Monthly Tarot for January 2020
With its 22 Master number energy, 2020 promises to be a year where we begin building anew. Given the year’s powerful impact, I wanted to use my Haindl Tarot deck for the monthly reading because of its integrative approach to divination. You’ll note that Haindl changes some of the names of the Major Arcana as well as reimagining the Court completely. And, he uses astrological and Hebrew glyphs along with runes and I Ching hexagrams to provide a richer divination experience. I’ll be using three cards for each week and I’ll interpret them from a general influence perspective. So, let’s begin with week one!
Week One
The first week in January suggests transition with the appearance Death, the thirteenth card from the Major Arcana. The ferryman stands alone in his boat on the water while a large peacock observes the scene. A skeletal hand reaches upward while holding a scythe, ready to reap the soul’s divine potential allowing it to begin a new cycle. Berkano appears in the top right corner of the card indicating fertility and new beginnings. Death speaks of transition and transformation, of both self and perception.
Haindl describes the King of Stones as the Oldman using ancient feet to traverse the Akashic Record of our collective existence. Other footprints from animals and birds are interspersed throughout the card with hands above reaching toward the future. The King of Stones represents tradition and abundance and the collective aspect of family, hearth, and home.
The final card for this week is the Ace of Cups or the beginning of new emotional connections and spirituality. Its spiral nature illustrates the flow of emotional presence, with the small drop above suggesting the fragility of our emotional balance. Love flows with this card along with happiness and joy.
It appears that as a new and profound cycle centering on our very foundation in life begins, it does so in happiness and joy as we move forward eager to embrace the future. The overall four numerology reinforces this focus.
Week Two
An eagle lands on top of a large round boulder as a rainbow appears over the scene invoking the balance between spirit and form. The Ace of Stones (Pentacles) describes the genesis of stability, material gain, along with a feeling of groundedness.
The 6 of Cups represents an offering of purity and grace. Haindl titles the card Happiness as he balances structure with polarity, the four cups on the left and the two on the right suggesting a foundation for happiness based upon reciprocity. The star above in the night sky suggests goddess presence as she extends purity and grace below. The hexagram from the I Ching is titled The Joyous and perfectly reinforces our happiness as we move forward with joyous intention.
A choice, a doorway, a passageway to Peace describes the 2 of Swords. Trees line each side of an unknown path reinforcing the dispassionate choice we make, with peace the only outcome possible. The suit of Swords represents Elemental Air and our integrity. In alignment with the hexagram from the I Ching, the 2 of Swords suggests that choosing peace may provide a pathway into our collective flow with others.
In sum, we find our happiness during the second week of the new year through reciprocity with others. Peace is chosen to preserve harmony and truth, evoking a sense of completion fostered by the week’s overall nine numerology.
Week Three
The 5 of Wands, Strength, and the 3 of Stones comprise the influences for the third week of the month suggesting the strength required for transformation. The 5 of Wands is titled Conflict and depicts five flame-tipped spears suspended before a rising pillar. However, what the card doesn’t tell us is the nature of the conflict itself. The traditional interpretation for the 5 of Wands involves competition and creative conflict, however, Haindl’s inclusion of the I Ching hexagram suggests a higher purpose is involved with its title Revolution. So, we’re not looking at conflict for the sake of power, but at revolution resulting in profound change.
Strength in the Haindl deck illustrates his non-traditional view of the Tarot by replacing the lion with a serpent coiled around a nude woman. She expresses the same level of trust with the serpent as the woman does with the lion in the Rider-Waite version of this card, however, this rendition is far more primal in nature. Haindl unites Spirit with form in this card, particularly with his inclusion of Sowilo, the rune of Higher Consciousness. A closer look at the rune suggests an as above so below energetic exchange indicating our true strength comes from Spirit.
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The 3 of Stones ends the week’s reading with the message of Work. Here, we make even progression with more to accomplish yet everything seems in order. Fellowship of Man is the title of the I Ching hexagram suggesting a higher level of cooperation is at work and that we make progress through integrated effort.
Again, the theme for the week appears to be one of higher purpose. Revolutionary change is coming, the overall numerology of seven suggesting a collective rebalancing of perception. We need only trust the process.
Week Four
We end the month with two cards from the Major Arcana, The Moon and the Magician, both cards of mystery, as well as the 10 of Wands, the ten signaling new beginnings.
A unicorn watches as a lobster emerges from the pond below by the light of the Full Moon. A card of mystery and the unconscious mind, The Moon as the eighteenth card from the Major Arcana, suggests endings, and in this case, the end of illusion.
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In the 10 of Wands, we see a bat swooping down on its prey, in this case, Haindl sees them as cats. In this card, instead of a man with limited vision carrying a burden, here we have the promise of a reversal or shift in power. The Marrying Maiden is the hexagram from the I Ching Haindl includes on the card and it seems to suggest a propensity for engaging in relationships without any discernment, however, a closer look tells us that in fact, balanced discernment is the goal.
Another one energy of new beginnings, the Magician invokes our will to transform our experiences. He sees the world in its dual nature as he balances Spirit with physical form. His tools are placed before him, bound together by his own intention. Haindl also includes Fehu, the 1st rune from the Elder Futhark to send his intention, his magick, to the collective consciousness.
It’s interesting that the numerology for the week is 9, 1, 1. Are we in an emergency situation, one where we can go no further and a decision must now be made? Or is it reminiscent of 9/11, when our country changed forever? Or is it endings and beginnings that the numerology describes.
We can also read both ones as 11, or the week’s overall numerology as 11, either way, we’re still looking at the Master Number bringing illumination and enlightenment this week.
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Final Thoughts…
Irrespective of how we read the numerology for the week, we are beginning a 22 year, the Master Number for the Cosmic Builder. And if that’s not enough, the overall numerology for the month is 4 which definitely aligns with the 22 if we had reduced it to four.
However, with the 22 numerology for the year and the theme of transformation of our perceptions throughout the month, it appears we begin this new Cosmic Builder year with Spirit in charge. We seek a new balance with our own perceptions and in our relationships with others as we transmute ego’s hold over our attention to one that experiences the collective nature of Self.
Profound change is upon us. How it manifests is up to us.
Until next month…
Blessings to all!
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Thank you... Jan Erickson
