The Stories in Tarot - part one
The cards tell a story. As the minor arcana move from 1 through 10, a process unfolds. The same is true of the major arcana. The family cards speak to the characters in the story. Male cards can refer to men and female to women, but in the larger picture they refer to anima and animus, the female and male aspects of ourselves, because what is in the cards is always about what is in our selves.
I'm going to begin walking you through the story structures of the cards. I'll start with the lower arcana just because it is more conceptual and simpler. We'll move on from here through the stories of the major arcana.
1 - 1 is an essence energy and like the number, a place to start. It is the beginning of something but it may also be the whole of a thing, the everything. 1 is a little like once-upon-a-time, which always was and always will be and is happening now.
2 - At 2, 1 meets itself, often in the form of another but equally often in the form of one's own self. 2 brings either conflict or confluence.
3 - 3 brings resolution if there was conflict, celebration if there was confluence. 3 is 1+1=3, 3 being the union created in a coming together as an entity unto itself.
4 - 4 is solid and strong. It is 3 recognizing the security of itself. That said, it can also bring a sense of stagnation or of being stuck.
5 - 5 is the inevitable dynamic that occurs when 4 has been still for too long. 5 asks the big questions and shakes up the status quo that 4 was so comfortable with.
6 - 6 is the light of reason, the grace of understanding that recognizes what is trying to happen and soothes the soul. It is the promise of comfort and order and beauty and peace.
7 - 6 helps 5 to sort itself out and 7 appears, restructuring and realigning at a higher level.
8 - 4+4=8, so you might think that 8 would be doubly safe, secure and stuck but in its very shape - so unlike that of the 4 - you see the promise of balance and of flow that results from the recent re-structuring. There is often a heaviness that accompanies 8 in that success often brings with it responsibilities that must be tended to.
9 - Thus ends the story. Job done.
10 - Here lies the potential for the beginning of the next story, the seeds of new adventure.
This 'story' framework can help interpreting readings, allowing you to see where there is order unfolding...or chaos...or where things may be devolving instead of evolving.
©2010 Victoria Pendragon
I'm going to begin walking you through the story structures of the cards. I'll start with the lower arcana just because it is more conceptual and simpler. We'll move on from here through the stories of the major arcana.
1 - 1 is an essence energy and like the number, a place to start. It is the beginning of something but it may also be the whole of a thing, the everything. 1 is a little like once-upon-a-time, which always was and always will be and is happening now.
2 - At 2, 1 meets itself, often in the form of another but equally often in the form of one's own self. 2 brings either conflict or confluence.
3 - 3 brings resolution if there was conflict, celebration if there was confluence. 3 is 1+1=3, 3 being the union created in a coming together as an entity unto itself.
4 - 4 is solid and strong. It is 3 recognizing the security of itself. That said, it can also bring a sense of stagnation or of being stuck.
5 - 5 is the inevitable dynamic that occurs when 4 has been still for too long. 5 asks the big questions and shakes up the status quo that 4 was so comfortable with.
6 - 6 is the light of reason, the grace of understanding that recognizes what is trying to happen and soothes the soul. It is the promise of comfort and order and beauty and peace.
7 - 6 helps 5 to sort itself out and 7 appears, restructuring and realigning at a higher level.
8 - 4+4=8, so you might think that 8 would be doubly safe, secure and stuck but in its very shape - so unlike that of the 4 - you see the promise of balance and of flow that results from the recent re-structuring. There is often a heaviness that accompanies 8 in that success often brings with it responsibilities that must be tended to.
9 - Thus ends the story. Job done.
10 - Here lies the potential for the beginning of the next story, the seeds of new adventure.
This 'story' framework can help interpreting readings, allowing you to see where there is order unfolding...or chaos...or where things may be devolving instead of evolving.
©2010 Victoria Pendragon
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