Having the World

Tarot: The World http://www.learntarot.com/bigjpgs/maj21.jpg

Rune: Acceptance

The World card (as you can see by the link) is a woman who holds two batons, has a laurel on her head, a cloth around her. One leg is crossed behind the other. She is inside of a circular wreath and surrounding it are four symbols which represent the four fixed signs of the zodiac.

The woman's leg is crossed in the same manner as the Hanged Man card except that he has turned inward in his spiritual journey and she has turned outward.

Circles are about continuity. There are no beginnings, no endings -- and yet, everything has a beginning and an end. Everything is a great circle in life. The day, the week, the month, the year, seasons, cycles...it goes on and on. This card is also similar to the Wheel of Fortune card which is about the end of a cycle and the beginning of a new phase, however, the World card is such on a much bigger level.

When we look at the World card, we see a woman -- perhaps symbolic of rebirth. We're being reborn to the World. Something wonderful is about to happen! All of our efforts are about to pay off! The world is ours for the taking and, yet, it's not a selfish taking -- it's really about giving back to the world. Perhaps, we have now become a wonderful healer or teacher, and all that hard work is now giving us the gifts that we need to go out and help others.

The rune of Acceptance is about finding peace within oneself -- serenity -- through acceptance. Perhaps the serenity prayer is the best example of this:

God, grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, the courage to change the things I can, and the wisdom to know the difference.

It takes patience and hard work to get to a place of acceptance. We all have our own "issues" -- some that are deep in our soul -- and we have to do a lot of self-work to get to a place where we can move beyond the challenges. We pray, we wait, we let go of our "stuff", we trust, we love, we expand in the light. We learn to love and accept everything as it is, change what we can -- we do the work, and the payoff is all of the World and, yet, helping to give back to the World as well. The great circle of life, giving and receiving, karma...

Ultimately, it's all summed up in the words of Sir Paul McCartney:

"And in the end...the love you take is equal to the love you make."