ADEPT LEVEL: Step 19-4; 21 Ways To Read A Tarot Card

dadsnook2000

Step 19-4 asks us to re-visit step four and recall our story and card, and then to answer several questions which also relate to the picture we drew in step 16. I have broken these last couple of steps in to sections so that we will better focus on our exploratory process as we near the end of our journey. This is a sort of self-testing phase.

Mary Greer asks us to think about:
1) How is the center of our drawing or story like a secret sanctuary?
2) Where is the ultimate boon (promise, result)?
3) What type of path is implied, where does it start and end?
4) What archetype is represented by the figure most identified with?

This truly is a self examination. I've peeked already at my step four story and step 16 picture, so I'm anxious to begin step 19-4. Talk to you all soon. Dave
 

dadsnook2000

Dave's Step 19:4

My original story at Adept Step 4 was centered around the Fey World card. This card depicted a giant snail sailing through space carrying a small world on its back. The small world was a walled village and open area, or a castle with grass and a hill within its walls. A huge dragon was sitting upon one of the towers.

Upon reflection, at this time, it seems that any sanctuary or environment one has is a combination of A) self-confinement, B) an opportunity to move to a different place as you outgrow your "place in the world", and C) the realization that you can/will be challenged/threatened in you chosen place --- in this case by the resident dragon.

My, how my perspective has changed in this long two-year exploration of the Tarot.

In the picture I drew as part of step 16, I conveyed my perceptions of the Hermit. The Fey Hermit is unlike the Waite/Smith Hermit (who has gone into a high place and holds a light for others to come to) and is instead using his light to explore his own environment (knowing that he has many paths and many doors in which to exit from his environment).

There is quite a significant linkage between the World card and Hermit card. In the former card, one has no choice but to live with what is evident. In the latter card, one can explore and cease exploration at will. This is a big improvement in my mind. It symbolically represents putting aside the feeling that one is being carried along by what one has chosen to evolving into the situation of having choices that will lead to new life situations.

So, now to answer the given questions:

1) My work on my astrological book about the prediction process was my whole world for about two years ---- to some degree, anyways. It shaped my schedule and focus. Since I wrote and researched it from my own Den (a room in my house that is tailored to suit my personality and interests, and is not shared by anyone else), the book was a sanctuary that carried me along.

2) The ultimate boon, as Mary asks, is that I've consolidated and clarified my thoughts and practices and passed my own self-testing.

3) What kind of path is shown or implied? The next issue is to publish and market it. I'm not aggressive in that I have to tour and lecture relative to the book as a means of proving I'm right or that my methods are the best for many others. The book is more of a statement that astrology needs to stick to its proven basics, that it can be simple and still be amazingly effective. If others want to follow, that is their choice.

4) The Hermit, my last chosen focus card, relates to the Journey, Spiral, Path archetype as listed by Mary Greer. I felt that my years of study and practice of astrology, especially since I had developed such a well-founded approach to prediction, had to be shared. This is part of a legacy, just as is the family I have helped raise, the work and products I have helped to develop, the help given and received to/from others, the friendships and lessons of life, all that constitues a varied and full life. All of those things were shared and now my personal study of astrology can also be shared.

Dave
 

squeakmo9

In apprentice 4 my story related the lives of 3 brothers (my study of RWS 5 of Swords), left to fend for themselves after their father's death. In the short story, they argue and cannot seem to reach an agreement unless they each focus on the family sword, and chant, repeatedly, their family name. All this so that the sword would fall and point to the person who would do the cleaning of a stable.
I find it interesting that in my drawing in adept 16, that a tree stump came across (to me) as poop! In any case, my drawing had a person, in the center, toiling at work. In my story, it was about who would do what job. It was about being responsible in the place of a dead father.

-How is the center of your drawing or story like a secret sanctuary?
I do see a continuing theme of responsibility, and hard work in both drawing and story. Also the theme of "being left alone".

-Where is the ultimate boon?
What I found comforting was the chanting of the brothers in the story, and the High Priestess' steaming cauldron of red liquid in my drawing. My life has indeed become busy, and I have taken on more responsibility since 2007, for sure, but...what keeps me level is meditation, and it is the traditional sound meditation/chanting.

-What kind of path is shown or implied? Where does it begin and end, and what shape does it take?
To take the path of least resistance. Do not put up a fight (The story of Diligent, True, and Miffed), and concentrate on the work at hand (my drawing combo of QoS, 10 of Wands, and HP). By doing that, the doubts and fears will fall away one by one.

-What archetype is represented by the figure you most identified with?
The character of Diligent in my story and the central figure carrying a basket of kindling in my drawing. Both, to me, resemble tasks to be done, self-motivation (The Emperor). The ability to transcend, and transform those works beyond the hum-drum (The High Priestess).