EPIPHANY! A New Take on the Major Arcana

Even better:

In my typical fashion, I'm going to revise myself because I'm making this up as I go along. Let's tweak the "stands between" formula. How about,

"#1 NEEDS #2 TO ACHIEVE #3" ... so, now,


1. ORIGIN. "In the realm of Grounding and Security, Ability needs Wisdom to Achieve Creation."

2. INSPIRATION. "In the realm of Relationships and Emotions, Personal Ambition needs Social Mores to inform Life Choices."

3. POWER. "In the realm of Energy and Vitality, Action needs Determination to Acquire Knowledge."

4. TURNING POINT. "In the Realm of Love and Balance, Random chance needs Karma to Gain New Perspectives."

5. TRANSFORMATION. "In the Realm of Communication and Healing, Physical Transformation needs Harmony to Confront Temptation."

6. EPIPHANY. "In the Realm of Understanding, Upheaval needs Hope to face the Unknown."

7. DESTINY. "In the realm of Transcendence, Illumination needs Rebirth to achieve Nirvana."




I don't know if I am going to be able to come up with anything better than this for a while.

dangerdork said:

I'm still re-examining the original perspective, and I think between the Astrological correspondences and the Chakras, what's resonating most for me are the Chakras. They almost make me want to re-title the stations, or at least adjust the perspective to further reflect these phases:

# / Station / Chakra / Function / Element

1 | Origin | Root | Grounding/Security | Earth
2 | Inspiration | Sacral | Relationships/Emotions | Water
3 | Power | Navel | Energy/Vitality | Fire
4 | Turning Point | Heart | Balance/Love | Air
5 | Transformation | Throat | Communication/Healing | Ether
6 | Epiphany | Third Eye | Intuition/Understanding | Light
7 | Destiny | Crown | Enlightenment/Transcendence | Thought

(Adapted from: https://traminperth.files.wordpress.com/2013/07/chakra-chart-1.jpg and others)

This is really working for me. I think I may back off astrology a bit and instead chase the rabbit down the trail of Eastern thought. I really love how well this group of seven fits with Lucas' post about the Buddha's meditation, and further with Vedic principles of "Seven Stages of Life:" https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Seven_stages_(Yogi) , "of Knowledge:" http://www.arhantayoga.org/seven-stages-of-knowledge/ , etc.

I'm going to go out on a limb and say, I wonder if indeed it's these older, Eastern principles of esoteric thought that trickled down into the tarot from antiquity, rather than the Western, Hellenic school of thought - or if perhaps the tarot is some Medieval mashup of both.

Click to expand...

I don't know if you understand how it feels for mew to be a oart of this. IT's GRAND. And also, yes, yes, yes, this is what I believe, and meant! And your association of the cards with planets, and zodicas... here's my little bullet. I don't think taht's how the systems connect. It just doesn't work. Again, I like the idea of also asociating planets with each station.

And as for "ether" that element has gone through a lot history. Again, humanity trys to learn about the four, but when greeks found out that the vedic elements included the fifth "void" or sometimes "sound" plato added ether, the least dense element (less than fire!), which was originally thought of to be the air gods breathed, but transformed into light, or spirit (which is why I like to replace it with light or energy in my fictional fantasy worlds, sometimes), but that's more of a misinterpretation, in my opinion.

Also, I stick with my idea of the cardinal-fixed-mutable, and how the zodics rest within the origin, inspiration, power, tranformation stations.

Also, I'm currently fourteen and much better socially. I got a reading for my school year that I'm gonna come out of my shell. I have some big plans involving people, too. Like we've said before, people accomplish one stage of the soul in seven years. I'm currently on power, orthe naval chakra! SO, taht's just back-up for what weve been saying, and once you finsih the naval chakra at the age of 21, you need to TRY to go through the next steps, or you won't spirit science describes it as a half step.

BT, something interesting is taht when I first saw the three rows, I thought of them as three diffeent civilizations; egypt, rome, and asia, in that order.

Dangerdork, you are on fire.

dangerdork said:

Let's go back to the triads again. I've been trying to fit the round peg in the square hole and make each set of three fit the Cardinal/Fixed/Mutable lens, and getting bogged down.

Click to expand...

dangerdork said:

Maybe there's still hope for Cardinal/Fixed/Mutable, but

Click to expand...

Lucas Prince of Cats said:

your association of the cards with planets, and zodicas... here's my little bullet. I don't think taht's how the systems connect.

Click to expand...

Yup, it wasn't working.

Makes me think: what if philosophies have their youth and middle age and dotage - if they have a lifespan, like trees (and all the rest of us)? So then... astrology was in its prime for a millennium or so, from about 300 BCE (not sure of my dates) through the Middle Ages and into the 20th C - but now is ageing, and the chakras system (lost my vocabulary for a moment, sorry) is coming into its prime. This in the West of course. Thinking aloud here... maybe it's more of a cycle, because of course this "youth" of a philosophy is certainly not in its early years (centuries!) in the East. Hm.

... And YOU talk about making it up as you go along.

Ahem. Anyway.

Lucas Prince of Cats said:

Like we've said before, people accomplish one stage of the soul in seven years.

Click to expand...

I heard this is why it's "bad luck" to break a mirror. The mirror holds your soul (you can see that by looking at your reflection) and so your soul is lost when the mirror breaks - and a soul takes seven years to grow.

You're fourteen years old, Lucas?


ETA: That PDF is beautiful. My first thought was a spread cloth! Say, just large enough for cards to sit with the title borders showing above and below them. There's a 21-card spread in this, or has that been said already? Even smaller spreads could be used on the same background.

New handout

Sorry I didn't have time to respond to your most excellent recent posts today. I did make THIS, however (see attachment).

It reads from bottom to top, to reflect the chakras

dangerdork said:

Sorry I didn't have time to respond to your most excellent recent posts today. I did make THIS, however (see attachment).

It reads from bottom to top, to reflect the chakras

Click to expand...

That, what you made, is perfect! IT is an amazing explanation!

MandMaud said:

Makes me think: what if philosophies have their youth and middle age and dotage - if they have a lifespan, like trees (and all the rest of us)? So then... astrology was in its prime for a millennium or so, from about 300 BCE (not sure of my dates) through the Middle Ages and into the 20th C - but now is ageing, and the chakras system (lost my vocabulary for a moment, sorry) is coming into its prime. This in the West of course. Thinking aloud here... maybe it's more of a cycle, because of course this "youth" of a philosophy is certainly not in its early years (centuries!) in the East. Hm.

... And YOU talk about making it up as you go along.

Ahem. Anyway.



I heard this is why it's "bad luck" to break a mirror. The mirror holds your soul (you can see that by looking at your reflection) and so your soul is lost when the mirror breaks - and a soul takes seven years to grow.

You're fourteen years old, Lucas?


ETA: That PDF is beautiful. My first thought was a spread cloth! Say, just large enough for cards to sit with the title borders showing above and below them. There's a 21-card spread in this, or has that been said already? Even smaller spreads could be used on the same background.

Click to expand...

So first, I think it's a cycle, and it's simply being reborn in a new age, or THE new age of aquairus. In it's elderly years, it's very misinterpretated, and kind of "beaten up". Think of the mother/earth goddess, and how she rebirths the god or horned-god once it dies into it's birth, so it's just a big cycle, and the people of the new age hope to make sure it goes as planned, and the philosopy and spirituality spreads.

Then, as for your thing about the mirror, I like hearing that little tale. I've never known why, and that's very interesting! So, like I said before, every human conquers the first three parts of the soul, so for a 21 year-old, they have accomplished pride (which the mirror may symbolize), and power, but also, the first three chakras can represent the human ego, and self (also, the mriror can represent the second chakras stuff), so perhaps taht could go with anyone of age. Now, the thing is, some people caoulds consider all the chakras individual souls, depending on what "soul" means to you. For the japanese, the gods are made of 4 souls. So, I think it's a symbolic metaphor, that fits really well. New agers believe that the betyter your chakra, the better taht area of life.

Lucas Prince of Cats said:

I don't know if you understand how it feels for mew to be a oart of this. IT's GRAND. And also, yes, yes, yes, this is what I believe, and meant!

Also, I'm currently fourteen and much better socially. I got a reading for my school year that I'm gonna come out of my shell. I have some big plans involving people, too.

Click to expand...

I think you're doing a fine job of "coming out of your shell" lol. I'm thrilled that you're so enthusiastic about tarot and learning, and about participating in this thread.

I was about your age (13 or 14) when I got my first tarot deck and started learning about various (what we called "occult" back then) schools of thought - out of all that stuff, tarot is the one thing that really "stuck," because as I got older my interests turned to things like art, mythology, and storytelling... and tarot incorporates all of those.

You're obviously a bright guy and love new ideas, so I look forward to hearing more of your perspectives here.

Lucas Prince of Cats said:

BT, something interesting is taht when I first saw the three rows, I thought of them as three diffeent civilizations; egypt, rome, and asia, in that order.

Click to expand...

I think I can see some of the connections. Might be interesting to start thinking about maternalistic vs paternalistic societies, monism vs. Dualism in religious thought.

I very highly recommend you find a copy of Joseph Campbell's "The Masks of God," a 4-volume set that examines primitive, oriental, occidental and creative mythological systems. I'm sure you can find it at the library or online, or very cheaply used at amazon. It's a pretty daunting amount of reading, but not any more reading than trying to tackle, say the Harry Potter or Song of Ice and Fire series.

I was reading lots of Joseph Campbell when I came up with the Seven Stations perspective, and found it very inspiring and stimulating. Or you might even try Campbell's conceptual predecessor, Sir James Frazier's "The Golden Bough." Exciting stuff.

MandMaud said:

Dangerdork, you are on fire.

ETA: That PDF is beautiful. My first thought was a spread cloth! Say, just large enough for cards to sit with the title borders showing above and below them. There's a 21-card spread in this, or has that been said already? Even smaller spreads could be used on the same background.

Click to expand...

(Blushing) I'm also overjoyed with the PDF I did yesterday.

I think the PDF you refer to would fit the original spread described on page 2 of this thread.

I'm really enjoying the back-and-forth between you and Lucas.

It looks like this thread has gotten several hundred views over the past week or so. I wish (AHEM!!) a few more people would chime in.