At long last, the Fool enters the final card of the journey, the World or (Uni- verse) card. Moving from the higher perspectives and neutral discernment of Judgement, the Fool arrives at the culmination of a major life lesson or lessons learned, and then progresses to the next phase of their evolution. What has originated with the spark of the Magician has now come to completion and fulfillment.
The World card is number twenty-one, the final phase of the last cycle of seven. Here, the Fool’s journey comes to a close and realization happens. This is the opportunity to look back over the path and see all the trials and tribulations that have been faced and overcome. Containing the numbers two and one, the World is infused with the energy of both the High Priestess and the Magician, when the active vital seed of intention has fully fused with and completed its journey with the guidance and wisdom of the unseen. Added together is the number three, symbolizing complete manifestation, abundance, and joy. When we reverse the number twenty-one to twelve, we discover the connection of the World to the Hanged Man, again illuminating the deeper esoteric truths that inhabit the tarot.
Entering the phase of the World we have a clear sense of what our path has been about and are perhaps suddenly open to a new kind of expression. In this way, the World holds all the potentials and possibilities. It is the myriad of pathways radiating out providing infinite options for the Fool to take. The World card is a sense of empowerment, strength, and integration. Here there is a more fulfilled sense of purpose and connection to a greater sense of self, to our higher self, as well as a deepening awareness of our interconnectedness to our relations. The World is also the earth which provides all forms of nourishment for us to sustain life, grow, thrive, and develop.
The World is also the reminder that there are as many expressions of the divine as there are human beings. We can witness the range of human expression with appreciation and respect when we dissolve our basic judgments and move into a place of love, clarity, and awareness. The World reminds us that we are all connected whether we like it or not, a global family. Each decision we make affects the world, even the tiniest of choices. We have the authority and responsibility to step fully into our empowered selves as global citizens.
Many traditions and cultures use a circle to create a container, honor the four directions, and evoke magic from a sacred space. In this way, the World card is similar to the mandala found in Eastern traditions or the Medicine wheel in Native practices. In my own Tibetan Buddhism practice, the mandala is understood to contain the entire cosmos in its circular symbolism, a representation that gives us access to infinite possibilities in an orderly form. Working with form, we can discover an infinite interplay of creativity and expression in our human journey.
The whirling stars that surround the figure on the Crowley card is usually associated with Nuit, the eternal Egyptian goddess of the skies. This imagery also evokes the qualities of Indra’s net, a multifaceted and jeweled net that hangs over Indra’s palace on the sacred Mount Meru. This net contains a jewel at every junction that mirrors and reflects every other jewel symbolizing the perfect patterned and multidimensional existence of the universe.
In the Waite-Smith deck, the World card shows a naked female figure in an easeful dancing posture. Her face is relaxed and content and around her is a scarf, symbolizing wisdom. She is contained within a circle of laurels indicating the infinite connection from birth, life, death, and rebirth. Anchored into the four corners of the card are symbolic representations of the four fixed signs of the zodiac which are also found in the Wheel of Fortune card. In this way, the World is a manifestation of the destiny set into motion by the Wheel, a culmination of the journey.
Crowley terms this card “the Universe,” indicating an even more vast sense of the card that opens up potentiality to the cosmos’ expansive and multidimensional nature. In truth, the vastness of space is a paradox—our limited form cannot necessarily fully conceive of the never-ending story of birth, creation, growth, decay, dissolution, death, and rebirth. We can only experience this during intense times of initiation, transition, or growth; put more simply, we only reach this understanding in moments of awe and wonder where our small self dissolves into the larger Self.
When the World appears in a reading, it indicates a task fulfilled on a mundane level—related to career or relationships, for example—and/or on the soul level, related to growth and change. There is a sense of completion, success, and achievement. Perhaps an award has been given. The World positively indicates fulfillment in the questions asked and presents the possibility for options not yet conceived. The World card may also indicate literal worldliness as in travel, opportunities, wealth in home and life, movement, and synchronistic connections. New ideas, options, and proposals may appear; the World encourages the questioner to stay open. This card may also indicate staying in one’s power and to center the focus, trusting one’s own path more fully when making a decision.
Cycle of Seven Exercise
As mentioned throughout this book, it is helpful to remember that each major arcana card contains all the lessons, challenges, wisdom, and power of the cards that have become before. As you may have done at certain points, I again recommend laying out the entire journey now from the Fool to the World to have a look at the unfolding. Following the cycles of seven, you can lay out three rows with seven cards each, starting with the Magician as the first card up to the Chariot. This way you can view the progressions of the cards, what comes before and after, and it is also interesting to note how the lines connect vertically as well as horizontally.
Essential Qualities: empowerment, totality, ending and beginning, dance, joy, expression, global, possibilities, paths, turning, understanding
Suggestions: Create a nature mandala. Spend a few hours in the woods or outside collecting things to make a simple work of art with stones, leaves, pine needles, flowers, and other small found things. Climb to a high point or look out and reflect on achievements and accomplishments. Make a list of what you are grateful for. Make a bucket list of thirty things you would like to do.
Oracle Vision
I am the World. I see and feel all things manifest on the earthly plane. I offer the wisdom of completion, of coming to the end of a journey, and recognizing when it is time to feel the confidence of a job well done. I remind you that no matter what you have done in your life, you have completed tasks and lessons, and you are walking with wisdom even if it is difficult to see this.
I invite you to discover the deep gratitude of a life in human form and to play with as many expressions as you can. I am the earth, the universe; my creative play is infinite, as is yours. I remind you that your potential is often much grander and more expansive than you can imagine. Rest in the true and open state of awareness so that you may remember your whole and eternal self.
Embodying the dance of beauty, power, freedom, expression, love, and joy is your inherent birth right as a human being. Social systems set up by man are not always congruent with the truths of the World. Seek that which gives you joy. Dissolve and let go of that which brings pain and suffering. Use every opportunity to find the center of the heart and breathe new and wild life into that moment.