Crucification of innocence & the pathway to maturity
In the Tarot we see masses of religious symbolism. In a very condensed view, we could see the whole spiritual process as a method of gate keeping maturity, and that which yields the oversight of human behaviours; A path of power.
Any parent can tell you that a child will take any power they can get, and adolescents, adults will be the same. Be it an extra five minutes at bed time, or controlling shares in a business; The quest for power has some conditions attached.
Each element has its own ascended state. Crowning each of the quarters is needed to develop further. You can’t go full on into one area and expect to develop the stable foundations of a future consciousness, each one must be understood implicitly, personally before moving forward.
The Fool takes his baggage and then will try to unravel their understanding of those experiences through a journey of some type. The journey may take a lifetime, settle in.
Scars of victory
As the Fool leaps off the mountain (as shown in some cards), this is our leap of faith, our trusting in the process. We are taken into a world where everything that could probably go wrong does. As a child we get abused, bullied, covered in scars both mentally and physically. As we grow older we love, we lose. More and more scars, scars upon scars, and we feel that nature has taken us to our limit, and in reality it’s only just begun chewing on us.
We are left feeling like an exposed nerve to every event around us, everything can affect us in many ways. Some are left with highly complex mental issues, which can take a long time to come to terms with. We come out of the Fool’s trip near death, torn to shreds. How are we supposed to deal with this sort of enlightenment?
There is only one pathway that’s safe. Acceptance. We cannot change the past.
That’s a hard pill to swallow, so most will ignore accepting their given lot in life, and seek retribution through the use of their imagination, or actual physical actions. It’s no surprise as there’s a lot of anger within the losses we face in life.
This crap we go through has to feed us in someway, or it will destroy us. This is where the subtle spiritual forces can. help unify and lead thought to higher resolution, epiphany. There are nameless forces at work in the mind, and a religious person or atheist can attest to how strange the mind can be sometimes with its higher functions.
Pointing at the self
All the previous trauma can be compounded by self crucification over the decisions we made, didn’t make, or a failure to act. This process is like a burrowing tick that never lets the host recover.
Strangely these processes can give us other abilities that we’ll see reflected in other cards. For example if we feel uneducated we may call ourselves ‘stupid’ and have a low esteem about our mental acuity, and then through the rectification of that attribute in the self, we become well educated in a way that surpasses what we would have possessed if we had taken the normal path.
A good perception of self to have would be one that doesn’t think that you are a waste of time and space. You have to bring a value to your existence in some form that is healthy for your self to grow into. Having some self esteem that is unsinkable is crucial, and the blows that the Fool takes are there to make sure you keep firm hold of your earned throne once you get there. There are extremes to this, where over confidence can claim power that can’t be wielded competently, resulting in a crooked pathway through life. For example, if you won the lottery ten years ago, how would you have invested the funds compared to todays place you stand?
The horse that leads
Underneath this process is an instinct that leads the self through these trials. It is impartial, and ever watchful. It is a greater part of the self that has surrendered to the process, with no regard to the plea that rises from the lower self. It is the master of the internal world, a master to be. It is what we aspire to.
The poor lower, older self is dragged through the happenings. Have pity upon thyself, and welcome the coming changes that these blows from life that enable us to carry heavier loads in our futures.
The journey is one of the righteous acquisition of personal power. The only way to crown the self authentically is to purge, assimilate and understand the mechanics of the self. We may find ourselves bringing problems into our life, or life bringing them to us if ignored.
Part of our nature understands that some paths are available to us should we choose to temper the nature within the self. These higher and harder paths yield great results, but a fraught with misdirection and danger.