The World - Victory and Optimism in the Tarot
The World is a card about evolution, enlightenment, and epiphany.
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To give you a bit of context whilst you reflect on your own relationship to the card, here are a few key things to know about the World:
As the last card in the Major Arcana, the World symbolises the completion of one cycle and the beginning of the next. It offers an opportunity to review - to look back on what you’ve gained in your tarot practice so far, and to spend some time relfecting on how your experience with the tarot has widened your perspective.
Because of course, how can the World not be a card about widened perspective? Zooming out to see the World, to find yourself at the end of the Tarot, is an exercise in big picture thinking.
The World in the Rider Waite Smith tarot illustrates the expansive perspective that the World offers perfectly: the artwork paints a victorious, optimistic picture. A dancer flats in the centre of a victory wreath - simultaneously exuding strength and vulnerability. The dancer holds a wand in each hand, but these wands are different in style to full suit of wands. The last time we saw a tool like this, it was in the Magician, at the beginning of the Major Arcana. Think of it like this: since encountering the Magician at the beginning of the deck, your journey through the tarot has doubled your power and given you a full set of tools to work with.
Each corner of the card features a symbol - a face in profile on in the upper left corner, an eagle in the upper right, a bull in the bottom left, and a lion in the bottom right. These symbols are intended to represent the four fixed astrological signs: Aquarius, Scorpio, Taurus, and Leo. The World itself is the only Major Arcana card that doesn’t have a single astrological sign assigned to it… so you could take the presence of the fixed signs and the World’s lack of sign as a suggestion that the World is so far beyond categorization. Protected in its victory wreath, it can float freely. It cannot be fixed. By making it this far, you, too defy easy categorization. Your world and your perspective is so much bigger than that.
In your tarot journal, you’re asked to reflec on what this card means to you, now, in this moment, and what actions and thoughts it inspires in you. As you journal, pay attention to what you’re personally picking up in the card, but also consider what the key themes and symbols in the card might be telling you. Where do you feel your point of view has been expanding lately? In what areas do you feel yourself really coming into your own? Have you completed any big journeys worth celebrating in the last year?
This mini-tarot lesson was brought to you by me, Chelsey Pippin Mizzi, founder of Pip Cards Tarot. I hope you gained a little context to help you continue reflecting on the card in your own way, and I’ll see you tomorrow for another mini-lesson.