As strange as it might sound, I see a psychological twist on the Tarot. Something I've learned from a person on the past that was really important to me. Even more important now, especially considering that she tried to present me the deck, exactly under these circumstances: she is a shrink based upon the works of Jung. That's how she tried to present me. But as I mentioned here, I wasn't ready.
The Major Arcana consists of 22 cards that represent significant life events and spiritual lessons. In this post, we'll explore the meaning and significance of these powerful cards. Or at least that's what part of the people think. I also see that through the cards much of the shadow, the psyche, the id, all of that surfaces with the cards. If you mix that with dreams and the whole significance that Jung puts to it, then you'll have a full picture. The World card. You'll see about that.
The Fool's Journey
The Major Arcana is often described as "The Fool's Journey," representing the path of life from innocence to completion. The Fool (card 0) represents the beginning of this journey, while The World (card 21) represents its completion. I see it kind of The Fool entering my shrink's office for the first time, willing to be there, taking the jump and saying "Hey, I'm gonna open up to someone or something new. In this case, someone that will help me understand myself by opening up to this person. REALLY open up. Be me, with all of my shadows. And then The World is the end of this journey, after dozens of sessions, when your shrink (if he's a good one) says to you "You don't need me anymore. Go spend your money somewhere else. On a sunny beach, in your case". So, in any case, this whole journey is not flat, or dull, or sunny, or dark, or anything describable with one single word. It's a massive rollercoaster.
Peaks and troughs.
I'd say that some journeys start on a peak. You're willing to do something new. A deep drive is pushing you to the cliff on the card. Not a bad cliff, not something that represents a fall or an accident. But going for something new that you still don't know much about. I know, for some people this is absolutely scary. But it wasn't like that since ever. When you were a kid, you probably jumped in a pool for the first time. Kissed someone you liked in the cheeks on an impulse for the first time. When down a slide on the playground for the first time. That drive. Coming from you, coming from your friends, parents, someone, if not yourself. Someone was the dog in the card for you, pushing you to go for it and coming along. So you did it at some point in your life, and maybe life itself brought conditions that made you change yourself in that sense, loosing the courage, the guts to jump and do something new, the drive or need to change something and free yourself from boredom, stagnation.
I would call that a peak: having this drive. You'll need the momentum from the fall. You'll need the gravity pushing you down, to gain momentum to supersede the hill that is right there, not that far away. That's why I think of The Fool as a "peak card", and that's why I think that every journey starts on the top of a hill. You'll see the other cards on other articles and this analogy maybe will make some sense to you. Because along this journey, you'll start enjoying the descent, until you gain speed and start to feel like derailing. Then you'll most likely derail. Badly. There wont be anyone around to help, but you'll stand up again and keep going. At some point you'll be back on track and keep going down. Then you'll pick up speed again, and then laugh about that time when you derailed and crashed and burned. You'll start to enjoy the ride again, you'll quickly touch the bottom just to use the centrifugal force to got uphill, will lose momentum, struggle to reach the top of the hill... you know the drill. Eventually you'll reach the next top. And looking up, there's another hill to go down, another mountain to go up. Until you reach the top of that hill you most want. In my cae, until the slide ends on the white sand of a beautiful beach with warm and transparent waters. That would the card that is called The World. Funny enough, my rides ends on a trough. A geographical one.