THE CURRENT QUALITY OF TIME

 THE CURRENT QUALITY OF TIME FEB 2021

Aquarius

With Saturn and Jupiter in Aquarius, a few landmarks have already been set in recent weeks that foreshadow where the collective journey is headed. In the first three weeks of February, not only these two social planets are characterized by the freedom-loving and free-thinking Aquarian energy, but also the Sun, Mercury and Venus. Surprising and unorthodox developments in social, political and technological areas can be expected during this time. As the last air sign in the zodiac, Aquarius is considered the archetype of the humanitarian, unconventional and sometimes rebellious person. It is a good time to try new things.

Taurus

The antithesis to this experimental mood in February is mainly Mars and Uranus in Taurus. Mars shows little willingness to make quick changes and ensures that good ideas must be implemented in agreement with reality. Beware of reckless assertion of your wishes and claims, the reactions of those affected could be unusually violent.

The days around the Aquarius New Moon of February 11 are promising. Venus and Jupiter - the small and the great fortune - are in exact conjunction at 12° Aquarius. In the following two days, Mercury, still retrograde, joins them. It is a "make a wish" constellation that can actually bring serendipity, breakthroughs and deep insights here and there. Love relationships can experience an intensification during this time.

The integration of these manifold and enriching experiences is supported by the quality of time of the following days, even if here and there the difference between wish and reality might become overly obvious. On February 17, Saturn squares Uranus in Taurus, the first of three squares this year. Many of the original and creative ideas of the past few weeks are now undergoing their first reality check.

Pisces

The Sun enters the sensitive sign of Pisces on February 18, Venus squares Mars on the 20th, and Mercury ends its retrograde phase on the 21st. Venus also enters Pisces on the 25th, and Mars makes a trine to Pluto at the same time. The lofty and sometimes unrealistic plans of the previous weeks must now be brought into harmony with your own spiritual and emotional experience. Don't be discouraged if you didn't get quite as far as you had hoped. Sometimes a step back is useful to get a more comprehensive view.

The Chicken or the Egg?

What came first? The Tarot or Playing Cards.

I am often asked this question and it is very difficult to answer as there really isn’t an answer, purely because, nobody actually knows unless they could travel back in time and solve this puzzle. Many, many writers and scholars of the subject believe they have the answer to which came first and can prove it but then along comes someone else who says they can disprove it and this will carry on until the end of time. That is, unless time travel is invented and I am pretty sure that nobody will travel back in time just to find out who was right and who was wrong.

Therefore I am going to give some historic facts and theories to try to put people's minds at rest and let them decide for themselves.

Let’s go back a few thousand years to the Egyptians, Indians and Chinese peoples of our plant. Many of the Taroists of the 19th century believed through their own research along with fellow colleagues of the time that some kind of symbolism was being used in religion, spiritualism, magic and other occult systems and it was also used for the foretelling of the future, things to come, and fortune. Now as we all know, nobody can see the actual and factual future because if they could then they would be very rich and famous, and certainly rule the human race. This is fact and undoubtedly reality. I am a realist and believe in nothing except the truth, facts, seeing, touching and communicating with reality. If I honestly believe something works to improve someone's life in any way then I would use it. Back to the subject in hand. I said that I would give you some historic facts, well I could copy and paste thousands of words but I’m not, instead I will give you as many links as I know of that will explain how and where Tarot originated. These links will give you the information required to not only understand the theories these occultists believed in but also how they themselves argued amongst themselves ultimately trying to be the first one who could prove that they had found the answers to all the questions.

Links and References

The Pictorial Key to the Tarot

by A.E. Waite [1911]

This is the essential Tarot reference by the designer of probably, the best known Tarot deck.

The Tarot of the Bohemians

by Papus; tr. A. P Morton, [1896]

This is a detailed study of the esoteric roots of the Tarot. I have some suspicions about the actual claims that Papus makes in this document.

The Tarot

by S.L. MacGregor Mathers [1888]

This is a short essay on the Tarot, by a prominent occultist of the 19th Century. Mathers also wrote The Kabbalah Unveiled.

The Symbolism of the Tarot

by P. D. Ouspensky [1913]

An evocative inner journey through the Major Arcana of the Tarot.

General Book of the Tarot

by A.E. Thierens [1930]

A system of correspondences between the Tarot and Astrology.

Fortune Telling by Cards

by P.R.S. Foli [1915]

Several methods of telling fortunes with a standard deck of playing cards.

The Tarot.org Library

An electronic library with some of the most fundamental Authors on Tarot. Loads more links in here.