Aquarian Tarot

Many think of the Tarot as a divination tool or fortuneteller's prop. But a growing consensus between antiquarians and scholars suggests the deck may have emerged as a means of preserving and teaching principles among underground religious sects at a time when card games were immensely popular across medieval Europe.  Gnostics were forced to observe and practice their forbidden doctrines in absolute secrecy or risk facing persecution by Church authorities, who were prone to burning heretics at the stake. Eventually, the cloud of mystery shrouding the cards led to myths about supernatural origins and divinatory powers. The myriad versions of Tarot that exist today strike an uncanny resemblance to the four-suit Spanish gaming deck that consisted of swords, batons, cups, and coins.

In Aquarius Now, the long-awaited sequel to the 1980 watershed classic, The Aquarian Conspiracy, author Marilyn Ferguson synthesizes perennial philosophies with collective wisdom gathered from hundreds of scientists, researchers, artists, musicians, writers, CEOs, and entrepreneurs who took part in a 5-year study and answered lengthy questionnaires and wrote in-depth personal essays.

Met-analysis of the data collected revealed a visionary model as remarkable similarities came to light between a vast array of participants. A majority of subjects displayed a highly inordinate leadership style. Many relied on their creative process as much or more than acquired knowledge. Most demonstrated habits and strategies that engage a symbiosis of intuitive and analytical processes. A radical common sense emerged from a divers body of individuals who learned to manifest their vision with uncommon success.

Aquarius Now explores revolutionary ideals and breakthrough science, weaving principles employed by visionaries throughout the ages with the best information from the front lines of science. Ferguson draws from new paradigms in physics, neuroscience, and psychology to explain how multiplex systems within the structure of the brain, vast matrices of cognitive and subliminal processes, shifting states of awareness, and fluctuating biochemical moods, yield an integral multiplicity of consciousness.

Psychiatrist John Beahrs believes psychology is hampered by its failure to recognize this trait of multiplicity. He offers a co-consciousness theory of human function: When people seem to violate good sense the multiple selves are in conflict. Two may be matched; one may be sabotaging the efforts of many.  Furthermore, if such struggles remain unconscious, they have a cumulative effect on society. Carl Jung insisted that the unacknowledged strife of inner conflict manifests in the world as battling communities and warring nations.

It's important to concede that we're at least covertly multiple, and a good thing, too. Those who are doggedly the same day in and day out are probably as bored as they are boring. Emerson remarked that foolish consistency is the hobgoblin of small minds. Being oblivious to these selves, not our multiplicity, is the problem. In Beahrs's view, the personality expressing itself as "I" in the moment – the self behind the wheel – can be ignorant of information known to others. What we call unconscious behavior may be a result of conscious choices by one or more of our varied selves. These components of the psyche are not abstract mechanisms, but aspects of our being with whom we can open channels of communication. Visionaries learn to use their multiplex selves creatively. As Beahrs put it, the unconscious is not a cauldron of fury crying for expression, but the source of all life and growth. Versatility of expression enables us to respond appropriately, acting like an experienced general when we need to take command, soft and motherly when nurturing is appropriate, and playful when the spirit of fun is abroad.

According to Douglas Hofstadter's Metamagical Themas, competing selves cannot be held in check indefinitely. They can't be clamped down and forbidden to act permanently. Each inner voice is composed of millions of smaller activated parts. Under proper circumstances, those activities will someday point in one direction, and at that moment each voice will crystallize, undergo a phase transition, and emerge from obscurity to proclaim itself an active member of the community of selves.

Much discord and contention in society rises from our schizophysiology, explains Ferguson, deep within our psyches a hierarchy of incongruous selves fight for input, dominance, authority, independence, and control of the will. Acknowledging this struggle is half the battle, she suggests. We can harness this resource of multi-faceted consciousness by aligning with a cause larger than ourselves. A repertoire company – embodied aspects of human potential – will rise to the occasion and align in purpose when we begin facing the extraordinary challenges we share individually and collectively. Aquarius Now exchanges Old World archetypes of monarchies and priesthoods for symbols more relevant and potent in a new age.

The “Aquarian Tarot” draws on this work and its cast of characters – the warrior, the shaman, gardener, athlete, serious player, servant-leader, navigator, hunter-gatherer, scout, etc. – comprising a schematic system for shifting perspectives, evolving visionary habits, and exercising pragmatic and intuitive problem-solving skills.

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