At our SL Practical Tarot discussion this past Saturday, we were talking about Tarot's relationship to one's spiritual outlook and the conversation turned to how one integrates spiritual ideals into mundane life. As an exercise, we decided to do two card daily readings to look at the external theme of the day and the spiritual theme in response to it. So, this week, I'll be drawing two cards a day with this comparison in mind.
Today's card representing external themes, is XXI: Triumph (The World). The love story depicted here is Dionysus and Ariadne, shown embracing in front of the World. Ariadne's story looks like a tragedy until nearly the very end of it - she helps Theseus slay the Minotaur by providing him with a golden thread to lead him out of the labyrinth (and she holds the thread in her hand in the card) and is repaid by being abandoned by him. In her heartbreak, she is told by the Muses that she has a better destiny before her than the one that was lost and soon is wooed and won by Dionysus, the god of plenty. She is made immortal and becomes a goddess of love - an ending that leads her out of her own maze of despair and into a life that is much more than she'd ever conceived.
This is the lesson of the World card... that what you get is even more than you know to want and that openness to greater than what you desire is where success and abundance lie. It speaks of expanding your horizons. At a mundane level, this speaks to me of not getting locked into small goals, but asking 'what else' - letting my day's routine stretch to include the serendipitous. It speaks of seeing loss as letting go of what isn't good enough to make way for what better than I'd thought of - letting myself see the possibility of a true happy conclusion rather than simply maintaining and making do.
Meanwhile, Fortune ties in the spiritual lesson in this approach and this card shows Zeus coming to Danae as a shower of golden light to seduce her as she sits playing a stringed instrument. Danae is locked away because an oracle fortold that a child of hers would one day slay her father - he hoped to avoid this by keeping her from ever meeting with a man.. but he didn't take into account that Zeus himself might come to her and conceive a child, Perseus.
The message is that when something is meant to be, avoiding it isn't possible. The Wheel turns and the only choice is to accept or struggle against it. Danae's father attempted to avoid his fate and failed, setting in motion the thing he hoped to avoid. Danae accepted the will of Zeus and it set her on a path that was both difficult and rewarding for her. With the Wheel, we are not in control of circumstances... but we are in control of our response to them.
The spiritual response to the expanded horizons of possibility presented by XXI - Triumph is to accept them - to acknowledge that not everything is in our control, and to respond to the gifts of fortune (including those that don't seem to be in our favor). This willingness to gamble that what happens is what's meant to be is what opens up the World to us.
It's been a quiet day today, and these are very big cards... I do not know what the universe wants to offer me today that merits such sweeping cards, but I will do my best to respond with an open, willing heart to what comes and trust that what comes today is for greater good than I can see.
End of Day Update:
Oh, I have to share how this played out... it's so fun!
Years ago, I attempted to give my (now ex) husband a gift that he'd really like, and worked together with a friend to buy him what he needed to do some home brewing. The equipment and brewing supplies were not cheap, and a lot of time and effort was put into it, and I'd chosen to do this because he'd mentioned more than once being interested. I thought it was the best gift I'd ever gotten anyone...
and it sat there, untouched, forever. And over time, as things started to go bad, it became a symbol of disappointment for me. Disappointment in his response..disappointment in my own inability to know what he'd like.. the disappointment he felt in this useless gift he didn't want.
And then one day, on a whim, I took the whole thing and gave it to a friend of mine, mostly just wanting it gone where it couldn't chide me anymore, and hoping someone might get some use out of it. Well... my friend never used it either, but that was ok because just taking it off my hands (and no, the ex never even noticed it was gone) was all that I needed from him.
So, out of sight, out of mind... haven't thought of it in a long time. Except that friend was out visiting and he mentioned to my daughter's fiance that he had this unused kit and supplies... and the two of them agreed that it should be passed over so the fiance could try it. He's a very cool guy, and loves projects. A couple weeks ago, the kit came back to my house and D researched and followed directions and viola! There's amber ale in bottles now down in my basement... and he looooved doing it.
This afternoon, he was excitedly talking about who'll be getting to taste the first run, and what he wants to do next, and I asked him if it was possible to make mead with it... boom! He was off and running exploring mead and is now very excited to give it a try and even went over to his grandfathers to pick up a whole bunch of lovely green bottles for it. By the end of the day, we'd agreed on a flavor combination (apple spice honey mead) and we'll be gathering the ingredients for it (and talk about serendipity... his uncle is a beekeeper) and if all goes well, we are going to have a whole lot of mead by Winter Solstice both for my own use and to give out as gifts.
So there it is... out of an old disappointment, a new pleasure arises which will ultimately have spiritual meaning for me when the Wheel turns to the appropriate time.
I am so tickled by this!
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