The “Crucible of Becoming” Self-Mastery Spread
AUTHOR’S NOTE: . . . and now back to our regular programming!
As I learned them in the early 1970s, the Cardinal signs in natal astrology are considered to be “action-oriented,” the Fixed signs are “security-oriented” and the Mutable signs are “people-oriented.” When developing their set of astrological correspondences for the tarot, the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn assigned each of the twelve zodiacal trump cards to a segment of the Chaldean wheel. The cards associated with “Cardinality” were given to the four “angles” of the natural (that is, Aries-rising) horoscope; these are the Emperor (Aries); the Chariot (Cancer); Justice (Libra) and the Devil (Capricorn).
The premise behind this spread is that the Cardinal signs and their associated trump cards best express how we can aspire to self-mastery by taking action on our own behalf, while the Sun represents the “zenith” or culmination of our efforts as the “Perfected Self” or “quintessence.” I’m using the cards as “vessels of becoming” that are placed as a template upon which five randomly-drawn cards are dealt. The idea is to compare the qualities of the archetypal “vessels” to those of the cards that land on them and determine how far the seeker has to go, as well as by what means and in what direction, to elevate the latter to the fully-realized status of the former. Various types of “dignity” can be brought to bear on this appraisal: element, suit, number, rank, inherent nature, etc. Significant mismatches can become the target of a developmental action-plan.
Reversal can also be used with the random cards to suggest a wider gap between the ideal and the actual that will increase the challenge (this assumes that we must first pay attention, then examine our internal chemistry and get our mental house in order before we can venture into creative self-realization on the material plane). But regardless of orientation, this self-examination is a prerequisite to any ordering and subsequent “concretizing” of our individual potential by deploying it to optimum advantage within the compass of our mundane existence. We act because we must answer the call, but we should at least apprise ourselves of the likely consequences of inordinate or untimely action before making a move. Recognizing that it doesn’t happen by accident, the condition of the random cards can shed light on this prerogative.
To augment my design I’ve summoned the analogy of a smithy’s furnace, which is the “magical weapon” of the Chariot, to show that we must forge our character into a figurative “sword” by applying the Cardinal expressions of Fire (smelting or “liquefying”), Water (molding or “forming”), Air (“quenching and tempering”) and Earth (“proof-testing”) to craft ideal “Solar ordnance” (our foothold in self-mastery) that can be wielded with confidence. Following up on my last spread, which was based on the triangle, here I employ the square as my model, with its four bounding corners and its central “crucible” that is the focus of their interaction.
Although not a formal part of this experiment, a comparison of this pattern to the 4 of Disks (“Power”) from the Thoth deck — which has the Sun as its “engine” and Capricorn at its “egress” — is illuminating since it brilliantly demonstrates the “mastery of Earth,” the next-to-last stop on the “cycle of becoming” as a personal path to fulfillment. The exalted “solar angel” shines in the back door while the lusty goat prances out the front as the penultimate avatar of self-bestowed authority; another way to put it is “We’re here, we might as well make the best of it!” As I see it, individual progress up to and including the point of physical maturity is a biological evolution; conscious command of the spheres of Earth and Sun is an act of Will. (I make no apologies for the masculine slant of this essay since the essence of Cardinality is “applied power.”)
The cards from the Golden Art Nouveau Tarot are copyright of Lo Scarabeo, Torino, Italy and the Thoth card is copyright of US Games Systems Inc, Stamford, CT
Originally published at http://parsifalswheeldivination.wordpress.com on October 17, 2023.
