Energy: Male Ruler: Mercury – Rules healings, the mind – Use for magick involving mental issues, learning, higher education, addictions, communications, travel, young people, messages, perception, self-expression, artists, poets, and writers
General Meaning: A community or extended family that works is one where healthy interdependence is appreciated and supported. Good direction is essential, but strong kinship is dependent upon every member of the community. Trust, shared responsibilities and good communication are essential. Each member must be encouraged to find his or her appropriate expression, and contribution.
The functional family is a team that symbolizes the ideal of human interdependence, and has long provided a firm foundation for society. The healthy family is a microcosm of society and the native soil in which ethical values take root and grow. Fertilize this soil, and the whole of society benefits.
The power that bonds a tribe is the yin or feminine principle — gentleness and receptivity. Relationships are improved through cultivation of these. Learn to accept both advice and aid from others, and be willing to assume an appropriate role in any group that supports good relating. A good team player is always valuable to others. Increase your value!
General Meaning: Pamela Coleman-Smith’s artful rendition of an “innocent Fool” archetype (Rider-Waite deck) is often used to represent Tarot in general. Early classical versions of the Fool card, however, portray quite a different character — a person driven by base needs and urges, who has fallen into a state of poverty and deprivation.
In some instances, he is made out to be a carnival entertainer or a huckster. In others, he is portrayed as decrepit and vulnerable — as the cumulative result of his delusions and failures. Not until the 20th century do you see the popular Rider-Waite image of the Fool arise — that of an innocent Soul before its Fall into Matter, as yet untainted by contact with society and all its ills.
Modern decks usually borrow from the Rider-Waite imagery. Most Fool cards copy the bucolic mountainside scene, the butterfly, the potential misplaced step that will send the Fool tumbling into the unknown. Don’t forget, however, that the earlier versions of this card represented already-fallen humanity, over-identified with the material plane of existence, and beginning a pilgrimage towards self-knowledge, and eventually, wisdom. The Fool reminds us to recognize the path of personal development within ourselves — and the stage upon that path where we find ourselves — in order to energize our movement toward deeper self-realization.
2011 has started on a dramatic note due to the freedom movements in the Arab world and the devastating earthquake in New Zealand. The powerful shaking in these vastly different parts of the world may be seen as foreshocks of bigger changes to come. The year began with a Solar Eclipse on January 4, followed by expansive Jupiter’s entry into independent Aries on January 22, and the New Moon in revolutionary Aquarius conjunct assertive Mars on February 2. Spikes of surprise and uncertainty shake us but instead of holding on tightly to what we know the astrological message is to relax and loosen up to adapt to the waves of change to come.
On March 11 revolutionary re-enters Aries, inciting seven years of innovation and liberation. We may feel strange in a shifting reality where old enmities may reach their breaking points so that new alliances may be born. Union busting in Wisconsin and Indiana, for example, are the inevitable results of America’s turn to the right epitomized by Ronald Reagan’s election in 1980. Certainly, the short-term results of these conflicts will effect U.S. elections but these may only be interim steps in a greater political transformation that transcend party lines. Al Qaida was perceived as the leading anti-government force in Egypt yet events have bypassed the fundamentalist organization, at least for now. Other as yet unknown forces will arise in the U.S. and elsewhere to radically shift the course of history.
On March 20 the Sun enters Aries where it will join Uranus the following day. Aggressive Mars, Aries’ traditional ruling planet, moves into pioneering Aries on April 1, throwing another log on the fires of freedom and discovery. There are periods when time seems to speed up and this is one of them. Some people are exhilarated by the ride but most of us are threatened when the speed of shifting circumstances outpaces our ability to assimilate them. Nonetheless, slowing down the tides of change is not possible and attempting to increase inner velocity may only add to a sense of chaos.
One key to functioning effectively under the rising influence of Uranus and these other dynamic planetary shifts is flexibility. Recognizing that there are breakthroughs to be discovered frees us from the limits of current knowledge, habits and expectations. Uranus shatters the old mirror of reality, which is usually a painful experience, yet the scattered shards of broken glass lead our eyes in unfamiliar directions. More supple perspectives allow us to find truth in unexpected places, which is where we are heading. The capacity to flex our bodies, minds and spirits to bend around the hard corners of the old reality makes us avatars of a new one and creative participants in the next phase of human evolution rather than victims of unforeseen changes.
“The treatment of the Earth
by man the exploiter is not only imprudent,
it is sacrilegious.
We are unlikely to correct our hideous mistakes
in this realm unless we recover
the mystical sense of our oneness with nature.”
The Witchcraft Chronicles 
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