Fortune’s Wheelhouse

We continue our zodiacal series with the sign of Libra, the Scales - archetype of symmetry, balance, and partnership. We explore the characteristics of the sign, its associated planetary dignities, its magical and natural correspondences, its astronomy and related constellations and myths, its magical uses and more; all considered in terms of its expression in the tarot.

Cards considered in this episode:

Justice/Adjustment (zodiacal major of Libra).
- The 2, 3, and 4 of Wands (minors of Libra)
- Queen of Swords and Knight/Prince of Cups (court cards of Libra)

Music: "Symmetry," by STYPTIC

To learn more about the astrological architecture of the tarot, the Kabbalistic correspondences, and much, much more, be sure to visit us at www.patreon.com/fortuneswheelhouse. You can also shop for Fortune's Wheelhouse T-shirts, mugs, backpacks, stickers, and more! at our RedBubble shop.

Mystic, empath, archetypal anima - the Queen of Cups is veiled in feminine mystique. Most sensitive of queens, she is associated with the watery part of water. The Moon governs her tides, so while she is by nature nurturing and compassionate, storms can rack her moods as well. In her watery domain are the last decan of Gemini and the first two decans of Cancer - love among the ruins.

In this episode we discuss sacrificial maidens, prophetesses, and femmes fatales - Circe, Helen of Troy, Cleopatra, Polyxena, Delilah, Princess Diana, and the Lady of the Lake. The myth of Judith and Holofernes introduces a frisson of danger and betrayal; the Queen of Hearts shouts "Off with their heads!" We consider blonde bombshells, Lilith and the astral realms, portals and magic mirrors, the world of dreams, the geomantic figures Populus and Via, waning and waxing moon, the mercurial ability to communicate and the lunar quality of reflectio, the Beehive Cluster, the khephra beetle's journey through night, Castor and Pollux, Polyxena, the ibis of divination, the heron of foreknowledge, the stork of motherhood, hexagram 58 (Duì or joy), desire and memory, purity and patience.
To learn more about the suit of Cups, the world of Briah, the watery mysteries of the Queens, the sephira Binah, the color schemes of the cards, and so much else, be sure to visit us at www.patreon.com/fortuneswheelhouse. You can also shop for Fortune's Wheelhouse T-shirts, mugs, backpacks, stickers, and more! at our RedBubble shop.

Our final Queen is the silent one, the thorny rose, the Queen of the Goats. Ruling over the final decan of Sagittarius and the first two decans of Capricorn, the Queen of Pentacles or Disks offers silence, the certainty of death, and the inevitability of life's renewal. The watery part of earth, she binds matter into new forms of Change and Work. She is tireless and prolific, and in her darkness light is born.

In our conversation we discuss: the descent and climb of the goat, gestation, sacrifice, and resurrection, mutable fire, cardinal earth, burial and rebirth of light, Temperance/Art, the Devil, alchemical marriage , binding tendrils and vines taking root, Persephone the Underworld Queen, cause of growth and death, Saturn/Jupiter polarities, deserts/oases, domination vs constructive work, hexagram 31 ("Hsien," mutual influence), the pineapple as hospitality and wealth, the cult of Dionysus, Queen Argaea of the Fay, Ananke, Chronos, and Phanes lightbringer, rabbits, markhour goat, the 3D hexagram in the Cube of Matter, the 13 phases of the moon, and roses.

To learn more about the suit of Pentacles or Disks, the world of Assiah, the watery mysteries of the Queens, the sephira Binah, the color schemes of the cards, and so much else, be sure to visit us at www.patreon.com/fortuneswheelhouse. You can also shop for Fortune's Wheelhouse T-shirts, mugs, backpacks, stickers, and more! at our RedBubble shop.

Prison or protection? This week, we face the 4 of Pentacles or Disks, the Lord of Power (is that redundant?!) or Material Power. Here are tropes of kingship - the Sun as ruler of the decan, Capricorn as the zodiac's CEO, even Jupiter as the force governing all 4's. The power derives from the throne, and it is rooted, strongly fortified, solid gold, and immovable. In the fortress of the Old New Year, the embers of increasing light reflect treasures, amassed and hoarded. Does wealth buy freedom, or its opposite?

In our conversation we discuss: the summit of materialism, bank vaults, the lighting of the fire, the Burning of the Clavie, King Midas, the animal nature, the Sun and the Devil major arcana, freedom vs captivity, absolute power that corrupts absolutely, Lucifer and his relationship with Knowledge, the power of carnality, Jupiter as Demiurge, obedience and tyranny, billionaires in bunkers, Chesed as limitless good, the coat closet of the abyss, the angel Zadkiel and the demon Astaroth, the Emerald Tablet, Operation of the Sun, turds laid beneath the throne, the mural crown, the heavenly Jerusalem, mandalas, thangkas, kalachakras, sun stones, the invincible Green Man, hexagram #2, and 'Soli Invicto'.

To learn more about the suit of Pentacles or Disks, the world of Assiah, the sky gods of Chesed, the color schemes of the cards, and so much else, be sure to visit us at www.patreon.com/fortuneswheelhouse. You can also shop for Fortune's Wheelhouse T-shirts, mugs, backpacks, stickers, and more! at our RedBubble shop.

Cue the blues: it's the 5 of Pentacles or Disks - otherwise known as the Lord of Worry, or the Lord of Material Trouble. It is the very disaster we thought we could forestall by stockpiling gold in the Four of Pentacles! Mercury (The Magician or Magus) presides over the second decan of Taurus (The Hierophant), the quicksilver psychopomp contending with the steadfast pontifex. Who will prevail, the Picker of Locks or the Keeper of the Keys?! In this celestial heist, bankruptcy is all but certain, and there's plenty of worry to go all around. And yet there is more to this card than meets the eye.

In our conversation, we discuss Taurus as bridge between the spiritual and the mundane, and the bull's quest to find success between worry and the failure. We discuss sacred bovines, agriculture, having, holding, and belonging, economic inequality, the mills of God grinding slowly, tattvas, Earth Day, the star known as El-Nath, nails as the Vav of the Hierophant, averse pentagrams, padlocks, the problem-solving intelligence, patriarchs, Isaac's sacrifice, the separation of waters, the angel Kamael, the demon Asmodeus, mendicants, the church as that which binds and excludes, the etymology of "worry", broken records, elephants, keys, and the idea of the 5 as freedom from cycle of matter.

To learn more about the suit of Pentacles or Disks, the world of Assiah, the war gods of Geburah, the color schemes of the cards, and so much else, be sure to visit us at www.patreon.com/fortuneswheelhouse. You can also shop for Fortune's Wheelhouse T-shirts, mugs, backpacks, stickers, and more! at our RedBubble shop.