Fig. 27
The Gaze of the Hierophant: the Star
With this last card’s extraction, from the pint of view of the Method, we conclude the reading, as no further extraction of blades is necessary. In fact, for the Law of Compensation, the Star gazes towards the Hierophant and there are no more cards to display. Furthermore, there are not even upside-down cards to oblige us to extract Resolution Cards. Therefore, the tarologist is able to proceed with the correct evaluations.
Tarologist: The Star may represent the interest of the man for the “intimate and physical” aspect (the nude woman) of his companion. The man looks at her, seems to be thinking of her.
Does he seem particularly attracted by you physically?
Consultant: Yes, a lot, quite a lot in fact... (She laughs with gusto).
Tarologist: I think this is an important aspect of your relationship.
Consultant: I think so too!
Tarologist: The Star, however, also contains the keyword daughter. Do you have a daughter?
Consultant: Yes, and he seems very interested in building a good rapport with her. I like this man very much also because of his attitude towards my little girl; he has a paternal sensibility, and it’s the first time I’ve met someone like that.
Let us pause a moment here, as well. This last consideration regarding parental sensitivity is of great value as it is connected, obviously, to the concept of paternity. Therefore, even if he is not actually the father, he is acting like one towards the daughter of his companion: here is another, subtler, reason for his being represented by the Hierophant...There is another element as well. In this particular example, the tarologist does not hypothesize that the Star might be another woman, ready to vie for the attentions of the man. Why is this? This sort of presentation of the cards, in fact, could have led to a similar deduction.
The tarologist acted on another hypothesis, instead, and not because this situation is impossible (it could, from a technical-theoretical point of view, be part of the range of possibilities, but it would be at the very least hardly logical: there is no card which tells of infidelity and he had already ascertained that the reading concerned a couple in the first stages of love.
It was much more reasonable to consider other keywords in the Star, among which, naturally, daughter, rather than considering other scenarios. For this reason, it is always well not to be hasty in our affirmations: once we have considered all possible options offered by the extracted Arcana, it is indispensable to begin from those that, for common sense and relevance to the theme of the question, better correspond to the question and to the scenario that progressively unfolds. This does not mean that other possibilities may not be valid, but we may say, that they certainly do not have to be. Only dialogue will confirm, or not, the exactitude of the various affirmations. Thus, having verified the existence of a daughter, we may make further considerations. These, being the future card, will not be certainties but indications, although reliable.
Tarologist: It seems that one of the key points of this relationship may be the rapport with your daughter.
Consultant: It would be a miracle! My daughter is very possessive, and it would be so great if they could get along well together because in the past, with other men, the situation was somewhat complicated.
Here as well, thanks to the dialogue with the consultant and with the Tarot, the idea that the tarologist has formed is fully confirmed by the true circumstances. In all of this, we can sense reciprocity, a sort of three-way conversation. At this point, it is possible to decide to deepen other aspects of the consultation, proceeding from the plane of the personages to that of the Archetypes. Let us see how.
Tarologist: there is an interesting passage in the reading. The Arcana III and XVII, if considered from a psychological point of view, both indicate certain innate aptitudes, certain aspects and facets of woman, which in this case is you, as you are interrogating the Tarot. The Empress is practical, very sure of herself (she is used to commanding...), perhaps just a bit selfish...The Star, instead, is very feminine, sweet, “serviceable” to others (she is kneeling); she seems more in harmony, with herself as well, as she is nude surrounded by nature, feeling quite at her ease. Comparing the two cards, from one in the past to the other in the future, we might hypothesize a change in your behaviour/attitude, with regard to the sentimental sphere. What do you think?
Consultant: Yes, in the past I was rather indifferent towards men, I was quite focused on myself and had even too much faith in my own possibilities; I believe I was quite defiant towards the opposite sex and tended to impose myself, to dominate. Now, also thanks to my interior path, I feel I’m going in the direction of that which defines the condition of the Star: I am kinder and more considerate, attentive to the needs of my companion, more docile (and I have even decided to be faithful...)
Tarologist: Yes, I can see myself that you truly mean to be faithful. This, because the central Lover’s card which, as Empress you are looking at, among its keywords also has fidelity.94 Let me ask you another question, if I may. Does one of the two members of the couple desire a child?
The tarologist asks for two reasons: the woman-Empress observes the next card where, specifically, we can see a small angel which clearly symbolizes...a baby!95 Furthermore, the man, already identified in the Hierophant/father, observes--thinks--in the direction of a pregnant woman, the Star; suffice it to note her belly in order to understand the reason for the deduction...
Consultant: Yes, he has told me that I’m a woman with whom he could have children. I told him that twins run in my family; and he said, joking, “Good, that way we can get it over with right away, two in one go!”
Tarologist: Perhaps your companion would like to be a father…this may be why he is represented here, at a deeper level, by the archetype: Hierophant, Pope, papa (father), which indicates paternity.
Consultant: yes, I have thought so too. I think we must have a serious talk about this.
Thus it is, moving between planes (which in this case we have decided to limit for necessity of simplicity) it is possible to descend ever more deeply into the interior space of the protagonists. Naturally, the consultant must desire it as well and must facilitate the interpretation with dialogue.
In conclusion, let us sum up this example. As all four cards extracted are right side up, the relationship is serene and it seems that there are the requisites for harmony, not only physical but also psychological, and not only of the couple.
In fact, the rapport between the man and the daughter of the consultant who, symbolized by the Star, manifests equal interest as she gazes towards the Hierophant, may be an important key to the relational equilibrium of this new emotional nucleus. Lastly, it well that the consultant is aware of the desire for paternity of her companion, in order to be able to reflect upon it and in future, evaluate relevant prospects with him.
From this example, we understand the seriousness and the value of these considerations. At the same time, the multidimensionality of the Tarot is apparent, the fact that in one Arcanum are contained many meanings which may make for a complex reading. It is normal and is something we learn gradually thanks to the progressive knowledge of theory together with a considerable practical experience. The symbols, in fact, as we have often mentioned, are not univocal but indicate a multiplicity of levels, which have the distinct feature of an extraordinary and contemporaneous coherence with respect to the proposed theme but need a certain degree of experience in order to be comprehended. This characteristic of theirs, which renders them, in fact, three-dimensional rather than flat or two-dimensional, to be fully developed need, apart from dialogue, another essential element: total relevance to the original question! Using a metaphor, we might say that the question posed by one who seeks an answer from the Tarot, is like the lighthouse that illuminates the route of the tarologist towards the “interior harbour”, the quintessence of the c
onsultant or of the subject of the reading. Without its light, because of the universality of symbols and their suitability to any context, it would be impossible to make a reading, as we would lose ourselves on the high seas.
Therefore, the tarologist, as he explores the cards before him and proceeds through dialogue to keep the correct direction and not lose himself, must always go back to the question from which everything began. This attitude, furthermore, humble and respectful, prevents his expressing himself in extensively prophetic declarations... (On the contrary)! The objective is to offer the consultant a starting point for reflection, as confirmation or proof of his own intuitions and sensations, of that which he feels inside and which he is not able to focalize on or admit to, not even to himself. For the tarologist, in the course of the dialogue, it is certainly important to receive affirmative answers to the questions he asks, to confirm the correctness of the path he has taken. For the consultant, in any case, it is even more significant to achieve an accord between the considerations proposed by the tarologist in the form of questions, and his inner impressions. One of the typical phrases we may hear at the conclusion of an excellent reading, is:
“What you have told me, actually, I already knew; but now that you confirm it, I feel more assured, because it means that it’s true. I’m relieved...”
This sort of declaration is of immense value as it demonstrates the great onset of awareness that may determine in the consultant interior and exterior changes, practical ones. Essentially, our actions in life are dictated by that which is inside us: impulses, thoughts, sensations or emotions. A real interdependence exists between that which is inside and that which is outside: “as on high, so below, as outside, so inside, as above, so below.”96 If it is possible to read the Tarot while remaining on more superficial levels, we must remember that to generate more knowledge means to produce new capacities for action. That is why the true “motor” of a consultation should always be, in the last instance, the interior aspect. Later, it is the one concerned who will take his own steps and will gradually cease to ask of himself and of the tarologist, “what will happen regarding this or that?” asking himself rather, “what must I do, that this or that may occur?” This predisposition agrees with the axiom according to which the consultation is valid in the moment in which it is complete and its outcome does not endure in a fixed manner:
The Tarot gives a snapshot of the present!
Modifying the consciousness of the consultant, even thanks “only” to the Tarot, we may create quite different situations and conditions, in a tempo measurable more in interior than exterior rhythm. A consultation, then, means this:
to illuminate knowledge by listening to the interior Voice of the Soul, making us the true authors of our destiny.
Footnotes - Chapter 7
89 Cf. chapter 3.
90 Cf. chapter 1.
91 This is a phrase of the Christian prayer, “Our Father,” as well.
92 Today the circle is divided into 360° and the circle of the Zodiac into 12 parts. Fifteen centuries before Christ the Egyptians already used this system and divided the year into 12 months of 30 days each, to which they added 5 final days, interposed. As for the days, they were divided into two periods of twelve hours. Therefore the Code contained in the staff of the Fool is antecedent to the I century AD and does not contradict the theory which dates the Tarot to the I century AD.
93 A straight-ahead gaze indicates in any case that the personage looks at the Present.
94 As the card is straight up, the man between two women holding his belt has decided to remain faithful. The same symbolism would exist in the case of two men and a woman. For this reason we speak of fidelity or infidelity (when the blade is reversed).
95 Let us remember that we must observe the cards with the eyes of a child, with a gaze simple and without prejudice or superfluity.
96 An expression attributed the Hermes Trismegistus, a legendary figure of the Hellenistic age, equated with Thoth, the Egyptian God of letters, numbers, and geometry.
Chapter 8
“Yes, let the Word of God precede us! Let it humiliate the potent forces of the earth, these perverse passions which we wish to mortify and which claim, from our mortal bodies, a pitiless and tyrannical dominion! Let it subjugate them to our research and our exposition! Breaking down the doors of ignorance, shattering the chains of defect which exclude us from true science, let it lead us to our most secret Arcana.”
(John Cassian, Cenobitic Institutions)
8.1 Tarology: a true Science
Anyone who has even only a vague knowledge of the Tarot, knows that this subject calls to mind first of all, prediction of the future. On the contrary, from what we have described here, it should be clear that there exist diverse ways of utilizations of the Tarot. It lends itself, in fact, to a multiplicity of uses so rich and surprising that this practice becomes only one of many possibilities.
The Tarot is a metaphysical machine of which the deck of cards is but a support, the vehicle of a perfect mechanism thanks to which these images, these sacred Icons, guard a plurality of teachings regarding man, his destiny, and the laws that govern him. All this is made possible by a system of Codes and Laws, making up the Coded Structure, which generates a language of communication between the human world and the spiritual.
The true Tarot may be considered an esoterical discipline complete in itself, which in past centuries was named by the ancient Alchemists, Science of the sciences. For this reason, Helena Petrovna Blavatsky, founder of the Theosophical Society, defined it as “the key to all Western esoterism” and it is for the same reason that it is no longer acceptable to relegate the Tarot to a small area concerned only with divination.
This use, known today as cartomancy, is therefore to be considered limiting and completely improper, as it entails a total reduction and a profound debasement of its value. The definition itself of cartomancy is justifiable only in the case of ignorance of that which the Tarot does not represent, nor its origin, nor the authentic significance preserved within it. Therefore, as words are the essential guardians of the most hidden sense of reality, the term with which to describe the use of the Arcana must also be changed. Thus, in order to establish the exact designation of this “new” discipline, a new, scientifically and linguistically correct word has been introduced: Tarology.97 This should be an easily understandable choice, as the prefix taro indicates the Tarot, which is, as we have said, called Tarot in all languages (except in Italian, in which it is called Tarocchi); the suffix logy means logos, discourse, study, discipline. Tarology is, therefore, the discourse on the Tarot, and by extension, the branch of knowledge which studies and practices it. This term, which guarantees great accuracy and completeness, adheres with coherence and total correspondence to its deepest and most esoterical nature. Tarology, in fact, is a subject which has nothing to do with ordinary cartomancy, as its nature and complexity are very different. In order to avoid misunderstandings, it will be well to specify what we intend by these affirmations. Rudolf Steiner,98 a philosopher and scholar who lived at the turn of the eighteenth century, maintained that the comprehension of the spiritual world does not have an artistic character connected to sentiment, as in the case of a work of art; it has, rather, the imprint of thought which is appropriate for the knowledge of nature.
This declaration of his expresses a basic requisite: the true researcher, in order to approach the superior worlds, must utilize the mind as a controlled and manageable instrument of awareness and comprehension, avoiding losing himself in the meanders of emotional overflow. In any case, this manner of approach, for the quality itself of the organ which investigates, in order to be able to open itself to new forms of understanding such as intuitive consciousness, needs preliminary assurances derived from rational processes. According to this vision, amply shared by many traditional forms, at the base of individual research must lie, therefore, a constan
t attitude of verification of the subjective investigation of the metaphysical world through logical and mental parameters, precisely as if conducted in the area of a scientific practice.
To speak of a connection between Science and Tarot might seem rash and might risk incurring diverse impressions. Their combination, in fact, could cause the creation of positions quite diversified and distant, owing to the general opinions held regarding these two worlds apparently in total contrast with each other. Speaking of Science, we imagine an empirical and testable approach, while in the Tarot we find instead the characteristics of that which seems ascribable only to inspiration and the subjective vein.
Between these two diametrically opposite opinions, however, exists an entire gamut of intermediate attitudes, of acceptance or denial, conditioned by that which one thinks to be the content of this esoterical discipline. Some, even agreeing that the Tarot may be a more serious subject than they generally think, might maintain that behind such a “presumed” science, lies hidden the tendency to renew every sort of credence or suspicion, a position justly rejected by those who have known the true scientific mentality and a pure impulse towards knowledge... For these others, instead, the name Tarot evokes the intention to describe something that is not possible to achieve unless attracted by a heartfelt and profound desire for awareness or by a refined curiosity of the soul. These, each according to his own disposition, will maintain that it is not possible or conceivable to catalogue and systemize these subjective qualities following the scientific method.
The Tarot Code Page 19