Allowing And The Illusion Of Control

At first blush, Failure and Ruin don’t exactly portend a positive outcome with the Wheel of Fortune, but then that’s Tarot for you. Things aren’t always as they seem. Haindl uses Crowley’s titles for both the 7 of Stones (Disks in the Thoth Tarot) and the 10 of Swords respectively offering a negative connotation to both cards. Earth and Air are the elements influencing today’s reading and IChing hexagrams or guas appear on each of the numbered cards reflecting a Standstill and The Abysmal. The rune, Jera, appears on the Wheel of Fortune signifying the cyclical nature of life and the overall numerology of the reading is 9 or completion. We’ve come full circle and we’re experiencing the genesis of something new.

Seven stones in varying size appear suspended before a tree, ancient and broken. Failure is its title, but I prefer the hexagram meaning of Standstill for the 7 of Stones. We’re a little scattered right now, but the potential exists for a positive outcome. As the stones remain suspended, we’re reminded that sometimes it’s best to pause and take stock of the situation before moving forward. Additionally, seven is the number for divinity and magick representing our intuition as well as our shadow side. Seven strikes a particular balance with three points on either side of a center point. In the case of the 7 of Stones there is a lack of balance depicted by the stones in disarray.

10 swords penetrate the ground below, broken tips scattered about. We’ve gone as far as we can go, the ten swords blocking any further entrance to the ancient city. The hexagram associated with the 10 of Swords suggests a deeper meaning may be found in the process over our intended goal. In other decks, the 10 of Swords suggests that it’s darkest before the dawn and suggests that we listen to our inner voice, allowing our instincts to guide us forward. Center, align, and then know. 10 reduces to 1 and suggests wholeness and new beginnings also reinforced by the final card in the reading, card 10 of the Major Arcana.

Zeus looks down on creation from above while the Goddess gazes upward at the Wheel of Fortune. Synchronicity and rebirth, the cycle of life itself, are the Wheel of Fortune’s primary meanings. Irrespective of how we wish to control everything, life has a way of continuing on in spite of us. The illusion is that we have much effect at all. In fact, that may be the counsel of the Goddess, of Mother Earth herself. Observe more while controlling less.

In our attempts to control others or a particular outcome, we risk losing sight of the bigger picture as well as any positive contribution we might make. Instead of experiencing something in a way that contributes to a positive outcome any organized efforts take a back seat to our own need for control. The 7 of Stones and the 10 of Swords demonstrate what happens when we get in the way of our own process. But as one door closes, another typically opens if we suspend judgment and allow the process to unfold trusting that with a unified effort, things will turn out right in the end.

We can make our interaction with others, our experiences here in this life, one of allowing or one of control. The Wheel will spin irrespective of our choice.

Blessed Be