Welcome to the Real Life Lessons from the Major Arcana series. We’ve gathered together 22 of the best Tarot readers to share their personal stories and interpretations of the Major Arcana cards.
Discover new meanings and spiritual lessons behind the Major Arcana cards, through real-life experiences and stories. And watch as the Tarot cards truly come to life!
Artistic Soul Nancy Antenucci brings us to the fitting conclusion of our Major Arcana series by showing us how the World balances the intellect, emotion, body and spirit. Read on…
To download all 22 stories, click here.
“You are not here to change the World – the World is here to change you.”
The Old English root for this word is worold, a compound of wer “man” and eld “age,” roughly “Age of Man.” Its Latin root is mundus, literally “clean, elegant,” of Greek cosmos “orderly arrangement.” Each of us will determine (actively or passively) who we are in the world but what is the nature of the World itself? It is a necessity for those of us who work effectively in the realm of spirit, magic, creativity to evolve our view of the World with new discoveries. One’s understanding of this “orderly arrangement” is the sphere where true alchemy happens.
Consider that we as humans are part intellect, emotion, body and spirit, all four being equal partners. Now imagine that the partners elected the Spirit to lead? We often give lip service to being in the present, but to live a life that is spirit-led is defining the world moment by moment. Rather than living through habitual states of being, thought and behavior, you are ever real in the present world. True power, wisdom and love come from the practice of opening to this dance of the four. Who are you without consent of shame, fear and repeated illusions? Who are you if you didn’t assume you knew?
The spirit having form is a dance of sorts. It is the blending and sometimes the clash of different rhythms and desires. Our bodies crave comfort, our spirits crave growth. Tarot, unlike many other structures, is an open, resilient alphabet of images and stories that support one finding the dance they were created to do not only for themselves but ultimately for the world itself.
My visceral understanding of the World comes from my former profession as a concert dancer. The central figure is often depicted as a Dancer suspended easily in mid-heaven. She seems like a well-trained dancer onstage. Any of us that have served Terpsichore, the Greek muse of dance, would know her fifteen minutes of glory on stage came from hours of sweat and toil in the studio. Her grace and balance has come from many moments of frustration and awkwardness. Her seeming ease of movement and effort has come from building an entire system of muscles and nerve connections that extend beyond the pedestrian way of being human. Those fifteen minutes make it all worth it! There is a certain experience of truly being divine when lost in music and lights.
As Her human counterpart, the dancer on the World card came to ultimate completion from a previous blueprint of the various Major Arcana trainings. This grand gesture of stillness and movement has its foundation in one’s journey to being one’s Self through the progression of Fool through Judegment. The World card is the cosmic Kodak moment of full incarnation of acceptance, integration and celebration. It is the invite to being spirit-led. Being spirit-led in a world of matter is no easy matter. Becoming a dancer on Earth takes focus, patience, and passion. Make sure that your relationships, your efforts and your give-and-take with the World is life-sustaining.
The World Trump card reveals this vital and visceral integration of our passion and talents within the
Mandorla, the blending of the two spheres of the Spirit and Human. The Mandorla (the elongated oval shape which provides the sacred stage for the World Dancer) is a sphere where the love of our own life gives and receives fully with the love of Life, the greater source and connection of us all. It is very much like the dancer becoming the music becoming the audience. It is the point of sacred merging and remembering. In some ways, the Mandorla itself is a world between the worlds. It represents that “orderly arrangement” of magic.
My very good friend Beverly Haskins once told me that the World card is essentially service. Once you have reached a certain prime and potential, it is important to give back to others. With the continuing journey of truly loving your life, help others with the love you do discover.
An Exercise in the Major Arcana
Using the World card’s structure of the two overlapping circles, creating the Mandorla (or sacred space), select one of the following three-card spreads.
How do they seem to dance with each other? Where is there a lot of movement? Where is there stillness? Consider using only the Major Arcana to draw from. Create some of your own using the middle position as the result and pure expression of either side.
Masculine Energy – Androgyny – Feminine Energy
Unconscious – Consciousness – Super Conscious
Body – Spirit – Mind and Emotions
Animal – Spirit – Human
Lightness – Expression – Darkness
Trials – Integration – Victories
About Nancy
Nancy Antenucci is a seasoned reader, an innovative teacher and an author of creative spirituality. Her book, “Psychic Tarot, Using Your Natural Psychic Abilities to read the Cards” is a culmination of 30 years of her own explorations of teaching tarot and intuition. She has integrated many years of participation and community building at national tarot conferences to become one of Tarot’s leading innovators. Her Twin Cities Tarot Collective is expanding into a new forms of divination often including theater, transforming public spaces and community experiences. She is a leading creator of the Dark Goddess Lodge, a cyber sanctuary for like minded practitioners to find ways to surface a powerful love for a life sustaining way of life for us all. Look for her new adventure – T.U.T.U. – Tarot Unites the Universe to be held in Sydney, Australia Oct 2017!
Her website is http://www.betweenworlds.us
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