Tag: Major Arcana

Here’s What I’d Say If President Biden Asked for a Tarot Card Reading about Gaza

Recently, Rob Kall, the editor-in-chief of OpEdNews (where I’m a senior editor) asked me, “But what does one of your Tarot card readings look like?” It was a fair question. So I’ve decided to give an example of what I do according to the following procedure: (1) The querent (seeker) asks for a reading; (2) I do a spread with her questions in mind; (3) I write up the reading as fully as possible; (4) I email the reading to the querent; (5) we establish a SKYPE appointment where (6) we discuss the reading for an hour or so, (7) supplementing it whenever necessary with “clarifying cards” chosen by the querent in real time; (8) I send a final email summary of the entire interaction.

To show you what I mean, you’ll find below an example of one of my readings — this a fictitious one on behalf of President Joe Biden. It’s a spread responding to questions I imagine him asking about Gaza.

Dear Mr. President,

Thank you for your request for a Tarot reading about your dilemma in Gaza. I know you seek an answer from the cards hoping that they have access to the will of the Great Spirit that grounds all our lives. I for one am sure they do.

With that in mind, I take your question to be “What do I need to know about myself in relation to the ongoing conflict in Gaza? And what should I do?”

Seeking a response and using the World Spirit Tarot deck (based on the standard Rider-Waite-Smith deck, but much more dramatic) I did a “Celtic Cross” 10-card spread (see immediately below). Before beginning, I held the cards close to my heart. I reminded myself that the cards represent a marvelous packet of divine energy and light – and that you do as well, and so do I. Grounded in those convictions, I made the following invocation: “O, Great Spirit of Life, our Divine Mother and Father, let President Biden’s energy and light (channeled through me) meld with the energy and light of these cards so that the images chosen might reveal his current life’s situation and choices relative to Gaza. Let them show the deep unconscious source of the circumstances that concern him. Let them also reveal their more proximate and probably conscious source along with Mr. Biden’s present motivation, his immediate future, the relevant image he has of himself, the external influences on his life, his hopes and fears, and finally his destiny should he continue his present path.”

I then shuffled your questions into the cards and drew ten of them. This is the way they fell:

Before proceeding, please enlarge the spread and take a careful look at it to see what it says to you.

Now let me examine each card one-by-one. Before reading my interpretations, try to understand their meanings on your own.

  1. President Biden’s Present Situation in Gaza

What do you see in this card? It is the five of pentacles. Pentacles are concerned with material reality, with work, health, poverty, and wealth. Here I see you out in the cold.  You are isolated, and in a fetal position that contradicts your advanced age. Does your posture represent your deep desire to be born again – to change your position? In any case, you continue crouching outside a barred door with a golden handle you seem afraid to turn. The stained-glass pentacles behind you are arranged in a way that suggests spirituality and Kabbalah’s Tree of Life. It represents a summons to higher consciousness that contradicts the death and destruction so rampant in Gaza. Yet you seem to be shielding yourself from the Tree’s invitation. In fact, you’ve turned your back on it. Does the dark shadow behind the door represent your true self inviting you towards the golden horizon you fear to confront? Tell me, on which side of the barred door is freedom found? Who’s in prison here — you or the figure behind the door?

2, Challenges to the President’s Situation in Gaza

This is the 13th card in the Tarot’s collection of 22 Major Arcana (mystery) cards. The major arcana speak not merely of life’s changing circumstances, but of one’s character, one’s archetype. Sadly, this card suggests that an Evil Spirit has gotten hold of you, Mr. Biden. It may be what prevents you from opening the door to new life pictured in the previous card. The spirit in question is governed by base impulses (indicated by the serpent, goat, and the card’s inverted pentagram). It all supports a patriarchy that keep men and women frozen in hostile and defensive positions relative to one another. The reference may be to the IDF’s attacks on mothers and grandmothers deprived of their murdered children for the sake of power and the riches that lie strewn at the bottom of the card. The Evil Spirit depicted here is profoundly anti-woman. Does its appearance suggest a summons to honor the specifically female wisdom of martyred Gazan mothers, grandmothers and their children?

3. The Deep (probably unconscious) Roots of Mr. Biden’s Problem in Gaza

This is the Seven of Swords. Swords are about ideas and ideologies that control us. Sevens are about causal energies. This Seven of Swords shows you again isolated and out in the cold – this time waist deep in a freezing body of water with its dangerous whirlpools. Water, of course, is a feminine element. Swords are masculine. This card has you withdrawing your masculine swords from the feminine element. Relative to Gaza, the Seven of Swords asks you to recognize that ultimately (and unconsciously, I’m sure) the genocide you’re supporting there represents a war on women and their children. The card says, “Remove the swords (in the form of weapons and the ideologies behind their provision) from the hearts of Gazan mothers, grandmothers, their babies and children.” Such extraction means changing your ideas and the approach to Gaza your ideas support. There’s a suggestion of swapping military force for diplomacy here. Finally, this card communicates a sense of urgency. Do you see the dark ship in the card’s upper left corner? Your ship is coming in, Mr. Biden, but you’re ignoring it. The ship says your remaining time on earth is short. Drop the old ideas, change horizons, do what right despite ultimately irrelevant masculine concerns conditioned by false perceptions of “a man’s world.” Ultimately, it’s just the opposite. You’re waist deep in feminine energy!  

4. The Proximate Roots of Mr. Biden’s Gaza Dilemma

Another Major Arcana card. It is a card of hope and healing. Its female image dancing on the water reiterates the call to lift your head from the frigid waters of the previous card and scan the night skies for transcendent guidance. Miracles (like walking or dancing on water) are possible and within your grasp. The answer to your Gazan dilemma is mirrored in the sky’s celestial order – in healing rather than continuing support of war and destruction. Follow Bethlehem’s star of peace, not war.  

5. Mr. Biden’s Motivation vis a vis Gaza

Yet another Major Arcana card addressing your essence. This one is about a coming Judgement regarding your policies in Gaza. The card centralizes the Egyptian Hermanubis (god of judgment) weighing your destiny against the Feather of Truth. Surely it refers to history’s judgment of your presidency which by all accounts is being importantly and negatively shaped by your policy in Gaza. Will you be remembered as “Genocide Joe?” Surely, you don’t want that. The card also anticipates a more proximate judgment coming on November 5th.  If your driving motivation comes from your desire to be re-elected, the card suggests you must change policy in Gaza.  

6. President Biden’s Proximate Future Relative to Gaza

This card suggests that young people will determine your immediate future (in November). It is a “court card” that refers to important “Seekers” (young 20-somethings) among us. In the context of your Gaza dilemma, this card inevitably recalls the pro-Palestinian demonstrators on campuses throughout our country. They are determined to play a determinative part in your proximate destiny. Their attire in this card suggests Native American sensitivities to the ways of nature. It recalls peace pipes, and diplomatic discussions around a campfire. This is a call to diplomacy and dialog, to listening to your young constituents. Heed what young people are saying or else! That seems to be the message here. [BTW, please note that horse of the card’s Seeker has its hooves firmly rooted in the feminine element of water. The Seeker is calling attention to a mysterious Cup suspended above him. Cups are not about confrontations but about the creative relationships that women typically pursue more than men. Do you see a unifying theme here?]

7. Mr. Biden’s Image of Himself in This Situation

Here you are with your sword again, Mr. President. Surprisingly, the card says that despite your status as an octogenarian, you imagine yourself as somehow a contemporary of the Seekers pictured in the previous card. With sword aloft you’re riding a horse raring to charge into the future (framed by two rough pillars) despite the storm on the horizon. In the Gaza context, this card seems to say, “Take heed of that storm. Act your age. Back off from the trouble that inevitably lies ahead should you continue your sword-led charge.”   

8. The Context of Mr. Biden’s Gaza Situation

Another Major Arcana card – the Empress. Another reminder to change from male-led policies to those guided by feminine beauty and principles that should form the context of any Gazan policy – of any beneficially imperial order. And what might those principles be? The card says they are based on harmony with nature (signified by the Tree of Life sheltering above the empress). Similarly, the snake that appeared as a force of evil in the Devil Card now appears transformed into its traditional goddess meaning as a perpetual life force (since it repeatedly sheds its skin). The Empress’s own skin color reminds us that the world should be governed by its non-white majority rather than by white European colonialists. Her large breasts also signify a different kind of governance – this one by nurture, not destruction. This theme is continued in her shepherds crook and the unthreatening whip in the card’s foreground. Together, they suggest deemphasis of force in favor of gentle correction. And of course, the beautiful flowers and soaring birds, as well as the abundance of fruit all connect with sharing the earth’s cornucopia regulated by the scale of justice at the Empress’s feet. All of this relates to the ultimate feminine signified by flowing water. In summary, this card calls for a planet-wide change of context from masculine force to feminine gentleness, joy, and harmony with nature. What would that change of context look like in Gaza? The answer is largely up to you, Mr. President.  

9. Mr. Biden’s Hopes & Fears Relative to Gaza

This entire reading could hardly be more feminine. In Tarot all aces are about new beginnings and about unperceived potential. In the World Spirit Tarot deck we’re using, its aces consistently present us with the feminine yoni as a portal to life and new beginnings. And that’s what we have here. A feminine yoni, a portal to a new reality, where relationships (the essence of the suit of cups) are overflowing with life (water), not death (the reality in Gaza). I know, Mr. President, you’re hoping for something like that in Palestine. However, this card suggests you’re on the wrong track. What you’re doing is too male, too much based on force. This card calls you elsewhere. Enter its gentle female portal to New Life. Doing so will help you transcend your fears and offer hope to all of us.  

10. President Biden’s Destiny Relative to Gaza

Do you see what I meant about the feminine character of this entire Tarot reading? Look where we finish. Again, a yoni frame. Again, a fruitful goddess centralized. Again, a call to harmony with the world’s elements – fire in the lion, air in the eagle, water in the dolphin, and earth in the ox. This card asks you, Mr. President, to adopt a universal (rather than a narrow national) perspective. It says align with the forces of nature and the universe. Doing so will help you see beyond distorted views of “American Exceptionalism” and the destruction of the earth’s elements by use of modern weapons of war.  

Summary

Surely, I don’t need to again call attention to the female thrust of this reading. The cards are calling away from patriarchal, violent, and outdated thinking and action. The cards summon you away from a white colonial world towards one governed by the world’s non-white majority. They call you to empathy with Gazan mothers, grandmothers and their babies, children, and grandchildren. Another world is possible, Mr. Biden. And with your incoming ship on the horizon (along with the fast-approaching November elections) you haven’t much time left to change course. But (according to the cards) change course you must!

Tarot: Last Six Cards of Major Arcana

In this final posting on the last six cards of the 22 Major Arcana (including Card # 0, the Fool’s) we’ll look at the remaining portrayals of the classic stages of spiritual growth. Remember, the first of those seven cards was The Devil reviewed at the end of my last blog entry. The Devil represented the Fool’s realization that something is deeply wrong within himself and in the world.

16. The Tower: With that realization, the Fool’s inner world comes crashing down. Discouraged and devastated, s/he sees that structural change and rebuilding (both inner and outer) is required, because his or her “tower” though apparently founded on rock is crumbling nonetheless. S/he looks to the stars for help. [This is a highly symbol-rich card. To begin with, its number, 16 = 1+6= 7; and that connects with#7 of the Major Arcana, viz., the Chariot card which is all about movement and finding control and mastery over opposing forces. Here the movement is downward and deconstructive as symbolized by the card’s black background and prominent gray clouds. Also centralized in the card is the couple we’ve already met in card #6 (the lovers) and in card #15 (the devil). We’re evidently watching the downfall of the basically masculine (phallic symbolled) ivory tower which has been struck by a bolt of lightning and is on fire. There are two crowns in this image, one at the top of the tower signifying the dissolution of some imperious order and the other on the head of the female figure who is falling upside down (i.e., in the hanged man position) on the card’s right. Her crown remains fixed firmly on her royal head. However, her spiritual viewpoint (designated by the color blue) is in complete transition. The same is true for the male figure whose accompanying passions are signified by the color red. This card suggests radical change.]

17. Star: The priestess’ star reappears when the Fool needs it most. The new, healthier ideas the stars represent guide the Fool into the future. “Follow your star” is the message here. [As opposed to the previous card, # 17 is calm and encouraging. This card is about cosmic order, hope, peace, ease, relaxation, persevering, and hanging on. The unclothed female figure has dropped all the pretense of royal robes, crowns, and symbols of power. She is concerned only with heavenly order, purifying water, connecting with the collective unconscious (symbolized by the pool) and with the earth itself (shown by her left-side intuitional knee kneeling on the earth’s surface). There are seven prominent but minor stars in the card’s image referring to the body’s seven chakras — as well as a large and bright golden central star that connects with the golden hair of the card’s central figure. The card’s protagonist is enlightened and following her star. Though her weight is on her forward foot, that foot is not submerged. The figure can walk on water. In some sense, she is the card’s star. In the background perched in something like the Tree of Life, a scarlet Ibis bird is about to take flight. In Egyptian mythology, the scarlet Ibis was considered the earthly manifestation of Thoth, the god of wisdom.]

18. Moon: The mystic moon provides relief from darkness. But it is mysterious and uncontrollable. The sleep suggested by the moon generates insights and clarity, but also nightmares, anxieties, and fears. [The moon card represents the 4th stage of spiritual unfolding (after the Devil, the Tower, and the Star). It evokes reflection on sleep and the insights that occur during that inevitable process. Sleep provides time for personal repair and reorganization at physical, psychological, and spiritual levels. In fact, this card means “Sleep Brings Counsel.” Its background mountains remind the querent not to be deceived by the highs and lows of any day or by the past itself. Instead, s/he’s called to advance steadily towards the uplifting mountainous horizons towards which a moon-illuminated golden path wends its way. The card is also about evolution. A dog and its evolutionary predecessor, a wolf, join together to bay at the moon. The dog, of course, has evolved from wolves to become the “best friend” nature has provided human beings. Similarly, the crayfish-like creature arising from the pool of the collective unconscious recalls our mind’s origins from that pool where both imagination and confusion reside. The twin towers that frame the card invite the querent to pursue wisdom beyond the boundaries of the known. The moon itself profiled in this 18th card reminds the attentive reader of the ninth (Hermit) card in the Major Arcana (1+8=9). Like the profiled hermit with his lamp, the profiled moon comes each night to teach us (through dreams and our especially precious thoughts just before sleep arrives) what we have learned during the day as well as during our entire lives.]

19. Sun: But the night doesn’t last forever. The sun shines brightly with a promise of homecoming and return. The Fool can now answer his child’s questions with joy, love, and positivity. At last s/he is at peace enjoying the good, the true, and the beautiful. [This card is about rebirth, happiness, and illumination. The haloed, reborn, and unclothed child finds her/his place bathing in the sun’s illuminating rays and seated on a white horse amid sunflowers. This is a triumphant card evoking joy and new beginnings.]

20. Judgment: The Fool has now returned to his interior ancestral castle. S/he is ready to share with others all that has been learned during a life of wandering, trial, and triumph. The Fool’s inner work has been completed. S/he is at peace with the past. [This card is about a journey completed. Its message is “Forgive yourself; lay your past to rest; let go of all past selves.” It is about resurrection and release. Note that the familiar man and woman from the Lovers’, Devil, and Tower cards have changed sides. The man now stands on the left, the woman on the right. This suggests that they have successfully appropriated their complementary animus or anima. The flag pictured below the angel’s right elbow is that of St. George noted for the bravery and chivalry it has taken to complete the Fool’s journey.]

21. The World: As a final step, the Fool embraces the world while knowing that the whole cycle is about to begin once again in life’s endless circle. However, this time his/her journey will not be foolish, but that of an evolved Page, Knight or Female Warrior — all to be centralized in Tarot’s Minor Arcana [Here notable symbols include those for the four Christian Gospels which we already saw on the corners of the Wheel of Fortune card (#10). Matthew is portrayed as an angel, Mark as a lion, Luke as an ox, and John as an eagle. Their appearance here indicates that the gospels’ overriding concern is Life here below not principally life al di la in the heavens. The same goes for the unclothed woman at the card’s center. We met her most recently as the Star in card #17. Here her presence and the card’s number 21 (2+1=3) suggests the High Priestess (the real 3rd card of the Tarot deck — when including the Fool’s “number,” 0) and the Empress card actually numbered as 3. The reference suggests that women, their mysteries, intuition, and closeness to nature are at the center of Life’s circle portrayed in this last card of the Major Arcana. Note that the circle is actually a green astrological ellipse tied together above and below with red ribbons. Their color symbolizes passion, energy, and fire. That same symbolism is conveyed by the Magician’s wands the card’s central figure grasps in her hands. In this last card the previously unconscious Magician and High Priestess are at last consciously integrated. It is interesting to see which figure attains most prominence at the end.]