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TERESA TARANTO
IL MONDO LITERATAROT
XXI The World
Tales from the Arabian Nights
This is the card that traditionally represents triumph in all
undertakings and attaining all that you desire. It is a very good card
in a spread as it infers success and reward that comes from struggle. It
represents the freedom to move ahead and change, and also the ability
to make others happy. This card also signifies coming full circle,
overcoming obstacles and gaining some truth or reward in the process. It
is the path of liberation. It is admiration of others. It is the
arrival at a state of cosmic consciousness.
I used images from the Tales From the Arabian Nights and in particular
the character Shahrazad who is able to liberate herself and her captor
from a state of violence and transform their life into something
beautiful.
In Tales from the Arabian Nights, a mythical king of India returns from a
trip, to discover his wife's infidelity. Consumed with jealousy and
rage, he raises a scimtar and cuts her and her lover in half in a single
blow. Henceforth, he only weds virgin brides, beds them a single night,
then beheads them the next morning thereby eliminating any future
sexual betrayals. Of course the king's murderous actions threaten all
the girls in the kingdom so something has to be done. Shahrazad, the
clever daughter of the king's vizier voluntarily weds the king. She
strikes a bargain and delays her beheading until she has finished
telling the king a story. Knowing that the king likes a good story,
Shahrazad is able to spin a story or series of stories since the tales
all spiral into each other--as one ends a new one begins (just like
things in life). These tales include Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves,
Sinbad's Voyage, Aladdin's Wonderful Lamp and many others that we have
come to know. Consumed with curiosity to see how the story ends, the
king keeps delaying the beheading. In this manner for one thousand and
one nights, Shahrazad is able to delay her death, bear the king three
children, gain his confidence and cure him of his insanity. The king
thus convinced that her heart and spirit are true, and himself quite in
love with this beautiful and clever woman by now, proposes marriage to
Shahrazad and she accepts of her own free choice. Her brilliant mind and
courageous heart saves a kingdom and Shahrazad, now the king's
righteous queen, lives happily ever after in the king's palace with
their children.
Symbols found in the image:
Shahrazad holds in one hand Aladdin's magical lamp (hope) and the king's
ruby (heart). Her forehead is adorned with a gem representing the
mind's eye. Four mystical characters from the Tales from the Arabian
Nights are used to represent the fixed signs of the Zodiac and the four
elements: the camel (beast of burden) for Taurus and earth, the Arabian
Horse (power in the dessert) for Leo and fire, the Roc (giant bird from
Sinbad's Sea Voyage) for Scorpio and water, and the genii (magical
humanoid who can grant wishes) for Aquarius and air. They show that
spiritual reality is unchanging. The planets that are in the sky
represent the cosmic cycles of a physical world that does change. The
King's castle is the known world on one side of the card, balanced by
the cave of Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves representing the unknown. In
this card, it is the blending of the opposites that lead to the final
state of cosmic consciousness, the supreme good which is the end of all
means.
Bio (CV)
Teresa Taranto is an artist and teacher who lives in Sacramento, CA, a
city whose finest distinction is that it is only two hours drive to the
mountains and two hours drive to the sea. As a result, Teresa is always
just two hours from being in the just right place (physically or
mentally) at the just right moment. After graduating from college, she
spent time in Japan where she studied ceramics and pottery in the studio
workshop of Shigeo Shiga, pottery master. She is currently teaching
high school art and has traded the 3-D for 2-D art techniques and has
been enjoying drawing, painting and designing. She recently has taken up
Taiko drumming and can be seen performing on stage locally.
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