Tarot – The Major Arcana

Lesson 16

The average Tarot deck consists of 78 cards, divided into two general sections. The other section, the Major Arcana, consists of 22 cards.

If you own a Tarot deck, why not get them out now? Then you can look at each card in turn as you read the descriptions.

The cards of the Major Arcana can be called by a variety of different names, depending on which deck you are using.

The Major Arcana deal with major issues to do with our lives rather than our life. In fact they also act as a model of our evolution.  The great mysteries however, is that we do not, as might be expected, evolve from the FOOL into the UNIVERSE.

0) The Fool – He is very wise.  This idea requires much mediation but to start with, consider the famous Beatles’s song;

“…The FOOL ON THE HILL, sees the Sun going down,
And the eyes in his head, see the World spinning round.
Nobody wants to know him, they know that he’s just a fool,
But he doesn’t seem to notice, he knows that they’re the fools…”

His mind sees all, and he is not concerned with the opinions of lesser souls.

The Fool represents the principle of Wisdom, Courage, Fearlessness, Ecstasy and Peak Experience. “Fool people” are not foolish or fool-hardy.

They are drawn toward and tend to explore the mystical, transcendent, and transpersonal realms of consciousness. Their sense of wonder and anticipations is contagious.

1) The Magician – represents the principle of Magick, Communication and Timing. These persons are generally skilled in any arena where communication is required and would function easily in teaching, counselling, consulting work, media, design, film, photography, TV, public relations, diplomacy, negotiation, management, music and writing.

“Magician people” have the inherent ability to inspire and motivate others.

2) The High Priestess – represents the principle of Intuition, Self-Trust and Resourcefulness. “High priestess” people have a deep regard for balance and harmony and are unusual people to know in that they are equally as dynamic as they are receptive.
Such people can immediately tell if something is out of balance and can supply the creative solutions to bring situations, projects, or people back into balance.

3) The Empress – represents the principle of worldly power tempered with love and wisdom; our Mother Earth, nurturing, comfort, support and healing. This archetype reveals their power to receive and to give love with wisdom. With the Empress as their spiritual essence, both genders have an extraordinary capacity to heal, comfort, and nurture others.

4) The Emperor – represents Earthy Power and leadership. “Emperor People” have a natural ability to go into business on their own or to work in organisations or institutions where they can be the head of a programme or department.

The Emperor ultimately requires that you own your own power and authority and that you don’t abandon your own authority or gives your power away to others. With this symbol as your life-time spiritual symbol, it reminds you that you have strong leadership ability and the resourcefulness to work well on your own. For a man with this symbol as your life-time spiritual symbol, it is important that you surround yourself with people who are as strong as you are, especially in teamwork and partnership endeavours; otherwise, you, too, will lose respect for or become easily bored and impatient with those who are not as capable as yourself.

5) The Hierophant (or The Pope) – represents the principle of Learning and Teaching. “Hierophant” people are loyal, practical, and community-minded people. They are well-suited in being in an active or receptive mode in arenas of teaching, counselling, consulting and management situations. They are drawn to the creative arts as a tangible way of expressing creative ideas in a variety of forms.

Hierophant literally means “spiritual teacher” or “bringer of the light” so Hierophant people often have a deep philosophical nature and strong sense of faith in themselves and others

6) The Lovers -represents the principle of choices and balances. The journey of lovers is also the journey of twins. The Lovers archetype represents the universal principle of the art and craft of relationship. You are like the Lovers in your capacity to inspire and motivate people of all ages and all generations, pictured by the children, the couple, the older people, and the younger people on the symbol. “Lovers people” are people.

7) The Chariot -represents a need for greater balance and the accepting of change. For “chariot” people, it is not a question of what it is that they want to do, but how many things they can do simultaneously.

8) Justice -is another card of balance but in a different sense.  They like things to be direct, simple, and clear. At different times in their lives, they will attend to bringing balance into different areas, represented by the scales.

9) The Hermit -represents the principle of wisdom through solitude and introspection. “Hermit” people have a deep love for quietude and time spent alone.

They can be around many people and situations as long as they have a feeling of psychological, emotional, and environmental space. Such people live and model their spirituality and are not prone to talk about spiritual issues randomly.

10) The Wheel of Fortune – represents the changeability of opportunity. “Wheel of Fortune People” is stimulated by that which is creative and original.

Such people have a desire to explore that which is pioneering, futuristic, and ahead of its time. Yet they do not expect things to remain static.

11) Strength – represents the principle of Strength through Passion. They are drawn to the creative and performing arts or may use their creativity in multiple arenas where they are in the limelight or highly regarded for the originality that they bring to traditional settings or situations.

They are determined to handle all situations as creatively as possible. Often they hold strong beliefs that things will unfold like the flowers and renew and regenerate themselves like the snakes at the top of the card.

12) The Hanged Man – represents the principle of Surrender, Willing Sacrifice and the Breaking of old Patterns.   You will find it difficult to limit or restrict yourself in any way. You will constantly assist others to look at life and their problems from different perspectives.

Through humour, as a comedian does, you may assist others to take a different view or perspective of their current fixations or stuck places. Your greatest inherent gift will be that of constantly freeing yourself from self-imposed limitations and, as a result, you will have the ability to assist others in this process as well.

13) Death – represents the principle of Death and Rebirth, the endless cycle.

“Death People” are always committed to the process of transformation and change, particularly that aspect of letting go and moving forward. During your life, you may find yourself assisting others through divorce, handling the loss of loves ones, or encouraging people to initiate new experiences. Since you know the pain and suffering that attachment can cause, you are willing to assist others in teaching or modelling how they can love objectively and let go when necessary.

14) Temperance – represents the principle of Balance through Integration, Not wasting your power frivolously. Your inherent nature is one of bringing together polarities, oppositions, and paradoxes in order to create a greater whole.
You are a visionary. You are a natural alchemist constantly seeing that two or more is always a greater combination than one.

15) The Devil – represents the principle of keeping a Sense of Humour at what “Bedevils” us. It is important for “Devil People” to maintain a sense of humour.

16) The Tower – represents the principle of Restoration, Renovation, De-structuring old Forms. Inherently you have a natural ability to heal, renovate, and restore ideas, people, buildings, organizations, and environments.

“Tower People” believe in the principle that once an organism experiences chaos and disorder as a means of dismantling itself, the organism always reassembles itself to a more evolved and expanded structure.

17) The Star – represents the principle of Self-Sufficiency but also of Luck.

They possess a natural charisma and magnetism that pulls people and opportunities toward them. They have a natural ability to assist others with self-esteem issues.

18) The Moon – represents the “Sphere of Illusion”

They are a romantic yet are willing to make choices that inspire rather than deceive. “Moon People” are like what the I-Ching refers to as the “great still lake”.

19) The Sun – represents the principle of Power and Energy.

“Sun People” have sunny personalities. They are natural generators, motivators, and leaders of people.

20) Judgment – represents the principle of Good Judgment and Discernment.

“Judgment People” are creative in both family and career.

21) The World (or The Universe) represents the mundane world, full of possibilities and potential for growth.

They love to travel and experience other peoples and other cultures. Freedom is very important to them.

The Tarot is a worthy tool for self realisation and advancement as well as for predicting future trends.