Such esoteric thoughts might seem to go too far for a simple card such as the Hermit, but this is card number nine - a very important number to numerologists. Nine is the final single number and has a peculiarity in that when it is removed from the addition of any set of numbers, the remaining numbers still add up the same as before. (1 + 3 + 9 + 5 = 18; 1 + 8 = 9 but also, 1 + 3 + 5 = 9). This curious characteristic of the number nine was known at least by the tenth century, so Bembo either knew it to apply to the idea of a Hermit who may remove itself from society without causing harm or he was unwittingly perpetuating an earlier connection. This number is also considered to be magical in that any number multiplied by 9 reduces back to 9. (3 x 9 = 27; 2 + 7 = 9; 4 x 9 = 36; 3 + 6 = 9). So the Hermit as number nine is not only very clever, but knows how to withdraw without making a dramatic exit from the world in general whilst still remaining true to its own nature. By withdrawing itself it does not change its essential characteristics. It keeps its integrity.
The Exhortation: Know when and how to withdraw!
The Hermit is twinned with
Hexagram 36 Ming I: Darkening of the Light, Injury
Upper Trigram: K’un: earth, female, receptive, (heat, dark). Mother; Larger Yin.
Lower Trigram: Li: fire, brilliance, beauty, (sun, lightening, dependence). Middle Daughter; Lesser Yin. Summer
SYMBOL This hexagram symbolizes light hidden within the earth. In governing the people, the Superior Man, [Elite Traveller] though taking care to conceal (his light), nevertheless shines.
Hexagram 36, Darkening of the Light, Injury, contains the lower trigram Li from the previous hexagram topped by the all Yin intuitive trigram K’un. Li denoting fire, brilliance and beauty, is below the trigram K'un which represents the earth, so the light is hidden within the earth, or by the earth. The outer light and strength of Li is taken into the intuitive depths of K’un thus generating a better understanding of, or coming to terms with, the material world. The number of Hexagram 36 also reduces to 9 - the same number as the card for the Hermit. (3 + 6 = 9)
What is represented here is not actually a darkening of the light but an obscuring of the light from the outside world. Blofeld says:
The Superior Man [and woman] though taking care to conceal (his light) nevertheless shines.
Wilhelm:
Beautiful and clear within, gentle and devoted without…1
Though normally interpreted as not a good omen (as with so many of the inherently Yin hexagrams) the idea behind the hexagram is a good one, and to my mind there is something rather wonderful about the final comment in Blofeld’s translation:
… the Superior Man, though taking care to conceal (his light) nevertheless shines.[My emphasis].
There is also a sense of injury in the translation of this hexagram and according to Wilhelm a literal translation of the title should be Wounding of the Bright.2 This reminds me of the immense number of people throughout the ages who have been persecuted, tortured and killed because of the light that shone through them - Jesus being the prime example. According to Wilhelm each of the moving lines of this hexagram refers to various people of vision who were persecuted by Chou Hsien (who was overthrown in 1150 BC) and their differing ways of coping with the wounding of the bright light that shone through them: King Wên by no means least, who was imprisoned for seven years during which time he formed his commentaries on the I Ching.3 (See part 1).
It reminds me too of the Mystery Schools of the ancient days, when there was awareness that wisdom could only be perceived by those with the necessary light in them, hence there were teachings kept secret from those who would have been unable to understand and could subsequently persecute or distort the wisdom. This is in the tradition of initiation and oral teaching still practiced by Tibetans and shamanic people - such as are left today. It is also the format of the stories of Homer and earlier story-tellers in the oral tradition of the Aoidoi, where a tale could be appreciated for its simple worth, or seen at a depth of whatever level the listener could fathom. Bembo was taking a great risk in producing his Tarot cards at a time when persecution was at its height, and was therefore careful to cloak the wisdom in a delicate form.
Card 10:
The Wheel of Fortune/Wheel of Life (Yang)
Here we have a card that addresses two fundamental principles of life that have survived in eastern cultures but for the past two thousand years or so have been swept under the carpet, firstly by the Christian church and latterly by the weight of materialistic thought which requires some material proof of everything, even of the immaterial. However, there is nothing particularly esoteric about it, for it belongs to the logical sphere of the Yang psyche. The first principle is that life does not go in a straight line with no before or after, but circular like a wheel. The second is that it is our own selves rather than a superior being such as God who is responsible for our fortune, whether it be good or bad. It is a logical argument that requires understanding rather than faith or belief.
Parallel to the Hermit's intuitive need for withdrawal, collection and contemplation, here we have an intellectual search for the understanding of the way the world works. It seems too close to be co-incidental that the title of this card, the Wheel of Fortune, is so similar to the oriental idea of the Wheel of Life which incorporates the law of karma and rebirth, a theory of the basic cycle of life and why things happen to you the way they do. The idea that we are born many times over in this world until we learn how to break the cycle is not just a concept inherent in eastern religions. The understanding that we need many lifetimes to work out our spiritual growth was an aspect of the Christian religion until power over people became a more important concept to priests than true learning. Witches were ridiculed and drowned for believing in it; the Cathars were tortured and burnt for it; Coptic Christians were scorned for it; the Essenes only spoke of it in their desert retreats. The Egyptian king Tutankhamen was killed very possibly for trying to bring his Amen priesthood back to this more meaningful idea of life. It was also a concept intrinsic to the mystery schools of two or three thousand years ago. It was the mainstay of Pythagoras’ school of thought and he too was killed for his wisdom.
“Pythagoras regarded the soul as a fallen angel locked within a body and condemned to a cycle of rebirths until it has rid itself of all impurities”1
I sometimes wonder if the in-built memory of the hatred and persecution that this idea has inspired in those who would prefer to control people by fear and power, might be the reason why we (like Pavlov’s conditioned dogs) have an inherent discretion when speaking of it openly. I know that as a child I soon learnt to keep my ideas to myself if only for fear of ridicule, yet had I been born in a different country it would have been taken for normal. Had I been born in a different century I would have been burnt at the stake by now! Many children have memories of past lives but it is soon knocked out of them when they are laughed at or asked to prove that their memories are real.
The reluctance to accept the theory and the antagonism the mention of it arouses may also be due to it being the first step to accepting so many other ideas that lead us beyond the material world – that lead us out of the material sequence of our lives and therefore into deeper, perhaps turbulent, waters.
There is a basic misconception amongst people in the west about re-incarnation, which comes about because of the western idea of a permanent soul - so if Joe Bloggs is re-born he must be Joe Bloggs the second, and so on. Whilst this may be the case with a dyed in the wool, hard to move Joe Bloggs, it is not the way it is seen in the eastern religions. With an ever-changing identity, the Joe who is born into one life is not the same Joe who dies eighty years later, and he is certainly a very different person next time around, although undoubtedly there are links carried through; hence an open-minded person and particularly young children can catch a glimpse of where they are coming from. These young travellers on the journey will soon lose the memory of their home base as they become immersed in our materialistic
society.
It seems hard to expect one to achieve the spiritual accumulation of merit, the total forgiveness of one’s wrongdoers, and the peace of mind of a saint all in one lifetime between earning a living, bringing up children, and keeping the peace between one and another. A religion that expects all this in a lifespan of less than a hundred years is asking the impossible, which is why most people throw their hands up in the air and give up – or turn to some other form of ‘salvation’.
Karma described in the simplest of terms is the concept that we are born on this plane of existence over and over again until we break the cycle caused by our desires, loves, hates, and all the other very human emotions that we desire, love or hate. This endless circle is very well described in Buddhism as a wheel, turning endlessly with us all bound to the spokes. The whole of the Major Arcana describes this condition and the way to escape from the endless round - but this card, which comes just before the turning point in the circle, epitomises it.
The word tê which forms part of the title of the major Taoist written work the Tao Tê Ching is often translated as Virtue, but Arthur Waley in the introduction to his translation of the work tells us:
“… where the word occurs in early, pre-moralistic texts such a translation is in reality quite false. But if we study the usage of the word carefully we find that tê can be bad as well as good … It means something much more like the Indian karma … it means, so to speak, the stock of credit (or the deficit) that at any given moment a man has at the bank of fortune.”2
The concept of karma has a similarity to the ancient Greek idea of fate, as dealt out by the three goddesses, the Moirai. Clotho was the spinner, Lachesis the measurer, and Atropos was named for that which could not be avoided. To the ancient Greeks fate was meted out by the gods, but with karma there is a big difference. The fundamental idea of karma is that we make our own fate in every moment of our lives, though at the same time we have to live through in the here-and-now the fate we created for ourselves in the past. We have to take responsibility for our own condition and move on in the best way we can.
It is not an easy concept to describe, but Akong Rinpoche in his book Restoring the Balance explains it very well:
“Each one of us is a product of a variety of causes and conditions that have shaped the way we are. These have not been imposed on us by an external force but are the result of our own behaviour in a previous time that we have forgotten about. In the same way, we learn to understand that everything we are doing now, absolutely everything, is shaping our future. We are masters of our own destiny.”3
My image shows the Wheel of Fortune turning with us all clinging to the spokes. Some people are quite contented on the Wheel; others fight to get off or try to stop the movement. The Wheel itself is made of wood, representing the natural things of earth. Flames of desire, which are bright and attractive, flow from the turning rim. In the centre is a golden flower representing the beauty of the world we love, and green vines twine around the spokes. This card could equally be called the Wheel of Life, or the World Wheel to which we cling. As T.S. Eliot wrote:
"Only The fool, fixed in his folly, may think
He can turn the wheel on which he turns."4
This is the fool with a small 'f' but perhaps this also tells us something about the Fool of the Tarot who is outside the circle in our scheme of things. If we can for just a moment step beyond the circle and see it for what it is, we can then at least set out on our journey with a map in our hands and an arrow pointing out: 'You are here’.
To Pythagoras the number ten, the number of this card, represented the totality of the world. Ten dots or stone markers set out in a triangle with one at the top (the supreme monad), two in the second row (for the opposites), three in the third row (for the combination of the opposites), and four in the base row for the foundations of life, was what he called ‘the Tetraktys’. Within this sacred tetrad could be found the whole of the hermetic symbolism of life, so this card as the Wheel of Fortune or Life is well placed at this number.
The Exhortation: Accept good and bad with equanimity!
The Wheel of Fortune is twinned with
Hexagram 55 Fêng: Abundance
Upper Trigram: Chên: thunder, to arouse, shock. Eldest Son; Lesser Yin. Spring
Lower Trigram: Li: fire, brilliance, beauty, (sun, lightening, dependence). Middle Daughter; Lesser Yin. Summer.
SYMBOL This hexagram symbolizes thunder and lightening occurring simultaneously. The Superior Man [Elite Traveller] decides law suits and inflicts (the necessary) penalties.
I was unsure about the choice of Hexagram 55, Abundance, for the Wheel of Fortune but the I Ching itself chose it, for it was the only hexagram that could arise from sensible moving lines in the last hexagram taking us on to this one. The number of Hexagram 55 associates with the card number 10 in that 5 + 5 = 10, but this may be just coincidence.
The hexagram gives a different aspect to the Wheel of Fortune by emphasising what good fortune we have to be here at all, and that we should make best use of our opportunity of being born into this wonderful world. The world is full of bounty. There is everything on it for our needs and we have to be aware of how lucky we are. We should not be clinging to the spokes and worrying, but climbing around and making the best use of all we have been given.
Abundance – success! The King inspires them. Do not be sad; it is fitting (to be like) the sun at its zenith.
The Confucian commentary explains:
Abstaining from sadness and being like the sun at its zenith signifies letting our light shine before the whole world.
This must be easier to do if we have accepted into our hearts an understanding of the way the world works. No longer are we fumbling around in the dark wondering where we have come from and where we are going. Now we have a map in our hands. No longer do we feel envy and misgivings about those more fortunate than we appear to be ourselves.
After reaching its zenith, the sun begins to set; even a full moon may suffer an eclipse. The ebb and flow, the filling and emptying of all that is in heaven and earth occur at the proper times for them; how much more so is this true of men and how very much more so of spirits and of the gods!
Is this not a succinct description of the theory of karma? Also, on a cosmic scale the world is like a wheel with the sun rising and setting, the tides ebbing and flowing, all in their due time and course. We cannot hasten it or slow it down. The world, like us and even the gods and spirits, is subject to time, but it is a celestial time over which we have no control. The Wheel turns at its own pace and sometimes we need patience! I am reminded of a little saying may father would trot out with a resigned smile when occasion demanded: “The mills of God grind slowly, but they grind exceeding small!”
This hexagram puts us on notice that we have an exceptionally good chance by being born into this world with all its wonders, if we can but see it. It is considered by the Tibetans to be extremely lucky to be born as a human, and even luckier if you get to hear the word of any spiritual teacher. We also have a duty to let our own small light shine before the world, for it is up to us to improve the lot of all beings to the best of our ability, rather than to neglect or ignore the fate or bad karma of others.
Two different things are being suggested here: firstly, the need to accept the worldly condition in which we exist and the cosmic time associated with it, and secondly, the wonders of the world that we are able to appreciate if we are in tune, and work in tune with the natural world. This is something that as a species we evidently are not doing in this day and age. Our own health and mental condition is inevitably bound up with the health and condition of our planet. Gaia has a planetary karma that is influenced by every thing that we as humans do on it and to it, just as we in turn are influenced by our environment. We cannot separate ourselves from the world we live in.
Card 11: Justice/Balance (Yang/Yin)
The card for Justice, or Balance, is a combination Card, where the two si
des of the triangle are drawn together. Its position on the circle is at the furthest point from where we began, so it is from here that we start the return route around the other side of the circle, as we work towards an integration rather than towards individualisation (see Figure 1: & Figure 6: ). A more specific understanding of what we are doing here on the Wheel of Life is combined with the inner wisdom we have gained through our appreciation of the previous cards. This brings us to the idea of Justice. It is not justice imposed by a court of law or by a judicial God, but a realisation that our present life is the result of our past thoughts and deeds, hence there really is justice in every situation. Every force produces an opposing force – it is the law of nature. So every deed produces a particular outcome. Every thought, every feeling, every emotion, produces a reactionary response – we can see it in our daily living. The more extreme the thought or deed, the more extreme will be the response. We have our ‘just’ rewards – no more, no less.
The Tao in the Tarot Page 9