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.)

Perspectives on Judgment, Part 3

Continuing to ponder how Judgment’s principles of rebirth and renewal apply to readings done last Sunday, two of the readings contained all heavy-hitting Major Arcana cards.

One 3-card spread was Justice, Judgment, and the World, suggesting more outward-looking transformations experienced on a larger social scale, that is, personal renewal achieved by promoting principles of justice and balance. (The person who drew this is a Libra, so one thinks of Gail Fairfield’s “Choice Centered Astrology,” which describes the Libra/Venus mission as creating beauty and harmony; also, when you get cards that strongly suggest your own astrological sign or significators, this suggests being yourself.) The World can suggest expressing these qualities in your personal life and environment, but there is also a sense of bringing harmony to more extended spheres of influence. If I’m not getting things mixed up, I believe this reading was done with the Ciro Marchetti Divine Legacy Tarot, so again, you have the central angel harmonizing the principles to either side of the Judgment card as part of this renewal process, (and creating continuity between these principles). There are similarities between Justice and Judgment, because both imply some critical decision making, and there is natural continuity between Judgment and the World, because as the last two cards in the Majors, the World follows Judgment as part of the natural progression through transformation to a higher and happier state of being.

The other reading, which featured Death, Judgment, and the Tower, reveals transformative processes that are profound and ongoing. We had been talking about how the card to the left of Judgment can reveal parts of you that you may have left behind, and that you can renew yourself by rediscovering these personalities, qualities, or interests. However, the person who drew these cards was a younger person still in school, so we tended more to look at the Death card as perhaps pertaining to the different Selves one may try on and then discard in the process of making decisions about what studies and careers to pursue. This could apply to a lot of other things a person can be identified with, such as peer groups, friendships, personal interests, beliefs and causes—because they all go into that sense of Self. To feel a little more at ease with having to deal with major transformations, you could think about where, in your past as well as in your current life, have you been able to use what we might call shape-shifting skills in adapting to different circumstances, different groups of people, different peoples’ demands on you, and so on? How have you been remaking yourself.

Another thing—which I didn’t think to mention—is Heinrich Böll’s reflection that, “The artist carries Death within him, like a good priest his breviary.” I didn’t think to ask whether this individual was an art student, but I know a lot of young people deal with a degree of intensity in their artistic explorations that generates internal drama. If you identify with this, Death and the Tower can have bearing on art as a continuing transformation process. The Tower can denote a jolt of inspiration, but from the artists’ point of view, it could also be about disassembling and reassembling one’s art installations to get different creative combinations. Here, you can welcome transformations as opportunities for self-invention and creative performance.

I think the deck used for this reading was the “Mystic Dreamer Tarot,” with art by Heidi Darras and text by Barbara Moore. In this deck, the Judgment angel faces left, the direction of the past, which, being the side of the Death card, also suggests that a return to a past transformation may be a source of renewal. The Death card features a shrouded grim reaper figure, from which emerges an ecstatic spirit woman made of starlight, which further suggests that idea of creative self-invention and re-invention.

I have a little bit more to say about the Judgment readings, but as I have to devote several days to family matters, I probably won’t get back to this til next week.