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Author Topic:   Exploring Life's Lessons
Peri
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Posts: 261
From: 49N35 34E34
Registered: Apr 2009

posted May 18, 2009 02:05 PM     Click Here to See the Profile for Peri     Edit/Delete Message
Exploring Life's Lessons Through the Major Arcana by Jennifer Moore

In life, experience is our greatest teacher, and the Tarot is a model for life. The cards are mirrors showing us different aspects of our experience. We can work with the Major Arcana to chronicle our educational process and illuminate the universal aspects of our personal journey.

There are three stages on the journey through the Major Arcana. The Fool is the traveler who walks this path The first is the physical stage, from the Magician to the Chariot, representing the period from birth into adolescence. The second, the emotional stage, from Strength to Temperance, symbolizes the period from adolescence to adulthood. The final stage, the spiritual stage, moves from the Devil to the World. This is the period from adulthood to maturity and enlightenment. We begin our journey through the Major Arcana with the FoolÕs first, daring step off the rocky cliff into the unknown, into birth.

Our first encounter is with the Magician. He stands with the symbols of the Minor Arcana: the Cup for Water, the Pentacle for Earth, the Wand for Fire, and the Sword for Air. These tools represent our feelings, bodies, energy, and minds. The Magician teaches us to use these tools to realize our goals.

Next, we meet the High Priestess, who sits at the gate between the worlds. She is the guardian and gatekeeper, both protecting and challenging the traveller. She rules the development of consciousness, perception, and the ability to distinguish between the self and others.

Then we come to the Empress, who embodies the fullness and abundance of life. The Empress is the primal mother who nurtures, embraces and supports us unconditionally. She represents our first experience of love and trusting relations with another.

In contrast, the Emperor teaches us about rules and the necessity for structure in our lives. He is the parent who guides us, helping us to harness our boundless energy and potential into manageable forms.

The Hierophant is the teacher, our first experience with authority in the outside world. He is the keeper of traditions, maintaining the rules the Emperor has established. He represents education, study, and socialization.

With the Lovers, we find our connection to the Divine within and recognize the Divine in others. The Lovers also represents the discovery of sexuality and intimacy starting in adolescence.

The Chariot embodies our first independent journey into the world. In the Chariot, strong forces exist in precarious balance. The challenge of the Chariot is to maintain balance while working with these forces.

Strength teaches us to integrate the contradictory forces we encountered in the Chariot without repressing them ruthlessly, leading to self-discovery through discipline.

From Strength, we come to the Hermit, who encourages us to turn inward to find our deep inner wisdom. A solitary figure, the Hermit guides us on our quest for self-knowledge.

The Wheel of Fortune is the Wheel of Life. As we experience the cycles of fortune and misfortune and the greater cycles of the Universe, we learn to find our own center and gain a sense of detachment and peace despite the turbulence around us.

Having found our center in the eye of life's storm, we come to Justice, which invokes retribution, bringing things to rightness. Justice gives us our due from life, leading us to make amends to others, and teaching us to live within our limits.

The Hanged One is not about punishment, but about accepting our limitations and offering ourselves to the Universe. The sacrifice of the Hanged One is not a loss but a choice. We surrender our potential selves in order to actualize one reality.

The Hanged One's sacrifice gives us the courage to face Death, the card of rebirth and transformation. It does not indicate literal death, but the process of distilling us to our essence, releasing all that is outworn or unnecessary, preparing us for new ways of being.

After the surrender of Death comes the grace of Temperance, the guardian angel who helps us prepare for the trials and experiences to come. Temperance integrates opposing forces and helps us reconcile the contradictions in our lives.

Now we are ready to face the Devil. In this culture, the Devil embodies all the negative things we face in life. But in reality, he leads us to a deeper level of spirituality. From the pain of hitting rock bottom, we are forced to accept our role in our own problems, which ultimately empowers us.

The Tower reinforces the growth we experience on the journey from Death to the Devil. It gives us the final push we need to remove any remaining barriers to self-actualization, shattering our assumptions about life and ourselves and restoring our sense of reality.

The Star is the card of deep healing, purification and cleansing. The light of the Star symbolizes our Divine nature and the Divinity of the Universe. With the Star, we discover a deeper source of spirituality and experience a profound sense of connection with all life.

Blessed and restored to our Divinity, we have the self-acceptance to journey to the Moon, which is the card of the deep emotions within our subconscious. The Moon reflects our inner selves, showing us what lies beneath the cloudy depths within us.

With this self knowledge, we reach the Sun card. The Sun is self-actualization, fulfillment, and the joyous divine child within us who knows that we are complete and whole unto ourselves.

In our glory, we move to Judgement, the card of spiritual awakening. Judgement answers our hunger for communion with Deity. In Judgement, we realize our true purpose as children of the Universe.

Our journey ends with the perspective of the World. We see the entire Universe as if we were looking at a great map. As we look over our path, we review our journey and the lessons we have learned before finding ourselves where we started, taking the first steps of a new journey as the Fool.

http://www.bluewitch.com/healingtarot/socmajors.htm

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Randall
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Posts: 402
From: Columbus, GA USA
Registered: Apr 2009

posted May 31, 2009 12:20 PM     Click Here to See the Profile for Randall     Edit/Delete Message

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"Fortune favors the bold." Erasmus

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