Tarot lessons – Just the Tarot

Understanding the Root Chakra More Deeply: Safety, Survival, and the Foundations of Self

Exploring the causes of root chakra issues, the second in a three part series on Tarot and the root chakra.

In my previous post, “10 Tarot Cards That May Indicate a Blocked Root Chakra,” we explored how Tarot can reveal energetic patterns related to fear, insecurity, survival struggles, and grounding issues. Those are all first chakra issues.

So now, let’s look at the Root Chakra in a little more depth.

The Root Chakra, or Muladhara, is located at the base of the spine and is traditionally associated with the color red. It serves as the energetic foundation of the chakra system, governing our sense of safety, survival, stability, and belonging.

Its symbol is a four-petaled lotus, often interpreted as representing the four directions—north, south, east, and west—symbolizing our connection to the physical world and our grounded presence within it.

Its seed syllable, or bija mantra, is LAM, a sound traditionally used in meditation to strengthen and activate Root Chakra energy.

When balanced, this chakra allows us to feel safe in our bodies and secure in the world. When blocked, however, it can create profound ripple effects throughout every other area of life.

CHAKRAS AND DEVELOPMENTAL PSYCHOLOGY

One of the most interesting things about chakra work is that it’s really a method of developmental psychology.

What do we mean by that?

Developmental psychology posits that there are certain, “goals,” that we have to achieve as we develop into complete human beings and achieving one goal helps us to achieve the next goal.

To use a really simple example that’s become a cliche’, we have to learn how to walk before we run. When we look at an infant, we can see that that’s literally true: the child’s body has to develop the muscular strength to walk before she can run.

In the same sense, the child has to learn to make sounds before he can make words and has to learn what words mean before he can make sentences. Each developmental step leads into the next.

The important point here is that if we don’t fully achieve the first step, it makes it more difficult to achieve the next step.

While all of that is going on with our physical bodies, there’s a similar development happening with our energetic bodies, i.e. the chakra system.

Each chakra actually develops at a particular phase of our lives and – if it doesn’t develop right – that causes problems in the next chakra, which causes problems in the next chakra, and so on.

LOWER CHAKRA DEVELOPMENTAL STAGES

Chakra One (Root Chakra)

Womb to 12 months

Develops our sense of safety, security, and trust in life.

Chakra Two (Sacral Chakra)

6 months to 2 years

Develops personal identity, emotional experience, and selfhood.

Chakra Three (Solar Plexus Chakra)

18 months to 3.5 years

Develops ego strength, confidence, and our ability to project ourselves into the world.

Chakra Four (Heart Chakra)

3.5 years to 7 years

Develops our ability to form loving, healthy relationships.

Here’s how that looks in the lower chakras:

So, if the first chakra doesn’t develop correctly, then we don’t feel safe in the world.

If we don’t feel safe in the world, then we’ll try to hide who we really are, so the second chakra won’t develop well.

If we try to hide who we really are, then we’ll never have the confidence to project ourselves into the world in a healthy way, so the third chakra won’t develop.

And if we don’t have a strong ego structure, then we can’t develop healthy relationships, so the fourth chakra becomes stunted.

Each step leads to the next, right?

FIRST CHAKRA ISSUES

In her powerful book: “Unblocked: A Revolutionary Approach to Tapping into Your Chakra Empowerment Energy to Reclaim Your Passion, Joy, and Confidence”, Margaret Lynch Raniere suggests that the Inner Child essentially lives within the Root Chakra.

This is a profound concept because it means the first chakra contains the earliest energetic blueprint for:

* Safety

* Security

* Trust

* Survival

* Worthiness of care

According to this model, Root Chakra healing often comes down to two essential early-life questions:

1. Did we feel safe?

2. Were our needs met?

The answers to these questions become deeply wired into both our nervous systems and our energetic systems.

“Just the Tarot,” by Dan Adair – Available on Amazon

DID WE FEEL SAFE?

That’s actually a fairly complex question. If we were born into extremely abusive or dysfunctional families, it’s fairly easy to surmise that we didn’t feel safe. If we were being slapped around or screamed at as a helpless infant, obviously we wouldn’t feel safe.

Remember, though, that the first chakra forms – not just in our first year – but also in the womb. During that period when we were gestating inside of our mother’s bodies, we were basically immersed in whatever chemicals and hormones SHE was feeling.

And so the second part of this question is, “Did our mothers feel safe?”

Because, for that period that we were in the womb, her nervous system was our nervous system.

For instance, if our family was going through a period of extreme stress during the time that we were gestating, we can reasonably conclude that our mothers were producing really high levels of cortisol and adrenaline in their bodies. If they were depressed, they may have had chronically low levels of serotonin. And so did we.

Put another way, if our mothers didn’t feel safe, then we didn’t feel safe.

Whatever they were feeling is the emotional set point that we had when we entered the world. If they were extremely anxious, then we were extremely anxious. If they were depressed, then we were depressed.

And we carry that forward into the rest of our lives. If we felt unsafe as infants, we’ll be in chronic low level fight or flight reactions as adults. We’ll be hyper-vigilant, always looking for the next threat.

We may be ungrounded and unfocused because it’s literally painful to be in our own bodies.

We may even be attracted to people who MAKE us feel unsafe as a way to validate our feelings.

WERE OUR NEEDS BEING MET?

As Raniere pointed out, we might think of the needs of an infant as a continuing series of irritations followed by being soothed.

In a healthy family, that runs like this:

Irritation: I’m hungry. Soothing: someone fed me.

Irritation: I’m cold. Soothing: someone covers me.

Irritation: I’m scared. Soothing: someone holds me.

That sets up a pattern in the nervous system whereby we feel that our needs will always be met. And if our needs are met, then we feel safe and secure in the world.

Now, again, we may think of an infant’s needs not being met in terms of the extremes of child neglect. If a child isn’t held and loved they can actually die from failure to thrive. But not having your needs met can exist over a broad spectrum.

We may, for instance, have good, loving parents who simply have too many kids. Raniere touches on this with the fact that she had 8 siblings who also needed to be taken care of by her parents.

As we were talking about in the preceding section, we may have had a mother who was suffering from deep depression or a physical illness and simply couldn’t provide the care that we needed.

And as Gabor Mate’ has pointed out, it’s possible that our parents adopted a child-rearing philosophy where they thought it was actually good for the infant to ignore her needs. If you just let the baby sit its crib and cry, they’ll learn patience, right?

Whatever the reasons, if our needs weren’t being met as infants, that sets up in our first chakra as the expectation that our needs won’t be met as adults.

We can drift into codependent relationships where we’re constantly over-giving in the hopes that our partners will at least meet some of our needs.

We can intentionally seek out partners who aren’t capable of meeting our needs in order to validate our expectations.

Even worse, we may learn to ignore our needs and fail to take care of ourselves as adults. The pattern we learned was, “Something is irritating me and I’m not going to be soothed, so I have to just live with it.” Our levels of self-care, self-love, and self-compassion may be almost non-existent.

MOVING ON TO SOME SOLUTIONS

So in the first post in this series, we looked at some Tarot cards that may indicate that we have a blocked first chakra. In this post, we looked at how that happens. In the next post, I’ll gather together a list of really good resources to help us heal the root chakra and regain a sense of safety in our lives.

Because when we reclaim our foundation, we reclaim the possibility of building a life rooted not in fear—but in genuine security.

10 Tarot Cards That May Indicate a Blocked Root Chakra (1st Chakra)

Ten tarot cards that may indicate a blocked first chakra.

When we begin exploring Tarot through the lens of the chakra system, the 1st chakra, or Root Chakra (Muladhara), is one of the most essential places to start.

Located at the base of the spine, the Root Chakra governs our sense of safety, survival, grounding, and physical stability. It is the energetic foundation upon which all other aspects of self-expression are built. If this chakra is balanced, we tend to feel secure, present, connected to our bodies, and capable of navigating the world with confidence.

When blocked or imbalanced, however, Root Chakra issues may manifest as:

* Chronic fear or anxiety

* Survival struggles

* Money insecurity

* Health concerns

* Feeling unsafe or unsupported

* Living in constant fight-or-flight mode

* Restlessness or inability to settle

* Feeling ungrounded, “spacey,” or disconnected

* Difficulty trusting life

Energetically, this chakra develops during the earliest stage of life—from the womb through approximately 12 months of age—making it deeply connected to our primal sense of security and belonging.

In many ways, a blocked Root Chakra can make it difficult to fully express our gifts, creativity, and higher spiritual potential because part of us is still focused on basic safety.

In an upcoming post, we’ll take a deeper look at Root Chakra healing and explore some of the powerful teachings of Margaret Lynch Raniere in her groundbreaking book, Unblocked: A Revolutionary Approach to Tapping into Your Chakra Empowerment Energy to Reclaim Your Passion, Joy, and Confidence.

For now, let’s explore 10 Tarot cards that may suggest Root Chakra imbalance and what they could reveal.

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1. The Moon

The Moon often points to deep subconscious fears, uncertainty, and emotional confusion.

When connected to Root Chakra issues, this card may indicate:

* Fear-based living

* Unclear survival instincts

* Anxiety rooted in early developmental experiences

* Difficulty distinguishing real threats from imagined ones

A blocked Root Chakra may leave us feeling as though the ground beneath us is unstable—very much the territory of The Moon.

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2. Five of Pentacles

This is one of the clearest indicators of Root Chakra distress.

It may reflect:

* Financial hardship

* Scarcity mindset

* Fear of abandonment

* Physical illness

* Feeling unsupported

The Five of Pentacles often highlights core wounds around survival, security, and belonging.

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3. Four of Pentacles (Reversed)

While upright, this card can show attempts to create security, reversed it may suggest:

* Fear-driven instability

* Money anxiety

* Difficulty holding onto resources

* Feeling unsafe or ungrounded

This reversal can point to instability in one’s foundational energy.

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4. Nine of Swords

This card often represents chronic worry, sleeplessness, and nervous system overload.

From a Root Chakra perspective:

* Fight-or-flight patterns

* Hypervigilance

* Trauma-based fear

* Difficulty relaxing into safety

The body may remain in survival mode even when danger is absent.

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5. The Tower

The Tower can represent major disruptions to safety structures.

Possible Root Chakra themes include:

* Sudden loss of stability

* Security crises

* Physical or emotional upheaval

* Fear of collapse

This card may indicate foundational wounds being activated.

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6. The Devil

The Devil often reflects fear, material bondage, or trauma patterns.

In relation to the Root Chakra:

* Survival programming

* Scarcity beliefs

* Fear-based attachment

* Feeling trapped by insecurity

This card can reveal deeply ingrained patterns rooted in primal fear.

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7. Seven of Cups

This card may not seem obvious, but it can indicate dissociation or lack of grounding.

Signs include:

* Spaciness

* Escapism

* Fantasy over practical reality

* Difficulty staying present

Blocked Root energy can sometimes lead people to disconnect from reality rather than inhabit it fully.

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8. Knight of Swords

This card may signal overactive nervous system energy.

Potential indicators:

* Restlessness

* Hyperactivity

* Constant urgency

* Survival-driven action

Instead of grounded stability, there is perpetual motion and mental overstimulation.

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9. Two of Pentacles

This card may suggest instability in balancing material concerns.

It can point toward:

* Financial juggling

* Overwhelm

* Lack of grounded routine

* Survival stress

Life may feel precarious rather than rooted.

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10. The Fool (Reversed)

While upright The Fool can symbolize trust, reversed it may reveal:

* Fear of stepping forward

* Lack of trust in life

* Instability

* Poor grounding

This may indicate that foundational fears are interfering with growth.

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Final Thoughts

A blocked Root Chakra doesn’t necessarily mean failure—it often means there are foundational issues calling for healing.

Tarot can help illuminate these patterns by showing us where fear, scarcity, instability, or early survival programming may still be influencing our lives.

The good news? Awareness is the first step toward transformation.

By recognizing these Tarot indicators, we can begin addressing the deeper energetic roots of our struggles and move toward greater grounding, safety, and empowerment.

In our next post, we’ll dive further into Root Chakra healing practices and explore Margaret Lynch Raniere’s innovative work on chakra empowerment.

Because when the foundation is strong, everything else can rise.

THE TOWER CARD AND THE HOUSE OF GOD

Why was The Tower card once called, “The House of God?”

We all know the basic definition of The Tower card: destruction. When it appears in a reading, it tells us that massive change is on the way. It can signal divorces, loss of employment, and many other difficult life-changing events. I’ve described it in the past as having our lives blasted right down to the studs.

Depending on which deck you use, you may have heard different names for The Tower card. Some call it The Lightning Struck Tower. Some refer to it as The Blasted Tower. Most of us just call it The Tower. There’s an interesting twist, though, in the name that a much older Tarot deck applied to it.

THE HOUSE OF GOD

In the Marseilles Tarot deck, which is a style that emerged in France in the 1500s, The Tower is referred to as, “La Maison Dieu.” Which means, “The House of God.”

That’s a very peculiar name for destruction, isn’t it?

What do we automatically think of when we hear the term, “House of God?” A church, of course. So is The Lightning Struck Tower actually a Lightning Struck Church?

Hmmm . . .

NOT GOD

Now, if the card had been labelled as, “The Finger of God,” or even just, “God,” it would have made more sense theologically.

The Middle Ages were a hyper-religious time in European history and, of course, Christianity was the dominant religion. As I’ve noted in previous posts, the God of the Old Testament acted very much like a bipolar alcoholic who was off his medications. He was constantly rampaging around causing floods or blowing up cities or throwing people out of gardens because they ate an apple.

If that was your concept of God, then, of course, you might associate him with complete destruction of your life. “Uh, oh . . . God’s pissed off at me for some reason, so he’s going to smash me like a bug.”

But the thing is, God is most notable in the Tarot by his absence. True, there are devils and angels and popes and priestesses, but there isn’t one single card that shows a god.

So if it wasn’t the wrath of God that the Tarot was trying to depict, what was it?

IT’S NOT THE TOWER OF BABEL

The French occultist, Eliphas Levi, created a rabbit hole that a lot of subsequent scholars have jumped into. For no particular reason, he looked at The Tower card and announced that it was a depiction of the Tower of Babel.

If you’re not familiar with that myth, here’s a brief recap: at one point, all humans spoke the same language. Since they were able to communicate, they decided to build a tower that would reach all the way to heaven. That pissed God off and he cursed them so that they’d all speak different languages and couldn’t complete their construction project.

Now, nowhere in the Tower of Babel myth is there any indication that the tower was struck by lightning. And nowhere in the Tower card, is there any indication that the people falling out of the tower are trying to talk to each other.

In other words, the only thing that the Tower of Babel and The Tower card have in common is the word, “tower.”

One really unfortunate result of that confusion is that The Tower is now associated with hubris and arrogance. Like the builders of the Tower of Babel, people who draw the card are supposedly being punished for their pride. Again, there’s no evidence for that whatsoever. You can be a perfectly good person and still have that Tower energy blow through your life.

THE INQUISITION

So, again . . . why call it The House of God?

We have to remember that the Tarot is basically a system for predicting the future, or what we loosely call fortune telling. And the Bible – the operating manual for the Christian church – is very much against it.

“Let no one be found among you who sacrifices their son or daughter in the fire, who practices divination or sorcery, interprets omens, engages in witchcraft.” – Book of Deuteronomy 18:10–12.

There are several other examples, but suffice it to say the church was against fortune telling and the punishment was death.

The Inquisition was reaching its peak during the exact same time frame that the Tarot first emerged. Priests were merrily torturing, maiming, and burning anyone whom they considered to be practicing witchcraft.

In a very real sense, then, the church itself – the House of God – could be viewed as complete destruction for both the Tarot and those who used it for divination.

THE DEFINITION IS THE SAME

The basic definition of The Tower remains the same, of course. It signifies an almost complete destruction of a person’s way of living or thinking. Upright, it shows that the destruction is coming and reversed, it shows that it’s already happened.

It IS fascinating, though, to conjecture about what those early Tarot designers might have been trying to tell us. Were they saying that the church itself was evil?

Were they warning other occultists to keep the true meanings of the cards concealed or risk persecution?

Were they warning against the ultimate effect of rigid belief systems?

Were they, perhaps, predicting the eventual destruction of the church system – the House of God?

We’ll never really know. In an age when we’re once again seeing the rise of religious fundamentalism and intolerance, though, it might serve us well to ponder those very questions.

What Are Tarot Archetypes (And Why They Matter)?

The influence of Tarot archetypes in our lives.

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In any serious discussion of the Tarot, you’ll hear people referring to the Major Arcana as “archetypes.”

Which sounds very impressive… but also raises a perfectly reasonable question:

What, exactly, is an archetype?

The idea goes all the way back to Plato, but in modern usage it’s most often associated with the Swiss psychologist Carl Jung.

Jung defined archetypes as:

Universal, inherited patterns of thought or imagery that exist in the collective unconscious of all human beings.

Which is a fine scholarly definition… but for most of us, it lands somewhere around:

“Huh?”

So instead of trying to define archetypes academically, let’s talk about how they actually show up in real life—especially through the Tarot.

The Major Arcana

If you’re reading a Tarot blog, you probably already know the basics. The Tarot is divided into two parts, the Minor Arcana and the Major Arcana.

• The Minor Arcana (Wands, Cups, Pentacles, Swords) deal with everyday life.

• The Major Arcana (22 cards) deal with something deeper.

The images of the Major Arcana are the ancient core of the Tarot, dating back to the 15th century (and possibly earlier). The Minor Arcana didn’t even get illustrated scenes until the Waite-Smith deck in 1909.

So when we talk about archetypes in Tarot, we’re really talking about the Major Arcana.

They’re Not Personal

Here’s the first—and most important—thing to understand:

Archetypes are not personal.

Now, I know that sounds strange, because they feel very personal.

If you pull Death or The Tower in a reading, it doesn’t feel abstract. It feels like the universe just singled you out and dropped a piano on your head.

But here’s the shift:

• Minor Arcana = things you’re generating and can influence

• Major Arcana = larger forces moving through your life

For example:

• Two of Cups → You’re falling in love. Those are personal dynamics, like the type of person you find attractive, are you feeling lonely, do you want a partner?

• The Lovers → Love as an energy is active in your life (archetypal force.). The energy isn’t something you’re creating and it’s not attached to any one person. It’s just moving through your life.

In other words:

You don’t create archetypes—you experience them.

Sometimes They’re Collective

Archetypes don’t just affect individuals—they can sweep through entire cultures.

Jung noticed this before World War II when many of his German patients reported eerily similar dreams of White men riding black horses through the night—images that seemed to foreshadow the rise of Nazism. He interpreted this as a collective archetype emerging.

And honestly, you don’t have to look far to see this kind of thing in today’s politics.

We’ve all watched people we’ve known for years suddenly shift—sometimes dramatically—in beliefs, behavior, or identity. It can feel almost like they’ve been “taken over.”

From an archetypal perspective, that’s not entirely wrong.

These are psychic weather systems—and sometimes whole populations get caught in them.

The important takeaway?

Just because an energy is present doesn’t mean you have to identify with it.

Shelter in Place

Obviously, not all archetypes are pleasant.

• The Tower → destruction

• The Moon → confusion, illusion, emotional instability

• The Devil → addiction, entrapment, shadow patterns

So what do you do when one of these shows up?

You’ve got two main options.

1. Shelter in Place

Sometimes the best strategy is simple:

Ride it out.

Think of a tornado. You don’t go out and negotiate with it. You don’t try to “manifest” it away.

You get into the storm shelter and wait.

Life sometimes does this:

• Relationship ends

• Job disappears

• Everything falls apart at once

That’s Tower energy.

And sometimes the wisest response is:

“Okay… this is happening. Let’s survive it.” Hunker down and wait for it to go away.

2. Rise Above It

The Kybalion talks about this strategy quite a bit.

Even if you can’t control the event, you can control your response.

You can:

• shift your perspective

• regulate your emotions

• choose your interpretation

For instance, with The Tower, you can respond to it in one of two ways.

• “This is a disaster. I lost my job, my partner divorced me, I’m out of money. My life is ruined.”

• “This is a reset. I get to rebuild from scratch. My old life is gone, so I get to build my new life exactly as I want it.”

The external event is the same.

The internal vibration is not.

And that makes all the difference. We haven’t, “cured,” what happened to us, but we’ve vastly diminished it effects on us.

Invoking the Positive Archetypes

Here’s where things get interesting.

Even though archetypes aren’t created by us…

We can align with them.

Think of it less as control and more as tuning in.

Examples:

• Feeling stuck financially? → work with The Empress (abundance, growth)

• Struggling with confidence? → invoke The Emperor (authority, structure)

• Feeling lonely? → connect with The Lovers (connection, union)

• Burned out? → step into The Hermit (withdrawal, restoration)

This can be done through:

• meditation

• visualization

• journaling

• even just keeping the image nearby

You’re not creating the energy.

You’re opening yourself to it and inviting it’s power into your life.

Conclusion

So what is an archetype, really?

It’s not just a symbol.

It’s not just a psychological idea.

It’s more like a living pattern of energy that moves through human experience.

Sometimes it lifts us.

Sometimes it breaks us open.

Sometimes it sweeps through entire cultures like a storm.

But here’s the key:

You are not powerless in the face of archetypes.

You may not control when they appear,

but you do have a say in how you meet them.

You can:

• recognize them

• name them

• step back from them

• align with the ones that serve you

And over time, something interesting happens:

Instead of being tossed around by these forces…

You start to navigate them.

And that’s really what Tarot is for.

The Hierophant and the Strange History of Spiritual Possession

Exploring spiritual possession with Robert Falconer and the two sides of religious authority.

I watched an interesting interview recently with Robert Falconer, author of The Others Within Us: Internal Family Systems, Porous Mind, and Spirit Possession. The conversation took place on the podcast Life with Ghosts, so naturally there was a fair amount of discussion about spirituality and the spirit world.

One statement in particular really caught my attention.

Falconer noted that in roughly 80% of human cultures, spirit possession is not feared — it’s actively sought out.

In other words, what we usually think of as something terrifying was historically considered a sign of spiritual ability and authority.

That sounds strange to modern ears, doesn’t it?

Yet this idea connects directly to the deeper meaning of the Tarot card known as The Hierophant.

Spiritual Possession in Human History

Falconer’s observation is supported by a long history of spiritual traditions around the world.

In ancient Greece, the Oracle at Delphi entered trance states to channel messages believed to come from the gods.

Many Native American traditions included vision quests, in which individuals sought altered states of consciousness in the wilderness to receive spiritual insight.

In the Vodun religion, practitioners are said to be “ridden” by the Loa, powerful spiritual beings who temporarily inhabit the body and communicate sacred knowledge.

Shamans in many cultures likewise enter trance states in order to commune with spirit animals and guiding entities.

In each of these traditions, the ability to enter such states was not seen as madness or danger. Instead, it was considered a spiritual skill—one that brought wisdom and prestige.

Even in modern times we still see echoes of this idea. For example, Esther Hicks claims to channel a collective group of spiritual beings known as Abraham. Meanwhile, in certain Christian traditions, believers seek spiritual ecstasy through speaking in tongues.

Across cultures and centuries, the basic idea remains the same: direct contact with the spirit world is a form of spiritual authority.

The Hierophant and Religious Authority

This is where The Hierophant becomes particularly interesting.

In Tarot, the Hierophant represents traditional spiritual authority—the priests, teachers, and religious leaders who guide communities in matters of faith and morality.

Today, we tend to imagine these figures as scholars or counselors. They sit in offices, wear ceremonial clothing, and offer guidance based on established teachings.

But historically, that wasn’t the original source of their authority.

The earliest priests and priestesses were valued because they were believed to have direct experience with the spirit world. They entered trance states, communed with divine forces, and returned with knowledge that helped guide their communities.

Their authority came not from books or institutions, but from experience.

When Authority Becomes Control

Over time, however, something changed.

As religious institutions grew more powerful, the priestly class began to guard their spiritual authority carefully. Communication with the spirit world was increasingly presented as something that only certain sanctioned individuals were allowed to do.

Ordinary people were discouraged—or even forbidden—from seeking those experiences themselves.

Those who attempted to bypass the system could be labeled heretics or dangerous mystics.

At the same time, organized religion often promoted the idea that interacting with spirits was extremely risky. The spirit world, people were warned, was full of malevolent entities waiting to corrupt or destroy unwary seekers.

Modern horror films have reinforced this idea beautifully. The classic movie The Exorcist is perhaps the most famous example: a child possessed by a demon and saved only through the intervention of religious authority.

The True Meaning of the Hierophant

When the Hierophant appears in a Tarot reading, it often represents a teacher, mentor, or spiritual authority figure.

But the card invites us to ask an important question:

Is this person acting as a guide — or as a gatekeeper?

True spiritual teachers help others develop their own connection to the sacred. They share knowledge, offer guidance, and encourage personal exploration.

Authoritarian figures, on the other hand, demand obedience and insist that spiritual truth flows only through them.

The difference is crucial.

As Ram Dass once said:

“The second that you think you’re spiritual, you aren’t.”

The best Hierophants understand this. They see themselves not as masters, but as teachers and guides—people who have walked a path and are willing to help others walk it too.

Their role is not to control spiritual experience.

Their role is to help others discover it for themselves.

The Emperor: Sacred Structure and the Protection of Creativity

A look at the roles of Yin and Yang energies in the process of creativity.

The Emperor and the Empress are obviously paired cards—one female and the other male. But if we stop at gender, we miss their deeper meaning entirely.

On a more profound level, they represent the Yin and Yang energies that exist within every human being.

Every woman has testosterone in her body. Every man has estrogen. Wholeness comes not from exaggerating one pole and suppressing the other, but from integrating both. Strength and compassion. Power and vulnerability. Fierceness and tenderness.

This is what the ancient Yin–Yang symbol illustrates so elegantly: Yin contains Yang, and Yang contains Yin.

When these energies are balanced, they produce whole, grounded human beings. When they are separated and exaggerated, they produce caricatures.

That’s where we find emotionally stunted men obsessed with dominance and control. That’s where we find people who abdicate their agency entirely and wait for someone else to take care of their lives.

Me Tarzan. You Jane.

Man strong. Woman weak.

This is not balance. This is Yang attempting to overwhelm Yin. But Yin and Yang are not enemies. They are partners.

Creation requires both.

The Peculiar Paradox of Yin Energy

Modern culture often assumes that Yang energy—the active, assertive, masculine principle—is the true creative force, while Yin energy is passive or secondary.

Nature shows us exactly the opposite.

Consider procreation. A man’s biological contribution to the creation of a child may take minutes. But the woman’s body then undertakes nine months of continuous creation—growing, forming, and sustaining new life from her own substance.

She gives birth. She nourishes the infant. She does the creating.

THE YIN ENERGY DOES 99% OF THE WORK OF CREATION.

This pattern appears everywhere.

The receptive, Yin principle is not inert. It is generative. It is the matrix from which life emerges.

The Kybalion expresses this clearly: the feminine principle does the creative work. The masculine principle directs and structures it.

Without Yin, nothing would exist.

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The Artist and the Subconscious

We see this same pattern in the creative process.

When we imagine an artist, we picture someone standing at an easel, brush in hand, actively painting.

But the visible act of painting is only the final stage.

Long before the brush touches the canvas, the image has already been forming in the artist’s subconscious mind. It grows invisibly. It gestates. It organizes itself.

We call this “inspiration,” as if it appeared suddenly.

But inspiration is the flowering of something that has been developing quietly within.

The conscious mind—the Yang principle—provides skill, technique, discipline, and execution. But the image itself emerges from the Yin subconscious.

Again, the receptive principle does the creative work.

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The Function of the Emperor

Does this mean the Emperor—the Yang principle—is unnecessary?

Not at all.

The Emperor is essential.

The Empress creates. The Emperor protects and stabilizes what she creates.

Consider the garden.

The Empress is the lush, living growth. She is the fertile soil, the green leaves, the flowing water. She is life itself.

But without structure, the garden cannot reach its full potential.

The Emperor builds the raised beds. He enriches the soil. He installs irrigation. He builds the fence to keep the deer out.

He does not create the life. He ensures its survival. The Emperor provides continuity. He creates the conditions under which life can flourish and endure.

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The Emperor Is Always Grounded in the Empress

In my own Emperor affirmation card, I made a subtle but important change. The Emperor still sits on his stone throne, armored and immovable.

But I surrounded him with life.

Emperor Affirmation Poster – available on Etsy

Because the Emperor does not exist independently of the Empress. He exists to protect her. He exists to serve creation. Within each of us, the Emperor is the part that creates structure for our creative and emotional lives.

If you are an artist, your Emperor sets up your studio, organizes your materials, and protects your time.

If you are a writer, your Emperor establishes the discipline to write regularly and brings your work into the world.

If you are in a relationship, your Emperor establishes boundaries that protect emotional safety and mutual respect.

The Emperor does not suppress the Empress.

He protects her so she can fully express herself.

When the Emperor Is Separated from the Empress

When the Emperor loses his connection to the Empress, he becomes distorted.

His structure serves nothing. His authority protects nothing.

He becomes the petty tyrant. The rigid bureaucrat. The hollow authoritarian. His armor is empty. He enforces rules not to protect life, but to compensate for his own inner disconnection.

True authority does not arise from domination. It arises from service to life.

The Emperor’s true purpose is not control. It is protection. He is the guardian of the garden. He is the structure that allows creativity to endure.

He is sovereignty in service of life itself.

When we see beyond the illusion of gender, the deeper purpose of these archetypes becomes clear. The Empress and the Emperor are not separate beings, but complementary forces within each of us. One creates. The other protects what has been created. One generates life from the invisible depths. The other builds the structure that allows that life to endure.

Our true purpose is not to choose between them, but to embody both—to allow our inner Empress to bring forth creativity, love, and vision, and to allow our inner Emperor to establish the boundaries, discipline, and stability that allow those creations to survive and flourish in the world. When these two forces work in harmony, we cease to live reactively and begin to live sovereignly, shaping a life that is both fertile and enduring.

The Empress and the Courage to Be “Unproductive”

The Empress Archetype and Relaxation as a Way to Nurture Creativity.

In my Empress affirmation poster, I paired her image with the words:

Nurture Creativity

This may be one of the most misunderstood instructions in the entire Tarot.

Empress Affirmation Poster – Available on Etsy

Because most of us have been trained to believe that creativity comes from effort. From discipline. From pushing harder. From sitting at the desk and refusing to get up until something happens.

That approach belongs to The Emperor.

The Empress operates differently.

She does not force growth.

She allows it.

She creates the conditions in which growth becomes inevitable.

Creativity Cannot Be Forced

Every creative person eventually encounters this paradox.

The harder you try to force creativity, the more it retreats.

You sit at your desk, determined to produce something brilliant. Hours pass. Nothing happens. Your mind feels like dry soil.

And then, days later—while taking a walk, washing dishes, or doing something completely unrelated—an idea appears effortlessly.

It arrives whole.

Not constructed, but received.

Albert Einstein understood this phenomenon. When asked how he discovered the theory of relativity, he didn’t describe grinding intellectual labor. He said simply:

“It just dropped in while I was playing the piano.”

He wasn’t forcing the insight.

He was allowing it.

This is Empress energy.

The Forgotten Value of Leisure

The philosopher Josef Pieper wrote a remarkable book titled Leisure as the Basis of Culture. In it, he argues that leisure is not the absence of productivity, but its foundation.

Leisure, in its true sense, is not laziness in the modern, pejorative sense. It is a state of receptive openness.

It is the willingness to stop forcing.

Pieper observed that culture itself—art, philosophy, music, science—arises not from frantic effort, but from spaces of inward stillness.

When we allow ourselves to be idle, something deeper begins to move.

The soil replenishes itself.

Modern society often treats leisure as wasteful. We are taught that our worth is tied to constant activity. But creativity obeys older, quieter laws.

Seeds do not grow faster because you stare at them.

They grow because the conditions are right.

Julia Cameron and the Act of Creative Nurturing

Julia Cameron’s The Artist’s Way remains one of the most practical and psychologically accurate guides to creativity ever written.

Her central insight is simple: creativity must be nurtured.

Not commanded.

She encourages practices like morning pages and artist dates—not to produce finished work, but to create space for the creative self to emerge naturally.

These practices are Empress practices.

They say to the creative mind:

You are safe here.

You are allowed to emerge in your own time.

And when that safety is present, creativity begins to flow again.

The Courage to Be “Lazy”

This is perhaps the most radical lesson of The Empress.

You must allow yourself to be, at times, unproductive.

Not because you are weak.

But because you are cultivating fertility.

What appears to be inactivity is often incubation.

Beneath the surface, ideas are forming. Connections are being made. Your subconscious is doing its work.

If you constantly demand output, you exhaust the system that produces it.

The Empress reminds us that rest is not the opposite of creation.

It is part of creation.

Nurture Creativity

The Empress does not shout. She does not command. She invites.

She reminds us that creativity is not a machine, but a living process.

It responds to kindness.

It responds to patience.

It responds to nourishment.

When you stop trying to force creativity and begin nurturing it instead, something remarkable happens.

Ideas begin to arrive again.

Quietly.

Effortlessly.

Like seeds finding their way toward the light.

So when The Empress appears in your readings—or quietly makes herself known in your life—it is not a signal to push harder. It is an invitation to soften. She asks you to step out of the mentality of force and into the rhythm of cultivation. To rest without guilt. To follow your curiosity. To trust that creativity, like all living things, emerges when it is nourished rather than commanded.

She reminds you that you are not a machine designed for constant output, but a garden capable of extraordinary growth. Your task is not to force the flowers to bloom, but to tend the soil and allow them to emerge in their own time.

The High Priestess: What It Really Means to Trust Your Intuition

The High Priestess Archetype and learning to trust our intuition.

In my High Priestess affirmation poster, I chose the phrase:

“Trust Your Intuition.”

It sounds simple. Almost obvious.

And yet it’s one of the most misunderstood instructions in the entire Tarot.

We say things like:

“I have a feeling . . “

“I just have a hunch . . .”

“I’m getting bad vibes about this . . .”

All human beings have intuition — some more than others. Some people sneer at it as a primitive, pseudo-mystical leftover from a less scientific age. Others practically swim in it, using it as their primary guide through life.

Most of us fall somewhere in the middle.

We occasionally get flashes of clarity about which path to take and which to avoid. But most of the time we default to logic. We try to predict outcomes. We use our brains rather than our hearts.

And then sometimes — usually in hindsight — we think:

“Damn, I knew better . . .”

So it’s worth asking:

What is intuition… and what is it not?

It’s Not Fear

One of the biggest confusions we have is mixing intuition up with the limbic system — the ancient part of the brain responsible for fight-or-flight.

That system exists to keep us alive. It detects threat. It reacts instantly.

It was what warned our ancestors that something dangerous was hiding in the trees. We experience it today as:

The hairs rising on the back of our neck
A sudden jolt of anxiety
The feeling that someone is watching us

That reaction can feel mysterious. But it isn’t mystical. It’s biological.

True intuition does not trigger fight-or-flight.

It doesn’t flood the body with adrenaline. It doesn’t tighten the chest.

Real intuition is calm.

It arrives quietly, with a sense of understanding. It clarifies rather than agitates. Instead of panic, it brings steadiness — a subtle reassurance that says:

“This is right – you’ll be okay.”

It’s Not Rapid-Fire Prediction

The brain is constantly predicting the future based on the past.

When we encounter a new situation, the mind instantly searches its archives for similar experiences. It matches patterns, runs comparisons, and projects possible outcomes — all in a fraction of a second.

We’re mostly unaware this is happening.

So when we say we “have a feeling” about someone, what we often have is a memory.

If we once had a terrible experience with a brunette woman wearing purple socks, we may feel wary of a new brunette wearing purple socks. We call that a vibe.

It isn’t.

Some people process these patterns so quickly that it seems magical. Certain personality types — INFJs and INFPs, for example — are especially skilled at rapid, intuitive-seeming synthesis.

But that process is still rooted in past data.

True intuition is different.

It is not logical.

It is not based on memory.

It may have absolutely nothing to do with what has happened before.

It is a clear message about the present moment — even when there’s no obvious reason you should understand what you understand.

It’s Not Fragmented

You may have met highly sensitive or empathic people whose lives are chaotic.

On the surface, that seems contradictory. If they absorb more information than most, shouldn’t they navigate life more easily?

Not necessarily.

When someone takes in too much external input without discernment, they can lose track of what belongs to them and what belongs to others.

If they’re near someone who is anxious, they become anxious. If they’re around anger, they internalize anger.

Soon they feel as if they’re having five contradictory “intuitions” at once.

But intuition does not contradict itself.

It does not conduct committee meetings in your head.

It does not present twelve equally compelling paths and demand that you choose one immediately.

True intuition is singular.

It points.

It does not debate.

Clear, Calm, and Quietly Joyful

Perhaps the greatest hallmark of genuine intuition is that it brings relief.

It removes doubt.

It dissolves mental noise.

It doesn’t shout. It doesn’t demand. It doesn’t come with fireworks.

It simply settles into you and says:

“Yes, this is it.”

And when it does, there is often a subtle happiness attached to it — not excitement, not mania — but a deep rightness.

That is the High Priestess.

She does not force reality.

She does not argue.

She does not panic.

She knows.

And when that knowing arrives within you, the work is not to question it endlessly — it is to honor it.

That is what “Trust Your Intuition” really means.

The Magician — Become Your Magic

Integrating the Magician archetype into our lives.

It’s a foundational premise of the Tarot that we are all our own Magicians.

We create our lives through imagination, intention, will, and attention. The tools are already on the table. The energy is already within us. We shouldn’t need gurus, occult masters, or spiritual middlemen to “activate” anything for us — because our creative power is our birthright.

So why do so many of us wander in circles?

Why do we feel disconnected from our own magic?

Why do we feel driven by outside forces instead of guided by our internal compass?

If we want to fully integrate the Magician archetype into our lives, it may help to examine what the Magician is not.

Because sometimes clarity comes from contrast.

The Magician Isn’t Self-Doubt Disguised as Humility

When we look at the traditional Magician card, we see the tools laid out clearly: the cup, the sword, the pentacle, and the wand. Nothing is missing.

The problem is not a lack of tools. The problem is the refusal to pick them up.

How many books go unwritten because someone thinks, “Who am I to write a book?”

How many paintings never see the light of day because someone thinks, “I didn’t go to art school.”

Self-doubt often masquerades as humility. It sounds modest. It sounds careful. It even sounds wise.

But it’s usually fear.

The Magician does not deny his gifts. He uses them.

Every one of us has talents, perspectives, experiences, and insights that no one else on the planet possesses in exactly the same configuration. The moment we stop apologizing for that uniqueness and begin using it, we step into our magic.

The Magician Isn’t Scattered Energy

The Magician is focused intention.

One hand points to heaven. One hand points to earth. Energy flows through him with direction and clarity.

This doesn’t mean we can’t have many interests. It means we choose what matters most right now — and we concentrate.

If you want to be a writer, write daily.

If you want to open a nursery, start gathering pots and soil.

If you want to transform your life, choose one consistent action and repeat it.

Scattered energy feels busy. Focused energy creates results.

The Magician understands hierarchy. He knows what matters today — and he pours his will into that.

The Magician Isn’t Manipulation

The Magician archetype is often misunderstood as charm, persuasion, or cleverness.

But true magic isn’t about bending others to your will.

Manipulation says, “I can’t do this on my own, so I need to control the room.”

The authentic Magician says, “I am aligned. I will act. And the world will respond accordingly.”

There’s a profound difference between influence and integrity.

The Magician’s power comes from alignment — not trickery.

The Magician Isn’t Performance Instead of Authenticity

There are two kinds of magicians in the world: the illusionist and the integrated.

The stage magician dazzles. Distracts. Redirects attention. Pulls rabbits from hats.

The integrated Magician is quieter.

He doesn’t need to perform spirituality. He doesn’t need to announce his power. He doesn’t need to posture as enlightened.

He simply acts in alignment with who he is.

In our modern world, it’s easy to confuse visibility with mastery. A quick scroll through social media will reveal countless self-proclaimed “masters” selling certainty.

The true Magician doesn’t need the spotlight.

His magic works because it is authentic.

The Magician Isn’t Unintegrated Knowledge

There’s an old Sufi saying: You can load a donkey down with holy books, but it won’t make him wise.

The same applies to spiritual study.

You can memorize Tarot definitions, chakra systems, Hermetic principles, and mystical philosophies. But until those teachings become embodied, they remain decoration.

The Magician integrates.

He doesn’t just study the tools — he uses them.

He doesn’t just read about transformation — he practices it.

He doesn’t just speak about power — he becomes it.

Knowledge becomes magic when it moves from concept to action.

Become Your Magic

So what is The Magician, then?

He is integration.

He is the moment you realize the tools have been there all along.

He is the decision to stop waiting for permission.

He is the willingness to focus your energy.

He is the courage to act authentically.

He is the discipline to practice what you claim to believe.

The wand raised to heaven and the hand pointing to earth symbolize alignment — vision grounded in action. Inspiration translated into reality.

When we stop outsourcing our power — to gurus, critics, algorithms, trends, or fear — we begin to feel that alignment inside ourselves.

We stop asking, “Who am I to do this?”

And we begin asking, “Why not me?”

The real magic was never in the costume.

It was in the willingness to use what you already possess.

That’s why my affirmation for this card is:

Become Your Magic.

Magician Affirmation Poster – available on Etsy

Not find it.

Not earn it.

Not prove it.

Become it.

Because the tools are already on the table.

The only question left is:

Will you pick them up?

The Fool: Be in the Flow

The Fool card as the archetype of the Flow State.

Most people misunderstand The Fool.

They think he’s reckless. Naïve. Careless. About to step off a cliff because he doesn’t know any better.

But The Fool is not stupidity.

The Fool is original harmony.

The Soul in Its First Breath

The Fool represents the new Soul in the world. He carries the energy closest to what we had when we first incarnated — before cynicism, before conditioning, before we learned how to overthink everything.

In that original state, we are in harmony with our environment. Our perception is clear. Our energy hums. We are not fighting life. We are participating in it.

That’s why, when I designed my Tarot affirmation for The Fool, I chose the phrase: Be in the Flow.

Available as a 13 X 19 inch poster on my Etsy shop.

The Fool doesn’t force the river. He walks with it.

What Happens When We’re in the Flow?

Two remarkable things tend to show up when we’re in this state:

Synchronicity and serendipity.

Synchronicity occurs when your internal mental and emotional state aligns so cleanly with the outer world that meaningful coincidences begin to appear.

You’re thinking about needing a new job. A gust of wind blows a newspaper to your feet. The classified section is open. Someone has circled a listing that’s strangely perfect for you.

That’s synchronicity — the outer world answering an inner alignment.

Serendipity is its carefree cousin. It’s good fortune arriving without an obvious causal chain. It’s stumbling into opportunity. It’s finding gold doubloons tucked inside a thrift-store chest of drawers.

Synchronicity feels meaningful.

Serendipity feels lucky.

Both tend to emerge when we stop strangling life with effort.

Wu Wei and the Zero

The Fool’s number is zero.

Zero is potential. Zero is openness. Zero is the circle that contains everything.

In Taoist philosophy, there’s a concept called Wu Wei, which means “effortless action.” It’s not laziness. It’s not passivity. It’s action that arises from alignment rather than strain.

Instead of striving against the current, we move with it.

The more we harmonize with life’s rhythms, the easier life becomes. Paradoxically, we accomplish more by forcing less. When we loosen our grip, synchronicity and serendipity begin to move.

It can feel as if the Universe starts supplying what we need the moment we stop demanding it.

The symbol of Wu Wei is the Enso — a single open circle. It looks suspiciously like a Zero.

It looks suspiciously like The Fool.

The Trick of the Dialogue

Here’s the delicate part.

Flow is not a switch you flip.

Researchers who study the flow state consistently find that it emerges when we are relaxed, engaged, playful, and open. It does not emerge when we are clenched, controlling, or desperately trying to optimize ourselves.

You don’t command The Fool state.

You invite it.

And this is where the dialogue begins.

When we relax and allow life to surprise us, we send a subtle signal:

“Okay. Show me what you’ve got.”

That’s when things begin to move.

The Universe does not respond well to micromanagement.

The Pink Elephant Problem

Of course, we immediately run into a paradox.

You cannot work very, very hard at not working hard.

You cannot become extremely serious about not being serious.

Try this: do not think about a pink elephant with purple polka dots.

Exactly.

The harder we try to relax, the more tense we become. The more we strive to enter Flow, the further away it seems.

In our self-improvement culture, we are experts at turning everything — even surrender — into a project.

But The Fool is not a project.

Dancing Instead of Driving

The Fool state is not about giving up responsibility. It is not about sitting on the couch waiting for destiny to knock.

It is not about “surrendering your will” in some dramatic spiritual gesture.

It is about remembering.

Remembering that we were born playful. Born curious. Born in rhythm with the world.

The Fool doesn’t run the Universe.

He dances with it.

When we return to that original ease — relaxed, alert, a little amused at our own smallness in a very large cosmos — something remarkable happens.

Life softens.

Doors open.

Wind blows newspapers at our feet.

We stop trying to force magic — and we discover that it was already in motion.

The Fool smiles because he knows a secret:

The cliff isn’t always a cliff.

Sometimes it’s just the next step into the Flow.

If you were to reduce all of that to a single affirmation, it would be simple:

Be in the Flow.

And then — gently — stop trying so hard to do even that.