By Sarah Taylor
Family cards depict your sub-personalities. They depict your personality polarities. Regardless of gender and age, you are yin Woman and yang Man, old Sage and young Child.
— James Wanless, creator of the Voyager Tarot
For the first reading in this column using the Voyager Tarot, I drew three court cards — referred to in this deck as the “Family” cards: the Child of Crystals (Knight of Swords in the RWS), or Learner; the Man of Worlds (King of Pentacles/Disks), or Achiever; and the Man of Wands (King of Wands), or Actor.
However, I drew the centre card first, then left, then right, and so it feels like the two outer cards are parallel processes to the one in the middle, which is the meeting point of both. The Man of Worlds is, in essence, what it is that you are encountering most strongly; the other two are qualifiers. You are donning the mantle of Achiever first and foremost, but this achievement is predicated on the qualities of Learner and Actor.
James Wanless writes of the Man of Worlds, “With Saturnian discipline, Jupiterian expansiveness … you achieve your goals and standards.” This feels very much tied into the astrology: Jupiter has just stationed direct in Gemini, which indicates a choice about where and how you choose to expand; and Saturn has recently moved into Scorpio (a stay of over two years), which Eric writes “is about clearing out stuck emotional energy.”
I find this last quoted statement interesting in light of the fact that Cups, representing feelings and the unconscious, are the only suit not present in the reading. When I was writing down my initial observations after drawing the cards, I noted the possibility that the value of honouring feelings is being indicated by its absence. This feels apropos when seen in conjunction with the astrology. So let’s see how it ties in with a reading where it is being hinted at in the shadows rather than its being out in the open for all to see.
Looking at the Man of Worlds, we can understand this card as representing the masculine principle of ‘doingness’, where that doingness is directed towards shaping the physical world. If you want to get something completed, you call on your inner Man of Worlds. He works well with the card to his right, the Man of Wands, who is an initiator. The Man of Wands, as Actor, can play any role that he turns his hand to, and he can pull it off with aplomb.
When combined with the Man of Worlds, you are working with energies that are both intiatory and versatile, but which also have the skill and the staying power to build something. They are very ‘get out there, and now’ cards; they want to have something to do, they are asking you to give them the raw materials so that they can come out and play.
Which is where the Child of Crystals comes in. Two mature, masculine cards also have a potential sticking point, ‘stick’ being the operative word. With maturity come power and the assumption of responsibility; with maturity also comes the propensity for a paradoxical crystallising of beliefs. We can become stolid and stagnant of thought, and therefore the roles that we play and the internal and external structures that we build become limiting rather than liberating.
The Child of Crystals asks you to remember that sense of wonder that we all had when we were first beginning to understand our world. So much was unknown; so much existed to explore and discover. In spite of our fears — which could also thrill us — we sought out knowledge. Sometimes we were utterly fearless. It is this quality of seeking out the world with new eyes that brings a magical edge to the adult in you that has a tendency to say, “I’ve seen it all, and nothing could surprise me now.”
If there is no surprise, how can you build anything new? If there is no wonder, how much harder is it to become something different?
Which brings me back to those feelings that seem absent. Ah, but they aren’t. They are there if you look for them, deep in territory that Saturn’s containing energy is giving us all the time and opportunity to navigate. Your inner child can guide you there, offering you access to an understanding of yourself that you never knew existed. What roles could you then bring — what costumes could you put on — to aid in the building of your world? How you choose to embody the Man of Worlds is yours alone, but there is something to be said for the choice that is not immediately apparent and to which you can be led by the child in your heart. Listen to where it is asking you to go.
Astrology/Elemental correspondences: Child of Crystals (“the airy aspect of air”), Man of Worlds (“the fiery aspect of earth”), Man of Wands (“the fiery aspect of fire”) [Source: Tarot: Mirror of the Soul by Gerd Ziegler]
The Voyager Tarot website: www.voyagertarot.com
To purchase the Voyager Tarot: http://www.voyagertarot.com/zencart2/
If you want to experiment with tarot cards and don’t have any, we provide a free tarot spread generator using the Celtic Wings spread, which is based on the traditional Celtic Cross spread. This article explains how to use the spread.
Lovely, Sarah. Thank you.
Sarah
This reading is so appropriate and timely. Thank you. I think Eric had said in Libra’s reading in Listen something very similar to what had reference there in regards to the apparent absence of cups. He talks about the Saturn transit in Scorpio and that transit is bringing self esteem issues. Often, we rely on outer influences to build our self esteem. But, really, until we face our inner world and how we relate to it, we won’t come face to face with our inner light. When we see the light inside of us, we realize that the light is always there. That is to me the faith in ourselves. And that is where I find my cups. It seems like the spot inside of me is a well of emotions. And this reading, especially the middle card, really speaks to me. All the worldly achievement and what we manifest are truly the reflection of our choices–where am I drawing the fuel to manifest what I want? What is my focus? What is my intention? And during the process of our choosing, I hope never to loose the sight of my light within.
“but there is something to be said for the choice that is not immediately apparent and to which you can be led by the child in your heart.”
Feels very perfect for me right now. Lovely, thank you.