This episode features T!M Freke is a pioneering philosopher & bestselling author of 35 books. In Tim’s latest book ‘Soul Story’ he offers a revolutionary approach to awakening for the 21st century and a visionary new understanding of the nature of reality.
Tim and Julienne discuss the ideas in Soul Story, evolution from the Fool to the World and how the Tarot works – like really HOW TAROT WORKS. More info on Tim on his website TimFreke.com
Enter to win an ebook copy of Tim’s book Soul Story on Facebook, Instagram or Twitter @TarotPodcast Find entry posts and submit by August 18, 2017.
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Cyndera and Julienne bring their provocative archetypal and tarotic insights into the new film Wonder Woman. The archetypes in The Priestess, The Sun and the Chariot are at play in the film. They also discuss how listeners can become a part of the Archetypal Tarot team by signing up to be a patron of the show. https://patron.podbean.com/atpodcast
In an attempt to add a poster of Wonder Woman to my office, a new colleague of mine expressed her reservation to the addition of this image to the office environment, which, to her credit, did contain a speech bubble from Wonder Woman’s mouth saying “No Time for Naughty.”
She articulated: “I feel it’s important to celebrate real women, brave and courageous historical leaders who had an actual impact on the world.”
I felt as though wounded, as if a spear had gone straight through my heart, as if she was saying I
wasn’t real. Why on earth did I feel this way? Wonder Woman is not, in fact, flesh and blood, and I am certainly myself not Wonder Woman.
The poster did indeed stick out like a sore thumb on the wall, she did not match the drab green walls, the muted tones of the overhead file bins. Would my own personality clash as brilliantly as this to the work culture? Wonder Woman seemed protected in her plastic cover, the natural light causing her to emit an armor of reflected light. I was speechless, tears came to my eyes, I left early from my first official day, along with the poster.
Today, in Wonder Woman’s defense, these words have come me:
You speak of the courage of suffragettes, the immensity of emotion portrayed in Frida Kahlo’s artwork, but who would these women be without the forces that came alive within them. We speak of these forces in abstracted terms all the time – they are real and present even after each historical woman exhales her last breath – Courage, Leadership, Imagination, Vision. Fictional figures such as Wonder Woman, illustrate and actually embody these forces for us.
The gift of Fiction, the gift of art, that percolates through our culture in various guises – depicts for us these forces we hope to ourselves enact. We can celebrate the lives of historical women AND embrace the inspiration of of the figures of fiction – who try on possibilities, dreams and visions that our not-so-humble humanity has not yet dared.
Scientists look to science fiction for ideas of invention and innovation. Teachers and psychologists look to literature for an understanding of human behavior. Mathematicians have found formulas from their dreams (another source some may call “not real”)
“The Gods have not died, they have just gone underground.”
The forces within us are Real – Love, Hate, Courage, Passion, Intelligence. Allow us to celebrate and be educated by history and Imagination alike, for one teaches of the past the other of the future.
Since her creation, Wonder Woman has been resurrected many times, always reflecting the struggles of the age. Her tiara and dark tendrils rise again, along with a voice that is once again trying to be heard.
What do you believe in? What do you wish to stand for?
Do you act from Love or do you simply hide and take cover from fear?
Wonder Woman’s name is Diana Prince – Diana connects her to the name of the Roman Goddess of the Moon. Like the light of the Moon, her power is a reflected one and thus reminds us of REFLECTION – the power to look within yourself to see your own shadows and your own light. Prince – though she is a woman she also embodies the sacred masculine. She is in touch with her noble male capacities (the animus in psychology). And thus Diana Prince, Wonder Woman, is a marriage of opposites, the holding of a tension between differences, and thus a medicine for our deeply divided times.
Red, White and Blue are the colors of Wonder Woman’s classic costume. In one comic, she is actually dressed from a tattered American flag. Since WWII Wonder Woman has stood for what is noble about the United States, a symbol of liberty, justice and truth. She rises in the face of what is most ugly about our country, which has always been equipped with the teeth of greed, bigotry, narcissism and blindness.
Wonder Woman rises with only the weapons of truth, and her own strength to remind us of the hope we must not lose hold of. Hold tight to the Lassos of Truth! Feel the bondage of those bracelets encircling your wrists, reminding all deeds done by these hands to be for the liberation of self and others.
Feel the tiara, placed upon the crown of the head, framing the third eye of Insight, Intuition and crystallized concentration. Most of all, feel your heart, beating with life, beating with love for life bursting in each moment with your passion…
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Julienne and Cyndera are back to the closet (aka Archetypal Tarot’s secret headquarters) for an in-depth discussion on superstition and all-around “woo-woo,” which the urban dictionary defines as “unfounded or ludicrous beliefs.” After using these terms in a few podcasts, they received an email from a listener asking just why they are so down on anything ‘woo-woo’ or superstitious. Always happy to hear from listeners and taking this question to heart (and mind), J and C clarify what they mean by superstitious and philosophize on the subject of the tarot, astrology and other systems as both sacred and important learning tools for discernment.
While studying astrology I have applied it to concrete cases many times. … The experiment is most suggestive to a versatile mind, unreliable in the hands of the unimaginative, and dangerous in the hands of a fool, as those intuitive methods always are. If intelligently used the experiment is useful in cases where it is a matter of an opaque structure. It often provides surprising insights. The most definite limit of the experiment is lack of intelligence and literal-mindedness of the observer. … Undoubtedly astrology today is flourishing as never before in the past, but it is still most unsatisfactorily explored despite very frequent use. It is an apt tool only when used intelligently. It is not at all foolproof and when used by a rationalistic and narrow mind it is a definite nuisance.
– Carl Gustav Jung: Letters, volume 2, 1951-1961, pages 463-464, letter to Robert L. Kroon, 15 November 1958
What we call the beginning is often the end. And to make an end is to make a beginning. The end is where we start from. ~TS Eliot
Finally we reach the culmination of this heroic journey with card 21 –The World! In this last of the regularly scheduled podcast series, Julienne and Cyndera discuss beginnings, endings, rebirth, transformation and fulfillment.
After all these trials and tribulations of the hero’s journey, we now come to know true balance and connection to our destiny looking back across our past and forward into the future. We feel the benefit of the journey thus far and see that our evolution is not just for ourselves but for the good of others. From this stage onward, our sense of risk is different because we have a greater understanding of the richness of life and recognize both the strength and space to hold challenge and loss as well as joy in the days to come.
In Joesph Campbell’s classic definition of the Hero’s Journey, The World card represents the stage of Master of Two Worlds as well as the Freedom to Live.
The Rider-Waite version of The World
Symbols in the World Card:
Ring of laurels tied with a lemniscate (infinity symbol) – The ring of laurels is also called temenos (Gk) a safe place, asylum, a temple, also reminiscent of the Yoni, laurels are also a symbol of victory.
Infinity symbol seen also in: Magician, Strength (also in the 2 of coins/pentacles card)
Androgynous figure/ Dancer– leg crossed over just as in the Hanged Man card (it’s opposite on this Mobius strip) – a dance , balanced opposites, an act of creation – the Self in equilibrium, perfect union of masculine and feminine.
Lion (Leo), Eagle (Scorpio), Bull (Taurus) and the Human (Aquarius) – 4 fixed signs of astrology – 4 elements (air, earth, water and fire). These 4 symbols also appear in the Wheel of Fortune card. these can also refer to a passage in the Bible’s book of revelation
Suspended between heaven and earth – remember the Fool as she fell over the cliff, suspended for a moment not realizing what’s she’s gotten herself into? The symbolism of suspension this time is of balance and trust.
2 wands – balance – command of opposites (references to both The Magician and The Chariot). Wands are about doing – this is a sign of readiness.
Cundi Bodhisattva
The World as the Bodhisattva Card
Bodhi [enlightenment] and sattva [being]. From the Mahayana tradition of Buddhismm, the bodhisattva vow is the commitment to put others before oneself. It is a statement of willingness to give up one’s own well-being, even one’s own enlightenment, for the sake of others. Taking the bodhisattva vow implies that instead of holding our own individual territory and defending it, we become open to the world that we are living in and are willing to take on greater responsibility.
Film and Fiction References
Cloud Atlas, book (2004) and film (2012)
One of the main themes is of freedom and connection. Eventually leading to the realization that all is one. Redemption and evolution. Characters from each of the weave of stories in both the book and film have revelations of oneness:
Sonmi-451: “Our lives are not our own. From womb to tomb, we are bound to others. Past and present. And by each crime and every kindness, we birth our future.”
Robert Frobisher: “And all becomes clear. Wish I could make you see this brightness. Don’t worry, all is well. All is so perfectly, damnably well. I understand now, that boundaries between noise and sound are conventions. All boundaries are conventions, waiting to be transcended. One may transcend any convention, if only one can first conceive of doing so. Moments like this, I can feel your heart beating as clearly as I feel my own, and I know that separation is an illusion. My life extends far beyond the limitations of me.”
Adam Ewing:“What is an ocean but a multitude of drops?”
Issac Sachs: “These forces that often remake time and space, they can shape and alter who we imagine ourselves to be, begin long before we are born, and continue after we perish. Our lives and our choices, like quantum trajectories, are understood moment to moment, at each point of intersection, each encounter, suggest a new potential direction.”
The Matrix (1999) – In the very last scene of The Matrix, Neo makes a phone call , saying: “When I used to look out at this world, all I could see was its edges, its boundaries, its rules and controls, its leaders and laws. But now, I see another world. A different world where all things are possible. […] I can’t tell you how to get there, but I know if you can free your mind, you’ll find the way.”
Here Comes the Sun! After the dark debacle of the stage represented by the Moon card, the nineteenth card of the Major Arcana shares its rays of light on the Archetypal Tarot Podcast. Inside the protective walls of a golden kingdom, two children (or a child and horse in the Rider Waite) are happily at play. Like Romulus and Remus, suckled from the wolves of the last card, it is as if the birth of a new Rome has taken place as a long-awaited result of this Tarot journey’s recent trials. Julienne Givot and Cyndera Quackenbush explore this stage of rebirth by delving into the child archetype in its many manifestations, including its shadow.
Listen as Julienne and Cyndera share a synchronistic moment and find out how to have fun while even riding a city bus. In the Hollywood realm, Robin Williams as Puer (eternal youth), Tom Hanks in the film “Big” and Shirley Temple are discussed as examples of this stage. In the Sun card enjoy yourself in a land somewhere between the Teletubbies and the Secret Garden.
The Child: Innocence, Fun, Trust
The Child archetype resides in us all and is the first that we come to know. The Child archetype is sometimes called the guardian of innocence and it represents our beginning point. This archetype sets up our earliest perceptions of life, safety, loyalty and family. The heart of the Child archetype is one of dependency and responsibility. Addressing the Child archetype within can awaken a new relationship with life, a new start.
Archetypal Tarot celebrates its 20th podcast! With some much needed respite after the tumult of the falling tower, Julienne Givot and Cyndera Quackenbush cozy up in some Dutch slippers and delve into the nourishing waters of the 17th card of the Major Arcana- The Star.
Picture the Fool (our Hero in this journey) laying on the grass in a field after the sudden liberation of the last stage. She is coming to and is not yet able to articulate what just happened to her. The symbols of the scene represented in the Star feature a naked woman who is both vulnerable and in harmony with the elements as she tends to what needs to be done.
Stripped of clothing (ego identity) and back down to the earthy basics, the beautiful maiden featured in this card helps us to replenish after a shock and (re)discover the true “guiding star” that will help us along on our journey. We see the importance of humility to be open to true guidance.
Another potent symbol of this stage is water. Water is often seen as a symbol of emotions and the unconscious which in this stage flows freely and the woman can been seen as a conduit for letting the waters flow back to their source as well as nourishing the ground. The stars in the sky twinkle above clear and undeniably present, the Fool wonders how she never noticed they were there all along.
Stars have been the symbol of aspiration and guidance since ancient times from the three wisemen following stars to the mythic stories of Mithras. Stars symbolize hope and to look up with an understanding that even we are connected to the stars.
This is a time after the storm where there is clarity. A recollection that grace need only be received and that the first stage of regeneration/rebirth is to be open to follow our true desire – what we are really on the journey for. It’s interesting to note that the word desire itself comes from the old French “of the stars”.
Julienne discusses how the symbolism of the film Beasts of the Southern Wild relates to our taroic hero’s journey so far and Cyndera references the aspect of the Star in relation to Maidentrip, a documentary about a young Dutch girl who completed a solo around the world voyage on a sailboat.
“When it all goes quiet behind my eyes, I see everything that made me flying around in invisible pieces. When I look too hard, it all goes away but when it all goes quiet, I see they are right here. I see that I am a little piece of a big, big universe, and that makes it right.” -Hushpuppy, Beasts of the Southern Wild
Popular associations of the Star:
Calmness —– Free-flowing love —– Trust
Tranquility —– Peace of mind —– Pure essence
Hope – Serenity —– Inspiration —– Generosity
Optimism —– Joy —– Faith —– Regeneration
Good will —– Optimism —– Harmony —– Renewal of forces
Helpful questions for this stage:
• What do I allow to guide me?
• What is the role of nurturing myself and others – is there an imbalance?
• How do I live the connection to nature?
• What can I do to allow more tranquility into my day?
• Am I allowing peace and relaxation to flow through my life?
• How do I acknowledge and take peace from knowing I am a little piece of a big universe?
Julienne and Cyndera are back to the closet (aka Archetypal Tarot’s secret headquarters) for an in-depth discussion on superstition and all-around “woo-woo,” which the urban dictionary defines as “unfounded or ludicrous beliefs.” After using these terms in a few podcasts, they received an email from a listener asking just why they are so down on anything ‘woo-woo’ or superstitious. Always happy to hear from listeners and taking this question to heart (and mind), J and C clarify what they mean by superstitious and philosophize on the subject of the tarot, astrology and other systems as both sacred and important learning tools for discernment.
