The Further Adventures of “Gaze and Regard”
I’ve written in the past on the topic of “facing, gaze or regard” between two adjacent tarot cards that include human or human-like beings in their iconography, and what their juxtaposition in a spread means for the narrative when they are either facing toward or away from one another. (Simply put, one suggests “seeing eye-to-eye” and the other “turning away” while trying to avoid the encounter.) In those essays I limited myself to the court and trump cards of the Tarot de Marseille since the pip cards are more abstract than illustrative in their design. But I recently came across commentary by Alejandro Jodorowsky in The Way of Tarot that brought me back to the technique as it might be applied to any deck in which most of the cards have anthropomorphic features, either presented singly or in groups. Jodorwosky discusses the interaction of trump cards that form both obvious and less-conspicuous couples according to the order in which they appear. Here are his observations regarding the Magician (I) and Strength (XI) that sparked my renewed interest:
(When they appear in the normal order of I followed by XI) “Each of the two begins an activity in his or her own domain” according to their individual aptitudes. “They accompany and comprehend each other and . . . it is plausible (that) they share a similar conceptual notion of the world.” (In short, they cooperate to the fullest and are “on the same page.”)
(When they appear in the opposite order) “The two members of the couple need to realize that they are not ready to meet the other face-to-face before they have each experienced their respective field of action. They need to leave themselves the space necessary for their emerging energies to develop, and then they will be able to find each other again in a spirit of union.” (As I read it, they are mutually repelled upon first meeting and will eventually reconcile.)
In contemplating how this form of analysis might be applied to all of the “humanoid” cards in close proximity, it would be tempting to say that their order of appearance (and thus their “regard” of one another) is immaterial since it is the immediacy of their confrontation that is critical and not their subsequent negotiations after connecting. However, unlike the trumps, not all of the cards are equal in potency; it might be better to assume that the “superior” card of a pair (which can be determined according to rank, relative maturity or active/passive polarity), when it appears to the right of a less-dominant partner and is facing (and therefore moving) away from it, will drag the latter “kicking and screaming” into its private reality no matter which way the overmastered figure on the companion card is facing. For its part, the subordinate card doesn’t have much say about being pushed around by its better unless both parties are actively seeking to avoid commitment (by facing and thus preparing to move in opposite directions).
To continue: when the more powerful card is placed to the left and is facing toward the other, it will insistently nudge the “inferior” member of the pair into its own unique orbit regardless of whether that “personage” is on-board with the initiative by offering a consensual “gaze” in the same direction. (Think of a mother bird pushing a reluctant fledgling out of the nest.) When it is facing the weaker card from a right-hand perspective, it might reject the contribution of its junior partner or block its progress altogether. In a recent post I talked about the genetic analogy of “dominant” and “recessive” cards in a pair, and facing adds another dimension to the idea that one card will usually stand out in any combination of two and skew the interpretation toward its own agenda.
Finally, in any scenario where the dominant card is looking away from the recessive one, it implies disinterest and non-engagement by the senior member no matter what the other party seems to want, while if both figures are looking askance it could reflect mutual disaffection with no intent to cooperate. The idea is that — unless they agree to go their separate ways — the “superior” card will take control and impose its will on the situation (even if only to ignore the particulars of involvement) while the “inferior” one will mainly be “along for the ride” and will have to deal with whatever the relationship serves up. (Note that use of reversal will multiply the number of possible “facing” permutations for any two cards, and also add nuance to their comparative strength of expression.)
Originally published at http://parsifalswheeldivination.wordpress.com on January 12, 2023.
