And Others Have The World Thrust Upon Them
In some systems of Tarot reading, the Major Arcana follows an order from 1-21 with the 0 thrown in for good measure somewhere. If a card of lower number appears after a card of higher number, then there’s been a regression on the journey to enlightenment.
I’m never sure what to think of that.
If at 33 I have attained The Hanged Man and Temperence and then I decide to have a baby and The Empress appears hailing all the new creations emerging on the earth, have I regressed ?
I tend to think of the Major Arcana visually as a spiral. There is a beginning and an end, but everything is connected and like a spider in her web we can move easily from the center to the outer edges and back again.
And then there is the matter of The World. You know - gnosis, enlightenment, samadhi, transcendence for some, immanence for others, powerful in any language. Some do work, progressing through disciplines and practise to acheive such a state and to stay as close to it as humanly possible.
And others have The World thrust upon them. They walk around in a porous state, amazed by every breath, by the connection of all things, a little elated, greatly awed, and perhaps a little frightened. And then they lapse back into laundry or driving the car or that exam or appointment. Or they forget the exam and the appointment and lapse hours or day later into apologies and catching up.
The unbiddeness and lack of knowledge makes it no less an occurence of The World and the sinking back into life here in this body on this earth with the memory of the experience is one that can move a soul ever closer to their ideals not farther away. Maybe it is ever a case of one step forward, two steps back. Or maybe it’s the dance that we were all born to do.