Two Cards

I carry, have carried for more than 20 years now, a single type of Tarot deck, the Thoth Deck. First one was a gift, and that one still sits in box, in my office, the original cards are frayed and care-worn, then, there’s the big deck I carted around the countryside for years, still in my “show” bag, plus a newer, smaller, “portable” deck, same type of cards, just slightly smaller, easier to pack, that were also a Pisces gift.

On display — in this Bexar County Line post — two cards, all I pulled. Consider one as the past, and one as the future. The Hanged Man as the past and the Wheel of Fortune as the future.

I was toying with the cards, talking to my buddies, at the shop, at the time.

Two Cards

The Hanged Man is about reversal of fortunes, and usually not in a good way. Things go upside down. Obstacles with no easy resolution, unless, of course, one understands the imagery of the Hanged Man, and how we have to tear down the old to make way for the new.

The Hanged Man can be Odin, nailed to his tree, although, some of the imagery on that deck seems to be biblical, in a way. At least one fundamental personality will attack the card’s image with no real substance. “Looks evil.” Ad hominem against a single image?

Upside down can represent the decent into the underworld, and according to the short version of Joseph Campbell’s myths and archetypes, the hero descends into the underworld to surmount impossible problems, and — eventually — emerges victorious. Odysseus and Jesus come to mind, immediately.

Two Cards

Flip it around and the next card is the Wheel of Fortune — which echoes back to Boethius, 6th Century classics scholar, turned to philosophy — and integrated — cemented my understanding of the Wheel of Fortune — cf., Boethius — The Consolation of Philosophy.

The Wheel of Fortune was, in its simplest terms, an archetype for Fortuna, or fate, or whatever. That wheel would turn, and turn, and what was down would gradually begin an ascent again, can’t keep a good person down.

Two Cards

There are 78 cards (really more like 80 with the variations between decks with different versions of the Magus card) in the deck — those two came out, after good shuffle. What it means? From bad to good.

Two Cards

As seen here, Two Cards.

astrofish.net/travel

The Consolation of Philosophy – Ancius Boethius