by Brian Clark
Lust and failure to respect the laws of the gods produced a monster that had to be concealed beneath the surface of the family. Buried shame or repression in the family eventually resurfaces, often through the next generation. This fate became evident in Minos’ daughters Ariadne and Phaedra, whose earthy passions and desires are reminiscent of the bull archetype of Taurus.
On this card, behind Europa and the Bull, stands the Hierophant, the ancient priest who initiated thousands of ancient pilgrims into the Eleusinian Mysteries, the greatest mystery initiations of the ancient world. The great bull abducts us into the pleasures of the outer world, the desires of the body, and the rapture of our passions. Beyond the incarnate body is the spirit of the Hierophant whose essence centers our passions, secures our self-doubt, and distills the worldly experiences. But like Minos we must not make the error of withholding our resources or our possessions. When the Hierophant appears, the archetypal drama of Taurus is a sign that our worldly journey needs to be structured. He reminds us to control the force and power of our passions, not be compelled by them. Perhaps the Hierophant has appeared to caution us not to withhold our inner strengths and resources. Or perhaps we have instinctually drawn the card in order to face the majesty and beauty of the bull within us. Whichever way the Hierophant speaks to us, he represents Taurus and the preparation for our venture into the world. Europa is the innocent, the Fool, called away from childhood beliefs in order to find her own creative way of being. The Hierophant is the archetypal image of the inner priest, mentor, or spiritual father who initiates her into the quest for self-knowledge, the aspect of the self that beckons us to journey beyond our comfort zone. On an oracular level, the appearance of the card signals a desire to direct our passions towards self-knowledge and understanding while remaining grounded in the world.
VI~The Lovers:
Gemini’s Search for the Twin Soul
Gemini is the zodiacal sign representing our first encounter with another soul. The appearance of the card focuses on our balanced relationships, whether with a twin, soul mate, sibling, partner, or friend. The card reveals the need to be mindful of separateness and differing agendas within relationships.
The two stars in the constellation of Gemini, Castor and Pollux, recognized as a pair for nearly eight millennia, link this constellation with the archetypal twin motif throughout comparative mythologies. Mythic twins portray hostile relationships, like the Roman Romulus and Remus; ambivalent ones, like the Greek Amphion and Zethus; and symbiotic attachments like Castor and Pollux, the myth that underlies Gemini. Pollux, the divine twin, is the brighter star; Castor is less bright, reflecting his mortal stature in Greek myth. Their story of fraternal love, devotion, and loss engenders Gemini with a deep awareness of the pain of attachment and separation.
Castor and Pollux were beloved by both gods and mortals. Their parents were Leda and Tyndareus, the Queen and King of Sparta. Zeus desired Leda and seduced her in the guise of a swan. Leda bore two giant eggs as a consequence of having been impregnated by both Zeus and her husband Tyndareus the same day. From one egg emerged Helen and Pollux, the divine progeny of Zeus, from the other, Castor and Clytemnestra, the human offspring of Tyndareus. This complex constellation of ‘others’ at birth, and the ultimate loss of this connection, engender the feeling that something is missing, commonly underlying the Gemini experience. Both sets of twins also carry their complex sibling enmeshment into their adult relationships by marrying other siblings. Helen and Clytemnestra marry two brothers, Menelaus and Agamemnon, while Castor and Pollux marry their twin cousins. Gemini suggests that early imprints and patterns of our sibling relationship are recreated in adult partnerships.
Another motif central to the Greek myth is powerful bond of love between the twins Castor and Pollux. As young men they were inseparable. However, when Castor was mortally wounded the painful truth of their individual destinies was revealed. Mortal Castor was to die, whereas Pollux’s divine blood rendered him immortal. Pollux’s grief at the loss of his brother-other was so intense he felt he could no longer live without him. The twins, once fused and bonded together, were now eternally separate, echoing the devastating impact of loss that Gemini describes. However, Gemini also brings awareness of the differences and opposites within the self.
The twin motif was so important that the Greeks deified Apollo and Artemis, twin souls who were closely attached to each other. To the ancients, the sibling relationship was also a template for love, devotion, and marriage. Hera received a special dispensation to marry her brother Zeus. The partnership and equality signaled by the card of the Lovers will also be accompanied by a sense of separateness, duality, and individuality.
When the Lovers card is drawn, inner wisdom is alerting us to reflect on our relationship patterns and their complexities. While we may be looking for a soul mate to reflect our own self, we need to become more aware of the compulsions underlying this longing. There may be an unresolved relationship, a betrayal, or buried family issues influencing the way we relate. The search for a partner often reminds us that we are essentially separate and alone. To enter and truly commit to a relationship, we first must feel the conflict and opposition in ourselves. On an oracular level, the card suggests a relationship will fulfill our urge for an equal other. However, while we may long to see the reflection of our own soul in the eyes of the beloved, Gemini is acutely aware of separateness. Therefore, both the joy and the pain of relating may be experienced. This card suggests the consciousness of relating, and its appearance heightens the individual’s awareness of relationship patterns and processes. It also confirms an urge to be equal, to share one’s self with like-minded others, or participate in a wider social circle. It also alerts the individual to find a balance rather than to swing back and forth between the two poles of separateness and togetherness. On the capes of the Lovers are butterflies, the cross-cultural symbol of the soul and breath of life, free of its earthly flesh. With the Lovers, an inner synthesis of soul and body is taking place, which may be projected onto relationships.
VII~The Chariot:
Cancer, the Mother and the Hero
The card of the Chariot depicts Hera nursing the infant Hercules. Ironically, Hera was the hero’s fiercest adversary, yet Heracles, the name given to him by the Delphic oracle, means the glory of Hera. To her left is another mythic mother, the Great She-Wolf who reared the heroic twins Romulus and Remus. Behind the Goddess is the traditional chariot pulling the Moon, the ruler of the astrological sign Cancer. With the Chariot we meet the nurturing sign of Cancer and the goddess who suckles the hero.
The Chaldeans named the constellation of Cancer “the Gate of Men” since they believed it represented the entranceway for souls to incarnate into their human bodies. From an ancient perspective it was associated with a type of womb, albeit a metaphysical one. To the Greeks the constellation of Cancer was the crab Hera elevated into the night sky for its service to the goddess during Hercules’ battle with the Hydra. During Hercules’ second labor, associated with the sign of Cancer, the hero confronts the overwhelming dark force of the feminine by battling the Hydra, the monstrous water snake polluting the fertile plains of the Argolid. If any of the Hydra’s many heads were severed, more would instantly grow in its place. This fierce retaliatory instinct of the Hydra depicts the difficulty task of subduing monstrous feelings and how they can reach uncontrollable and epic proportions.
While Hercules was in the midst of battling the Hydra, a fierce crab, sent by Hera, began to attack him. The crab bit at his feet and ankles trying to divert Hercules’ attention from the Hydra. Heroic Hercules was able to obliterate the crab by squashing it under foot while still combating the Hydra’s wrath. Hera’s hatred for Hercules existed since his infancy when he strangled the snakes Hera sent into the nursery. However, Hera also took pity on the young boy and nursed him as the card depicts. Hercules’ fate is forever linked with Hera’s. Their antagonistic relationship ironica
lly spurred him on to become the greatest hero. At the end of the Herculean myth Hera actually becomes his mother-in-law. When he is deified, Hercules weds her daughter Hebe and no longer is the object of her hate. Hence, the heroic cycle is completed and Hera is truly integrated into Hercules. During this labor associated with the astrological sign of Cancer, the hero confronts the overwhelming dark force of the feminine, which threatens to destroy him.
While we know Cancer astrologically as the maternal nurturer, Cancer’s myth reminds us of another dimension of this archetype. Here in the swamps of the unconscious lay a darker, foreboding feminine presence that the hero must behead. The myth describes the heroic skill needed to face the terror and wrath of negative attachments. Cancer is the first water sign of the zodiac and addresses the primal, archaic, and deeply unconscious fear and trepidation of facing emotional darkness. The side embodied by the Hydra and her helpmate, the crab, actually challenges the child to be heroic. At the “Gate of Men” or the Hydra’s swamp, Cancer constellates a dark womb out of which we must heroically emerge.
The Chariot calls to the heroic aspect of the individual who has chosen the card. The profile of the hero usually follows the same pattern: a divine father, a mortal mother, a complicated birth, and then hiding the child. When the child matures he sets off to claim his birthright and challenge the monsters that stand in his way. Here we meet Hercules on the second of his twelve labors to reclaim his birthright. However, in order to follow his vocation he must leave home and challenge the inertia of his own dependency. It is the goddess herself who will challenge the hero to become heroic. When the Chariot appears the individual may feel dependent or stuck in a situation that feels anti-heroic or non-creative. To find the creative aspects of the self the individual needs to leave behind this situation in order to venture into a wider sphere of life. In order to move heroically towards a new horizon the individual needs to move away from the lunar temperament and attachments which have provided security. When the card of the Chariot appears, the unconscious is appealing to the inner hero to draw on will and strength to confront an emotional situation, which feels swamped or bogged down. On an oracular level, the card suggests that it is imperative to take rein of the emotional life and purposely direct it forward. What may feel paralyzing must be heroically confronted. Inertia needs to be overcome to glimpse the horizon of possibilities.
VIII~Strength:
Leo, the Lion-Hearted Heroine
“King of the beasts” is a common epithet for the lion, the emblem of royalty since antiquity. To the Babylonians and the Egyptians the constellation Leo represented this wild, yet regal beast. From the earliest records Leo, the heavenly lion, has been associated with royalty, the sun, and strength. Traditionally, the card Strength depicts a young woman taming a lion, contrasting the brute force of the lion’s body with the innocence of the virginal spirit. This combination of virgin and lion were united in various cultures’ iconography and reflected in the constellations, Leo and Virgo, which are side-by-side on the ecliptic. In ancient Egypt the Sphinx represented the amalgam of the lion’s body with the virgin’s face. To the Egyptians, the lion was a fierce goddess, but the strength and assertion of the lion, which had been associated with the goddess, waned as the Greeks began to weave their stories from the inherited remnants of mythic fabric. Their Sphinx became a winged lioness whose face was fierce and dreadful and it was the monstrous Nemean Lion that came to represent the constellation of Leo. Slaying the Nemean Lion was the first labor for Hercules, as now the lion/goddess had to be conquered, not tamed. Representing the virginal taming of the fierce lion in the Greek myths is Atalanta, the huntress depicted in this card.
Atalanta had been warned by the Delphic oracle not to marry. Virginity was a mythic requisite for her to remain skilled as a warrior and huntress. It also represented the need to be true to her essential self. Mindful of the oracle’s warning, she agreed to marriage only if her future husband could win a foot race against her. A skilled runner, Atalanta was able to defend herself against marriage until the day she fell in love. The love was mutual. Hippomenes had also fallen in love with Atalanta and petitioned the goddess Aphrodite for help. Since it was the goddess who had brought them together she granted the petition, giving Hippomenes three golden apples along with the instructions on how he should use them in the race. Each apple was thrown in the path of Atalanta during the race. As she stopped to pick them up Hippomenes was able to gain speed, eventually winning the race and marrying her. However, the lovers forgot to pay tribute to the goddess Aphrodite who had been instrumental in constellating their love. In her anger, Aphrodite abandoned them after they made love in Cybele’s temple. Furious for profaning her temple Cybele transformed them into lions and yoked them to her chariot. Losing contact with her ‘virginal’ aspect meant Atalanta also lost control of the fierce instincts of the lion. On this card, the serpent of Kundalini symbolizes her contact with her inner strength that allowed her to direct and control untamed instincts. Her radiant mane of hair, like the lion’s, crowns her with the heroic qualities of the Sun.
Atalanta is the image of feminine strength, which conquers through communion and relationship, rather than force. To the feminine spirit, nothing is deemed inferior or unworthy. All aspects of life have value, therefore the contents of the unconscious are empowered and ennobled through their transformation. From a psychological perspective, feminine strength lies in the willpower to both control and utilize the instinctual life to develop the self. Generally emblematic of moral strength, control of the instincts, and confidence, the Strength card implies that the Fool’s journey has come to the stage where self-control and will are necessary to carry the journey forward.
Atalanta’s myth also speaks of disempowerment when self is lost in relationship. Astrologically, Leo often constellates the personal myth of adolescent love or the first love experience outside the familial circle. Therefore, underlying Leo is often the story of a broken heart or the loss of innocence brought about by the pain of experiencing love for the first time. The card of Strength implies the ability to manage these feelings. At this point in the Fool’s journey, narcissistic feelings should also be managed for we no longer can afford to be devoured or overwhelmed by infantile rage. On a divinatory level, this card implies the individual is experiencing an initiation into her own strength by finding the will and courage to contain difficult and dark feelings. The card suggests that these feelings are to be confronted in a feminine way by befriending and taming the outrage and hurt. Then, like Hercules, we can wear the lion’s skin as a magical amulet, a symbol of our inner strength, and like Atalanta, harness the power of Kundalini. In some Tarot decks this card has been known as Necessity, as it is necessary at this stage to deal with the devouring feelings before we are able to continue our development.
IX~The Hermit:
Virgo, The Wise Virgin
At this point we meet the Hermit, the Tarot card associated with Virgo, the largest zodiacal constellation. From earliest records, this constellation has been associated with the harvest and the harvest maiden, intertwining the paradoxical themes of fertility and purity. Spica, the brightest star of this constellation, represents the wheat sheaf of Virgo, the gift of cultivation disseminated to mankind by the goddess.
Many prominent goddesses and heroines have been identified with this constellation. One Greek virgin goddess who represents both the essence of Virgo and the Hermit is Hestia. Although she is never associated with Virgo in the ancient sources, she embodies many of its attributes: stillness, discretion, containment, veiled, virginal, centered and sacred. She is a guardian of the astrological sixth house, the sphere of the horoscope derived from the sign Virgo. Hestia is rarely personified; no statues or temples remain. Yet at times in the archaic period she was the most honored goddess, worshipped at the center of the city and the Greek household. In antiquity her sanctuaries were places of refuge, asylum, and political peace. Hestia is cons
tant, dislikes change, and represents the hearth, a symbol for both the center and the focus of the home. She is the eternal firelight burning at the heart of life and the hearth of the home. She carries the hermit’s lantern internally. Hestia is central to psychic life as the goddess who honors sacred space and protects divine images. As the sacral center, she confers safe places to congregate. She presides over the soul by giving it a sacred place to be acknowledged. Hestia is hospitable, welcoming both ghosts and guests to gather around her hearth. As a virgin goddess, Hestia reminds us of the stillness of sacred space. As a custodian of the sixth house she symbolizes the stillness at the center of our busy lives. Like her Roman counterpart Vesta, she inspires us to honor the Hermit by tending the sacred flame.
Virgo is ancient and instinctual, craving sanctity and ritual in everyday life. As the embodiment of the young maiden with flowing garments, she carries in one hand, sheaves of wheat, the symbol of cultivation. With the other hand she disseminates seeds for the new cycle. The sphere of Virgo is premarital and unattached, yet fertile and life-giving. Wheat is reminiscent of the great goddess of agriculture, Demeter, and her daughter Persephone whose abduction into the underworld was the motif for the great mystery initiations at Eleusis. The Eleusinian mysteries initiated pilgrims into facing and accepting the inevitable experiences of loss and death. Before Persephone’s abduction into the dark realm of her uncle, Hades, she was known as Kore, the maiden, and a fitting representative of Virgo. Her myth is an agricultural metaphor for the cycle of the harvest after which the creative life force disappears into the underworld, a seasonal motif shared by many other cultures.