Mar 24 | 2023 — IV of Vessels
Brothers and sisters, we are gathered here today to mourn… you. Or at least the darkest, most basic shadow of yourself. If you recall from our previous discussions on the Vessels, this suit is not playing around. It is alchemical in nature and totally about breaking yourself down to its rawest components to transmute and transform into something new, beautiful, and exalted. If you need a reminder to catch you up:
- Ace of Vessels: the representation of ourselves, our quintessence.
- II of Vessels: the initial stages of purification, recognition of the need and desire for transformation
- III of Vessels: digging deep to find your treasures and the raw parts that feed your spiritual tree
The IV of Vessels is a stunning card. Take a closer look:
We are presented with the most beautiful four-winged angel with extended arms, holding a warm, red cover, offering solace and insight into the journey ahead. We are the embodiment of the grotesque, swampy skeleton, devoid of the very things that made us who we were. Now exposed and vulnerable, the skeleton seeks comfort in the arms of the angel, offering hope and inspiration for the journey ahead, a true renewal of self. In the distant background, we see a King drowning in the red waters of life, crying out for help. This is a representation of our ego and intense emotional needs and beliefs which are fighting desperately to stay with us as we shed our traumas and scars and separate ourselves from our dark passenger(s).
I’m not going to lie. For being only the fourth card in the 10-card cycle, this is pretty damn intense. Dramatically beautiful, but intense. With six cards still remaining, I can see that the transformation and rebuilding in the coming cards will not be a simple task.
Message of the Day: I actually started working on this card last night, building the playlist, and really studying the imagery of the card. If I could buy this as a print to frame, I would. Absolutely stunning.
I was laying in bed thinking about how serious this card is. This isn’t just meditation and journaling. This isn’t a quiet night at home for some “me” time. This is like using a blowtorch to see in the dark in place of a match.
When you’ve gone through the exploration process in the III of Vessels and come back with treasures deeply buried, you’ll also realize that you’ve collected little bits of nasty stuff that you don’t know how to process. This, to me, is about truly questioning who you are, why you believe what you believe, why you respond to things the way you do. Because this is intense and heavy speculation, this is a point where we withdraw from others both physically and emotionally. This leaves us in an apathetic state of disconnection from both others and ourselves.
THIS is the IV of Vessels at its heaviest and most literal interpretation. It is a time to pause and reflect on what truly matters and literally cut out anything that is harming you or keeping you back. At the extreme, this is where you close up shop and move to another state or country to completely start over. New environment, new energy, new friends, new job…. new behaviors, new thoughts, new ideas, new routines and beliefs… Note that this is not running away. This is surgically removing the cancers (and sometimes the healthy tissues as well) to have a better chance at living a healthy life.
Of course, very few of us have the luxury of packing up and relocating into a new existence. So how does the IV of Vessels help us in that scenario?
To me, the first thing is to recognize patterns of behavior. What/When/Where/Why/How do they happen and what will it take to interrupt the cycle? Next, we need to identify our source of inspiration. How will we benefit from a change in this behavior and how can this be used to inspire us to continue? What we can put in place for accountability? How can you lean on your intuition and inner voice as a guide to help you along? Remember, this journey of transformation is personal and not really a shared experience (unless it’s with a therapist or other professional).
There are some dangers along the way. Sometimes the things we discover and realize about ourselves really suck. They make us feel bad about ourselves. They make us feel disgusted. We feel embarrassed and exposed, like Adam and Eve’s sudden awareness of their own nakedness after they ate the fruit in the Garden of Eden. And sometimes, we hit “cancel” and try to go back, offering help to that drowning King in the background of the card. In place of healing ourselves, we turn to others, putting their needs before our own, helping and supporting them rather than facing our own shadows. The problem is: the shadows have been seen, and what has been discovered can’t be hidden again. The spiritual path of healing is a personal journey and MUST be walked alone (or with certified help).
I would also caution that when you are laid bare like the nasty swamp skeleton in the card, you are open and exposed, and potentially easily influenced by things that feel like healing, but are actually manipulations by others intent on controlling you. Spiritual snake oil, if you will. I often think of people who say they are “born again.” I get the concept; it is not unlike the meaning the of this card. However, the fate of the “born again” often mutates into the judgment of others, hate, segregation, exclusion, rejection of anything they fear, feelings of superiority, and eventually isolation.
This is not the intention of the IV of Vessels or the suit of Vessels at all. First, the IV of Vessels is the starting point when you are broken down to your barest minimum. The end goal is spiritual ascension and the understanding of your place in the Universe and Its grand plan. It’s about embracing all of creation, the good and bad, and realizing there is a place and reason for both. It is realizing that we are all the same and share the same human experience, just with different details. It is exploring our sacred connection and embracing that, while impure and swampy, we are beautiful beings of divine purpose.
Deck shown above:
