MIRRORS (swords)
About Mirrors
Mirrors correspond with Swords in Tarot. The Swords of Tarot concern thought and ideas, decisive action, divisions in society which lead to violence, but also change and courage, intellect and insight. Mirrors are the suit of self-analysis and self-examination. Through the use of a mirror we inspect ourselves, allowing us to see ourselves from outside. This self-analysis, however, can sometimes be clouded with hostility and judgement. The presence of a mirror does not guarantee that our assessment will be without distortions, cracks, interference, or disruption. The suit of Mirrors suggests how we relate to others in the world through our surfaces, and also, through that surface, to ourselves.
Mirrors are a sort of every-day magic object. Despite our rational understanding of mirrors and having seen them many times, mirrors sill hold a power of trickery. They can deceive even the mind that’s aware of how they work, make rooms look twice the size, make us believe the left and right sides of our faces are switched. They are counter-intuitive in how they seem to open up rooms to other rooms that are their opposites, unfold doppelgängers and reverse written words. It is said that breaking a mirror unleashes seven years of bad luck, as though the wall between two dimensions is mere thin glass, and if broken it would let loose spirits into our world that don’t belong here. There have been tales of people entering through mirrors into other worlds. Often a mirror will look, or even feel like a window: a window to the sky when laid on the ground. Mirrors contradict what we expect about reality and how it operates, they defy our sense of up and down, left and right, inside and outside. Animals look in mirrors and think they are seeing another creature, mimicking their actions. Humans look in mirrors and we see ourselves, which is far stranger and more miraculous, paradoxically dislocated. The circumstance of needing to pick ones’ own self out of a crowd, or a background, is the uncanny experience to which mirrors open us.
The mirror is an uncanny presence in a room, despite being so familiar and tame. They are powerful, having an undeniable influence on us, there’s a part of us that won’t stop reading the reflection as something really there, on the other “side” of the glass. It is no wonder that mirrors in fiction sometimes hold powerful spirits that can see everywhere. Mirrors are forbidden from bedrooms in Feng Shui, as its power may interfere with sleep, and also because it symbolizes a window through which one’s activities may be observed. Reflective surfaces inspire introspection, often quiet and wordless, and can be used in meditation on the self and one’s mortal reality. Mirrors easily fool and distract us, sometimes so easily as to be almost comical. Fun-house mirrors get us lost, confusing us with our own eyes, turning reality on its side.
The Mirror invites us to ponder existence, its finiteness, its inescapable mysteries, and it invites us also to question our perception. Our eyes tell us we stand outside ourselves, but does our mind understand all that this means? Mirrors can serve as a platform to contemplate reality, perhaps so powerful it is dangerous. It is said that two mirrors, in some perfect circumstance, would allow infinity itself to be visible, reflecting things between them infinite times. In practice, two mirrors facing each other give us a kind of preview of infinity, but one which disorients and confuses, as though dangling before us facts of existence that should be obvious, but which still befuddle us. Reflective surfaces of all kinds are used in scrying and expanding one’s vision both outward and inward, inviting images to enter into our mind through doorways other than our everyday eyes. By looking into the world’s reflection, the shadow made of light, one can make oneself more cognizant and ready to receive a more profound version of reality. Deeper realities startle us, as when the reality of our eventual death is made more vivid than usual. Just as cats and dogs don’t comprehend reflections, there seems to be something we have yet to comprehend, but which the mirror disturbs our seated normalcy just enough to hint at.
The mirror also opens up gateways to desire. The mirror is a tool by which we become the one we would show others. The mirror helps us to control what we put into the world, to craft a self as close to the one we have in our mind as we can, to invoke a specific reality. The cards in the mirror suit often concern conformity and our how we relate to the image we put out in society. The mirror can be the tool by which we suppress the undesirable, but it can also be a tool to break the mould and craft a new direction, a new set of signals, an alternative vision of how to be.
Mirrors are associated with Swords in the Tarot, and Swords are both instruments of war and symbols of power. Like Mirrors, there have been many tales of magic swords in which certain spirits live. As swords have been used to create and enforce divisions, as well as to cut away what is not desired by the powerful, so Mirrors are also used to extract what is not wanted, to enforce laws of who and what is allowed, who and what is beautiful, who and what is desired. We become our own worst security guards in the confines of convention, and willingly use tools to enforce the rules. But mirrors also enable us to take alternative routes, to develop a self that better conforms with who we feel is our truth, mirrors needn’t be an enemy. In time, mirrors can also become a tool of self-study and self introspection, with which to achieve self-acceptance and self-love.
A poet said:
“Woman is like the moon. You never know what is on the other side.”
Another said:
“woman is like a mirror; follow the watching moon and see it rise each night without a trace. Each night I see her face, but never know what’s on the other side of the glass.”
Description:
The Empty Moon sits by a window, in feminine garb, her face now filled from without by the reflecting full moon of the sky outside. She has become full, attained fullness, to the eye of illusion but in herself she feels empty and this perplexes her, she waits. The fullness of that face is not her own, it is a fullness made by light reflected, twice, mistaken for her completeness.
The moon becomes two eyes, though one is blind, the other sees from a vantage point all its own, unaware its view is shared by many. Those in rooms far below the moon wait for the fullness to feel solid like the stone; it is now lighter than photons.
The Story:
The first card in the suit of Mirrors concerns self-protection, privacy, secrets, and mysteries available only to the initiated. This card can signify mystic knowledge or exclusive information held away from others. This card can point to knowledge which is kept hidden for different reasons, perspectives in which others cannot share, being separated off from others, keeping distance. This card is ultimately about awareness of the unknown, being at peace with some amount of mystery, and remembering that the surface is not the whole story. It also suggests truth lying behind a “veil.”
This card features the Empty Moon, main character of the Shadows suit. In some ways this card acts as a conjunction of the principles of Shadow and Mirror, the shadow as a place out-of-range to the surface world of illusions, perhaps a place of escape from those illusions, but also a desire for things within the shadow to know the surface, a desire for dialogue, for reflection.
This card can sometimes be a reference to unmet desires to feel a certain way internally, or to be received a certain way externally. The Empty Moon’s “face” is an illusion coming from outside, standing in for something real and true. The Empty Moon must sit a specific way and in a specific place in order to be “completed” or made “whole” in this way, but the illusion is just a reflection of a reflection. One might question where reality lies, once we become aware that something we see is not the thing itself but a projection, an illusion.
This card can point to incomplete knowledge, questions about self or one’s place in the world, gaps to be filled. This card lies at the beginning of the path of Mirrors, and suggests curiosities that kick off investigation. Some knowledge might be beyond reach because we aren’t ready to assimilate it into the rest of our perspective, or because our current worldview causes us not to see what lies right in front of us.
The moon, they say, is itself a reflection of the sun: it does not give off its own light. Like a mirror, the moon reflects the sun’s light back to us, and becomes like a duplicate of the sun. Unlike a mirror, it is a greatly reduced vision of the sun, we can look at it directly and ponder its, but we will not find many insights on the sun by doing so, it is an imperfect reflection. The moon is tidally locked with the earth, and therefore humankind never saw its other side until spaceflight allowed humans to travel past it. The moon becomes a symbol for a face that seems fully visible, but hides much beneath. While this may seem to perplex and beguile those who would seek to solve mysteries, there are many reasons why some things remain mysterious.
This card can point to something which is unknown for most people, an “obscure” fact or reality, no less real for its being less well understood. Secrecy can be a choice, or it can be involuntary. The way some people’s experiences become obscure can itself be mysterious. Some people’s perspectives are given the full spotlight of a society, and are explored in their every nook and cranny, while others’ are cast into the shadow of strangeness. The desire to tell one’s own story, to shed light on what lies hidden, is part of the implication of this card.
This card points to the mysterious side of knowledge, including obscure and esoteric and occult wisdom. Another name for this card is “The Companion” which points to kinship and connection with entities on the other side of the veil, in the sky or in another, more magickal realm. This card can sometimes indicate the development of skills, perhaps ordinary skills not ready to be shown the spotlight, or perhaps more esoteric abilities, magic powers, things cultivated by moonlight. It can be said this card has a connection with the High Priestess card in Tarot.
The world does not serve the same amount of danger to all its wanderers. Some dangers are in plain sight of all, others are seen only by those at whom they’re aimed. Whole landscapes lie in full view, go unseen by those not in danger there. When peril doesn’t fall on those whose perspective is considered default, whole realities fall into invisibility, and must sink deeper for reasons harder and harder to see. Secrecy is also a source of danger.
The Ace of Mirrors suggests illusions, but not always illusions designed or intended to trick us. Illusions can be our own creation, produced by our desire to fill a blank in a certain way, or to verify a belief. Illusions can be a result of a flawed idea we hold onto. This card suggests that the answer to a question we seek to answer is right in front of us, and it is something in our own limitation keeping us from seeing it.
Card Meaning:
Alternative Name: Longing, Mystery, The Companion
The Ace of Mirrors marks the beginning of the path of mirrors. It suggests longing, dreams, plans, aspirations and desires. It also points to lunar and other cosmic connections. This card is associated with the hidden and mysterious aspect of knowledge, the shadow as safe-haven for secrets and realities for which the uninitiated are not ready. This card also suggests readiness to remove a veil, on reality or knowledge, or on a person.
Reverse Meaning:
This card reversed suggests occlusion and things hidden, realities confined behind walls or veils, disconnect, missing the point. This card upside down points to mysteries withheld, frustrations resulting from roundabout or labyrinthine information with no seeming point, or someone who can’t be “reached” or connected with, or effectively persuaded.
This card reminds us of the existence of truths which cannot yet be pursued, because our world isn’t safe for all experiences, all “true” selves. It is up to us to gradually chip away at the false mirror.
Ace of Mirrors • The Woman and the Moon
2nd Mirror • The Prank of Angels
Description:
The Inner Mask crosses a landscape where many Inner Masks are being impaled, crossected by sheets of glass from the sky. Their shadows become holes into which they sink. This is a game to the angelic devils who are playing it: a game of freezing wanderers exactly where they are at in their life and development. The mirrors divide wanderers, change how the world looks to them. Some are blinded by the mirror and now see only inwards, others see everything multiplied, it all depends on their outlook at the moment. Their shadows become holes of different depths, depending how mired in their ego they remain. Some vanish into bottomless pits, while others sink only a few inches. The heavens cackle with laughter as these beings’ limitations become actual limits around them. The angels also laugh seeing how these creatures lose perspective on being struck, leading to utter lostness or overwhelming awakenings, reacting so differently to the exact same gift.
The angels prank us to wake us up from our “sleep,” and let us know there’s work to be done, changes to be made, and to make obstructions on clarity more obvious.
The Story:
The 2nd Mirror refers to sudden obstacles, blocks in one’s path or difficult learning experiences, meant by the universe as a “gift.” One can see such gifts as a kind of test administered by heaven or the angels or whomever watches. Some tests we know to prepare for, others come as a surprise. Some are designed to find out who we are when we aren’t armed with forewarning. These are the most hated kinds of tests, because it seems unfair to be exposed to sudden difficulty, and not have the opportunity to change in time. These are the kinds of “gifts” that are the most challenging to read as gifts, because for a while they seem to make things harder. It is hard to see that the blockage lies within ourselves, and by getting past the difficulty, we can possibly resolve ourselves to greater clarity, fluidness and flow.
There are times when the universe appears to work according to a plan, and other times when it doesn’t, and according to our inner monologues one or the other of these is the more terrifying. One might imagine that, in this moment, heaven assesses some of those who are on the path to greater awareness, and presents a task that reveals how well they are doing and how much they have learned. This is not “Judgement,” this is not the final score: everyone will eventually climb out of their holes. This is much smaller than judgement, a preparation for it perhaps.
The mirrors from heaven in this scene represent the seekers’ self-awareness. The holes into which they sink represent walls built around oneself. Some problems unravel by themselves when analyzed, others require several other points of clarity to be achieved before they can be addressed. Letting go of toxic and untrue stories can lower walls, or make for less of a bog to climb out from. The events of the 2nd Mirror tend to expose everyone at their maturity level, their amount of wisdom and ability to retain stability during crisis. Those who have attained a great deal of peace will encounter hardship more peacefully, and those with pain inside will feel it increased. On the face of it, such tests seem an injustice, but remember that the heavens intend this hardship as their gift. The querent is urged to see coming or current mishaps as a training-ground meant to enhance and expand our current skills, and prepare us for the next leg of the journey.
This card suggests problems, but not unsolvable ones. It suggests blockages, but not ones the querent cannot find their way out of. This time will pass, and depending how well we deal with this challenge, we may or may not see it come around again. One might imagine that the heavens do this for sport, perhaps out of boredom or target practice. What may seem a game to those outside, with us the players to be leveled up through ordeals, can seem seriously arduous to us. One might also see this as a silent dialogue, unknown to us consciously, between our deeper selves and those who would throw us such challenges: a part of us wants to become better, stronger, to be free of misconceptions, to be made to unravel certain mysteries, and sometimes a trial is the only way.
This card can symbolize certain kinds of blindness to one’s issues, but it can also point to radical self-honesty. Are you drowning in yourself, submerged in walls of your own making, or is the real you rising to the surface? What lies do you still indulge? This card is for challenges that are actually gifts, “pranks” from heaven which seem sadistic but are actually teaching tools, things the world and those of us who live here sometimes need. Those who are deeply entrenched in a certain self-concept will need to climb out, it is time. Suffering will necessitate we find new strength, possibly strength we didn’t know we had before.
It can sometimes be hard to see the “bigger picture” in one’s circumstances. Everyone has inaccurate ideas and feelings about themselves, everyone “believes a lie.” These lies make one vulnerable to a sudden removal of the comforts which allowed the lie to flourish, one may suffer the loss of one’s lies. Also, lies can keep us further from our goals, it can cause turmoil in relationships and leave everyone confused, they can generally put a barrier in front of happiness, and we might never know they are to blame. Internal misconceptions can sometimes manifest into external toil, reinforcing the inner misinformation and forming a troublesome circle. Breaking free may constitute a journey all its own, with its own pitfalls and revelations. Sometimes getting into trouble is the only way to see one has a problem.
Card Meaning:
Alternative Names: Sudden Obstacles, A Cosmic Test, Growth
The 2nd Mirror suggests challenges, obstructions, “tests” of various kinds, things which delay and inconvenience or hinder for a time but which, in the end, are survivable. These are not acts of cosmic injustice, it is a pop quiz meant to help. Challenges are a tool the angels have to prepare us for our ultimate destination, the next level of difficulty to come. Overcoming challenges demands that we grow, perhaps outgrow certain stories which no longer serve us. The angels do not test us because they are cruel, but because they know we are strong, and can survive the angels’ behaving as though they are cruel.
This card wishes to remind us that no one is perfect, not even great teachers and leaders have it all together. Even if you fail, you have the chance to course correct. Even failing is not truly failing as we think it is.
Reverse Meaning:
Upside down, this card means being stuck in a situation, possibly unable to see a way out. This card reversed may suggest inability to self-analyze or question one’s own position honestly. This can mean failing to learn a lesson from a problem, or being currently stumped by a question or problem. Sometimes we build our own blinders around ourselves.
Another note about the theme of this card: one must remember that failure is impossible to avoid in life if one is taking risks, going outside of comfort zones, or sometimes even just leading the normal course of life. A failure is an opportunity to realize one has growing one needs to do, though the specific kind of growth called for sometimes takes some time to figure out. Most people try to avoid failure, and this may cause people to avoid risk, which is not good for anyone’s path. Failures occur because of a mismatch between inner ideas and outer conditions, but also sometimes by the random whim of heaven. One’s luck sometimes has nothing to do with one’s ability to succeed, but simply comes because the angels are having a blast messing with us. Don’t take failure personally. They say worthwhile goals will have many challenges, those that learn and persevere are those worthy to make it all the way.
3rd Mirror • Reflection
Description:
The Inner Mask beholds itself in a mirror, and at the same time looks within, into the darkness inside itself, seeing nothing in either place. This darkness is the whole source of discomfort and confusion for the Inner Mask, it is the disconcerting absence of easy answers. A wind-up carousel sits on the table nearby, a token from a past time, a symbol of nostalgia. Toys capture objects of fascination in miniature, making them concise props for the imagination, for our stories about the world. The bauble in the Inner Mask’s hands is a miniaturization of the Inner Mask’s own self, but the Inner Mask doesn’t see itself reflected.
The Inner Mask pondered itself in the mirror— pondered itself in the absence of its existence. It pondered itself from outside itself, it pondered itself from a position not its own (such props make for good decoys) it pondered itself from within. It pondered the illusion that was not itself, wondering if the reflected world would yield answers when ours had not. This was the last attempt to make sense of what the Temple of Knowledge had said, its absence of words. Peering into darkness, no greater clarity came, than had listening into silence. This was a dead end, the Inner Mask knew. For a while it sat there, as the illusion of itself hung in front of its face, misleading every eye, an external vision adding no realities to the story. This was the last time, the last time the Inner Mask could believe there was some simple answer inside, some final conclusion to be found, if one sat long enough, opening oneself like a book that one is not. The things of childhood ebb away. The task now thickens, the road is stranger than we thought.
The Inner Mask, hearing no music, answered its question with more questions:
Is this silence inside the story of me, am I the void? How can I understand myself, if I can point to no absolutes, if I can grasp nothing in the smoke, if I can rely on no solids to ground me? What can I rely on, what can I trust? This is not me, why are things not simple? Why have things become not-simple in the wake of my becoming grown? When did things lose their simplicity and the unquestioned ease of it, when did things become complex?
The Story:
The 3rd Mirror points to complexity at the base of questions, things becoming less simple, unexpected aspects of an issue which may at first feel unnerving, and arriving at conceptually challenging questions. Whereas the 2nd Mirror pointed to a lived difficulty or challenging period of life, this card suggests internal uneasiness, a spiritual or mental or emotional hurdle to overcome.
This card’s themes are “no easy answers” and “complexity,” and in many ways this can be the most intricate of all the cards in the Oracle to explain. Some issues have no simple answers, are made up of many parts, the resolutions which seem apparent and obvious are not in fact the whole story. This is a card of being or becoming complicated inside, feeling things are unclear because there is so much one needs to know, and some things need to be understood in different ways.The sensation of things being not simple, or perhaps being beyond easy comprehension, can be unnerving or disturbing at first. Some say one must acclimate to the feeling of being disoriented by new information, seemingly contradictory information, or information which upsets a simple outlook or idea.
This card can suggest complex emotions or alienation, dissatisfaction, lostness or mystification. It can be a very existential card. The 3rd Mirror speaks to feelings surrounding the “supposed-to-be,” and both being and not being that thing, and whether one can truly say that one is anything at all. The mirror can be an instrument for abrupt awakening, seldom used to the extremes of its potential. This card can sometimes point to feelings of lostness or having lost oneself, lost identification with something, lost stable association. This card can describe an absent sensation of grounded truth, or absoluteness. Entire religions have wrapped themselves around the idea of a real inner core self, some call it the ‘soul’ and have a lot to say about it. Meanwhile others will say the whole idea of a “real” self beyond all mimicry is flawed. The 3rd Mirror is also a card of instigation of deeper insights, bolder questions than one usually dares ask. It is a doorway to more abstract and difficult lines of investigation.
The small object which the Inner Mask is holding in the scene is similar to the Marotte held by medieval jesters. A Marotte is a miniature self on the end of a stick: not a doll or a puppet but a prop: a cartoon or caricature designed to mock. Here it signifies a projection, a double or externalization that emphasizes. Marotte means fad or obsession, or pet concept. This, plus the small toy on the table, suggests captured “essence” and things being boiled down to simplified, miniature models. Such representations reduce complexity, emphasize some aspects and omit others, and in many ways bring out an idealized form, some perfect version of what is being represented. These things are both weapons and wands for magic, they create realities, deepen existing ones. Imagination is possible without props, but props and toys free up the imagination, and also give it direction. They say the dolls of us are our idealized selves, but still the Inner Mask finds itself mourning the things which the model leaves out.
The Plastic One asks whether there is something too big to be miniaturized, something which evades the dollification, encapsulation in labels and other terms. Is this thing nothingness itself, or everything? Can we then never completely understand everything, if we cannot remake it in miniature? A door opens somewhere, to a place where all things are miniaturized and miniaturizable. Somewhere, a monk says that one’s true self is made of that same inexplicable stuff which makes all the universe, and cannot be perfectly reproduced in any medium, including image, word, or even thought. Elsewhere, a maker of robots intends to remake an individual in its entirety, and expects that nothing will be absent in the outcome. This attempt has been made before, and some are satisfied with their statues, happy with the way their photos are doctored. Much energy is spent seeking the ideal. Much energy is spent escaping those same ideals. This card suggests that, while our imagination has had much assistance and direction from the world of images and symbols and idealizations, it is also our doorway out of all confines, it simply must be allowed to play. This is how imagination works, just as memory works with associations and cues.
A voice from behind the mind, a smoke where no one goes:
My opposite found the void of silence a maddening desperation, wracking its hollow head for something solid to latch onto, not ready for the fact we all are smoke. At last, to everyone’s surprise, it found a way to see into its own void, the darkness to match the silence. We had all dreaded this moment: eyes point outwards for a reason, even those of the imagination. It sat in captivated despair for a moment, as all its strange expectations eroded away, until the time came to move out of this morbid evolution. Such loss cleans the floors from foundless hopes, my companions reminded me, leading the way to what we must find.
We all then sank back into our darkness, having been unseen by our mask, our outward face and private sky so far away.
In the bleakest moment, peering into silent darkness, the Inner Mask wonders why it sees nothing looking back, pondering in return. The Inner Mask has seen a concept that feels too huge to even conceive, and can’t help but wonder if that makes it more reliable than any model, doll or indeed mask it has ever seen.
Card Meaning:
Alternative Names: Recognition, Identity, Questions
The 3rd Mirror points to self-concept and self-awareness, changes to self-concept and questions about where we stand amongst others. This card suggests investigation and lingering questions or unclarities, mysteries to be resolved. Some questions require courage and resolve, demand we go where we’re afraid to go, in the world and also in the mind, in search of truth. This card points both to mysteries of ourselves and our place on earth, and mysteries of our cosmic placement, our internal relationship with something larger.
This card suggests emotionally and psychologically complex situations, things appear one way on the surface but are structured much more elaborately beneath. This is a card of poetry and finding deeper resonance in things, even if painful: making something beautiful out of difficulties. Experience gives us more and more “layers” and we become an increasingly intricate puzzle. It is more difficult to associate with the space between solid objects, to locate ourselves in the limitlessness.
Reverse Meaning:
Reversed, this card can suggest fixation on appearances, a desire to control the appearance of things, avoidance of deeper topics, holding back from certain questions or thoughts out of dread. This can also point to nostalgia or the desire for things to be simpler, less complex than they are now: a longing for simplicity and a removal of layers.
Sometimes it seems simplicity has been lost. However, simplicity can be found again: just like order and chaos, simplicity and complexity are in the basis of each other. At the core of a complicated issue is something very elegant we are not yet able to make out of the surrounding clamor. In the darkest of darkness is the brightest of light.
4th Mirror • Rebellion
Description:
On a bathroom mirror is etched a skull, and below it the message “Seek Your Self.” Many other things are scrawled throughout this place, on the different mirrors; this is a zone of rule-breaking. It is also a place of free-for-all messages left by strangers for strangers on the walls, a free-speech arena where intense truth, lies and hostility can all be found. Oppression and rebellion compete for space, and for the upper hand of the conversation.
The Story:
The 4th Mirror, called “Rebellion,” represents rejection of the norms and rules, a casting aside of unreasonable demands of others. It also means recognition of one’s own uniqueness and living up to it, showing that uniqueness to others in spite of compulsions to conform. This card indicates personal defiance, the disobedient puppet rejecting the will of the puppeteer, but it also indicates the spread of that rebellion to others, contacting and activating the rebelliousness, inviting them to share in a journey out of repression. A partly broken mirror in this scene suggests the disruption of order and harmony, resisting the socially imposed image, and standing against what others desire or expect. The 4th Mirror is a card of fighting for one’s own rights and others’ rights, standing up to authority when necessary. This card reminds us of importance of not letting oneself conform for the sake of conformity, but also not rebelling purely for the sake of rebellion. There are times when the pressure to conform is very strong, and sometimes conformity can look on the surface like rebellion, but really be a continuation of the same. This card asks that we judge things carefully, and seek what really matters and is of the greatest importance, what really needs fighting for and where we stand. In some cases this card can serve as a reminder that there are very powerful forces wishing us to conform to what they want, and they have proven able to get results. One might lose oneself by accident if one doesn’t hold one’s ground.
Rebellion means different things to different people. The scene in this card is a public bathroom, perhaps in a high school or somewhere else with large numbers of people. It is both a very public and very private place. It has been turned into a medium for a very raw form of communication, in theory it should provide an even playing field for all opinions. However even here, where the outside world’s views could be ignored, the loudest voices tend to be those that lash out at deviation. There are some who think themselves renegades, as they bash those that “polite” society regards with silent distain. There are those who think themselves rebels even as they enforce norms from a different slate, who take rebellion to mean the freedom to repeat rumors: whose “rebellion” boosts those in charge. The dominant beliefs can be the easiest ones to take, they hold the least friction outside, they have the most violent energy behind them inside, and some believe this is enough to make them true. In places like this, where everyone is free to speak, power bares its teeth. However there are also ways to speak truth in such places, and those who break through the noise.
There are those whose perspectives are not the default, for whom rebellion is more complicated because they are rebelling against many things, some are rebels all their lives because power betrays them on many levels. The mirror in this scene is a magic mirror. Like the scrying tools of magicians, it provides a window on another place. In this case, it projects the unheard voices of others, scrawling words meant to speak to those ready to listen, to defy programming, to become part of a better place. The words “Seek Your Self” connect two people across time and space, they are also a petty crime that will not be recognized by everyone. The message will find its way eventually to those ready and able to receive it. Sometimes one needs a reminder sent across the stars, or the void, that one has a compass of one’s own.
Some say that magic mirrors reflect the truth, no matter how ugly it is. Unlike ordinary mirrors, which can be used as tools for constructing illusions and are prone to the delusions we project on them, magic mirrors break through our hangups, our efforts to carve a separate reality, and reflect the true condition of the world. However, it is also said that magic mirrors are inhabited by a spirit, and therefore have a will of their own and an interest in how we react to what we’re shown. Some say magic mirrors will show a truth, because they are bound to speak the truth, but they also see the complexity of the world, and know that they can pick and choose what truth to show and when. A magic mirror will therefore show us what we need to see, to compel us to take action in a certain direction. This direction may move our story forward, it may take us where we need to go even if we need to swim upstream to get there.
Another theme of this card is “do not wait.” On the mirror, the words “Seek Your Self” appear below a skull, reminding us we have but one life, and limited time, to find the truth and become who you are, to harness your abilities, to live out your purpose, to do whatever it is that will mean that you were truly here, and not a ghost obeying orders. There are times when following orders makes sense and there are times when it does not, they say we have an inner barometer of justice but sometimes that barometer gets buried under desire for acceptance. Not all people have the same amount of time, nor the same opportunities to make an impact. We must move to action whatever the opportunities are, they are greater now than they will be one day. This card can be seen as an invitation to take courageous action, to ignore fear and rules to the contrary: one’s truth is higher law than any other.
Card Meaning:
Alternative Names: “Seek Your Self,” Communication, Authenticity
The 4th Mirror suggests profound acts of independence and unique visions, ‘true actions’ taken without a thought of pleasing or displeasing others, decisions made according to one’s own directives and agendas and goals. External pressure and social norms move aside, one makes one’s own voice known. This card suggests boldness, courage in the face of adversity, and refusal to bend to oppressive forces. This card reminds us that our time is short and we must make our lives an expression our own ideals, not someone else’s.
This card also suggests messages from others similar to oneself, important signals breaking through static. “Seek your Self,” says this card, it is a secret message scratched by others who have come this way, others whose paths went off the grain; who treasured truth even when it wasn’t common, profitable, popular or safe. This card can be saying “do not wait” or “do not settle for less.”
Reverse Meaning:
The 4th Mirror reversed suggests over-heated rebellion, rebelling for rebellion’s sake, taking one’s true mission out of the equation and reacting to the world without specific aim. Sometimes one gets lost in the act of refusing to conform, such that one winds up once again standing in a crowd, copying the actions and words of others. One can lose one’s independence more easily by giving it away, than by others’ taking it.
Beware of the idea that one fights against aggressors, one can become the aggressor oneself in this way. Sometimes it looks for all the world like we are doing good work, fighting an enemy that is evil. It is significant that we remember how easy it is for illusion to seem real, and for evil to manifest itself from the ether of ideas into reality, by way of belief. This card reminds us we can always retrieve our inner compass, it is always in there. There sometimes needs to be a signal, a reminder.
5th Mirror • The Broken Mirror
Description:
A mask lies on the ground on top of the shattered remains of a mirror. The mask in our world seems to stare at the sky, while the mask in the reflection seems to gaze at a star in another world. That star may shine on mirror-world, it may reflect the sun but in darkness. Four stars orbit this other star, this sleeping sun. It may be the molten remains of a past world, or the broiling substance of worlds to come. A city dominates the horizon in the background.
The Story:
The 5th Mirror lies at the boundary between order and chaos, and represents the magnetism between them. This card indicates flux and movement between opposites, reminding us that permanence is temporary, perfection is full of flaws, and the unbreakable is extremely fragile. Order and chaos sound like polar opposites, however they contain the seeds of each other: the world of total chaos contains the path to new order, and the world of total order contains fissures which will lead to destruction. This card can also suggest hope in the midst of chaos, and warns us to be wary when things seem stable and inalterable.
This card points to the end of current structure and order, of familiar surroundings or “norms.” This ending can leave a vacuum of sorts, in which things may need to be reinvented, started over. This can be a creative time, an opportunity to explore what else is possible, it can also be a challenging moment when things are “up in the air.” This card points to one’s ability to endure chaos, to find one’s way back towards light in the midst of darkness. We often don’t recognize the things we rely on until they are removed, often we are taken by surprise by the loss of things we had forgotten to think about, had ceased even to notice. Their removal can be an occasion for us to become creative again, and require us to solve problems we’d thought already solved. The ending of a world which had become the “norm” opens up the door to other worlds, other ways for us to be “normal,” ways we might not have ever imagined otherwise. The world of familiar things can become the greatest blinder on our ability to envision other ways of being. This card needn’t necessarily foretell of destruction or downfall per se, however a shattered mirror is a door to chaos. Chaos becomes the arena of the possible once we learn how to navigate it. We learn how to navigate chaos by locating the side of ourselves that’s at home there.
This card reminds us that order is temporary, fallible, and normally incomplete. The city in the background looks powerful, massive and stable, but it too is prone to time and transformation, and small imperfections can grow to larger cracks. Sometimes we can grow used to things, passively accepting things as they are, even when the way things are is broken. The mask lies at the boundary between a broken reality and an unbroken one, looks out on both worlds and recognizes the link between them. They both contain roads that lead back to the other, one by way of fissures and the other by way of desire.
When we have become used to the way things work, the institutions and organizations that run the world, familiar with the hoops we’re required to jump through, it can become hard to imagine things could be otherwise, or see the shortfalls of the system. We too become fragile, easily breakable, our inner worlds easily disrupted. Normality itself hinders imagination by creating the illusion of existence that is frictionless, or eternal, or without alternatives, however the normal world is an exceptionally thin veil and is easily shattered. There are always many more versions of existence than are currently being lived out, more possibilities of life than will ever be experienced. A possibly infinite number of other possible worlds lie just on the other side of the facade we call our norm, the reality we assume to be the only one and the default for all existence. Becoming familiar with the way things work means forgetting that all this wasn’t here once, and that one doesn’t have to travel far to see things work quite differently. The card reminds us there are stresses through which illusions cannot last, and that the “way things are” is always the tiniest of blips in time and space. Nothing must be this way. This too will pass; it can pass into random change, order falls, order also follows need.
The 5th Mirror is associated with the theme of things “breaking” or being already broken. Sometimes things are broken without our noticing, we may feel inclined to pretend the brokenness is normal. Many relate broken mirrors with bad luck, however while the 5th Mirror definitely describes the breaking of a mirror, it is not essentially saying that it means bad luck. One might imagine a mirror separating two worlds, holding apart two opposites which, if they are brought together, completely change each other, letting chaos invade order and visa versa. The breaking mirror can mean the entry of chaos, the unpredictable, into a world of seeming order. It can also mean the entry of order into a disorderly situation. One might also imagine mirrors containing spirits which, when the mirror is broken, are allowed to wander free in a world they weren’t intended for. Beings let to roam a world in which they are the opposite principle can instigate disruption, one might oneself become a creature used to a world of order wandering in a world of chaos, trying to find one’s way back to stability. Our survival skills may atrophy when we’ve lived in comfort too long, as well as our creativity and capacity to imagine another world, when the world around us has led us to assume it could never be otherwise.
The mirror is a membrane, it both connects and separates the worlds of order and chaos, holding them in their places. It is therefore itself an object of order, keeping opposing forces apart, giving them a way to see each other from a safe distance. This safety is illusion, and for this reason it breaks along with mirrors, with the glass wall that sustains it. Because we too have become breakable, creatures of stability prone to shattering because of our attachment to the way things are, the sudden narrowing of this distance throws us into disarray. When the window becomes a door, “hell breaks loose” as illusions are shown for what they are. To acclimate to the new way things are, one must find stability in the turbulence.
The mask in the scene gazes upwards at ideas of order, and knows that order will be found after chaos. Order and chaos are two principles in an eternal relationship, and forever swap places, each one having a while to be in charge. This card can indicate a period of disruption and chaos, but one can be assured it will pass, order and chaos need to take turns being in control, on occasion. Order is at its most fragile when it reaches a point when it is pure, perfect and complete, when all the chaos has left it. That is when it is at its most breakable. Take the unstable moments as a chance to realize how thin our world was, and to discover a new route to order. Sometimes it takes a disruption, an inconvenience or incongruity, to help us see our lives a different way.
Card Meaning:
Alternative Names: New Outlook, Starting Over, Upheaval
The 5th Mirror stands for order and chaos, and it can suggest upheaval of systems, disruption of order, and flaws in seeming order which will lead to downfall. The mask in the image gazes both at a world of ordered concepts and structures above, and a shattered mess below. This card invokes the coming together of opposites, a balance between repelling forces, and also a magnetism between them. No extreme situation is ever without seeds of its opposite. Sometimes interruption in service is necessary to see the stars.
This card both reminds us that the things we take for granted and “rely on” can be removed at any time, and also suggests an ability to imagine another world than the one we know and assume to be normal. We may find ourselves in a situation which demands we be more inventive and imaginative, and that we find new ways to solve problems. The way things currently work is not the only option, it has neither existed forever nor is it flawless. We might accept things as they are in order to be present, but we can also be vigilant for flaws in what we accept as default. The end of order sparks another path, the downfall of great things leaves an open field for the greatness of new things.
Mirrors let opposite-worlds view each other at a safe distance, but that safety is shattered when the mirror breaks. Breaking a mirror enables beings not of this world to wander free, in some ways causing the “real” world and the world of illusions to change places. Some say the effects will last 7 years, but the true duration of chaos depends on how attached one was to the illusions of safety and stability, and how willing one is to find one’s security elsewhere.
Reverse Meaning:
The 5th Mirror upside down suggests imminent chaos, or instability of order: a loss of confidence or shaken faith in the lasting stability of things, possibly feelings of heightened worry or the need to be on one’s guard. This card might also signal the feeling of things out of control. Chaos does not always foster creativity, sometimes it’s overwhelming and puts us in survival mode. Sometimes the situation isn’t right for pursuit of the “higher questions,” and one must seek stable ground. This card can point to a transitory state or disorganized time. The “higher mysteries” and one’s ultimate dreams have not gone away, but they may be hard to focus on for a while. Things are rearranging themselves, finding their way back to order, it will take a while but order stems from chaos and visa versa, nothing remains either one way or the other forever.
6th Mirror • The Mirror Maze
Description:
Wearing angel wings, the Inner Mask looks out at a vast expansive mirror maze extending to the horizon. On either side of the Inner Mask stand mirrors, infinitely duplicating the Inner Mask, and its troubles, into the distance. The Inner Mask pauses in a moment of overwhelm, struck by the enormity of the challenge.
The Story:
The 6th Mirror relates to the realization of the enormity of a task, challenge or mission, and possibly also a task’s significance. One might feel small, unready, unprepared to tackle a task, to complete a mission, or to live up to an ideal or expectation. Something in the querent’s life may recently have revealed itself to be more complicated than it seemed before, or the true scope of a project may have been determined. One’s goals might seem at this moment unachievable, now that all the steps towards getting there are laid out. There could also be setbacks to the mission, leaving the querent seeming miles further away from the destination than expected. The querent has a daunting task, but great things seldom come easy. This card also, however, tells us that we might be so consumed by that feeling of the enormity of what’s ahead, we might forget that we are looking down from a hill which we have already climbed. The Inner Mask wears wings in this scene: we are given this vantage point on our task for a reason.
The 6th Mirror can sometimes refer to the mazes we build for ourselves; mazes of ideas, life problems, wants and needs. The distance between oneself and what one wants is made longer and more complicated by hurtles and by hangups. The hurtles are thrown at us by the world, the hangups are our own. The “Mirror Maze” is designed to throw us off and confuse us, use our senses against us. These internal and external complexities might have built up for many reasons. If our goal is a popular one, the benchmarks might have been made higher, and doors there harder to open, before our time and through no fault of ours. A goal which seemed easy enough when the querent was a child turns out, when one is no longer young, to be laden with requirements that no one mentioned before, and now compete with other things that need the querent’s time. One’s own ideas about “where one should be by now” can themselves be a hindrance, another turn in the maze. This is to say, the size of the maze can shrink and expand, it can become larger and more intricate sometimes, but we are not without ways to make it easier to solve.
This card can suggest trying to unravel or understand an issue, whose true complexity has just become clear. Some problems have multiple solutions, some issues are mind-bogglingly complicated. The querent might have just discovered he or she was using the wrong point of view, or acting on the wrong information. Looking back, one now sees there is much one will need to retrace, assumptions one will have to edit. This situation could mean an overwhelm of information, any of which could be true, any of which might be false or up for questioning.
This card has an optimistic lining: it describes an angel’s eye view. One can see one’s quest from outside oneself in this moment, see it for what it is and what it entails. This card can announce the arrival of information or awareness that greatly increases one’s chances of reaching one’s goals. Because we are not actually angels, the truth can feel defeating. However, on discovering what one is up against, one has the chance to prepare. Don’t forget to take note of how far you’ve already come.
Card Meaning:
Alternative Names: Overwhelm, The Task
The 6th Mirror concerns feelings of overwhelm, the sense of the enormity of a task or feeling one has a large number of things to get done, and the sense one has a long way to go. This is a card of humility: the realization that one still has far to go in one’s journey makes us humble, however it can also make us feel frustrated and exhausted. Can suggest self-doubt or imposter syndrome. The card reminds us we have accomplished much already to have arrived here, and we should give ourselves credit.
This card indicates there’s much to be done, but also clarity and perception of what one must do. One must be real about what one has to do, but being over-critical will only make the maze more disorienting.
Reverse Meaning:
This card reversed can mean being spread too thin, challenges that leave a person feeling conquered instead of challenged, thoughts of quitting and walking away. Sometimes everything becomes too much all at once, and one really does need help. You don’t have to tackle everything on your own.
7th Mirror • Defiance (the Chameleon)
Description:
Through a mouse-hole in a mirror passes a Chameleon, breaking the rules of both worlds by doing so. This greatly annoys two floating masks, who look down from candle-wax bodies disapprovingly. Hostile plumes of smoke rise up from each as the paradoxical passer-by enters and exits with ease. The Chameleon in this image magically disobeys physics, effortlessly, as though it is its nature. The mask-beings aren’t happy to see a creature so easily able to do what they themselves (it itself) cannot.
Some say the Inner Mask was formed from a plastic mask that dripped down to form a body, becoming a traveller whose gaze, and direction, points inwards. Here we see masks (in truth, one mask reflected) with bodies that have dripped down from candles perched within. This candle will burn itself out, the wax will run out or become frozen in place. All in all this is a much more rigid version of the Inner Mask: not a wanderer, but one that stays stubbornly in place. The reflection fools everyone, including us, that there is more than one of this being here. This being is repelled by its reflection, and all that comes out of it.
The Story:
The 7th Mirror represents the ability to transgress arbitrary or imposed boundaries, to be home in multiple places, to adapt and survive, even in the face of others’ disapproval. This card suggests breaking through glass ceilings, coming out from shadows, crossing boundaries, disproving limiting beliefs, and ignoring nay-sayers and disbelievers. This card suggests that not all people agree with, believe in, or have confidence in one’s choices, but this is not the true limiting factor. Whether one heeds the opinions of others is one’s own choice to make,
There are those who will never agree with us, who would consider our choices, or other things about us, uncivilized. One does not need the permission of all persons in the world, and it is sometimes necessary to be actively ok with this. This card suggests doing what we must, regardless of others’ disapproval. A major theme of this card is “defiance.” Many boundaries make sense, however some have been placed because of fear, revulsion, or false beliefs. To know the distinction, we must know what is right for ourselves, remain respectful of others’ right to pursue their own truth, and move in a way that honors both. One’s own example of following one’s own north star in spite of voices to the contrary can help guide others to find north stars of their own. Before this, we must have confidence in our stars.
It isn’t always easy to ignore disapproval. One might feel compelled to gain acceptance or permission from others for one’s actions, one may feel self-doubt when others don’t understand. Another theme of this card is “self confidence,” and it points to a growing sense of certainty in one’s own truth. As one becomes more assured in one’s direction, one’s dreams, one’s abilities and what one wants, one becomes more able to recognize when one is merely being pressured to fit in, rather than being given valid advice.
The 7th Mask focuses on the Chameleon, a symbol of mimicry, but also a symbol of defiance in its ability to do what other animals cannot. The Chameleon uses its ability the way it pleases, not according to anyone else’s thoughts on the matter. This card concerns both blending in and standing out, adapting to pressure and resisting it. Sometimes it is right to follow the pattern put forward by others, and other times it’s right to revolt. This card suggests the decision should be made according to what is needed to survive, not only in the literal sense but also in the spiritual sense: to sustain your true self.
The candle-masks in the picture are vaguely reminiscent of Icarus: flying too close to the sun melted Icarus’ wings, whereas these flying masks hold fire inside them, which attaches them to the ground. The mask-creature and its reflection are hostile to change, to movement, to the transgression or trespassing over established boundaries. There are some who are offended by those who don’t conform to custom, or with ideas of what certain people are capable of. Some live their lives in accordance with such boundaries, long agreed-upon and accepted as uncrossable. Some lash out in self-righteous wrath when they see such boundaries crossed, despite all belief in the impossibility of this. Indeed, some feel the need to punish those who defy limits they apply to themselves.
Boundaries can be accepted out of reverence to tradition, or fear and lack of imagination. They can also be accepted out of beliefs about what certain persons are capable of, assumed to be natural. Defying certain boundaries can be seen, by some, as absurd, impossible, unnatural, an offense to more than just the norm. Anger may increase if such deviants prove happy, healthy, just fine after defying these boundaries. There are also those who, unable to wait for God or nature to punish those who defy their laws, take it on themselves to deal God’s wrath, or nature’s revenge; the need to see “justice” dealt outweighing, it seems, the faith that it will happen on its own. This is an extreme, but it is one permutation of hostility towards defiance.
This card concerns the willingness and strength to be oneself in spite of friction, both internal and external. There are times that call for boldness and resolve. One may have to endure the unhappiness of others, perhaps even existential anger, to pursue one’s true north. This card warns us to be ready for friction, misunderstandings, intolerance and opinions formed at a distance, and keep our eyes on what’s important.
Resistance to change, resistance to the unfamiliar, and adherence to old ways of doing things, are expressions of fear. By making oneself a paradox, taking a position for oneself that remains impossible in the minds of certain others, one might incur rage, or perhaps just confusion. What may fuel the fire is knowing that the first one who defies the rules forges a path for others to follow. This is one reason why haters lash out: to see that first one not “get away with it” and become an example that it’s easy to get past the wall. They fear not one crosser, but a floodgate. They fear seeing laws change that were followed since time began, or so we are told. Those who think the walls hold up the sky will fear those who see the walls as air. One’s life can become a beacon of hope to others seeking freedom and self-assuredness, struggling behind barriers made of fear. It is more natural to be oneself than anything else at all.
Card Meaning:
Alternative Names: Disobedience, Adaptation, Mimicry
The 7th Mirror suggests outside disapproval, even hostility; the shortcomings of others who have not found their North Star or have chosen not to follow it. The Chameleon has extraordinary abilities that other animals do not have, and uses them as it choses, not confined to how others think it should use those powers. This card warns that there are those who don’t approve of us, dislike our decisions or other things about us, at least at first. Eventually, some of them will turn around, realizing the limits they live by are not as meaningful as they believe. Our expression of authenticity can become the example others need to break through their own walls.
Sometimes, when seeking long-term harmony, we encounter short-term friction, sometimes even short-term chaos. This card points to faith in one’s truth, which can become a source of strength in the face of adversity.
Reverse Meaning:
The 7th Mirror in reverse suggests bending to pressures to conform, mimicry used to blend in with the ground instead of follow the example of the rainbows, becoming “closeted” about one’s views in order not to be seen, targeted. Sometimes we must play it safe, enter stealth mode or blend in to get by. One can decide from there if this is a tolerable way to live or if something’s missing, if something must change.
This card upside down can sometimes point to people who are stuck in their ways, intolerant and unwilling to budge on a subject or idea. This orientation could suggest that one has become the enforcer of one’s own limitations, expecting that others will stay within the same confines.
8th Mirror • The Tunnel
Description
The Inner Mask rides a bike down a straight tunnel, its face a mirror reflecting a figure in the distance. This tunnel is lined with masks, inward-pointing “introverted” masks look inward on one side, and outward-facing “extroverted” masks look outward on the other. The Inner Mask takes a look back before proceeding. At the far end of the tunnel is a dark door, with what seem like eyes above it.
The Story:
The 8th Mirror concerns conformity and the impulse to do as others expect, to follow certain guidelines and do well in the eyes of others. This card suggests alliance, allegiance, tradition and teamwork. The path to the future is well-traveled and it therefore is well-reinforced, structurally sound and direct. This is the card of following in others’ footsteps, going with the flow, meeting expectations and performing well in the eyes of others. This card hints that our path is in alignment with structures around us or with a community we are a part of.
This card can suggest discipline, sticking to the plan, not deviating from the course, and completing one’s goals effectively. Things line up and can be discerned rationally, using the powers of mind and one’s intelligence to plot one’s next act. The bike rider looks back, seems to see a distant figure on the horizon. This card describes a situation in which things are going well, but there’s a touch of whimsy, perhaps curiosity about what things would have been like if one had taken a different path, or if one had struck out on one’s own more profoundly. This card can sometimes imply nostalgia or fantasy in the midst of things otherwise working like clockwork.
This card might herald an orderly, functional future up ahead, things falling into place, and focus. One has the wind at one’s back and is being ushered forward. This card points to success in the immediate future, however the door at the end of the tunnel leads to an unknown destination. The road one is currently on might not always be the one that works best for the seeker, however it works for now. This card may point to a situation which some might find “cold” or without much excitement, a more boring and predictable phase. However this tunnel does not go on forever, and the path is rather stable for a while.
This card also contains the theme of “community” and good navigation of social contexts. This can point to networking, getting in front of the right people, making new connections and relations. Along with this, the card also relates to the themes of introversion and extroversion. One may feel oneself to be one or the other, or to bounce between the two. These two principles can be a part of who we are, or they may be a story we tell ourselves, which may become limiting. What other stories, this card asks, might you be telling, to explain yourself and who you are to others?
Card Meaning:
Alternative Names: “Straight and Narrow,” Discipline, Direction
The 8th Mirror portrays a straight and narrow pathway to the goal, and suggests sticking to a course of action, taking a popular or conventional route and not straying far from expectations, and going with the flow. This card is strongly logical, and speaks of orderliness, focus and direction. This card indicates acceptance by one’s community, success in practical things, and that the future looks stable and orderly. However, this card also hints at slight reminiscence, or pondering of alternative lives, curiosities that point outside one’s upcoming successes, and intrigue about other possibilities. One is in line for things to return to order, one must also check in with oneself, if that goal is truly what one wants.
This card could suggest that now is the time to be disciplined and focused, to pursue a path of stability for a time. One might try new things, but only after rational consideration of the outcomes.
Reverse Meaning:
The 8th Mirror in reverse suggests doubt, turning back, losing track, confusion, misdirection, feeling watched or spied upon. It might mean being urged or pushed in a certain direction, and feeling qualms or worries about that path. This card upside down might also suggest feeling out of place or awkward amongst others, or having trouble connecting or finding one’s “people.” One may be feeling ungrounded, things may feel up in the air or undecided. One may be feeling undecided about one’s future in this moment. Sometimes one might get reoriented by considering sources of clarity, inspiration, and the most strongly desired outcome.
9th Mirror • Abuse (the foe)
Description:
The Inner Mask Explains:
It happened suddenly. I was in the midst of an encounter, someone like myself but in another world, whose music I had heard from far away. All of a sudden someone tore through my face, pulled me away from the scene, vanishing the shared reality, and we were reduced to pictures of each other.
Two mirrors seem to divide the scene in half, as though we now see two walls of a three-walled room made of mirrors. The Inner Mask appears in its reflection in the form of the Empty Moon, however the images of both are interrupted. The reflections are distorted by an individual who stands outside, but has made a space for itself somehow inside the Inner Mask’s mind. This other person pulls the Inner Mask’s face away from the encounter, shattering the reflection of the Empty Moon as it does so.
The Story:
The 9th Mirror concerns psychic or symbolic violence, which can come from another person or from an aspect of one’s own self. This violence can create a great deal of harm, and in particular can harm one’s ability to make the meaningful encounters one wants to make. This card signals the malicious or subconscious intention of another to derail someone’s progress, or keep two sides from meeting. Sometimes abusers don’t know they are doing harm; sometimes they even believe they are doing something helpful or benign. The impact of one’s words can last a long while after, and leave a residue the recipient may have few resources to deal with and be ill-armed to manage afterward. Even well-meaning things said or done by others can expose a hurtful incline of society, or can bring back painful memories without warning. This card points to a need for healing and recovery, to restore one’s sense of purpose and self-image, and can also suggest a need to try to understand why harm still exists in our world, the role we play in it, and how we can decrease the space it takes.
Then there are those who harm others intentionally, as a sort of recreation, sometimes an odd form of self-completion, bringing others down in order to lift themselves up. Sometimes harm is thought to be amusing. The abuser may think they’ve been wronged by a “type” of person and have decided cruelty to anyone they see as that “type” is justified. They may believe that a “type” is guilty of some unforgivable crime and thus deserves bad treatment forever, at every opportunity. Alternately, some who abuse may have forgotten the humanity of others, placing them as antagonists to themselves or for some team with which they associate, and thus fall into thinking harming them is not true harm: because one does nothing wrong by hurting nothing. Such people have failed to recognize humanity, and acted on a gap in their own humanity. Carelessness can also cause harm, because people live in different worlds; harm can be done by accident. Harm can be caused unconsciously, as some are unaware of gaps in their awareness of humankind. These things too can leave damage behind, sometimes additional damage in the form of knowledge that our world does not harm all its inhabitants the same way. There is a rainbow of reasons for carelessness lie at the back of abuse, not limited to actual hatred. What matters in the 9th Mirror is not the reason for abuse, but the impact it leaves behind.
Few tools have been developed to deal with violence in the realm of symbols. One can relate the tale to others who would understand, one can make art of the experience. These things can decrease the feeling of aloneness, which is one aspect of the harm. One can learn comebacks and defense moves in case something happens like this again. One can separate oneself from the place that hosted the harm, or from those who committed the harm or could do so. One might need to perform an “exorcism” of a kind, to expel the ghost-phantom which the attacker left in the mind. What else can be done to recover from psychic harm? If one is already fighting a subterranean belief that one is somehow bad, even casual enforcement can be damaging. The 9th Mirror takes us back to a time before we absorbed poison, to our childlike willingness to let the world in. It reminds us we can restore ourselves, there are ways.
We have the power to heal ourselves, this card reminds us. This card has sent us 5 ways to remember one’s power. The first reminder: think on the world as it was before anything was taken from you, when the playing field was even. Let that trust breathe again. The second reminder: know that abuse is a form of self-degradation, it moves a person further from their own truth. You are no one’s tool. The third reminder: know that the gods saw it happen, they know both sides and see blindness and laziness, and also private suffering. You are not alone, cosmic equilibrium is on your side. The fourth reminder: abuse is a form of laziness, and those who get away with abuse expand the territory of abuse within themselves, always in cowardly directions, and become hatred’s tool and doorway; the gods see this also. The fifth reminder: the future will see abusers become ashamed of themselves; those who awaken to the future early will feel ashamed of how they’ve harmed others, and those who do not will be left out of the future. This is the first of many recipes that the 9th Mirror has sent.
This card can sometimes refer to other kinds of damage than symbolic or psychic. The 9th Mirror describes all sorts of impactful experiences, disasters or coincidences, which create unforeseen change over time. These things may in themselves not have very much in the way of meaning, but they can have grave ramifications in how the seeker sees themselves and others. The 9th Mirror understands the gravity of these things, even if their sources are non-events to everyone else. Subtle actions may have grave consequences on the psychological level, and in memory, which creates and elaborates on meaning as time goes by. A personal or private catastrophe, or a catastrophe shared by a group of people, may be disregarded by the broader world but at the same time cannot be ignored, its wounding power too deep. The 9th Mirror insists on better ways to treat symbolic damage.
Something else this card wishes to point out: we have not been adequately informed of our mission: the human mission to be aware of humanity. Acts of cruelty point out the gap in this awareness, the awareness of humanity around us. It would seem this should be elementary, but we have not been taught. Some have done things so terrible, it would be called a dehumanization of other people, but that is not what horrible actions do. Such actions are failures to recognize humanity, and expose a gap in one’s awareness: awareness of the mission, awareness of what humanity is and what it means. A person can be lovely in many ways but have a gap somewhere, a gap in this recognition, a hole in the mirror reflecting back a human on the other side. Acting on this gap causes us to punch holes in our humanity, blocking our light, the light that humanity has to shed on the universe.
Humanity means the connection to light shared with all other humans, connecting humankind to Spirit. It is part of our mission to shed light, it is also required of us that we recognize other humans when we see them. Sometimes an atrocity will occur, someone deeply denouncing the humanity of other human beings. Such acts do nothing to the humanity of those attacked: they only punch a hole in the humanity of the attacker. By denouncing the humanity of other humans, one denounces the light within all human beings, denies it, and this damages not the light but one’s own ability to see it. Mental and emotional damage are both more easily mended than damage to one’s humanity, which requires drastic transformation to repair. Some say lost pieces of humanity cannot be found, they must be created from scratch. The problem is we all contain gaps. These gaps are like a virus: they cause one to lash out and try to get others to punch holes in their own humanity through acts of coldness. They are gateways to the anti-human, the element which seeks to prevent what’s possible if all humans are aware of each other at the same time. It is the last shadow, the beast that screams as it dies. There are many ways to be human, there are many ways to be anti-human, but the human is the way that sees. This is the way to forgiveness of those who commit horrible acts, this is the way out.
Card Meaning:
Alternative Names: Injury, Disruption, Repercussions
The 9th Mirror can be a difficult card, but it is a significant one in one’s relationship with the shadow. It is called “Abuse” and concerns harm done by others, in the past or in the present, and memories which perpetuate that harm, “symbolic damage.” This card points to current harm, and also to thoughts and memories of that harm, taking up real estate in the seeker’s mind, stealing peace. Some kinds of harm alter a person’s sense of self or ability to connect. Harm can be done by accident or unconsciously, but also intentionally. There is a need to recover from harm, there is also a need to recognize it, understand and accept that it is there.
This card can also reflect disruption of various kinds: interruption in communication and connection, interference in relationships, including with connections with one’s shadow-aspect. This can point to an external source of pressure on a relationship, forces which push people to be hostile, mean or nasty. This card expresses a need to distinguish between actual sources of current harm, and psychic shadows in the mind. One has no control over the former, but the latter can be healed. This card points to the phenomenon of people in the world capable of cruelty, and also to the need for healing.
Reverse Meaning:
The “Abuse” card upside down can suggest resilience to harm, recovery from harm, restoration of self-concept after damage. This might indicate someone attempting harm but not succeeding, or the effects of harm dwindling.
This card upside down reminds us there’s productive ways to deal with past harm, and unproductive ways. Productive methods of recovery make acts of harm less possible in the world. Unproductive methods do nothing to decrease acts of harm. Making oneself hard or frightening does not decrease the amount of space in the world still occupied by harm, the number of minds it controls. Reflecting cruelty back at the world does not reverse harm. This card warns against allowing oneself to take the unproductive path to healing, even though that path may at times seem appealing.
10th Mirror • The Lake
Description:
A small lake lies under the stars, like a mirror on the earth in which the sky ponders itself. From this mirror are emerging the Liberated Voices, like ghosts of reflection, seemingly arising from some former selves more aquatic; the surface transforms what passes through it. This lake is like a portal, but the Liberated Voices seem not to be coming from the other side, but from the act of transformation itself. Beneath the water we can somewhat make out creatures in another state, another phase. This lake brings the sky and the deepest parts of the sea together, maybe only for a moment. Perhaps these creatures share a secret, or perhaps they meet here as their spawning grounds, Submerged Minds ascending to meet their destiny and Liberated Voices taking one last glance at themselves in the water before departing for the sky.
The Empty Moon hummed a tune from its place between the stars:
The journey begins among lily pads. I, I many phases, watch the scene; the thoughts rise to the surface from the deep, to breed with time and vanish in amazement. Some emerge as half and some as full, like we moons do. Then rise these Voices from the waters of their creation, never to return, and never to forget.
The Story:
The 10th Mirror illustrates the transition of the Submerged Thoughts, beings that inhabit the deepest and most “elemental” areas of ourselves, into Liberated Voices, beings associated with joyful existence, experiment, ecstasy, the full experience of life. One might think there would be an interim stage between these two extremes, but this lake acts like a portal, connecting two realms of extreme lightlessness and extreme illumination. The reflection’s edge seems to be the ending point of Thoughts and the starting point of Voices, the beings seem to sense connection with those on the other side, but the transition seems more like reincarnation, something ending in order for something else to begin.
The Submerged Thoughts, also known as Submerged Minds, live at the bottom of the sea, this could be the sea of consciousness or of emotion, the place where thoughts take different shapes and forms, and our own selves are alien to us. This place is the basis of dreams, the dreams accessed from within dreams, a place whose logic is far murkier than waking life’s. The Liberated Voices live in a state of abandon and raw existence, at the outer edge of consciousness where experience is unbounded by words. One may see this card as a place where these two extremes come together, or a highlighting of what opposite states of mind have in common. This card concerns the shifting of states of mind, transition in states of spiritual and mental and perhaps physical being, doing the impossible, accessing new territories within the self, establishing connections and achieving common ground. This card is also about things coming full circle, life cycles, positive conclusions and rebirth. It is associated with healing and also connecting with one’s past and future, subconscious and superconscious, interior world and exterior world.
This card illustrates resolving thoughts and questions, a coming-together of all one’s disparate parts, to give birth to something new. In this place, the bountiful depth of one’s past, its rich inheritance, and the ideal trajectory of one’s future, one’s power and potential, may bear fruit together. The potential of the future may learn from the past, and the past may find resolution. The 10th Mirror reveals the bigger picture, puts things in context. When everything is fully understood, opponents and opposites have more in common than they thought.
This card suggests the doors of possibility have been thrown open, the querent has the chance to see the world as their most liberated self, to leave “heavy” things behind and experience the ecstatic wonder that is the actual awareness of existence. To let go is profound: it isn’t simple and normally isn’t easy. The phases of the moon have all convened in this card, and the Submerged Minds have come together beneath them, it is time to become something more, and that something more can expand to spread light into the universe. Only the Submerged Minds can say exactly why here and why now, and they speak to none but themselves. It takes an agreement on many levels of the self to truly let go of “heavy” things, and the conditions must be right. This card can suggest forces coming together within the self to make the right conditions to do something astounding, to go further and reach higher than you ever have before.
The Empty Moon added:
The Submerged Minds are a mystery to us, but it’s believed that once they have found all there is to find beneath the water, they lift off to explore the sky. As flying creatures, they inspire great hope and curiosity, symbolize liberation and wholeness, self-awareness and satisfaction with oneself, though we are also told their lives are brief. I’m told they end their lives half-buried on the beach, abandoned plastic by the sea in which small creatures seek shelter and find self-awareness, but I don’t know if I can believe all the stories I am told.
Card Meaning:
Alternative Names: renewal, rebirth, experiment, ascension, departure
The 10th Mirror describes forward, outward, and upward movement, departure and rebirth. It also points to experiments and experiences in a new sphere or a new realm, actions taken without absolute confidence or control over results, changes of attitude and approach, overcoming resistance, embracing of uncertainty. This is a card of stepping outside the familiar, beyond the comfort zone. What happens outside the comfort zone might not always be pleasant, but one grows exponentially in response to being without one’s shield. This card suggests ascension into true joy, the heights and extremes of experience, living life unhindered.
This card suggests “rising above” in many ways: rising above one’s hindrances and assumptions, rising above things one has gotten submerged or stuck in, rising above one’s thoughts and one’s past, the assertions of one’s peers. This also describes getting past the “surface” to connect with more meaningful and expansive awareness. One’s shadows rise to the surface and emerge as winged beings full of potential, ready to share the wisdom gained in their journey. This is also the card of achieving joyful consciousness, seeing the goal and ultimate dream of happiness. This card suggests that healing is possible, and that opposite sides can work together, accomplish the impossible together.
Reverse Meaning:
This card upside down suggests downward or inward movement, retreat or submersion, flying giving way to diving. Instead of exploring the outer rim and extreme heights of experience, this card upside down suggests exploring the cavernous reaches of the depths of one’s soul, one’s shadowy underpinnings, the furthest reaches where the bold are shy to venture. Sometimes our voyages of discovery pass through areas that have never been illuminated, never seen the sun or the world outside. These reaches are populated by aliens that are also ourselves, entities nothing like us but very core to who we are. This is also a card of exploring the unknown upside down, but introverted experiences, deep dives in the mind, a journey of books and ideas, feelings and empathic solidarity.
11th Mirror • Illusion
Description:
The Inner Mask gazes into a mirror, captivated by what it sees in the glass, though what it sees breaks the rules of reflection. It reaches behind the glass to clasp what lies behind, but there is nothing there, disproving the illusion, but still the Inner Mask remains transfixed, as though it doesn’t care.
The image in the mirror defies logic, but that satisfies the Inner Mask in a way logic doesn’t. The Inner Mask is infatuated seeing what it thinks it needs, and willing to believe, swept into the spell of desire, the spell of dreams.
The Story:
The 11th Mirror concerns enchantment, and seeing what one wants to see. It suggests deception and illusions, and the needs that cause us to believe them. This card can also suggest narcissism and ego, attachment to a particular image or version of ourselves and insistence that others see us that way, and that we see ourselves that way.
The ego, at its most extreme, believes the entire universe is contained within itself: that it sees all, knows all, and to some extent is all that is. The ego has great difficulty with the idea of its own non-existence or periods of time in which it itself does not exist. Likewise it has trouble with the idea of places where it will never be, and the fact that the time and space of its non-presence far outreach the small arena of its own life. The unknown terrifies the ego, and this is what makes death frightening as an abstract concept. The ego has its own motives to resist complexity, and sticks close to narratives in which it itself is the star, the hero and the whole show. This card largely concerns the ego’s quest to make itself the star, to satisfy its desires, to cater to its reality and leave aside what it cannot stand to think about. The ego is our called our smaller self because the soul is so much larger (some say infinitely so.) The ego is the part that actually disappears when someone dies, which is what makes the ego cling to things so much. The ego is within all of us, even as we aspire to become enlightened and wise. For the time being, it is a part that each of us must contend with.
The Inner Mask in the 11th Mirror is fully taken in by the illusion, unready or unwilling to question it. The illusion is too beautiful, too captivating. This card can suggest clinging to beliefs even when they are disproven. There are some beliefs that we become extremely attached to, so much so that we may sacrifice ourselves and others to them, as though these beliefs were deities themselves to whom we owe tribute. Some beliefs are so comfortable we don’t even see them as beliefs until something contradictory collides with them. We may find ourselves unwilling to question these things, because it makes all reality feel a little brittle and questionable. Its easier to keep on “believing” certain things, rather than rewrite everything one knows; possibly opening the door to unfamiliar fears and anxieties one didn’t have to contend with before. Some illusions compliment people’s ego in a certain way, empower the childish self subversively, welcome things normally forbidden in believers and give them permission to behave badly, towards themselves or others. This is of course an extreme.
This card concerns fantasies, both in the sense of illusions and dreams, and in the sense of things too good to be true. Fantasy can be an undesirable element sometimes, in pursuit of truth. We can be led astray by fantasies, our own or others. However fantasy isn’t wrong in itself. If used wisely, fantasy can be a tool of investigation into reality. Its link with dreams, and dreams in general, is much more poorly understood than we even realize. Fantasy is a secret weapon of artists and a means for everyone to understand their wants and needs, but it must not be allowed to take over, to drive the car of one’s life. This card points to things we are chasing or pursuing, possibly dreams or things not ours to pursue, or not even out there to be found. In the positive sense, this can indicate faith and willingness to create the world we want to see. In the negative sense, we might be building ourselves up for a let down.
This card can sometimes concern a final, most challenging hurtle in one’s quest: letting go of that which one does not want to let go of, sees no reason to release, has become attached to as part of who they see or want to see in the mirror. Illusions can start to feel solid when we give them solidity, real when we give them reality. This card warns that, if we let these things remain unexamined, then we live in a continuing world of illusions, and such worlds are liable to shatter. The mirror is prone to break when put under pressure, whether or not we are ready.
Card Meaning:
Alternative Names: Deception, Narcissism, Illusion, Devotion
The 11th Mirror concerns attachments and addictions, mostly to our own created realities: illusions, beliefs carried and held onto even in the face of disproof. This card suggests a fantasy, or a series of fantasies, which have a unique and powerful attraction. These things may be harmless, or they may merely consume time and attention. They may also cause us to act irrationally, it all depends. If the fantasy becomes too powerful, it may become indiscernible from reality.
This card suggests a wall of thoughts, ideas or possibly feelings, a version of the world one has become attached to, though perhaps not the one to which most others are attached. We may all be behind some kind of wall like this, to a degree. Becoming vigilant of the existence of such a wall helps make that wall more transparent.
This card also points to things we covet, habits we’ve become stuck on, and obsession over surfaces rather than deeper realities. This card also suggests to trust one’s instincts: if something seems off, listen to that inclination.
This card reminds us also that, even if our fantasies are harmless, we must be mentally prepared for the mirror to break. The trouble with illusions is that many of them are things we’ve made or found, or assembled from parts, to replace illusions that shattered in the past, illusions we’ve forgotten about. Illusions are in part a way to forget about an illusion that was shattered, to cover the gap, to avoid what reality might look like. Illusions often seem better than reality, that’s why we cling to them. Only when we feel it safe to look outside ourselves and let go of a particular image of our future will reality start to seem comparable.
Reverse Meaning:
The 11th Mask reversed suggests the positive side of attachment and fantasy: devotion, faithfulness, dedication and drive. This card indicates fantasy in its productive aspect, as a visualization tool to make desires come true. When approached a certain way, fantasy becomes the instrument of our consciousness, instead of the other way around. Fantasy can serve as a flashlight for the imagination; a roadmap to a world we want, a tool for seeing a better place before it exists. The important thing is that we don’t forget what it is, and let it become our 24/7 existence. If we forget where the boundary lies, we can become “married” to a version of reality, only listen to outside voices that reinforce it, and then we can come to live in a delusion.
Sometimes, this card can mean extreme over-obsession in a person or idea, thinking about this thing all the time, or being overly attached to a particular concept of beauty. It might sometimes indicate over-obsession with someone to the point of psychic strangulation.
12th Mirror • Initiation
Description:
The Inner Mask comes in a dramatic way onto the scene, emerging in two directions from a rippling surface and stepping onto a path already walked, into steps placed by its own future self. Two different doors rise on the horizon, their emanations fusing in the sky above. The Inner Mask has broken through a surface without breaking a mirror, separated from itself without violence. It now emerges into a world that shows its separate selves, peacefully divided, which way to go.
The Story:
The 12th Mirror is the capstone and finale of the Mirrors suit. In this scene, the Inner Mask has triumphantly separated from its illusions, its past, and other things to which it clung before, and now each aspect of itself can go its separate way. This card announces the coming of a great inner discovery or peaceful resolution with one’s own contesting, competing aspects, an inner healing. The road of Mirrors has been laden with much struggle and broken glass; self-examination is not easy and there were many suppressed inner realities to deal with. This card illustrates the outcome for the process, and it points a direction to further discoveries.
This card indicates connection with one’s guiding light, moments of clear-thinking when one’s personal path in life is apparent. One knows what one must do now, at least for several steps ahead. One has become able to see through illusions to become aware of deeper significance, released hold of toxic patterns, one is able to defy the rules and restraints of society without invoking one’s demons. Having passed through a difficult night, one emerges in a new and incredible dawn. The towers in the distance are also doors to the next stage in the quest: the journey isn’t over, but it has made a positive and glorious turn, leaving one more capable and ready for the next challenge.
This card is the culmination of the many trials and revelations of Mirrors. Things lead back to the source from here, coming full circle. The Inner Mask is both two and one, dividing from itself in a way that has become necessary for both “halves” to grow. This card may signal a departure which promises a return, separation for the sake of expansion, the discarding of unnecessary weights. This card also speaks to finding others on the same quest, seeing the footsteps that others have taken, finding the relevant and important insights in examples from the past. This card is called Initiation for its being an emergence from a world of trials, an indication one has grown and is ready for the next set of challenges. One has overcome a boundary, internal or external, and gained abilities in the process. This card describes the forging of a new relationship with reality, and a more authentic relationship with one’s self. This card can signal the querent’s having the necessary insight and information to make significant choices about their life. Where one has been stuck before, one is now able and ready to choose a path and walk it. This card can herald the choice of new religion, career, or direction in life.
Card Meaning:
Alternative Names: Self-Invention, Choosing Paths, New Phase of Life
The 12th Mirror is called “Initiation” and heralds a new direction or path in life, new clarity, discovery of one’s guiding light, establishment of focus. This card marks enhanced precision in one’s decisions and enhanced confidence in the steps that one must take. This card signifies a culmination of one’s efforts, a revelation or significant discovery, a step in the right direction and a step closer to realizing who one really is, what one really wants, how to achieve one’s dreams. This also implies a sacrifice: there are things one will not do, directions one will not go, steps one will not take. One walks away from the self one might have been, all the parallel options.
Initiation marks the transition from one state to another: entering into adulthood or a new group or religious practice, a dedication of life to a newfound and more concentrated path. Initiation is a kind of doorway, and one is allowed to pass through it only after one has done the work, survived the ordeals, given it thorough consideration. The Initiation card signals the querent is ready, has done these things, has survived challenges, and can now pass on to a new world of goals and ideals and also hardships. This card suggests profound growth, achievement, and a clear path ahead.
This card also suggests that the next phase of our journey will involve challenges greater and more complex than those we’ve overcome up till this point. Initiation also suggests we are at last ready for these challenges, we are prepared for the next phase.
Reverse Meaning:
The 12th Mirror reversed reflects setbacks, having to revisit past mistakes before one can move forward, and the need to retrace steps. The problems one laid out for one’s self in the past are now coming back to “bite” and need to be contended with. This card upside down might suggest unpreparedness: even if one has jumped through a hoop or been given a “diploma” of some kind in real life, an internal barrier has yet to be crossed, one is not yet ready for the next world of challenges. This card upside down may also indicate lack of clarity or direction what to do next.
This card is also called the Throne of Mirrors because it is the ultimate culmination of all lessons and developments within the suit of mirrors, and as such, even in reverse it has good effects. Self-reflection and accurate self-assessment, even if uncomfortable, are present here. Sometimes one needs to revisit past steps taken, in order to ensure one hasn’t missed something important.