The World
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The Marseilles card
The Waite-Smith card
Stage VIII: Transcendence
In Joseph Campbell’s Hero’s Journey, and especially Chris Vogler’s modern adaptation, the final stage of that journey is the Return with the Elixir. It is the same in our journey, with an important addition. The Fool-now-Magician may return to the outer world, back right across the map to the Sun and to the mundane world, and become a teacher, a Bodhisattva, or even just a silent presence, shining a small light in the darkness of our world. This choice leads back to the human world.
But another alternative is available. The Magician may entirely forsake the human world and go on to the trans-human realms and be in service in another way. At this stage a physical body is no longer required to retain a conscious nexus. Which choice is made is entirely up to the Magician. Either way, though, the influence of the spiritual World is nearby.
The World
Most of the Tarot decks we have examined depict the same symbols. A green wreath of roughly oval shape surrounds a naked female figure who appears to be floating in space. In each hand she holds a rod similar to the Magician’s; he holds one, while she holds two. The four corners of the card show four symbols that represent the four elements. They are traditionally: a man or angel for Air, an eagle for Water, a bull for Earth, and a lion for Fire. The void behind her represents the fifth element, Quintessence.
A very important, but easily overlooked, symbol on this card is the red ribbons on the wreath, shaped like an X. This was a coded symbol used in the Middle Ages which signified true enlightenment. It was a stylized way of writing the Latin word LUX which means light.
If we imagine ourselves as the figure in this card, we can almost feel the energies of Spirit flowing past us, out of the card and back leftward across the diagram of the Eye. Every card is lit with the energies that flow from Spirit, enlivening each group of symbols in ways appropriate for the archetypes they express. The call of Gabriel’s trumpet in the Awakening card sounds out through the Sun to the Hanging Man, and to us as inert, dormant Fools, who can hear this call, however faintly, if we listen.
Here,the ultimate union is expressed: Spirit always returns to us across any distance; indeed, it never left us save in our awareness. Our illusions masked it; our habits and the press of our ordinary concerns concealed it. It is a magical process that restores our awareness of all-pervasive Spirit, which is the entire purpose of the Fool’s Journey. So the Journey is not so far, nor is it only available to a select few, which is exactly the point. It is available to every man and every woman who commits to undertake it.
And so the Fool’s Journey is complete. It has not only come full circle; it has also spiraled up to a higher level, taking the Fool with it. The Golden Age is recreated within the Fool, yet it shines out everywhere, benefiting all who can apprehend it.