Brian's Tarot Page - Part II |
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In the last section, we discussed how the general "story line" of the minor arcana progresses from Ace to Ten, with some discussion of the Kabalistic sephiroth, or "emanations" of Creation.
Now, lets take a look at the individual suits, and the stories told within.
First, however, lets review the complete spread of Tarot Minor Arcana: [bring graphic to top of page]
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Now let us look at the individual suits of Pentacles, Cups, Wands, and Swords, and their stories. [top of page]
PENTACLES
Pentacles, also known as Stones, Coins, and Discs, represent the element of Earth. Earth is the physicality of the universe, the substance. It is the ground beneath our feet and the money in our wallets. Its the "down to earth" practical stuff.
Aces are the influx of new energy, so our story of Pentacles begins with an infusion of elemental Earth power. New wealth, new stability, etc. Twos, as stated before, are balance, and the beginning of the process of Creation ("force"). So, with an infusion of elemental Earth, the child here must figure out how to balance Earth (practicality, responsibility) with other things, such as play. How does one do this? Well, with work, of course (especially in the element of Earth, which is very "hands on"). Three is the first completion, and it demonstrates that in order to succeed in Earth, one must work.
With any amount of work, something is accomplished, and, one hopes, it is something of value. Knowing that success requires work, in order to be successful one must protect their work. That is the Four. We hold onto something of value, to protect it. But, as with anything unbalanced, in this case holding on too tightly will cause a loss of that thing. Or, at least, the worry of loosing the thing becomes overwhelming, so that, in the case of Pentacles, the overwhelming thought of the Five is a loss of all that is Earth; money, home, security. This is literally being left out in the cold. To get beyond this fear of loss, one must regain a sense of the true value of that which we pursue. The Six is a turn towards the realization that the only things worth holding onto are also worth sharing. The experience of a loss of everything reinforces a desire to share.
At this point, the Seven, we see the vision of what Pentacles (and Earth) is all about. Hard work, yes, but also rewards for that work. Any crop planted can be harvested, and you cannot harvest a crop that has not been planted. With this understanding, the next step is to improve and learn the skills to do the work. The Eight is all about learning the skills to be truly successful. Now, at first look, one would think that the Eight and Three of Pentacles should be switched, so that the younger boy occurs earlier in the story. However, the Three is part of the "higher intelligence", the more symbolic and archetypal level. The Three is more the concept of hard work than the actual work itself. We arrive at the Eight only after experiencing the Four through Seven, because it takes a certain level of wisdom to realize that in order to succeed, we must work on the skills to succeed. We must train ourselves to succeed. It is also important to realize at this point that the goal is gotten through working, and not the work itself. Early on, Pentacles can see nothing beyond the work; later, after experiencing the Seven and the vision of reward, the work itself is secondary to the actual goal.
The Nine of Pentacles shows a lady tending her garden, safe and secure behind her gilded gates. The work is being done, the process near completion. But its a major step between completing the work and actually obtaining the goal. Beyond the gates of her garden, the world is large and vast, and scary. But in order to reach the goal, which for Pentacles is ultimately security and stability, she must step out of her garden; the security she feels now is not true, as (symbolized by the gate) there is still a threat to that stability (even if unseen, or even just imagined). Only after leaving the protection of the garden, of truly building a home and family and a sense of internal security (as opposed to the external security of the gated garden), is the goal obtained. In the Ten, we see an old man (who looks an awful lot like the worker in the Three of Pentacles) with a family and a large, solid home. [back]
CUPS
Cups represent the element of Water, the depths of the emotions, like the mermaid swimming in the overflowing goblet in the Ace. The Ace is the influx of elemental Water energy, an spewing forth from a fresh, internal, open well. When this energy moves into the Two, it, like all other elements in the second sphere, moves towards balance, or at least the desire of balance. But this is not romance, per se, for this goes deeper than that. In fact, this desired partnership is so deep that its barely expressible in the physical world, not even to the mind of he or she who experiences the Ace. It is overwhelming, none the less. And, as the vision of the Three shows, its joyous, happy, and a general good thing to pursue. The Three is careless, joyous, jubilant, and completely irrational. The three girls dance for no reason other than the joy of the dance.
After experiencing this overwhelming, undescribable emotional joy, much of the rest of the world pales. In the Four, we see our young hero dissatisfied. But it is a deep dissatisfaction. Not only does he not want the three golden cups before him, but even the ideal, perfect cup, whatever that represents, no longer holds any joy. With the loss of joy, of satisfaction, comes loss in an almost pure form. In the Five of Cups, our hero's outlook is bleak. All that he sees is the spilt cups before him, the dark skies, the cloak he huddles in that offers, we get the feeling, inadequate protection from the brewing storm. However, in his misery he's missing the fact that all is not lost, as there are two full chalices behind him.
All matters of the heart are difficult to speak of. Why else would humans resort to poetry? This journey of Cups that we are on deals with that which is hard or impossible to describe. This may be the cause our hero's pain; he has felt something, but cannot grasp it with the adult mind. So, the next step is to return to the innocence of youth. The Six of Cups is nostalgia, is the return to simpler times, when the emotions were closer to the waking mind than they perhaps are to an adult. This is a journey to the Inner Child. This offers the insight needed for the vision of Cups, which is in the realm of dreams. The strength of the irrational mind is intuition. The Seven of Cups shows us the Dreamer, who is open to possibilities that the rational mind would be incapable of grasping. This vision also opens up the possibility for the work required to complete the journey of Cups. This journey, seen in the Eight, is a quest into the depths, and heights, of the subconscious. Our hero turns his back upon the eight cups of the world and journeys up the mountain, questing perhaps for the Moon herself. But an interesting point was made to me regarding this card; if you look at the arrangement of the eight cups, it appears as if one is missing. Perhaps our hero, remembering the lesson of the Five, has opened his perception up, and will not miss another full cup. Perhaps, hidden in his travel cloak, is another cup. He is questing for the moon, yes, but he will not give up, completely, the world. This could, in fact, be the anchor he'll require to return to the world.
The Nine of Cups is joy, and satisfaction. But, unlike the Three, it is joy with knowledge. Our hero has completed his quest, has opened himself up to that wellspring of Water energy from the Ace, and is able to be satisfied. This is an internal satisfaction. The next, and final step, is to take the internal joy and release it to the world, making it also external. The Ten of Cups is the happy home. Unlike the Ten of Pentacles, this happiness has very little to do with the actual physicality of the world. Our joyous hero and his family are not surrounded by walls, but by a rainbow. [Back]
WANDS
Wands, also called Staves, in the Robin Wood Deck (and other "standard" Tarot decks) represents Fire, the power of passion, the fire in the blood, the strength of will, that spark of life that causes an acorn burst from the soil and become a mighty oak. We immediately see that spark in Robin's Ace of Wands, as we can see the double helix of DNA, the building block of life as we know it, within the flaming wand. So, now you have this influx of life force; now where does it go? This power is a longing to burst forth, to sprout and grow. In the Two, we see a youth, looking longingly upon, literally, the world. He has the overwhelming need to explore, to experience it all. The desire for balance, here, comes in the form of balance the fire within with the fire without, to expand one's own self into the wide open world. So, our hero of Wands sends forth his energy, and, after many years, sees his energy return to him (the Three of Wands), in the form of ships. "A ha!" says he, "there is a world out there with exotic spices and riches untold! My ships have returned with such treasures!" The interconnection of the individual and the world is demonstrated, the fire burning within also burns without, and is shared. But now what? Energy sent out is returned, on the higher, spiritual level, but now to integrate that growing passion into one's life...?
The Four shows the first attempt at integration, which is to feed the loins. Marriage here is a precursor to lust, to sex, to bursting forth of fire energy in the form of sexual passion. Unfortunately, the passion for sex is also the passion for strife and violence. In fact, at this stage it is pure passion. Love doesn't play a role in the suit of Wands, being instead a creature of Cups. The Five of Wands, then, is strife for strife's sake. Meaningless intense combat. For this discussion of the Minor Arcana, we will not discuss the value or validity of violence, accepting instead that violence exists, and is fed by passion and the force of Fire. Fire is also a symbol of Chaos, after all. And in the story of our hero of Wands, the experience of the Five of Wands leads to the Six of Wands, which shows our hero returning victorious from some far off battle. The first true experience of the world beyond us is often one of strife, but through this experience of violence we grown stronger, and it becomes possible to overcome violence. And, upon returning from foreign battles, our hero is able, in the Seven, to fend off a larger force who have him besieged. The strength, then, of the experience of Wands is to harness that power within. If you'll look at our hero's staff, you'll see that the crystals glow with his power, and that alone is able to protect him, even as he is unarmored (heck, he's barely clothed!)
The quest of Wands, seen in the Eight, is nothing less than then launching of a barrage of rockets into the heavens. Our hero no longer needs to fight the world; his goal is to integrate with it. To experience it. To explode into the world like the eight rockets of the card. The path and story of Wands is not an easy one, ultimately. Our hero is attempting to harness a huge internal power. The same power that can not only lift a Saturn V rocket out of the solar system, but can also explode like an atomic bomb, destroying everything around. And it is an unending story, since Chaos is never satisfied, even if harnessed. At the Nine, our hero is taking a well deserved rest. But, in no way, shape, or form is he retiring. He is resting up for the next step.
Here, we see that not all the suits end happily. This is an indirect way of stressing the value of balance. In the Ten of Wands, we see that unbalanced Fire energy leads to a need to do it all. Fire feeds itself, as well as other things. The Ten of Wands shows our hero overburdened, trying to take a load that is much too large for him to the cottage down the hill. Unlike Pentacles and Cups, there is no "happily ever after" for our hero of Wands.[Back]
SWORDS
Finally, we come to the suit of Swords, which in the "standard" Tarot decks is the element of Air. So, what does the story of pure intellect and mental energy look like? Well, a brief scan of the cards will show that its pretty bleak. The happiest card of the bunch is the Ace, with its light, airy clouds and a shining blade full of promise. Air is the element of mental insight, perception, ideas, thought. The Ace, then, is an influx of new mental energy, which often can be a very good thing. In the process of the cards, however, the first step after the Ace is rather dark. The Two shows a lady, blind folded, holding two large swords. The rest of the world appears to be in ruins. The first balancing act of the story of Swords is in choosing between options, especially when, on the mental level, each option is as good, and as bad, as any other. Both swords are equally long, equally sharp, equally heavy. Even if they looked different, which they don't, she who holds them would not be able to see the difference. Both will cut you just as badly. Which one do you choose? Well, the mind, left to its own, will see that any choice is a bad choice. Even no choice is a bad choice. The mind, left to its own and not balanced with the other elements, will see doom. The first out and out "doom" card, then, is the Three of Swords, the end of the first cycle towards realization of this suit. Where ever you turn, the heart will be pierced.
After such an experience as the Three, the traveler of the road of Swords requires a rest. The Four, then, is quietude, silence, rest. Never mind that it is the rest of the grave, the sleep of the dead. It is still a much needed recuperation, a shutting down of the mental facilities. Upon healing from the first two cards, the traveler of the path of Swords comes into the conflict. Unlike the hero of Wands, our hero of Swords knows that direct conflict brings pain. Mentally, we can picture exactly how bad such pain can be. So, being shy of direct conflict, the hero of Swords uses stealth and "loopholes" to win her battle. In the Five of Swords, she finds these swords on the beach, "unclaimed", and so takes them. Why not? "Oh," says she, "I didn't see those men on the beach with me. Besides, you can't prove that the swords I found actually belonged to them." This is a demonstration of the mind's ability to justify itself. Unfortunately, this will never bring satisfaction. To balance the Five, the hero of Swords must, for once, let go of her mental control and allow her self to be guided by an unseen force to the next stage (Six of Swords). In the original series of Star Trek, Spock (a very Sword-like individual) demonstrated the turn about shown in the Six quite marvelously, in the episode The Galileo Seven, when he sets the remaining bit of fuel on the shuttle on fire, to signal the Enterprise of their location. A seemingly irrational thing to do, except for the fact that no other "logical" solution was available. In order to move forward, logically there are times when we must let go of logic.
The strength of the mind, of Air energy, is in planning, plotting, and, yes, scheming. The Seven shows the strength of Swords, which is stealth and thievery. Being led blindly towards a goal (the Six), while an Air thing, is not the direction Air will ultimately go. The mind will ultimately plan its way, going mentally over every possibility, and, hopefully, choosing the best path. Unfortunately, unbalanced mind's idea of the best path will not necessarily fit well with the heart. The quest of Swords, as mentioned in the description of Eights above, is a dead end. Our hero of Swords has become trapped by her mental processes. Blind folded, she is trapped within the confines of her mind.
Nines show a suit in its potential, just before culmination. The Nine of Swords is the last chance our hero has before facing the fate foreshadowed in the Three. She is haunted by nightmares, as mentally she knows what's coming, and knows that if she proceeds along the Sword path, there is no escape from the end of the Sword path. And that end, in the Ten of Swords, is perhaps the scariest (and bloodiest) cards in the Tarot, Major or Minor Arcana. This is pure, unbridled, mental anguish, pain, despair. The mind, if undisturbed by the other three elements, will always lead to this end.
I will, at this point, note that this card should only very, very rarely be read as anything but a warning. The future is not set in stone. If this card comes up in a reading you are doing, remember that any terrible fate can be avoided, if changes to the current direction are made. The Titanic could've been saved if it had been turned half a degree, assuming early enough warning. If you are doing readings for yourself or others, or having a reading done, and this, or any other "distasteful" card comes up, you should take the card and set it aside, and draw a new one. This simple act can change the current energies, and therefore effect the future.[Back]
So, there you have it. Ten numbers, four suits, four "stories".
The descriptions and opinions expressed here are just that, my opinions and insights. Feel free to disagree on any point, please! In fact, feel free to let me know!