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This was originally posted on the Archer Tarot blog on January 22, 2012.
Some thoughts on the Chariot, presenting an alternative view to that found in the companion books, one more suited perhaps to spread positions requiring a less positive slant.
The charioteer stands with arms open, victorious, triumphant. He says, “Look at me, I’m master of all I survey, I’m the victor, I’m the champion, I’m king of the waves.” And yet, he is protected from the waves by the enormous chariot – a man-made structure ploughing through the sea on giant waves.
And behind him, a fear he doesn’t face, that he is driving away from, in denial of its existence, because to acknowledge it would threaten his sense of self, his ego. He attempts to obscure it with technology and grandeur.
He is at sea yet completely safe – the waves barely touch him so distant is he, so raised above them on his mechanical podium. He has removed himself from the raw untameable power of the ocean and nature, which is also the raw, untameable power of the unconscious. And yet still he claims mastery over it.
The rune on this card is Hagall. Rachel Pollack explains this means destruction. It’s a reminder that victory is never absolute, that just because we can force our will on something doesn’t mean we have complete dominion over it. It’s a warning against arrogance.
The Hebrew letter is Cheth and the zodiacal sign is Cancer. Cheth means fence and Cancer is the sign of the crab, whose hard shell protects it from injury. Even Cancer’s glyph, shown in the bottom corner of the card, makes it look like it is curled into a ball to protect itself. Both of these things hint that the charioteer’s victory may not be all it seems. It’s not quite so impressive when you hide behind a safety fence and clothe yourself in thick heavy armour. It’s like a gladiator fighting a lion whose teeth and claws have been removed, then proclaiming how mighty he is for slaying the monstrous beast. Compare this with the next card, Strength, where we see a woman, naked and with both feet on the ground, holding the snake. It seems she is much braver than the charioteer.
The charioteer tries to escape the wolf-like animal following him, but it hounds him even in victory. We must be aware of the fences we construct around us and try to identify what it is we’re hiding from.
Seven is a challenging number. In the minor suits of the Haindl Tarot, we have Illusions of Success (Cups), Uselessness (Swords), and Failure (Stones). Only Courage (Wands) can bring us through these difficult times.
This was originally posted on the Archer Tarot blog on January 19, 2012.
Rachel pollack writes that the 2s represent positive action.
The hexagram is 1, the Creative. It is made up purely of yang lines, reinforcing the idea of action. Hilary Barrett writes:
“It begins with an opening to the source of the creative impulse – not plans or intentions, but the vital energy that powers them. Then you create success by sustaining a continuous, two-way flow between source and action. You step into the heart of a process of creation, welcome its momentum and find ways to join and work with it.”
Usually, the 2 of Cups describes a connection between people, something that exists or occurs without conscious effort. Yet the word “love” is a verb. To Love. I love. You love. Be loved. Love.
Despite the earnest nature bestowed on it by its title, the colours are bright and the peacock cocks his head in friendly flirtation. It’s a question, an invitation to play. This isn’t the Lovers, it’s just a two. Yes, there’s something there – a spark of recognition, a connection, a kindred soul – but without action it will come to nothing.
I always think of this card as having a subtitle: Beauty. The peacock is beautiful and he knows it. He uses it to his advantage when seeking a mate. It is important to bring something to the relationship.
I don’t read reversals but if I did I would see this card representing vanity, self-love, and superficiality. The cups would be upside down and unable to hold anything. All love flows back to the source.
This was originally posted on the Archer Tarot blog on January 8, 2008.
In the Haindl Tarot, the suit of Cups is associated with the North, Europe and the element of Water. The Ace of Cups represents the Holy Grail. This theme is repeated later in the suit, when Parsival adopts the role of the Son of Cups (similar to the Knight).
The cup seems to be forming before our eyes, with golden light and water spiralling upwards into the shape of a cup. Rachel Pollack says this symbolizes evolution, “the spirit rising through its experiences to a higher level”. As the Holy Grail, the Ace of Cups seems to me to represent both the end point as well as the beginning. It is both the thing that we seek and the call to seek it. It calls us to begin our own personal Grail quest.
Rachel Pollack goes on to say: “As the Grail turns, it gives off water mixed with light. This too symbolizes the idea of development. The emotions – water – become “enlightened”. A personal Grail quest shows us the truth in our lives.” In the Grail Legend, Parsival has to go through many trials before he can achieve the grail – when he first encounters it, he’s not ready because he hasn’t experienced enough for his spirit to have risen to a higher level.
I haven’t yet had much contact with this card – it hasn’t come up in any readings I’ve done. I think it is a thing of beauty, and it strikes me as very spiritual – very pure and holy (which of course, as the Holy Grail, it is). The cup seems like a vision, somehow not real. I imagine that if I could reach into the card and try to hold it, my hand would go straight through it. I can’t just take love (in the broadest sense of the word) for granted. I can’t expect to take it when I please. A true awareness of love comes only through sadness, loneliness, loss, friendship, joy – all the things found in the other cards of the suit which must be experienced first.
This was originally posted on the Archer Tarot blog on February 6th, 2008.
In the Haindl, the suit of swords is associated with the South, Egypt and the element of Air. Rachel Pollack writes that this card depicts the Egyptian creation myth. The water represents the female Nun and the mound is the male Atum. According to my quite hefty Encyclopedia of World Mythology, Nun was the “personification of the watery abyss that existed at the beginning of time and which contained the potential for all life.” Strangely, there doesn’t seem to be an entry for Atum so either he wasn’t very popular or he didn’t really do anything except be a mound.
Rachel Pollack explains that Haindl’s addition of the sword represents “the divine mind activating nature, a scene similar to the Michelangelo painting in the Sistine Chapel, where a spark leaps from the fingertip of God to the finger of Adam.” So there is a strong link in this card to creation and animation, perhaps even fertilization.
The card shows a double-edged sword descending from the sky, amidst thick cloud and swirling waves. The tip of the sword connects with a small mound, a hill, which is clearly seen through a break in the waves. It is as if the sword has cleared the way.
Most decks I own depict the sword pointing up – a symbol of truth, righteousness and justice. In those decks the clean, pure element of air is emphasised. In the Haindl, the sword points down and connects with the earth. It is also surrounded by water. The element of the card is air but there is also water in the waves and earth in the mound. There is red around the base of the mound which could indicate fire. There is a sense of the water and the earth receiving the sword.
To me, there is something biblical about this image – a mighty sword descends from heaven and parts the waters, like the parting of the Red Sea. One word or command can make the impossible possible.
Some possible interpretations:
- Finding peace/stillness/clarity amongst noise/chaos
- Illumination, shining a light on something, highlighting
- Pinpoint precision, clarity
- Intelligence applied to some particular “earthly” situation
- Pure thought, higher ideals applied to daily life
- Rationality amidst confusion/illogic
- Mighty power, influence
- Cutting through/piercing/penetrating
- Activating something dormant, sparking off something new
Strength bears the Hebrew letter Teth, the ninth letter in the Hebrew alphabet. On the Tree of Life, Teth is associated with the 19th pathway, the path that connects Chesed and Gevurah. Chesed is mercy and Gevurah is power. In The Kabbalah Tree, Rachel Pollack writes of Chesed:
“…here in Chesed we revel in the sense that the cosmos loves us, and will protect us and help us as our souls journey through experience. When New Age people say ‘The universe will take care of you,’ or ‘Ask the universe for what you need,’ they are invoking Chesed.”
Of Gevurah, she writes:
“Kabbalists often describe Gevurah as the most severe place on the tree, a testing point. If we think of ourselves as traveling upwards on the tree (in a sense, back to our origins), then Gevurah becomes the place where we must shed our own weaknesses before we can revel in the overwhelming love and mercy of Chesed.”
I know very little of Kabbalah and am learning as I go along with the Haindl Tarot. If Gevurah is the testing point, then it seems to me it’s the place where Strength is needed most. I can identify with Strength (or, rather, Teth) being placed on the pathway between mercy and power. I have been pondering this a lot and I have come to the conclusion that Strength is not a quality or trait like honesty or patience as I once believed.
Strength – at least in the tarot card sense – is a process. It’s not a noun, it’s a verb. It is not an Oscar-winning moment of grace under pressure; it is the continued giving of yourself, your love, your kindness, and your soul when all you get in return is pain.
Strength is the card I drew for this week.
Number: 8 (VIII)
Element: Fire
Hebrew Letter: Teth (“snake”)
Rune: Sigil (the “Sun”)
Astrology: Leo
Title*: Inner Strength
Motifs: Snake, naked woman, crescent moon, pool of water.
*from The Reader’s Handbook.
White Buffalo Woman – Daughter of Stones in the West
This was originally posted on the Archer Tarot blog on October 3rd, 2007. I thought it would be a good idea to get all my Haindl posts together here.
In a reading I did at the weekend using the Haindl Tarot, White Buffalo Woman (aka Daughter of Stones in the West) turned up in the “situation” position.
I am still getting to grips with the Haindl’s court cards. They are quite different to court cards in a traditional deck. For example, you could say the Daughter of Stones is the equivalent of the traditional Page of Pentacles (in The Haindl Tarot Volume II: The Minor Arcana, Rachel Pollack actually uses the title Princess of Pentacles but round these parts we say ‘Page’). However, the comparison couldn’t be more uncomfortable. The sad, solemn eyes and simple beauty of White Buffalo Woman are a world apart from the eager and enterprising Page of Pents.
Whilst Rachel Pollack’s comments on the card are very interesting, I wanted to delve deeper into the myth of the White Buffalo Woman, to try and form my own understanding of the card. (I plan to do this for all of the Haindl court cards.) I love mythology but know very little about Native American folklore – something I’m determined to change.
Last night I found a more detailed and elegant retelling of the White Buffalo Woman myth online. I appreciate how tiresome it can be to click links, so here is an extract to entice you:
“As the woman came closer, they could see that her buckskin was wonderfully decorated with sacred designs in rainbow-coloured porcupine quills. She carried a bundle on her back, and a fan of fragrant sage leaves in her hand. Her jet-black hair was loose, except for a single strand tied with buffalo fur. Her eyes were full of light and power, and the young men were transfixed.”
It was interesting to read that this is one of the central myths of Plains tribes and that it is the only myth in which White Buffalo Woman appears. She came from the horizon as a woman and returned to the horizon as a buffalo, after bestowing her gift of the sacred pipe. Since reading the myth, I have been pondering possible interpretations of this card. I think it can refer to many things, for example:
- a gift, or a person giving a gift
- helping others, showing them how to do something (Rachel Pollack refers to helping others to “help themselves”)
- the sacredness of the earth; a connection to nature and all living things
- an appreciation of material things (not ‘materialism’ but rather treating objects and possessions with respect)
- simple beauty and simple pleasure
- ritualistic objects and objects which possess meaning (for example: heirlooms and items with sentimental value, religious artifacts, and even tarot decks)
- respect and appreciation for the basic things in life, e.g. food, shelter, clothing, etc.
This last point is reflected in the importance of the buffalo – both in the myth and in the lives of the Lakota. The article I linked to above explains:
“For the Lakota, as for most Plains tribes, the buffalo was a vital source of food and clothing, as well as providing most of the material goods of everyday life. Tools were made from its bones, rattles from its hooves, tipis from its hide.”
So White Buffalo Woman is also a reminder of all those things we take for granted but are so fortune to have (including the earth).
In her introduction to the card, Rachel Pollack describes it as “one of the loveliest in the Haindl Tarot”. Before learning more about the myth, I would have disagreed – to my eyes, it was a rather drab image. Now I feel differently. This is why I love the Haindl Tarot. It possesses such simple beauty and yet such depth, and it is a very spiritual, meaningful deck. Since I have started using it, I feel as though I have truly found ‘my’ deck.
In most tarot decks, the Fool is numbered zero. In the Reader’s Handbook, Rachel Pollack writes:
“Of all the symbolism in the Fool card, the most important is the number 0. Zero means nothing or no thing – no fixed category or rigid belief, no rule, no preconception, no boundaries and no role. We write zero as an egg shape, to signify that all things come from it. The Hindus wrote zero as a point, the nothingness out of which all things emerge into reality. Zero, the Fool, means the perfect beginning of any phase or activity, the moment when everything is possible.”
If you multiply any number by zero, the number is unchanged. The same goes for if you add or subtract any number from zero. Zero has zero effect. So is zero – and therefore the Fool – merely passive? Is he just an observer of life, a blank slate, a sponge?
Perhaps. The Fool is too young and too inexperienced to be discerning – to judge before acting. His reaction to anything he encounters is both raw and unchecked. Perhaps this is why the expression on the face of Haindl’s Fool is so difficult to read. Is it sadness, wonder, joy? Or is it just an expression of observation? The world is full of beauty and cruelty and the Fool experiences both with the same detached curiosity. Later, he will learn to tell good from bad but for now, as the Fool, he merely bears witness. He soaks up everything he sees and stores it for future use.
Number: 0
Element: Air
Hebrew Letter: Aleph (“ox” or “bull”)
Rune: Wynn (“joy”)
Astrology: The planet Uranus
Title*: The Adventurous Child
Motifs: Wounded swan, jester’s cloak and bells, six planets.
*from The Reader’s Handbook.
