The Cosmic Tarot Read online

  The Empress card emphasizes the gift of life. A bird in the foreground clasps a berry in its beak; the earth feeds her children, winged, finned, and legged. The fertility of the earth is illustrated by the globe that floats amidst ripe stalks of grain and wild flowers. The mountains in the background recall the favored meditation grounds of sages. Mountains are the earth laid bare.

  The Human Community - The Empress is the ecosystem of civilization: farmlands, fishing and hunting grounds, mines, timberland, parks, and gardens—all natural resources used by humans. Both the beauty and the perils of cultivation and husbandry are implicit in the Empress. She is exquisite gardens and beloved animal companions, as well as strip-mined mountainsides and smoggy skies.

  Historically, all over the world, nature has been seen as a force to be subjugated, dominated, exploited. (The parallel with the roles of men and women is obvious.) For example, the creator in the Hebrew book of Genesis commanded man to subdue the earth and dominate its life.

  The ecology movement offers a different point of view. A stewardship role obliges humankind to protect earth's resources and to use them only if they are able to be preserved and/or regenerated. The concept is workable, and probably most realistic at this point in time. Stewardship does not relinquish the paternalistic idea of human rulership over nature, but at least the power exerted is meant to be benevolent, rather than greedy, destructive, or negligent.

  Humankind must arrive at an agreement with nature. She is not "other," outside of ourselves. Nature is humanity, and conflict with her is suicide. The Empress personifies the vital interdependence of humankind and nature.

  The Individual - The Empress is our mother—real or idealized. She may be literally a mother, or she may be a motherly person, male or female. She believes in her progeny, no matter if the whole world is opposed, and she will always be supportive and encouraging, ready to lend a hand. With loyalty that borders on ferocity, she guards her own. The Empress can help us grow, or she can stunt us with overprotectiveness: smothering rather than mothering.

  A tendency to be materialistic can make the Empress exploitative. She indicates wealth, especially wealth gained directly from natural resources.

  The Empress loves nature, generally not in rugged majesty but as made comfortable for human activities: gardening, easy hiking trails, parks, horse riding, zoos, fishing, bird watching, crafts using natural objects, camping in spring and fall, recreational beaches, and so on. She is fond of food and loves to cook for others. Her home is the gathering place for family, whose members may be her friends as well as her children and relatives. The Empress can indicate an unexpected pregnancy or, conversely, a planned pregnancy.

  Meanings - Feminine wisdom. Feminine power. Fruitfulness. Sensuality. Beauty. Culture. Abundance. Accomplishment. Mother. Wife. Fertility. Feminine influence. Ability to motivate others. Practicality. Boredom. Lethargy. Temptation through earthly things. Gluttony.

  IV The Emperor

  The Emperor is enthroned, the symbols of his power before him. The scepter is the rod of chastisement whereby rebellion is quelled; the orb signifies the universal extent of the Emperor's dominion. In the background is a lush, walled garden. The Emperor's love and care flowers the earth. Just beyond the wall are the sands of the desert. The displeasure of the ruler is the waste of war and neglect. Pyramids, the giant tombs of the pharaohs, rise from the desert.

  The throne of the Emperor is the seat of power. Two rams' heads surmount it, symbolizing the astrological sign of Aries, head of the zodiac. The starry night sky edges the chair.

  The Cosmos - Whereas the Magician is the creative Mind, the Emperor is the sustaining Mind. Husband to Nature the Empress, he and she are interdependent, unable to exist without each other. The Empress is the wind and the phenomena, such as hot and cold, moisture and dryness, that make the wind blow. The Emperor is neither cause nor result: he is what unites the result and its causal phenomena. The Emperor is natural law.

  The Human Community - The Empress is the natural infrastructure of society; the Emperor is the rules by which resources are used and distributed: the power structure and the status quo. He may symbolize a ruler elected or self-appointed, a government, or the collective will of a people, especially in nationalistic terms.

  The Emperor's raised eyes indicate ambition: to improve the condition of his subjects, to create a more equitable system of government, or to extort more wealth from his subjects and to force his rule on peoples and lands beyond his proper realm. In essence, the Emperor is authority and the determination to mould the world in accordance to the will.

  The Emperor signifies government buildings, such as the United States Capitol and the English Houses of Parliament, and national monuments and memorials. The urge to build, to govern, to colonize, to incorporate, to act out philosophies of government are in Emperor's realm. Danger may come in crossing his dynamic, imperialistic ambition.

  The Individual - The parent, the dictator, the schoolteacher, the elected official are the Emperor. Self-discipline and self-imposed rules are also the Emperor.

  Whether the Emperor is an internal or external figure, he can be a source of great strength and resourcefulness. He is the means to carry out ideas and plans. He can be a ruthless master, though, the tyrannical parent who verbally or physically beats the self-esteem out of his children, or he can be the parent within, the overweening superego that represses trust, spontaneity, sensuality, and creativity.

  The Emperor may indicate a dynamic, take-charge person, one who can galvanize an apathetic group into becoming an active force. His strength of character can lead to a rather harsh or cynical attitude toward those who do not live up to his high principles.

  Meanings - Shaping the material world. Rulership. Will. Severity. Stability. Governmental structure. Worldly power and its danger. Force. Confidence. Discipline. Strength of character. Wealth. Authority. War-making tendencies. Father. Husband. Patriarchal figure. Weakness of character. Pettiness. Abuse of power. Corruption. Imperialism.

  V The Hierophant

  A religious leader stands in a temple, his followers at his side. His crown is faced with the sun; one horn of the crescent moon is visible. In his right hand he holds a card that is pierced by the light ray of his vision. In his left hand is another card; it is from the Cosmic Tarot deck, but only the back can be seen. A dove flying among the pillars of the church is symbolic of the spirit. The light that bends around the Hierophant is generated by an ankh, Egyptian symbol of life. Two green banners that edge the image symbolize the presence of nature, even in the most refined temples. The cosmos is visible through the openings of the stone.

  The Cosmos - Some people see in the starry night constellations; some see a chaos of lights. A scientist takes fossils as proof of evolution on earth; a fundamentalist Christian may consider those same fossils to be snares put down by the devil in order to delude humankind into discounting the Genesis account of creation. Each believer considers his or her own belief system to be the absolute truth.

  The Hierophant is a paradox of differing points of views: pattern or chaos; divine law or random circumstances; evolution or creation. He does not cause anything to happen; he is not creative. One could say he is a figment of the mind: the cosmos as we see it. As ordinary mortals, we are too conditioned to understand the true nature of things, and we cannot create anything new. We can only speculate, and re-form the materials we have in our realm.

  The Human Community - The male followers of the Hierophant are dressed in church clothes, one in an outfit that resembles a cardinal's gown and cap, except that it is blue, and the other in black gown and white collar. They represent the conventional side of religion: dogma, ethics, hierarchy, scripture, as well as the speculations of theology and cosmology.

  The women are more unorthodox. Their gold hoop earrings give them a gypsy flavor. The white headcovering worn by the foremost woman recalls the veils worn in church by Roman Catholic women up into the sixties, but now abandoned
by most Western women. The starry headdress decorated with a feather, worn by the other woman, hints at the imagination's flight in the cosmos.

  The women are the unconventional side of religion: visions, practices abandoned or banned by religious authorities, creation of personal rituals, intense and single-minded devotion, the blending of indigenous and colonial religions.

  Established religion has its place. Not everyone can be a mystic, a hermit, or a leader. Some degree of stability is beneficial for most people, and many appreciate the guidance of tradition and dogma. Religions such as Roman Catholicism and Tibetan Buddhism value lineages of sages (such as the pope and the Dalai Lama), who confer on their followers knowledge and sacramental practices.

  The Hierophant as church ideally protects solitary travelers as well as guiding those who wish to follow a more populated road. He can provide the ground for spiritual practice, as well as a guide to ethical behavior. In that respect, the Hierophant symbolizes the prevalent morality of a social group.

  The Hierophant can also drop the seeds for neurotic guilt, intolerance, and an unhealthy suppression of natural appetites and instincts. Faith can be mindless conformity, or it can be an experience that bypasses intellectualization and selfish calculation to come truly from the heart. Church buildings, meditation centers, mosques, temples—the physical structures of religions—are indicated by the Hierophant.

  The Individual - The Hierophant is a priest, preacher, teacher, friend, or group of kindred spirits who connects with us in prayer and meditation, or in philosophical or ethical quests.

  He is likely to be a member of a conventional religion or faculty at an academic institution. His use of ritual is always elegant and effective, even if the ritual consists only in taking a certain posture to pray, such as kneeling or sitting cross-legged. One of the Hierophant's more extraordinary qualities is the ability to communicate directly with individuals, even while teaching a large group.

  Possibly the Hierophant is an opportunist who uses his status to draw material and sexual favors from his students. He may relish the power to save or damn those who fall under his spell or the spell of the doctrine he preaches.

  A true spiritual teacher, male or female, is a friend. As a friend, he accepts us as we are, not as robotlike, brainwashed cultists. An authentic teacher discourages blind faith and dumb compliance. Trust is not a demand, but rather a natural, growing part of the relationship. Once a metaphysical bond is established between teacher and student, it is never broken. The teacher will never give up on the student; the student will never lose the teacher, even in death.

  We can see the Hierophant as one who leads us on the path to spiritual realization, or as the path itself.

  Meanings - Intellectual leadership. Initiation. Secret knowledge. Religion. Churches, mosques, temples, meditation centers. Humility. Ritualism. Mercy. Compassion. Captivity to one's own ideas. Conformity. Rigid conservatism. A religious or spiritual leader. False guru. Hypocrisy. Hierarchy. Disbelief. Disillusionment. Knowledge that is not backed by experience.

  VI The Lovers

  A man and a woman kiss each other tenderly. Stars glimmer in their hair. The crown on the man's shirt shows that he feels like a king. The land around is vibrant with life; the water is a pool of love. Two birds are highlighted with a golden disk: love can give us wings. Lilies and red tulips grow near. A six-pointed star framing a yin-yang symbol is generated from the kiss.

  The Cosmos - The universe as perceived by the human mind comes forth from the interplay of opposites: male and female, light and dark, cold and hot, good and evil. Love unites opposites: in marriage, in reconciliation and forgiveness, in creation. The yin-yang symbol, with its round shape and the curved border between light and dark, shows the dynamic energy that ignites and unites opposites in the dance of the cosmos.

  The Human Community - All aspects of human society fluctuate over time. Technological innovation and conservation; communism and capitalism; conservatism and progressiveness; ethnocentricity and pluralism; hedonism and temperance are only a few of the opposing forces that flicker on and off, election by election, generation by generation.

  The yin-yang sign shows that an opposing quality is inherent in each element: a dot of light in dark, a dot of dark in light.

  The Lovers card can be seen as the harmonious society in which all differences are resolved and all opposites reconciled. More realistically, the Lovers is society as we know it, especially in places where differing points of view can be expressed freely—and must be accommodated. Like marriage, it has its ups and downs.

  The Lovers can represent a time period in which a nation or group of people plunges into a crucible of change, a time in which the people will stand united or fall divided. It can also signify a treaty, alliance, or agreement between nations.

  The Individual - The image of the Lovers plays a role in all human life, whatever our lifestyle or orientation. It can torment us with the reminder of unrequited love, widowhood, or loneliness. It can inspire devotion in a lover, a husband or a wife, or in a celibate who yearns to unite with the divine. The urge for a partner, a mate, is often expressed as a wish for completion. A spouse is called "the other half," implying that wholeness is in the couple, not in each individual.

  By itself, each element in a dualistic formula is incomplete. The Emperor is a cold, tyrannical father without the softening influence of the Empress; the Empress is an overindulgent mother without the discipline of the Emperor.

  We are often attracted to those who have traits we feel are lacking in ourselves. A mature love relationship, between friends or lovers, is one in which the partners are able to share each other's qualities, without expecting the relationship to solve all problems and fulfill every need.

  The Lovers card is not a romantic fantasy. It is the readiness to love and be loved. It can indicate a lovable and loving person—the self or someone other.

  Meanings - Union. Love. Blend of opposites. Tantra. Understanding of the cosmic dance. Harmony. Discernment. Decision. Beauty. Alliance. Treaties. Trust. Deep feeling. Optimism. Conflict between sacred and profane. Temptation. Doubts. Separation. A test or trial.

  VII The Chariot

  Two horses pull a chariot in which a bearded man stands. The astrological symbol of Cancer is on the warrior's belt. A quiver of arrows and a bow are behind him. In the background is a castle.

  The Cosmos - Whereas the Lovers showed union or at least cohabitation of cohabitation of opposites, the Chariot shows a dynamic and tenuous duality. The horses, of opposite colors, do not blend as do the parts of the yin-yang symbol. They are bound, not united, in harness.

  Change in nature is often a result of competition. The animal or plant that wins access to nutrition, habitat, and sexual partners will reproduce in the greatest numbers. Mutations that gain an edge in the survival game will end up as the norm, to be displaced by more change.

  The Chariot is the force of change called evolution. It occurs over centuries or over days, step by inexorable step. Like natural evolution, the Chariot's path is both constructive and destructive. Some will survive; others will go extinct. The chariot driver may be headed toward a more viable situation, or he may take a wrong turn and dash into oblivion.

  The Human Community - Society, like the natural world, evolves under stress. Tensions among factions, classes, generations, and ethnic groups become too strong to be ignored or resolved. Revolutions, formations of new countries, decolonization, shifts of power right or left, as well as new suffrage laws, replacement of human labor by technology, and civil rights reforms are examples of social evolution.

  The Chariot is unstoppable on its path. Social change can bring a feeling that, for better or worse, there is no turning back. Like changes in the natural ecosystem, every social change has reverberations that reach beyond the obvious.

  The warrior driver of the Chariot is on a rough ride, and he must retain absolute control of the horses. Much can be accomplished through the harnessin
g of powers that oppose each other; confrontation can lead to constructive change. However, should the horses become implacable rivals, disaster will result.

  In human society, this is the win–lose, injury–retaliation mentality, with one side up and the other down—until the next upheaval—in a vicious cycle of power-grabbing that escalates into the calamity of war.

  The image on the Chariot card can be seen as a tyrant (the driver) exercising power over his subjects (the horses). The most effective social motivation, though, comes from the people themselves. Ideally, the Chariot card is an integral image of a progressive society whose people are both driver and horses, in control and willing to work together for everyone's benefit.

  The Individual - The charioteer within a chariot is like the crab—symbol of Cancer—who rides within a shell. Armor, protection, security, and home are important to the person represented by the Chariot card. By extension, he has a keen sense of privacy, emotionally and physically.

  The Chariot points to someone who is a survivor. Stick with this person during a shortage; his need for security, coupled with an awareness of the laws of supply and demand, means that he'll always have a stash to share. His relationships are governed by the same principles. He is most giving and most clinging, playing generosity against possessiveness.

  The horses are black and white, indicating the interplay of physical and mental forces. Everyone faces, in important or trivial ways, what seems to be a battle between body and mind. Diets and alarm clocks are a few of the battlegrounds. Diseases such as arthritis, asthma, hypertension, digestive ailments, and even coronary disease, as well as mental conditions such as excessive guilt or scrupulousness, phobias, and compulsions are damage records of the war within ourselves.