The Energy of Spring, 2025

I'm going to try to stick to writing a regular Tarot post at the changing of every season, not necessarily to divine the future, but more as an exercise of "what is going on in the collective psyche?"

Some of you who have had readings with me in the last year or so will have had me go into depth on your 'Decanate significator' (BeEarthday card). Though your card isn't specific to just your date, each zodiac sign is broken down into three phases of ten degrees ('decanate'). Each one having a slightly different energy of that sign. A 4 of Swords Libra comes at the end and so is quite different to the 2 that opens the sign. This is yet another reason why those born under a sign can differ drastically from another.

So I thought it appropriate to follow the same methodology with each season. Spring transmutes gradually toward Summer and so we will be looking at a card for each of these three portions.

2 OF SWORDS

- With any '2' we have a polarisation (a dividing in two) of the initial Ace that precedes it. The Ace is like a seed, holding the potential for the entire growth process of that suit, which in this case is Swords/ Air. But just like every "thing", for this growth to happen, there needs to be a pair of opposites which mate/ dance/ compete/ fight in order to give birth (the 3) to the proceeding cards.

The Swords represent ideas, intellect, information and communication, so what we are no doubt seeing in this opening chapter of spring is the stark contrast between such things. True information vs false; honesty vs lies; intelligent thinking vs idiocy; ideas based in freedom vs the Master/ Slave paradigm.

- There is a tension in this card as the intellect tries to ascertain the truth of any given thought/ scenario. But, just as swords do, thoughts divide and separate: This, not that; right vs wrong etc. If we try to find the true, whole picture through our intellect, or expect to stay in perfect balance with analysis and thought alone, we will be like the character in the card: perched apprehensively on the edge of her rather uncomfortable looking seat and looking like she is about to lop off the heads of those who would try to bring in new information, which may unsettle her precarious position and world view.

- Unlike the intellect, the heart is wholistic in its outlook and inlook. Seated in the centre of our energetic system it can intuit and feel the balance that this 2 of Swords wishes it could maintain through its defensiveness. But note that her arms cross the heart, blocking that energy and making it difficult to care about what is really true; the intellect just wants its current position to be "right", not "wrong", and it is willing to go to war (literally) to maintain that temporary (& illusory) status quo. There is no avoiding the fallout (the suffering and sorry of the proceeding 3 of Swords) which comes next, for like all things, there is a process and an unfolding which must take place. Trying to stay in this insecure 'peace' (which is ironically the esoteric name for this card) is futile.

- This cardinal (opening) phase of Libra is ruled by the Moon and as this archetype tells us what it is we most need to feel safe and nurtured. Libra is about balance, especially of a social kind. The need for diplomacy therefore is highlighted with this card. "Don't rock the boat!". As I'm sure you're aware, the moon exacerbates our emotional state, which in turn can increase the fear, tension and desire to repress anything that doesn't bolster our current position.

- This strikes me as a very appropriate card given the huge amount of revelatory (for most anyway) and often difficult to accept information that has come to light over these past few months. Notice the blindfold she wears, which is no doubt an approach many will wish to take as the truly dark information continues to drop. Unlike the 8 of Swords where the character wears a blindfold involuntarily, the 2 has willingly donned the veil to protect her shaky and ultimately untenable position.

- NCSWIC. When the (shaky) peace of the 2 breaks down and we can no longer deny the overwhelming evidence that shows clearly where we have been too one-sided, the pain of the 3 of Swords follows. Even though it is never a pleasant experience (the energy of Libra here is Saturnian in nature), the 3 is a cathartic experience, where one is now able to attend to whatever was un-re.cognised and festering in the 2.

IX THE HERMIT

- First and foremost, this is a Major Arcana and as such it tells us that this middle phase of Spring is a major rite of passage. Something that alters consciousness on a very profound level.

- The Hermit is the archetype of Teacher, Guide or Guru (in the truest sense). Most importantly, having followed on from VIII STRENGTH where we discovered that to continue on our path to Liberation/ Self Realeyesation we must do so in an entirely unique and individual way (it is Leo), The Hermit represents our inner guide who is able to delve into the deepest recesses of our being to find the answers we seek - as Virgo, The Hermit wants to find out what makes us and our whorl-D rick... how all the moving pieces of the puzzle fit together... Very appropriate in our time of Revelation!

- Notice how he stands at the peak of a mountain, but looks downwards. He has gone as far as he can in terms of what the "out there" can teach him, and now the only way that remains is to descend and use that light in his lantern (focused, protected, hermetically-sealed ego consciousness) to explore another kind of knowledge. His adventure is an inner journey and if one knows the way the Major Arcana proceeds from here, it gets dark and frightening.

- The outer achievements, victories and goal setting of the preceding cards fail us here, in the sense that they no longer serve our greater unfolding. At least not in terms of our consciousness' maturation.

- The Major Arcana shows us how our personal hero (ego/ Son) develops towards realeyesation of Truth, but ('As Above, So Below') it is mirrored by the outer expression of this: our Sun. As Virgo, The Hermit looks downwardly because, just as The Sun must do at this time of year, he has to begin the "fall" into The Underworld so that The Whole (Truth) can be experienced and realeyesed as part of Self.

- Part of this journey for all of us is to see that it is not just "them"/ The CaBa'al etc that are responsible for the darkness of the whorl-D, but that it is through compliance and fear of each of us to some degree, that this has continued for so long. This card therefore is a much different kind of courage that VIII STRENGTH symbolised. In that arcanum The Sun/ your Hero is at it's highest and strongest point; there is a joy in the taking on of trials "out there" and showing the whorl-D how accomplished we have become. But The Hermit is an archetype of private victories, rather than public ones. The utterly unique soul-searching that it points to will never be innerstood by anyone other than the individual who has delved into those deep, dark places.

- That being said, as all Heroes who venture through the Underworld and make it through to ascend again to complete their Hero's Journey, the transformation of their consciousness in some way acts as a 'boon' (a reward from the gods) to his/ her society as a whole. Bilbo on his re-turn from The Lonely Mountain was not at all innerstood by any other Hobbit, but the gold (Truth) he brought back he gave away freely, rather than hoarding it like 'The Chiefest and Greatest of Calamities' that was Smaug. Not only that, but The One Ring that Bilbo (literally) stumbled upon was a "chance" (Tolkien's word for serendipity/ synchronicity) that ultimately led to the saving of The Shire and of all Middle Earth from the designs of Sauron and his lust for perpetual slavery. So they may have thought Bilbo "queer" and eccentric, but without this incarnation of The Fool, their comfortable Edenic state would have been utterly destroyed.

- So then, the journey that each Hermit takes in this middle phase of Spring is key to the salvation of our realm as a whole.

X THE WHEEL OF FORTUNE

- In many myths, such as the Arthurian legend, the hero sees a vision of a great wheel. In Arthur's case, atop the wheel sits a king, high, proud and mighty. But in no time at all the wheel, as wheels are wont to do, turns and the once great figure finds himself now at the bottom and is crushed. Arthur realeyeses that no matter how much whorl-Dly power one accrues, one's fate is always at the whim of THE fates (the Moira/ Norns etc). Just as the seasons "out there" cannot be resisted, so too will our life, society and all temporal things change, ebbing and flowing at the appointed time. X The Wheel of Fortune therefore indicates a change in circumstances, both inner and outer, that is inevitable... [NCSWIC].

- Just as we individually re-volve between seasons of strength and weakness, purpose and confusion, awareness and ignorance, so too does Consciousness on the macro-level. According to the Hindus, we have been transiting that part of the Great Cycle known as Kali Yuga (Lead Age), which is the lowest, the most fearful, the most forgetting of the true nature of things, that it is possible to get. Trump continually alludes to the beginning of a new golden age, and though it may take some time to go from the bottom of The Wheel back to Sat (Gold) Yuga, this card suggests that we are turning a corner and will begin to feel the easing of the pain, suffering, fear and slavery that is endemic and the "norm" at the bottom of the Great Wheel.

- The Wheel of Fortune corresponds with Jupiter/ Zeus and as such it is usually a beneficent card (at least when it is in its upright position). The Jupiter archetype represents expansive energy - the optimistic, outward movement of growth. Jupiter is abundance and good fortune. It is also positive and generally kindly masculine leadership: the Good King.

- The Wheel was shown clearly in January's inauguration (a extensive exploration of which can be found here). The Rotunda - and around X's circumference can be read 'ROTA' - above the ritual/ ceremony is a representation of a kind of Wheel/ of The Whole and shows 'The Apotheosis', which means the raising/ deepening of consciousness to that achieved by the great avatars of mythology (Christ/ Buddha/ Odin/ Neo/ Aragorn etc). It is no coincidence either that the temple (Capitol Hill) chosen for this "inner" (rather than the usual profane outside ceremony) initiation is a recreation of Rome's Temple of Jupiter Optimus Maximus.

- The piece I wrote and linked to above does its best to show that all the symbolism of that ending of the Corp(se)orate state was an initiation into a new age and a Sovereign one (based on The Golden Rule) at that. The snake (Set) and Anubis adorning the circumference of The Wheel also represent this Death and Rebirth, as every "thing" turns. Death and resurrection appearing together in one image suggests that the coming dawn is immediately preceded by the darkest hour [Dark to Light].

- Lastly, call me an optimist (and you'd be right), but I don't think it is any coincidence that XI JUSTICE follows on from X.

As always, no predictions here, but these symbols may be worth reflecting on as move through this very auspicious Spring time.

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