0. The Fool

The Fool can be seen as the symbol of our essence of spirit who incarnates through the archetypal energies of the tarot.  Not of this 3D reality, the Fool has no expectations and so is never disappointed, has no attachments so feels no competition, has no fear, so ventures where no one knows the outcome.  This is the choice of a joyful appreciation of the opportunity of incarnation in a human body.

Key Words:  The Big Bang/Pure potential/ Evolutionary Impulse/ Child like nature/ Risk taking/ Carefree/ Innocent/ Naive/ /Total trust in a benevolent universe/Relax!  Have Fun!

The Fool          Karen Santos

“The night before drawing the Major Arcane cards for this project, I dreamed about drawing the Fool card.  I woke up thinking, NO, NOT THE FOOL! , I don’t want to be the Fool! At the ritual, I reached to pick up a card, stopped and said to myself, “No, not that one, it’s the Fool Card,” and moved my hand to the other end of the pile and chose a card. Eagerly turning over the card, confident that I had beaten the possibility of drawing the Fool Card, I found myself looking straight into - The Fool.

After days of frustration, I settled in with the idea that the Fool chose me for a reason. I did my research, learning that the Fool’s energy begins with our first breath of air.  That this energy is pure, fearless and “childlike in nature.”  I came to the conclusion that the Fool chose me to restore the purity of my first breath of air, for I had entered this world pure and fearless, but soon after that first breath, there was a need to create a safe and controlled environment for myself which left my “childlike nature” behind.  I realized that what had happened to me in childhood was affecting me in my adulthood, as I continued to control my environment for safety. 

Coming into my life through this process, the Fool has given me the courage to open up to life as it is and take the journey without self-made barriers.”  

1. The Magician

The Magician can be seen as the emergence of the conscious mind with all the tools of physical manifestation, the four Aces of the tarot suits, on the table.  The Magician realizes the possibility of manifesting the desires of the conscious mind, showing us the map of our journey of manifestation.

Key Words: The Animus / Visionary/ Say YES!/ All types of communication/ Creating something out of seemingly nothing/ Great Beginnings

The Magician           Kathy  O’Leary    

“One of my favorite signs on 101 is near Laytonville: “Don’t Forget The Magic”.  I feel there has been “magic” afoot in my life because of experiences I can’t explain any other way.  Drawing the Magician card for this project seemed like another example of that “magic”.

Delving into this card I came upon this quote:  “The Magus receives inspiration from the Soul of the Universe whose message he spreads on Earth” (Aleister Crowley). So for me, the Magician is the personification of feminine energy, since, symbolically, women  represent that creative energy with their historical connection to the earth and as the bearer and nurturer of each generation.

Coming up with symbols to represent the energy of this card was the easiest part. The colors I chose, the egg, the rainbow, the chakras, the pentagram, my brush strokes and directions all represent the Magician’s role in bringing the Soul of the Universe into human consciousness.  The difficulty for me was accepting my own role as a “Magician”.  The audacity of including myself in that magical process!  As I worked with this image, it also became clear that while the potential is there for everyone, it is up to us, to me, to open up to receiving that gift (for that’s what I believe it to be), and act with courage,  love and passion as a channel between the Cosmos and life here on earth.  Drawing this card means I can no longer ignore this work.” 

See more of Kathy O'Leary's work on her website kathyoleary.com

2. The High Priestess

The High Priestess can be seen as our unconscious, that part of us who has access to all knowledge, whose wisdom within us speaks with our intuitive hits.  You might meet her deep in meditation for she reflects the light of Divine consciousness too brilliant to behold, offering an image of source to reflect upon.  As the Number Two the Priestess marks the beginning of duality, the necessary contrast for evolution. She is the invisible guide on our journey.

Key Words:  The anima / Deep intuitive knowing/ Receptivity/ You have the answers within 

High Priestess           Libby George 

        

“After drawing my card from the deck, I wanted to learn what the High Priestess represented historically.  I scanned the Internet for images (and there are many) and talked with people who practice tarot.  I read article after article and decided there was too much to learn in just one year.  So I let go of research and began working in my studio. I didn’t know what my High Priestess would look like or how I would find her. 

It was a messy long slog.  I changed the image a dozen times.  I made carborundum plates, drypoint plates, and monoprint plates.  I would get close only to crack the plate and be forced to start again. At some point during this chaos of disappointments I found an old yoga book and felt compelled to stretch. I had not practiced yoga in thirty years.

The creative process was not easy and in February, failed prints scattered everywhere, I let go of all expectation.  I went home thinking ‘this is not going to happen’.  I came back the next day prepared for more of the big nothing but instead the High Priestess began to show up with birds, the moon, and the earth and I recognized her. 

I cannot say if it is her face or stretching again, but I feel good about the journey now.”

See more of Libby George's work on her website libbygeorge.com

3. The Empress

The Empress can be seen as the archetypal Mother, perpetually pregnant with creative life force.  Her energy of pure Universal Love brings the dualism of the Magician and High Priestess to fruition.  As our creative imagination, the Empress gives birth to possibilities out of seeming chaos and imagines the world into being, pushing us forth into the birth canal of authentic becoming.

Key words: Mother Nature/ Abundance/ Unconditional Love/ Creative feminine imagination/ Eros/ Creative imagining

The Empress               Nina Wolf

“Swirling

  Motes of dust

    drops of water

         flickers of flame

              circling    ever circling    ever tightening     until form Be Comes      

                                                                                                                            Time begins

The Empress, as we know HER, is in beauty.

Curatress, nurturer.      

Allowing all life to evolve

Accenting limitation, then   

                                            NOW      

                                                        the terrible

                                                                              STOP                      

Has the next evolution begun?

The Queen of life has dominated my life, as she has yours.  I began my conscious connection with her at the onset of menses, at the age of 11.  Her consciousness has dominated my maturation as a human being, a tribal member, an artist.  She has informed and guided me on this long journey,

So may it be yours.”

4. The Emperor

The Emperor can be seen as the manifestation of the Empress’s wild creative imaginings.  The archetype of leadership at its best, one who serves the people first, sacrificing the self for the whole, the Emperor signals the maturity of the mission, a stabilization of purpose.  This is the point on the journey where all seems possible.

Key words- Manifestation/ Authority/ Structure/ Leadership / Stability/ Containment/ Creative masculine imagination

Lyn Risling             The Emperor 

“After reading about the Emperor, I immediately thought of my father who embodied the positive characteristics of the Emperor, a charismatic, trustworthy and rational leader who was respected and admired, but also loved by many.

The man depicted is not my father, but he represents one who believes in the law and order of the natural world rather than one created by mankind. He understands the balance and cycles of life and gives thanks for the gifts from the Heavens and Earth. He realizes that his main purpose in life is to 'Fix the World,' to be a role model for others in how to live in balance.  He takes his responsibility whole-heartedly and is willing to fight and die for it. 

The Emperor is also very wise in knowing that the world is not in balance without the Empress. He knows and respects her power, wisdom and characteristics that are not his own. He knows his own balance comes partly from her and hers from him, and without each other there could be chaos.
 

For me, the Emperor represents my own journey to not only find balance in my own life, but to be part of the greater responsibility of humankind to restore the balance in our communities and to our world.  He is a reminder for me to work towards becoming a role model for our younger generations, through hard work and sacrifice, as well as prayer, ceremony and love.”

Learn more about Lyn's work lynrisling.com

5. The Hierophant

The Hierophant can be seen as bridging heaven and earth.  Interpreter of the Cosmic vision, the Hierophant ushers initiates into their own higher knowing, teaching and bringing structure to the incomprehensible for the human mind. Here on the journey we turn to our teachers within and without as we struggle to understand and bring forth our purpose.

Key Words: Enlightened teacher/ Channeling/ Organized spirituality

Donvieve          The Hierophant

“When I was eight I remember my aunt reading my fortune with her cards, backed with red and black emblems. I remember her turning up queens of hearts and diamonds, beautiful faces with ominous looks, the ace of spades and those kings looking very stately. I wondered, what do they represent? To this day I enjoy listening to my intuition while looking at the Tarot cards. When the Hierophant chose me, this poem came to me.

            Awake sleeping one

            Dawn is the time

                                                   Center your being

            Trust intuition                       

            Follow your inner child’s curiosity

    Walk the spiritual/mystical path

            Using practical feet.

These thoughts have inspired my design of my Hierophant card.

Standing in a yoga pose called vrksasana, the tree pose, balancing on one foot on top of the lotus flower, I stand serene and balanced in the midst of my life’s challenges.  The meaning of yoga is union, the union of body, mind and spiritual awareness.  I realize that though I play a small part in the major play of life, when I join forces in cooperative alignment with others, my Hierophant sends out golden rays of sharing, good will and love. The key to finding happiness is to do all I can to uplift the lives of others.”

Learn more about Donvieve here maskmakersweb.org/Donvieve/

6. The Lovers

The Lovers can be seen as the realization of the Free Will of our separateness and how we choose to be as one again.  Here the feminine seeks balance with the masculine as we learn that we must first fall in love with ourselves as Divine beings before we can truly love one another. We learn as we make choices in our loving that we are all interconnected, that we all mirror each other and we come to a much higher loving than we ever imagined.

Key Words: Discrimination/ Alchemical wedding of  masculine and feminine consciousness/ Finding God in sexual ecstasy 

                        

Walter Pence                  The Lovers 

“A long standing opposition in me manifests itself as a conflict between reason and art.  I have lived this contradiction.  Making this card has helped me to create a mythic harmony which I explain as follows:  The force of love in nature is already present in us at birth as a seed waiting to blossom when the time is ripe.  The sun’s warmth, like a smile, spontaneous and unbidden, is also love; its heat generates in earth the myriad forms of life.  As complementary opposites, human beings become one in their love for one another.  Their need for wholeness is expressed, first in erotic desire, but also in the tenderness and appreciation each shows for the other. 

Still, no relationship can exist without difficulties and problems.  Enter the serpent.  The serpent is wise because it knows both darkness and light.  Moving in the unknown world below ground, as well as above, ancient peoples saw it as a messenger between the two worlds.  Since the snake sheds its skin and grows a new one, it also has the ability to transform and heal divisive elements in both body and psyche.  Hence its presence in a romantic relationship.  Humans share the earth with other beings making up the web of life.  Just as the force of love is universal, so are the empathetic/symbiotic connections holding all things in interdependent relationships.  Love unifies, imparting purpose and meaning to life.  Thus everything attains a wholeness of being.”

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