By Christine Payne-Towler
ArkLetter 42, August 30, 2008
World Server's Spread
For an introduction to the World Servers' Spread see ArkLetter 5
After handling and enjoying my Jacques Vieville Tarot in the course of preparing this month's research article, I want to use this pack for our traditional World Server's Spread. However, this time I want to shuffle with a purely magical and spiritual intention, asking the cards to show us three potent emblems that will stimulate us psychically and awaken our intuitions to the important issues at hand.
I won't try to read them in any personal sense, just investigate the principles and see what implications might be drawn from them. You who are taking them in as receivers, however, can interpret them in any sense that seems applicable.
World position: Ace of Chalices reversed
Here
we see the crenellated, castellated cup that is so often compared to
the Holy Grail or Ciborium of the Mass, wherein the sanctified Host are
kept on the altar. There's a symbol like that of the astrological Sun
of the peak of the cover of the cup, and another half-darkened circular
symbol nearer the lower edge of the cover, on a square background. Are
these symbols of Sun, Moon and Earth? Additionally, might they be
indicative of the Host, or other sacred substances, that are supposedly
held inside?
Aces are beginnings, in the sense of "seeds" of concentrated promise keyed to things that are yet to become. A person who knows what to do with seeds can fit a whole forest, enough to build a little town, in the bowl of his or her cupped hands. (This is traditionally about the same amount of volume this ceremonial cup will hold.) Viewed in terms of alchemy, this cup becomes the Alchemical Vessel, the retort into which all the ingredients for the experiment are sealed, and wherein all the action of death, transmutation and exaltation will take place.
Shamanically, in the oldest of all symbolic languages, this cup is constructed from the upturned bowl of a human cranium. The stem descending from the bowl symbolizes the neck, and the "nut" that appears along the stem represents the throat chakra. The neck is anchored in the base, which represents the shoulders, with the heart symbolically residing in the invisible hollow under the center of the base. In other words, the Ace of Cups focuses in on the aspect of the human occult anatomy that receives subtle influences from invisible sources and leads to enlightenment. Inside the skull reside the pituitary and pineal glands, keyed to the 3rd eye chakra and the crown chakra. All together, this Cup extends across four of the seven-chakra centers, melding all their faculties, from the heart up, into a single multidimensional symbol. That makes this Ace a literal cauldron of brain-chemical enhancers meant to open one's higher faculties to transcendent reality.
It is no wonder, then, that the suit of cups indicates those exquisite natural sensitivities, physical and psychic, of the type that all plants and animals have in abundance and freely demonstrate. One of the longtime associations with the Cups suit is depth of feeling, fullness of intuition, and the subtlety of wordless communication. Empathy and understanding fill this cup with medicinal nurturance; the heart is refreshed by what this cup dispenses.
Speaking of which, the reversal of this card in this spread suggests a spilling out of its hidden contents, perhaps even a baptism by water in the liberation of the out-welling Spirit. Some of these waters might be tears, as it is part of the hygiene of the human psyche to "wash itself clean" with occasional storms and blowouts. But the majority of what the Cup holds is compassion, the amniotic fluid of souls, and a great bounty of spiritual responsiveness in the interior planes coming towards humanity at this time. Do what you can to make yourself aware of this fount of healing waters, because this might turn out to be your greatest refuge in the month to come.
Fool position: 9 of Swords
9 has long been considered a "perfect number", because it consists of 3x3 and also 3+3+3. The square of nine has been given to the planet Saturn in Western magical practice, and it isn't hard to understand why -- especially right now, with Saturn transiting Virgo for the next 22 months or so. Apparently it is time to make the acquaintance of the Karma Lord now, if we haven't already put ourselves through his fine-grained examination recently. Imagine yourself moving around a square of 3x3, and you'll realize that what you are doing is looking at all the angles -- from all the angles! The result is a very comprehensive appreciation of every dimension of something, a 'fullness of understanding', so to speak. Once a person has covered all these positions experientially, he or she can no longer claim they didn't know the consequences of any actions they might take or omit. This is where the associations of 9 with ripeness and maturity comes from, as in the harvest being gathered in the 9th month of the year, or the 9 months it takes to complete a human pregnancy.
We know from past research that 9 represents the Angelic choirs of the Dionysian empyrean; Agrippa dedicates the number to the Muses and the Movable Spheres to which they correspond << see article, Tarot of Spheres and Muses>>. This assignation also refers to the 9 Kabalistic Sephira that hover "invisibly" above Malkut, the materialized plane of outcomes. By that pattern, which demonstrates the classical top-down emanationist scheme, 9 refers to Yesod the Lunar center, envisioned exactly as we see Her in the Bad Teinach altarpiece -- standing in the Moon, mediating between Nature "here below" and the Planets above and beyond, out in their own orbits. Not only does this station serve as the doorway out of the earthly plane of manifested Nature, but it is also the convergence-point for the three Elemental Worlds that are stacked above it -- the worlds of Water, Fire and Air. Viewed in this way, it's obvious that there are a lot of subtle energies bearing down on the material plane through Yesod. Emotionally, psychologically, and spiritually, there is pressure on the struggling soul to hold one's innate potential in divine right order despite the weavings and bindings of Fate.
The Moon (Sophia) in her mercy is conceived as 'rendering down' the force of all the other planets and feeding it to us in measured doses through Her waxing and waning. Our delicate hypersensitive nervous systems could not bear up under direct bombardment of the naked cosmic forces. Here at the station of 9, our garment of flesh is woven together and hung upon the soul, to both contain it and insulate it from the vastness of the All. Hence we find ourselves, whether suffering or glorying, fused with our mantle of animal/vegetable/mineral intelligence. There is no doubt that these bodies hinder, bind, and restrict us, but without them, what are we? This is the paradox that has bedeviled every generation, and every person has to confront the fact again for his or her own situation.
This being a Sword card, it matters very much what words we use to talk to ourselves as events unfold. Attitude is everything -- interpretation is destiny. Therefore let this card be a reminder to you: Just because other people babble on, throwing emotions, opinions and judgments around as if anybody wanted to hear it all, that doesn't mean that we have to embrace those terms or use those concepts when we form our own viewpoints. We may or may not want to address the differences between others and ourselves head-on (and every situation is different in that sense), but the shamans among us learn to reserve their own thoughts in an area of consciousness that is not made freely available for others to comment on or have opinions about. That way, no matter which way the wind is blowing, whether we are the victim or the victor, we have untrammeled access to our own sense of reality, and can have our wits about us as the situation morphs through its inherent changes.
Finding this card in the Fool position gives us the signal that our tolerance for ambiguity and shades of grey needs to be at a very high pitch right now. Otherwise we might fall prey to the pessimistic associations that come along with this card in divinatory applications. It's certainly true that in stressful times, people are not inclined to tolerate foolishness for long, nor sympathize unduly with those who find themselves tossed ass-over-teakettle down the rabbit hole. The dregs of Calvinistic thinking still afflict the mass mind -- we allow ourselves the delusion that setbacks are something God metes out to "others" who are somehow "less deserving" then ourselves. But actually, Fortune and Misfortune are just two sides of the same coin, the coin called Change. If one is not in resistance to change, neither holding back nor fighting the flow, then the coin can roll wherever it's going and one doesn't have to suffer a walloping in the process. Think of how much better it is to be loose and relaxed in the case of taking a fall or getting bumped in the car -- it's often the clenching up that gets us injured!
There can also be wisdom in playing the fool, especially when one is faced with irrational levels of ego, pretense and control. If nothing else, this position points to transitional states where some kind of change is already in process, setting various chains of consequences into motion and stimulating all kinds of creativity and/or craziness. Obviously, at the 9-point in a process, one is very close to the point where completion and closure are desired. Having sudden surprising developments come up in the home stretch is seldom welcome! Nevertheless, there are situations where there is more than one agenda being served simultaneously, when as a result even the set and settled agenda needs to be reexamined in the light of new developments. Stay loose, stay open, and don't forget your ultimate goals. Perhaps you'll wind up closer to your bull's-eye than you could have gotten on your own steam.
Magus position: 2 of Wands reversed
We have already had a chance to meditate on the principle of 2 while
looking at the NewMoon chart this month. We also have an extended
investigation available about the 2 of Wands from a recent ArkLetter.
However, there's always something more to say about any card, so here
goes...
The first words to come into my head when I threw
these cards were: Refrain, abstain, retain. Because the two of wands is
often the "buyers' remorse" card after the relative spontaneity and
risk-taking of the Ace, the word "refrain" relates to holding back from
jumping to negative conclusions. We often have a letdown after we
screw up our courage and do something life-changing. This might
manifest as night terrors or daytime anxiety until we get used to the
idea that the deed is done and now we are on the other side of it.
People often rehearse the "shoulda, woulda, coulda" mantra of regrets
and lost opportunities, not because something bad has actually
happened, but simply because they are insecure, and they can't yet see
where their bold stroke (the Ace) has landed. Lacking the courage of
our convictions, we are second-guessing ourselves the moment the club
contacts the ball! This is what we need to refrain from -- allowing
our doubts and fears to fill up our head with hesitations and
regrets-in-advance.
Abstention follows from the above -- we want
to refuse the impulse to dig up our seeds (Aces) to see how they are
sprouting. Once we have made our move, whether in consciousness or in
action, we need to let it play out without interfering with it
further. It follows just as night follows from day that there will be
some kind of reaction or repercussions from whatever we did to stir the
waters. This would not be anything out of the ordinary, so there's no
need for shock or surprise. Similar to Trump 2 the Priestess, who
nurtures her consciousness in silence, we need to spend our 2-time
witnessing and taking in "what is", rather than reaching out
arbitrarily to fiddle with the knobs and dials.
The final
concept, "retain", refers to husbanding and cultivating the energies
that might otherwise have escaped one's body through useless
expressions of fear, anger, control impulses, anxiety, mistrust,
helplessness or any other reactive behavior. Retention means "holding
your chi", not expending oneself needlessly in meaningless flapping. By
taking the pose of neutral awareness, one allows for simple reflection
on that which is, which is perfect ‘2 behavior’. To the extent one can
hold this position, the larger matrix of causality will remain
relatively undisturbed by your act of awakening. By skipping the drama
reflex, one preserves the broadest field of pure potential, without
throwing in any new vectors or agendas. The goal is to become a
metaphorical fly on the wall, a small speck that attracts no attention,
so as to take everything in without impacting the flow appreciably.
In
Kabbalia as well, we see 2 as Chesed, the head of the Father Pillar.
This station is the first existent "downstream" of the purely divine
efflux coming from Kethir. Therefore Chesed manifests the fruits of the
first of 9 step-down transformations required before there can be
"form" and "matter" of the type we are used to here on earth (Malkut).
The manifestation consistent with Chesed is that of consciousness
itself, in the sense of "awareness of individuality as differentiated
from totality". In terms of the human ego, 2 represents the value a
unique individuality brings to the creation, which wasn't present in
the world before this unprecedented soul appeared. Chesed
differentiates the spark of genius and soul-level creativity that
enlivens a given incarnation and gives it the impetus to try standing
alone outside of Kethir.
Let's be clear however -- the
enlivening of Chesed by Kethir is not enough to precipitate matter time
and space, as we know them. Before Chesed's realizations can go
anywhere, Binah (3) has to contribute the architecture, the structural
integrity that is also required to fulfill the promise of "being". One
could say that 2 represents the possibility of distinction within the
Pleroma (Kethir, 1), while 3 adds the particular design and scaffolding
necessary for the possibility to become a probability. All three have
to be filled up and overflowing before there's enough energy to
continue the process down the "ladder of lights", to eventually descend
into the realm of things and beings and final outcomes in Malkut (10).
In
sum, this card suggests that we sit back on our heels, keep our hands
to ourselves and maintain a neutral demeanor. Nothing needs to be done,
nothing needs to be said, nothing needs to happen here, other than what
was already set loose by the Ace, (above). Let the energy flow, take
note of where it's going, but do not add or subtract anything at this
point.
Overview --
As I look at this spread, what seems clear is that the causality is in the World position, the materialization is in the Magus position, and in between the Fool position shows the ego-bound self, twisting in free-fall while trying to adapt in a vortex of change. Just like the saying "there's many a slip twixt the cup and the lip", the appearance of a smooth transition between the Ace and the Deuce belies the tumultuous psychic and emotional experience being had in the inner life. The card in the Fool position isn't sure whether it's coming or going, bound or freed, fortunate or unfortunate. The old 'givens' are jumbled and tumbled, and the new order hasn't manifested itself yet. Perhaps one is trapped, but then again, perhaps this is the moment one will be set free! In any case, there is no advantage to making a fuss and crying out for help. Better one should become very, very calm and start blending into the surroundings, fading into the background in order to cease being such an easy target.
As we look at the cause of this transformation, we see that it is the product of a revelation (the Ace), an outpouring of spiritual energies akin to those the Kabbalists envision emanating from Kethir, the Crown. Therefore, the capstone of this spread tells us "be receptive, and you will experience a measure of Light coming to unveil those things you have been dark to in the past". Both of these reversed cards seem to be acting like sponges or magnets, drawing energy "down" from "above" due to their inverted condition. So I'm sensing that there is a strong spiritual need for insight bracketing the stressful and conflicted 9 of swords in the Fool position, exerting a kind of suction on the Invisible world and causing this gush of astral attention (Ace) followed by the mood of deep witnessing (Deuce). The necessity pressed by the resulting circumstances mercifully stills the self-struggle of the 9, dialing down our obsessive-compulsive aspects (why this? why now? why me?) by forcing us to keep our reactivity down to a bare minimum. That leaves us open to take inventory of the energies and openings built into the present situation, keeping current with the flow.
In some situations, having a big inner life with a full roster of opinions, attitudes and "shoulds" is not an advantage. This might be one of those times. Keep it simple, down to ones and twos, and don't worry about any larger implications. If this were being interpreted as an event going on in the immune system, we would see the Ace as "self", the Deuce as "other", and the 9 as the scrambling going on within the self to make sure that there isn't going to be an inappropriate invasion of self by other. That does not imply that the 2 is actively attacking the 1! It's just that, in the presence of otherness, one has to be sure one's boundaries are strong. It's only natural, it's only sensible. Good fences make good neighbors, as they say. So as soon as the 9 can come to clarity and stop knee jerking out of reflex, this spread can deliver a tremendous insight about what it takes to live at peace in a world full of otherness.
ArkLetter 42
August 30, 2008
copyright christine payne-towler 2005-2008, all rights reserved
Subscribe to the TAROT ARKLETTERS
Classes, Readings, and Private Sessions on personal and business matters
1-800-981-3582
TAROT ARKLETTERS are published by:
Christine Payne-Towler and Noreah Press
Tarot Interpretation & Charts
Tarot Reading text creation at Tarot.com
Bishop, Gnostic Church of St. Mary Magdalene
Founder: Tarot University Online
Author: The Underground Stream
Since the copyright information for images is radically inconsistent across the web (and even this site), we attempt (!) to attribute images where appropriate by placing a relevant link connecting the originating site when possible. Anyone objecting to the use of their image in this free publication can have it removed im
Comments