19. The Sun

The Sun can be seen as an awakening to our higher vision of who we are and what are here to do.  This is the lighting up of the unconscious, which lifts us to super-consciousness when we can see the illusion that the shadows cast in our material world.  Here we understand all possibility.  Optimism reigns because we are Sun struck and see that we are all One. You are almost there.  The possibility of an existence far beyond what you ever imagined is in sight.

Key Words: Enlightenment/ Union with all potential/ Success/ Joy/ Fulfilled relationship/ Marriage                                                           

John King                   The Sun

“The tides cover the land, the moon pulls on the tides and the sun pulls on the moon in a solar system that gently turns, within a galaxy that slowly spins, in a universe that has no end.  How can something have no end?  

The sun is one yellow star in an infinite sky of stars and galaxies.  Plants on earth convert this sunlight into matter.  A redwood tree is a large piece of sunlight with water and a few essential elements thrown in from its roots.   Energy is only matter times the speed of light squared. Sunlight and the earth are only different forms of the same thing.  Everything in this universe is made up of the same atoms arranged in different ways.  Everything in this universe is us and we are it.  I don’t believe in religion, so I can’t say a God has made this.  I wouldn’t call it magic, but I would call it magical.  The universe is sure a fantastic thing to try and think about. 

When I look up at the sun in my tiny body with its tiny mind, it makes me think that I am nothing special.    The universe is not holding its breath waiting for my enlightenment.  
  

Whatever the sun and the universe are or are not, I will never understand, but I do understand that I am alive right now and I will certainly celebrate that.”

See more of John's work on his website johnkingartist.com

20. Judgement

Judgement can be seen as the calling up of the soul for release, the beginning of the personal consciousness blending into universal consciousness.  Here on the path we are asked to make a radical break from the past so that it no longer has any power over our present.  This is not about death but about release from all limitation  External judgement no longer has any meaning, for you are the creator of all that exists in your world.

Key Words: Resurrection/ Resolution /Awakening/ Moving on from suffering/ The last illusion/ The breaking of the enchantment in fairy tales

Cat McAdams                  Judgement

When I drew the Judgement card, I immediately got the one image from the traditional Christianity that truly disturbs me.  The old guy with the white beard, or one of his angels, judges hapless souls to ETERNAL Heaven or Hell, no matter what lousy excuse for a human lifetime they got.  Later, during the same meeting, another image came to me.  A fork in the trail on a recent backpacking trip, symbolizing that we choose our own fate, the person we become is the result of all the choices we make in our daily life.  Perhaps because the traditional image is so powerful, so iconic, is the reason it took me ten different designs and two paintings to escape it. - I’ll paint it again.
 

This process changed my approach to paint. I want the rest of my work to have this much meaning. One fascinating thing about creating these ten designs is how the feedback loop of what worked visually helped develop the symbolism.  For instance, the human figure in my second Judgement painting  
looked good in the same color as the Sun-Universe-Great Spirit image.  I then realized that we are of the same nature as the good energy of the Universe, and we are bound to come back to it eventually even if we explore a dark path.  I also found that creating white paths worked best visually. This made me realize that all paths are of the light. All paths are a learning experience. 

Learn more about Cat on her website godconsciousness.com/cat_mcadams

21. The Universe

Universe or World card is the end and the beginning  as we spiral up as the Fool, starting the journey again. This is a time of great celebration for we have completed an aspect of the great work of the alchemy of the Soul.  Judgement was the revelation and here we live our revelation.  The Hanged Man is now turned upright and freed.  The Empress has given birth to herself.  Finally free to Be, we can use the magic of our Magician and help transform our world.

Key Words:  Anima mundi (soul of the world)/ Blending of the physical with the metaphysical/ Wholeness / Portal to our multidimensional being

FOOL’S GATE  The Universe   Rob Hampson

The World card represents the final culmination in the Fool’s journey; the proverbial light at the end of the tunnel.  I can now proclaim from experience that the distance to that light can be very deceptive.

It has been a long and twisting road since first I stepped forth on this grand adventure of possibility nearly a year ago.  Back then I was naive to think that I could just whip out my assignment and that would be that.  Even if the World card is the last stage of the journey it does not allow a free pass to the head of the line.  Along a course of dozens of concepts and sketches and several paintings I still had to supplicate myself to Magicians, Emperors, and Hermits; and a grand host of the Pope, the Devil, angels, and Death.  There were lions to grapple, towers to fall from, and numerous opportunities to swing by my ankles before ever I could actually reach the summit that I initially thought was right before me. 

As the deadline for the assignment approached I knew I was being guided ever closer to the final threshold, but I still could not see it.  I had to trust in something that was not perceptible from my current vantage point.  My studio was a cauldron of production, when suddenly, one day thirty-six canvases came together as one and I saw the gate!

Just like that, it was time to step through.

Learn more about Rob's work on his website robhampson.com