The Hermit/Nine of Disks: The Nine of Disks is entitled "Gain", and here refers to that ancient axiom, "The less one has, the more one gains." This isn't a deification of poverty or asceticism but a declaration of Law. This adage reminds us that life is a touch and go affair and that we're only passing through here. If The Hermit can abolish his identification with the past, then he moves without burden and won't be a burden to anyone else either. The Hermit must be self-sufficient but not isolated from the rest of the world. His happiness must not rely on any external circumstance but must come from deep within. He lives in a material world and must therefore fulfill the requirements of that world. That The Hermit has nothing and yet is still embarrassingly rich... that's his treasure!
Having come this far, what’s the take-home message of The Hermit?
In our essay on The Lovers, I put forth the question, Who are you? But to put a question like that to you while you were saying your Vows was rather insensitive of me. But now that we’re alone here in this wilderness, I figure now’s a good time to pose the question to you again:
Without the mirror of relationship, who are you?
If you’re being completely honest with yourself, you’d have to concede that you're everything that’s has been imposed upon you from birth. You are your DNA! You’re a little bit of your mother, a bit of your father, a bit of your spineless uncle Bill. There's no escaping that fact.
How does this make you feel? Do you feel sad? Scared? Disappointed? Or are you glad? Are you happy to take after your prestigious father? You must find out who you are, and you must not be satisfied with anything short of that. When I say that you're everything that’s been given to you from birth I'm saying that this is all you ego is capable of knowing. You are your ego, but there's something beyond this. There's something that's witnessing you ego. Who is this witness? If you can find out and realize it with the totality of your awareness, then you'll see that you're beyond this incarnation as John or Jane Smith. So can you find within your genetic soup something that's original? Can you find the face you had before your parents were born? If so, then you’ve successfully jumped off the hamster-wheel and are taking the Wheel of Fortune into your own hands.
Fortune:
The Lord of the Forces of Life
Trump #10
Planetary Trump of Jupiter
Path: #21 (Chesed to Netzach)
Letter: Kaph (palm) (Numerical value: 20)
Helpful Quotes
"Follow thy Fortune, careless where it lead thee! The axle moveth not: attain thou that!"
-Aleister Crowley
"The Archetypal center abides, but the image representing it is what needs cyclic renewal, with all that it implies about the outlook, lifestyle, and value system by which one lives."
-John Weir Perry
"It is the process of accumulation that creates habit, imitation, and for the mind that accumulates there is deterioration, death. But a mind that is not accumulating, not gathering, that is dying each day, each minute---for such a mind there is no death. It is in a state of infinite space."
-J. Krishnamurti
Contemplation
Fortune heralds a cataclysmic turn of events in Tarot. We're being offered a chance to consolidate what we've learned so as to make it a permanent fixture of consciousness or abandon our conclusions to encounter all we've learned and will learn as if for the first time. If we're not ready to take that step into suchness, then we'll never truly meet the Major Arcana. If we're not ready to listen to what they have to say then we'll most definitely be ready to argue, which is the same as not listening. Take the Death trump, for example. Death can't be argued over; death is an experience, not a card.
Then why, you'll logically ask, have you stuffed our heads with all this symbolism? Why not discuss what the cards mean in layman's terms?
Sagacity is a must for the advanced Cartomancer. That is, the ability to take complex symbols and render them in simple terms is an invaluable skill. Without it, all interpretation becomes rigid. You'll give the same set of interpretations to just about everyone. The refining of interpretive dexterity is the work of The Magus. The Magus is the cross-sum of Fortune (10=1+0=1). A person who truly embraces the message of Fortune is occupied with the task of resolving paradox so as to pierce through the veil of duality, awaken insight, and reestablish psychological order. Properly speaking, this should've been accomplished in The Hermit. Nevertheless, the opportunity for a “great gain” or a “great miss” are equally present in Fortune. We want to be careful which of these we make a habit of! History tends to repeat itself, after all. In this we find Nietzsche’s concept of “Eternal Recurrence”, which offers as a thought-experiment the question of how you’d react should you discover that everything you do in this life must be repeated again and again ad infinitum. Would you be happy to repeat the choices you’ve made? Or would that be a fate worse than hell?
Why do we relive our mistakes over and over again? Have you ever done something you regret, repent soon thereafter, only to do the same thing again at a later date? You’re not alone; I catch myself doing it often!
Why does this happen?
To learn what Fortune has to say about this we must discuss habit, psychological time, and creative action. To begin with, we must introduce ourselves to the three key-figures located on the wheel of time:
● Sphinx (Sattvas/Sulphur/Shen/Brahman)
● Hermanubis (Rajas/Mercury/Qi/Vishnu)
● Typhon (Tamas/Salt/Jing/Shiva)
What do these concepts mean? Well, let’s begin by asking a fundamental question:
How is thought to renew itself? Is thought capable of such a thing? How are we going to find out? With what faculty of mind are we going to answer this riddle? This is important because unless we see this clearly, we'll remain chasing our tails. Is thought even capable of renewing itself? Obviously not, for thought is always old. Any attempt by thought to renew itself is bound to be a movement in time, namely the past. Oh sure, thought can project itself into the future, but that projection is itself a reaction to the past.
When we flirt with the idea that thought can renew itself through more thinking we're lost in illusion. Thought can't approach the wellspring of the new. On the other hand, if there's no movement of robotic thought, then we have energy to move beyond habit. Energy gathered at a single point becomes atomic, explosive, and self-liberating. If you look at both The Tower and Fortune cards, you'll notice the lightening flash amidst the symbolism. In The Tower, this lightening flash seems to be destructive, and indeed it can be. But from a holistic standpoint, this lightening is the very stuff that moves the Wheel of Time! This energy can either support the existing psychological pattern, or it can blast through the known structure.
From this timeless state you can act creatively because you’re not standing so close to the mirror; you step back and see the big picture. In the card, the celestial wheel seen hovering above the wheel of time illustrates this process. This celestial wheel has no spokes, pointing to its timeless quality. In the background we see Centrum In Centri Trigono which, as we’ve seen, means “That Central Thing In the Center of Three Other Things”, and points to the transcendental (causal) root of consciousness. This aspect of consciousness is, in the final analysis, not separate from anything else that arises. You're not separate from the Creator, the Creation, or the spiraling force that keeps the whole show up and running. Your consciousness is the central thing in the center of these three other things!
The tenth trump, Fortune, teaches this mystery.
In Numerology, the number ten represents completion. By a simple process of addition we see that Sephiroth one through four equals ten. (1+2+3+4=10). Fortune, although it's the tenth trump, is attributed to Jupiter; but as we reach into our box of Kabbalistic factoids we see that Jupiter is associated, not with the tenth Sephira (Malkuth), but with the fourth Sephira (Chesed): the great sustainer of the order of the universe.
To our dualistic b
rains it seems the universe is constantly decaying, therefore this "maintainer of order"---call it Holy Spirit, Vishnu, Rajas, Qi, Hermanubis, or whatever---must be forever occupied with the maintenance of that order: a battle between eternity (Sphinx) and time (Typhon). But our limited brains can't possibly find a conclusive answer to this question because to experience it we'd have to tap into the source of this sustaining force!
If we could tap into this inexhaustible Source, it would mean that the Great Maintainer is not separate from that which it maintains (Tao). For example, as you read this page, cells in your body are being destroyed so that new ones can come into existence (apoptosis). It's part of an interdependent cycle in which life is flowing into death and death back into life again. Even this isn't entirely accurate because they aren't two distinct movements. Similarly, the so-called material universe isn't separate from the universe of your bodymind. So when Kabbalists say that Geburah (change) disturbs the complacence of Chesed (structure) they’re not saying that these Sephiroth are at war.
In nature, an electrical storm occurs as a means of correcting an atmospheric imbalance, but the storm isn't separate from the imbalance that produced it. It's not that there's an entity called "Imbalance" resisting and an entity called "Storm" attacking. They arise together! The seed of the storm is born in the heart of imbalance. So when the Ten of Wands gives rise to the Ten of Cups we can say, by way of analogy, that there must be rain after a long draught. This also applies to Malkuth and the Ten of Disks: We are what we eat. When we consume something it enters our digestive system and begins its process of breakdown, a process that depends largely on the production of heat, which is energy. Translate this to the Ten of Disks and we can begin to understand what's meant by its conversion back to the Ten of Wands. It's important to remember that Tarot is more like a wheel than a ladder. The very word “Tarot" is an anagram of the word “rota”, which is a Latin word meaning “wheel”. The story told by Tarot is a never-ending one, just like creation itself.
Fortune/Ten of Wands: The Ten of Wands is energy depleted, well or ill spent. If you're a runner, now's the time to call it day! Your body's tired and it needs rest, recuperation, or at least some water. Or maybe you've had a long and hard day at work. You've had the equivalent of about two pots of coffee, you're dehydrated, and you'd like to go home and take a nice long shower. This card-combo suggests that you allow energy to be naturally, purposefully and efficiently employed.
Fortune/Ten of Cups: Finally! Now you can enjoy that drink, possibly even while retiring to a nice warm bath. The Ten of Cups and Fortune show a rest well-earned. This rest should not, however, go on indefinitely. Don't be lazy! Life is motion, and we must fine-tune our sensitivity to find the proper balance between work, play, and repose. So keep to the Middle Pillar!
Fortune/Ten of Swords: Mental exhaustion: who doesn't know what it feels like? Nervous tension? Oh to shake the hands that have never trembled! This card-combo exhorts us to be vigilant regarding our thought patterns so that they don't lead us in vicious circles. After a period of rest it becomes necessary to plan our next course of action. It's now time to think outside of the box. We must sharpen our intellect by introducing new ideas and looking at the so-called "familiar" with fresh eyes, honoring the needs of the organism we inhabit.
Fortune/Ten of Disks: This is the result of honoring the aforementioned needs. The Ten of Disks in relation to Fortune yields the fruit of purposeful action, inaction, and biological responsibility. We must, for example, have enough money to eat, to pay our bills, and enjoy the finer things in life. To acquire money we need a stable job. To hold a stable job and perform our duties we need to be healthy. All these things go hand in hand. On the negative pole, we see that so long as we continue to do the same things we'll continue to get what we've always had. In order to grow, we need to be willing to change and roll with the punches. We need to recognize when we should make these changes consciously and when to yield to natural changes (like old age). As always, these are just a few examples of how these cards interrelate; the reader should endeavor to add to the ones here listed.
We can see that the fulfillment of destiny has nothing to do with social acknowledgement, creative accolades, or leaving one's mark on history. Destiny is a movement in and of consciousness. Fate, on the other hand, is the consolidation of destiny. In the figure of Centrum In Centri Trigono---located at the center of the card behind of the wheel of time---we see an allusion to that which exists beyond destiny and fate; a "Worker greater than His Works." This is a reference, not to some omniscient deity, but to the phenomenon of being or essence. It's not possible to define what this is, for it's all three of these things---Sphinx, Hermanubis, and Typhon---and yet it's none of them, which confounds all logic. It's both the movement and destruction of creativity and refers to the axle upon which this movement rests.
In our discussion of The Chariot card, we learned that this celestial locomotive is powered by energy accumulated from and within a consciousness free of conflict (Wuji). We can compare this to what happens when an engine is running on an insufficient amount of oil (Qi): The engine seizes. Transferred to the realm of consciousness, we see that we can't move beyond habit without sufficient energy. The energy accumulated in Causal consciousness is like oil to the engine, and the energy accumulated in such a mind is, in a manner of speaking, solar powered (Tiphareth):
Without the rays of unified consciousness the mind can't see beyond itself.
NOTE: (In the card, the hub of the wheel of time is the nineteenth trump, The Sun, another cross-sum of Fortune [19=1+9=10])
There's immense energy bound up in one's self-image and worldview. We've been discussing the value of releasing this energy to catapult ourselves into higher states and stages of being, but it must be remembered that there's good reason why the psyche maintains a stronghold on this self-system. Without it we'd have difficulty functioning in society and, if we're not careful, we may even find ourselves in an insane asylum!
We see this nervous breakdown occurring in a variety of forms throughout the Major Arcana. We encounter it in The Tower, where we discover that there's no such place as "home." We encounter this existential dread in The Moon. Although The Moon is located on the path of Koph, it's actually a depiction of the final nervous breakdown which occurs on the path of Gimel, which is guarded by The Priestess, whereas in The Moon the path of Gimel is guarded by Cerberus or Tabu---the dreaded Shadow of the psyche. The traveler in these shadowy realms is none other than The Chariot, whose only hope of safe passage lies in the shedding of his protective armor.
In Fortune, you become conscious of the mechanical nature of your ego. You can't truly use it as a tool until you learn to stand beyond it, but we humans are so identified with the ego that to stand beyond it looks like death. But those of us who wish to grow beyond it must be willing to pass through it, many times and on many levels. This renewal of the psyche won't occur until the old is fully digested. Make no mistake, this death can be incredibly terrifying. Be afraid then! Just don't allow the fear to become a habit.
Every culture has honored the fact that nature moves in cycles. It may appear that there's no such thing as a "perfect" circle, but who knows? It must be admitted, though, that psychospiritual growth unfolds in anything but a perfect manner. Sexual maturity may be deformed as a result of molestation or rape. Self-esteem may grow to be distorted due to ambivalent social feedback. There are many ways to drown a man and even more ways to drown oneself. But what about the person who's understood all this and has opened up to the cyclic dance of the soul?
As we've seen, the seed of the trumps exists on the World of Atziluth---above the Abyss---and therefore must be approached by a consciousness that seeks to see this cyclic movement from a nondual perspective, for that's the only way to approach that World. By “nondual” I mean a psyche in which there's not a trace of conflict between the observer and the total movement of the psyche. This is very difficult, and one must ask oneself if su
ch a thing is even possible. For example:
Let's assume for the moment that you're a very vain woman and someone comes along and insists on your ugliness. What war would happen inside of you! This internal war creates its own energy, and this energy will create its own cyclic movement: the movement of anger. The watchful mind will become aware that the internal movement called anger, regardless what one is angry about, follows a definite pattern. The causes may be different, but the pattern remains the same. Someone insults you, you become angry, and then you become violent. You then become sad, and then contemptuous, and then apathetic, and so on. Then you become needy. Nobody gives you any sympathy, so you become angry again.
The wheel keeps on spinning!
Now what to say of the person who’s decided to look beyond all this repetition? What to say of the mind that refuses to express or suppress the turning of this wheel? Fortune is attributed to the Hebrew letter Kaph, meaning "palm of the hand." If you look closely at the card, you'll see the image of a closed fist. This closed fist is the ego. We don't know at this point whether there exists a movement beyond the ego. What we do know is that there is this ego. We've also begun to see that the ego can't go beyond this movement because it is itself a part of it. Therefore any movement of the ego gives more energy to this cycle. So to see this fact is to be seated in the ninth Sephira, Yesod, in the World of Yetzirah. Fortune, as a card which straddles Yetzirah and Briah, must move beyond and integrate those two Worlds.
Predicting The Present Page 16