Understanding The Major Arcana Archetypes & Their Meaning

Understanding The Major Arcana Archetypes & Their Meaning:

Current deck of choice:  Mary Hanson-Roberts

(0) The Fool

• Let go of preconceived ideas and remain open to change.
• An innocent soul before its fall into matter, untainted by contact with society and all its ills.
• Advice: Recognize the path of personal development within ourselves -- and the stage upon that path where we find ourselves -- in order to energize our movement toward deeper self-realization.

(1) The Magician

• Trust your inspiration. You are smarter than you think.
• One who seeks to bring forth the divine gold within her or himself.
• One who can demonstrate hands-on magic -- as in healing, transformative rituals, alchemical transmutations, etc.
• Advice: Have faith in your innate creativity. The Magician advises you give your questioning nature and free-associating mind plenty of room to explore the subject at hand

(2) The High Priestess

• Put self-cultivation at the top of your daily priority list.
• Represents human wisdom
• The Fool’s first teacher, representing the inner life and the method for contacting it, as well as the contemplative study of nature and spiritual mystery.
• Advice: adhere to your chosen spiritual practice on a more regular basis. If you want the benefits of evolution, you'll have to cooperate with spirit. We all have distractions, demands -- a whole life full of reasons why we cannot find the time to retreat into our inner sanctum. A spiritual routine that suits your temperament, practiced every day, is the most trustworthy path to freedom.

(3) The Empress

• Rather than being tough on yourself for not measuring up, know that your positive influence has facilitated favorable outcomes.
• Portrays the energy of the great mother. She is nature, around us but also within us, the ever-unfolding source of life-giving power.
• Advice: trust in the good sense you have shown up to this point. Recognize your good intentions in carrying out your responsibilities as a compassionate human. You are capable of demonstrating the finest aspects of your personality. Demonstrate this through caring actions, a forgiving and generous attitude, and wise understanding of others' needs and struggles. Bring a healing influence to the current situation

(4) The Emperor

• Draw upon the capable inner resources you possess to get the task completed.
• Represents the highest leadership, a head of state, or the most exemplary and powerful person in the realm. 
• Master of matter and physical manifestation. Acknowledge your potentials for mastery. Reinforce a sense of control within yourself, despite any self-limiting beliefs, habits, or appearances to the contrary.
• Advice: Get in touch with your inner power. Realize that somewhere deep inside you is the memory of royalty. Reach within to find that strain of natural nobility and leadership. These innate qualities will help you manage your current situation.

(5) The Hierophant

• Develop your expertise, and have faith that you are a master in the making.
• (Definition: A person, especially a priest in ancient Greece, who interprets sacred mysteries or esoteric principles.)
• The learning of practical lessons from the study of natural law.
• Points to a resource that can reveal the secrets of life, the cycles of the moon and tides, the links between human beings and the heavens.
• All shamans of any tradition draw upon this archetype.
• Advice: Return to the role of a meticulous student. Learn everything you can about your chosen area. Let that knowledge become a part of you and an operative influence on your day-to-day awareness. In this way, you can slowly and steadily establish real credibility in your field or chosen subject.

(6) The Lovers

• Creative compromise helps you accept your commitments fully.
• Advice: Study your options and make the wisest choice. Carefully consider your long-term interests. Watch out for choices that will produce dissatisfaction and discontent. Be willing to make some compromises, then stick with the commitments you finally make. Trust your intuition along with your rational intellect, and once you make your choice, carry it out with conviction.

(7) The Chariot

• Look upon the movements of change as full of promise and adventure.
• Points to a triumphal feeling of freedom, as if the Charioteer is being paraded through the streets as a hero (or heroine).
• Reflects congratulations for high achievement, and serves as a sign of empowerment.
• Advice: Be prepared for changes that might include a move or an opportunity to travel. Travel light and stay open to fresh experiences. Consider every place your home for a while. Be receptive to new people who come into your life. Become more fluid and taste the joys of freedom. The Charioteer is nothing if not self-sufficient.

(8) STRENGTH

• Clearly distinguish between your ego and your intuitive self.
• Represents nature, which, however wild in its primal form, is tamed by our subtler, finer self -- our feminine side, our inner self. The will and passion of our instinctive nature does not need to be broken, but refined and brought to consciousness, so that all levels of creation may come into harmony.
• Contains a persuasive power that can nurture and induce cooperation from others, stilling disruptive energies by harmonizing differences in the spirit of collective good will
• Advice: Assertively discipline yourself and separate self-interest from enlightened wisdom. Deliberately identify with your intuition, even if it works against the desires of your willful ego. Demand and expect the same from others who have some power in this situation. You cannot challenge them to live to a higher standard if you, yourself, have not yet done so. Influence others by setting an example of integrity. Your self-esteem will increase to the degree that you succeed in your efforts.

(9) The Hermit

• Give yourself time for contemplation. Don't allow others to stand in your way.
• Reminds us of the value of time away from the hubbub of civic life, to relax the ego in communion with nature.
• Recognize a teacher in a humble disguise. This font of mysterious knowledge will not make it easy for the student to acquire his wisdom, as it takes time and long contemplation to fathom what he knows. He often speaks wordlessly, or in ancient and barbaric tongues, communicating with the elements, animals, and nature herself.
• Advice: Think things through carefully. The demands on you have been high, giving you limited time for reflection. While you have a gift for understanding the larger implications involved, you need some private time to consider the steps to take in the future. You can't just lock yourself in your room for fifteen minutes and expect to come up with profound solutions. You need more seclusion and time to assimilate and process. Now may be the moment for you to tell everyone to leave you alone. When you are fully ready, you will be able and willing to give others what they need.

(10) WHEEL OF FORTUNE

• Fundamental change is forthcoming. The positive benefits you gain during this period could last a long time.
• Cyclical change: The wheel keeps on rolling, churning events in a ceaseless progression of ups and downs, either way freeing us from the past. No one can escape its cyclical action.
• When one is balanced on top of the wheel, there is a moment of crystal clarity. However, the only part of the wheel that's actually not going up and down is the hub, which represents your eternal self.
• The cycle of the wheel is its lesson -- and we can learn to take comfort in it. If you don't like the look of things right now, just wait -- things will change. Of course, if you do like the look of things right now, enjoy it while it lasts, because that will change too.
• Advice: Follow the flow of events. Physical moves, spiritual awakenings, or dramatically changing social patterns could arise now. Accept these transformations.

(11) JUSTICE

• You are seen as a fair-minded party whose opinion matters.
• Has to do with moral sensitivity and that which gives rise to empathy, compassion, and a sense of fairness.
• Reminds us to be careful to attend to important details. It's a mistake to overlook or minimize anything where this card is concerned.
• Advice: Listen carefully as others explain to you their version of events and the parts they played. It is unnecessary to offer feedback. Your role is to observe, listen closely, give a full hearing and keep your wits about you as the story takes shape.

(12) The Hanged Man

• Accept the consequences of your decisions. Go through it, get it over with, and free yourself up for new pursuits.
• Indicates a lack of ability to help oneself through independent action. The energy is arrested and awaiting judgment. With this card, there is no avenue for the will to regain control until the situation has passed.
• Represents a good time to be philosophical, to study and meditate upon the position you find yourself in, and to form resolutions for the moment you become free again. Only those who possess wisdom, patience, and optimism can grasp the inspiring lesson one can gain from such an experience.
• Advice: Stop resisting your circumstances and let some time go by. Surrender illusions of control. Accept that you have been overcome and deceived by your own devices. Having made your bed, you now need to lie in it. This is not a negative judgment. It's just that sometimes there are consequences for being in the wrong place at the wrong time. Bad things can happen to good people. These consequences are not fatal, even if they are inconvenient -- or perhaps even embarrassing.

(13) DEATH

• Free yourself from a past that no longer serves you well and proceed toward the future.
• Not about the literal death of any person. It may represent the death of something else, like a project, plan, or relationship.
• As the blade cuts the cords that link us to the past, it liberates us to go forward without fear, because we have nothing left to lose. Everything being pruned away is recycled for the fertility of the future, so that nothing is really ever lost.
• Advice: Detach from the old order. You may want to close accounts, complete unfinished tasks, and gather your harvest. It is time to move on. A time to move toward your ultimate interests. Do not allow nostalgia and outworn loyalties to hold you back. Be willing to go through whatever it takes to get to where you really want to be.

(14) TEMPERANCE (Abstinence)

• Identify and acquire the ingredients that will most help you complete your mission and leave the rest behind.
• A reference to the soul. Classically female, the woman or angel mixing up a blend of subtle energies for the evolution of the personality.
• The soul volunteers the ego for a cleansing and healing experience, which may turn the personality inside-out, but which brings out the gold hidden within the heart.
• Advice: Identify and seek the missing ingredients in your life. Establish your known skills and abilities and do what needs to be done to complete your mission. A tremendous amount of benefit is available if you can organize yourself and be disciplined at this time.

(15) The Devil

• Let go of the feeling that makes one self-conscious and unable to act in a relaxed and natural way. Allow yourself to express all of who you are.
• The culturally rejected wildness and undigested shadow side that each of us carries in our subconscious. This shadow is actually at the core of our being, which we cannot get rid of and will never succeed in taming.
• Advice: Show some spunk. There may be nothing to be gained by trying to be subtle or strategic in this situation. Assert your agenda, express yourself honestly, and let the chips fall where they may. Your best bet could be to express your true emotions, possibly even including anger. Acknowledge that you have whatever feelings you have. While it may not be necessary to act out what you feel in every situation, accepting the power and depth of your inner experience enables you to remain true to yourself.

(16) The Tower

• You are the one to serve as a catalyst for change.
• Disaster is striking or has just struck. The demons of madness and despair are released from ancient hiding places, and nature conspires with human failings to destabilize a society.
• The Tower experience comes like a flash of lightning to topple the hierarchy of the old order, after which everyone can have a fresh start on a more equal footing.
• Advice:  Think of yourself as an agent of transformation. This self-sacrificing role is likely to create stressful situations. Your vision shows you that a radical change has already been unleashed by forces much larger than mere mortals, and therefore you are no longer resisting. Acknowledge and accept the bracing presence of the future bursting in on the present. Try to mediate the harsher parts of the changes as they unfold, so the most vulnerable are the most cushioned. Acknowledge yourself, as well as the others in your life, who are offering their resources to usher in a better future.

(17) The Star

• Your time is better spent in reflection and spiritual pursuit.
• About reconnecting one's soul with the divine -- the transcending of personality, family, community, and reputation. It has to do ultimately with the freedom to be one's self. The soul is responding to celestial influences -- forces that can provide the personality with a stronger sense of purpose. Helps us to remember our exalted origins and our attraction to a higher union.
• Refers us back to our reason for being, our mission in this lifetime. If we let go of the idea that we are supposed to be in control, we can more easily notice and appreciate the synchronicities that are nudging us along. We become more conscious of the invisible helping hand, and we better understand our place within and value to the larger cosmos.
• Advice: Rededicate yourself to your higher values, increase your spiritual cultivation and meditation practice, and surrender to the greater good. Now is a period for quiet contemplation. Listen for the voice within. Anything that would interfere with this communion may not be serving your best interests right now.

(18) The Moon

• Listen to the body and its unique wisdom. Rely upon your inner resources as your best source of support and security.
• Refers to a deep state of sensitivity and imaginative impressionability, developed within a womb of deep relaxation. Here we dream and go into trance, have visions and receive insights, wash in and out with the psychic tides, and experience deep mystical and/or terrifying realities beyond our ordinary senses.
• Advice: Trust your instincts and intuitions. A better approach would be to meditate. Try to just be a witness. Do nothing; let nature carry you forward. This may be your best option in this situation.

(19) The Sun

• Let your light shine. Be confident in the sacred power of your original nature.
• About the self -- who you are and how you cultivate your personality and character. The limitations of time and space are stripped away; the soul is refreshed and temporarily protected from the chaos outside the garden walls. Under the light of the Sun, life reclaims its primordial goodness, truth, and beauty.
• Signifies a human incarnation of the divine. It's as if this card is saying "You can do no wrong -- it's all to the good!"
• No negative meaning no matter where or how it appears.
• Advice: Have confidence in your natural divinity. Throw off any cultural conditioning that keeps you from being authentic with yourself. Once done, you will no longer give away power to the people that criticize and shame you. Focus on the positive and the real. Your authentic shining self can be a light for others.

(20) JUDGEMENT

• Let go of your past. The future welcomes you with a bounty of growth and change.
• Sometimes called "Resurrection," represents the great reunion that the ancients believed would happen once in every age. This was the time when souls are harvested and taken home to their place of origin, outside the solar system. Then the world is seeded with a batch of new souls and the process starts over.
• (In a way, we symbolically celebrate this returning to center every year on our birthday.)
• Advice: Allow yourself to grow, transform, and release hidden potentials within yourself. Strip yourself of fruitless endeavors without neglecting your duties. At the same time, invest your energies in new growth. Refuse to be manipulated by those who cry foul. It’s about the desire you feel to change your life and become a more complete person. Trust your impulses and allow this remarkable awakening to happen.

(21) The World

• Be at peace in knowing you are succeeding in your goal.
• Announces the awakening of the soul's immortal being, accomplished without the necessity of dying.
• No negative meaning no matter where or how it appears.
• Advice:  Permission to do whatever you want. Presently, your motivation is close to the will of the divine. Stay active and just keep moving forward. Express yourself, react naturally. If you allow your ego to inflate, you will cease to be useful to the greater plan.

Femme Sucre Tarot Readings