Wheel of Cange- 5s

I think Alexandra Genetti had a real moment of enlightenment when she chose to incorporate the idea of physical beauty into the 5 of Disks card. A woman's wealth has timelessly been measured by her beauty. Or perhaps I should say "a woman's WORTH." And despite how far the woman's movement has come in the western world, I believe that remains as true as ever.

How many billions of dollars are spent each year in advertising for beauty aids, or for purchasing those "beauty aids", the production and buying of fashion magazines, designer clothes, even cosmetic surgery in the age old fight against aging? We place our supermodels on super pedestals and they become an impossible standard to live up to. The same holds true in most media- print, film, t.v. These women are almost exclusively young, thin and beautiful and they are valued above and beyond all others and in this way we continue to teach these values to our children.

Well, I won't go on. As you can tell, I can get a little carried away on the subject. But that's why I think this card, depicting all the tools of the beauty trade, is just brilliant. It reflects the importance placed on a woman's beauty and the effort we place into achieving and maintaining it and the fear we face as we age and our "beauty" begins to deminish. What will our worth be then? So much of our worldy power is tied up with how we look.

5 of Cups

I think it is interesting to compare this card to the 3 of Cups. The expansiveness, sharing of deep emotion and vulnerability have come up against pain and loss. The defensive reaction is understandable, but sad. Now protective barriers are put on, the emotions shared are shallow. I see the RWS man in my mind, and see this card as what's going on inside him. Hopefully it is just an important healing phase he will go through, perhaps unconciously, rather than a choice he has made; his "lesson learned: not to trust". Perhaps the two upright cups hold the potential to return to the 3 of Cups state.

When I took my first look at the 5 of Wands, I was like "huh?" But when I read all about how it represents ritual, I quickly made a connection to the more traditional meaning of the 5 of wands which is usually more along the lines of frustration and conflict.

I think this card is similar to the 4 of disks only in how Alexandra Genetti seems to be SHOWING US HOW. Just as the beauty of the apple harvest reminds us that such wealth is meant to be shared, made use of and enjoyed rather than hoarded away where it would do no more than rot, the practice of ritual shows us how to realign ourselves with our higher purpose and with divinity when feeling overwhelmed, frustrated, amidst chaos, and unheard.

I think that simply reminding us that such practices exist, she reminds us that human beings have an ancient and sacred relationship with ritual. For a reason! We benefit greatly from it. It is easy to be thrown off course when facing obstacles and have a myriad demands draining our energy. Sometimes it is not about how to overcome it all. The 5's are supposed to be about loss and adjustment after all, aren't they?

So maybe when we are facing a 5 of wands situation we are being told that we need to step back, take a break from action, growth, breakthrough and concentrate on our selves. Realign, readjust. Discover the peace, harmony, strength, and current energy the divine universe holds for us. Perhaps we are going about it the wrong way, perhaps it is the wrong time, perhaps we need to reevalute, take stock anew of what are true goals and ambitions are.

5 of Disks

We discussed the 5 of Cups and the 5 of Wands in our original thread:
http://www.tarotforum.net/showthread.php?threadid=13495&perpage=10&pagenumber=2
Near the bottom of the page for these cards.

Fives are generally thought to be negative, particularly if you use the Tree of Life association with Gevurah, which has to do with severity, judgment, and pain. Alexandra has taken a different tack, as Belladonna says, she is showing us the way, or the way out rather than highlighting the misery.

5 of Disks

I too love the imagery of mirrors. The classic R-W image shows ragged beggars shut out on the steps of a church with light, heat, companionship, and the beauty of stained glass windows inside, unavailable to them.

What better image than age, fading beauty, and the constant mirror of society to show alienation and being shut out in the cold?

The snake and skin is an interesting image too. Throughout its cycles of life, a snake grows, changes, and needs to shed its old skin. That can be a sign of aging or deterioration, or it can be a sign of growth and metamorphosis. Cleopatra died from the bite of an asp when still youthful and lovely, but what if she had simply shed her skin and developed further? What kind of true power and leadership would have been her legacy? As it stands she's a bit of frippery for Rome, a tidbit for Caesar and Antony. This is a card of possibilities and how our own thoughts and attitude prevent us finding peace and shelter and true power. As Alexandra says, it's about seeing clearly.

I can't stand make-up, and I see so many lovely women whose freshness of complexion and expressive eyes are masked by make-up put on so thickly that it obscures all the natural wonder and beauty of the person. Who needs it, I'd rather see clearly!

5 of Swords

5 of Swords

I find the classic R-W card very affecting and had some trouble with the WOC imagery. The R-W guy gloats so well and seems like such a mean creep that we can all identify with him, both as vanquished and victor. But this one.......again, I think Belladonna hits it when she says it show the way out rather than the problem. I still don't think it has the impact, but I like the message of the proper season.

Harvest, autumn, scythes (or sickle knives as she describes them), and cycles. Being cut down, growth, renewal, change, age dormancy, and awakening, and everything in its proper season.

I didn't realize the greenery behind the sickles was mistletoe until I read the book. It grows on oak trees and when the oak is dormant, the mistletoe bears fruit in the winter. It HAS to be cut at just the right time which indicates the intellectualism of Swords and thinking your way to a solution. Seeing clearly again.

I like this--ideas born like stars and radiating out into action, involvement, process, a series of thoughts with beginning, middle, and end--the proper season. So you aren't the vanquished wimp on the beach with the gloating, gleeful jerk behind you, you are thinking, always thinking, and doing things in the proper season.

Solutions do not wallow in pity, they are born of stars.

Belladonna said:

I think Alexandra Genetti had a real moment of enlightenment when she chose to incorporate the idea of physical beauty into the 5 of Disks card.... and the fear we face as we age and our "beauty" begins to deminish. What will our worth be then?

Click to expand...

I couldn't agree more I was thinking about your insights when the movie "Summer Rental", starring John Candy, popped into my mind. It has two minor characters, a husband and wife who aren't rich and are entering middle age. The wife is very insecure about her looks, the husband is very into power tools (this movie was pre-viagra). They decide to spend their money to get her breast implants, rather than him getting more power tools. Still insecure about her looks, and now insecure about whether the money was well spent, she pops up off and on throughout the movie showing strangers her breasts and asking them what they think; trying to be reassured. When John Candy gets asked, the husband shows up and Candy thinks he's in trouble. But the husband and the wife have both objectified her breasts beyond any sexual connotation. Her breasts are now just an object they've bought and they both want outside confirmation that they've gotten their money's worth. He says something like "Tell her they're nice- we bought those instead of power tools!"
I think it is well worth meditating on our society's obsession with beauty/youth, and to learn to gauge our worth by some other standard.

As you've probably noticed, I have a tendency to stick to traditional RW meanings and to compare the Wheel of Change cards to such.

The 5 of Swords is very interesting. A season unto all things. The 5 stages of a cycle, or project. The careful consideration of what stage you are in and what comes next.

What stuck out most to me, though, was the careful, deliberate way in which the mistletoe is harvested, with due respect and aknowledgement for it's inherent properties, the role it plays as holder of the oak's spirit when the oak itself sleeps in the harshness of winter.

What a marked contrast to the bullying conqueror in the Rider Waite image, smirking at those he defeated! No gratitude, no appreciation, nothing! I hope he has no need for their aid in the future because he certainly isn't sowing any seeds for kindness. He exists in the present only, with no thought put into anything or anyone beyond himself.

Alexandra Genetti really has a way of demonstrating the natural ebb and flow of life. Her reverence for the sacred in her life, in the world exudes from her artwork and it is obvious that Nature is her teacher. I feel this card really teaches that while there are times for things or people to be "cut out" of a situation, that we are always capable of kindness, conciousness, appreciation, gratitude, compassion. Nature shows us that we may well be the ones "defeated" next time. That loss can truly be understood as adjustment or at least timely.