DIRECTION AND FLOW IN THE EQUINOX CELEBRATION

The Equinox Celebration Tarot uses a three-card spread called a Triangle. The three Celebrants (cards) have Positions: the 1st Position, the Question, Theme, and surrounding energies; the 2nd Position indicates what works for, or against the 1st Position, and can refer to past influences; the 3rd Position or Apex at the top of the Triangle, is the Result, Direction, or Answer. The first two cards when combined represent the current state of the affair, the 3rd Position, the Apex, is where the present state or question is going, the result, the future.

One important feature in the Equinox Celebration Tarot is the Direction and Flow of its images. The Equinox Celebration does not reverse or modify its meanings when they are upside down as with most tarot. In addition, not all of the Celebrants are vertical, some are horizontal, some face to the left, others to the right, some are dual entities facing towards or away from each other, and others face forward. There are no qualitative differences in meaning  for these orientations; they can create harmonies, indicate separations. The differences between the images modify, strengthen, as they emphasize Direction and Flow. 

Here are three examples:

A fusion of some kind is suggested with the two bottom cards moving towards each other, along with the Apex having two figures facing each other and joined; this Triangle has a melding result. Applying their astrological correspondences aids in understanding them: Carver is the 1st Decan Leo, and Unicorn as the 1st Decan Scorpio, we have two pronounced, determined energies that could be in conflict. While Lovers In State, the 3rd Decan Virgo, refers to a final or complete development, the two bottom Celebrants are fixed signs driving an unambiguous outcome.

Here we have three different orientations. For this Triangle, the question did not have a favorable outcome. – Not that all Triangles with differing orientations are unfavorable. What makes it difficult is the Apex card, the result Position: In Defiance of Definition. Essentially it means “Not now,” so it is not completely hopeless! Its astrological correspondence is the 2nd Decan of Capricorn. There is enough mis-match going on in this Triangle that caution is suggested. The Question Position, Power of the Ki, the 3rd Decan of Gemini, says the theme is about maintaining centrality, focus: In Defiance of Definition has a dubious quality. At the second Position, She Brings the Gift of Music, the 1st Decan of Cancer, suggests that there may be having too much, yet there is potential. 

For this Triangle, the two bottom Celebrants, Recline, the 3rd Decan of Taurus, and Power of Man, the 3rd Decan of Aries, are facing the same direction, with the Apex, Spirit, the 2nd Decan of Gemini, facing opposite. This represents a change in direction. If they were all facing in the same direction, the flow is cohesive, circuitous, unbroken. If the question involves a negative circumstance, such a singular current may not be a good thing!

With these variables, the interactions between the 36 Celebrants – the 36 Decans, offer many possibilities. Traditional zodiacal correspondences should not be applied literally because astrological correspondences are combined and modified through the images. Thus, this does not mean that The King in His Study is 1st Decan of Pisces, rather,  the form and movement of the images are blended with the character of the decans. 

Exercise: a Triangle’s rhythm can be felt when each Celebrant in a Triangle is followed repeatedly, reading them as recuring chapters.