Inspirational and Cautionary “Catch-Phrases” for the Major Arcana

AUTHOR’S NOTE: There are several ways to split the 22 Major Arcana into rows; one of the most popular is the 7×3 layout of 21 cards with the Fool standing apart, an array I first encountered in Rachel Pollock’s 78 Degrees of Wisdom (although it is much older).

Here I’m organizing the rows into “duets” with a singleton at the end of each one. The “catch-phrases” of the title are the brief keywords beneath each pair and solitary card. They are intended to be inspirational or cautionary as the case may be. I see the Fool at the top as equivalent to the disembodied narrator in a cinematic production; it doesn’t take part in the activities of the other cards but it has something to say about each one. Like the unnumbered Fool in Cherry Gilchrist’s triumphal processions of the Middle Ages, it can pop up anywhere in the sequence to energize the proceedings. I’m partial to Aleister Crowley’s description of this card: “An original, subtle, sudden impulse or impact, coming from a completely strange quarter. All such impulses are right, if rightly received.”

I’m not proposing any particular method for using this material. It just struck me as informative and interesting. Consider it a creative exercise in tarot idea-spinning and word-smithing. Due to the “septenary” structure, it takes a slightly different approach to paired trumps than my series of essays from a couple of years ago.

Originally published at http://parsifalswheeldivination.wordpress.com on April 13, 2024.