The Pope

Spiritual wisdom and authority. Orthodoxy. Petitioning another for help, or someone is petitioning you. A person who deserves respect and, at the same time, wariness.

Marriage alliance, captivity, servitude; by another account, mercy and goodness; inspiration; the man to whom the Querent has recourse. Reversed: Society, good understanding, concord, over-kindness, weakness.

The Heirophant is the link between God and man — the high priest on earth. His are the ways of tradition. He is our spiritual guide who transcends the material world.

 

The master of the sacred mysteries wears the triple crown of a pope, signifying the creative, formative, and material worlds. He holds a sceptre terminating in a triple cross. At his feet are crossed keys, a gold one for solar energy and a silver one for the unseen forces of the moon. The two tonsured priests kneeling before him again indicate duality, for one garment is decorated with the white lilies of spiritual thought and the other with the red roses of desire. He may represent the Pope, but more likely the idea of a pontiff who is master to the masses. He is the ruling power of external religion, whereas the High Priestess teaches only in secret to initiates. Divinatory Meaning: Preference for the outer forms of religion. The need to conform, to be socially approved. Reversed: Unconventionality, unorthodoxy, openness to new ideas in any field. Danger of becoming superstitious. Can be the card of the inventor as well as the crackpot.

This card speaks of a spiritual rather than a worldly power and authority. The priest offers wisdom and rational knowledge, creative intelligence and inspiring perceptions. You are gaining insight and a stable understanding of your life and surroundings. This knowledge is not necessarily a religious one, but rather a profound and sensible understanding. The High Priest in this card may symbolize an influential friend, adviser or teacher. Reversed: Beware of lies and misleading information.

 

King of Pentacles

Coins: Obtaining. Providing for yourself. Establishing a comfort zone. Taking risks with resources. Think of the thoughts and feelings you experience when you buy a lottery ticket.

King: Controlling. Using force and authority to impose one’s will.

The figure calls for no special description; the face is rather dark, suggesting also courage, but somewhat lethargic in tendency. The bull’s head should be noted as a recurrent symbol on his throne. The sign of this suit is represented throughout as engraved or blazoned with the pentagram, typifying the correspondence of the four elements in human nature and that by which they may be governed. Divinatory Meanings: Valour, realizing intelligence, business and normal intellectual aptitude, sometimes mathematical gifts and attainments of this kind; success in these paths. Reversed: Vice, weakness, ugliness, perversity, corruption, peril.

 

Six of Swords

Swords: Defending. Self-defense and setting boundaries. Think of drawing a line in the sand with a sword point.

Six: Keeping it going. You’ve established a pattern or rhythm which allows things to run smoothly. Things are going well and you’re in a position to be generous with others or even to give up some of your goals for others’ benefit.

A ferryman carrying passengers in his punt to the further shore. Divinatory Meanings: Journey by water, route, way, envoy, commissionary, expedient. Reversed: Declaration, confession, publicity; one account says that it is a proposal of love.

You are able to navigate through your problems. And even though your difficulties still face you, you are learning how to deal with them, how to live your life in their presence. You are trying to look at things with a more open mind by putting distance between yourself and the past. Reversed: You don’t feel like you are making any progress. You are trying to paddle against the current. You aren’t able to look at your problems afresh or put them behind you.

A ferryman carries passengers in his boat to the opposite shore. The waters are smooth; the swords do not seem to weigh the boat down. Divinatory Meaning: Passage away from difficulties; journey by water; success after anxiety; sending someone to represent you in an undertaking. Reversed: Unfavorable issue of an affair. No immediate way out of present difficulties. A stalemate.

Difficulties surmounted, a trip may bring good news.

The first step into pure joy is an intellectual experience. Poetry finds its source in the Six of Swords.