#if the empress is a dj i feel like i can make the emperor a bartender or vice versa. very centralized compositions wrt the art

[butchlifeguard]

save me idea i had for a summer tarot card design. i think about it a lot for someone who doesnt believe in that shit at all

[geekmystic]

The Fool’s Journey in the Star Wars Sequel Trilogy - Part 5

Part 1 // Part 2 // Part 3 // Part 4 // Part 5

Summary: Death // Temperance // The Devil // Speculation // Sources

Death

In this card, we have an armored skeleton riding a white horse.  The skeleton is holding up a black flag with a white rose.  Below the horse are men, women, and children from all walks of life.  This is to symbolize that death comes for all.  No one escapes it.

In the beginning of the film, Rose (like the flag) loses her sister, Paige.  She is then given authority to keep people from escaping the Raddus.  No one escapes death.  She stuns three people before stunning Finn (1+3).  She then takes him under her wing to teach him what she knows about life and death in the galaxy.  Together they learn about the cycles of life.  The card number, 13, is related to the sacred feminine.  Israel had 13 children, 12 sons and 1 daughter.

On Canto Bight (the universe’s curveball), they seek the Master Codebreaker by looking for another flower.  I think this was doomed to fail from the start.  The Master Codebreaker was sympathetic to the Resistance.  And death is not sympathetic.  So Rose and Finn have to make a trip to the underworld (jail) to find the true personification of Death and that is DJ (Don’t Join).

DJ’s message to Rose and Finn is “It’s all a machine, partner.  Live free.  Don’t join.”  And we see that there is a war machine at work.  DJ and Rose are sort of “big picture” people albeit in different ways.  DJ’s big picture is more temporal.  You win today.  They win tomorrow.  It’s all pointless.  Rose thinks more laterally.  One person isn’t enough to live for.  You need a cause, a purpose, or else you’re just bumbling through life.  I personally think both are right AND wrong.  You CAN live for one person and also recognize when you or the other person has moved on.  You CAN recognize the futility of lost causes but also fight for the most important ones.  Finn can live for Rose (and Rey) and also serve the Resistance.  And while you do lose some battles, giving up is not always the solution.

That is the lesson of Death.  Sometimes, you need to let go.  And once you let go, you need to move forward.

Temperance

Now, we come to Temperance.  We see an angel standing with one foot in the water and one foot on dry ground.  There is water being passed between two cups.  Personally, I think the direction is ambiguous as is the gender of the angel.  We haven’t seen an angel since The Lovers which represented the conflict between Ben and Rey.  Now, instead of the angel keeping them apart, the angel is bringing them together.

During Rey’s Hanged Man experience, she realized that Luke didn’t have all, or really any, of the answers she sought.  Her answer is simply that she was called by the will of the Force and she answered.  She could run away and the Force would simply call someone else.  She has no connection, or place, in this story except that which she chooses.  She is alone.  Now, she realizes exactly how Ben feels.  She has transcended ego and identified with her Emperor, her shadow, her animus.  This is the only force-bond moment they have where there is no hostility on either end.  They are open and willing to talk about their hopes, desires, failures, and conflicts.

Before, the Force intervened before they could touch and/or harm each other, now the connection allows them to feel each other’s physical touch.  Two halves becoming whole.  The water flowing both ways to and from the cups.  In Death, the sun is just beginning to rise.  In Temperance, the sun is well above the horizon.  In the scene, we see the fire light up Ben’s face.  He is being pulled in.  We know from the novelization that Ben sees Rey’s past and Rey sees Ben’s future.  Again, water flowing back and forth.  Ben is pulled to the Light.  Rey is pulled to the Dark.  She is no longer afraid of the shadow.  This is also a meeting of physical with spiritual.

The scene ends with their hut exploding around them.  The bond is broken.  Our Hermit has still not quite let go of his religious training.  There is only one thing left to do and that is to join her Emperor.

The Devil

So now we come to the end of The Last Jedi.  Both Ben and Rey have traveled down a long road of exploring cycles, dualities, and secret knowledge.  The Force kept them apart but now they are together.  Rey has pulled Ben Solo to the Light but he has a final step to make.  Together, they must face the temptation of the Devil.  Whatever you believe the Devil to be (or not), I think we can all agree that everyone faces temptation.  Temptations can usually be divided into three areas.  Temptation to satisfy desires in an unhealthy way.  Temptation to draw vain attention to yourself.  Temptation to control.

It is this third temptation that Ben Solo fails to resist.  In the throne room, we meet Snoke again.  He reveals that he was the one to bridge their minds.  In the card, we have our Lovers chained to each other, the throne, and around the neck.  I still think the question of whether Snoke was truthful is up in the air.  Their bond certainly extends to more than just the mind.  They feel what the other feels and see visions of the past and future.  This is no simple mind trick.  And, well, the Devil is a liar.  Snoke has manipulated Ben since the womb.  He stoked Ben’s feelings of abandonment and betrayal until it consumed Ben and caused him to leave the light.  I’m reminded of Lois Lane’s closing dialogue from Justice League: “Darkness is not the absence of Light. It is the conviction that the Light will never return.”  For Ben, the Light never existed.

The fight in the throne room is brilliantly choreographed. Ben and Rey, Emperor and Empress, work seamlessly together to defeat all eight guards.  But when the dust settles, Ben spies that throne.  It is a temptation he cannot resist.  The Emperor desires a throne.  However, the Devil’s throne is an imperfect one.  Compare the Devil’s throne to the Emperor’s throne in card #4.  The Emperor’s throne is square while the Devil’s throne is small and rectangular.  Ben, who has been without freedom and control for so long, will take what he can get.  An Emperor also desires and Empress so Ben asks Rey to join him.  Rey, who is usually half a step ahead of Ben on this journey, resists this temptation.  She knows something better is coming and she knows she’ll have to wait for Ben to come around.

Soon after, Ben faces Luke Skywalker on Crait.  Luke shows up just as Ben remembered him.  Temptations are usually just shadows of higher realities.  Ben wants to kill Luke for igniting a lightsaber in his hut while he was asleep.  But Luke is a shadow.  Ben talks about killing the past but he doesn’t realize that it is all a shadow.  The past is already dead but Ben insists on living there punching shadows.  One of the biggest sins that plagues humanity is unforgiveness.  No, Ben doesn’t have become buddies with Luke, join the resistance, or move in with his mother, but he does need to let go and move forward.

Speculation:

The remaining cards in the major arcana are The Tower, The Star, The Moon, The Sun, Judgement, The World.

Now that Ben has seated himself on his imperfect throne, I fully expect him to be ousted in due course.  That is The Tower.  I believe all of Ben’s projecting and illusions will be exposed.  Where Ben believed this or that about other people, he will realize those things apply to him as well.  I keep thinking about Snoke’s line to Ben about Hux being a “rabid cur”.  From The Last Jedi novel, we know that Snoke was just using Ben.  I have a feeling that it will be revealed that Ben was Snoke’s “rabid cur” or “attack dog”.  With no master, Ben will essentially be a stray.

On the other hand, Rey will have to navigate the Resistance.  Rey, who has been isolated since she was a child, who has spent years listening to no one but herself, will bristle with those in command.  She will also have to answer for what she learned on her trip.  And I can’t think of any good that will come of revealing her bond with Ben.  The Tower will have them thrown from their respective organizations and will leave them directionless once again.

Then comes The Star.  This card echoes the Temperance card in some ways.  Except, instead of an angel pouring water, a woman is doing the pouring.  Instead of just mixing two cups, the water is being poured out.  The planet over this card is Venus (the bright morning star) which is also a symbol on the Empress card.  Under Temperance, Ben and Rey touched hands (gasp).  I’d like to think that after their Tower experience, Ben and Rey will come together in a more concrete fashion.  The stars on this cards also echo the Chariot card as well.  So my prediction is that Ben and Rey will travel the galaxy in the Millennium Falcon.

After that, comes the Moon.  There are echoes of the Death card here.  I believe this may be part of Finn and Rose’s adventure and it will possibly involve Hux.  Finn and Rose may find a way to take down the Stormtrooper program.  Hux may be the Moon in our story.  Bright on the outside but dead inside.

Then comes The Sun.  It is a return to innocence.  Other meta writers have speculated that children may be involved in Episode IX and I speculate this as well.  Ben and Rey may conceive or take in children to train.  They will start to teach others what they have learned.

With an army of enlightened individuals, they will march on the First Order and Hux.  This is Judgement.  This is the final battle.  We may see Force ghosts appear in line with the appearance of the card.  We may find that there was a dark side presence involved in a long con.

Then, at long last, we have The World.  This is the homecoming, the epilogue.  I’m hopeful that we’ll see Ben and Rey happy, all sins forgiven from all parties.  We are at peace with ourselves and the world around us.

Major Sources:

I tried to pull screencaps from official sources such as starwars.com.

Card Images were pulled from Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Major_Arcana

http://www.yhwh.com/tarot/tarottoc.htm

http://meanings-tarot.com/tarot-meanings.aspx

https://www.biddytarot.com/tarot-card-meanings/major-arcana/

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