The Magician and the Wheel

I have been remiss in my blogging especially when it comes to checking in with my cards of the month from my New Year Reading way back in January. So, I’m going to try and catch up with two cards and two months in one post. So, in this case, 2 + 2 = 1.

Yeah, whatever.

April’s card was the Magician Reversed which was followed by the Wheel of Fortune Reversed in May.

Oh goody, two Major cards reversed back to back. Oy, vey.

The Magician is not a magician in the contemporary sense of the word. In fact, I wouldn’t even go that far. He is one who celebrates ritual magic in order to manifest that which he needs. He isn’t one to make it appear out of thin air, yet he manifests it so that he encounters it on his wanderings through the countryside. Or, so I imagine. It would be like me meditating on this mantra, “I’m going to drive to the mall and find a very convenient parking spot.” And voila, I find it. Well, I'd do this back when malls were open.

If we look at the Magician's altar, we can see the symbols of the four suits of the Minor Arcana; the Wand, the Cup, the Sword, and the Pentacle. This suggests he has control over the four elements; Fire, Water, Air, and Earth respectively as they are also related to the suits. If he is about the elements and manifesting, he is also about using the elements as resources for his manifesting. I’m not talking about taking fire and torching cars to find a parking spot, but taking the energy of the element and setting the action into motion. Fire energy is drive, water is emotional energy, air is mental energy and earth’s energy is about being grounded or centered.

Regardless, the Magician is about manifesting. And if we want to manifest something, we need to take action. So, by extension, he is also about taking action.

Yet, he was reversed which would suggest a lack of any or all of the elements to get myself going. Since I didn’t post anything in May for April, we can see that I didn’t seem to have much fire in my fingers to write out a post. My heart, mind and spirit weren’t in it, either. In fact, I didn’t even think about it much until late May. Nor did I work on any drafts of other posts unrelated to my reading that I’d begun earlier. I simply wasn’t motivated, which could also be a symptom of a Reversed Magician. (Though I was motivated to exercise more, so that was a positive.) Perhaps the current situation threw me off center or uprooted me enough that I needed the time to get myself somewhat planted back on the ground again. So, perhaps the Magician Reversed turned out to be a kind of blessing in disguise. In a way. Maybe.

The Wheel of Fortune turned up in May but, again, Reversed.                   

When I see this card in a reading, my first thought goes to all those stories where the character goes off to seek his/her fortune or destiny. Most readers see this card as destiny rather than fortune in the monetary sense. 

I’m also reminded of that song about wheels, a bus and going ‘round and ‘round when this card shows up. However, this Wheel isn’t going ‘round and ‘round. In fact, it’s stuck. On its head. Or, it’s turning but, veeerrrrrrrrrrryyyyyyyyy slllllooooooowwwwwwlllllyyyyy.

When we think of a wheel going ‘round and ‘round, we see part of the wheel up, then down, then up, then down, constantly revolving or changing. Like life. Sometimes you’re up, then you’re down. Up, then down. Things change. They get better, then they get not so better. Sometimes you feel as if the wheel has run over you. Sometimes, it’s the whole bus.

With the Magician Reversed followed by the Wheel of Fortune also Reversed, it’s no wonder my whole world screeched to a blinding halt. Then stayed there. Remaining in isolation wasn’t necessarily fun, but after a few years of retirement where I was at home most of the time, it wasn’t that big of a change for me. A few things did change: running to the store for a few items became a major ordeal;

• Coming home and wiping down surfaces of what I bought.
• Remembering to venture out with a mask and sanitizer, provided I could find some.
• Deciphering the conflicting information.
• Learning to shower after coming home from the store so I could wash thoroughly, just in case.
• Going to one store at a time to avoid cross contamination from one locale to another. So, I learned to make a master list and use curbside pick up whenever possible.
• Only running errands when absolutely essential.

But, I've also extended my interpretation to the world around me and the real world; my friends’ lives have changed as well. Friends who are parents were now homeschooling their children. So, my friends and I would have even less time as their duties increased. My social groups were now meeting online.

So, I learned to adapt. And to live by the Serenity Prayer:

Grant me the Serenity to accept the things I cannot change;

the Courage to change the things I can, and 

the Wisdom to know the difference.

Things may be changing as my state of California begins to open up, but I still think things aren’t going to improve any time soon. Yes, life does change; things do get better when they’re down, we just don’t know when the change will happen. Or how long it will take. Busses are heavy vehicles and it takes them a bit longer than a passenger car to get up to speed. And life is even bigger than a bus.

Yet, I see hope. I just don’t know when I see it. (My tarot mentor will be so proud of this insight. See, I paid attention to her numerology lessons.) In the Major Arcana, the Magician is card number 1 and the Wheel is number 10. Ones are seen as a beginning of whatever they represent. January is the first month so it begins a new year. One is the first whole number after zero and it begins any counting sequence. Doesn’t a single step begin a whole new journey or adventure?

So, the Magician also carries the additional layer of a beginning. 

Now bear with me on this one. It gets a bit tricky here. The Wheel of Fortune is card number 10. Yet, it is the first whole number that requires two digits to represent its value. Therefore, it also signals an ending while simultaneously signaling a beginning; the end of the single digit numbers and the beginning of the two digit numbers. In numerology, we often reduce multiple digit numbers down to a single number by finding the sum of the individual digits. So, a 10 card is also a 1 card because 1 + 0 = 1, which is the number of beginnings. I prefer to think of the Number 10 cards more as a transition; an ending which transitions into a beginning of something different, a new phase or chapter, if you will. The fact both cards came up one right after the other and in chronological order, first the Magician (1) then the Wheel (10), suggests to me that the energy of a beginning leading to a transitional phase of something and somewhen is there, but the reversal could suggest a delay because more work needs to be done as I have two more reversed cards for June and July. But, both upcoming cards are not seen as the most positive when upright, so reversing them may actually be a good thing.

They are the 8 and 7 of Swords respectively. Lots of mental work.

June's card

July's card

Yet, August does seem promising. But, I’ll keep that card under my hat.

Though, I will say this, it’s upright.

Finally!! 

The Queen of Happy Elephants

I felt guided to share this particularly interesting reading.

Every morning I pull a card from three different decks to give me something to think about during the day. I draw one card from

• the standard Rider-Waite Tarot deck,
• Steven Farmer’s Power Animals Oracle and
• the Universe Has Your Back deck by Gabrielle Bernstein.

The reading the other day was quite interesting for a couple of reasons.

As I do this nearly every morning and due to the odds of the different decks, I anticipate a different card each day. But, I was surprised to pull the Queen of Wands twice in a row. And she came up reversed both times! Now, before you start saying she just stayed on the top of the deck from the day before so it’s just a repeat, I will poo-poo that notion right here and now. After each reading, I shuffle the card back into the deck before returning it to the box. Sometime in the afternoon, I will do a practice reading which means I am shuffling and cutting the deck again. After that reading, I shuffle the deck once more before returning the deck to the box. Then, I shuffle the deck 3-4 times and cut it before the reading the next morning. So, the deck was thoroughly shuffled and cut before the next day’s reading. Obviously, this Queen had something to say if she pushed her way back to the top of the deck. But what exactly? And why was she reversed both times?

In an upright position, the Queen of Wands represents the energy of someone charismatic, passionate about life and cheerful; she knows what she wants and sets out to get it. She speaks her mind, and lives her truth. The reversal would indicate her energy isn’t in full force in my life right now, but I’m possibly coming into it, stepping out of my shell a bit. The fact she came up reversed twice in a row, in spite of all the shuffling and cutting, would echo the fact she’s pushing her way into my life, if I let her. I mean, it’s not a bad lesson to learn.

Now, let’s look at the other cards.

From the Power Animals I drew Elephant. His message was “Resolve: You will overcome any obstacles.” The back of the card says to move forward without letting anything get in the way of your heart’s desire. I mean what would get in the way of an elephant? Besides, fear. My own fear. Of my goals. My own fear of being judged or others’s disapproval. I must also learn not only to speak, but live my truth. And have fun along the way! Hmm, good points, all of them.

The third card read “Happiness is my birthright.” I think that is a given even if we don’t always believe it or believe we are not worthy of it. I don’t think that the Divine Source of the Universal Gods and Goddesses really wants us to be unhappy. And if we are indeed unhappy, then we are responsible for changing our own circumstances to become happy.

Let’s piece this together: the Queen of Wands twice reversed is strongly suggesting I might not be at my best right now, that I’m not as passionate about living life as I could be, and I should take a more active role in life; while Elephant is suggesting not to let anything get in my way of my dreams and goals, to let go of fears, to live and speak my truth which reinforces the Queen about being more active and ultimately that will all lead me to my birthright, Happiness.

I’m going to take Elephant’s message about living and speaking my truth to also include writing. So, this blog will be more about my truth, which it always has been. Now, maybe I’ll go deeper into it.

So, beware! 

The Queen of Happy Elephants has spoken!

So mote it be! 

The Hero or The Fool?

As an author, I try to be aware of literary themes in my Works in Progress. (One day, they’ll be finished!)

As a teacher, I also tried to teach them. One of the most common literary themes is the Hero’s Journey. 

You know the one; where after much persuasion, the usually reluctant, disbelieving Hero sets off on some apparently insurmountable quest/mission that only our Hero can solve. Along the way, our Hero ends up meeting predictable characters-the mentor who always dies leaving the Hero to go on alone; the sidekick who acts as the Hero's conscience; the antagonist who tries to stop the Hero. There might be some other colorful characters along the way. The Hero continues on to ultimately discover his or her strength was there all along, just buried deep inside, then returns home victorious, only to set off on the sequel a little while later.

Prime examples of such heroes are Dorothy in The Wizard of Oz, Bilbo and Frodo Baggins from The Hobbit/Lord of the Rings, Luke Skywalker in the Star Wars franchise, and, my personal favorite, Harry Potter in his series.

It’s tried and true, and it can be seen in our life as well.

After all, I’ve titled my blog, “Jeff’s Journey.” It’s my journey through my life back into myself after a surprise divorce. While I don’t see my journey as insurmountable, I see that it parallels the Hero’s Journey so often seen in literature. I was reluctantly divorced, I've met a few mentors/guides along the way who, to the best of my knowledge, haven’t died. There have been a few sidekicks along the way acting as my conscience, giving me courage to face the future as bleak as I felt it was at that moment. I've fallen into the abyss of the trials and tribulations that rose up along the way forcing me to look inward and recognize my own strength that has been there all along. So, I guess that makes me the Hero of my own journey.

I’ve also recently posted about my interest in the Tarot, where I've found a very surprising parallel.

But, first some background.

The Tarot deck is comprised of two main parts; the Major Arcana and the Minor Arcana. Due to their imagery, the cards in the Major Arcana represent very broad, spiritual, archetypal people and lessons we might encounter in life. The Minor Arcana may duplicate those lessons but in a more mundane, day-to-day approach. A couple of noted psychiatrists, Carl Jung among them, agreed that the images and the order of the Major cards could be interpreted to represent those archetypal moments in our life’s journey. (As a teacher, I think of the Major Arcana as my lesson’s standard of instruction-what am I supposed to learn-while the Minor Arcana cards are the goals and objectives clarifying the standard-how I am supposed to meet the standard.) 

I mean, what’s more archetypal than the Empress to represent a mother; the card depicts a woman reclining on a throne, surrounded by plants-some of which have been harvested, her gown covered in Pomegranates-the ultimate seed of fertility-making her the epitome of the ultimate mother, Mother Earth; or the Tower card-a structure being struck by lightning and people falling out of it-to represent those moments in life which shake us to our very foundation, thereby giving us the opportunity to build again, maybe firming up the foundation this time. Or, the Fool-a young person carrying his possessions in a sack tied to a stick, taking a step forward as if out to seek his fortune, accompanied by his faithful companion, a dog. The Fool is said to represent new beginnings, innocence, a journey-either physical or spiritual. 

I see comparisons between the Hero and the Fool.

I’ve gone through the Major Arcana and tried to attach the cards to people and events in my life post-divorce. While I have not been able to connect all the cards to something or someone, I feel mostly successful. (The Devil, in particular, is giving me the fits-obsession, materialism, addiction, none of those seem to resonate.) Let’s start with the obvious; my divorce. That is definitely a Tower moment-it came out of nowhere (I wasn’t expecting it, it shook me to my very core and I have rebuilt myself stronger than I was) thus setting me off on this journey. The therapists would be a combination of the Magician and the High Priestess-helping me to balance myself both spiritually and emotionally by seeking outside knowledge and guidance (Magician) and inner serenity (High Priestess). My mother is the Empress, for being there for me. The Hierophant is the legal system overseeing the divorce process. The Lovers could represent my redefining what I seek in a new relationship or those men I dated, albeit briefly, who represented that aspect of my new life.

I could go on, but twenty-two cards could get boring. But, I think you get the picture.

But, wait, indulge me one more-the Fool. 

Well, that’s me, obviously.

So, I am both the Fool and the Hero of the same journey.

My journey.

So, does this make me a heroic Fool or a foolish Hero?

Maybe it makes me me.

A little of both.

Harry Potter as the Magician
The Harry Potter Tarot

Harry Potter Tarot original artwork by Eleonore Pieper, used with permission
For more of her Harry Potter artwork and other works, please visit her page at
https://ellygator.deviantart.com/