I love the tidy charts in this particular version, and all of the elegant different coloured inks. For my next grimoire I’d like to veer towards this particular style.
Good afternoon to all my fellow witches … I have a question for you, today is Friday the 13 and as soon as the clock striked 12 (nyc time) I got this really odd feeling I can’t describe it but something feels different. Has anyone else experienced this today or is it just me? If you have any input I would live to hear about to.
When tarot was born in the 1400s, vaccines, antibiotics and pasteurization had not yet been invented. Diseases we now consider harmless led easily to death.
And so this card appearing back then truly heralded somebody’s demise.
Adapting to our evolving reality, Death has taken on the meaning of transformation, which in essence represents little deaths.
Migrating to a different country is one such death — we are leaving behind our old life. The same goes for changing jobs and moving houses. These were not so easily done in the Renaissance. The majority of the masses lived and died where they were born, doing what their parents taught them to do.
With people today feeling bored or oppressed by their current life, such little deaths are deeply hoped for.
That is why Death should no longer be feared. While it began as a harbinger of losing one’s parent, child or wife, it has adapted to become the herald of a beautiful new life.
THE TOWER
Why do some readers interpret The Tower positively? Are they fooling their clients or themselves? Some of them, certainly.
The Tower, however, is not intrinsically negative. What it is inherently is a shock. An earth-shattering or a life-changing one.
Your mom dying in a car accident two minutes after you spoke to her on the phone is a Tower moment. But so is winning the lottery.
Losing your job out of the blue is another. But so is realizing that your crush is your secret admirer.
The reason The Tower is mostly negative is because it is bad things, not good ones, that shock us to our core.
Good surprises are forgotten in a week or so. Their luster fades easily.
But it takes us a while to move on from death and tragedy.
Yet in and of itself, The Tower does not predict a disaster. It could very well be the windfall you have been praying for.
THE DEVIL
In what world is The Devil a good card?
In this one.
The Devil is about being chained to something that has power over you.
That is often bad, such as drugs, alcohol, an abusive marriage, or a job you need to keep even though it pays below minimum wage.
But it can also be good, like turning your hobby into a business… having a sexually fulfilling lover… or working over time at a job your adore.
Either way, it is the concept of obsession, not oppression, that makes up this card’s intrinsic meaning.
At its best, The Devil is about undying passion — for a person, an activity or a cause.
The inherent negative side of that is being so consumed by one thing, that balance is forgotten.
But then again… who would prefer the balance of the plain over the peak of a mountain?
