The Olympian gods in Homer’s universe are a family like any other. It has Zeus, the all powerful father that cannot be defied, at least not outright, but he can be deceived; it has Hera, the jealous and watchful wife who is a master of the political game and is very familiar with intrigue; and sons and daughters who each vie for their parent’s attention and approval while pursuing their own, individual interests.
Gods and Humans
These gods play their part in the poem, in close contact with the human beings. For Homer, gods are very much alike to humans in appearance, speech and passions – even in motives and actions. In the poem the gods can sometimes be seen to fight in the actual war itself. However, the big difference between gods and humans is they cannot die. The gods are timeless, they are the same today as they were at the start of time. They cannot learn by suffering and mistakes; and there is no realisation of their limitations. This is completely different to the human characters of the poem. Both Achilles and Helen of Troy come to understand how their own godlike passions result in the suffering and the deaths of others. They learned from experience and suffering. This is a realisation that the gods can never have.
What the gods are now is what they always were and always will be. This is in contrast to the humans they fight along side. The contrast being, humans pay the ultimate price, total death of the personality. For the timeless gods, their personality can never die, nor can they ever learn or change. They are the same at the end of the Iliad as they are at the start. Experience cannot alter their personalities.
The gods do not discuss things with each other. Instead, anyone be it god or man, that is opposed to their Will, are seen as obstacles and as such, they are obstacles to be overcome, not by gentle persuasion, but rather, by force of Will, deception and intrigue. Unable to see past their own timeless personality and motive, they cannot feel pity or understand the consequences of their actions.
The reason the gods and the Tarot are similar is because they both represent and are the personification of all those mysterious forces that intervene in human life – earthquakes, plagues, love, adrenaline and so on.
Let’s now turn our attention to the Tarot to see how this helps us understand it better.
The Emperor
Think of the complete godlike self-absorption that this card represents. The Emperor is completely unable to consider the world outside his own high regard, his own godlike self-esteem. Every human being that’s in his kingdom is simply a personification of himself. He is unable to free himself out of his own immortal motive and see the uniqueness of the ‘other’. Tarot cards, much like the gods they represent, are not subject to change, they are what they have always been right now and in the present; a completely selfish and self-interested passion to the outcome of their desire. For example, when the Emperor clashes with the Moon, like the Olympian gods, there is no rational discussion. They both see each other as obstacles to the ‘others’ intent and as such, unable to see beyond their own godlike self-projection; they will use deception and force, often violent to drive forward their objective. On the other hand, they can just as easily work together if they share a common goal.
In terms of those Martial gods, the Emperor is felt when you find the courage to assert yourself in a scary situation; he is there when you feel adrenaline before the action, and he is there when we need to impose laws and restrictions.
The gods, like Tarot cards, represent forces of nature. On the whole, these forces do not change. It does not matter what deck you use, in the majority of cases they represent the same timeless force. The same total self-absorption of purpose.
When an unexplainable event happens to us, we can describe it as either chance, the will of the gods, a random and unfortunate sequence of events, God or even Fate. It doesn’t matter whether you describe it as the intervention of Homer’s gods or the random events of chance, they are each as metaphysical a concept as each other; an explanation of the unexplainable.
For Tarot readings to work, the Tarot deck must be able to represent those mysterious and powerful forces that so often intervene in a humans life, what ever those forces are, and they are often without pity or concern for the consequences of their actions. When conducting a Tarot reading, remember, that these cards represent forces, often unexplainable, violent and self-absorbed; meaning they are impartial to the effects they have. They are timeless forces, that cannot learn from experience and so, depending on the circumstance, they either benefit the client, or create obstacles for the client.
On a plus note, given the timeless nature of the cards, it makes it easier for us to learn how to divine with them.
Can a Tarot deck accurately represent these mysterious forces?
{ 8 comments… read them below or add one }
Loving your series with the Greek Myths
I’ve gained a lot from it, as you know from other comments. This post had me thinking slightly off track with its contents though. It reminded me of the non-judgemental nature of Tarot – its godlike nature. Morally, it doesn’t give a hoot what pickle we’ve got ourselves into. Tarot shows us the details of our own, or the querent’s situation; we interpret and tell the narrative as we see it. It’s often brutal in its directness, and I feel it’s only us as Tarot readers who perhaps add the frill and the lace to soften the blow.
To take that point further, I feel that Tarot doesn’t offer any advice either. Rather it presents choices that we also retell to the querent. The advice only comes in the reinterpretation from ourselves. This I feel also points out the danger of one card being placed in one position, in this instance, the ‘advice’ position. Also being a reader of the Opening of the Key spread, you’re more aware than most of the benefits of a non-positional spread, and the limits of ‘one card, one position’ unless as a reader, we reinterpret the cards after their initial assessment – something I know you do, and something you even put a name to – your Principle of Reinterpretation
– a must for positional spreads.
Of course the difficulty in providing some clients with a choice is that they didn’t come to you to hear choices, they’re in front of you because they already have one and they want to know what to do! It’s a tricky business, and as Tarot readers, work like yours is very helpful in reminding us of exactly what Tarot can do; what it doesn’t; but more importantly, what Tarot isn’t. By itself, Tarot promises nothing and is non-judgemental. The problem I feel is in the expectation and the lace.
Cool series, I hope there’s more to come
Catherine, thank you for your comment. The lack of morality that the Tarot has, in the sense of moral judgments or guidance, is the one thing I find continually fascinating. I relate the whole thing to Nature; there is no hint of ‘morality’ anywhere. I don’t want to use the expression ‘Nature, red in tooth-and-claw’ but it comes close. There is also no pity in Nature, at least, none that my observations have uncovered. With Nature lacking in morality and pity, naturally, the Tarot will reflect this. The Tarot, after all, represents Nature.
The idea that a Tarot reading can provide the client with a choice is really exciting isn’t it
? I mean, it hints at free-will and human self-direction. It’s fascinating stuff because a choice also hints at fate. Choose one direction and such and such will happen – choose the other direction and such and such a thing will happen. The ‘free-will’ bit is making the choice…then fate kicks in and takes things to its natural conclusion. How much free-will do we have and can we pin point, in a Tarot reading, the moment that the client has a choice, the moment they can use their free-will? Can we help them use their free-will constructively?
Great post Doug – and I wholeheartedly agree with Catherine’s comment about the Tarot not offering advice. This illustrates one of the key differences between the judeo-christian-muslim-whatever modern world and our Pagan past. There is a meme in contemporary culture that divinity is some kind of councellor – teaching us lessons, punishing us for mistakes and rewarding us for self sacrifices. The Tarot is essentially an atavistic, polytheistic pagan revival where rather than being at school with a surley headmaster who punishes us “for our own good” we are at a wild party with an eccentric crowd of revellers all putting their own 2 pence worth of influence in. Here you have to decide what it is you want and work with the individual gods, according to their nature to get it.
You mentioned:-
This is very much the same in Norse mythology – perhaps even more so – you should check out some of the sagas. It’s certain that they haunt the tarot to one degree or another – particularly the hanged man which is strongly resonant with Odin on the world tree **I think we spoke about this before – sorry if I’m going over old ground**
Thanks Chris
I think the key words here are, ‘according to their nature’!
The nature of the gods seems to me to be completely self absorbed. They only understand events as extensions of that nature. Interesting thoughts!
I wonder why you have not gone back Egyptian gods and goddesses for further enrichment. Especially because the Thoth deck actually is based more on the Egyptian pantheon than the Greecian or Roman. Are you student of Qabalah? As I read more about Qabalah the Thoth deck becomes more alive.
Hi Astromama,
Thanks for dropping by.
Although I’ve never written explicitly on the Thoth, Egyptian pantheon or Qabalah, I can certainly understand why you’re finding these subjects to be of such importance and relevance. I remember when I spent several years of intense study on these very subjects – I felt I was beginning to understand things in a completely different and vibrant way.
I plan to write some articles, at some point, which focus on the Thoth, and the Qabalah.
I’d love to hear more of your feedback on the work I’ve already written, especially if you can see a Qabalistic connection that I’ve not mentioned. This would certainly bring a new dimension to other people that are reading the articles
.
I am remembering this post today as I am thinking about the Emperor card (again!) Being a sun sign Aries, the first card that draw my attention when I first learn about Tarot is the Emperor card. I used to take the card as a reminder for myself not to fall into the less wanted qualities that the Emperor personifies: self-inflated, hegemonic, violent etc. But there are also days when I suspect the reverse is true: that in my attempt to avoid being too ‘hard’, I might have become too ‘soft’ and lend myself to the disposal of others/fate. Reading your posts give me a great insight: that perhaps the crux of the dilemma lies in free will vs fate. There are things within human control and things that are beyond. To me, the right attitude should really be striving in the areas where one can control, and surrendering in the areas where one cannot…
The sad fact is, this realization raise another challenge, which is the greatest of all – the wisdom to discern the two! (I’m remembering the serenity prayer again) And somehow I think in most time the two are not really separable – to me its more like ‘to what extent’ an event is fate and to what extent is changeable
By the way, I couldn’t agree more on the point of morality! That’s exactly my line of thinking, so thrilled to see people sharing the same idea.
Another thought provoking great post!
Hi Paul,
Thank you for your kind words
I couldn’t agree more. I also agree that this is one of the most difficult things to do. It’s very hard to know to what extent we are ruled by the gods, fate or free-will. It’s very hard to know to what extent we should become “hard” or “soft”. In some sense, we probably will never be truly aware of the “extent” to which we can effect, or be effected by a situation. One of that hardest things about being alive is knowing that meaning is never certain – that we can never truly know the answer.
This undecidability of meaning extends itself right across our lives – yet, there is a certain empowerment here. It allows room to maneuver.
I’m glad you liked the post