by Jean Huets
The Fool is poised between destruction and creation, with no bias or inclination toward either. The Hanged Man dangles between creation and destruction, but because he has been "corrupted" by matter, the implication is that of movement toward destruction, death, or annihilation. In other words, the Hanged Man is spirit bound by time and place.
The Human Community - Once in a while someone comes along and turns the world upside down. Political economist Karl Marx, American patriot Thomas Jefferson, the Pure Land Buddhist sage Shinran, artist Andy Warhol, Saint Francis of Assisi, founder of Christian Science Mary Baker Eddy, civil rights leader Martin Luther King, and the radical feminist, self-named "Revolting Hag" Mary Daly are a few of those who, like it or not, forced us to look at our lives and our society in a totally new way.
We glorify these diverse men and women, and we crucify them: often we martyr them into sainthood. King was assassinated, Shinran exiled from his own land. Some have thrived, in spite of fierce opposition and even ridicule. Their names may be unfamiliar to many, but whether they act politically, artistically, or religiously, as individuals or as groups, these extraordinary minds motivate the transitions of human society.
The Individual - Why would a young man choose such a deliberately uncomfortable position for his prayers? Anyone who has attempted any kind of spiritual work, within or outside of religious tradition, very soon finds that it is uncomfortable. Kneeling or sitting in meditation, fasting, breaking out of worldly routines—all of these devices remove us from our everyday lives.
As children, we changed our perspective by spinning round and round until we were dizzy-drunk, or by hanging upside down from a bar at the playground. Upside down, the world is comic and grotesque, or exotic and beautiful. Features that were unnoticed can loom large.
As adults, we may use film, television, books, or drugs to escape from our lives. Unfortunately, grownups very quickly become habituated to these activities and are once again locked into the mundaneness being evaded. So, we up the dose, look for something new, or settle down into a numb routine.
Religious practice can fall into the same syndrome: the enthusiasm of the convert, the frustration of the novice, the boredom of the senior. Those who last endure the ups and downs with equanimity. Insight and the support of friends and teachers are encouraging. Many people favor occasional retreats, with or without others, as a way to refresh the spirit.
The Hanged Man dangles all alone between earth and sky. His teacher has brought him this far; now it is time to go alone. He has temporarily renounced worldly life in favor of prayer and meditation. His face is tranquil, though he has been ravaged by terror at the death of self-driven activity, depression at the loss of earthly attachments, elation at being without the weight of daily life as well as vertigo brought by such weightlessness, horror in the face of unending loneliness, and bliss in undisturbed solitude. He observes and accepts the flow of emotions with equilibrium; his tranquil concentration is unwavering.
The Hanged Man's support, the tree, grows from the earth, and it enables him to plant his foot in the sky. The dense physical and emotional qualities of earth and the transcending, "empty" qualities of the sky are calmly united in his practice.
Meanings - Overcoming obstacles through devotion. Peace of mind. Prudence. Insight. Life in suspension. Transition. Change. Abandonment. Renunciation. The changing of life's forces. A still point between dramatic events. Sacrifice. The approach of new life forces. Unwillingness to make any effort or to give of oneself. Ego-tripping. False prophecy. Useless sacrifice. Playing martyr to manipulate others.
XIII Death
A skeleton on a stone plain holds a scythe and a blackbird. Behind him the sun hovers over an ocean, its light contained by a square. Beyond is the endless cosmos.
The skulls, the stopped clock, and the broken jewels and sword symbolize the limits of human life. Even the tombstone itself, the final house of the body and symbol of remembrance, falls into ruins.
The ocean is a metaphor of existence, whether existence is seen as a life span bounded by birth and death, or as the cycle of reincarnation in which birth and death are alternating pulsations.
The Cosmos - Hindu cosmology sees the birth and extinction of universes as the exhalation and inhalation of the breath of god, an ongoing cycle of existential suffering that one can escape only as a "twice-born" individual.
Christian and Islamic beliefs posit individual salvation (or damnation) that is realized after death, as well as a collective City of God, or Earthly Paradise, in which the entire world is purged of heretics and infidels and then glorified in worship of the "true" god. All of these systems have in common an apocalypse: an era of evil, suffering, fear, moral corruption, and finally destruction. Humankind seems to feel that the present world must die in order for a heavenly world to be born.
The skeleton stands like a gateway between physical existence and the naked universal soul or mind: consciousness without the trappings and distractions of flesh, the metaphysical City of God, maybe even Paradise, a realm that perfects life as we know it. Or the skeleton can be simply a hollow boneman, mocking our aspirations with an image of extinction and nothingness: a dead-end apocalypse, ultimate mortality. The sun could be rising, or it could be setting.
The Human Community - Society progresses with the death of human generations, as well as with the death of technologies, countries, and ideologies.
Mahatma Gandhi, speaking of the struggle of India for independence from Britain, equated death with purification through suffering: "No country has ever risen without being purified through the fire of suffering. The mother suffers so that her child may live. The condition of wheat-growing is that the seed grain should perish. Life comes out of death. Will India rise out of her slavery without fulfilling this eternal law of purification through suffering?"
"Death" sometimes comes as a dramatic upheaval—coups d'etat, the rise or fall of dictatorships or democracies, assassinations, wars, displacement of workers by machines or corporate restructuring—or as a smooth change, as when an entrenched party is voted out of office or a business passes to a new generation.
A society that does not change, stagnates. Continuity and traditions that have served generations well must not obstruct regeneration and innovation.
The Individual - Rare is the person who can honestly claim no fear of death. At some point, however, everyone must recognize the inevitability of death, hopefully before being forced by the event itself. Though it is extremely painful, to say the least, to contemplate separation from our loved ones and the loss of our body, talents, and possessions, an honest encounter with death can give purpose to life. We have a limited amount of time to fulfill ourselves and to help others to find happiness.
The Death card does not predict that a death will soon occur—Death does not come at the behest of a tarot card. It does remind us not to put off what we want to do with our lives, since all of us will die sooner or later.
If we feel that our salvation lies in religion, we should build a practice now, rather than waiting until we're sick or senile and less capable of training mind and body. If we feel that we want to leave something beautiful behind, we should begin our creation today. If we love someone, we should express it. If we have an enemy, we should work on being reconciled, at least in our hearts, if not openly. If life discontents us, we may be taking for granted the precious joys embedded in mundane existence.
The boneman with the sickle is also known as Father Time. The Death card can indicate change, transition, and the passage of time. Sorrow or joy at the end of a phase may be indicated. Both the let-down and the relief at finishing a long work, whose reception in the world is yet uncertain, might be felt. A move to another home is possible, with painful detachment from the present place mixed with pleasurable anticipation of what the future home may bring.
Meanings - The end. Transition. A boundary reached. Transformation. Passage of time. Clearing away the old to make way for the new. Determ
ination to "turn over a new leaf." Unexpected change. Loss. A familiar situation or friendship ends. Stagnation. Separation. Immobility. Inertia. Taxes.
XIV Temperance
A beautiful woman pours water from two cups into a fresh stream bordered by irises. A heron is behind the woman. The sun, though half-hidden by clouds, blazes strongly.
The Cosmos - The Chariot demonstrated dynamic change whose energy derived from tension and competition. Temperance is change through the blending of elements, gradually and naturally.
The seasons, day and night, the mighty yet aeonian migration of earth's continents, the shift of the earth's axis of rotation which changes the zodiac, even the drops of water that over years can wear away a rock—all are in the realm of Temperance. Dramatic and violent events—earthquakes, volcanoes, floods, typhoons—are not directly in her rule.
Temperance is the force of transformation. She is the universal comfort, the life-line between extinction and rebirth. As the water flows from the cups into the stream, and gradually moves to the sea, so after death our psyches and physical forms are transformed, and possibly liberated, in ways we cannot imagine.
The Human Community - The woman returns the waters to the stream, and in doing so practices one of the cardinal rules of maintaining balance in any system: return in some way what has been taken. She is partly nude, but not completely nature's child—she wears rich jewels; her foot dips into the stream and yet is shod. The land that stretches behind her is semi-cultivated.
Temperance focuses on social stability in terms of resources and economy. Though many scholars admit to apparently random, unpredictable elements in a nation's economy, one rule is evident: "What goes up, must come down." If stocks soar, get ready for a crash. If a nation is pumped up with loans, it will be deflated with debt. Extremes beget extremes.
The same applies to natural resources. We have the technology and the understanding necessary for enjoying nature's riches without pollution. Greed destroys the balance.
Temperance can be understood as a balanced budget, sound environmental policies, and/or a healthy economy in which the distribution of wealth is equitable. Alternatively, it can reflect the ebb and flow in the fortunes of nations and peoples.
The Individual - Around 600 B.C., a young prince left his father's palace and a life of luxury in order to find the ultimate truth as to the nature of life. Fleeing to a forest, he stripped off his riches and practiced austerities. His bones rose to his skin, but he did not attain his goal. Too late, he realized that luxury and asceticism were both extremes that would not bring him closer to the truth. Starvation had brought him only the imminence of death: "Mine eyes are dim now that they need to see the truth." (From The Light of Asia, by Edwin Arnold.) But a housewife, thinking him a nature god, revived him with an offering of milk and rice. Strengthened, the seeker was able to withstand the final onslaught of the selfish ego, and he became enlightened. From thenceforth he was called the Buddha, the Awakened One.
Most people, especially in developed countries, would consider the lives of Buddhist monks more austere than moderate. However, ordinary people can try to find a way of living that creates the least possible harm and disturbance to others, while allowing individual balance and expression.
Temperance has become a rather distasteful virtue. Popular culture glamorizes emotional upheavals, violence, and passion. A temperate individual is often portrayed as a dried-up prude or as an ax-wielding Carry Nation figure—but these characters are also extremes.
The temperate man or woman does not have to be an intolerant wet-blanket, a boor or bored, or a celibate teetotaler. Temperance is not the bland repression of joy, sorrow, sexual feelings, and so on. It involves acceptance of feelings rather than rejection or selection of them: the rough with the smooth.
Temperance can be the fruit of a hard, honest look at one's life. Are we draining our energy chasing thrills, while continuing to suffer the same problems over and over? Are we exploiting or walking over other people in the quest for more riches and new highs?
Temperance is a realistic way of living unselfishly. We learn truly to enjoy life. In Temperance, we may experience more subtle levels of joy and understanding.
Meanings - Mental equilibrium. The middle way. Improvement. Rejuvenation. Moderation. Temperance. Patience. Accommodation. Bringing people together. A matchmaker. Management. Fusion. Inability to work with others. Carelessness.
XV The Devil
A creature part man and part beast poses before a prison, surrounded by the victims of his reign. A man on his right seems unaware of his chains as he tries to stride away. A woman is chained within the walls of a prison. At the Devil's left hand, another woman stands on the back of a man. She enjoys her dominance, but she, too, is in chains; those who oppress others are oppressed, though they often fail to see this.
The Cosmos - The Lovers card showed the union of opposites through love; the Devil presents what opposes union. In emotional terms, it is hatred; in metaphysical terms, it is ignorance. Here is the existence that our New Age does not acknowledge, though whether New-Aged or old-aged, we continue to exist and suffer in it. The Devil offers no true marriage, no union, no creation.
Ironically, primeval ignorance is expressed in the Hebrew Scriptures (Old Testament) as the knowledge of good and evil. This "knowledge" is not to be confused with the conscience, which occasionally prevents us from acting on hatred and anger, or encourages us to act in wisdom.
The knowledge that the Devil offers is the conviction that we have a self separate from and opposed to others. Adam's and Eve's self-consciousness was manifest in their wish to clothe their natural bodies, to hide from God. As long as we hold the conviction of self, we are ignorant of blissful union.
The Devil separates being from being, creation from creator. While this may seem a problem for the individual to work out, it is an essential component in the unending cosmic cycle of suffering to which all beings are subject, a world in which nature decrees that we—humans, cats, dogs, insects, birds, fish, plants, microorganisms—must kill each other in order to survive.
The Human Community - The Devil emerges from a deteriorating structure and is himself in a state of deterioration. His hold on his disciples remains untarnished; the chains are the shiniest part of the image. His horns recall animalistic energy, but the ring through his nose recalls the servitude and bondage of animals such as farm oxen. His costume mixes church and military dress, reflecting the age-old problem of the corruption of religion by power. The church is not necessarily religion as commonly understood. A political ideology can substitute for religion.
Torture, unjust detention, disappearances, and death penalty (execution) are the evil reflections of a defective social system. When state power is threatened by protest or rebellion, the repression intensifies.
War does not represent the pitting of one unified society against another unified society, although propaganda says otherwise. History shows that war breaks out when the conflicting elements within a nation are projected onto an "enemy." Charismatic individuals who exploit hatred, fear, and ignorance bedevil the world.
The Devil crumbles, but the chains are renewed. Society must use caution in creating its prison and military and police structures; they easily assume much power and are not easily cast off. Active human rights advocates can ensure that institutions of abuse are more and more difficult to hide from the rest of the world.
The Individual - People often try to gain their wishes by manipulating others. Methods range from tears to fists, from threats of abandonment and financial deprivation to wax voodoo dolls. The first step to freedom for one who is in the role of victim is to face the problem and the fact that it can't be wished or hoped away. Then, one must seek help, over and over again, until one has the strength and resources to break away.
The inverted star on the Devil's necklace indicates still another form of repression: capitulation to materialism and pleasure. The five senses, represented by the
five points of the star, point earthward; the body is enslaved to the getting of riches and rich sensations.
Such a density of earth element, the senses cleaving to material earth, is decadence, as when an animal falls to the ground and decays. Exploitation, prostitution, bondage, slavery, perversion: anything becomes possible.
The Devil represents the lowest point in the cycle of life. At the bottom, however, there is hope: the only way to go is up. Recovery is a struggle that few can make alone. Now is the time to find supportive friends and guides, reliable people who will not exploit the situation and set the cycle in motion once more.
More often than not, we emerge from our life struggles with new strength and wisdom, and compassion for others who are where we were.
Meanings - Victory of materialism. Occult powers. Slavery. Dependence. Perversion. Subordination. Ravage. Bondage. Passion. Egoism. Malevolence. Subservience. Weird experience. Bad outside influence or advice. Black magic. Unexpected failure. Violence. Self-punishment. Temptation to evil. Overcoming one's fears. Perception of the inner demon. Throwing off shackles. Divorce. Recognition of one's needs by another person. Overcoming severe handicaps. The beginning of spiritual understanding.
XVI The Tower
The eye of God blasts a tower. Fire engulfs the top stories, and two people and a crown fall. Pride has lifted the Tower to reach for the heavens.
The Cosmos - However intriguing cosmologies may be, however intellectually stimulating, in the end they are only systems of human thought. All of the religions and philosophies of earth cannot really touch the heavens; they can only try to point the way.
One can consider the image on the Tower card as divine awareness, the eye of God, turning its searing ray on the edifice of human cosmology. The pride invested in the cleverness of it all tumbles down as easily as the fancy crown falls to the depths. Pure experience, clear awareness, cannot be replaced by intellectualization.
