TAROT SPELL FOR BLESSING THE YEAR 2021

Using magical numerology and tarot, we find that each year corresponds to a tarot card or cards.  In the case of 2021, we have 2 + 0 + 2 + 1, which = 5, the number of The Hierophant card.  Additionally, because many of us pronounce 2021 as “Twenty Twenty-One,” this also corresponds to the Judgement card plus The World cards.  With all of these cards in mind, we can do a little tarot spell to help us focus on positive images for the year ahead.  While it is obviously too late to perform this spell on New Year’s Eve or New Year’s Day, it can actually be performed at any time on any day in this new year 2021.

But first, a few words about the cards:  In modern decks, the Major Arcana’s card Number 5 is more frequently called The Hierophant, while in older decks, it was called The Pope.  Historically, the hierophant was a priest who explained the Mysteries, and who was chosen for the beauty of his voice.  Some alternative decks have labeled this card The High Priest, The Teacher, Guidance, Faith, and Knowledge.  This card generally pertains to instruction, including knowledge passed down through religious authorities and cultural traditions.  Card no. 20, variously spelled Judgment or Judgement, is about awakening, and has also been labeled Karma, Beyond Illusion, The Aeon, Phoenix, Rebirth, and Transcendence in some alternative decks.  Card No 21, The World, is about wholeness, and has been relabeled by some as Ascension, Completion, Psyche, and The World Tree.  Taken as a grouping, these cards make a statement about expanding one’s consciousness and striving for wholeness in the process of learning and teaching.

In the tarot spell below, I illustrate the layout with cards from the Gaian tarot by Joanna Powell Colbert, which labels The Hierophant as The Teacher, Judgement as Awakening, and The World as Gaia.

To perform the spell, first lay down The Hierophant, while saying:

                The Year Twenty and Twenty-One:

                A year of teaching, a year of learning.

 Then place Judgment and The World in the positions as indicated in the illustration above, (creating a pyramidal layout), while saying:

                 So may we awaken to a World of Blessing,

                on the path of learning, on the path of teaching.

Then, give yourself some time to contemplate the cards’ associations and imagery while thinking about ways that you can open yourself to new knowledge--especially in the service of world healing and wholeness.  You may even create some new teaching traditions to pass along.

(Note: Consider how the year 2021 gives us this meaningful combination. It won't work for 2022, because the Major Arcana only goes up to 21.)

TAROT FOR THE NEW YEAR 2021: A WORLD TURNED UPSIDE DOWN

Last night, which was New Year’s Eve of 2021, I did a reading to learn the general quality of the year ahead for society at large, and the central, focal card was “The World” reversed.

Actually, the card was “The Worlds” with an “s” on the end, because I was using The Victorian Fairy Deck, and this deck uses Worlds plural, indicating the interpenetrating realms of the human and fairies, the wild and the domestic, the material and the imaginative, etc.

I used the Victorian Fairy deck because I had received it as a Christmas present, so it seemed appropriate to use my newest acquisition.  Through different eras, our cultural imagination has perceived the fairy folk differently, and so portrayed them differently in art and literature.  As it has been jokingly said that the Victorians liked to imagine fairies as ordinary Victorians with wings on them, the creators of this deck, (Lunaea Weatherstone, with illustrator Gary A. Lippincott), have taken up this idea for the images.  In the case of “The Worlds” card, we see a ring of fairies in Victorian costume, dancing in a clearing in the woods.  However, the towers of a city are shown off in the distance, conveying the idea of connected world systems.

I interpret this reversed Worlds card as a caution that things won’t get back to normal all too quickly, due to COVID and other social upheavals, including the transition to a new presidency.  Among other things, it might take longer for vaccines to turn the situation around, and/or for the transfer of political power to be effective.

This New Year’s Eve reading was done as a three-card spread, where the flanking cards were The Queen of Autumn and The Herald of Spring.  (In this deck, Autumn corresponds to Pentacles, and Spring to Wands.)  Both were upright, so in their full expression.  One can put different lenses on a three-card spread, so if viewed as something of a timeline, the old lady Autumn comes before the young fellow Spring, which also suggests a certain reversal of the natural order.  In practical terms, however, the Queen of Autumn might indicate that society at large has the resources and experience to manage the world situation, and the Herald of Spring might denote the breath of fresh air we’ll be feeling when we get some good news and the world opens up again, so we can go out and enjoy ourselves.

By the way, in reference to my previous post on The Dollhouse Oracle and the House of 2020, I did a reading for myself this morning, to see what the House of 2021 will look like for me.  I again used The Victorian Fairy Deck, and I also used the Victorian House pop-up book, and found the color scheme of the cards worked very well with the color scheme of the house.  Color scheme is not a big deal, but I do appreciate harmonious graphic relationships.  (Note—Last year I used the Edwardian House by Brian & Lizzie Sanders as authors, and designed by Suzanne Ferguson; the Victorian House was designed by Willabel L. Tong and illustrated by Phil Wilson.)  Two cards came up that do suggest the ongoing COVID situation:  for the entryway, I got the reversed Chariot, which suggests staying inside, and in the upstairs hallway, denoting one’s ability to get around, I got The Hermit—again indicating the need to self-isolate.  I don't know whether these cards foretell a worsening COVID situation and therefore a greater need to stay at home, or just the fact that I have the privilege of being able to work from home.