The World card is an indication that You are where you are meant to be!! It is a wonderful, joyous signpost that marks the end of a life cycle and is the pause before you step into the next stage or challenge.
You are about to open yourself up to a completely new way of existence. As things come a full circle, you could give a thought to what it is that you are completing, and where you are going to have the closure of an era before you move onwards and ahead.
We see the hermaphrodite world dancer who is completely at peace and has mastered movement and being peaceful all at once. The dancer is naked because the physical world after all exists without culture, without political lines, and without division. We are all one, and we are all connected. At no time in recent history has this been more apparent than in the present. We are all sending loving energy and holding each other up, as the world battles through the Coronavirus Pandemic.
The World dancer or the Anima Mundi- the soul of the world, thus calls upon you to look at those that are connected to you and send them love and gratitude. This is the time when we are all called to move beyond our own needs and personal crusades to see what we can offer.
The stark nudity of the World Dancer also reminds us that she has been through hell and back, confronted her deepest fears and lived her truths. She doesn't fear Death, for she has been through all the prior twenty-one cards to arrive at this point. She has used the four elements to create what she is at the present moment, and she is triumphant and magnificent, balancing the physical and the spiritual, and balancing contradictions. She is, after all, the World, numbered 21, and combines the focus and will of the Magician(1) with the intuition of the High Priestess (2). If we turn the number 21 around, it becomes 12 which is The Hanged Man.
The World has thus liberated the Hanged Man, made fruitful his sacrifice and really is in the opposite stance to him. While the Hanged Man put his arms behind himself and withdrew from life, the World Dancer has her arms open and embraces life.
In her hands, she holds not one, but two wands, and has a mastery that is higher than the Magician. You too have come a long way. You have conquered fear and had heartache, sacrificed and faced loss, learn to heal yourself and now you stand on the threshold of a new life.
Celebrate yourself!! Celebrate the World!! Move On and Enjoy the Journey!!
Meditations on The World
For me, becoming isn’t about arriving somewhere or achieving a certain aim. I see it instead as forward motion, a means of evolving, a way to reach continuously toward a better self. The journey doesn’t end.” Michelle Obama, Becoming
Take a moment to honour your journey. It has been a heroic one. Think of all the mountains and heartbreaks and challenges that you have faced to get to this point. Think of all the highs and joys you have lived through to reach here. Hold them close to your heart for now you enter a new epoch.
Take a moment to give gratitude to those who helped you along the way, cared for you, and sent you on your merry way.
Take a moment to pray for the World to heal so that we can all honour the suffering of those who have lost family and friends in this Pandemic, and a prayer of gratitude to those essential workers who have put the World ahead of themselves and given of themselves selflessly.
Take a moment to think back on another of your personal World moment, when you marked the end of an aeon, and think back on how that felt.
FURTHER READING: Ardhanarishvara & The World
Images Used on The Site. Illustrations from the Rider-Waite Tarot Deck, known also as the Rider Tarot and the Waite Tarot, reproduced by permission of U.S. Games Systems, Inc., Stamford, CT 06902. c. 1971 by U.S. Games Systems, Inc. All rights reserved. The Rider-Waite Tarot deck is a registered trademark of U.S. Games Systems, Inc