The fool’s journey is almost complete. Card 21, the world, is the last card in the major arcana. He’s stepped from the symbols of ressurection in judgement to find one of the strangest of all the tarot images.
It feels like he’s stepped into a different dimension.
A person dances within a wreath. The position of the legs mirrors those of the hanged man while also suggesting temperance and star where the figures stood with one foot on the land and the other in water.
The world figure wears a flowing purple scarf, a colour associated with both leadership and divinity. The hidden genital area has led to suggestions this is a hermaphrodite, named from the the greek god Hermaphroditus.
So far, the cards have appeared either feminine or masculine, albeit sometimes with adrogynous faces, but the world contains the possibilities of both.
The fool understands the sexual ambiguity of this card, the union of masculine and feminine energies.
A double topped wand is held in each hand. The magician held a wand, and it appeared on the chariot where only the top half could be seen.
Multiple interpretations exist.
Wands are conduits of power and some suggest the ends represent the cone-shaped pineal gland. Physically, this responds to darkness by regulating melatonin, a hormone which controls sleeping patterns.
It’s also seen as creating connections between material and immaterial worlds, with the top and bottom an indication of inner and outer awareness.
The magician‘s right hand holds the wand up to the sky. In the world card, each wand is balanced, a symbol of integration.
Another similarity with the magician is the red ribbons on the wreath, tied in the shape of the lemniscate over the magician‘s head, a mark for eternity and the creative energy of the universe.
In the corners are the four creatures seen on the wheel of fortune; an eagle, bull, angel and a lion. On the world card they no longer have books open in front of them.
The world shows knowledge made manifest. The creative energy manipulated by the magician has become fully integrated with the mysticism of the high priestess.
In the chariot, demonstrating material achievement through the power of the will, only one end of the wand was seen. The chariot indicated there’s still work to be done, the purpose of the following cards.
The wheel of fortune, at the half-way point, showed life can feel beyond individual control whereas the world shows a balance has finally been achieved.
The purpose of the tarot is to increase understanding, enhance psychological or spiritual development, or as a combination of both.
During the process, the ego has dissolved, revealing the inner layers of self.
This dissolution began with death and the fool experienced an ecstatic awareness of ego-free existence in the star, but the revelation was only temporary.
The world represents a more permanent mergence of inner and outer. The dancer is within a circle, which represents wholeness and infinity.
The shape is reminiscent of the mythological cosmic egg from which the universe was said to have emerged.
The world completes the major arcana. The fool has come to the end of his walk through the tarot.
What does the card represent at this closing point of his journey?
The dancer is perpetual motion. The embodiment of universal energy. A unification of disparate parts.
Some might see world as a mother goddess like Gaia, Prithvi, Asherah, Isis or Danu but it does not represent an individual.
This is not the fool or a culmination of his achievements. The card shows the universality of the cosmos, a personification of infinity and eternal energy, neither fully understood and almost beyond words.
Here is the christian restoration of paradise, hebraic’s new jerusalem, moksha in hinduism and the buddhist enlightment of nirvana.
Science suggests life began with the colloquial big bang, the explosion of an atom, creating an ever expanding universe. For many, there’s an absence of opportunities to explore alternative hypotheses or access different perspectives.
For those like the fool, seemingly born with innate curiousity, the choice of alternative ways of seeing and being can feel vast and confusing.
A. E. Waite refers to the tarot cards as keys, each one can unlock a different aspect of the self. The fool has met 21 of these keys as he entered a world Waite describes as the divine dealings of philosophy.
It’s full of paradox.
Everything is a binary construction, yet binary oppositions are also wholes. The fool’s internal layers of consciousness, unconscious and subconscious awareness have been revealed, as both separate and combined.
He’s examined himself. Come to terms with the events of his life. Seen connections where previously he thought there were none.
The world card is an accumulation of all that has gone before.
It signifies completion but the card is both an ending and a beginning. The end of his tarot path and the beginning of what lies ahead, now he’s enriched through the integration of the different parts of his psyche.
The fool wants to leap into his unknown future but doesn’t want to leave the cards. He can see himself going back to the beginning and starting again, to re-meet the archetypes with his new levels of knowledge and understanding.
This is the purpose of zero. It can appear anywhere in the numerical order and the tarot has shown the fool the potential of existence outside and beyond structured reality.
To dance is to move without arriving at a specific destination. When we dance we often feel more alive. Energy flows through us bringing a sense of connection.
The fool is not a natural dancer but he understands the symbolism of the power of freedom through achievement.
It’s been a long journey.
The learning doesn’t stop here but the card represents an ending of sorts. He has to return to the world he left, when he stood on the cliff edge, a dog barking at his feet in what could be seen as encouragement or a warning.
If he’d known what lay ahead, would he still have taken the next step?
The world card is affirmation. It reinforces the idea of tarot as a journey. The fool has been introduced to the archetypes and learned to take responsibility for his own development, from both outer and inner perspectives.
He’s examined himself.
Understood the principles of cause and effect.
What he does can change the world, not necessarily the whole world but he can focus on his own little part of it, ensure what he does makes a positive difference.
At any time, the fool can return to the archetypes, revisit and ask new questions. He’s already feelng drawn to the magician and high priestess he met at the beginning.
So much of what they said passed him by, but he now feels in a better place to understand their messages.
It’s time to leave the world card and return to his own life.
There’s still 56 cards in the minor arcana, including the aces and court cards. They’ll wait for him to be ready to begin another path.
A different walk through the tarot.
images my own, copyright free from wikipedia commons or from https://pixabay.com/
