Zuleikha Opens Her Eyes

Wow! Fascinating history of Stalin's Great Purge and a story of a Muslim girl's arrest, transfer to Siberia, and survival in a prison camp.

The story was so good that I didn't want to put the book down, but I also didn't want it to end.

Once my neighbor finishes reading it, I will read it again!

Reading for Myself

These three cards address the first three categories covered in an online course called LifeBook.

The first three LifeBook sessions were thought provoking and inspiring, but I've had to ask for a refund because the video lessons (and even the audio only lessons) buffer so frequently that it made watching them absurdly time consuming.

In the meantime, I have my tarot cards to help me all twelve of the LifeBook categories, as well as anything else life delivers to my door.

What I need to know about health and fitness? 

The High Priestess indicates that I have been correct to listen to my my body's own wisdom about making changes more slowly than I had been. It will take discipline and self-mastery to become the priestess of my body, I must always remember that my body is sacred and should be treated gently. I must listen to my intuition and not sabotage myself.

What I need to know about my intellectual life?

The appearance of The Magician suggest that I have all the tools I need for an exciting intellectual life. He has the sword of intellect before him and also the other tools and gifts of life. If I develop a clear vision and  focus, I can achieve anything. I should allow my spiritual life to enrich my intellectual life.

How can I improve my emotional intelligence?

The World tells me to embrace Life, expect and be open to positive experiences, and rejoice in being alive. I should allow my experiences to inform my emotional intelligence. (At some point, I'll pull a few more cards for this topic.)

Intuition and body wisdom

This morning, I found myself browsing a website about donkey as a spirit animal. As I reading the page, it stuck to me that the donkey may be a powerful symbol for our emotional lives.

In Greek mythology, a braying donkey woke the goddess Hestia, thereby saving her from being raped by the god, Priapus.

Similarly, in Bamidbar, a donkey saves the Moabite prophet, Bilaam, from approaching an angel who is wielding a sword with the intention of killing Bilaam. Re-reading this story, I was struck, pardon the pun, by how the prophet kept beating his donkey-- his body wisdom-- while the donkey continued to try to warn him of the imminent danger.

Balaam and the angel, painting from Gustav Jaeger, 1836.

Deck Review: Tarot Yehudi by Betzalel Arieli

During my trip to Tel Aviv yesterday, while walking back to the train station, I stopped at my favorite store in Dizengoff Center.

The store is called Fairies Forest. It takes up two store fronts and is bursting with goodies that would, in other countries, fill four or five New Age stores. They mostly carry Lo Scarabeo decks from Italy and a few Russian decks, but I enjoy seeing what decks they have as well as browsing through fairy tchotchkes, Hebrew oracle decks, fantasy movie paraphernalia, Tolkien books (in English!), and other New Agey gifts. 

Today I saw the kind of deck I've wanted for years and, in fact, started to create: a Jewish tarot deck. It's the Tarot Yehudi by Betzalel Arieli. I was fascinated and even had the clerk take one box out of the locked cabinet. I struggled to make up my mind because tarot decks here cost more than twice what they do in the U.S. I began to walk out of the store without buying it, but then asked myself how often I get to Tel Aviv...

This morning, I explored my new deck while lounging next to the Gulf at 9Beach. Here are some of images of my unboxing:

טארוט יהודי - בצלאל אריאלי

Deck quality: The deck is thicker than I'm used to and the cards are glossy enough to slide in every direction when I remove them from the box. It looks as if the cellophane covering each card may wear off quickly, damaging the cards, if the deck is shuffled much. The figures in the cards are predominantly male; I count 21 women and two babies of indeterminate gender in the deck. (The quintessential Jewish image of a woman lighting Shabbos candles is missing from the deck; in fact, only one card, the Four of Candles, shows Shabbat candles.) However, the card images and the organization of the deck are fascinating!

The Aces show human hands holding ritual objects related to the Havdalah ritual, rather than the hand of God offering gifts to us. The Aces in Arieli's tarot show humans becoming the primary partner in creation. "As below, so above."

The Princesses (represented by the prophets Miriam, Huldah, Avigail, and Devorah) correspond with the four elements. These are the Pages of the RWS, figures that are typically shown accepting the Divine gift represented by the Ace of their suit.

The remaining Court cards are aligned with regions of the zodiac. Fire signs (Aries, Leo, and Sagittarius) are the King, Queen, and Prince of Candles. Earth signs are represented by Coins, air signs by Swords, and water signs by Cups.

The numbered cards of the Minor Arcana are not clones of the Rider Waite Smith deck, in fact, they stray pretty far from it. Following are the Three of Wands, Six of Cups, Six of Swords, and Nine of Pentacles:

Printed on each numbered Minor Arcana is a month of the Hebrew year, a region of the zodiac, and a sfirah on the Tree of Life-- all the twos are Ḥokmah (חָכְמָה), all the threes are Binah (בִּינָה), and so forth down to ten and Malkhut.

The Two, Three, and Four of Candles are aligned with the zodiac sign Aries and the month of Nisan (נִיסָן), in which Jews observe the Shabbat HaChodesh, Shabbat HaGadol, Ta'anit Bechorot, Passover, and the beginning of the Counting of the Omer.

Nisan falls in the half of the year called "The Days of Sun." Nisan and the other two months of spring are represented by three Wands, three Coins, and three Swords.

The Majors are aligned, unusually, with Sfirot on the Tree of Life. The Fool card, called Divine Breath, and is number 1, so it and cards 10 (The Prophet) and 19 (The Moon) are aligned with Keter, Crown. 

Since The High Priestess card, called HaShekhinah, is aligned with Binah, the third sfirah on the Tree of Life, she is given the third letter of the alphabet, gimmel, rather than the letter beit, which I usually associate her with.

The Magician card, called The Sage, seems to reflect Christian ceremonial magic-- I don't know how much the symbols reflect actual Jewish mysticism.

None of the Majors, only the number 10 cards of the Minor suits, are aligned with Malkhut, Kingdom.

Fairies Forest had decks for sale in both Hebrew and Russian. Images on the website seem to indicate that an English language version has also been published (with quirky transliterations of the sfirot).  

YouTube video of the Major Arcana

The video says that there are references to the planets in the cards, presumably the Majors, but I haven't found them yet.

Multilingual website (just click on the Union Jack for English)

You can view the cards with Hebrew, Russian, or English titles and descriptions. The English description of the cards on the website doesn't seem to contain exactly the same information as the LWB.

The LWB is in Hebrew (without vowels), so I'm relying on Google Translate. This has yielded several good laughs-- for example, this supposed quote from Megillat Esther: "And take Asparagus to the king on the eve of his kingdom on the tenth month, the new moon, at seven."

Of course, I'll turn to the website and the LWB, but I think the fun part of learning this deck will be creating my own meanings for the cards from my Jewish knowledge and memories and from the Sefer Yetzirah and other Jewish sources.

(I've used the image of the Two of Swords here because that card leaped out of the deck when I first unboxed it.)

Following are images of a few of the Major Arcana cards. The Empress is represented by Queen Esther, The Hierophant by Aharon (Aaron), Strength by Shimshon (Samson), and The Star by Batsheva (Bathsheba).

A Poem by Billy Collins

An Introduction to Poetry

I ask them to take a poem
and hold it up to the light
like a color slide

or press an ear against its hive.

I say drop a mouse into a poem
and watch him probe his way out,
or walk inside the poem's room
and feel the walls for a light switch.

I want them to waterski
across the surface of a poem
waving at the author's name on the shore.
But all they want to do
is tie the poem to a chair with rope
and torture a confession out of it.

They begin beating it with a hose
to find out what it really means.

-Billy Collins

Tarot Keywords

The Biddy Tarot website suggests that having a keyword for each tarot card is a sign of proficiency, implying that those without them are mere beginners. In my experience, interpreting tarot cards is a process that depends on various factors, including the specific question at hand, the surrounding cards in the spread, and the unique energy and concerns of the client.

I reviewed Biddy's keywords and found that many of them contradicted my experiences with the images and some fell short of capturing the full range of meanings I had encountered. So I created my own list of keywords hoping to include a broader spectrum of both positive and negative possibilities for each card.

Surprisingly, it didn't take long to identify a set of words that I consider a reasonable starting point to interpret the cards. While not exhaustive, these keywords may serve as a a scaffold from which to delve deeper into the tapestry of meanings that each card can reveal.

Ace: Gift of mind, mental clarity, victory, decisiveness  
/ Confusion, not acting to solve problems
2: Unwilling to acknowledge change, confusion, indecision, head in the sand, impasse
/ Making a painful choice that allows growth, meditation, focus, weighing options, releasing the past, dropping defenses
3: Mentally obsessed with old pain, recognizing the power of emotions  
/ Gaining insights through words, forgiveness
4: Rest after battle, responding to suffering
/ Intuitive thinking, incubation, rising from rest
5: Sore winner, using old hurt as a shield, not resolving problems, slander, shame, bitterness, adversaries may rise again
/ Support of friends, releasing shame, not turning anger against yourself, apologizing
6: A rite of passage, escaping danger, an opportunity to change, resolving problems
/ A difficult journey, speaking up, disrupting a long-standing situation
7: Disarming the enemy, stealth, clever plan, reclaiming what was stolen
/ Betrayal of self, need to consult with others but unable to ask for help, avoiding confrontation, impulsive action
8: Self-imprisonment, interior struggle, acceptance another's opinion of you, unwilling to seek assistance
/ Overwork, empowerment, gaining clearer vision
9: Torment, nightmares, unable to make sense of life
/ Tackling one problem at a time, accept healing
10: Defeat, ending, rock bottom
/ Relief, take advantage of relief by making changes
Pg: Curiosity, defensiveness, wariness, insecurity, bringing ideas into manifestation, a spy
/ A poseur, learning when to trust, initiative, careless speech
Kt: Impulsive, loyal, pursuing ideals, using intellect to solve problems
/ Rushing in where angels fear to tread, pugilistic, failing to use your intellect, causing chaos, haste makes waste
Q: A survivor, life wisdom, clear perspective, insightful, candid speaker
/ Sorrow, defensiveness
K: A fair judge, clarity of thought, creation of appropriate boundaries, a good communicator, determined
/ stubborn and unyielding, a tyrant or a bully

 Cups

Ace: Gift of emotions, compassion, creativity, joy
/ Repressed emotions, distrusting your intuition
2: Formal partnership agreement, trust, fondness
/ Imbalance, inequality, breaking of contract
3: Friendship, sense of belonging, community, collaboration, and success
/ Stifled creativity, need to decide what direction to take, overindulgence, loneliness, ungrounded
4: Apathy, failure to see an opportunity, reflecting on one's commitments, discovering one's true self
/ Meditation, re-evaluation, listening to your feelings and values
5: Loss, bereavement, hanging on to the past
/ Acceptance, forgiveness
6: Nostalgia, reunion, innocence, naivete, a profound interaction, laying the past to rest
/ Gift of memory, acquiring a realistic view of family, clinging to old patterns, unwilling to change
7: Begin looking ahead once the past is in focus, make sure you know what you want, creative visualization to achieve your goals
/ Fantasy, wishful thinking, delusion, being carried away by emotions and daydreams
8: Courage to step into the unknown without sight of a goal, releasing the past
/ Withdrawal, giving up on something you've invested in, abandoning hope, aimless drifting
9: Feeling of plenty, wishes granted, water breaking before labor
/ Dissatisfaction, need for emotional counseling
10: Alignment, marriage, happiness and contentment, completeness
/ Straying from values, broken home
Pg: Open-minded, lacking preconceptions, divination, message from the subconscious, synchronicity, possible pregnancy
/ Creative block, emotional immaturity
Kt: A romantic figure, charming, slow but sure
/ Unreliable, faithless, withdrawn from reality
Q: Intuitive, visionary, compassionate
/ Daydreaming instead of acting, self absorbed, a destructive lover
K: Emotionally stable, flexible, calm leadership, generous
/ Manipulative, volatile, jealous

Pentacles

Ace: Gift of material world, an opportunity, possibility of wealth if you work for it
/ Ingratitude, lack of planning
2: Disorganization, unclear goals
/ Adaptability, grace under pressure, dreams coming true
3: Creativity, collaboration, teamwork, artistry, skill, planning
/ Rushing, carelessness, unskilled work
4: Prudence, prosperity, caution, values
/ Selfishness, defensiveness, isolation
5: Loss, financial worries, out in the cold, ostracism, loneliness
/ Hope, survival, spiritual comfort, pulling up by bootstraps, recovery, belonging
6: A helping hand, maintaining balance, prosperity, generosity
/ Imbalance of power and resources
7: Assessment, patience, standstill, rebuilding will succeed
/ Fatigue, doubt, frustration, giving up
8: Apprenticeship, quality, working diligently, keeping goal in sight
/ Perfectionism, being a workaholic, ambition without effort
9: Self sufficiency, luxury
/ Overwork, imprisonment
10: Family, legacy, established place
/ Loneliness, limited communication, financial failure
Pg: A messenger, opportunity, recognizing spirit in material, focus, scholarship, a trustworthy advisor
/ Lack of planning, no sense of what is valuable
Kt: Methodical, diligent, conservative, grateful, reverent
/ Laziness, boredom, lack of planning, neglect
Q: Practical, nurturing, down to earth, fortunate
/ Accepting limitations, imbalance in service
K: A helpful and beneficent ruler, security, abundance, wealth
/ Stifled spirituality, iron fist in velvet glove

 Wands

Ace: Inspiration, gift of life, spiritual renewal, energy, creativity
/ Undirected energy, hesitation
2: Contemplating a change of direction, planning, making a choice
/ Fear of the unknown, restlessness, dissatisfaction
3: Enterprise, putting past behind, committed to new goal
/ Lack of foresight, not seeing big picture
4: Celebration, thanksgiving, community
/ Temporary shelter, communication breakdown
5: Strife, confusion, indecision, obstacles
/ Increased focus on one goal
6: Path to victory, support of others
/ Disrepute, trophy moment
7: Taking a stand, self-defence, courage, resilience
/ Difficulties, defensive, being overwhelmed
8: Opportunity, swift change
/ Frustration, sense of urgency
9: Stamina, prepared, firmly established, knowing whom to trust
/ Defensiveness, habitual mistrust
10: Overburdened, worried, not recognizing your limitations, wands weighing you down rather than lighting your way
/ Not recognizing your limitations, lack of vision, coming to life again
Pg: A scout, enthusiasm
/ Pessimism
Kt: Passionate, determined, energetic, travel, putting ideas into action, needs to control and conserve his energy
/ Restless, scattered or misdirected energy, a temper, over confident, insanity
Q: A strong woman, vibrant, vital, success, and power
/ Inhibited, withdrawn
K: Insightful, courageous, a leader
/ Ruthless, arrogant, egotistical

Distilling the meanings of the Major Arcana cards into keywords was more challenging. The Major Arcana cards hold significant importance in tarot readings, representing major life events and spiritual themes. Consequently, their meanings can be deeply nuanced and multifaceted. Since I first obtained a deck in 1983, my understanding of the images has constantly evolved, almost as if the cards themselves are in a state of change. Please approach the Major Arcana keywords with an open mind, listen to your own intuition, and understand that your interpretations will transform over time as you delve deeper into the cards' mysteries and your own life.

Majors

א  Fool: a beginning, journey of life, inexperience, soul, foolishness, faith

ב  Priestess: choosing a path, wisdom, considering but not yet acting, spirituality, disconnected from intuition, withdrawal

ג  Magician: empowerment, manifestation, all the tools needed, skill, resourcefulness, trickery

ד  Empress: love and acceptance, abundance, creativity, growth, nurturing mother, creative block, neglecting one’s own well-being

ה  Emperor: ♈︎ structure, life-experience, leadership, fatherly guidance, authority, rigidity, refusal to grow further

ו  Hierophant: ♉︎ guidance, tradition, conformity, society, oppression

ז  Lovers: ♊︎ choice, indecision, opposites, passion

ח  Temperance: ♋︎ balance physical and spiritual, moderation, harmony, fulfillment, miles to go

ט  Strength: ♌︎ inner courage, self control, discipline, lack of self awareness, base instincts

י  Hermit: ♍︎ reflection, introspection, solitude, discretion, patience, wholeness, a light to guide others

כ  Wheel: change, powerlessness, opportunity, putting experience to use

ל  Justice: ♎︎ choice, karmic situation, accepting responsibility for oneself, fairness, order, virtue, self-awareness, failing to weigh and balance options before making a decision

מ  Hanged Man: acceptance, sacrifice, endurance, new perspective, letting go, self-sabotage, self-aggrandizement, limbo, actions have no effects

נ  Death: ♏︎ metaphorical death and rebirth, change, surrender, transformation, harvest

ס  Chariot: ♐︎ ready to go, confidence, focused on path, progress, wholeness of character

ע  Devil: ♑︎ emotional or subconscious bondage, obsession, self doubt, selfishness, dependency

פ  Tower: sudden change, catastrophe, liberation, challenge, insight, foundations revealed to be unstable, negative thinking

צ  Star: ♒︎ hope, gratitude, clarity, grace, teaching others, finding joy in the present and trusting life’s journey, finding one's guiding star, failing to recognize your abilities

ק  Moon: ♓︎ intuitive path, open to mysteries of life, doubt, depression, self-deception, fear of the future, primal instincts, enchantment, a test

ר  Sun: ecstasy, reward, new life, personal empowerment

ש  Judgment: awakening, resurrection, revitalization, truth, forgiveness, paying the piper, fairness

ת  World: wholeness, understanding and freedom, fulfillment, completion, attainment, freedom

Numerology and Tarot Cards

16 = 7 is tarot math. 

Is it any wonder that I've never really adopted it?

The theory is that you can combine one of the suit meanings to one of the number meanings, and voilà, you can read a pip deck. For me, tarot is a visual means for accessing my intuition. Combining the words "growth of communication" doesn't give me immediate insight into the Three of Swords. There's something worthwhile in that phrase, but it is not how I work with the cards.

I've never found a keyword chart that really satisfies me, so the following lists show what I think all the Wands have in common, what all the Pages have in common, what all the Aces have in common, and so forth.

Suits

Fire/Wands* (aka: Clubs, Staves/Staffs, Rods, Batons)
Intuition, inspiration, passion, ambition, will, confidence, creativity, movement, destruction, energy, career, desire for growth, risk, power, spirituality

Water/Cups (aka: Hearts, Chalices, Bowls)
Emotions, relationships, connection, love, intuition, assumptions, flexibility, imagination, fantasy, religion, psychic, creativity

Air/Swords* (aka: Spades, Feathers, Crystals)
Communication, problems, world view, thought, mind, intellect, logic, judgment, strategies, ethics, authority, challenges, conflict

Earth/Pentacles (aka: Coins, Disks, Stones)
Physical world, miracle of existence, material concerns, resources or needs, nature, beauty, sensation, body, material life, health, common sense, practicality, resources, commerce, work, greed, gratitude, materialism, spiritual awareness

* In a few decks, Swords are associated with Fire, and Wands with Air. Frankly, it makes more sense, since swords are forged in fire, while the flowering branches that often symbolize wands grow through the air and can be destroyed by fire. (Some new decks change the elemental correspondences, but fail to create new imagery to reflect the change of element.)

 Courts

Page/Princess* (aka: Child, Maiden, Daughter) 
Inexperience, sense of wonder, optimism, learning

Knight/Prince* (aka: Explorer, Warrior, Brother) 
Focus, idealism, energy, a quest, seeking challenges

Queen (aka: Guardian, Lady, Woman, Mother)
Experience, self mastery, awareness, guidance, nurturing

King (aka: Elder, Master, Sage, Man, Father) [Knight*]
Established, skill or mastery, control, counsel, foresight

* In decks based on the Thoth system, the court cards, Princess, Prince, Queen, and Knight. Thoth Knights in the Thoth system do not correspond to RWS Kings.  The Thoth system is entirely different-- and that's all I can tell you about Thoth. If you'd like to, you can learn more about that system by reading The Tarot Handbook by Angeles Arrien.

Pips

Ace: Seed, beginning, essence of suit, potential, inspiration, opportunity, energy, gift of grace, innovation, positive aspects of the suit

2: Balance, choice, dialogue, duality, polarity, adaptability, energy, partnership, potential for conflict, taking responsibility, personal power

3: Growth, fertility, creative energy, cooperation, productivity, achievement, becoming grounded or stable, leadership, resolution, creation

4: Rooted, foundation, stability or stagnation, structure, boundaries, conventionality, stillness, restriction, constraint, excitement

5: Change, development, discord, uncertainty, adversity, test or trial, restriction, scattered energy, lack of awareness, freedom, conflict

6: Harmony, opposites reconciled, regaining control, understanding, connection, service, communication, resolution, trust, growth

7: Introspection, reflecting on life experience, understanding, inventiveness, conviction, persistence or procrastination, excess, attainment

8: Cycles, patterns, power, moving forward, taking action, opportunities, challenges, overcoming obstacles, manifestation, mastery

9: Attainment, integration, resolution, obstinacy, excessive idealism, subconscious, fruition, nearing fulfillment

10: Endings and beginnings, completion, wholeness, achievement, conclusion, repair, abundance, excess, transition

Images in this post are from The Four Elements Blog, Creative Fabrica, and WikiBooks.

The Page of Wands

I am continuing my examination of the correspondences between the MBTI and the tarot Pages that I began a couple months ago.

I saved the Wands for last because this fiery suit is the one I am least comfortable with. And yes, in English, it is both possible and correct to end sentence with a preposition. (Gosh! Can you see how much I want to get sidetracked away from the subject of the Wands?)

When I first became interested in tarot, it took months to find a deck. Eventually, I asked in a toy store, and was surprised when the store owner retrieved his only copy from behind the counter. It was the Aquarian Tarot by David Palladini. Here is the Page from that deck and from the Rider Waite Smith:

At the time, the only book I could find was A.E. Waite's Pictorial Key to the Tarot. Palladini's deck and Waite's book aren't a great match for beginning tarot students, and it's no wonder that it took me so many years to learn the cards.

This is all A.E. Waite gives us to understand the Page of Wands:

In a scene similar to the former, a young man stands in the act of proclamation. He is unknown but faithful, and his tidings are strange. Divinatory Meanings: Dark young man, faithful, a lover, an envoy, a postman. Beside a man, he will bear favourable testimony concerning him. A dangerous rival, if followed by the Page of Cups. Has the chief qualities of his suit. He may signify family intelligence. Reversed: Anecdotes, announcements, evil news. Also indecision and the instability which accompanies it.

The "former scene" refers to the desert and pyramids in the Knight of Wands. The "chief qualities of his suit" are never clearly defined. I'm still uncertain whether "family intelligence" means genetic inheritance or news about a family. None of Waite's description seemed to fit the Aquarian Tarot's Page of Wands or the Robin Wood tarot that I now rely on.

The Wands in the Rider Waite Smith deck are calmer and less intimidating than those of the Robin Wood deck. I would feel comfortable sauntering up to the RWS Page of Wands and asking “Whatcha lookin’ at?” But although I have questions for Robin Wood’s Page of Wands, I would prefer to bite my tongue and pass by her quietly and unnoticed.

Since my primary deck is the Robin Wood deck, I have to wrestle with these four intimidating personages. 

Like the RWS image, Robin Wood’s Page of Wands also stands on a sand dune, gazing at the wand she holds. However, her wand glows brighter than the ruthless, desert sun. She is less contemplative and more enthusiastic than her counterpart from the RWS deck. Her clothes are bright shades of red, orange, and yellow. Even her long, beautiful hair is fiery. And her wand glows brighter than the desert sun.

The first thing I usually notice about this card is its energy. The Page radiates so much energy that it takes a moment for me to see and recall that she's standing still, both feet sinking into the sand, as she focuses on the crystal at the top of her wand. She is grasping the gift of intuition or inspiration, but not letting it lead her on her path.

If I dared speak with her, I’d ask what she sees, what she thinks, and, most urgently, what she is going to do. It could be a stimulating conversation, but I'm afraid to begin it.

Sometimes, I feel she is going to gaze at the wand forever and I want to beg her to act on her intuition. Other times, it seems that she is eager to follow where inspiration leads.

Very occasionally, I see the Page of Wands as a trusting Fool, following what Rachel Pollack calls "the path of delight and fascination."

The wand she holds is much too big for her, but she grasps it almost victoriously, as if she believes she has earned it. All the pages are inexperienced and immature, so her confidence is unearned, but her fiery core and passion for life may help her succeed. Robin Wood’s Page of Wands is optimistic and eager; she has joie de vivre.

If the wand is the gift of inspiration, she has a firm grasp on it. Sometimes it looks as if the Page of Wands is studying her intuition rather than following it. Raised in a culture of logic, a person might become hesitant to act on her intuition and, over time, become unable even to hear her own intuition.

Wands can represent artistic inspiration and mystical insights. Wands are also phallic symbols and the figure in this card may be uncertain how to respond to her adolescent sexuality. The wand could also be seen as a channel, a “hollow bone.” The page may be channeling inspiration and transforming that energy into material form.

Fire represents energy, and this card, like the Knight of Wands, may be a warning to conserve energy and to avoid rushing into something without preparation and attention to detail.

Traditionally, pages were seen as messengers. Of all the pages, this one looks most like a messenger. Robin Wood intended that the rings at the top of the wand would chime when the wand was shaken. The sound as well as the sight of this wand announces the messenger. Robin Wood considers this card a "wake up call from the universe," a call to consider potential consequences of one's actions or a call to jump at an opportunity.

Five or six years after I'd acquired my tarot deck, I finally found a useful book. In Exploring the Patterns of The Tarot, Norma Cowie, writes, "The Page of Wands will show that the querent is too absorbed in his own ideas, and is not letting in other alternatives. Therefore it should be suggested that he widen his field of vision." So why is she caught up in her thoughts rather than acting on her inner fire?

Oddly, this card seems to harken back to the pages of the other three suits. There is spirituality in this image, but it’s different than the comfortable spirituality of the Page of Pentacles. The mental energy of this card is distinct from the finely honed intellect of the Page of Swords. And this page’s intuition is very different than the visionary nature of the Page of Cups. The Page of Wands seems to have a more complete and balanced character, sharing traits with the other suits.

Fire is her predominant trait. Learning to control fire was an important step for civilization, but fire can also annihilate. It is unpredictable, dangerous, and yet essential. Many parents seek to extinguish the fire of young girls. (Watch American parents; they let their boys run around screaming, spilling and breaking things, but if their girl even stands up, both shout in unison, "Sit down!")

I love the hints that Robin Wood included in her Pages; she intended them remind herself of the card's meaning. In this case, firecrackers are suspended from the girl's belt. She's a firecracker: clever and independent, speaking her mind. Her fire has not been extinguished. She is always prepared. Robin Wood commented, "I gave her long sleeves to remind me that this character frequently has something up them!"

In an earlier post, I wrote that the Page of Swords in the PTSD card. All the Wand courts trigger a PTSD response in me. I become very anxious when I see Wands in a reading. Who are these people and where will they direct their fire? Are they a danger to themselves or to others?

There may be a warning in the fact that the page's wand is larger than she is. She hasn't grown into her stick as The Fool and The Hermit have. If this page is about to journey, this walking stick, and perhaps the journey itself, is too big for her.

In my chart of MBTI and tarot court card correspondences, the Page of Wands is aligned with ENTP. Wikipedia describes this type as "inventive, enthusiastic, strategic, enterprising, inquisitive, versatile" and asserts that they "enjoy new ideas and challenges" and "value inspiration."

Nothing about the description of the ENTP personality contradicts my understanding of the Page of Wands, but can we really call this association a win?

I don't think this system of correspondences is meaningful to me; it doesn't do anything to improve my readings or provide more information for my clients. Tarot is one system and MBTI is another one-- and one I don't know well. These two systems were developed with different goals in mind and I do a disservice to one or both by trying to meld them together.

Tarot is not Kabbalah (and a brief review of The Raziel Tarot)

Many tarot decks show Hebrew letters on the Major Arcana cards. This supposedly indicates a long-standing connection between Tarot and the Jewish mystical traditions of Kabbalah. In fact, however, the tarot cards were created in Renaissance Europe, a Christian culture. It was only their continued development in the European cultural milieu that eventually led to the grafting of a faux Jewish mysticism onto the tarot.

The origins of tarot are distinct from those of Kabbalah. However, from its beginnings, Christian culture has appropriated and altered some aspects of an imagined Judaism (rather than actual Judaism). For more information about the reasons for Renaissance Europe's interest in Kabbalah, read The Rape of Jewish Mysticism by Christian Theologians by Robert Wang.

By the the mid-19th century, faux Kabbalah had become a part of Western occultism. Éliphas Lévi posited a link between the Major Arcana cards and paths on the Tree of Life. According to Donald Tyson, it was in the 1880s that Golden Dawn founder, William Wynn Westcott, attributed specific Hebrew letters to each of the Major Arcana cards of the tarot deck.

Earlier occultists had created a list of astrological correspondences to the cards. Relying on those correspondences and his own quirky translation of a 4th century, Jewish text, the Sefer Yetzirah, Westcott determined additional correspondences between those astronomical symbols and the Hebrew letters. For example, earlier tarot occultists had associated The Empress card of the Major Arcana with planet Venus, and in Westcott's translation of Sefer Yetzirah, Venus is associated with the letter dalet; so he concluded that The Empress was also connected with the letter dalet.

Jewish Kabbalah is not an intrinsic part of tarot, but today, Jewish tarot writers such as Isabel Radow-Kleigman and Rachel Pollack, are bringing authentic Jewish ideas and Jewish spirituality to the tarot. I appreciate that, and I want to explore the possibilities that connecting the two traditions might offer. So, although I am doubtful that including Hebrew letters on the cards is a meaningful exercise, I am willing to explore the idea.

The first Hebrew letter, alef (א), is often ascribed to The Fool, the first card of the Major Arcana. The last Hebrew letter, tav (ת), is ascribed to The World, the last card of the Major Arcana.

However, for nearly 100 years before Westcott compiled his Hebrew letter correspondences, tarot cards had been printed with numbers on the Major Arcana cards. (French occultist Jean-Baptiste Alliette, aka Etteilla, numbered the Major Arcana cards in his 1789 occult deck.)

To maintain the practice of numbering the cards, The World would be ḳhaf-alef (כא), 21, not tav (ת), which is the number 400. As there is no zero in the Hebrew numbering system, The Fool would be left without a Hebrew letter. However, Wescott was probably unaware of the numerical values of the Hebrew letters.

The correspondences between astrological symbols and the Major Arcana cards does seem reasonable, since astrology was a significant part of the Renaissance culture in which tarot began. However, dragging Hebrew letters into that mix is problematic. It may be a step away from the intentions of earlier tarot designers. It is certainly leagues away from the intentions of the meditation teachers who composed the Sefer Yetzirah.

Although the Sefer Yetzirah was composed during a period of intense syncretism between various Mediterranean cultures, religions, and philosophies, there is no link between that text and the much later Renaissance European culture which produced the tarot.

Rav Kohent Jill Hammer
photo from kohenet.com

Furthermore, it seems unlikely that teachers of the meditation techniques presented in the Sefer Yetzirah intended a literal connection between the letters, days, organs, planets, or other items mentioned in the text.

If literal correlation had been intended, each version of the text would link the same planets to the "double letters" (the BeGeD KeFeT letters), but in fact, different texts present different correspondences. For example, the letter dalet (ד) is linked to the Sun in one version of the text, to Mars in another, and to Venus in yet another version of the text.

Rabbi Jill Hammer teaches that the Sefer Yetzirah was intended to offer meditative practices, "not to inform." According to Rabbi Hammer, the focus of the Sefer Yetzirah is the creative power of the Hebrew language, and the goal of its meditative practices is contact with the Source of Creation.

The Sefer Yetzirah is a meditation manual. It does not teach anything about tarot cards, which were created ten centuries after the Sefer Yetzirah was composed.

There is no authentic connection between the Sefer Yetzirah, or other Jewish Kabbalistic traditions, and the tarot. So, if we do wish to place Hebrew letters on the Major Arcana, we might first consider the attributions already given the cards by European occultists.

Four versions of the Sefer Yetzirah, as well as the Christian influenced Golden Dawn, agree as to the association of the simple letters to the constellations, and to the association of the mother letters to the three celestial elements of air, water, and fire. (See chart below.) So, for now, let's accept Westcott's further association of the Hebrew simple letters and mother letters with the tarot cards he attributed to those letters.

However, a difficulty arises connecting the double letters with celestial bodies. There are several different sets of correspondences between the Hebrew double letters and the seven planets. Section 4.8 in the chart shows correspondences in the Gra-Ari Version of the Sefer Yetzirah, in the Short and Long Versions of the Sefer Yetzirah, and in Donald Tyson's work.

Summary of attributions for Mother Letters, Double Letters, and Simple Letters

In the next few paragraphs, I'll show you how correspondences based on different versions of Sefer Yetzirah radically alter the traditional progression of the tarot Majors. Then I'll show you how the amended Golden Dawn more closely maintains the traditional progression of the cards as well as the order of the Hebrew letters.

Gra-Ari Version: If we relied on the correspondences from the Gra-Ari version (influenced by the later Zohar) of the Sefer Yetzirah, the result would be the following series of cards:

1 Priestess (Moon - Bet)
2 Tower (Mars - Gimmel)
3 Wheel (Sun - Dalet)
10 Empress (Venus - Kaf)
16 Magician (Mercury - Peh)
19 World (Saturn - Reish)
21 Sun (Jupiter - Tav)

In 19th Century occult thought, the High Priestess card was connected with the moon. In the Gra-Ari version of the Sefer Yetzirah, the moon is mentioned in connection to the letter bet. Thus, according to Wescott's rationale, the Hebrew letter bet should be associated with the High Priestess card of the tarot deck.

It muddies the waters further to point out that Tav is really the 23rd letter of the Hebrew alphabet, since Šin and Śin are different letters that form different Hebrew root words. In other words, is the Judgment card Šin or Śin, and why aren't there 23 Major Arcana cards? (And what about ghayin, the lost letter, that fell out of use?)

Short and Long Versions: If we used the correspondences of the Short Version or the Long Version of the Sefer Yetzirah, the result order of the first few Major Arcana cards would be as follows:

1 World (Saturn - Bet)
2 Sun (Jupiter - Gimmel)
3 Tower (Mars - Dalet)
10 Wheel (Sun - Kaf)
16 Empress (Venus - Peh)
19 Magician (Mercury - Reish)
21 Priestess (Moon - Tav)

In these versions of the Sefer Yetzirah, Saturn is mentioned in connection to the letter bet. In 19th Century occult thought, Saturn is connected to the World card. Thus, according to Wescott's rationale, the Hebrew letter bet should be associated with the World card of the tarot deck.

However, if we rely on Donald Tyson's amended Golden Dawn attributions, which he carefully considered, we would maintain the order of the double letters and something close to the order of the tarot majors, switching only the traditional positions of The Priestess and The Magician (and, among the simple letters, the positions of The Chariot and Temperance).

1 Priestess (Moon - Bet)
2 Magician (Mercury - Gimmel)
3 Empress (Venus - Dalet)
10 Wheel (Sun - Kaf)
16 Tower (Mars - Peh)
19 Sun (Jupiter - Reish)
21 World (Saturn - Tav)

The Fool as the
Biblical Yosef,
a fool and a visionary.

Any connection between the Hebrew letters and the cards is tenuous, so I see no compelling reason to make any changes to the correspondences presented by Donald Tyson. The appendix of his book, Portable Magic: Tarot is the Only Tool You Need, contains his rationale for the changes he made to the Golden Dawn system.

Since astrology is not part of my practice, I am not at all concerned with the astrological correspondences of the cards. It would be more interesting to consider other associations from Sefer Yetzirah, such the pairs of qualities associated with Double Letters, the months and tribes associated with Simple Letters, the elements associated with the Mother Letters, as well as the meanings of the letters' names.

For example, these are meanings of the Double Letters:

• Bet - house
• Gimmel - camel
• Dalet - door
• Kaf - palm or sole
• Peh - mouth
• Reish - poverty
• Tav - sign

These are pairs of qualities associated with the Double Letters:

• Bet - Wisdom and Folly
• Gimmel - Wealth and Poverty
• Dalet - Seed and Desolation
• Kaf - Life and Death
• Peh - Dominance and Subjugation
• Reish - Peace and War
• Tav - Grace and Ugliness

The Raziel Tarot: If you are interested in obtaining a tarot deck created specifically with Jewish ideas in mind, consider obtaining the majors-only deck, The Raziel Tarot, by tarot greats, Robert Place and Rachel Pollack. (Sefer Raziel is a Jewish Kabbalistic text; some portions of it are of slightly greater antiquity than the Sefer Yetzirah.)

In the Raziel deck, Hebrew letters appear on the following Marjor Arcana cards:

• א appears on The Fool
• מ appears on The Empress
• The mother letters, אמש, appear on The Lovers and on Temperance
• the root צדק appears on Justice
• a portion of the word שָׁלוֹם appears on Strength
• the letters י and ב appear on the pillars Boaz and Yachin of The High Priestess, and the garment worn by her contains numerous letters, including some final forms

The Raziel Tarot shows only two of the mother letters: Alef (א) for air and Mem (מ) for water. Pollack and Place did not chose to include the penultimate letter, Šin/Śin (ש), which is associated with creative fire. I wonder which Major Arcana card could be linked reasonably with the third mother letter ש. What do you think?

The Empress as Miriam the Prophet, whose life
included many events associated with water.

Journey to the Temple

I am going to go to the Upperword to ask my teacher to show me the temple that I should be working in.

I'm on the balcony, looking at the branches blowing in the breeze and their shadows against the wall. I call to Hummingbird.

We're flying up into the clouds. They feel cool and dry. We're flying further than usual. There's the city. We fly towards it.

There's the great plaza of white stone and the stairways-- and Asherah is waiting for me. At the top of a flight of stairs. Hummingbird drops me off. I bow.

Hello.

She knew I was coming.

I'd like to see the temple.

She gestures and I walk next to her as we climb the stairs. More stairs. The buildings are different than on my first visit long ago. We keep walking up stairs. I look to our left and see an ocean. We climb more stairs. I see a narrow alley to our right. We climb more stairs. We just passed the door to the room where I was bathed and dressed. We climb more stairs and suddenly we're at the top of the city. There's a plaza. (No one else is there, but it doesn't feel abandoned as the area I think of as the port seems.)

There's a building with enormous, brown doors beyond a fountain in the center of the plaza. We walk toward the fountain and I expect to see a tree by it. I look for a tree but I don't see one there or anywhere else in the plaza. I hear the water splashing in a beautiful, simple fountain. There's ivy on one of the walls around the plaza. We approach the doors and they open for us.

It's dark inside. I expect a cathedral with pews, but there is a row of pillars down the center of the space. They go on and on, endlessly.

We stop by the closest pillar, the central row. There's a cup and a basin and we wash our hands. Asherah covers her eyes and seems to recite a prayer. I stand silently next to her, not knowing what to do.

We circle this pillar several times, like a bride circling the groom. I see pillars along the sides of the space, too. She gestures up the space between the central pillars and the row of pillars on our left. We approach the closest pillar on the left, she has me touch it, like I'd touch a mezuzah. Then we walk over to the closest pillar on the right and she has me touch that one, too. Then we go to a central pillar.

I wonder if these pillars represent sfirot. One's missing! I wonder if the plaza was Malchut.

We touch three more pillars, left, right, and center. I'm confused. Are we at Tiferet now? Or Da'at? But Da'at isn't real. And humans can't rise that high.

We must be at Tiferet. The room changes. It's bright now. There are two thrones. There's a mirror behind us. I'm very confused about where I am. I want to leave, but I don't say anything.

Asherah leads me to the two thrones. They are empty. I want Alan and Bonnie to be sitting in them.

There is someone siting in them, but I don't know who. I can't see them.

Asherah, I'm afraid. I asked you to bring me here, but I'm afraid.

I don't want to be near the thrones, so I ask her to show me the rest of the room.

There are large windows. One looks out at an ocean, not in the direction I would have expected the ocean to be. Another window looks out on fire-- I'm afraid again. She takes me to the earth window, where I see fields and trees. I see a great mountain through the air window.

She takes me back to the thrones. I'm not sure who is on them. I'm afraid. I look around the room again. The water window-- the view has changed; it's underwater. It's like looking into an aquarium. I'm afraid of the fire window and try not to look at it. The earth window is beautiful. Through the air window, I see an eagle soaring near the mountain.

Asherah, I don't feel comfortable in this place. I don't belong here.

She kneels in front of the thrones and I join her. She puts her arm around me. She's praying. I begin to repeat Sh'ma. We stay like this for a very long time.

Asherah sits on the throne to my right. Who is the male figure? Why is she on the right hand throne?
Then I am sitting on the throne next to Asherah.

Shalom, shalom, shalom.

We're holding hands, like my father and I did once when my mother was in surgery. I'm on the "male" throne and Asherah is on the "female" throne. [I was wrong: the male pillar is on the right and femal on the left, when facing the Tree of Life.] Behind me, to the right, is the air. Behind us, to the left, is the water. We see fire and earth. I only look into the earth window on the right. There's a mirror where we entered. It's image is not clear. Asherah is growing tall. Bright light. I don't want to see what I'm turning into. I don't want to be a dark figure, but I think I am. I'm afraid of the fire window. I cling to Asherah's hand.

We stand. I'm looking at our reflections in the mirror. She's a great, white light. I'm small and dark.

She asks me to face her. She hold both my hands. The darkness flows out of my head towards her. Her white light flows into my hands and my heart. She's filling me with light. My darkness dissolves inside her.

I can see my heart.

Asherah, I don't understand this.

I feel empty. I feel sad.

The black and white. They are balanced in me. Her white has some silver-gray in it.

She has me lie on the floor. She crosses my hands over my chest, like a mummy. My head is pointing toward the place where we entered. I don't see the windows any more. I'm crying. Her hands are on my hands and she sits with me.

Part of me is crying and part of me is thinking about how long it will take to type up this journey.

I don't understand what is happening.  

Come, I will lead you out, she says.

She helps me rise. The thrones are gone. We walk into the darkened temple. We leave more quickly than we arrived. We're in the plaza now. I asked if I can hug her. We hold each other. Asherah holds me. Then we walk back down the stairs. The ocean is there. The light is bright. We walk down stairs. At the top of the lowest flight of stairs, Hummingbird comes and carries me [down] through the clouds. And I'm on the balcony.

Thank you.

I'm back.

[Recording 10]

The Page of Cups

Several weeks ago, I created a diagram linking the sixteen court cards to the sixteen personalities of the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator. I am now comparing what I know about each of the Pages to the Myers-Briggs types I've assigned to them.

The Page of Cups wears a painter's pallet hanging from her belt. She is dressed in a white tunic that is trimmed with a pattern of water lilies reminding me of eastern meditation. Like all the pages, her hair is long and luxuriant; this page wears a tiara of pearls. Her sandals are sturdy. In her right hand is a glowing, golden cup that has a silver mermaid on it. (There ought to be a word for metal-on-metal work. Perhaps there is?) A flying fish appears half out of the cup. The page's left hand is on her hip and she stands casually while watching the fish.

Sometimes this figure seems to be the same person as the figure on The Fool card of the Major Arcana.

The Page of Cups standing on a boardwalk above the ocean, and the sky behind her, according to artist Robin Wood, is upside down. "The gradient suggests the evening sky, but in reverse... it's far more ordinary for the pink to be at the bottom. So this person may stand your expectations on end."

Pages represent innocence and Cups represent joyful emotions. Receiving this card may indicate that a young person (or person who is young at heart) will enter the seeker's like, and that her trusting, sunny personality will renew the seeker's love of life. The person represented by this page is very different than anyone else and offers mental or spiritual stimulation that may lead others to express themselves artistically.

Robin Wood gave this page a crown of pearls "to show her affinity with the ocean." The ocean symbolizes so much: life itself, change, turbulence and calm, emotions, obstacles, the subconscious, depths, the unknown, the power and mystery of nature, something primal that existed before creation, and the feminine divine.  

Water represents intuition. Intuition is an essential characteristic for human beings, it helps us make good decisions, protects us from danger, and if cultivated, can make us supremely expressive artists. This adolescent is listening to her heart's intuition, allowing her inner voice to develop. 

Water symbolizes emotions. Remember, pages are young inexperienced; this card can represent emotional immaturity or being too absorbed in an emotional situation, caught up in it and loosing herself. It may also represent someone who is unable to express or even understand her emotions.

In the book, Tarot Wisdom, Rachel Pollack refers to the expression "still waters run deep,' in connection with the Page of Cups, but in most decks, the page is looking into a cup, not a great depth. When this card appears in romantic readings, I sometimes remind the Seeker that there are other sharks in the sea.

Water also symbolizes the subconscious. Rachel Pollack's meaning for the reversed Page of Pentacles is "troubled by things that come from the imagination or the subconscious."

The intuitive abilities of Wand court cards may be expressed in mysticism, while the intuitive abilities of the Cup court cards, may lead them to become psychics.

This card may represent a spiritual quest or an attempt to make things right, as in the period of introspection before the High Holy Days. Robin Wood gave the page a white tunic "to show her purity." The lilies at the hem of the tunic make me think of Hindu philosophies and meditation.

When this card represents a person, it may be a spiritual person, someone with "beginner's mind." I wish I remembered who taught me the following insightful interpretation of this card: the Page of Cups is not surprised or horrified by the fish in her cup; she is open to all new experiences because she has not expectation of what ought to be. 

The suit of cups often suggests that someone is being unrealistic or, more seriously, that someone is out of touch with reality. While the Page of Cups does seem dreamy, I don't feel she's as far gone into illusion or delusion as the Queen of Cups sometimes seems to be.

Occasionally, I get the impression that the page is studying her emotions intently. In some situation and with a wise therapist or guide, analyzing emotions might sometimes be a necessary exercise. However, generally, emotions should be felt and expressed in some way. Joanna Powell Colbert writes of this card, "She needs to embrace her emotions, dreams, and imagination, and let her heart be filled."

Water and cups can represent the womb. The development of a single embryo, parallels the evolution of its species. We were once sea creatures. So perhaps this card indicates the early stages of a pregnancy, a literal or a metaphorical fertilization.

There is a spectrum of meanings in each card; Sometime her cup will be Josef's cup of vision, and at other times, it may represent alcoholism. This card indicates absorption of some kind; the fish in her cup is her entire world at this moment. The Gaian image is sunnier; the child's gentle eyes gaze into the future and in her eyes, we can almost see the wise old woman she may become. 

In my chart of MBTI and tarot court card correspondences, the Page of Cups is aligned with ENFJ. Wikipedia describes this type as "caring, enthusiastic, idealistic, organized, diplomatic, responsible" and asserts that they are "skilled communicators who value connection with people."

Could this tarot image reflect the ENFJ type? Perhaps this child could grow into a skilled communicator, but I think this correspondence is a fail.