The 'B-Earthday Card' in Esoteric Tarot

I haven't yet seen or met any other readers, bar my teacher (& he no longer does readings) that cover this important aspect of The Tarot, so I thought I'd share some thoughts about the significance of "B-Earthday" cards - or 'decanate significators'.

[also a little plug to say that I am now offering a new service where I help you innerstand the significance of your own BeEarthday card - it can be done in a 30 minute read, or as part of the longer offerings]

Each Sun-sign (Zodiac sign) is divided into 3 'decans' (hence why the very astrotheological Christian faith has 'decans'). So while yes, I am a Libra (just), I am a particular flavour of said Sun-sign. Taroscopically speaking, I am a 4 of Swords. But more on that shortly. First we need to go to the great repository of esoteric, psychological and alchemical wise-dome that is Mythology.

When we speak of "Be-Earthdays" we are looking in particular at The Sun: the symbolic representation of your unique, individual ego consciousness. In this case it's called an "Aaron", but mythologically and archetypally speaking this is synonymous with countless examples of sol-ar heroes; e.g. Heracles, Apollo, Baldur, Mithras, Christ, Buddha, Krishna, Attis etc.

Essentially, what each of these mythic (which doesn't mean 'untrue') characters reveal, is our (heroic) path to enlightenment. And this is exactly what your decanate card represents: the nature of your inner hero this time here in Middle Earth and the way your uniquely personal quest for Self (g)Knowledge is likely to unfold.

Just like the Sun, the hero (you) in mythology must complete a circular Hero’s Journey. This is why the Sun's symbol is a perfect circle. The Sun/ our consciousness rises and falls: there is night and day, Summer and Winter, Light and Dark and until we re-cognise that one requires the other, we resist the changing of the seasons, not just in "outer" reality, but also within. Just like the Sun and all the Heroes mentioned above, we too are called to the Underworld: the mythological representation of our 'Shadow'; our unconscious.

The word 'Heal' comes from the same root as 'whole' and just like the sun we too are fated to go through continual cycles of Overworld and Underworld experiences so that we may reclaim those parts of being human that our fear-based ego cannot face without heroic effort. This is why in so many of the great myths, The Sun has a trickster "brother" or Adversary (His shadow side). Odin has Loki, Apollo-Hermes, Christ-Lucifer etc.

It is our darker twin that often leads us into the Underworld (Hermes the 'psychopomp', or gets us lost in the Forest, so that we can find “the treasure hard to obtain” - Self Knowledge. If our usually fearful and defensive (immature) had its way it would most likely choose a path of ease and comfort, but it would not be wholly human: we would miss out on the healing/ wholing that only comes from these transformational experiences that bring us closer to Home.

It is the conscious (ego) will that Christ sacrifices on the cross, just before his 'salvation', with “Thy Will, not my will. Odin surrenders it too when he hangs on The World Tree and “sacrifices his self to [The] Self, afterwards being granted access to 'The Runes'... secret knowledge about the true nature of things.

Whilst we would like to think we can achieve conscious control over our lives, perhaps it is this tricksy aspect of our Self that gknows exactly where we need to go in order to whole.

Accepting our heroic destiny (to gKnow and realeyes our True nature as The One having a human experience) inevitably requires facing shadow/ winter/ the "negative" pole of life. When we begin to undertake the Great Round/ Campbell's 'Hero's Journey' with the knowledge that the Quest requires experiences which are uncomfortable (and often bloody painful!) we begin to offer less and less resistance to those trials which our inner Hero/ Sun/ ego consciousness must go through, if we are to Know the Self. With non-resistance come those "aha!"/ Nirvana/ Moksha/ Liberation moments. We find ourselves no longer identified with the spinning of the Wheel of Samsara, but instead with that which You truly are: the still, silent Centre and Source of it Al(l).

So then, our Tarot card, just like the Sun’s Journey, shows us a light and a shadow side to the journey our ego/Sun consciousness must take in order to whole. With the self knowledge your Sun card reveals we may be better equipped to shine a clearer light into the Darkness of our inner forest, when we feel lost. Knowing that these cycles are meaningful, even when they are toughest, changes the nature of our suffering. For there is no greater sorrow than feeling like Winter will never end and that there is no new life ahead.

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