Tarot, the journey of Awakening

The Tarot has been used for centuries as a divination and fortune telling method, based on the regular four suit decks and 22 trump cards, also known as the Major Arcana. Of all the cards, the Major Arcana are the most fascinating ones, as they represent our spiritual journey and the archetypes one encounters during the experience of human life. While the Minor Arcana deal with the more mundane aspects of life, the 22 Major Arcana depict the journey of the Hero, who gains wisdom through overcoming all the various stages and challenges, and eventually reaches spiritual liberation. The cards represent the inner journey of our Soul development, which will eventually lead to the awakening of Higher Consciousness.

The road to spiritual awakening is usually seen as an individual journey, but in regards to the Shift it is often talked about as mass awakening, so I have been wondering if the Tarot could also signify the awakening of mankind as a whole. The choice to awaken is always personal and according to free will, but the times ahead are described as unprecedented because the multidimensional event requiring that a choice between positive or negative polarity be made, will involve everyone on the Planet around the same time. This will lead to a great new Golden Age of Enlightenment.

While looking for correlations between 2012 and the Tarot, I stumbled across a very interesting article, What is the Tarot telling us about 2012? , intent on demonstrating how the knowledge of the Great Celestial Conjunction is encoded in the Tarot.

Arcana means secrets, so the Major Arcana is related to the bigger secrets of life and we will reveal that the biggest secret of the Tarot is that it keeps the secret of the Great Celestial Conjunction that would occur at the End of Times on what Christianity calls Judgement Day.

It is a most fascinating article, explaining the origins of the Tarot and the links to freemasonry, occultism and mysticism. There are also very interesting correlations between images on the cards and passages from the Book of Revelation and Ezekiel, when explaining the symbolism of the Raider Waite deck.

The Great Celestial Conjunction encoded in the Major Arcana is found in several cards of the deck, and the article – along with an intriguing interpretation of the Hanged Man – provides an astrological explanation on the symbols found in the images of these cards:

0 – The Fool, representing the current cycle, where man has lost his spiritual connection and regards the physical world as the only reality.
II – The High Priestess shows the Great Celestial Conjunction at the summer solstice of 2012, and the position of the Sun on the ecliptic-Milky Way crossing near the Gemini-Taurus nexus.
X – The Wheel of Fortune is the Great Celestial Conjunction when the 8 pointed cross of Galactic Cross and Earth Cross align.
XVIII – The Moon represents the crossing of the ecliptic and Milky Way near the Sagittarius-Scorpio nexus, during the winter solstice of 2012.
XX – Judgement displays mankind during this Great Celestial Conjunction, at the End of Times.
XXI – The World symbolizes the spiritual awakening of mankind after the current Great Celestial Conjunction when a Golden Age will start again.

It seems that the Tarot provide several layers of interpretation, from a microcosmic view of three-dimensional life, to a macrocosmic spiritual journey of the individual Mind-Soul, to the all-cosmic Awakening and destiny of mankind, the cycle of Creation.

Questions about the Tarot were also asked during the Ra channelings, so I was curious to see what the Law of One had to say about it. Book Four of The Law of One goes into examining the nature and the proper metaphysical use of the archetypical mind – or the blueprint of creation – and the means by which we evolve in mind, body and spirit.

According to Ra, the first seven cards of the Major Arcana describe the evolution of the mind, the second seven, the evolution of the body, and the third seven, the evolution of the spirit. The three stages of evolution are represented by 21 cards. The last card, XXII The Fool, represents The Choice, where the seeker goes in the direction of Service to Self or Service to Others, while mastering the lessons of third density. Because polarization is needed to move from third to fourth density, it seems that the Tarot also encode the principles of dimensional upgrade (harvest).

The aim is to lift the veil of illusion, which in third density is always in a stage of potentiality, it cannot be lifted completely due to the nature of this density. To understand the meaning and purpose of the Major Arcana – and the relationships between the archetypes of mind, body, and spirit – as discussed during the Ra channelings, one must go through Book Four entirely (it is a free download, or you can see the filtered results in an online version). The appendix also shows images of the Egyptian deck used by the group, and a brief description of each card (here below matched to the Raider Waite deck):

0/XXII – The Fool – The Choice (also card number 22 – the beginning and the end of cycles)
I – The Magician – Matrix of the Mind
II – The High Priestess – Potentiator of the Mind
III – The Empress – Catalyst of the Mind
IV – The Emperor – Experience of the Mind
V – The Hierophant – Significator of the Mind
VI – The Lovers – Transformation of the Mind
VII – The Chariot – Great Way of the Mind
VIII – Strength – Matrix of the Body
IX – The Hermit – Potentiator of the Body
X – Wheel of Fortune – Catalyst of the Body
XI – Justice – Experience of the Body
XII – The Hanged Man – Significator of the Body
XIII – Death – Transformation of the Body
XIV – Temperance – Great Way of the Body
XV – The Devil – Matrix of the Spirit
XVI – The Tower – Potentiator of the Spirit
XVII – The Star – Catalyst of the Spirit
XVIII – The Moon – Experience of the Spirit
XIX – The Sun – Significator of the Spirit
XX – Judgement – Transformation of the Spirit
XXI – The World – Great Way of the Spirit

In a closing note, Ra makes clear that the focus should be primarily in inner work when seeking Oneness with the Creator, and not let the cards (or any external tool) be a distraction.

The archetypical mind does not resolve any paradoxes or bring all into unity. This is not the property of any source which is of the third density. Therefore, may we ask the student to look up from inward working and behold the glory, the might, the majesty, the mystery, and the peace of oneness. Let no consideration of bird or beast, darkness or light, shape or shadow keep any which seeks from the central consideration of unity.

The Major Arcana represent the nature and journey of Consciousness throughout the blueprint of Creation, while the symbols found on different decks add astrological alignments, depending on the mystical background of their origin and design. Because the Law of One also speaks of a shift to a higher density for this Planet to occur around 2012 (in the 1981 channeling it was said to happen approximately in 30 years, that is 1981+30=2011 approximately), the archetypes can be seen not only as the individual journey of each seeker, but also within the context of this Shift.

This view of the Tarot is quite enlightening, and inspires to transform even the more mundane readings as a fractal view of a more profound journey in the evolution of the Spirit. Understanding the archetypes can be a powerful tool for transformation and awakening into Higher Consciousness, and will help in keeping the bigger picture in mind.

What is your own experience with the Tarot? Do you use them as a guide in your spiritual quest?