“This is as far as the internal path can at first go, namely toward what we call a self-encounter,’the preparation of the inner word, without which every gaze outward remains empty, instead of being the magnet, the force that draws forth the inner word and helps it break through the falseness of this world. In the end, however, after this internal vertical movement: may a new expanse appear, the world of the soul, the external, cosmic function of utopia, maintained against misery, death, the husk realm of mere physical nature. Only in us does this light still burn, and we are beginning a fantastic journey toward it, a journey toward the interpretation of our waking dream, toward the implementation of the central concept of utopia.”
Ernst Bloch. the spirit of utopia.
“The cosmos is interesting rather than perfect, and everything is not part of some greater plan, nor is all necessarily under control.”
-Starhawk
KEEP SCROLLING DOWN TO READ SHORT AND LONG EXPLANATIONS
IN SHORT:
UPRIGHT: LIVING ONE’S PRINCIPLES. COMPLETION OF A CYCLE, INTEGRATION, ACCOMPLISHMENT. NEW JOURNEYS
REVERSED: SEEK CLOSURE. REFLECT ON PAST. AVOID SHORT-CUTS, HALF-MEASURES. DELAYED REALIZATION. FOCUS ON ANIMISTIC RELATIONS WITHIN THE PHYSICAL WORLD.
AT LEGNTH:
The World card shows a series of pins, collected from different protests, conferences, radical bookshops, zine fairs, and friends. They remind us of those moments in our pasts when we may have been dismissed as ‘just going through a phase’. And yet, here we are: the result of a lifetime of going through this ‘phase’ of being ourselves in all of its complexity, contradiction and uncanny consistency.
This card upright asks us to take a step back and situate the memories, ephemera, and beliefs that we have collected during the course of our lives. We are asked to witness ourselves as historical or sociological objects. You have intentionally and unintentionally created the conditions to accomplish goals. This card represents a completion of events or program. The pins allude to something like a badge of participation. Each one offers evidence of an enduring dedication to a vision and the imminent translation of this vision into a reality.
Lovingly collected over the different seasons of our lives, these pins help us see oneself in relief, and be reminded of the ups, the downs, lessons from the past and the many versions of ourselves that have brought us to right here, right now. You may or may not realize that this moment that is upon you, is a potentially revolutionary moment. Every experience and event has perfectly equipped you for the ‘here and now’. You are both complete and always in progress. Move forward, and imagine new futures, and step into this new season in life, a new conception of what is possible. The past that has put you here, is an accumulation of so much energy, struggle, collaboration, narrative building and chance. If you are presented with the World card upright, it is an indication to revel or make use of your current material conditions.
When the world card is presented in reverse, we are being asked us to zoom out. Hold these pins in your hands and attribute a memory or personal narrative to each one. Imagine the energy and lessons associated with each pin being absorbed into your hands up into your forearms, elbows, and from there your arms ascend upwards. Your arms extend infinitely into the sky, through the atmosphere, past the moon and solar-system. Feeling the nothingness, you begin to hear a rhythm in the silence of the cosmos. It’s like the gentle hum of a good listener. Here we can allow ourselves to feel completely seen, heard, loved and respected. The astral hum gathers pace, and asks you to speak, cry, explain, murmur, or scream a new world into existence. What do you say? What would this world be like? Reversed, the World card asks us to see what ever worldly situation that is in front of us, and consider the many other versions of our world that could be possible, if we let ourselves imagine it.
The World card is the final iteration within the major arcana—it signals a completion or integration of the guidances offered from the events and ideas that came before it.
This card telescopes between the intimate and emotional nuances of quotidian-life and material ‘things’ as personified by a collection of pins— and then outwards an expanding world historical lens. It is a reminder that history is composed not simply of heroics and grand rebellions, but is is also changing your relationship to ourselves, our community and our world.
IN DEPTH:
The World card draws inspiration from the concept of a ‘political prefiguration’, which is meant to invoke an umbrella of concepts relating the culture and of practices of social movements, which offer new modes of being in the world. Prefiguration asks that we recognize that the ends cannot ever justify the means, because the means define the conditions of the ends. Theways in which we relate and organize in our everyday— this is where the materials and culture for the future are made. This means: look for any and every site of social struggle, and model something that works towards increased political agency, participation, collective sustainability, and imagination.
Many anarchists, social theorists, eco-feminists, anthropologist, permaculturalist and theologians have worked with this concept of prefiguration. It is the qualities of organization and social and material relationships that must strive to reflect the different future society being sought out by a group. Carl Boggs (who is often seen as doing the term within politics), he describes prefiguration as the aim to enact “within the ongoing political practice of a movement […] those forms of social relations, decision-making, culture, and human experience that are the ultimate goal”.
This theory has illuminated the importance of social practices within radical movements and has linked the affinities towards liberation across, geographic and generational sites. Prefiguration recognizes liberation from radicalized patriarchal capitalism is unachievable as a goal aim only at ‘political’ institutions and the capturing of political power. Another world is possible, but we will have to confront and re-think every aspect of it, and counter the logic of domination and hierarchy that persist. To quote one of my favorite of anarchists and solar punks“Today is the Preview of Tomorrow.”
FURTHER READINGS:
Isabelle Strenger
monthlysmokeandmirrors.com 