Once you begin a path, you need to stop from time to time to take stock, to be sure you are on the “right” path for you.  The Hermit traditionally stands at the peak of a mountain and looks down. He is looking back to see how far he has come before descending on the other side. I sometimes tell people that the Hermit signifies writing up your resume NOT because you are getting fired or laid off, but because it is a good tool to see what you have already done, and what you still have to do– or want to do–next. The Hermit asks, What are your goals at this point? Have they changed? Have you outgrown old goals, so it is time to let go and reassess? Or is it time to push forward? The only way you can decide this is by looking at what you have accomplished already and what you had planned to do by now or still plan to do in the future.

Reversed the Hermit means that we are unwilling to listen to our “gut” or inner feelings or to learn from our experiences of the past. We are refusing to see what we HAVE done, so how can we figure out where we are going next? We need to look at these past experiences without judging them. We made mistakes, it is only by learning from them, that we can avoid making them again in the future. The Hermit is a time of schooling ourselves, of learning our life lessons. What did we do wrong? What should we do differently as we move forward?

The Hermit never means loneliness or isolation, although you may want to be alone or isolated while you figure out what you are doing. The Hermit is a quality of introspection that we all need but getting away from others should never be our sole purpose. The Hermit celebrates our accomplishments, but we should not make a career of it. Congratulate ourselves, then move on to the next goal, the one we see in our Inner Vision.

The Strength card has nothing to do with physical prowess. It has everything to do with mental ability. Traditionally, it depicts a  woman closing a lion’s month. NOT forcing it open, which would require a good deal of strength. Instead she is going with the natural path and forcing it closed.  Which requires coaxing more than brute force. Strength is leadership, someone who takes charge and says, “Lets do it.” Like the Chariot, it is a card of action. But unlike the Chariot, it is not individual action, it is leading others to action.

In the World Tree Tarot, the artist says we have strength in friends. United we stand, divided we fall. The card shows a woman supporting the world. She sees a wrong and wants to right it. But no one can change the world by themselves. They must gather a force and lead the charge. Strength is the action of the Chariot directed. If the Chariot is a point, the Strength card is the second point that defines a line–a vector forward.

Reversed, Strength is about feeling helpless. Life is out of control, usually because you are trying to control everything. You refuse to take the lead, and complain that others are not doing what you want them to do. You need to take charge of YOUR life, and as Ann Landers used to say, “Quit your kvetching.” Everyone will fall in line behind you, once you start to set a good example.

People ask, what is my life’s purpose? The answer may be: if you see a wrong, start working to right it. See how far you can go and who you may meet on the way, just open up your Inner Vision.

I really hate the myth of the Soul mate, the perfect person out there for you, and only you. As if you don’t have to work at keeping the relationship going. As if it will always work as YOU want it. What about what the OTHER wants? Maybe he/she wants something else or more or whatever. So many women get caught up in first the boyfriend, then the wedding, then the kids, they forget to deal with the MAN in their lives.

Soap Operas have undermined our reality. We don’t really want that kind of life, I don’t think anyway. But people get bored. So?   If you are bored, do something new, find something else to do. Even find a new lover on the side. Some find that works for them, why not? No I am not advocating cheating, I am advocating non-monogamy. Some seem  to need it. If you trust your spouse, it may work for you. But for heaven sakes, stop thinking that once you find LOVE it is all over and you never have to think or work at it again. It is NOT automatic.

We need to have LIVES again. Lives that take work, take planning and take aspiring to being bigger than they are now. Turn the TV off and LIVE.
I guess that is what the Lovers does to me. I want love in my life too. But it will not complete me. I want sex, sure, but I don’t want to MARRY just for sex. What is the point of that? After a while, the sex palls or you get tired of sex, and you need something ELSE. What is that? It is called Life. If I marry, it is to someone who wants some of the same things I want. A house, perhaps, a person working on big personal goals who needs a bit  of help and a cheering section. A person to work together with, not just someone to love me. I have to love me. If I don’t love me, no amount of love from outside will be enough.

So what is the Lovers? It is two people working to build something. Could be an empire, or just a comfortable place to live. A team effort. To paraphrase an old Army slogan: It’s not an adventure, it is a job too. It is a big adventure, but then so is all life, but it is also a big job. I am applying where I can.

The Chariot shows a man driving a chariot, pulled by two animals, usually a black horse and a white horse, almost invariably without reins. He is steering them just by the power of the mind. This is a card that has varied from deck to deck, but not changed much in its subject. This is all about harnessing the power of our will to move forward in our lives.

The horses are black and white, for the two aspects of our consciousness, the good and the bad or the deep and the shallow, the creative and the practical, the emotional and the intellectual. We will always feel conflict in moving forward, there are ALWAYS choices to be made. Is this the best way? Is there another thing we might do instead? Is this even a reasonable thing to be doing? If we wait for absolute certainty, for finding the PERFECT choice, we won’t get very far. Ultimately, we move by making hundreds of small choices and small adjustments as we go, as our body does as we walk, to keep us upright.

But we all know we aren’t born walking. We must learn to walk, to figure out a good way to go by trial and error. The Chariot isn’t just about movement, it is about balance. It is about finding a way, not the ONLY way, or maybe not even the best way, but A way that gets us to move forward in our lives.

Reversed, the Chariot is about stagnating. We say we can’t get forward, because we haven’t the tools or the map or some other excuse. Tools are not the problem, lack of will is the problem. If you want to move, you can. Or it means running around in circles because we don’t want to move off this particular path. But to get to a Goal, we must sometimes go down roads we never expected. So get on that horse and just ride. Open up your Inner Vision and “Hi-yo, Silver! Away!”

This will be played on Witch School radio soon. (www.paganstonight.com)

In the older, Marseilles tarot decks, a Man is caught between two women. A dark-haired, often older person, and a younger, lighter haired woman.  The title of this card was sometimes called “the Choice”. The Man had to make a choice: between an “earthy,” probably sinful person, and a “purer,” light haired–probably light filled–person. Or perhaps, between staying a child and living with his dark haired mother, or joining a woman his own age in a new independent life.

The Rider-Waite deck changed that to a Man and Women together. The woman communes with an angel and the man communes with her. The Rider-Waite seems to say that women are closer to the divine and men can learn from them. Men needed women, so the conventional wisdom went, to survive and grow. They needed women’s creativity and divine insight. But women were not practical people of the world, so men needed to protect them from reality.

Now in the new Millennium, equality has finally arrived. Marriage, these days, is not a matter of choosing a caretaker, but of choosing a partner. Love as the saying goes, cuts problems in half and doubles joy. In the World Tree Tarot (www.worldtreeproducts.com), the lovers are building energy between them that will create something new, that neither could create on their own. In this way, the Lovers is not just about romance, in fact it isn’t about romance at all: it is about partnership. Building something bigger than one person alone can do.

As we see new kinds of alliances develop: two men or two women, assorted threesomes, communes, and other possibilities, the Lovers must be treated more broadly. It can apply to a good business partnership, to a deep friendship, or any relationship where there are mutual goals to be achieved.

Reversed, it is misinterpretation, poor communication and clinging to the myths of “romance” or soul mates.  Let go of perfect love, there is no such thing. Strive for commitment, respect, forgiveness and mutual aid. This is real love. You can see it, if you open up your Inner Vision.

I wonder if I will get a response to this one. Love is such a sensitive subject these days.

Traditionally, the Hierophant is the intermediary or interpreter between the worshiper and the their deity. Who ever or what ever that is. Before this century, most decks called him the Pope. To most modern readers, this is mostly a negative card, referring to the “Keeper of the Keys”–again the Pope, who was the only one who had the power to reach God.

In many modern churches and most Pagan and other modern religious systems, we find our own way to God/Goddess or Deity.  The modern Hierophant directs us to look inside ourselves and see what is there. What WE are capable of. To see that we can directly get in touch with the greater Universe and find information we need.  He is much more positive and pro-active..

The meaning of this card depends greatly on the Deck. My deck of choice, the World Tree Tarot shows the Hierophant as showing us the was to find the way to the Greater Universe for ourselves. Other decks, including another favorite, the Robin Wood, will show the Hierophant as a Pope, keeping the secrets to himself through theater and heavy handed rules.

This card reminds us again that there is no one true way. Each of us must figure out for ourselves how to, as one Rosemary Edghill put it so well, “unscrew the inscrutable.” It warns us not to get taken in by doctrine or rules or leaders that insist they know all the answers. If it comes up in a reading, the seeker is told to look for truths for him or herself. To look for Deity through rituals of their choice, meditation or prayer. We find Deity and truth by opening up our Inner Vision.

To control everything and to say, this is the only true way, means we lose our creativity. Creativity is the ability to see the world in new ways, to combine things differently. If we have a goal (an outcome) we want to achieve and then say, this is the only way to get to it, we miss out on all the other possible paths to the result. Ways that could be more efficient or even more fun. Or that lead to even better outcomes than originally conceived. The Empress is creative–even pregnant in most decks!–but the Emperor is sterile.

On the other hand, The Emperor has confidence and assurance. He can take charge and be decisive because he sees what needs to be done and just does it. Since he had decided on a way to do things, there is no stopping to question the process, just action. But a completely controlled world is very small. Since it must be predictable, there isn’t room for much detail. No room for new options and possibilities. It is very black and white, very austere. Not always very comfortable.  Ultimately, stagnant.

The Emperor is introverted, while the Empress is extroverted. We need some of both in our lives, but too much control or too much chaos can be a problem. Neither is good or bad, better or worse. We must embrace them both and find balance in order to open our Inner Vision.

The Fool carries the tools of his trade in a bindlestiff on his back. The Magician lays them out on the table and starts using them. The four symbols of the Tarot are there: Cup, Sword, Pentacle and in many decks he wields the Wand.
The Magician is a person of power but he is still Human. He has power because he takes it, not because it is bestowed on him.  We are still at the beginning of our journey, the Magician is numbered as one. We don’t do anything we put our hands to perfectly the first time. Maybe sometimes we get lucky and it comes out pretty good, but most of the time you must make huge mistakes at first. Gradually you learn to master the power you have (Not what you have been given, but what you already have) and improve.
The Magician is on his own: he has no teacher yet. These come later, for now, he (or she) explores the tools and see how they work. Likewise, for those of us trying to learn the Esoteric arts, teachers are good, but not required to get started on learning. Especially tarot: best if one starts on ones own instead of having someone else tell us what the cards mean.
To do this we must instill ourselves with a Foolish or childish attitude. “I am not sure if this will work, but I will try it.” People sometimes call children the best scientists. They are curious about the world and explore it by trying things out. You could say the Magician then is the child as Engineer. I have tools, what will happen when I wield them?
If the Magician comes up in a reading, know that you, the querent, have the power–the talent to do what you want to do. No excuses. Now begin.  Reversed, the Magician is the card of the complainer, “I never get what I want.” Yet, here are all the tools you need to begin. What are you waiting for? Just open up your Inner Vision.

Aired 11/3/09

With the Magician and the High Prestress we discussed what you, the Fool, can or cannot do with your tools, the tarot and your own talents and thoughts. Now we will meet our teachers, or really, our role models. The first of these is the Empress.

The Empress is Earth bound. She lives and revels in the abundance of the Earth. In many decks, she is pregnant, symbolizing abundance, sexuality, sensuality and unrealized potential. She is cheerful and contented. She is in charge of what IS now, what we can do right now. She is practicality.

Unlike the High Priestess she doesn’t keep anything a secret. She is wide open. She is passionate, she loves unconditionally, non-judgmentally, everyone and everything. You can’t help but like the Empress.

Or do you? Do you find her scarey? Do you think there are ideas or thoughts or fantasies that  should be hidden, not discussed so openly. Do you have secrets? Fetishes? Grudges? Things that make you angry?  Things you love that you are ashamed of?  Thinks you did wrong in the past? Regrets of things you didn’t do in the past? Just things you don’t want to think about? Then spend some time with her. You can’t become a great reader until you face all your fears, all your hidden loves, hates and passions. You don’t have to act on them, you just have to know they are there. Without thinking you are a bad person for having such ideas. Secrets that you keep from the rest of the world are fine. Secrets we keep from ourselves are trouble.

The Empress accepts reality unconditionally. The world is what it is. Not what we want or think it is SUPPOSED to be, but what it is. What will you do about something you don’t like? Will you fix it? Accept it? Wallow in it and complain a lot? The Empress for all her flaky hippie-dip sensuality is a pragmatist. Reversed she is a dreamer, complaining that the world is not as it SHOULD be and being unhappy because if it. The Empress right side up takes things as they come. Not passively, “well, I guess this is all I get.” But actively, “Well, this is all I have for now, but I can work with it. Maybe more will come later.”  Seeing reality as it is, but still being optimistic about the future allows us to open up to the possibilities we see in our Inner Vison.

To contradict the good Captain, The Mind, not Space is the final frontier. As we begin our Tarot Journey, we are the Magician who lays out  the tools and starts figuring out what he or she can and cannot do with them. But we also find that doing Tarot can be hazardous. We open up to the Greater Universe and find it isn’t all that friendly. There are other peoples’ though patterns out there, patterns that we don’t believe are good or reasonable. Look at that person there, they are Gay or into Bondage, or Catholicism or they like or hate their Mothers. These are thoughts we can’t think on. To acknowledge their existence means we could go mad. Or maybe, just maybe, we could become sane. And see reality in all its beauty and pain as it really IS, not as we want it to be.
Traditionally the High Priestess guards the secret room. She sits in front of a curtain holding the scroll of Tarot. We are not allow to look at the secrets she guards. Currant culture is tearing down that curtain and letting us see the inside of the scroll.  Inside that room and that scroll are our own hidden thoughts. The ones we don’t want to think about as well as the thoughts of other people we must acknowledge in order to be a successful Tarot reader. This is not to say we must agree with their thoughts, we just have to acknowledge them. To understand that there is no one true way, and other ways to think about sex, God, or the World, if not OUR way, are still reasonable.
This is part of being a good tarot reader. To accept all thought patterns as real, not necessarily as better or worse than others. This requires spending time looking inward, looking at what WE–the seeker–thinks about things. What do I really think about the Gay or BDSM lifestyle? What is Catholicism about? My religion is better….isn’t it?
My deck of choice, the World Tree Tarot has an untraditional take on the High Priestess. She stands at an alter with NO tools on it. Only the elements Water, Air, Fire and Earth. The Sun and the Moon. The High Priestess is traditional Yin to the Magicians Yang, this is more emotion to the Magicians Analysis. She uses her brain power to produce results, not outside tools. Many witches as well as Psychics cannot do their magic without tools whether it is Tarot cards, rune stones or Athame and chalice. But real magic, the High Priestess says, is in the brain, not the body. It is will shaped by thought, not by tools. Tools point, but they still only direct the power of the will. So the ultimate tool is really your own Inner Vision.

Aired 11/10/09