Adam’s Peace

Blue, white and black colors, pomegranates, Isis moon crown, veil, solar cross, crescent moon. Black & white lotus, pillars (B stands for Boaz, signifying negation, J stands for Jachin, meaning beginning). Scroll with the word Tora on it (either the Jewish Torah or an anagram of Tarot, where the final letter is left unseen).

The High Priestess represents knowledge, either that which we know or that which is hidden. Her job isn’t to show us the way, it is to show us that there are many ways. On the card, the High Priestess sits on a throne between two pillars, signifying that she is out of reach, in a different world from the troubles of man…

Continuing on with the journey of the Fool, who has just realized his talents through the Magician, we find that the High Priestess is there to describe how those talents can be used… She hints of mysteries, but with his eyes still firmly on his goal, the fool just receives the plain truths that will lead him to success.

If you find yourself in front of a High Priestess, take a moment to ask what is behind the curtain… She may not tell you, but she loves to hint about it.

If you find yourself in the role of the High Priestess, enjoy it… You’re helping to lead someone to greatness. Don’t give out all of the answers at once, because people just don’t appreciate a plain answer as much as they appreciate a puzzle that they have to work out themselves. Give the fool a sense that he is finding his own way, among the many sources of information that you give him.

The second card in the tarot is The Magician, described below:

Red & White coloring, the lemniscate (infinity symbol), a small wand, a table displaying a chalice, a pentacle, a staff (wand) and a sword.

The magician appears in our lives with a flash and a bang, and often retreats just as theatrically. He’s not a trickster, at least, not always. His purpose is to show us what we haven’t seen before, and it could be the dog in The Fool who finally convinced us to slow down long enough to notice that cliff.

The Magician is one of the only card in the standard Rider-Waite deck which shows the symbols for all four suits, and represents their Aces, with their raw, unshaped power.

If we were to write a story about the Tarot, with the fool being the main character, then after having slipped up at the cliff, but having decided to carry on anyways, the magician is the first person the fool meets. The magician takes the fool’s sack and lays it, still folded, on a table. Then, with commands to the heavens and the earth, the magician reveals the cup, staff, sword, and coin by taking away the covering. Whether the fool always had those items, or if the magician conjured them from without, is unknown.

The magician could be a con artist just as much as he could be a doctor, mystic, or Slade. What sets a person apart as the magician is the theatrics which demand attention… Let’s face it, we all love to be entertained. If we happen to find a person in that role who also has our best interests at heart, then so much the better. (Psst… That’s Slade.)

If we find ourselves meeting a magician, take a moment to sit back and watch the activity behind the curtain for a moment. If the tricks are meant to hurt us, then pull the curtain back and expose the lies. If the tricks are there for our enjoyment, then sit back, relax, and enjoy the show… Just be prepared to learn a lot more about yourself than you’ll ever learn about the magician.

If we find ourselves in the role of the magician, examine your motives. If you are tricking people only for your own gain, then beware that people will expose you quickly. If you are simply being theatrical, showing people the mysteries that you have learned so that they can be as amazed as you, then relax and let the spotlight rest on you for a while… You’ve earned the recognition.

One recent magician that I have met was a bit of both… He was an owner of a computer consulting business, and he spent some of his time teaching classes at my college. He promised several of the more promising students some side jobs that would pay well, but when it came time to actually hand those jobs out, he disappeared suddenly… He had a mid-life crisis, and went traveling the world for a couple of months without any notice. The lessons that he taught us in class, though, were still very high quality.

I’ll start each card with a simple description of its design as seen in the Rider-Waite deck and its many clones.

The fool in colorful motley clothes, pack tied to a staff, a small dog, a cliff.

The major symbols of this card are readily apparent. The fool is walking along, with a pack tied to his staff and slung over his shoulder. The fool is looking up at the bright sky, obviously happy to be embarking on this journey. Just in front of him is a steep cliff, which he does not see, and just behind him is a dog, tearing at his pants. It is left vague as to the actual purpose of the dog, whether he is there to simply harass the fool, or if he is trying to warn the fool away from the cliff.

This card almost always signifies the questioner… We all have a bit of the fool within us, and it is nothing to be ashamed of. Being card number zero, The Fool represents infinite possibilities that are yet to be realized. Anything could be in the fool’s sack, and not even the fool himself knows what he has packed, or how much it will benefit or restrict him on the road to come. The fool isn’t blind to the cliff, he just doesn’t realize that it is there, because his eyes are directed towards his goal, the far off star of what he terms success.

The card never says if the fool falls off the cliff or not. I like to think that he does indeed fall, but not far enough to seriously hurt himself. Once the fool falls, he becomes aware that his journey isn’t as straight and easy as he first thought, and he looses a bit of his innocence. After he climbs back up, he faces the choice of either finding a way around the cliff, or returning home and finding a path that isn’t as dangerous. The card, then, represents newly formed goals, dreams that have yet to be really tried.

If you ever find yourself in the role of the fool, the first step is to rejoice, because you can see success in front of you. Thank the dog who is trying to tear you away from the cliff as you boldly step onward, but every once in a while, check the footing in front of you… Sometimes falling down a loose slope can speed up your journey, but if you fall too quickly, you can hurt yourself. Enjoy this time, as it is truly essential for everyone to go through in order to advance.

If you see someone else playing the role of the fool, and you know that there is a cliff nearby, don’t be afraid to play the role of the dog. Just don’t be offended if your plea to turn around falls on deaf ears. Instead, guide the person aside, away from the most dangerous parts of the cliff, or call the cliff to their attention so that they can avoid it themselves.