For the purpose of this article I am using the Rider-Waite tarot deck which us illustrated by Pamela Coleman
Smith under the direction of Arthur Edward Waite.
When you look at the Major Arcana cards of the Magician, the High Priestess and the Chariot, the issue of per-
spective may arise. Is the Magician standing with his left hand raised or his right hand raised? It may be a matter
of perspective. Edward Arthur Waite used the Major Arcana cards as representations of the types of Archetypal
energy that one might encounter during ones life time. It is said that every detail on each card was put there or put on
the cards in a specific way, as a symbolic representation of some esoteric knowledge, teaching or sacred object.
If this is true then there is a specific esoteric reason for the Magician to be standing in that particular position. So
position is important; the position in which the people are standing and the position of an object or person within the
composition of the card.
How do you describe to some one else the way the Magician is standing?
Would you tell them that the Magician has his left hand raised and his right hand pointing downwards
Or
would you tell them that his left hand is pointing downwards while his right hand is raised.
If you chose the first description than you are looking at the Magician as if he is a mirror image of someone. If you
dressed as he or she is, with your left hand raised and right hand down then it would be a mirror image of you. If you
chose the second description then the perspective is from the point of view of some one in the card looking outwards.
In other words you would be the reflection not the real object.
One of the basic teaching of the some esoteric systems is that the left hand receives energy while the right hand
releases it. The left hand brings the energy in, the right hand lets it out. If this is true then it might make more sense to
say the Magician is a reflection of ourselves. In other words we are the Magician.
If you chose the second perspective and you are the reflection then the question arises, what are you the reflection
of? If you aren't standing in front of the mirror who is?
If you believe we are actually both the Magician and the reflection then the card for you is perhaps a paradox.
In the High Priestess card we have a woman sitting between two pillars, one black, one white. Similar questions can
be raised. Is the black pillar on her left or on her right? If the card is portraying a reflection then the black pillar is
actually on her left and the white pillar on her right. If you are the High Priestess, in other words the artist is painting
you sitting between a black and white pillars, then the white pillar would be on your left and the black pillar on your
right.
Another question might be asked. Are some of the Major Arcana cards telling us we are the person portrayed in the
card while others are not us but rather a situation we might encounter? In some esoteric traditions we are literally the
Magician. We bring energy from above and use it to create our reality that surrounds us. If there are some esoteric
traditions where white is on the left and Edward Arthur Waite believed in this tradition then the picture of the High
Priestess cannot be a reflection because the black pillar would be on the left. If this in not a reflection and it is an
actual painting of some one sitting between two pillars then the white pillar would have to be on their left and the black
one on their right. From this perspective is this card saying we are the High Priestess? The same can be said for the
Chariot card. If you accept teachings that the white sphinx should be on the left then again perhaps we are the
Charioteer.
This issue of perspective raises many more questions besides left and right, black and right. Some cards in the
Major Arcana may be us while others are clearly not us and still others may show circumstances that we may
encounter. It's all a part of discovering who we are and what our point of view is.
Tarot Conversations would like to thank Grand Tarot Master and author Rachel Pollack and all the participants who
attend Rachel's once a month tarot class in Rhinebeck, New York, for their wisdom, teachings and inspiration.
What is Your Perspective |
