Category Archives: Rider-Waite Deck

March2017-3-The Magician

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I Will Be The Catalyst!

Last month the draw was Key VII-The Chariot and the need for control in all of our endeavors was paramount to the successful navigation of whatever these future months may bring.  This next draw reveals Key I-The Magician, one who bends and shapes energy, time and space to their will and becomes the natural catalyst for transformative change. 

Tarot Key 1 – The Magician

I am the master of two worlds
I am the conduit of Divine Inspiration and physical Desire
I have passed through the veil of the Fool
And have emerged transformed.

The perfect synthesis of As Above So Below
I am that which is attained at the end of Desire.

About this Key:

The Tarot Key I- The Magician, represents the perfect union of Divinity and Humanity. He has successfully traversed the leap of faith of the Fool- Key 0- and made the choice of pursuing the Path of Divine Inspiration, open and ready to serve as both conduit and generator. This card speaks to both the virtues and the vices of the mundane and the spiritual.

Without control over one’s lower nature, the Higher Self will never be realized. And, Ego driven spiritual practice will result in short-lived control, anchored neither in the real world or the higher realms of the spiritual. The Magician reminds us to look more closely at what energies you are sending out at an overt or physical level of effort and what messages are being sent more subtly, at the level of mind and Spirit. Perhaps the course of action requires a combining of energies to produce a new outlook or approach that will give issuance to that “magical” blending that is appropriate to making manifest the desired outcome.

The Magician is needed now more than ever. Being able to gain control over our knee-jerk reactions and sending them through the tempering and filtering of highest outcome for all catalyzes our will to action in an appropriate way of response. We become the Magician who has tapped into the mysteries of the collective and directs the flow of informed awakening where it will have the most impact and affect the largest change.

Rider-Waite Symbols:

When looking at the picture on the card we see the adept, poised and centered at the altar of magick. The tools of the four elements- the chalice of water; pentacle of earth;sword of air and wand of fire- are placed on a simple altar in what appears to be a lush and fertile space. Each of the elements are inert without the catalyzing direction and touch of the Magician’s direction and focus. The same elements- earth, air, fire and water are the components of manifest form and matter and in the hand of the Magician, become resonant and aligned with those parts within. Above the head of the Magician is the Lemniscate, the symbol of eternity and timelessness. This is an energy that moves with the expansive gates (opening) of past and future crossing and intersecting at the mid-point of the present. The message here is the continuum of conscious will and intention that is required to stimulate the flow of the celestial down into the manifest realm and be made useable for transformative work.

The right hand of the Magician is head aloft and holding a double pointed wand and the Left hand points downward a single finger extended in acknowledgment and release of the the energetic flow that falls from the great above and seeds the great below. The background of the card is colored Yellow, the color of intellect and mind. In weaving the magick and mastery of its downpour, the mind must be open and fully engaged in creating the blueprint for what will be evoked by will and intention.

Practical Application:

Tarot Key I-The Magician resonates with the control and Spirit of the individual- the singular one (1). The accomplishments are solely the work of the individual exploring and accessing the higher nature of their consciousness, awareness and resultant actions. 

We called forth the state of control in last month’s draw of the Chariot. And, although the perception of mastery is inferred in the regal and commanding stance of the Charioteer, true mastery over one’s self is the ultimate state of both control and the birthing of a magic that will stand the test of time and be in accord with the natural cycle of all things.

The Magician reminds us that we are the masters of our emotional and intellectual nature. We may either become the conduit that draws its inspiration from a resource that is limitless in its power for change or we can choose to turn away from that power and in the place of discipline allow the magick to rule us.

Focus this month on where your magick lies and what you can do to bring into balance a stream of consciousness that draws from the highest and feeds the fertile earth below to seed it with new growth and life. Will you call all parts of yourself into working tools that wield the power of understanding how the mind, will, heart and body may become one in unison with what is right action?

Next Post:
Key I-The Magician  in the Toth Deck

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February 1.2017-Card 2-The Chariot

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Where Do I Have Control?

Last month the draw was Key VIII-Strength and that set the tone for what was needed in this coming year. The second draw brings us to Key VII-The Chariot (and, yes, I promise that I did shuffle adequately). All in all this key following that of Strength is a call to learning how to navigate successfully as we stand anchored between polarized forces.

Tarot Key VII – The Chariot

Let me guide the task at hand
I hold within my center
All that is needed to
Produce what you most
Desire.

About this Key:

The Tarot Key VII- The Chariot – speaks to control and mastery that is hard won and only emerges when you step into your own power. Who and what you exert that mastery upon is guided purely by past experience and being anchored and centered in the space of balance acquired from the synthesis of opposition. The Chariot has come to a stopping point, the victory achieved and the charioteer stands comfortable in his own skin and needing no reins; holds instead, a wand of Higher Will. This Key is the story of your personal journey that has brought you to your current state of mastery of will and action.

Rider-Waite Symbols:

When looking at the picture on the card we see a draping of canopy patterned with six-pointed stars. A reference to the union of “as above, so below” and the fires of refined will that are born from the polarities of expansion and contraction, elevation and submersion.

This Key is abundant in symbology that sets the tone of celestial matters that have been brought into the arena manifest form (the charioteer, himself) and the vehicle-a four-sided cube-that offers the foundation of earth and the master of that realm-man/woman. The sphinxes sitting in front of the chariot are those pillars of polarization that are necessary to remain centered and synthesized so that mastery of Higher Will to action may flow from the tension between the two. They are mirror reflections of one another; each containing a portion of the other’s light or dark; distinct and separate; yet inherently one and the same.

The Hindu symbol on the face of the chariot; the red lingam and the yoni echo the nature of duality as the male and the female are united by the passion of will and action to recreate. The force of the male must have the form of the feminine to incubate a creation that is the higher expression of the other’s singularity.

On the shoulders of the Charioteer are two crescent moons. Looking at their placement and the diadem on his head holding the brilliant starlight the vision of the phases of the moon and the process of new beginnings (and reinvention) that bring the central visage of fullness to stand as master and holder of an equilibrium that must, in its cyclical nature, cull away and release in the waning darkness all that is non-productive towards Higher Will and the ultimate expression of self-control.

Practical Application:

Astrologically, Tarot Key VII-The Chariot has correspondence to the sign of Cancer. Cancer is of the Cardinal (initiating and catalytic) modality and is of the Water (emotion and soul) element. This sign is strongly tied to loyalty and commitment to those considered family and home. The ruling planet of Cancer is the Moon, Herself and in the realm of the Chariot, mastery of self so that the willful intention of our Higher SELF may come forth from the depths of our Soul’s Being is the goal.

We aligned with the strength within and now self-control must be maintained, lest we fall prey to distraction and squandering of our energies. This Key is a reminder of all the challenges that have befallen us on our journey towards self-expression. All of the challenges that have taken us off-course  and all of the challenges that have forced us to favor one polarity over the other imbalance and scattered energy.

The Chariot tells us that we are able to remain firmly anchored in the foundational vehicle that carries us forward trusting our innate and intuitive nature to relinquish the tight hold of reins that give the illusion of control. And, in their place we stand under the blessing of the universal laws of the celestial as above, so below; as within, so without the unity of my power in all of the worlds holds dominion.

Focus this month on where your Chariot has taken you and how you have come to master what would unseat you. Do you stand centered by the disparate parts of yourself that have found their balance in the polarized truth they have revealed? How will you use this mastery to refine the road ahead?

Dig Deeper:
To strengthen your resolve, try out the Knot of Time Spread using the Key VIII-Strength.

Next Post:
Key VII-The Chariot  in the Toth Deck

January 1.2017-Card 1-Strength

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What is the theme for this year?

Every year on January 1st, I draw a card from the Major Arcana selection to ask the question that will set the tone for your year. Woke up this morning and sat quietly thinking what that question should be to begin this year’s work. So many things in flux this year and so much work needed, both on myself and within the larger community.

And, so I settled into the question of what the theme of the year would be. Shuffle the cards, deep breath, reach out with anticipation and draw from the pile. I hold the card face away just for a moment and then turn it over….

Tarot Key VIII – Strength…. Yep, that’s about right. Strength is exactly what will be needed to navigate this new year.

Solid foundations must be crafted upon which to stand;
Trust in the process, resolve is at hand;
Rise above limitation and learn from your peers;
Empower yourself with wisdom honed from your fears;
Notice the strides that have been taken and make note of missteps;
Gather to you all your courage and worry not about safety nets;
The answers that you seek are those that you already know;
Honor what you have created and stand in truth as……
                        The Strength within you grows.

About this Key:

The Tarot Key VIII- Strength– tells the tale of the eternal quest of beauty to tame the beast. If we think in terms of the lower, baser nature of our desires and the more refined, more human(e) of those desires we can transcend and bring to a point of mastery those energies we consider less desirable.

When looking at the picture on the card we see the the sacred feminine, wreathed and wrapped in nature herself fearlessly holding the mouth of the Lion shut. He,seeming to be held within the grip of her mastery over him exerting neither force nor overt control over what could be potentially a fatal interaction.

When we take these ideas and apply them to the realm of the mundane, we are reminded of the lesson of gentle force and persistence of calm that will quiet and diffuse most volatile situations. The triumphant, having first learned to calm themselves and approach from a level-headed perspective and the source of irritation relaxing under this approach and allowing a bond to be made that is amicable to both parties.

Rider-Waite Symbols:

The symbol of the Lemniscate strategically placed over the woman’s head speaks of the force of flow that emanates from the Higher Self when we are able to face our fears, or those things in the guise of a destructive nature- and allow will and force to be brought down to a place where it is both contained and held in its natural state. This is the eternal nature and confinement of time that allow the Higher and Lower natures to fuse together, giving the fragile nature (the feminine aspect) the space in which to operate in its true form of coagulation and structure.

Practical Application This Year:

The Tarot Key, Strength is one of my favorite cards in the deck. I see its energy as that of resolve and courage meeting on equal ground having gained mastery of what has been that which I have avoided and run from for fear of being consumed. It is the wildness that runs always very close akin to the reserve of holding back. A wildness that once brought into a state of controlled use can be directed towards whatever needs release, destruction
or mastery.

Strength is a gift that we take for granted. Strength is what calls us to purposeful action. Strength reminds us that courage to speak our truths also requires self-discipline and control of what would otherwise tear apart and shred in random destruction that is neither productive, nor empowering.

Strength is what we need to cultivate this year to remain anchored in our power and strength is what renders inert what challenges our authority and dominion.

Next Post:
Key VIII-Strength in the Toth Deck
The Knot of Time Spread