Tuesday 28 October 2014

Tarot and the 12 Steps: 4-6

This is post of 2 of 4 in which I attempt to find how the first 12 tarot majors fit in with 12 step recovery. Please see post 1 here.

4. Made a searching and fearless inventory of ourselves. 

Bill W's Big Book of Alcoholics Anonymous explains Step 4 here. (Scroll to page 64 to find where Step 4 begins. It covers pages 64-71, so it's a biggie.) In this step, a lot of soul searching and being honest with oneself takes place.  I think that there is a way the Empress relates to this. The Empress 'brings forth'. She 'gives birth to'. We talk about the Magician having the ability to make things manifest, but the Empress actually does it. She brings forth crops. And when we write down in black and white our resentments, fears, angers and our wrongs, we have produced something real, too. There it is.

There's another way that the Empress relates to this step, and that is the surprising degree to which Step 4 has to do with sexuality, in childhood, adolescence and adulthood. Much of the resentment, fear, anger and wrongs of Step 4 is inured in what Bill W calls 'sex power' (1939 lingo). The Empress is acknowledged as representing both fecundity and sexuality. She is the queen of these aspects of self, and if anyone can help us make a 'searching and fearless' inventory of ourselves in these areas, I can't think of a tarot major that would be better equipped for it.



5. Admitted to God, to ourselves and to another human being the exact nature of our wrongs. 

Another way of saying Step 5 is to say, 'I take responsibility for my actions.'  I take responsibility, I make no excuses for them. I do not blame anyone else for them -- I am not saying that I did this because someone else did that. I admit my wrongs, not because I am being coerced into admitting them, but because I know that I have power over my own life, and this gives me authority to take responsibility for myself.

Who has more power than the Emperor? Who is more in charge of his own life? Who could be more able to centre himself in a place of absolute confidence, who has a better knowledge of his personal responsibility? When the Emperor confesses, he knows who is responsible for what he has done. He is. He alone. His confession is cleansing, and if his repentance is true, he only gains personal power through confessing. He loses nothing, he gains much.


6. We were entirely ready to have God remove all these defects of character. 

It's interesting that the 'confessional' step doesn't fall here with the Hierophant, or Pope. When we think of authority figures from the Church, we do often think of confession and absolution coming from a priest. But the absolution doesn't actually come from the priest, according to Church tradition. It comes from God. And so...this card makes sense.

This step may rankle with some. All this 'ready to have God remove all these defects of character' talk might make you feel rebellious or angry. But let's just look at it for a moment without getting angry, if possible. How about if itsaid, 'We were entirely ready to be free of all these defects of character.' Would that be better?

This is a step about letting go. Releasing. Nearly all the world religions (I don't claim to know all religions, so I can't say 'all') speak of letting go. Releasing cares, worry, and suffering, whether to a higher power, or the universal mind, or simply 'away' to dissolve and disappear. There is a sense of the transcendent in this, and we naturally associate this feeling of transcendence with holiness, the sacred, and by association, sacred spaces, sacred figures, and sacred rituals. Thus, this most sacred and personal transformative experience, that of releasing one's grip on one's  fears (conscious and unconscious), can be related to the Hierophant, or the Pope. Il Papa. We are, then, 'entirely ready' to let go of our learned, automatic character defenses, which are in essence our resistance to reality.

Steps 7-9 

Daniloff Tarot (2012). 

11 comments:

  1. This is the good stuff Carla! You could write a book about it, along with exercises and spreads.
    I liked the part about releasing fears and worries etc to a higher power. I guess sometimes it is the only way to let go of things and be free
    hugs and be well

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    1. Well, first I have to get through the 12 steps. And someone's already asked me 'What about the rest of the majors? And the minors?' LOL

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  2. As a person who's been in recovery for 26 years, I've been enjoying your blog posts immensely. I don't know if you have access to Bill W.'s "12 Steps and 12 Traditions," but here's an online copy of the book if you're interested:
    http://www.aa.org/pages/en_US/twelve-steps-and-twelve-traditions

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    1. Thanks, thesycamoretree! I've been referring to that and the Big Book online. It's so handy that we have access to the real deal. :)

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  3. The Empress seems a bit of a reach for me, but then I must admit to not having read the whole AA book. The "sex power" does fit, but I really can't imagine the Empress getting upset about sexuality, as to her its so natural. The shadow side again, I guess...

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    1. It's not about being upset, it's about a frank and fearless inventory. Who could be more frank and fearless about all aspects of sexuality, functional or dysfunctional, than Queen Birds and Bees herself? :)

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    2. I agree she'd be frank and fearless, what I meant was more that she'd never suffer "resentment, fear, anger and wrongs" around sex in the first place. Still, if someone else did, then I see what you mean - she wouldn't be shy about talking about those things. I remember an interesting bit of training when I went to work at the Terrence Higgins Trust, about being able to talk to people comfortably about rimming, fisting, and multiple other practices ;)

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    3. I guess I'm looking not at how she would feel, but as her being the archetype or power of the area of life covered by the Step in question.

      And wow, reading the words 'rimming and fisting' at 5.15 in the morning took me aback! LOL

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  4. Again, interesting. You really do have a knack for writing. This could be turned into an ebook at the very least. When I read this, knowing the cards for all these years, and being that I have been through the 12 steps before, I can't believe that I have never put these thoughts into motion before. Very clever.

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    1. Thanks, Bridgett. I am new to a deeper study of the 12 Steps and am glad to see that those who have actually worked them, and who know tarot, can see the connections I'm seeing. x

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