Tarot

The World card shows the end of a cycle and the beginning of a new one. It is different from the Wheel of Fortune which changes unexpectedly. With the World the cycle changes because of your hard work, commitment and dedication. Success is achieved because of your efforts.

In a relationship reading, this card can show that commitment is now possible or that by releasing the past, you can open to a more fulfilling future. There is a sense of arrival and completion that can follow a long period of study where a degree or promotion leads you into a whole new world.

Its message is that what you are longing for will finally arrive. Its emphasis on consciousness and manifestation reminds you to give consideration to the ideas that consume your mind. In Taoism, there is a saying: “without looking out the window one can see the whole world.” Whether Eastern philosophy or Western religious ideas, we are told that the Kingdom of Heaven or the ability to ascend to higher levels of consciousness resides within.

We can do little to change outer events but when we make changes to the inner world, the outer world mysteriously changes. Whatever the situation, there are deep and lasting changes that you will carry with you because of a change in perspective.

The World card can suggest taking amazing trips to foreign destinations, but the energy it describes is how traveling will change you. In fact, when you pack for a long trip you often come face to face with your ‘stuff.’ Packing all of your rituals and habits in a suitcase, even while the scenery is changing, you can observe what you needlessly carry and protect.

In many ways, what we experience is simply a mirror of what we believe. If you expect to meet difficulty you will court it. Change your vibration of intention and reap the reward. Whatever your gift, the World card shows you are ready to receive it. If you expect to meet a loving universe that is celebrating your arrival, you will live that too.

The World is similar to the I Ching hexagram of the Traveler. In some senior centers the cafeteria is redecorated each day so that the participants feel like they are on a cruise ship sailing around the world. Its not perfect - but it beats the way a routine can diminish our life experience. What need is there for movement when we can carry a perspective of Joy everywhere we go?

The World can show that you have achieved an epiphany or new level of understanding where the destination is not as important as the journey. Every day, since our birth, we have been building and maintaining a paradigm to keep the outer world carefully organized in a way that we can minimize stress. Dreams are like a digestive organ for the mind, sifting, assimilating and discarding those ideas that can no longer serve us.

When the World appears, there is a tremendous amount of insight flooding into consciousness with utmost clarity. It can show freedom or success after a long period of conflict and struggle. This World ‘out there’ is your creation and you have the power to make it anything you want.

As the final card in the Major Arcana its message is that you have arrived. Everywhere you go, there you are. Without looking out of the window, you dream of the different ways you compartmentalize your life. Out there - in here - it really doesn't matter because you can see how they mirror each other.

The four animals in the card represent Taurus, Leo, Aquarius and Scorpio, representing the four fixed signs of the four elements. Like the Magician, the card describes mastery. Why Scorpio is portrayed as a bird, relates to the Phoenix rising from the ashes. The World did not come like a gift out of the blue. You have worked long and hard to arrive at your outlook.

The World can teach you how by day, you can behave like the witness who simply observes the changing landscape without preconceptions. “Those who don’t know what can’t be done can accomplish great things.”

In dreams, windows, doors and corridors show an opening in perspective or transitional spaces while we explore deeper aspects of who we might become. The World Dancer is surrounded by a border, because she has moved through the Gate. She holds the batons of Wands, because she understands the World and its connection to ideas.

Dreaming of our childhood home with new or unknown rooms shows how we explore our unrecognized potential. The message of the World card is about the deepening and even the release of your paradigm where anything is possible because you no longer believe in walls.

Depending on the placement of this card, the message combines the Fool, Magician, and Wheel of Fortune to represent not only self-mastery, but a sense of mastery in meeting your experiences.

Keywords: Arrival and completion. Beginning of a new cycle. Consciousness expansion. Foreign travel. Finding your niche in life. Life taking on a more meaningful pattern. A sense of clear direction forward. Diploma and degrees received. 

Reversed: Self limiting ideas and beliefs. Outworn thinking that is limiting achievement. Giving up on a project before completion. Disappointment after achievement. Anti-climactic events. Something was not what you hoped it would be.