Tarot and the Dark Night of the Soul

What is meant by “the Dark Night of the Soul?” Some of you might be familiar with the song of the same name by Loreena McKennitt (1994). The term has its origin in a poem by Saint John of the Cross, and originally referred to Saint John’s own mystical and ultimately, ecstatic union with God. Over time, Catholic theologians have referred to it as a Catholic crisis of faith, brought on by the trials of life in which one feels separated from the Divine. The Dark Night refers also to the journey to God because God is ultimately unknowable. In psychiatry, the term is often paired with, but not limited to depression – it is caused more by feelings of isolation, alienation, hopelessness, helplessness, and ultimately meaninglessness (American Psychological Association, 2013). In the Tarot, we are shown The Fool’s Journey, that is the development of the Soul through all phases of life: the good, the bad, and the ugly. The Fool’s Journey does not turn away from those parts of the path that can be quite scary, but it also guides us back to our ultimate union with Source.

Qabalistically, the Dark Night appears in several places in the Tarot. The first time we might encounter it is when crossing what is known as the Abyss – the path on the Tree of Life that crosses over the supposed non-existent sphere of Da’ath. For those of you not versed in Qabalah, the Tree of Life is the glyph representing the journey from Source to manifestation, and also contains all of the cards in the Tarot. The card of the High Priestess is attached to the path of Kether to Yesod, in decks such as the Smith Rider Waite and the Aleister Crowley Book of Thoth  (1944).

We might not think of the High Priestess as being part of a time in our lives when we feel alienated from the Divine, but the key to understanding how to get across the abyss is in understanding all of the symbolism in the card – the Tarot is giving us a guide from the get go, if we choose to heed it! Each of the Tarot cards, in addition to being associated with a path on the tree of life, is also associated with a Hebrew letter. In the case of the High Priestess, the letter is Gimel, which means “Camel.” I never fully understood the significance of this until I read Rachel Pollock’s book A Forest of Souls: A Walk Through the Tarot (2002). In this book, Rachel Pollock talks about the biblical story of Abraham, his wife Sarah, and his son Isaac, and his wife Rebecca. Rebecca falls off of her camel at the sight of Isaac – and more importantly, offers water to his men and their camels. We can traverse the desert and the abyss if we have the right resources – like water. But perhaps more important that water is a phrase associated with Gimel itself – the term “gimulet Hasidim” means “Loving Kindness.” It is through our love and generosity to others that we can make it through desolate times.

Robert Wang in his book, Qabalistic Tarot (2004), discusses the water retaining qualities of the camel, and likens it to memory. The card of the High Priestess is all about the Unconscious, in which much of our memory resides. We need to remember the things we’ve learned both prior to and after A Dark Night of the Soul experience. In desperate times, we often forget what we already know – keeping memory on tap and on reserve is a very important skill.

Moving farther down the tree to the path of Samekh, which connects Tiphareth to Yesod, we come to the card of Temperance, numbered 14, which appears after Death, numbered 13 (and which one might argue is part of the Dark Night, and I certainly think of it as such) appears on the Path from Tiphareth to Yesod.

Stepping back to the Death card a moment – the Death card, the Temperance card, the Devil, and the Tower are all about major change and transformation and especially how we deal or don’t deal with change and transformation. After the Tower comes the Star, which I see as being a respite – a moment to re-group the Soul and Psyche – after the major chaos which can come as the result of the Dark Night of the Soul Experience. On the Tree of Life glyph, Death is on one of three Paths leading from the Personality to the Higher Self.

As noted on the TV show The Simpsons (1995), the Death card is usually not about physical death. It is instead about change – usually massive change and transformation – that occurs as part of natural cycles. Death comes and we must accept it. This differs from the Tower, which we’ll get to in a moment – which is about change we have been avoiding. On the Smith Waite version of the card, we see the pale rider coming for a king, a clergyman, a maiden, and a child – a reminder that we all inevitably die, regardless of station. Only the child in the image welcomes Death without fear.

The Hebrew letter associated with this card is Nun, which means “fish.” I find this so interesting because in ancient Egypt, Nun meant “chaos,” and we know how the Egyptians were all about maintaining order and going on to live an eternal life after death. Fish of course live in the water, and water maintains life.

The Death card is really about letting go – letting go of old fears, old ways of thinking, letting go of that which no longer serves. Acceptance of the transition allows it to come much more easily – welcoming it means going with the flow of the cosmos. This card is also about endings, because in letting go, something comes to an end. In that way, it is about Death – it may mean the end of a friendship, a marriage, a job. Acceptance and welcoming the end means that something new and exciting may take its place. 

Crucial to the process of change is the fine art of balance, and so the angel in the Temperance card walks on both land and water, dipping a toe in to test the waters. The angel here reminds us to keep our heads, not lose our temper, not give into all of those old fears we just left behind so successfully in the Death card. I made the angel in my card more akin to the Goddess Diana, who bears a bow and arrow – like the sign of Sagittarius, with which this card is associated. Others see the angel as the Holy Guardian Angel, whom all ceremonial magicians wish to make contact in order to unite with Source. The card of Temperance is meant to be the beginning of a link with the Higher Self, which is also considered to the Holy Guardian Angel.

Once we manage the balancing act of Temperance, we come face to face with yet another very Judeo-Christian figure, the Devil. This is yet another card that is not well understood and strikes fear in the hearts of non-card readers. Who is most misunderstood but the Devil? And what do we, who walk a path that consciously veers off of the Judeo-Christian path, make of the Devil? The best description I have yet heard of this card came from my very first Tarot teacher who called it, “Voluntary Bondage,” which in this day and age, has a variety of associations. This card is also associated with the sign of Capricorn, ruled by Saturn – the planet of restrictions and the limitations of FORM. This can include something like time to which we associate an artificial system of limitation. Where do we go with this?

At its heart, this card is about being too in love with the material world, and attachments – the healthy and unhealthy. In the readings I give, it comes up for both all kinds of contracts AND substance abuse. If you think about it, it makes sense that Temperance should come before the Devil card – we need to learn the right amount of balance so that our scales don’t tip into excess of any kind.

The Hebrew letter associated with this card is Ayin, which means “eye.” In many cards, the upside down pentacle appears, showing that we might be viewing things upside down – it is an over acceptance of believing what we see in the physical world is real. We need to let our inner eye see reality as it truly is.

The Path of the Tower connects the spheres Netzach and Hod, and is the equilibrating path of the personality, between the left brain and right brain, between art and science. It is also a path to the Gateway of the Soul and is ruled by Mars. The Hebrew letter associated with this path is Peh, meaning mouth… and I am reminded of the sometimes destructive force of Mars as mediated by the human mouth.

With the Death card, we saw the acceptance of change. The Tower is representative of what can happen when change is resisted, and destructive forces are allowed to build up until all that can happen is an explosion. The Tower represents catastrophic change, such as divorce, or job loss. The lightening striking the Tower in both cards, however, represents the Lightening flash path of manifestation. It can be the Lightening Flash of inspiration, and that is in fact how the poet W. B Yeats viewed the card. He loved the Tower so much that he actually purchased a tower to live in.

This cataclysmic change can be viewed as the breaking down of the ego so that one may follow a more spiritual path. The truth is that although a Tower experience may feel absolutely awful while one is going through it, there are indeed blessings on the other side of that change. It is an inevitable change which absolutely has to happen. Nature can be cruel and full of surprises.

As with so many things in Tarot, the Tower card is our reminder that planning and being ready and open to change can be a way to avoid catastrophe. Sadly, I have found in a number of readings that when this card appears, it usually means the client is already in the throes of catastrophic changes. The one silver lining that is provided, is that on the other side of the Tower lies the Star, with the other celestials (Moon and Sun) that follow. Thankfully, there are plenty of cards in the Tarot that point the way to positive changes, and reminders that even messy change can lead to a positive outcome.