Rider Waite Major Arcana

Dusty White said in class the other day that the Major Arcana do not lend themselves to telling a story. That said, let’s look again.

Long ago and far far away in another realm, a Fool merrily skips towards the edge of a cliff. A rose is lightly held in one hand and a medicine pouch dangles from a wand which rests on his shoulder. The Fool was apprenticed to an alchemist at the age of three assigned to sweep the floors and stay out of sight. As he grew older, he had more and more chores to perform. One day the alchemist decided the Fool was ready to learn how to transmute base metals and extract energy from plants. After several years of study, the Alchemist had grown too old to continue teaching and he sent the now thirty year old out to seek his fortune.

On his own for the first time in his life, the Fool set forth. Along the way a stray dog decided to follow him and the two let the wind guide them without any particular destination in mind. Gazing up into the heavens, the Fool is almost in a state of ecstasy. With one more step he falls off the cliff and transforms into the Magician!

Saved from death by all the magic accumulated since he was a toddler, the Fool steps into the role of the Magician – the ultimate alchemist who has mastered infinity. He raises his power wand towards the heavens as he points downward toward the earth. His altar chalice and solid gold paten carved with a pentacle await the spells the Magician is conjuring using his athame and staff. His white ceremonial robe is knotted by a belt containing the spells which will emanate out from his dantien upwards through the chakras to be voiced using the power of the Logos. His red cape was dyed using the red berries of the sacred mistletoe.

The first invocation the Magician performs is to summon the High Priestess as his shakti without whom nothing can be created. Their mystical tantric union transforms them into an Empress and and and Emperor – the Queen and King of Heaven! The ultimate mother she reigns over all of earth but also of heaven. She is Abundance itself. She is the healing nature of the forests and oceans and fruits, vegetables, flowers, and herbs. Her consort, the Emperor is raw power, cardinal male energy, and discernment. Together they create the Hierophant an intermediary or high priest whose edicts dictate all the spiritual and religious activities throughout time and space.

Out of the Hierophant’s intense love for his parents emerges the Lovers or the first humans. A seraphim blesses the intense attraction between the two. They are bound together as twin flames for all eternity separating and parting and then seeking each other in each lifetime, sometimes successfully, and at others fated to live apart.

The union of the Lovers results in a conqueror who rides forth in his Chariot pulled by two sphinxes. His Chariot stops when the conqueror has met up with the embodiment and personification of Strength with her lion. The goddess Durga so humbles the Conqueror he gives up his crown and takes up the life of a Hermit wandering the world with his lantern seeking illumination within his own soul. Nearing the end of his life, the Hermit’s chakras spin in unison with such brilliance the Hermit transforms into the Wheel of Fortune itself.

The Kalachakra Wheel of Time spins on its own protected by the guardians of Earth, Air, Fire, and Water. After it has spun 108 times, Justice emerges sitting on the stone throne between the pillars symbolizing the magical number 11. She raises up a sword forged by the churning of the oceans out of which emerged karma and samsara. In her other hand she holds the scales of Anubis who has entrusted her in how to weigh a soul while still in the realm of the living.

Justice lowers her sword and passes judgement on the Hanged Man who is suspended in Time itself awaiting his Fate. Death then appears riding rigid upon the Pale Horse prophesied by the ancient one. Life for the Hanged Man has been decided. He must give up the ghost of this life to be reincarnated into a new one for he failed to break free from the cycle of rebirth.

While on the other side the Fool’s soul meets Temperance and learns how to balance good and evil, temptation and prudence, desire and restraint, doing and non-doing. Failing in this lesson, the Fool encounters the Devil himself. The Devil teaches the Fool about free Will and soul contracts and how the Fool was both blessed and cursed at the time of his birth. The Devil then shows the Fool the Fool’s Natal Chart and how the energies were concentrated in one or two houses. The Stars and the Planets, clashed with the Cardinal, Fixed, and Mutable energies of each of the cards The Fool has been dealt. Being the Devil he offers the Fool a Deal. Shuffle the cards again, he said. I will send you back. The Fool agreed.

Only a Fool would trust the Devil for the Fool sprang back to life only to find himself in mid air falling once again off the Burning Tower of Babble and never ending change and chaos. As the Fool lays dying once again, he looks up at the Star infusing his battered soul with hope and a possible brilliant future. He sees the Moon who shines down into his heart a feeling of peace. The Moon teaches him how to accept each transition with grace and ease and to know that this too shall pass. Night fades into Day and the Sun pierces the Dark Night of the Soul of the Fool breaking free of all the illusions of immortality. The Fool is now healed. He rises NAKED and stands up to gaze upward at Judgement blaring his trumpet from the sky. The Fool is now illuminated. His higher self is awake and ready to face The World this time to have a successful journey through the sands of samsara!

This story appeared to have arisen from decades of esoteric studies. I know I typed it. But I’m not sure if the words came from me or were they put into my head? Will I ever know? Should I care? I think the story is really cool. It is copyrighted so don’t you dare try to steal it. The Gods will find you and the Spirits will haunt you for all eternity. But use it. Meditate on it. And have fun reading it.

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