The Fool's Journey - Part 2

4 – The Emperor

The next person the Fool encounters is the Father in the figure of the Emperor (4). He is the representative of structure and authority. As a baby leaves his mother's arms, he learns that there are patterns to his world. Objects respond in predictable ways that can be explored. The child experiences a new kind of pleasure that comes from discovering order.

The Fool also encounters rules. He learns that his will is not always paramount and there are certain behaviours necessary for his well-being. There are people in authority who will enforce such guidelines. These restrictions can be frustrating, but, through the patient direction of the Father, the Fool begins to understand their purpose.

 5 -The Hierophant

Eventually, the Fool ventures out of his home into the wider world. He is exposed to the beliefs and traditions of his culture and begins his formal education. The Hierophant (5) represents the organized belief systems that begin to surround and inform the growing child.

 A Hierophant is someone who interprets arcane knowledge and mysteries. On Card 5 we see a religious figure blessing two acolytes. Perhaps he is inducting them into church membership. Although this image is religious, it is really a symbol for initiations of all kinds.

The child is trained in all the practices of his society and becomes part of a particular culture and worldview. He learns to identify with a group and discovers a sense of belonging. He enjoys learning the customs of his society and showing how well he can conform to them.

6 -The Lovers

Eventually, the Fool faces two new challenges. He experiences the powerful urge for sexual union with another person. Before, he was mainly self-centered. Now he feels the balancing tendency, pictured in the Lovers (6), to reach out and become half of a loving partnership. He yearns for relationship.

The Fool also needs to decide upon his own beliefs. It is well enough to conform while he learns and grows, but at some point, he must determine his own values if he is to be true to himself. He must start to question the received opinions of authority and peers.

The Fool's Journey - Part 1

The Fool’s Journey

The Fool's Journey is a metaphor for the journey through life. Each major arcana card stands for a stage on that journey - an experience that a person must incorporate to realize his wholeness.

0 –The Fool

We begin with the Fool (0), a card of beginnings. The Fool stands for each of us as we begin our journey of life. He is a fool because only a simple soul has the innocent faith to undertake such a journey with all its hazards and pain. At the start of his trip, the Fool is a newborn - fresh, open and spontaneous.

The figure on Card 0 has his arms flung wide, and his head held high. He is ready to embrace whatever comes his way, but he is also oblivious to the cliff edge he is about to cross. The Fool is unaware of the hardships he will face as he ventures out to learn the lessons of the world.

The Fool stands somewhat outside the rest of the major arcana. Zero is an unusual number. It rests in the exact middle of the number system - poised between the positive and negative. At birth, the Fool is set in the middle of his own individual universe. He is strangely empty (as is zero), but imbued with a desire to go forth and learn. This undertaking would seem to be folly, but is it?

The Magician and the High Priestess

On setting out, the Fool immediately encounters the Magician (1) and the High Priestess (2) - the great balancing forces that make up the perceived world. It is a feature of the material universe that as soon as we name some aspect of experience, we automatically evoke its opposite.

The Magician is the positive side. He represents the active, masculine power of creative impulse. He is also our conscious awareness. The Magician is the force that allows us to impact the world through a concentration of individual will and power.

 

The High Priestess is the negative side. She is the mysterious


unconscious. She provides the fertile ground in which creative events occur. The High Priestess is our unrealized potential waiting for an active principle to bring it to expression.

The terms positive and negative do not imply "good" and "bad." These are human distinctions that do not apply in the tarot. The Magician and the High Priestess are absolutely equal in value and importance. Each is necessary for balance. We may view the negative as our Shadow, but without shadows, we cannot see the light, and without a ground of potential, we cannot create.

The Empress

As he grows, the Fool becomes more and more aware of his surroundings. As with
most babies, he first recognizes his Mother - the warm, loving woman who nourishes and cares for him. He also comes to know Mother Earth, who nurtures him in a larger sense.

The Empress (3) represents the world of nature and sensation. A baby delights in exploring everything he touches, tastes and smells. He cannot get enough of the sights and sounds that enchant his senses. It is natural to delight in the abundant goodness of Mother Earth who surrounds us with her support.

LOVERS vi

VI – THE LOVERS

Sun sign period 21 May to 20 June 

Ruled by the astrological sign Gemini

Influenced by the planet Mercury which is represented by the card The Magician

 Archetype :  I think

Someone who understands and expresses the balance of the natural opposing forces within

The symbolism of The Lovers

The card shows a naked man and woman holding each another.  They are joined by a rainbow.  She is holding the moon (a symbol of the feminine) and he is holding the sun (a symbol of the masculine).  Behind them two trees, an oak and an apple tree, are growing together as one.  Two eagles are seen on the woman’s side and two butterflies are flying behind the man.  These symbols are all depicting two opposites or polarities, male and female.  It also shows the joining or coming together of these polarities.  Their nakedness reminds one of the story of Genesis and the mythical Fall of Man.  This card also evokes the picture of love and relationships.  In any creative relationship the principle of the union of male and female and the birth of the new creation applies.  A physical union gives birth to a new child; an emotional union gives birth to the soul of the relationship.

The highest expression of The Lovers

The highest expression of The Lovers is the sacred marriage between the feminine principle and masculine principle and the birth of a new consciousness.  It is the receptive feminine side brought into perfect harmony and balance with the active masculine aspect.  When these two principles are joined within one’s being, you are able to bring forth a new perception and a new, higher way of experiencing the seemingly opposing polarities as contained in the duality.  It is also the ability to attract synchronicity into one’s life and to be able to manifest that which you desire. The number 6 represents beauty, balance and harmony.

The challenges that The Lovers bring

The challenges that will be experienced include the conflict and emotion of a relationship between lovers.  It also includes the conflict between the thinking, analysing mind and the spiritual journey of acceptance and surrender.  The archetype of The Lovers is ‘I think” and that is where the challenge will really be felt.  The rational masculine principle employs the thinking mind and the sensitive feminine principle feels.  It is to find a balance between the thinking and the feeling aspects of oneself.

The focus for the time of The Lovers

It is to become aware of the sacred marriage of alchemy – the union of fire and water and the emergence of a spiritual identity and understanding. It is to focus on the Hieros Gamos, the spiritual marriage of the moon and the sun within oneself and one’s experience of life.  Become aware of the roles of your logical rational mind as well as the role that feelings play in your journey.  Do you allow your mind and its habitual thinking patterns to override your ‘gut’ feelings? Or do you ignore what your mind tells you completely and only live life based solely on your intuition?  It is to find a balance within and experience the power of synchronised attraction and manifestation.

An extract from the e-book Mystical Tarot - Archetypal Journey of the Self by Hettienne Grobler.  Now available for purchase here on this blogspot.

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Archetypal Tarot

ARCHETYPAL JOURNEY

This small work on the Tarot, focuses mainly on the Major Arcana and its archetypal  correspondences. I will also touch on the Alchemy of Tarot, but more on this in my other works. 

Correspondences are not linear, but circular.  Correspondences are associations which is stored in the universal and individual subconscious.  They form the very basis and structure of our world and our perception understanding thereof. 

The subconscious mind functions through the use of associative symbols.  It does not link these associations in any linear or chronological order.  These associations span all sense of time and place.

The universal mind contains all archetypes of all cultures, races and ages.  As the individual’s subconscious is stimulated by the use of these correspondences, he/she can access the universal mind and draw from that universal understanding.

Because the tarot implements archetypal and specific symbology, it naturally stimulates the universal consciousness.  With the added impetus of correspondences, the student’s cosmic understanding is awakened.  The broader the base of correspondences used, the wider the net is cast.

The subconscious mind feeds the conscious mind with universal archetypes and symbols and the conscious mind functions by association. We were able to learn to read and write only because of the mechanism of association.

Correspondences are not clear cut nor separate.  In the same way that all the colours are really only one colour – white – because white is the reflection of all colours, so does every person, regardless of any personal tarot image, correspond to all the other tarot images.

Correspondences spiral and when we perceive them, it is because we are recognizing in them one or more of our own angles or perceptions or perspectives.

Everything in this universe vibrates to a certain frequency of energy.  A specific colour vibrates to a specific note, to an emotion, to an expression and therefore to a universal archetype.  These archetypes (or aspects of the Divine) have been explained through the means of myths, fairy tales, angels and the tarot.  These archetypes illustrate the various aspects of the Divine as experienced from the vantage point of being in a personality and a human body.

These correspondences all flow forth from the One Archetype and they are infinite.  - an extract from the e-book Tarot, Mystical and Archetypal Journey

V – THE HIEROPHANT

Sun sign period 20 April to 20 May

Ruled by the astrological sign Taurus

Influenced by the planet Venus which corresponds to the tarot card III The Empress

Someone who is committed to imparting guidance and wisdom within the constraints of her chosen path

The teacher, religious or spiritual leader, mediator, counsellor

The Archetype : I have

The symbolism of The Hierophant

In the Robin Wood deck she illustrated The Hierophant as a Roman Catholic Bishop. Two acolytes kneel at his feet.  They both have tonsured heads to show their submission to his authority.  Hierophant is derived from the Greek word hierophantes, meaning ‘one who shows or brings to light.’  Traditionally this card is also known as the High Priest or Pope.  In all these cases this card represents paternal authority in spiritual matters. Five is the number of The Hierophant and humanity. It is regarded as the number of mediation as it falls right in the middle of the single digit numbers of one to nine.  It therefore indicates that humanity is the mediator between man and nature and the Hierophant the mediator between man and God.  For those who are still externalising their own divine wisdom and knowledge, it can be any teacher, saint or guru. The role of The Hierophant is to provide guidance and wisdom within the structures of the given exoteric path.

The highest expression of The Hierophant

The highest expression of The Hierophant is the Inner Voice, Teacher and Guide. You become your own mediator when you access and trust your intuition as the only authority of wisdom and understanding.  The complete internalisation of your Divine knowledge and understanding will set you free from the constraints and structures of any organised religion, philosophy or belief system.  You will become loyal to no-one other your Self.

The challenge that The Hierophant offers

The challenge facing The Hierophant is not to manipulate others through his understanding of the esoteric wisdom.  It is to pass the keys of knowledge on to those who come to him seeking guidance and understanding.  The shadow side of The Hierophant is the misuse of power and the control of the trusting followers.

The focus for the time of The Hierophant

This is a time to focus your awareness on to the question ‘where do my loyalties lie?’  It is a time to re-evaluate your belief systems and to ascertain whether they still serve you.  Are you clinging on to structures that you no longer support in your heart?  Are you manipulating yourself into living in the constraints of a group, be it religious or philosophical, which you have actually outgrown?  Listen to your own inner Hierophant and worship no false gods.

The Death Card

Discover yourself through tarot
(These are extracts from my Psychic Tarot column printed in Namaste Magazine).

The tarot is a collection of 78 symbolic pictures presented in a set of cards. It is divided into three sections, the Major Arcana, the Minor Arcana and the Court Cards.

Tarot cards are wonderfully filled with rich symbolic pictures and images. Various artists use their interpretation to express the journey of man as set out in the tarot. For those who would like to explore tarot there is a wide selection of thematic sets available, depending on your focus and frame of reference.

The tarot consists of universal and archetypal symbols that are found in the myths, fairy tales, and religions of the various cultures and traditions of the world. By studying the pictures you access the universal language of symbols and archetypes buried within your sub-conscious mind. It is a wonderful tool for opening up to your own psychic insights and guidance.


You can start to learn the tarot by studying one card a day. Spend time absorbing the colours of the card. Pay attention to the number and its significance. Copy the body language of the person depicted on the card! Body language has a power of its own. Allow the symbols on the card to speak to you. Follow any memories, images, thoughts or feelings that are evoked by these. Take your time, this might mean that you spend a whole week on one card, to decide how YOU interpret the meaning of the card. Take the message of the picked card with you throughout the day. Apply its teaching as you move through your daily routine. Journal your insights and impressions at the end of every day. Make a note of how applicable your interpretation of the card is to the various situations that you find yourself in. By the end of the week you should have gained quite a remarkable insight into that stage of the journey as expressed by the tarot card.


The Major Arcana consists of 22 cards. These depict everyman’s archetypal journey and its various stages of focus and unfoldment. Every trump card (the cards of the Major Arcana) expresses an archetype. One can explain an archetype as an arch characteristic of a certain personality type. As every yin has its yang, every trump in the Major Arcana has a companion card. Every trump card also corresponds to the astrological zodiac, the sun signs and the planets. They are also related to the chakras of the human body.


For every sign in the Zodiac there is a corresponding tarot card as well as for every planet. These corresponding tarot cards expresses an aspect or stage of the journey of experience and the card that rules the time period in which you were born, expresses your primary archetype – with its highest expression as well as its greatest challenges!

XIII DEATH
Sun sign period 24 October – 22 November
Ruled by Scorpio
Influenced by the planet Pluto which corresponds to XX Judgement

Someone who brings great change and transformation;
The Liberator, The Releaser

Archetype : I Need

The picture on this card depicts the Grim Reaper, the traditional symbol of the harvester of all life. But the picture also contains symbols of new life and regeneration. He carries a flag with the white rose on it. White symbolises new beginnings and the rose is a symbol of Life. The butterfly is a traditional symbol of rebirth. It is therefore quite obvious that Death does not mean death in the literal sense, but that it implies the end of the old and the beginning of the new.

As stated, Death does not indicate physical death, but the symbolic death of change and movement in life. It has often been said that there is only one constant in life and that is change. One of the greatest challenges for all of humanity is to learn to go with the flow. The human being prefers a secure and safe environment with rules and regulations mapped out. The average person spends a great amount of time and energy resisting and defending against change. But in this lies the imprisonment of the soul. Not wanting to change is inherently fear based. It teaches your conscious mind that change is not good and that the unknown future holds danger, be it through physical or emotional change. Life, however, has a way of teaching us that change is unavoidable. It is a matter of letting go of all rigid beliefs and expectations which allows you to be reborn on a daily basis.

Every time you let go of a fearful belief; every time you walk away from a negative mind set; every time you forgive, your lower self dies. Contrary to its appearance, the Death card is often referred to as the most spiritual card of the Tarot.

The highest expression of the Death card
Your soul is guiding you towards an embracing of continual change. Through change the personality achieves growth into wisdom and non-conditional love and acceptance of all expressions of life. This archetype brings into your experience and consciousness the possibility and acceptance of rebirth. In order to be reborn, one has to die to the old. As you are challenged by new perceptions and concepts, you will welcome the opportunity to let go of an old way of looking at the world in order to see with new eyes. This realisation will empower you to forgive and to let go! The result will be complete transformation and the butterfly will be able to break free from its chrysalis.

The challenge that Death offers

Is the challenge to forgive. Those influenced by this archetype has a tendency not to forgive nor to forget! The dark side of this archetype brings an inability to flow with life. It is also expressed as an unwillingness to let go of the past and to embrace a new and different future. It is often referred to as a ‘spiritual’ archetype and they have a tendency to become fanatical in whichever focus they choose. They also tend to choose one of the two polar extremes. For instance, you will find those influenced by Death in the camp of religious fanatics as well as staunch agnostics. The challenge is to accept the world of spirit, with all its expressions, into your reality without becoming completely fanatical and rigid in your understanding.

Death expresses the qualities of the suit of cups, which is the element of water. Water symbolises the emotional body and those influenced by Deathare also challenged to master the emotions.

A focus for the time of the Death card

This is a time in which you are advised to focus on welcoming in new beginnings; a new focus or a new perspective. You will be guided to take a hard look at the need for forgiveness in your life. You will be challenged to go with the flow and to take change in your stride!

Sources and references
The Angelic Year – Ambika Wauters
Tarot Dictionary and Compendium – Jana Riley
The Angels Within Us – John Randolph Price
Tarot, the Archetypal Journey - Hettienne Grobler