Ongoing Process

As part of my recent exploration the Western Mystery Tradition, I have begun examining the structure and symbolism of the Tarot (specifically the Waite-Smith deck).  I came upon Joan Bunning’s excellent instructional site, Learning the Tarot, and was intrigued by her description of the court cards of the minor arcana as a personality system similar to, among others, the Myers-Briggs.  Having been a fan of MB for some time and seeing that there were 16 such cards and 16 MB types, I immediately wondered if a direct correlation could be drawn between them.

It was first a bit tricky to correlate, as the Tarot is based on two sets of four (the suits and the ranks) and the Myers-Briggs is based on four sets of two (the polarities of the four dichotomies).  Clearly, each Tarot set would have to encode two MB sets.  After pondering it for a while, it seemed like the Tarot suits corresponded to the MB functions (Sensing/iNtuitive & Thinking/Feeling).  That left the Tarot ranks to represent the MB attitude (Extrovert/Introvert) and lifestyle (Judging/Perceiving), which felt like a reasonable fit.

Pattern in hand, I set about discerning the content.  I started with Thinking, which seemed very clearly a Sword trait.  To complete the MB function pair, I chose iNtuitive as it seemed more in line with the pure discernment of Swords and had a more air quality to it, which is the associated element.  Moving on to the rank, I thought that King was easily Extrovert and Queen equally Introvert.  To finish out the Queen, I thought she seemed to have more of a Perceiving quality.

I’ll skip the rest of the play-by-play, but I proceeded in a similar manner until I had filled in all 16 links.  Here’s what I came up with:

INFP - Queen of Cups
INFJ - Knight of Cups
INTP - Queen of Swords
INTJ - Knight of Swords
ISFP - Queen of Pentacles
ISFJ - Knight of Pentacles
ISTP - Queen of Wands
ISTJ - Knight of Wands
ENFP - Page of Cups
ENFJ - King of Cups
ENTP - Page of Swords
ENTJ - King of Swords
ESFP - Page of Pentacles
ESFJ - King of Pentacles
ESTP - Page of Wands
ESTJ - King of Wands

I think it’s pretty interesting.  Of course, I could be entirely wrong.  :)  But if I’m not, being an INTP it would appear that I am also the Queen of Swords, which I think fits me pretty well.  This interpretation is also spot-on in that I find I am still growing out of the INTJ of my youth, which is the Knight of Swords and reads like my high school biography.

All in all, very cool.

Throughout my life, countless times I have felt that sense of lack, longing, and dis-ease and asked myself "What do I need?".  Steadfastly following this question has brought me to any number of profound insights about awareness, compassion, identity, and many other critical aspects of life.  However, in recent years, that question has been getting harder and harder to follow.  Indeed, when I try to find an answer, typically I can’t think of anything at all that I "need".  I can’t imagine anything that would address that lingering sense of something-is-wrong.

Last night I was once again pondering this question, with the usual frustrating lack of results.  Suddenly, it occurred to me that I was asking the question backwards.  "What do I need?" presupposes that the desired salve is absent and must be obtained.  For the first time, a new question came to me: "What do I have?"

This is not a new notion for me intellectually as I have been reading it in various spiritual texts for years.  Probably the best expression of it I’ve found is in The Diamond in Your Pocket by Gangaji.  However, this was the first time I "got it".  When I encountered it before, it was just a concept, and one that was hard to buy into emotionally.  But last night it became real.

As I turn this question over in my head this morning, I realize that the only answer I have at the moment is "I don’t know."  But my intuition tells me that I "have" vast quantities of "things" that I am not consciously aware of.  Beyond simple physical resources, I think maybe I have more ethereal assets available to me that I am not aware of.  So I don’t know what I have, but whatever it is, I’m pretty sure that I have it.

The next question that comes to me is "But how do I see it?".  But I quickly realize that is just another form of "What do I need?".  I lack awareness of the the things that I have, therefore I need vision.  And once again we’re off down the road chasing something that isn’t here.

So if it’s not about being aware of what I have, I suppose it must be about trusting that it’s there.  Trusting that it is sufficient.  And trust isn’t something one has, it is something one does.  I have the option of choosing to trust that I have everything I need.  Trusting that I am loved and I am safe.  Trusting that I am home.

Interesting.

Of course, this wouldn’t remove the value of vision.  It is a grand thing to see further than before.  But it would dramatically transform the nature of the pursuit of vision.  Before, it was a desperate grasping for a rare and precious elixir of life; as if insight were air and water.  But now it would be an exercise of discovery undertaken for the simple joy of growth.

Very interesting, indeed.

This is simply beautiful.

Re: Katie’s post.

Google "[Your name] is" and post the top five results.

Chris is better than you because he has sat upon a yak.

Chris is not evil.

Chris is straight and will always be straight, so you gay men don’t have a chance with him.

Chris is Missed.

CHRIS is changing.

It seems that an unemployed surfer recently set the physics world abuzz with "An Exceptionally Simple Theory of Everything" that’s supposed to describe the whole of reality.  It’s closely involved with some math thing called E8.  I don’t have a clue what it’s actually about, but it’s really beautiful.

Here’s a 2D representation:

And here’s an animation of it that’s even more striking:

e8rotation.mov (10.5MB, but worth it!)

Having spent the last week up to my neck in alchemical imagery, the video is especially evocative.