The Clown lives through all roles. Peace of mind is something he takes with him on this microcosmic roller coaster.
A small serene space in his heart to which he can move from the busyness of playing the current role. A small serene space from which silence is constantly present as a frequency in everything. No matter what happens. No matter how unfree the scene in which he then finds himself.
Serenity is a very evocative word. Serene is the early morning, just before the action begins. Serene is a sunlit patch of grass in the forest or a Gothic cathedral full of flecks of colour from the sun through the gracefully tall windows between the pointed arches of masonry.
One of the synonyms in Dutch for the word ‘serenity’ is: peace of mind. That moves the notion of serenity from the accompanying environment to the inner state of the person in that environment. The mind is at rest. Does that mean that man must be sunk in meditation to achieve that serenity, completely physically inactive? Or can I act in such a way that my peace of mind is not disturbed in the process? Or can I live actively whereby my mind is at rest ?
Let’s return to the images – not of the environment now – of the state of the human soul as depicted in the Tarot de Marseille. If the series of 22 major arcana are a depiction of man’s soul path, we should also be able to detect in them the idea of peace of mind. The reader can playfully do the exercise himself: Where do I see peace of mind depicted? His selection of images then tells him something about his state of mind of the moment, or, if he is not entirely coherent, about his imaginary state of mind of the moment. Towards the writing of this piece came the suggestion of the clown – in the Tarot de Marseille: le Mat – as an image of serenity. In contemplating this piece, the Hanged One – le Pendu – spoke very strongly.
Going through the 22 consecutive arcana from the idea of peace of mind, the Hermit (VIIII) and the Star (XVII) stand out. The Hermit is the wise old man with his red pilgrim’s staff who lifts a lamp high with his right hand to show the way to travelers coming after him. On the Star, a naked woman with golden hair is depicted pouring water under the starry sky from the pitchers in both her hands. She too looks to the left, at those who come after her. The old man and woman are concentratedly active in caring for other travelers on the path. Whether they do this out of a peaceful frame of mind is not really depicted. However, there does speak a certain calmness in their action. The old man could be passing on the wisdom he has already been privileged to discover or receive on his life’s journey. He lets his light shine in the darkness. The quality of his soul points the way. The woman, naked and confident, pours out what she may receive from the cosmos for those who thirst for it. She is the Water Woman, the soul in true soul-action, the work of liberation in the connection between heaven and earth.
In going the soul’s way, the soul goes through a complete transformation. Only through that transformation, a fundamental reversal, will she be able to play her role in liberating human souls from this world. Even before that point of reversal, on her path she acquires soul qualities that she will use in her work. Life experience and lived wisdom teachings can be shared with other people along the way. The Hermit with number 9 is a picture of this. After reversal, the soul is essentially changed. The Star with number 17 depicts working, as it does afterwards. The Soul has become confident in heaven and on earth. It no longer needs expensive cloaks, golden symbols of power. It transforms what it receives and gives it away freely.
The Soul will be depicted further in the series once again as a naked woman in the arcana called the World. There she dances surrounded by a laurel wreath. She unites within herself the mastery of the male staff and the female jar in both her hands. She is master of the four ethers represented by what we also know as the symbols of the four evangelists: the ox, the lion, the eagle and the angel. She is soul in mastery.
Serenity. Peace of mind. A turning point in the going of the soul.
Who is the clown, le Mat? His arcana has no number, like the joker in the regular card game. Because he has no number, he can fit in at any position in the sequence of 22. He is in place everywhere. He too has a red pilgrim’s staff in his right hand. His left balances another stick from which a duffel bag is carried over his shoulder. The Mat looks to the right and upwards. He is looking at the road ahead, the next step he will take. On his head is a golden hat, the suggestion of a jester’s hat, the golden tips pointed upwards towards the sky. Coloured bells are on his collar. A dog jumps up and grabs at the traveller’s trousers with his front paws. His footwear is red, as in the fairy tale of the red shoes. He steps firmly into it! This is how he once started his journey in position 0. This is how he steps through all the following positions: the Magician in 1, the High Priestess who initiates in 2 … Thus, after completion in the World, he will arrive in position 22, which lies beyond the soul path in this world. On his way, he takes up successive roles. As a mage, a sorcerer’s apprentice at the beginning of his path, he will have to choose from the many talents and values on the table. With those talents, he will gather the courage to pass by the woman initiator and truly make his way in the world as an Empress, as an Emperor, as a Pope, … Only when he has acquired the essence from each of those roles, gathered in his duffle bag, will he be able to shed the clothes of that role again, will he be able to regain his freedom and move on…further and further..to the next assignment. At 22, his freedom will be complete.
Peace of mind is something he takes with him on this microcosmic roller coaster. A small serene space is in his heart to which he can move from the busyness of playing the current role, a small serene space from which silence is constantly present as a frequency in everything, no matter what happens, no matter how unfree the scene in which he then finds himself. Somewhere along the way, that silence is becoming conscious again, after having been forgotten in the first stages of his journey.
This brings us to number 12, le Pendu. With wide-open eyes, like a child, the hands behind his back, a man with a golden cord around one of his ankles is hanging from a scaffold of two trunks topped by a thick stick. His head thus hangs to the earth. His shoes are red, his tight trousers deep blue, his jacket composed of multicoloured patches of colour. He looks straight at you above his drooping hair. He is watching. The fact that he is hung means that a reversal has taken place, is taking place. He is now looking from that inverted position. What does he see? Why the reversal?
Perhaps we can find answers with that other hanged man, Odin, in Nordic mythology.
Take a closer look at this using some excerpts from the Edda, the Nordic epic.
The spring was in the territory of Mímir, who drank from it every day and always played chess against himself. Odin was allowed to drink from the spring on condition that he would pay a price for it. Odin said he was willing to part with an eye for it, to which Mímir told him that this, then, was the price he was asking. However, Mímir was not malicious, he just wanted to show that wisdom has its price. He therefore took care of Odin as best he could. Later, when the chief god returned to Asgard, he was accompanied by Mímir, who would henceforth be the counsellor of the gods and regularly played a game of chess with Odin. From this adventure, Odin kept the name “the One-Eyed One”.
Nine nights I hung from the tree, wounded by the spear, dedicated to Odin.
I was wounded with a spear and sacrificed to Odin. Sacrificed myself to myself.
Hanging on that tree, no one knows where the roots are.
No one gave me bread, no one gave me water.
Into the abyss I peered to grab the runes, with a loud cry I grabbed them and I fell back from there.
Well-being was my reward and also wisdom.
I grew and I had joy from my growth, from word I was led to word, from one act to another.
Odin mastered the Runes after he had been in another world. Among the Laplanders, staying in the tree was considered a celestial journey, and we can also describe the ecstatic state, being detached from the material world, in this way. The falling of the tree is then a return to material life. For our ancestors, being ‘no longer of this world’ also meant coming into contact with the world of the dead, the underworld. At least that is the usual explanation of modern historians.
By hanging on to the tree of life, the initiate got to know its roots and thus also the roots of life.
The Hanged One in his inverted state is connected to the celestial world with a golden cord. The state of utter surrender in complete trust signifies a transformation of the soul acquiring wisdom. For a time – 9 days, 9 nights – he is inverted but serene, at peace. Well-being is his reward as well as wisdom. Then he grows and takes delight in his growth. From word to word, from one act to another, he is guided from now on. In the temporary serene state of inaction, a conversion of the soul has taken place. It has become a new soul. From now on, the soul really goes on its path. It will meet the XIII in the next arcana after the fullness of the first 12. The XIII, the arcana without a name, an image of the man with the scythe, is reminiscent of the beheading of the ancient kings in the story of the Alchemical Wedding.
Let us return to the Mat, the clown, the jester, the learning man on the path. In the arcana of the Hanged Man, in the role of the hanged man, his soul has been transformed. She has gained well-being in and with herself, she has gained peace of mind. The old values have lost their power, the kings have been beheaded. In the third set of 7 arcana, the Mat will now preserve his peace of mind while the opening and closing of doors continues. Action follows action while maintaining serenity. The Pilgrim steps forth, until the completion of his path in the union of the masculine and feminine, of soul and spirit, in the World.
Then we see the Mat reappearing at number 22 which is also number zero. He is ransomed from Earth and can continue his path elsewhere: free, unmoved, with peace of mind. Man.
