood."

BABALON = the scarlet woman, the great mother. Thelemapedia: The Encyclopedia of Thelema & Magick | Babalon

The Father = the beast Chaos (666).

 

[Kate]

I've no idea of how to get a puny human brain around the idea of eternal/infinite. If anyone has any clues please share.

The essence of The World is thought to be eternal/infinite and is constantly cycling through changes - expansion and contraction/birth and death. Depending on your point of view it might not seem to change at all (like mountains seem constant on a human scale), but it can also seem to be in a state of constant flux.

Out of seemingly disorganised (chaotic?) energy somehow we exist and experience a reality. The seeds of us must be present in energy somehow for us to manifest. I don't think the laws of physics can explain life force yet, it's still not understood.

My brain is starting to get mangled, if nobody else has anything to say about The World then I'll get us out of here soon.

 

[taz3cat]

Eternity is as far inward as outward. Eternity has no past or future. Time no longer counts. Eternal/infinite is timeless, endless. It is beyond the conception of mankind. eternity is "now" only.

 

[Kate]

... eternity is "now" only.

A lot of Oriental philosophy highlights the importance of 'now'. Living in and for the moment - being conscious and present. Zen is very good for learning about that and it can really help to let go of the past or not live for a future that never arrives.

Anyone who can imagine infinity has a truly broad mind.


Just a little reality check now guys. Is anyone still interested here or should I stop? I don't mind talking a lot but some feedback on if you're interested would be good. Thanks

The main reason I'm checking is that there will be some difficult symbols coming up later and I don't want to be bothered to look into them just for the sake of hearing myself speak.

 

[taz3cat]

Kate, we an go forward when you are ready.

The world is the symbol of eternity and we, as mere mortals are only here for now. Our alloted 80 to 100 years is only a speck of dust or a second in eternity.

 

[bigeyes]

still interested, been migraine-y and had to go to the airport, so I've been AWOL

got my dates mixed up so I got to send my kid to the airport with dirty clothes in his suitcase--yay me! If my mom hadn't called we would have totally missed the flight as I was in a migraine stupor.

 

[Caesarea]

Still reading, and not rushing, tho I haven't a lot to say.



Best,

C.

 

[Kate]

That's great, there are at least four of us here so I'll carry on

Sorry you've been ill BigEyes, I hope you feel better quickly

I'll post about the next symbol soon but if anyone wants to guess here's a clue

 

[e-pipeman]

That's great, there are at least four of us here so I'll carry on

Sorry you've been ill BigEyes, I hope you feel better quickly

I'll post about the next symbol soon but if anyone wants to guess here's a clue

OK - so what's "The Rabbit" in the Marseilles pack?

 

[Kate]

... it's got to be The Devil

Ha, I've been looking at the symbol for a couple of days now trying to find clues and am feeling a bit queezy over the amount of sweetness and light I've come across. I might die of a pink overdose soon.

 

[e-pipeman]

Well, better the...

THE DEVIL

ONE

Sun that can be spread:
Sweat oozes through the skin.
Mists haze the flagging trees.
The heat-weight bends the wolf
Who eyes the flock : he can't begin.
That pointless door is hanging open wide.

TWO

Inside, what is displayed?
At first sight, a void
Which slowly fills with heat made visible.
The wolf intrudes himself, displays submission,
And flops onto the flags like someone's dog.
Spread maplike, he unfolds a timid leg.

The boiling air has drained the wolf of strength.
His nature is subsumed in ashen smog.
He lolls his tongue and rolls his eye. He pants.
He blinks. The slightest grace-note of saliva
Sloops from his jaw to puddle on the flags.
That pointless door is banging in the wind.

The sheep begin to bleat. The heat is broken.
The wolf gets up, and shivers. In his eye
There is a mote of something primitive.
He eyes the flock. What swells him is not love
But something hot that kindles in his gut.
No spread of sand will put this fire out.

THREE

Ablaze, bursts of red flame escape his mouth
And he begins to move, rolls out his tongue,
Rolls like a hill-sped rock towards the sheep
Whose eyes flash the effulgence of the wolf.
His searing breath has cauterised their cries.
That pointless door is hanging from a hinge.

Rain breaks the rhythm. Water puts out fire.
No wolf, no sheep, no pointless door, nothing.
Nothing, that eats its victims up alive.
Nothing, whose cool white flames burn with remorse.
Nothing, that enervates by being nothing.

One scale holds water, and the other, fire.

 

[Kate]

I'm a bit sad that the next card isn't The Devil E-P now that you've given us such a great primer.

You seem to have thought a lot about what they mean for you, have you spent a lot of time on tarot?