TAROT Cards and Details

[Star Dust]

The World

General Meaning: What has traditionally been known as the World card points to the presiding intelligence, called "Sophia," or Wisdom, which upholds life on this and all worlds. A more precise title for this card might be "the Soul of the World," also applicable as a symbol of personal empowerment and freedom. In most Tarot decks it is a female figure that has become our standard World image. She originates in Hebrew, Gnostic and Alchemical lore, and stands between heaven and earth as the Cosmic Mother of Souls, the Wife of God and our protector from the karmic forces we have set loose upon the Earth in our immaturity and ignorance.




Where the Empress energy secures and fertilizes our terrestrial lives, the goddess of The World invites us into cosmic citizenship -- once we come to realize our soul's potential for it. Just as the Chariot stands for success in achieving a separate Self, and Temperance represents achievement of mental and moral health, the World card announces the awakening of the soul's Immortal Being, accomplished without the necessity of dying.

This card, like the Sun, is reputed to have no negative meaning no matter where or how it appears. If the Hermetic axiom is "Know Thyself", this image represents what becomes known when the true nature of Self is followed to creative freedom and its ultimate realization.

Fast Facts

About The World
Theme: You are in a timeless state of grace where there is no doubt, shame or grief.
Astro Association: Saturn
Element: Earth
Number: 21
Alias: Universe, Triumph

[Star Dust]

Judgment

General Meaning: What has traditionally been known as the Judgement card, sometimes entitled Resurrection, represents the great reunion that the ancients believed would happen once in every age. This was the time when souls are harvested and taken Home to their place of origin, outside the solar system. Then the World is seeded with a batch of new souls and the process starts over.

From a modern point of view, this great reunion -- which includes every personality that you have ever been and every soul that you have done deep work with -- reunites to consciously complete the process. In a way, we symbolically celebrate this returning to center every year on our birthday.

In personal terms, the Judgment cards points to freedom from inner conflicts, and so clear a channel, that the buried talents and gifts of past incarnations can come through an individual in this lifetime. This card counsels you to trust the process of opening yourself, because what emerges is of consistently high quality. You can effortlessly manifest as a multi-dimensional being, and assist in evoking that response from others.

Fast Facts

About Judgment
Theme: A gathering of lost fragments allows you to connect to your Higher Self.
Astro Association: Pluto
Element: Fire
Number: 20
Alias: Aeon

[Star Dust]

The Emperor

General Meaning: In the most practical terms, what has traditionally been called the Emperor card represents the highest leadership, a head of state or the most exemplary and powerful person in the realm. This archetypal ruler is responsible for the positive working out of affairs of a society or community, which are directly proportional to his well being and happiness.

The more enlightenment and cosmic perspective this energy brings, the better life is for all. The Emperor archetype masters the world of matter and physical manifestation. When you apply this card to your situation, acknowledge your potentials for mastery. Reinforce a sense of sovereignty within yourself, despite any self-limiting beliefs, habits or appearances to the contrary.


Fast Facts

About The Emperor
Theme: You have the wisdom and authority to achieve your goals.
Astro Association: Aries
Element: Fire
Number: 4
Alias: Power

[Star Dust]

The Fool

This Deck: Chinese
General Meaning: Pamela Coleman-Smith\'s artful rendition of an \"innocent Fool\" archetype (Rider-Waite deck) is often used to represent Tarot in general. Early classical versions of the Fool card, however, portray quite a different character -- a person driven by base needs and urges, who has fallen into a state of poverty and deprivation.

In some instances, he is made out to be a carnival entertainer or a huckster. In others, he is portrayed as decrepit and vulnerable -- as the cumulative result of his delusions and failures. Not until the 20th century do you see the popular Rider-Waite image of the Fool arise -- that of an innocent Soul before its Fall into Matter, as yet untainted by contact with society and all its ills.

Modern decks usually borrow from the Rider-Waite imagery. Most Fool cards copy the bucolic mountainside scene, the butterfly, the potential misplaced step that will send the Fool tumbling into the unknown. Don\'t forget, however, that the earlier versions of this card represented already-fallen humanity, over-identified with the material plane of existence, and beginning a pilgrimage towards self-knowledge, and eventually, wisdom. The Fool reminds us to recognize the path of personal development within ourselves -- and the stage upon that path where we find ourselves -- in order to energize our movement toward deeper self-realization.


Fast Facts

About The Fool
Theme: Let go of expectations and trust your instincts.
Astro Association: Uranus
Element: Air
Number: 0
Alias: The Madman, Innocence

[Star Dust]

The Moon

General Meaning: What has traditionally been known as the Moon card refers to a deep state of sensitivity and imaginative impressionability, developed within a womb of deep relaxation. Here we dream and go into trance, have visions and receive insights, wash in and out with the psychic tides, and experience deep mystical and/or terrifying realities beyond our ordinary senses. The full moon and/or eclipse cycle charted by the Magi (as in some of the earliest Moon card images) exemplify this as a mechanism that Nature uses to expand consciousness.

The variants of the courtly lovers (representing skillful use of the sex force) or the man sleeping it off under the tree (use of drugs to alter consciousness) are also traditional avenues for tapping this primal force. Human interest in higher states propels us to the frontiers of consciousness, where we cannot always control what happens. The Moon card represents the ultimate test of a soul\'s integrity, where the membrane between self and the Unknown is removed, and the drop of individuality reenters the Ocean of Being. What transpires next is between a soul and its Maker.

Fast Facts

About The Moon
Theme: This is an opportunity to penetrate your inner life.
Astro Association: Pisces
Element: Water
Number: 19
Alias: Illusion

[Star Dust]

The Sun

General Meaning: What has traditionally been known as the Sun card is about the self -- who you are and how you cultivate your personality and character. The earth revolves around the sun to make up one year of a person\'s life, a fact we celebrate on our birthday.

The Sun card could also be titled \"Back to Eden.\" The Sun\'s radiance is where one\'s original nature or unconditioned Being can be encountered in health and safety. The limitations of time and space are stripped away; the soul is refreshed and temporarily protected from the chaos outside the garden walls.

Under the light of the Sun, Life reclaims its primordial goodness, truth and beauty. If one person is shown on this card, it is usually signifying a human incarnation of the Divine. When two humans are shown, the image is portraying a resolution of the tension between opposites at all levels. It\'s as if this card is saying \"You can do no wrong -- it\'s all to the good!\"

Fast Facts

About The Sun
Theme: You are in the right place at the right time.
Astro Association: Sun
Element: Fire
Number: 18
Alias: Awakening

[Star Dust]

The Star

General Meaning: What has traditionally been known as the Star card is about reconnecting one\'s Soul with the Divine -- the transcending of personality, family, community and reputation. It has to do ultimately with the freedom to be one\'s Self. The Soul is responding to celestial influences -- forces that can provide the personality with a stronger sense of purpose. The Star card helps us to remember our exalted origins and our attraction to a Higher Union.

This card could also be called the \"Celestial Mandate\" -- that which refers us back to our reason for being, our mission in this lifetime. The Star reminds us that, in a sense, we are agents of Divine Will in our day-to-day lives. If we let go of the idea that we are supposed to be in control, we can more easily notice and appreciate the synchronicities that are nudging us along. In this way, we become more conscious of the invisible Helping Hand, and we better understand our place within -- and value to -- the larger Cosmos.

Fast Facts

About The Star
Theme: You are consciously on the way home in a spiritual sense.
Astro Association: Aquarius
Element: Air
Number: 17
Alias: Grace

[Star Dust]

The Devil

General Meaning: What has traditionally been known as the Devil card expresses the realm of the Taboo, the culturally rejected wildness and undigested shadow side that each of us carries in our subconscious. This shadow is actually at the core of our being, which we cannot get rid of and will never succeed in taming. From its earliest versions, which portrayed a vampire-demon, this card evoked the Church-fueled fear that a person could \"lose their soul\" to wild and passionate forces.

The image which emerged in the mid-1700\'s gives us a more sophisticated rendition -- that of the \"scapegoated Goddess,\" whose esoteric name is Baphomet. Volcanic reserves of passion and primal desire empower her efforts to overcome the pressure of stereotyped roles and experience true freedom of soul. Tavaglione\'s highly evolved image (Stella deck) portrays the magical formula for harnessing and transmuting primal and obsessive emotions into transformative energies. As a part of the Gnostic message of Tarot, this fearsome passion and power must be reintegrated into the personality, to fuel the soul\'s passage from mortal to immortal.

About The Devil
Theme: Put convention aside and be empowered by revealing your passionate nature.
Astro Association: Capricorn
Element: Earth
Number: 15
Alias: Tempation

[Star Dust]

Temperance

General Meaning: What is traditionally known as the Temperance card is a reference to the Soul. Classically female, she is mixing up a blend of subtle energies for the evolution of the personality. One key to interpreting this card can be found in its title, a play on the process of tempering metals in a forge.

Metals must undergo extremes of temperature, folding and pounding, but the end product is infinitely superior to impure ore mined from the earth. In this image, the soul volunteers the ego for a cleansing and healing experience which may turn the personality inside-out, but which brings out the gold hidden within the heart. (This card is entitled \"Art\" in the Crowley deck.)

Fast Facts

About Temperance
Theme: The time is now for self-healing.
Astro Association: Sagittarius
Element: Fire
Number: 14
Alias: Alchemy, Art, Balance

[Star Dust]

The Hanged Man

General Meaning: Traditionally, the card known as the Hanged Man usually indicates a lack of ability to help oneself through independent action. This energy is arrested and awaiting judgment. With this card, there is no avenue for the will to regain control until the situation has passed.

This represents a good time to be philosophical, to study and meditate upon the position you find yourself in, and form resolutions for the moment you become free again. Only those who possess wisdom, patience and optimism will be able to see through limitations, including possible humiliation, to grasp the inspiring lesson one can gain from such an experience.

Fast Facts

About The Hanged Man
Theme: Issues some to a head, making it possible to clear the slate and start over.
Astro Association: Neptune
Element: Water
Number: 12
Alias: Sacrifice