Foundation
from Tarot
30" x 18"
acrylic on canvas
2017
Private Collection, Houston, Texas
Exhibitions
Houston, Texas, Tarot - Part One - The Question, November 11, 2017

 

During the development of Tarot, I will be inviting established tarot readers to share their impressions and interpretations of specific "cards" from the Tarot series. 

I have invited Robyn V of Blackcat Magick to share her observations on Foundation.

Symbolism

The word foundation brings many images to mind. It is at its core the base of all things, whether that is the foundation of a building or the foundation of who we are as individuals. Foundations are secure, safe and warm. Homes without foundations often have a hard time selling, and people without foundations often have a hard time at life.


The symbolism of a heart generally represents the core of our feelings and how we view the outside world. Where the brain would be the central focus of our reasoning, the heart is the central focus of our feelings. The growth of a plant often is a nod to the cycle of life, death, and rebirth. Even with the roughest of environments, plant life often finds a way. Plants are adaptive, an area may be barren of plant life for centuries, but suddenly a flower grows.


In numerology, the number 27 is associated with death. According to the German philosopher Jakob Böhme, the numerological association with death. On this note, the 27 Club is a sort of modern-day interpretation of this death number. An urban myth that correlates with great artists who have all passed at the age of 27.This connection between death and the growth from this death is in a way the circle of life we all live. From our hardships, and ending chapters in our life, we regrow into something new. These deaths are our foundation, they are what make us.


Upright
Key Words: Death, Rebirth, Growth, Beginnings, Letting Go, Radical Changes


We find ourselves at an impasse and with a choice. A choice to be stuck in something dead, or allow ourselves to grow and move forward. We see our heart, a symbol of both our life force and the core of our feelings. This is not something to be feared but rather a chance to look forward to this next phase of our lives.


Foundations are something that supports who we are as people. You cannot be the best version of yourself without acknowledging these things that got you there in the first place. Sometimes this is heartache, sometimes this is the abrupt end of life chapters. But with death there is rebirth, and that is a beautiful thing, that should not be looked over. Upright this card urges you to embrace the end of a life chapter with warm regard. Consider it the seeds you’ve planted to blossom into a higher self.


Allow this time to be a chance for significant transformation. Evaluate your life and your situation, what is holding onto your heart and is it holding you back? If you’ve been looking for a sign to drop that stressful job, bad partner, or habit, this is it. We hold the power to shape our own futures, it’s a matter of closing the book when its time. This is that time.


Reversed
Key Words: Internal Conflict, Fear, Refusing to Change, Transformation


Some of the most common vegetables grow upside down, yet we think nothing of them as they are on our dinner plates every night. The image in our brain of a plant, is it growing upright, but what about the plants that hang? This idea is a struggle to get through our brains at times, and yet here we are. Holding onto the idea of what one thinks growth should look like, can be a life long set back. Not everything is like the movies.

 Reversed this card can represent the internal conflict of allowing ourselves to change in a way we may be are not used to seeing. We are putting our feelings above our growth. Although feelings are always valid, they can also be something that holds us back. Fear, for example, is a feeling. Don’t allow these feelings to overrun your ability to grow. Resisting change is being on the wrong side of our own personal histories.


Transformation, in this case, may be less radical, but that doesn’t mean that its any less beneficial to our overall growth. Slower, more complicated, but still a change. Embrace it, even if you’re taking baby steps, they are still steps. You can be the small flower that blossoms after 20 years of infertile land, you just needed time.