Today is my birthday, so when I pulled this card my first impulse was to put it back and choose another one. But the tarot always gives us the perfect card and this is no exception. Simple-minded and absurd, so maybe a little endearing as well. A phallic symbol given precedence over the head - a common pose for Scorpios (which rhymes!). But the drumstick also looks like a radio antenna for picking up distant signals, which is useful for a tarot card reader: Mercury is the planet of interactions. The element of Fire is linked to this suit: the flash of intuitive inspiration. The Beatles as a band achieved their special magic only after Ringo replaced Pete Best as the drummer, so the Ace of Sticks is the force that gets things started. The music can't begin until Ringo brings the stick crashing down. The Ace of Sticks is at the beginning of the suit, just as we start projects with a maximum of raw potential energy at our disposal. But the question is whether or not this stick is going to be held aloft eternally and the music never gets started. One of the words associated with Mercury is change, so I wonder if nothing in my life is ever going to change.
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My Planetary Week # 24: November 3 - 9
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dodalisque
- Sage
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- Joined: 25 May 2018, 22:11
Re: My Planetary Week # 24: November 3 - 9
Wednesday, ruled by Mercury: Interactions and Change
Ace of Sticks (suit of Ringo)
Today is my birthday, so when I pulled this card my first impulse was to put it back and choose another one. But the tarot always gives us the perfect card and this is no exception. Simple-minded and absurd, so maybe a little endearing as well. A phallic symbol given precedence over the head - a common pose for Scorpios (which rhymes!). But the drumstick also looks like a radio antenna for picking up distant signals, which is useful for a tarot card reader: Mercury is the planet of interactions. The element of Fire is linked to this suit: the flash of intuitive inspiration. The Beatles as a band achieved their special magic only after Ringo replaced Pete Best as the drummer, so the Ace of Sticks is the force that gets things started. The music can't begin until Ringo brings the stick crashing down. The Ace of Sticks is at the beginning of the suit, just as we start projects with a maximum of raw potential energy at our disposal. But the question is whether or not this stick is going to be held aloft eternally and the music never gets started. One of the words associated with Mercury is change, so I wonder if nothing in my life is ever going to change.
Today is my birthday, so when I pulled this card my first impulse was to put it back and choose another one. But the tarot always gives us the perfect card and this is no exception. Simple-minded and absurd, so maybe a little endearing as well. A phallic symbol given precedence over the head - a common pose for Scorpios (which rhymes!). But the drumstick also looks like a radio antenna for picking up distant signals, which is useful for a tarot card reader: Mercury is the planet of interactions. The element of Fire is linked to this suit: the flash of intuitive inspiration. The Beatles as a band achieved their special magic only after Ringo replaced Pete Best as the drummer, so the Ace of Sticks is the force that gets things started. The music can't begin until Ringo brings the stick crashing down. The Ace of Sticks is at the beginning of the suit, just as we start projects with a maximum of raw potential energy at our disposal. But the question is whether or not this stick is going to be held aloft eternally and the music never gets started. One of the words associated with Mercury is change, so I wonder if nothing in my life is ever going to change.
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dodalisque
- Sage
- Posts: 622
- Joined: 25 May 2018, 22:11
Re: My Planetary Week # 24: November 3 - 9
Thursday, ruled by Jupiter: Power and Influences
The Hermit (IX)
This card represents The Beatles' 5th official album release "Help!" and draws its imagery from that album cover. Most of the songs on the album appeared in the movie of the same name that was released around the same time. After the sweet simple love songs of their earlier albums, "Help!" is notable for the beginning of a transition towards greater musical sophistication and more inwardly personal, mature themes. John's title song was a comment on the solitude and depression he was feeling at the time. He called it his "fat Elvis period" because he was smoking too much pot and put on a lot of weight. The stark white background - a ski resort in the movie - emphasises the sense of isolation. As human beings, the four boys were in danger of being swallowed up by their public image. Their own voices cannot be heard because their fame has made them so far removed from their true family and social background that the only way they can communicate is through semaphore. These elements pick up the traditional association of the Hermit with the seeking of wisdom by removing oneself from normal society. The Hermit's lamp is replaced by the money sign, the symbol for the English pound, which was the logo of the Parlophone record company who put out their albums. The lamp of light and wisdom is now all about cash. So the reversed meaning of materialism is playing against the spirituality normally associated with the Hermit. On the other hand, the Beatles could be a beacon offering "help". The planet Jupiter is about power and the source of one's strength: solitude is very important to me. Nevertheless, the teamwork of the Beatles here reminds me that mutually supportive friends are important too.
This card represents The Beatles' 5th official album release "Help!" and draws its imagery from that album cover. Most of the songs on the album appeared in the movie of the same name that was released around the same time. After the sweet simple love songs of their earlier albums, "Help!" is notable for the beginning of a transition towards greater musical sophistication and more inwardly personal, mature themes. John's title song was a comment on the solitude and depression he was feeling at the time. He called it his "fat Elvis period" because he was smoking too much pot and put on a lot of weight. The stark white background - a ski resort in the movie - emphasises the sense of isolation. As human beings, the four boys were in danger of being swallowed up by their public image. Their own voices cannot be heard because their fame has made them so far removed from their true family and social background that the only way they can communicate is through semaphore. These elements pick up the traditional association of the Hermit with the seeking of wisdom by removing oneself from normal society. The Hermit's lamp is replaced by the money sign, the symbol for the English pound, which was the logo of the Parlophone record company who put out their albums. The lamp of light and wisdom is now all about cash. So the reversed meaning of materialism is playing against the spirituality normally associated with the Hermit. On the other hand, the Beatles could be a beacon offering "help". The planet Jupiter is about power and the source of one's strength: solitude is very important to me. Nevertheless, the teamwork of the Beatles here reminds me that mutually supportive friends are important too.
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dodalisque
- Sage
- Posts: 622
- Joined: 25 May 2018, 22:11
Re: My Planetary Week # 24: November 3 - 9
Friday, ruled by Venus: Love and Attraction
7 of Pennies (suit of Paul)
The corresponding card in the Rider-Waite-Smith (RWS) deck shows someone leaning on a hoe waiting for his farm work to come to fruition. I see it as the card of patience, of allowing rewards to arrive in their own time. In the Beatles Tarot (BT) card, instead of 7 pentacles hanging like fruit from a bush, Paul is sitting in his garden at home, surrounded by Alice in Wonderland statues, contemplating 7 of his own records, wondering "What next?". When a task seems to have been successfully completed, the hunger to continue to create returns afresh. In a way, this card is about wistfully thinking, "Is that all there is?". The simple message linking this card with Venus is that love cannot be forced. One of John Milton's great sonnets, in which he complains about his lack of poetic achievement and positive contribution to God's universe, ends with the line: "They also serve who only stand and wait." I'm also thinking of that Zen thing: "When you reach the top of the mountain, keep climbing" - though that might belong to yesterday's Hermit card. The song "Yesterday", which Paul wrote in his sleep, was on the "Help!" album, so the Thursday and Friday cards this week seem oddly intertwined.
The corresponding card in the Rider-Waite-Smith (RWS) deck shows someone leaning on a hoe waiting for his farm work to come to fruition. I see it as the card of patience, of allowing rewards to arrive in their own time. In the Beatles Tarot (BT) card, instead of 7 pentacles hanging like fruit from a bush, Paul is sitting in his garden at home, surrounded by Alice in Wonderland statues, contemplating 7 of his own records, wondering "What next?". When a task seems to have been successfully completed, the hunger to continue to create returns afresh. In a way, this card is about wistfully thinking, "Is that all there is?". The simple message linking this card with Venus is that love cannot be forced. One of John Milton's great sonnets, in which he complains about his lack of poetic achievement and positive contribution to God's universe, ends with the line: "They also serve who only stand and wait." I'm also thinking of that Zen thing: "When you reach the top of the mountain, keep climbing" - though that might belong to yesterday's Hermit card. The song "Yesterday", which Paul wrote in his sleep, was on the "Help!" album, so the Thursday and Friday cards this week seem oddly intertwined.
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dodalisque
- Sage
- Posts: 622
- Joined: 25 May 2018, 22:11
Re: My Planetary Week # 24: November 3 - 9
Thank you for your comments about The Beatles Tarot. It was created by the same guy who made The Shakespeare, Charles Dickens, and Golden Age of Hollywood Tarots which all appeared fairly recently. .The cards are all easily viewable online at: the beatlestarot.com. If you have any questions about any of the cards please ask.