Spiritual Company Newsletter: Rainbow Family Thailand Reading

by Steffan Vanel January 2007

Dear Friends & Clients,

The following is an account of a Tree of Life Tarot reading which I did for the collective identity of the International Rainbow Gathering held in Thailand this past December/January. The reading was done on the day of the Full Moon, January 3rd, the peak of the Gathering.

Although focused on the family gathered in a valley in Thailand there were clearly psychological/spiritual issues relevant to the collective experience of the human family at large. In that spirit I’ve decided to place the interpretation of the reading on my website for anyone who may be interested to examine.

Blessings,
Steffan

Tree of Life
For
Rainbow Family
Thailand

January 3, 2007

1
3          2
5          4
6
8         7
9
10

1) God as Pure Being -Three of Disks - Works
Here you have a very positive, constructive creative ‘working’ energy. Mars in Capricorn, the energy of the architect or engineer.

2) Masculine  Principle -Prince of Disks
Here you have adapted to this earthy personality who is very practical and pragmatic, a capable manager of practical material affairs. He is not, however, very emotional or spiritually aspirational.

3) Feminine Principle - The Sun
Here you are being initiated into the light, where you can be as a child, dancing in the light of the Sun, with total faith and trust and innocence Lest ye can become as a child, ye cannot enter the Kingdom of Heaven.

4) Jupiterian Virtues –Eight of Disks - Prudence
Here you have a stable, balanced, grounded, earth energy, but careful, cautious, not making any sudden moves one way or another.

5) Mars Will –The Fool
Here you are being initiated into the presence and consciousness of the Fool. Corresponding to the number 0, this is the state where you know nothing, but are thereby in the best state in which to learn something. Something completely new, completely different with no pre-conceived notion of whom you are or are going to be.

6) Spiritual Heart –The Tower
Here you are experiencing a conflict between two sides or positions, which cannot be resolved except in going to a higher level. But that level is beyond the level of personality, and the Tower represents the destruction of the tower of your old personality so that your true self may spring free from the ruins.

7) Venus Emotions -Eight of Cups - Indolence
Here you are experiencing an emotional ‘heaviness’, a feeling of ‘the morning after the night before.’

8) Mercurial Mental – Six of Swords - Science
Here you have a mental balance and harmony, a Mercury in Aquarius willingness to use the mind in service to humanity. With a faith and resonance with there being a ‘higher plan.’

9) Lunar Self Image –Eight of Wands - Swiftness
Here you have a vibrant dynamic will energy, capable of creating pyramids and rainbows.

10) Earthly Physical – The Lovers
Here you are experiencing a ‘mystical marriage’. A uniting of opposites. Of male and female. Of conscious and unconscious. Of your ability to rely on yourself, and your ability to surrender and trust in someone, or a power outside of yourself.

Interpretation

The card in position 10, the earthly physical, The Lovers is one of the Major Arcana initiation cards. It is really a ‘mystical marriage’ uniting opposites, including one’s ability to rely on oneself and one’s ability to surrender and trust in someone or a power outside of oneself. To me this was the experience of us being together in community in such a beautiful place, experiencing this mystical union between ourselves and each other, and the magical environment we found ourselves inhabiting.

The Card in position 9, our self-image, the Eight of Wands, Swiftness, represents a fiery, creative, active will energy in our self-image of ourselves, capable of creating pyramids and rainbows. This is in resonance with the card in position 8, the mental, communicating aspect of ourselves, the Six of Swords, Science, a mental balance and harmony, Mercury in Aquarius, symbolic of our using the mind (Mercury) in service to humanity (Aquarius), with faith that there is a Higher Plan.

The card in position 7, the emotional aspect of ourselves, however, was the Eight of Cups, Indolence. This is an emotional heaviness, what may be called ‘the morning after the night before’.

This shows that in spite of the mystical marriage of the Lovers in our physical environment, and the dynamic, creative will energy in our self-image, and the mental balance and service, their remains an overall emotional heaviness, all the more heavy because of the other positive potentials. As I go on with the reading we will look into the deeper reason as to why we were subject to this emotional heaviness.

Spiritually we were doing pretty well. In position 1, our actual experience of the Divine, at the top of our heads, face to face so to speak, we had the Three of Disks, Works, a positive constructive, creative, working earth energy, in relation to reality as it is. This was us trying to ‘make it real’ and work on having a concrete experience of the Divine.

Our inner experience of our own inner beauty and goodness, however, in position 4, was the Eight of Disks, Prudence. This is an earthy energy which is stable and balanced and grounded, but careful and cautious, not making any sudden moves one way or another. This shows a grounded balance, but a remaining element of uncertainty as to how much we can honor the gift that life has given to us as our gift to give back to life.

Now to go to the real issue which seems to be the source of dichotomy between the quite positive cards/energies in the reading and the emotional heaviness and the prudence. For the inner cause of this dichotomy we have to look at positions 2 and 3. The Masculine and Feminine. In readings I do for individuals these two cards often represent a basic issue being worked on in the psyche and the cards below are ways that we play it out in our lives.

The card in position 3, the Feminine, represents the conscious energy of the women in our family, and the unconscious hope, expectation or present experience of the men of our family in relation to the feminine within themselves and outside of themselves. The card was a beautiful one, The Sun, showing two children dancing in the light of the sun, with total faith and trust and innocence; ‘Lest ye can become as a child one cannot enter the Kingdom of Heaven.’

The card in position 2, represents the conscious experience of the men in the family, as well as the unconscious hope, expectation or present experience of the women in the family in relation to the masculine within themselves and outside of themselves. The card was the Prince of Disks. Disks, in and of themselves, represent Earth energy, grounded relation to reality as it is. The Prince, however, is one of the 16 ‘Court’ cards. In my deck, the Knight, the Queen, the Prince and the Princess. These are like distinct personalities, with good and not so good sides. Wherever they appear in a reading they indicate where one has identified with a kind of ‘sub-personality.’ They are usually allowed in during times of insecurity, to give us a sense of identity, strength or protection, which we feel we wouldn’t otherwise have without them. Many people adapt to them in childhood as characters which allow us to survive.

The Prince of Disks corresponds to the lower aspect of the Astrological sign Taurus. He is very grounded and a capable manager of practical material affairs, but he is not very emotional or spiritually aspirational. Somewhat numbed down emotionally, based on fear.

This card is obviously quite different from that of The Sun in the Feminine. This is a huge dichotomy. This pragmatic but emotionally closed energy would represent the general Male energy in the camp, in the conscious experience of the men, and the unconscious experience of the women. In the workshop where I did this reading it was noted that this kind of male energy is reflective of the general collective reality of male energy and the Patriarchal patterns of the world at large. I do feel that it is this Prince of Disks energy which weighs down the emotional potential of our family, leaving us with the Eight of Cups, ‘morning after the night before.’ I pointed out in the workshop that the gathering would have a quite different feeling if it was only the sisters who were there. For one thing, it wouldn’t take two hours to get a food circle together. The collective sluggish resistance to just come together and show our willingness to surrender our individual isolation to join as a family in circle, song and prayer can easily be blamed on the Prince of Disks.

Two things were present in the reading, in our experience of ourselves, to help us to continue to heal and evolve. One was in position 5, the Higher Will, where we were experiencing the initiation of The Fool, the initiation corresponding to the number zero, where suddenly you know nothing, which is great because it puts you in the best state in which to learn something, something completely new, completely different, with no pre-conceived notion of who you are or who you are going to be.

This was an opening in our experience of our will energy, including our ability to know what we should or shouldn’t do with our Higher Will. This wide open energy is in good relation with the other positive cards in the reading.

The last remaining card to look at is in position 6, our inner experience of our Inner Heart, of our Inner Heart aspiration towards the Higher, towards the Divine, as well as our Inner Heart capability to receive from the Higher, from the Divine. The card was The Tower, the Lightning Struck Tower. This is an initiation that results from an unresolvable conflict. On the Tree of Life it represents the path between thought and feeling, representing an essential conflict between thought and feeling which cannot be resolved, except in moving to a higher level, to the Inner Heart, but that is a level which is beyond personality. The Tower represents the destruction of the tower of the old personality so that one’s truth can spring free from the ruins.

To me this card portrays the struggle going on in our heart, between love and fear, between the past and future possible ways of being, where the hoped for result is the destruction of the old personality structure that used to exist here so that we can go to a higher level, here in our Inner Heart aspiration and reception from the Divine.

It was a pleasure to share with everyone the experience of being together in that beautiful valley in Thailand and I look forward to the next time our paths may join together.

Blessings,
Steffan

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