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, by Brian Campbell, 9 min reading time
, by Brian Campbell, 9 min reading time
The World and The Sun - What is this very positive Tarot combination trying to tell us? Tackle this combination with ease in your Tarot readings by reading more...
One of my favorite activities with the Tarot is to make connections on two or more cards. What I mean by this is not simply to know the meanings of the cards, but to help understand what they’re trying to say. I’ve made it a daily practice to read and interpret a Tarot combination. In fact, I have a weekly Tarot spread that I use to do this, and it helps guide my week. Here’s the way this works, I pull a major arcana card and that serves as the ruler card for the week, after that has been established, I pull five more cards, each representing Monday through Friday, and these can be any card, major, minor or court. It’s these combinations that truly serve as my guide to interpreting the cards, learning the intricacies that exist between them.
When I set out on my journey to begin a blog on the Tarot, the first question I asked myself was, “What hasn’t been done yet?”. I thought about this for some time and decided that the most powerful thing I could provide would be deep dives on Tarot combinations. There has been much written about them, but I haven’t run into a lot of deep dives and that is the subject matter that I’ve decided to blog on this year. With so many Tarot combinations, it’s truly the heart of effective card reading. Knowing the meaning of a single card is only a small part of the story, being able to weave meaning and flow between 2 or more cards is where the Tarot gets interesting.
When I want to get to the heart of a Tarot card, one thing I truly love to do is meditate on the card at hand, really step into the images, the colors, the symbols, any figures in the card and figure out what it’s trying to say. Major Arcana 21, The World is the personification of the word Achievement. When I think about achievement and what this final card in the Fool’s journey is trying to say, it becomes evident what the heart and soul of The World is. Imagine walking your path, whatever that may be, there have be challenges along the road, but all along the way hard work, perseverance, and refinement have taken place. When The World comes up in a reading, it can often be a signal that we have completed a chapter that is very important, and what’s more, we are stepping through that Bay Laurel wreath and into our next pursuit. I want to point out the distinction between accomplished and achieved, as it’s the key to getting down to the heart of this important message. When we become “accomplished” in life, especially within our chosen craft, we become a beacon of light if you will, an accidental advisor or educator. It’s a wonderful place to be, to have risen to the top of our game and now we are receiving recognition of our acumen by having peers look up to us for advice, expertise and guidance. On the contrary, achievement happens when we’ve reached the summit, we’ve shared our gift and now we’re ready to tackle the next mountain. The World is experiencing achievement, The Sun is experiencing accomplishment. When we combine The World and The Sun, we are a force to be reckoned with, we are rewarded on so many levels, from recognition of our study to acknowledging our success and taking that energy into a new chapter. Simply put, if these cards come up in a reading near each other, or in relevant spots in a spread, it’s purely positive and a beautiful combination.
Take notice of that HUGE sun behind the blissful infant in Major Arcana 19, The Sun. The Sun is nothing but positivity and is indicative that people are looking up to us and recognizing us as beacon of light. Take note that we see four sunflowers in bloom here, what this represents is all four elements being represented, air, water, fire and earth. What is notable here is that they are being represented by blooming sunflowers versus a sword, a cup, a wand and a pentacle. If we think of Major Arcana 1, The Magician we can recall a table that has all the elemental representation in the raw form of the suits, again, sword, cup, wand and pentacle. The difference to take note of here is that in The Sun, the raw materials have been transmuted into perfectly in bloom sunflowers, and as a result, blissful life balance is in play, hence the rapturous infant riding the white horse. It could seem contradictory to have this combination due to perceived similarity, but in reality, the message is something powerful to take notice of. When this combination shows up in relevant positions of a reading, the Tarot is trying to tell us that you’ve done as much as you can in the situation, you’ve reached that summit and the universe is calling you to a new chapter, one that the world is in need of. Imagine the marathon runner, one that has too many accolades to name, one that has trained many athletes. Imagine that this marathon runner recently received a gold cup for her accomplishments and also a new title of athlete of the decade. We can easily say that this runner is accomplished on many levels, but now with that new title, they’ve reached a level of achievement that is at the top of the ladder. The Tarot could be trying to tell this runner that it’s time to move to a higher level, perhaps begin a new lifetime within a lifetime and share even more talents with the universe.
As we know, each Tarot card has many symbols, pictures, colors and of course a number. The number 21, which graces The World, is symbolic of success and fulfillment. If we further deconstruct the number 21, we know that 1 is symbolic of new beginnings and 2 is symbolic of partnership. As we step through the Bay Laurel in The World, on our route to a new chapter, it’s evident that potential is here and we can’t do it alone, all significant to the numbers 1 and 2. We have completed a chapter and are about to embark on the next. The Sun, or Major Arcana 19 has the numerical significance of number 10(1 plus 9), which is indicative of the completion of a cycle. We may be called to ask why The Sun doesn’t mean exactly what The World means and that is a valid query. Remember the distinction of accomplished versus achieved from earlier, there is one Major Arcana card between The Sun and The World and that is Judgment. In Judgment, we are looking for validation, satisfying an inner calling and we need this validation to give ourselves permission to move into The World and ultimately begin our new beginning. Judgement prepares us for the world, it’s the last step before we enter into the completion of The Fool’s journey.
One thing is certain, The Sun and The World are both cause for celebrations, of course for different reasons. When The World appears, we are being called not only to a new chapter, but even more importantly, we are being called to celebrate. Whether we are closing the chapter on a career, a project, an educational pursuit, one thing is certain, we have made it. Life is certainly about growth and transformation as we walk our journey and it’s very important to celebrate, look back with a wink and look forward with open arms. The World calls us to celebrate and take all the time that we need to chart out our next journey. One thing is certain with The World is that we are being called to a higher level, to amp it up a few notches on our next path and given that fact, the time is now to breathe, relax, celebrate our achievement, because friends, we’ve earned it!
What is the combination of The World and The Sun trying to tell us? First, imagine each iteration of The Fool’s journey being a lifetime within a lifetime. The Fool’s journey is the path of the Major Arcana, from The Fool all the way through to The World. As we know a LOT of life happens between Major Arcana 0 and Major Arcana 21! The combination of The World and The Sun is the ultimate combination to indicate a new “lifetime within a lifetime” is about to begin. Think of the marathon runner story from earlier, here we have an accomplished and very achieved athlete. The marathon runner is being called to a higher purpose and is ready to reflect on the achievement of The World, the accomplishments of The Sun, but also ready to step into the wild unknown and answer the call of a higher purpose. When we receive this message from the Tarot, go ahead and breathe and celebrate and when you’re ready, look into The World card, imagine yourself facing beautiful that Bay Laurel wreath. The wreath symbolizes victory, it’s telling us we’ve achieved our goal. When the time feels perfect, step through that wreath and into the next and higher version of your life. The universe has a new idea for you, will you answer the call?
A Little More About Raven’s Cauldron
I’m Brian, a thirty-year Tarot card reader. I own a company called Raven’s Cauldron, and we specialize in intuitive readings online and in-person. We also sell Tarot decks, Essential Oil Blends and other spiritual products. Finally, at Raven’s Cauldron, we host metaphysical and spiritual events weekly. Come visit us and see what others are saying about my readings. I live and breathe the Tarot and want to share my abilities with to help you understand any situation with ease and forethought.
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Thank you so much , so on point for me , recently widowed, big life changes 💔😭decision to make 🙏🏽💞😘