Forum Camoin dei Tarocchi

[Paul]

Just reflecting on X-La Roue de Fortune…

In classical Greek plays, the stage managers would use a machine to lower an actor assigned the role of a god, onto the stage. This sudden entrance of the god would create a novel plot twist that would resolve an issue.


This was termed deus ex machina (Latin) and of course eventually came to also refer to a literary device used to suddenly resolve plot impasses. Eventually, deus ex machina was viewed by literary critics as a poor man’s way out of plot conundrums.

This reminds me of X-La Roue de Fortune, as a potential meaning. This card has come to mean within the Camoin School in part taking control of one’s destiny, as the paw of the Sphinx subtly turns the notches on the wheel. As well, we have meanings of destiny and change. How shall we reconcile these meanings? Reflections?

Cordially,

Paul

[Stephen]

Lately, the Wheel of Fortune has reminded me of the Wheel of Samsara in Eastern philosophy. Even the ocean it sits on can be part of it as, perhaps, the Ocean of Consciousness.

[skip]

My offering re: "deus X machina"

Recently, my attitude has changed in regard to what I used to call unlikely plot twists in novels and movies. I still appreciate a character driven plot, where each event seems inevitable given the growth arc of the characters. However, I've come to appreciate that life often in retrospect resembles the plot twists of a poorly written movie scenario. I can no longer scoff at movies filled with one unlikely "coincidence" after another, now that I have observed it so frequently in my own life and of others on the path. So often, fact really is stranger than fiction....

For me, La Roue De Fortune is both captaining one's destiny and the winds of fortune blowing the ship onto a new course; perhaps the difference is mostly one of perspective.

When an inner situation is not made conscious, it happens outside, as fate. Carl Jung -

Practically, what I've found in readings is that when the question deals with inner growth issues, then the sense of taking charge of one's destiny is often emphasized, and when the question seems to focus on events or outer circumstances, then the tendency is to experience a kind of deus ex machina upsetting the equilibrium or introducing new factors that open up unforeseen possibilities.

Philosophically, I have no problem with seeing both manifestations as ultimately the same phenomenon, and the common result is often a good push in the direction of freedom, empowerment and harmony with higher purpose, so whether it is the captain of the boat adjusting the sails or simply a sudden brisk tailwind, the outcome is the same.

[Paul]

Brilliant!

I see these ideas synchronized in the idea of synchronicity. I'm a Taoist at heart, so I appreciate the idea of wei wu wei: literally, action without action. Although it is impossible not to live in the Tao, one can walk in the water upstream or with the stream's natural flow. And, wu wei metaphors often use water as inexorable, but yielding. This form of effort is effortless, but powerful, as water erodes stone, feeds landslides, and makes formidable rivers.

So, in this sense, one capitalizes upon the natural flow and synchronicities that arise, as a ship's captain capitalizes on the wind in the sails (to borrow from Skip's fine metaphor). As you said, Skip, this may then have the appearance of outside plot twists that appear to rescue us, but it is moreso that we are aligning with the Tao. Indeed the captain has to be flexible, adept, and alert to move the sails into proper position as the wind changes.

Thus, both ideas are contained in the same metaphor of action without action: The captain doesn't make the wind, but receives it and responds adroitly. Therefore, in both cards (X, XX) there is still opportunity for action. The captain acts, but it is effortless when in alignment with the wind. The captain aligns more so than acts.

Paul