Today’s card is from a new-to-me deck. It’s a really interesting interpretation of this card that is traditionally about regret. I see this one as tackling this from a different side.
Instead of someone looking at cups they’ve lost, this pretty red phoenix (which seems to resemble the Chinese Golden Pheasant) looks up and out. There’s this huge wall way out in front of him. Can he make it over? What if he does make it over? Can he make it back?
That’s a question I ask myself sometimes. If I make these changes, will it change me so much that I can never return?
Probably.
In any good story (and all of us are living the stories of our lives), the hero changes irrevocably. S/he can’t return to their Ordinary World as the person they were when they left. Harry Potter is a wizard now. He’ll never comfortably be that abused boy living under the stairs slaving away for his uncaring relatives.
What are your walls? What are your far horizons? What are the changes you are working on? How will they change you? Focus on the fact that the changes will make you stronger. You are working towards building yourself up–tearing down habits that no longer work for you.
Time to test your wings, darlings. Time to show the world the bright, shiny, new you.
And remember, all that gets to change tomorrow because once you get to the new world/new you, it becomes the Ordinary World for your next hero’s journey. And that’s all very very good.
I’m here to support you on your journey. Thanks for being here to support me on mine.
Four of Red Phoenix (Cups), Feng Shui Tarot, U.S. Games 2001 (Available)
Thanks for the mini-reading! I needed that! That is a beautiful card. I love the red phoenix and how he has his back to you. Sometimes it feels like when we miss a great opportunity that transformation has turned it’s back on us. Blue skies ahead though!
Amy, thank *you* for your incredible blog on the Tao te Ching. I am so enjoying it! I try to post but I forget because I wander off thinking, “wow” and get lost. 😀
What a beautiful deck! There’s always that spot in the distance that seems so unobtainable. But oddly, while you can never fully go back again, sometimes the oddest things will transport you to “before” and how you felt at that time, and it opens up parts of you that you thought were gone ages ago. I think that’s part of the reason why the Fool can be everywhere and nowhere.
I see the Fool as the true Zero as well. Moving through the Major Arcana as a mirror and filter in a way. Hi Kim!
Yup, I am so feeling it’s time to share my shiny wings …just hope there’s not too many more walls coming my way!
Grin, just remember walls don’t have to be huge. Take them down one brick at a time. You can do it!
Arwen, I love your take on this card. And, 😉 thanks for the pep talk. Just what I needed. Totally relates to my life and thoughts.