April 8, 2010 - The World

When you're doing daily Tarot readings, cards are going to come up more than once.  I expect recurring themes.  Isn't this what we see in our lives, our particular currents, or singular geography?  But in the 100+ days I've been documenting this process, I've never gotten the same card two days in a row.  That it's such an auspicious card is both wonderful and a bit bemusing.  Life these days is fine enough, but The World isn't a card about fine enough.  It speaks of the threads of our life coming together, a long difficult journey completed and at last receiving the success and satisfaction we've been striving for.

The Four corners of the card are anchored by the four fixed signs of the zodiac - Taurus, Leo, Scorpio, Aquarius -- and symbolize all the stars coming into alignment.  The circle (or in some cards a more yoni-ish space) is a laurel wreath, the symbol of triumph, marked at the top and bottom by the lemniscate, the symbol of eternity, assuring infinite rewards when we work to make positive improvements in ourselves and our lives.  In her two hands are batons (or scrolls of knowledge) and they show her mastery and balance.  This woman has knowledge at her fingertips, but she is not ruled by her head or her heart, but both together.  She is, whole-hearted, whole.  Finally, the position of the legs echos the position of an earlier Tarot card, the Hanged Man.  As the Hanged Man focuses inward, the woman of the World, focuses outward.  She knows herself and can be herself out in the world.

This is a wonderful card, an auspicious card.  My world these days seems fine enough, better than it has been but still so much less than it could be.  But the World suggests there may be more I'm not seeing or more that is coming.  Maybe it's writing news, coming at last and fully into success, into my own.  Maybe it's news of the heart, full, whole, healed.  Maybe its all aspects at last into alignment.  It's definitely here and happening and I want to recognize and enjoy it completely.  Hard times and ends are a part of life.  The circle, spirals and we find ourselves back again, starting anew.  So I want to celebrate these wondrous times.  I want to practice a fierce and joyous gratitude for all that has been given.  May it be so.