Why do people see The World negatively?

nisaba

The wedding is a final point before being married, the end of a cycle of singleness and the end of another cycle, planning the big day.
 

Gabe

The wedding is a final point before being married, the end of a cycle of singleness and the end of another cycle, planning the big day.

Yes, that is the meaning of the World as a culmination of something, more than the end of a cycle, ....in this sense, it is more like a crowning....in my view, anyway...but I guess it's just a matter of which angle you look at it from...
 

firecatpickles

In older decks, the minors are not pictorial, they're pips. But what I find interesting, like you, is that all Majors and every deck we know of have pictographs on them. (Not just "pictures", but "pictographs" in that each artistic component carries with it meaning in the form of a symbol).

"Back in the day", most people had no idea what the outside world meant. It surely struck fear in their hearts even thinking about what the outside world was like. What must the stories they heard stories about war and conquest sounded like to them; what were the "others" doing, or even what were they like, outside of our own bubble of reality?

Preceded by that, Judgement, and before that The Sun (in older decks again, depicting a couple or twins), is the final three steps in the journey of the Fool, which isn't always so positive:

Dual nature of the human being (The Sun); perhaps in the last stages of life, recalling that the life expectancy was around 40 or 50 back then; passing on to the afterlife (Judgement); is to "inherit the earth", or World. The World also depicts the four Gospels writers, Matthew, Mark , Luke and John. The "word is fulfilled", not this time in the "flesh appearing", but in the afterlife. The character in the card in not on the planet but transcends it. Of course, this stems from a Christian heritage but this is all they knew in their time. Today we are more enlightened and make our own decisions regarding faith but the meaning of this card is the culmination is the same concept of "the beyond".

Whatever their beliefs, there are some who fear death and those who, though they may not embrace it, have to come to terms with their own mortality. Belief systems all deal with this aspect of life differently. It is still a mystery.

The World card can be negative in any situation where there is a final ending. Like nisaba says, not cycles end badly. As the final ending card about a question regarding romance, for example, usually not a good sign. After an arduous task of making a bunch of money, it would be positive, for example.
 

ravenest

Yeah ... thats an interesting and relevant slant FC ... I agree with most of it ... well, in context ... all of it actually - I would just add a bit to ; "As the final ending card about a question regarding romance" ... the actual final ending might be, when one IS finally over it and those naughty brain chemicals that made you believe you were in love and caused you to act ... well <blush> and you are at the stage of 'What was I thinking ! ? " ... it might not be THAT much of a tragedy :laugh:

Q. if you ARE having strong feelings about something ... even residual ... is it a case of something actually ending ? Physically yes perhaps, but by 'process', I'd say; not.

Fully 'processing' does bring an 'end' about and until that happens one isnt really finished with something. Perhaps it is this 'penultimate sticking point' that is causing more of the problems and not the actual 'endings' at all?
 

Zephyros

I think it is also a problem of not being precise enough with the differences between the cards. Death, for example, the traditional endings card (although it can be more complex than that) has evolved into including the next step, that of regeneration.

Let's talk about the attributions of the World. We have the Hebrew letter Tau, which means "note" or "sign (symbol)," signature and similar. We have Saturn, which implies structure, formulation, perceived reality, outcomes and consequences. We also have Earth. All these put together would seem to imply not exactly an ending but more of a final step in the construction of something. It is a bit like the finalization of a contract; all the details are hammered out and the process of signing the contract is over, sure, but it is only now that you actually begin to do business. The whole process that led up to signing the contract becomes meaningless once it is signed, because the contract itself embodies all the important parts of it, in distilled form.

So, in a way, the World could be thought of as the lesson, the moral at the of Aesop's fables. You've gone through the whole journey, and that piece of wisdom is often the only souvenir you have, it is the last and final step and assimilation. It doesn't even have to be a lesson, it could be acting out on the "fallout" of the journey. In the example of the break-up, it could your first date after the recovery period.
 

BigMommazindahouz

the end

i think death is ore death with the possibility of rebirth. the world is the end of the story (thats how i take it) sort of like theres no more to the issue, its complete...next subject. depending on context that could be good or bad, but seems most people are asking about love questions and so thats a pretty hard pill to swallow
 

ravenest

I think it is also a problem of not being precise enough with the differences between the cards. Death, for example, the traditional endings card (although it can be more complex than that) has evolved into including the next step, that of regeneration.

Let's talk about the attributions of the World. We have the Hebrew letter Tau, which means "note" or "sign (symbol)," signature and similar. We have Saturn, which implies structure, formulation, perceived reality, outcomes and consequences. We also have Earth. All these put together would seem to imply not exactly an ending but more of a final step in the construction of something. It is a bit like the finalization of a contract; all the details are hammered out and the process of signing the contract is over, sure, but it is only now that you actually begin to do business. The whole process that led up to signing the contract becomes meaningless once it is signed, because the contract itself embodies all the important parts of it, in distilled form.

So, in a way, the World could be thought of as the lesson, the moral at the of Aesop's fables. You've gone through the whole journey, and that piece of wisdom is often the only souvenir you have, it is the last and final step and assimilation. It doesn't even have to be a lesson, it could be acting out on the "fallout" of the journey. In the example of the break-up, it could your first date after the recovery period.

I like that - I hadnt thought of it like that before. ... the Tau being the signature stamp on the World ... like the last day of creation week. In a way its like the end being the Malkuth of a Tree of formation ... but that has created the Kether of the next level of a new Tree ... or experience.
 

nisaba

<smile> And as such, once again, is not negative.
 

ravenest

Yes ... <thinks> perhaps we could say it is the end of making a ... 'thing' and the beginning of processes that can now be enacted within that new thing.