3rd Pillar: Spirituality – The World

“Endings. Coming to a place of completion and power internally and externally.”

The trouble with endings is they are never truly the end. True as one path completes itself, that would be the end; however, within that ending is usually the start of a new path, a new destination, or a new beginning. Isn’t that the definition of spirituality?

The World has association with returning to the start or coming full circle, usually better off than we started, but not always. At times the completion of a circle is more about thanking the great and holy for it being over, or bracing for what can come next. Either way, at least its an ending, and really nothing is completely bad or good, its more shades of perspective. 

‘You see someone weeping at the side of the road. They are being forced to marry someone they don’t want to’.

There are times when we are in the position of trying to make the best out of a situation, other times its more about getting there. Right now, I find it’s a case of feeling tested, seeing the end goal but no clear idea of the path that gets me there, and this is the hardest part. Is there an actual path or is it about forging one, actually making that path happen, rather than following one that is hidden but already forged? 

Sometimes, I swear humans are secretive for no other reason other than being territorial about something that should be available to all. 

4th Pillar: The Unknowable – The Hermit

“Being a light unto yourself and finding your own way through the darkness”.

There are times when we don’t know ourselves as well as we sometimes should, many reasons behind this happening, distraction, preoccupation, fear, or at times we fall short of having belief in our own ability. Then there are times, when we are severely challenged, usually by the world and all its stupidity.

The Hermit is my permanent standpoint, society, well the parts of it out with my control are challenging. I had this proven to me earlier on today, and all I could think was ‘This is why I find humans in a very general way challenging.” 

‘You meet a monk who is looking for worthy adventurers to defeat a magical monster’. 

The Hermit is basically a monk that took a long sabbatical from humanity generally, originally The Hermit would have been either the Magician or Hierophant, depending on the deck, who eventually tiring of humans went off on his own journey, found his own inner wisdom and now keeps his own counsel, sharing his knowledge with those that genuinely want to learn.

I can’t be bothered attempting to keep up with the mythical ‘Mr & Mrs Jones’ and I don’t feel the need to compete with anyone, never have. I am happy to carve out my own corner and work in it, problem is that for some reason that mentality poses a threat to this social norm.

I am but a reflection of you, ask me a truth and I will answer, speak to me and I will reply, speak about me, and I will listen until I am ready to reveal yourself to you.

After putting the pillars in place and allowing them to reveal what was needed, we put things into context, starting here in the present, moving forward, to then reflecting back a little before making sense of it all and concluding the spread. I find that this part of the spread is giving a voice to anything unheard during the placement of the pillars.

Occasionally a card may return, which suggests to me at least that the returning card is important, or a cycle that hasn’t exactly completed itself yet. I have switched out from the Dungeon’s & Dragons to the Gay Tarot, which is a Lo Scarabeo publication, so it has contrast from the very bold colours and designs of the D&D set. I’ve kept the though prompts from the D&D set, as they have relevance to the concepts of this hop. So, Let’s build…

Present Tense: The Magician – What I Must Know at this Time.

“Tapping into your genius to find new ways of looking at the world.”

Now then, talk about returning cards! The Magician has returned and is in the present tense, this is a cycle that isn’t ending yet. This Magician is very different from the D&D version, and yet they carry with them the same message. Although when you look to the Gay Tarot version, there is an almost glitz, glam, but scratch beneath that surface and perhaps you may find a sham.

Everything about this card is showy, but the point of a magician in the classic sense at least is diversionary tactics, to pull off the trick, you need some kind of diversion, this is so you get the audience to look the other way. First question to ask is what am I supposed to be diverted away from? Now ask yourself why the diversion? Lastly, what do you really need to focus on in the here and now? 

‘You meet a sage who gives you a key that opens a magical lock’.

This time you are opening Pandora’s Box, but think of it like this, beneath everything that you unleash, work, and persevere through there is hope and accomplishment at the bottom. The chaos, hard work, getting set back, and almost giving up, well that is actually worth it, because there at the bottom of the box is completion, success, and hopeful rewards.

Just be mindful of the return journey, as sometimes that is just as perilous as getting there to begin with.