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Card 0 - the Green Man (Fool)

The Green Man is the vegetation spirit of the wildwood, perhaps the most tenacious Pagan God of all, his image surviving in church carvings and pub signs all over Britain, in which he is usually depicted in the form of a severed head with branches and leaves emerging from the mouth. At one time most of Britain was covered with forest and there are many legends of the forest spirits called woodwoses, faery wildfolk, green men or wild men. Those who saw them described them as green people, powerful spirits who could sometimes be appealed to for help and had to be placated if they were angered, as their elf bolts or flint arrows were deadly. These Green Spirits represent the raw, untamed, primal force of nature - a somewhat frightening concept to the modern mind which prefers nature safe, controlled and ‘civilised’.

Divinatory Meanings:

The Green Man is the raw power of Nature, the feral and fertile force behind all natural growth. Those who are touched by this wild power may be seen as mad or dangerous, but throughout history such people have sown the seeds of change with new ideas - scientists ahead of their time, philosophers, artists, visionaries and revolutionaries. If the Green Man appears in your spread it indicates that powerful forces are at work in your life, breaking down the old order so that a new one may emerge. You may have been feeling discontented and have an overwhelming impulse to throw away everything in order to seek new horizons, without any clear idea of what these might be. Trust your instincts. It is the call of the Otherworld to seek and know.  It is a leap of faith.

Reverse Meanings:

You are afraid to take risks, preferring to cling to what you know, whether this is makes you happy or not.  Remember, it is not what you do in life that you will regret, but what you don’t do - the opportunities missed. Do you really want to let life pass you by? Nothing is gained without risk.

The Journey of the Fool:

The Major Arcana is sometimes described as ‘the journey of the fool’, charting the progress of the spirit towards initiation. The Green Man is the force which triggers that process, arising from discontent and soul searching, the primal force which the seeker encounters and recognises at a subconscious level.

Card 1 - the High Priest (Magician)

The card depicts a High Priest. He is a man who uses his intellect and logic to shape his existence. To this end he delves into books of philosophy, religion, science and magic.  At his feet grow some of the sacred herbs of midsummer, which at this time are imbued with greater magical value. Of particular interest to him might be the mint, which means ‘thought’ and is used to stimulate mental activity.  Possibly he is consulting his book to determine this. Behind him is the ash tree, and he might be contemplating cutting an ash wand to attract inspirational fire from the heavens.

Divinatory Meanings:

Your thoughts turn inwards, and you question who you are and where you are going. The ancients said that the most important thing was to ‘know thyself’.  You have skills and abilities as yet unexplored, and can use the creative power of your mind to achieve your full potential. Remember your deepest longing is sometimes the very thing you have come into this life to do.

Reverse Meanings:

You find it difficult to express yourself, are lacking in confidence and constantly put yourself down. Perhaps in the past other people helped to destroy your confidence, but only you are responsible now for what you feel and what you do. Take responsibility for yourself, and shape yourself into the person you want to be.

The Journey of the Fool:

In this card the primal energy of the Green Man has begun to take on form. The High Priest card marks the stage at which the Fool becomes aware of the fact of his own existence and comes into consciousness. He begins to think and realises the power of thought to shape his life.  Eventually he questions the meaning of his life.  As he moves towards his meeting with the High Priestess this newly realised consciousness begins to seek the spirit within.

Card 2 the High Priestess

The High Priestess is a pale and serious woman clad in white and silver robes. On her forehead she wears a silver fillet which bears the image of a crescent moon. In her hand she holds a crystal ball.  She stands beside a holy well, which is overhung by a willow tree as a swan flies across the full moon in the night sky behind her. She is the witch, the wise woman, who relies on her intuitive understanding to gain wisdom. She knows the cycles of nature, the patterns of the stars, the tides of the moon, the habits of the animals and the virtues of every plant.

Divinatory Meanings:

The card of the High Priestess represents a link to the subconscious mind, which cannot be accessed through the intellect or waking consciousness, but which is only revealed in dreams and symbols. Its hidden workings shape your underlying personality and responses, which become manifest in the everyday world. Your intuitive powers are increasing and things that once seemed certain can no longer be taken for granted.  Though some mysteries become clearer, all is not yet revealed at this point.

Spiritually you are about to undergo a new level of enlightenment.  The swan on the card is a guide to spiritual consciousness, parting the swan-veil mist to allow access to the Otherworld. Know that knowledge will not come at this time through action or intellectual endeavour, but only by listening to the inner voice of your spirit.

Reverse Meanings:

Perhaps you have been busying yourself gaining occult knowledge on a superficial level, without any comprehension of its true significance, merely to impress others. Alternatively, you have not been listening to your intuition or have been trying to ignore something that you know deep down is true.

The Journey of the Fool:

After becoming aware that he is a conscious being with the power to think and put his thoughts into action, the Fool learns that there is another side to himself, unconnected with the intellect. It is the voice of intuition which recognises the spirit within.

Card 3 - the Lady (Empress)

The Lady is the Goddess, the feminine energy behind manifest nature, the bringer of fertility and creativity who brings all seeds to fruition. She presides over the whole cycle of being - planting, growth and harvest.

Divinatory Meanings:

The card of the Lady represents mothering in its widest sense. You are a child of the earth and should seek to care for and respect your fellow beings and the environment. Your body is a precious gift of the Mother, one which enables you to experience the beauties of the world and the simple pleasures of life. The card speaks of the wisdom in recognising that all the cycles of life are equally valid, that all things have their season. This involves recognising the time to act, and the time to wait patiently for things to mature. If this card appears in your spread it heralds a harmonious and successful phase in your life, full of beauty and pleasure. You may be expecting a child or perhaps you have begun a new creative project.   Relationships with family and friends are happy and loving.  The Lady also indicates good health.

Spiritually this is a time of great creativity and progress, especially if you co-ordinate with the efforts of others.

Reverse Meanings:

You are unwilling to recognise the cycles of change, trying to hold onto what is already passing away. If you have domestic problems with children or partners you must look to your own behaviour for the cause. You may be unreasonably possessive in your relationships, not allowing your loved ones to change and grow through fear of losing them, though it is precisely these restrictions which are pushing them away. Depending on the surrounding cards the Lady reversed can indicate problems with your fertility.

The Journey of the Fool:

After encountering the male and female sides of himself, the fool now encounters the feminine force of nature and is forced to recognise that there are powers greater than himself.  He must come to terms with living in a manifest world and learn how to interact responsibly with it.

Card 4 the Lord (Emperor)

As the card of the Lady shows the feminine force of nature, the card of the Lord shows the masculine, which the ancients depicted as a horned being.

Divinatory Meanings:

The card of the Lord reflects the concept of fatherhood in its widest sense. The Lord tells us the earth is a place of beauty, an earthly paradise unless we ourselves destroy it. It is not a place of evil from which the spirit must escape, but the place where the spirit learns and flourishes. The spirit should not seek to escape but seek to learn its place and purpose. The time has come for you to reassess your moral values and ethical codes. If you have merely gone along with the crowd it is time to take a stand, and regain your self-respect.  This can be a time of great energy and activity during which you will be engaged in making something manifest in the world, whether it is a family, a building, a business enterprise or a work of art.

Spiritually you are called upon to stand on your own two feet, to formulate your own ideas and principles, rather than being led by others.  The Horned God is both Lord of the Animals and Herne the Hunter. In the context of the tarot the question is ‘what is it that the hunter hunts?’  The answer is his own Self.

Reverse Meanings:

The reverse of the benign Lord of the Animals who is prepared to sacrifice himself for the good of others is the petty tyrant who tries to dominate others with his rigid rules and inflexible principles which take no account of human feeling and crushes the life spirit from those under his influence. You are being asked to examine whether you are in danger of becoming such a person or whether you have fallen under the influence of one.

The Journey of the Fool:

After encountering the female force behind nature, the Fool now encounters the male, in the form of the God. He realises that to act within the world he must develop his own set of ethics and principles, precisely because he knows that there are concerns beyond his own.  

Card 5 the Druid (Hierophant)

The card shows a druid on the evening of the midwinter solstice, wearing a garland of oak and holly leaves. A wren perches on one corner of the card, a robin on the other. Here the Druid is shown standing at a stone altar on which are placed four of his tools: a sword, representing air and the strength of his intellect; a wand, representing fire and the power of his will; a cup, representing water and his emotions, and a disc or pentacle, representing the earth and his physical body

Divinatory Meanings:

This card emphasises the need to bring into harmony your relationship with the material world and the spiritual one.  You must define your own balance, as it cannot be achieved by following dogma or set practices. New opportunities will arise for you, and you will have the chance to put your ideas into practice. You may have the opportunity to learn new skills from a helpful teacher.

Spiritually, you are being called on to explore your own spiritual heritage which is bound up with the land you live in and the earth you walk on; the old ways lost the from sight of mankind and kept in secret by the spirits of ancient forests, blown on the wind and carried by the trees. These are the energies that come direct from the primal source of the Divine, unsullied by the dogmas, misrepresentations and misunderstandings of mankind.

Reverse Meanings:

The Druid reversed always indicates an imbalance of some kind, whether it is one of approach, attitude or lifestyle. You need to look after your material concerns but also the wellbeing of your spirit. You must also leave space in your life for new and beautiful experiences to come to you.

The Journey of the Fool:

The Fool has encountered the male and female aspects of himself, and the male and female aspects of nature. He has been made aware of his intellect and his intuition, his physical body and his spirit. He has learned that he lives in a world of opposites - day and night, summer and winter, male and female, body and spirit and now from the Druid he learns that these opposites must be balanced in his life. He is neither a purely spiritual being, nor purely a material one, and duality is part of being human.

Card 6 the Lovers

The card shows the May King and Queen, about to undergo their ritual marriage.

Divinatory Meanings:

The card of the Lovers shows the union of opposites to make a single whole, which is greater than the sum of its parts. This card always indicates a difficult choice, usually in matters of love, but depending on surrounding cards it can be a choice concerning your career, family or property. Every choice you make has consequences which can be far reaching. The immediate gratification of desire is tempting, but what will the long term consequences be? The choices you make now will determine your future.

Spiritually this card is a messenger of the higher realms, telling you of the importance of truth and the purest of motives.

Reverse Meanings:

You are refusing to take responsibility for the consequences of your own actions. You are trying to lay the blame on others or on fate. In some circumstances, the Lovers reversed can indicate inner conflicts, being at war with yourself rather than external forces.

The Journey of the Fool:

With the Druid, the Fool learned about balancing opposites and with the Lovers, he learns about the marriage and fusion of those opposites to make a single whole. Through this he becomes aware of the transcendence of the spirit and the development of the eternal soul through the choices he makes.

Card 7 the Chariot

The card shows Boudicca, the warrior queen of the Iceni in her war chariot, drawn by two horses, one black, one white.

Divinatory Meanings:

The horses harnessed to the chariot are controlled by the driver, representing the control of instincts and impulses by willpower and self-discipline. This is not to say that the instinctive primal impulse and raw talent should be suppressed, rather it is a matter of achieving the difficult balance of channelling them into achieving something useful without destroying them. You will have to use the strength of your will to overcome obstacles. You need to be determined, self-disciplined and work hard.

Reverse Meanings:

You are collapsing under pressure and losing your self-control. Your aggression is being channelled in the wrong direction, wildly at other people, at fate, at circumstances. This is a complete waste of your energy and resources.

The Journey of the Fool:

In the last card the fool met the Lovers and was given a spiritual vision. However, he now learns that this is not enough, he must make his way through the world while he sustains this vision. He realises that while he needs willpower and courage, these qualities are reflected in darker measures in his personality. Only by accepting them as part of the whole can he move forward.

Card 8 the Warrior (Strength)

This card depicts a warrior who has honed her skills through practice and trial. She is self-confident and radiates an inner strength which stems from the knowledge that she has the experience and ability to deal with whatever he may face. Her totem is the badger,  one of the strongest woodland animals which even when set upon by several dogs can hold its own.  

Divinatory Meanings:

The warrior faces her own fears, develops her spiritual courage, and hones her Will. If the card of the Warrior appear in your spread it shows that you will have the opportunity to put plans into action. It is a card of powerful forward moving energies indicating that you can master adverse circumstances through your determination and courage.

Spiritually, this card speaks about the development of the Will. The deepest fears lie within the mind itself, arising from experiences and conditioning. Such fears limit us, and prevent our development. At some point the warrior must confront them, one by one, and deal with them. You can do much more than you imagine, and break your self-imposed limits.

Reverse Meanings:

The opposite to the spirit of the warrior is the childish response of rage and tantrums to situations where you don’t get your own way. If this card appears reversed in your spread it means that you do not yet have the spirit of the warrior, you want always to be the centre of attention and sulk or react angrily and destructively when you are not.

The Journey of the Fool:

At this point the Fool discovers that he must begin to develop his spiritual Will as opposed to desire or even the determination and willpower of the Chariot.  This involves going deep inside himself to develop his strength by confronting the fears which lie within himself, and by following his path boldly, wherever it leads.

Card 9 the Shaman (Hermit)

The card shows a Celtic shaman clad in deerskin. He lives alone in the forest with only his animal familiar, the wolf, for company. He sits before his cauldron in which he is boiling a brew of inspiration, which will enable him to travel to the spirit world. His quest is the transformation of himself by virtue of a constantly expanding state of consciousness, an awareness of the subtle workings of the universe.

Divinatory Meanings:

When the Shaman card appears in your spread it indicates a time to show prudence. You should stand back from current events and not participate in them. Keep a distance so that you can make a clearer evaluation of what is going on. This is a time for careful planning, not action.

On a deeper level, this card indicates that this is a time of withdrawal for you, a necessary period of isolation in which you can come to know yourself better and learn to rely on yourself rather than others.  If you make time for silence and stillness, you will receive illumination from within.

Reverse Meanings:

You are relying on what you are told, rather than what you have experienced yourself. Your suspicions are groundless.

The Journey of the Fool:

This card is usually called ‘the hermit’ from a Greek word meaning ‘wilderness’. Here the Fool returns to the place where it all began, to commune with the spirits of nature. He has been taught many lessons by human advisors and been given plenty of advice, now he feels the need to be alone  with nature to get to the source of things, and cut out the conflicting and clamorous voices of the world of mankind. Here he prepares to drink from the cauldron which will begin his process of initiation.

Card 10 the Wheel (Fortune)

The card depicts the turning wheel which symbolises the passage of time, and the cosmic forces of change. The four directions and the four elements are depicted with their corresponding four magical tools. The eight spokes represent the eight major festivals of the solar year.

Divinatory Meanings:

The wind of change is blowing, but the seeming sudden changes that occur come as the results of past efforts, whether for good or ill.  

The Wheel calls upon you to be sensitive to the ebb and flow of the cycles that surround you:  when to act, when to be still; when to talk, when to listen; when to hold on and when to let go. Things don't always happen when we want them to, but when it is their season.

Reverse Meanings:

You are resisting a change which is inevitable. What does not change stagnates. To welcome change is a liberating experience.

The Journey of the Fool:

In the journey of spiritual evolution, the Wheel represents the seeker's dawning awareness of the cosmic forces which turn the wheel, the four elements. They flow through the universe, consolidating, dissolving and transforming, a current of energy that shapes and changes all things in a never-ending cycle.  

The Sacred Circle Tarot Major Arcana

Major Arcana 2  Cups   Wands   Discs  Swords   Symbolism  Sacred Sites in the Cards