The Alphabet of Symbolic Elements

For me the new tarot is a Rosetta stone for deciphering the meaning of symbolic elements. I spent seven years working to understand the meaning of just twenty-two major arcana, but having achieved that, in the manner of a Jung or a Campbell, I can then go back and use it to figure out the universal meaning of each symbolic element. Fortunately, each major symbolic element recurs many times in the new tarot. Sometimes there will be several instances in the same Book. The Nameless One refers to each card as a book, and I will do likewise, for there is a book's worth of wisdom in each.

What follows is a brief dictionary of some of the most common symbolic elements:

We begin with colors. Green is the color of chlorophyll, the means of fixing solar energy for the use of all other life. In symbolic terms green is similarly a fixing or capturing of portable energy, usually in the form of money. A strong yellow is sunlight, and by association, the creative energies that make life possible. Red is blood or a flushed face, and by association, emotion, drive, motivation. Purple is the rare dye reserved in ancient times for the emperor's family, and by association is authority. Gray is ashes, and by association, death, destruction, desolation (which may be of an emotional rather than literal kind).

Blue is the color of a newborn at the instant of crowning, and at the cyanotic instant of death. Blue is the door to birth and death and therefore means renewal. That is why the flesh of the Renewer is blue in the new tarot. The flesh of Osiris, the Egyptian god of the afterlife, is also blue. A color partway between blue and purple combines renewal and authority, which suggests healing, and in particular the profession of healing. A pale yellow is more of an illumination color, the color of the aura of the teacher, for instance. Brown is earth or wood or shit and thus a building material or basis or foundation or fertilizer for other growth. The meaning of white seems to derive from white paint, which when mixed with any other color, ceases to be white. Thus white is pure and innocent, untouched by experience, virginal and ignorant.

The colors of twilight suggest the twilight of life, and the metaphysical contemplation and wisdom that is appropriate to that stage of life. Black is the ultimate darkness, so we must consider the meaning of the spectrum of light to dark. Light is illumination, visibility and clarity, while dark is ignorance and stoppage. Orange refers to the illumination of fire, and the discovery of the meaning of life in meeting challenges, and undergoing renewal.

We shall next look at numbers. When interpreting mandalas, we count the numbers of things. We have five physical senses, and five digits on our hands. When our limbs are fully extended (as in the jumping jack exercise), we make a five pointed star, with head and limbs forming five extremities. There are also five major inhabited continents on earth in the present epoch: North and South America, Europe, Asia and Africa. Five relates to our physical existence, associated with a well-rounded life in-the-body, using our senses and our limbs to their fullest. There are five jewels in the central crown of the Royal Maze and five courses of stones on the well of life in the Renewer.

There are four directions, four winds and four dimensions in our earthly plane. Quaternity has always meant wholeness and completeness on the earthly plane.

Trinity has always meant wholeness and completeness on a spiritual plane. Gods always come in threes. There is Brahma the creator, Shiva the destroyer, and Krishna the preserver, or the Father, Son and Holy Ghost. There are three pillars of the kabbala. There are three handles on the chalice of the well of life in the Book of the Renewer. If we drink from the well of life in the Renewer, we may fulfill the divine purpose by grasping the handle of creation, the handle of destruction, or the handle of preservation. All may equally serve growth and creation. This is a hard lesson, and shows us that the divine or sacred goal does not always agree with earthly morality or values.

Two is polarity. Polar opposites are the two ends or extremes of the same thing, and cannot exist without each other. Male cannot exist without female, and the north pole of a magnet implies the existence of a south pole. Two are the polar opposites on the axis of ONE. There is nonetheless always tension and opposition, if not downright war, between the dualities of polar opposites.

The meanings of all other numbers can be derived from the meanings of two, three, four and five, by adding, multiplying or taking them to a power of themselves. Eight of something shows the polarizing effects of two combined with the earthly whole of four. The symbolic meaning is materialism and greed, or some sort of polarizing earthiness. Ten shows the polarizing effects of two combined with the body number five, suggesting the misuse of technology and the corrupting effects of luxury. However, in some contexts, ten refers to the ten forms of Samadhi. That is the meaning of the ten fruit on the Tree of life in the Garden of the Renewer. Six shows the polarizing effects of two combined with the higher trinity, and thus suggests the sacred dance of Shiva carried to fanatical excess, to martyrdom or asceticism.

Seven is the additive, twelve the multiplicative, combination of three and four. Both seven and twelve have always been considered lucky numbers, the combination of the earthly and the spiritual whole. There are seven spiritual paths and seven rays of light piercing the clouds over the Renewer. There were three parts to the holy trinity, four books of gospels, twelve disciples and seven seals on the book of revelation.

These numbers constantly recur in sacred contexts, as do their combinations and powers such as nine and sixteen. Sixteen is a quaternity of quaternities, and nine is the trinity of trinities. This is like a redoubling or intensification of the original symbolic meaning. Thus, nine is the holy of holies.

The figure eight (i.e. the image or sign) should not be confused with the quantity eight. The shape of a figure eight is a moebius strip, and means infinity, i.e. the unending, since one can trace around and around the figure, going from loop to loop, inside to outside, without end. To avoid confusion with the number, the "unending" symbol is shown laid on its side.

Small rational numbers such as two-thirds or five-ninths also have distinctive symbolic meanings as elements. Small rational numbers are harmonies, a discovery made by the ancient Greek philosopher Pythagoras. Each harmony has its own feel, some good, some bad. The first twenty-one intervals of our modern equal tempered scale includes just about all the possible small whole numbered ratios, though they are not all exact. By fine-tuning, one can emphasize some harmonies at the expense of others. More on this in the chapter on mandalas, where we shall consider mandala music. But this suggests that we may need to consider ratios when interpreting mandalas.

Species of animals or plants or natural objects are also symbolic elements. The meaning of species elements is sometimes surprising. For instance, a serpent means "initiatory experience."

This is hardly our free association with snakes. There are two strands to the symbolic meaning of serpents, with the context bringing out one or the other or both. On the one hand, serpents are chthonic, of-the-earth. They come out of the ground, and have the temperature and feel of earth.

The other association is with the penis, which is also cool to the touch, and similar in shape. (Freud was not the first to notice this!). It is not the penis, per se, which conveys the symbolic meaning. It is the first act of sex, which forever changes one. After sex, one is no longer a child, and can never go back to the childhood frame of reference. Before sex, it is impossible to fully understand adult love.

Sex is an initiation, and thus stands for all initiatory experiences that forever change a person. And this ties back to the chthonic thread of meaning, for the experiences of the nature mystic or the shaman are also initiatory and transforming experiences which prepare the novice for further steps down the path. And it is because of this large and complex freight of symbolic meaning that serpents occur frequently in symbolism. There are probably a dozen of them in the new tarot. There are three just in the Book of the Deliverer. Of course, the Deliverer is about the illumination of fire, the ultimate initiation. An initiation is not necessarily a ritual; it is any experience which changes the novice to an initiate.

Symbolism is never conventional. It is only what is unusual or unconventional that conveys symbolic meaning. One unconventional context is the hooded eagle on the shoulder of the Changer. He is hooded and jessied like a falcon, but he is not a falcon.

He is an eagle, the universal predator, the only creature that takes its prey from land, sea or air. The universal predator has always suggested the power of government, which is why governments have always instinctively liked that symbolism. To be hooded and jessied means to be domesticated, brought under control, tamed.

The symbolic meaning of a species is always associated with something unusual, unique or exaggerated in that species. For instance, sheep are the most completely useful kind of domestic animal, providing fiber, milk, cheese, and meat. They also have the strongest herd instinct. Sheep always want to go where the herd is going. This has always suggested the mass of ordinary people.

Wolves hunt in packs, cooperating with each other to prey on the sheep, thus wolves are the dominant elite of every society. Hawks soar, endlessly and effortlessly born on the wind, and thus suggest all that is soaring and windborne and all-seeing (Horus). Egrets and other large fishing birds are at home in two realms, the world of air and of water, plunging into the depths of the latter to pluck out a denizen of the watery deeps (an inspiration). This suggests the role of the creative genius (Thoth), who is also at home in two realms, the airy world of everyday action, and the inner, floating world of the collective unconscious, source of inspiration. That is why Imhotep, a great genius of the early Pyramid age in Egypt (inventor of writing and of the pyramids), was later deified as an Ibis-headed god.

Bluebirds hold the curtain of invisibility and the tools of illusion on the stage of the Actor, while playing a more positive role in the Victorious One, the modern warrior, who has unhooked the lions from his chariot. The blue birds keep the wolves at bay with a transparent curtain. Blue birds play a similar role in Disney movies, so we must have struck a deep vein of symbolic meaning here. Do not think of these as the familiar species "bluebirds." Think of this as the combination of two symbolic elements, "blue," and "bird." Blue is renewal, bird is flight, escape, uncaged, free in the ocean of air. Thus, the blue bird plays a liberating role. They appear at happy moments in Disney movies, to aid the hero or heroine in the moment of triumph.

The four elements of nature all have symbolic meaning. Water always suggests the dreaming, floating world of genius, the day-dreamer. Air is the normal workaday world of thought and action, often suggested by windblown sails, hair, clouds, or clothing. Fire is the illumination of fire with its suggestion of the necessity of challenges, which may destroy as well as warm. Stone is a building material, suggested by wood or brown colors. Spark stars suggest the sudden flash of inspiration.

Orientation is always symbolically important. Left handed is yin, the receptive, passive, accepting, nurturing, maternal, feminine, lateral-thinking. Right handed is yang, the aggressive, initiating, driving, deciding, single-focused. Above is heaven, the spiritual, and below is earth, the physical. In the new tarot, orientation is always figured from the point of view of the figure, not from our point of view, and this may be generally true of symbols.

Conventional clothing means nothing. In the new tarot, the standard figure is nude, to show that all is revealed. The cloak of the Renewer implies something hidden. Only the Speaker's feet are covered, isolated from the "ground" (social convention) he walks on.

The four suits of the New Tarot are all symbolic. The four suits are the amphisbaena (a serpent with a head on both ends, much used in Aztec symbolism), stones, curved blades, and pears. Pears are distinctive in several ways. All the other trees in the orchard die after 15-20 years, while this is just when pears begin fruiting. All other orchard fruits are picked in summer, with crab apples the last, in September. But Pears are picked in the fall. Furthermore, the fruit continues to ripen after picked, if stored properly, until it becomes absolutely delicious about Christmastime. All this suggest things which take a long time to mature. For instance, Civilizations have their "second religiousness" in late maturity, and this is their final fruition. Do not confuse the original spirituality with the dried up religion it may become after thousands of years. Curved blades can be propellers, or scimitars. If a scimitar, then it suggests a decisive action, cutting time into a before and after. As a propeller, it suggests action, progress, motion. Stones are good for building. Some stones are jewels and good for wearing. Some are precious gems. Some are crystals, and may store psionic energy, or "huna." The serpent suggests initiation, and the rhythm of the dance, the to-and-fro of life and death. Why initiation? Well, Freud was not the first to notice the similarity between a serpent and the penis, which associates with sex, especially the first initiation of the virgin, which stands for every experience which is initiatory. Sex forever changes one from a child to an adult, and one cannot go back. The same is true of other truly initiatory experiences. But I have already talked about serpents.

This completes my brief dictionary of symbolic elements. A symbol can combine elements from different categories, in every conceivable way, forming images of things that have never existed in reality.

I will close this chapter with a few examples of the interpretations of mandalas done by my students. It often takes thirty minutes to an hour to interpret a mandala. I must find some quiet time. I try turning it this way and that, for the higher Self may have created a mandala upside down or side-ways to the individual making it. I look at it from various distances, and in various lights. I take my time, and let the interpretation come to me.

I begin by looking for recognizable objects. These are seldom drawn in a conventional way. For instance, a house may be a Picasso house, showing multiple perspectives at once, with distortions, and it may show the interior simultaneously with the exterior. Usually the mandala maker can help the interpreter identify vaguely drawn objects. They may "just know" that this vaguely bird-like figure is a vulture.

On a circular field of pale yellow there are four fields of gray outlined in purple. Thus, we have authority confining ashes and death. This suggested to me the emergency room environment, where the authority is provided by the doctors, because I knew the woman who made the mandala was an emergency room nurse. This scene of power and death is embedded in a field of light and learning. Red outlines a yellow center in these fields of gray.

Red also outlines a region central to the mandala, which is done in a color intermediate between blue and purple, a kind of royal blue, which is often associated with the healer. Thus, the center of this individual is the desire to heal. The red of passion encloses and bounds this healing field, as well as the life-energies (yellow) in the midst of the fields of desolation and authority. I suspect a certain unconscious rebelliousness against the power, greed and carelessness of her superiors, the doctors, who often could not be found to give her permission to do what she knew must be done. She is a natural healer somewhat out of tune with our hierarchical system of medicine.

The mandala of a very quiet student that I did not know very well, surprisingly revealed him to be a man well balanced between metaphysical and physical knowledge, a very lucky man, destined to have a happy life. His mandala was that of a domestic room with a large stained glass window, illuminating a beautiful and comfortable interior. The window was round, with seven rings and sixteen radii. Seven is a good number, representing a balance or combination of an earthly whole (quaternity) and a sacred whole (trinity). The quaternity aspect is emphasized with the number sixteen, quaternity squared. The individual segments formed by the intersection of the radial lines and circles are alternatively colored in a strong orange and a light reddish violet (a twilight color). Orange is the color of fire and of the illumination of fire. It is in the illumination of fire that we see the pattern of life, the necessity of challenges to inspire creativity.

The delicate twilight colors are seen in the sky at sunset and are otherwise rare in nature. In the twilight of life, we turn to thoughts of the eternal issues, to metaphysics and mysticism. This man had made metaphysics central to his approach to life.

I hope I have shown it is possible for anyone to learn to interpret mandalas, sacred art, mythology or symbolic dreams, though it is clearly an entirely new way of thinking in the time of Heroic Materialism, and it may take years of study to master something like the New Tarot. First memorize the symbolic elements, since they retain their meaning in all contexts. Remember the four steps for deciphering elements not in my dictionary. Remember that it is not possible to translate symbolic meaning into "plain English," and even the interpretation will be metaphorical. However we approach the goal of spiritual evolution, mastering symbolism is a necessary skill, just as learning the calculus is a necessary skill for the physicist.

And what does all this have to do with going to the stars? A knowledge of symbolism makes the Inner Journey possible, a reflection through the looking glass of the Outer Journey. We must first go in to the Soul before we can go out to the stars.

New Tarot Contents | 29. Divination