Last Waltz: The Universe and Beyond
AUTHOR’S NOTE: The World card of the tarot (aka “the Universe” in the Thoth and other esoteric decks) prompts endless questions from beginners who are not yet versed in its symbolism. Is it in fact a “good” card that portends success for the seeker because it displays a dancing woman who seems serene and utterly carefree? (Aleister Crowley, quoting Browning in a different context, speaks of “a dance to a delicate measure.”) Popular opinion leans toward it being wholly favorable in divination, but authorities tend to differ in their judgment.
In his 1911 book, The Pictorial Key to the Tarot, in the section titled “The Greater Arcana and Their Divinatory Meanings,” A.E Waite set the tone for most modern interpretation by leading off with “Assured success” and “recompense,” followed by a mixed bag of travel-related keywords. Waite’s inspiration seems to have come from Etteilla’s fifth trump (titled “Voyage”), and its 19th-Century interpreters, who stand squarely behind Waite in suggesting “happiness, courage, battles won” and other boons (such as “arrival of money”) when augured by adjacent cards (Orsini); “the greatest success in all possible endeavors” (Lemarchand); “journey and action, however no action without patience” (D’Odoucet).
In The Book of Thoth, Aleister Crowley limited his enthusiasm to “the crystallization of the whole matter involved,” more succinctly describing it as “the end of the matter, the matter of the question itself, and synthesis,” the last of which I take to mean an integrated conclusion in which opposites are seamlessly reconciled. Because he also mentioned “delay, opposition, obstinacy and inertia” requiring “patience, perseverance and persistent stubbornness in difficulty” (obviously related to its association with astrological Saturn, the “Taskmaster” and “Great Teacher”), there is little evidence that he considered it to signify unbridled — and certainly not imminent — success.
Liber T, the tarot curriculum of the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn that was the conceptual springboard for both occult writers, primarily supports Crowley’s position, noting only that — similar to Etteilla — the nature of the outcome hinges upon the other cards connected with the Universe in a reading: “The matter itself. Synthesis. Usually denotes the actual subject of the question, and therefore depends entirely on the accompanying cards.” (Once again, there is no mention of instant gratification in the querent’s affairs.) It seems that Waite leaped right over that qualified assessment and went straight for the most positive outlook possible, as envisioned by his antecedents.
In my own opinion, the best that can be said without examining adjacent cards is that the matter won’t “hang open” indefinitely; there will be closure but it may take a while to appear. I’m not inclined to predict a speedy outcome, fortunate or otherwise, because — as an astrologer — I’m all too familiar with the challenges of Saturn and the obstacles it can present. I believe this is one card where the Golden Dawn got the planetary symbolism mostly correct since, on the Tree of Life, the path of Saturn (and therefore of the Universe) links the spheres of the Moon and the Earth (one urges the changes that can bring consummation of effort and the other resists them; Saturn will yield conclusive results but the price is usually extended delay and often hardship).
In Liber T, Harriet Felkin (G.H. Soror, Q.L.) noted: “Observe that this represents not the World but the Universe. It should be remembered that to the ancients, Saturn represented the confines of the Solar system. They had no means of measuring either Uranus or Neptune. To them, therefore, Saturn passing through the spiral path of the Zodiac, marked at its cardinal points by the symbols of the Kerubim forming the Cross, was a comprehensive glyph of the whole.” She went on to add: “In the practical Tarot, this card is taken to signify the matter in hand, that is the subject of any question that has been asked.” (Unlike Crowley, she did not go so far as to anticipate a conclusion to the situation, much less a hopeful one.) This open-ended passage led me to consider whether the World/Universe might be only a stepping-stone to a more exalted mental state “beyond the stars,” perhaps a philosophically abstract rather than strictly spiritual ascent to the biblical eminence of the “Celestial City,” ultimately entering a metaphorical “New Jerusalem of the mind” with starry ramparts of incorruptible insight and inspiration. ( Full Disclosure: Although I may wax mystical, I’m not a Christian or in any way religious but I do have a nodding acquaintance with the canon.)
I set about creating a twenty-third “Atu” (key or trump card) to express this possibility. I took my cue from the mandorla that surrounds the dancing figure in the earliest decks, and that Crowley and Harris turned into a “Cosmic Egg” with a fully-formed archetypal being inside. The idea of an “egg” presupposes that of a “hatching,” so I surmised that the emergent hatchling, symbolic of the alchemists’ anima mundi released from the prima materia, would not be content with returning to her mundane roots, and would instead climb out of the mud signified by the elemental quaternary and reach for the sky, the attainment of which Crowley dubbed the complement of the Fool: “Nothing in its complete expansion.” Here is the result, paired with the Thoth Universe card (note that this is manipulated clip-art; although I’m a graphic artist, I’m no Frieda Harris). It’s worth noting that the “mandorla” depicted by the spiral-arm galaxy (when viewed edge-on as here) is narrower and more intense than that of the Universe, thus implying a more perilous “ring-pass-not” and a more demanding “test of truth.”
In a previous essay I described this “galaxy” card as “the next logical step in the Fool’s Journey beyond the World, a kind of ‘jumping-off place’ into the realm of cosmic consciousness that avoids (or at least delays) starting over at the beginning of a new cycle (think of it as the ‘2001: A Space Odyssey’ of the Fool’s voyage of self-discovery).” I titled this card “The Threshold,” or “The Gateway to Cosmic Consciousness,” and created the following interpretive text for it. (While you obviously won’t have this card on-hand, the premise may still be worth contemplating.)
The Threshold (Gateway to Cosmic Consciousness) — Supplemental Trump Card
Dignified: The “Aha!” moment; a major epiphany or quantum leap in awareness; the next critical step in the evolution of the matter; an irreversible turning-point, an adventure into the Unknown; a transcendent, visionary and creative impulse; a unique opportunity; approach to a new frontier; thinking outside the box; the “dawn of a new day.”
Ill-Dignified: Unwelcome intervention by a higher authority; the matter is taken out of the querent’s hands; being “blind-sided by an irresistible force; a loss of objectivity; the need for a fresh perspective; being “taught a lesson by the Cosmos;” abuse of authority by those in power; indifference or hostility from unexpected quarters; spiritual sustenance denied or withdrawn; the “dark night of the soul.”
Esoteric Meaning: Entering upon a higher arc of the soul’s journey on the Path of Return; ascending beyond the “Celebration of the Great Work Completed” as symbolized by the “dance of the elements” on The Universe card; “loosing the bonds of Earth;” spiritual enlightenment; an awakening into an exalted state of consciousness; a crisis of conscience or moral dilemma of the highest order.
Originally published at http://parsifalswheeldivination.wordpress.com on January 13, 2024.
