Turning the Wheel

The Wheel of Fortune, the 11th card in this Tarot Journey.



Sometimes you just get lucky - you spin the wheel and the right number appears. This is a card of luck - almost always good luck – you are going to get what you want, something unexpected and good is coming your way.



I like the Alice in Wonderland round about, which gives you the giddy feel that good luck can bring.



However the reason I liked the spider web image, which is more sinister than other images out there, is because this is a kind of karmic good luck. So if you have done good, good luck is coming. But if you have done bad, then it’s karmic payoff time… So be kind when you break up, because Karma is a tough love goddess…

Going it alone

The Hermit is a very clear card - it means a time for turning inwards, for introspection and quiet solitude. But the hermit portrayed is not sitting on his lonesome, looking for enlightenment. Instead he is out with his lamp, gathering information, analyzing, actively contemplating. The Hermit is about searching for knowledge, being on a quest for enlightenment. Once when a woman asked me if her new relationship was going to work, and the Hermit card came up, We both looked at each other and said, ‘No.’ Sometimes we need to answer questions within before we can reconnect with others.



I really like the inner child variation on the hermit – here we have a Snow White having collapsed after the queen gives her the poisoned apple. One thing the inner child card talks about it wise discrimination. Don’t bite every apple that’s offered. Don’t live in fear, but do think about who is offering you things and why. If a queen is out to get you, then don’t pretend she isn’t. This version encourages you to be more discriminating in your choice of friends and business associates. Give yourself time to think before you act.

Strong in the way that counts

What is the difference between the chariot and strength? This has a more feminine energy, despite being such a masculine word. It also talks about control, but has compassion and stability, kindness and moderation as being part of it.



The chariot is all about wresting control, harnessing energy, driving force. Strength on the other hand has more to do with inner strength, self discipline, a softer, slower, and more persevering approach. The Strength card often portrays a Woman and a Lion: the Lion representing our instinctive animal nature or id, and the Woman our 'higher' or elevated self. It is a parable that physical strength alone is not enough and spiritual or mental strength is often enough to conquer the wild animal.



The inner child cards show us Beauty and the Beast, two kinds of strength that have to merge to find their true face. She has to see beyond the surface, he has to learn humility (in the beginning, he is cursed to be a beast because he is so arrogant, a superficial strength, but with no compassion or grace.)

Driving in a new direction

This is what happens when a tarot reader (or this tarot reader!) tries to stay systematic. All the time I have a small voice nagging at the back of my head saying, it’s time to write more about chariot, it’s time to write about the chariot, but instead, the minor court cards are hold all my interest. The precise difference between a page of cups and a page of wands, the nuances that each implies, the interesting places they are falling in my readings… where was I? Oh, I know where, not writing about the Chariot!

And then recently, for the first time ever, I had not one, not two but three cancellations in one week. So I do what I call a quick draw, and pull out one card, just to tell me what’s going on, and what do I get? The Chariot. And I look at it dumbfounded.



Well that’s what the chariot is, pulling disparate interests together. Chariots remind me of old movies like Ben Hur, with one strong rider, pitting his/her will and moving the horses the way s/he wants them to go. I want to give interesting tarot readings, but if I let the marketing down, the readings won’t come. So I have to harness both energies – the actual work, and then getting the message out there, so the work can happen. And that’s what I love about tarot – how easily it lets these epiphanies happen.

So on to a more generalized reading of the Chariot.

We have 4 pieces – 2 animals, one chariot and one rider, and we want them all to move in the same direction. There are 100 things that can distract us – a small rock in the wheel can make everything bumpier and harder to manage, let alone managing the livestock!

What do we need? Control. Any situation has different wants needs and circumstances and we need to bring them all together under your control.

How do we do this? Confidence, skill and motivation.

This card can signify that things were stagnant and you need to find that inspiration or motivation to get them moving again. Or that things are pulling in different directions, and if you want them to go the way you need, you are going to have to flex some muscles (physical or emotional) to get them on the right path.



The inner child cards have an interesting spin on the Chariot, giving us instead Peter Pan’s boat. The boat, like the Chariot, has different people wanting it to go in different directions. Some of those directions are malevolent – like the evil Captain Hooks desires. But with energy and commitment, and some sneaky skills and luck (never underestimate the value of luck) you can win the day. Sometimes you need to get the group on your side (in the traditional cards it appears to all rest on one solid individual, but in this version it’s clearly everyone lending their fragile and particular skills to get what the group needs) but harnessing everyone’s energy and then leading it, will get you want you want.

Love shows us the way

The tarot cards are on a journey, each balancing or playing off the one before it. If the Hierophant was group rules and beliefs, the lovers are personal beliefs and commitments – it doesn’t get much more intimate than lovers!

People generally like getting this card, which I have found comes up in many more readings than other cards. Well, love, relationships, intimacy, it’s a core desire and one which brings many people to tarot readings, so it’s not surprising that it comes up often.

Also it’s an image and card that most people can interpret for themselves. The woman who recently separated from her husband gets the Lovers card upside down in her reading – you don’t need to be an exceptional Tarot reader to figure out what that meant…



Inner child card series represents the Lovers as Hansel and Gretel in the woods – and I like that image - sometimes when we fall in love, we feel so young and vulnerable, like we're lost in the woods. The card warns that there will be genuine obstacles in the way, that love can have weakness (the father who allows himself to be convinced to let the children go) as well as strength (the siblings who see each other through) and greed - shiny things (or candy) can distract us and lead us astray. But love, the intangible, can guide us and lead us to safety.


Love is also about choice – you chose one person to love, you give up all those other fish in the sea. The above image isn't a Tarot card, but I liked it because it shows that to chose Love, sometimes you have to turn your back on other options.

Sometimes the choice is not about a lover per se, but a very important aspect of your life – one girl got the Lovers card when she wanted to know if she should go to a better college far away or a less established one closer to her family. She saw it and immediately said, which one will I find my true love at? But I said, in this case it’s not about Love, it’s about choice. You are about to make a profound choice, the selection of which will bring certain options into your life and eliminate others. We hate that idea, that options are closing/leaving, but that is one of the aspects of love – I chose You, so I can’t have anyone else…

Society's rules and what to do with them...

If the Emperor is will and authority, then the Hierophant is rules and regulations. The Hierophant is the male version of the High Priestess. And what does ‘Hierophant’ mean in any case? In the dictionary, hierophant means an ancient Greek priest who interpreted sacred mysteries, which loosened to mean any interpreter of sacred mysteries or arcane knowledge and finally, it can mean anyone who explains or makes a commentary. So a kind of know all narrator, the man who writes the by-laws, the person who knows the intricate rules of the game.


Many Tarot decks depict the Hierophant as a priest - at his best, he is wise and soothing, at his worst, he is an unbending traditionalist. But one interpretation that I saw and really spoke to me was a quilt that a woman called Deb Richardson Ewing had made of the Hierophant as Librarian. She saw the Hierophant as a person with vast knowledge to share, but without a great deal of empathy or openness to new ideas, which rings true to me. It is not enough to have knowledge; one must be willing to share it. It is not enough to share knowledge; you must be able to engage new people in becoming interested in what you value, to pass that knowledge on.


The Inner Child cards translate the Hierophant into a Wizard. You study the magic runes, you get the power. And often we want a bit of wizardry to solve our life’s problems. But sometimes you need to find your own moral compass, and other people’s rules are not enough.

If this card appears in your reading, we talk about the teachers/priests/rabbis in your life and what influence they may have. And we look at you - are you just following the rules, without thought, are you being stubborn and wanting a simple, clear cut solution? There is a comfort in rules, but life is rarely black and white.

One of the things I really like about doing this blog is that it forces me to clarify a few of my own ideas. As I browse around, I get a clearer notion of what other people are thinking about certain cards or Tarot ideals. I found a site which was really helpful with the Hierophant which spoke a lot more about the educational aspects of the card, something I realized I tended to overlook. Below is their useful list of definitions:

ACTIONS

getting an education

pursuing knowledge
becoming informed
increasing understanding
studying and learning
seeking a deeper meaning
finding out more

having a belief system

sharing a cultural heritage
learning a religious tradition
honoring ritual and ceremony
identifying a world view
following a discipline
knowing where to put your faith

conforming

following the rules
taking an orthodox approach
staying within conventional bounds
adapting to the system
fitting in
going along with the program
doing what's expected
being part of the Establishment

identifying with a group

being committed to a cause
devoting energy to a group
joining an organization
working as part of a team
feeling loyal to others
being in an institutionalized setting

That helped me a great deal. I think when next I get the Hierophant in a reading I’ll have a much more nuanced approach for it.

Ruling all he surveys - the Emperor

If the Empress is the mother, the Emperor is the father. The Emporer is the great authority figure of the Tarot, representing fathers and father-figures (including bosses, judges and presidents.) In the best case scenario, The Emperor signifies the leader that we all want to follow - sitting steadily on a solid throne, benign ruler of all he surveys. He has age and wisdom and strength. But that immovable throne can also be a trap, a responsibility that has the Emperor feeling restless, bored and irritable.


I was looking through all the various versions of Emperor Cards and I realized I was looking for an image of an iron fist in a velvet glove. When I think of the Emperor, I think of will and power, and while on the outside he may have velvety softness,in the end, he is the iron fist.


Which is why I like the Inner Child image for him – as the Emperor with no Clothes – in the fairy tale, the tailors pretend to have this magical fabric and fool the king, who then fools the court, to ignore the evidence of their own eyes. But when a child points out the truth, he can hear the child, and change. (though I think in the story he also kills the con men tailors.)

In a reading, who or what the Emporer signifies really depends on context – the Emperor can be an overprotective but loving father, a strong lover or a tyrannical boss, and if the querent themselves is the emperor, we try to see what kind of ruler they are being in their own world.