I’ve previously written about the first of the three “Great Way” cards here: https://discourse.bring4th.org/t/tarot-cards-endgame-the-great-way-of-the-mind/6849. Now I’d like to address all three cards together.
To my eyes, this column of cards is intricately connected to the Higher Self (or Oversoul). The imagery that depicts the Higher Self is explained here: https://discourse.bring4th.org/t/the-higher-self-in-the-tarot/6847
The Great Way is an exhortation, a call to action, and is akin to the “advice” card in a tarot reading. Once someone understands that the purpose of life here in the Earth Life School is spiritual growth, what steps should they take to advance that process?
The Chariot tells us to collaborate and become a co-creator with the time/space resident Higher Self while still incarnate. This is achieved by using the Mind to “look within” instead of relying on it for everyday, mundane tasks. (The Lovers Card.) This re-focus of attention and use is the “transformation” of the Mind.
Temperance then presents us with the winged figure walking on the earth. There is a call-back to the Hermit’s uphill trek, but the figure is now on the flat surface at the top of the climb. The figure is no longer fully clothed (shedding all unnecessary material attachments), but has gained wisdom as evidenced by the long shawl over its left shoulder (compare its length to the Fool Card’s shorter version). The figure’s eyes are open and aware. The flame coming from the top of his head is full and tall. The figure has incorporated the Higher Self’s wings into the body, perhaps by putting on the article of clothing as used in magical workings to call down the Higher Self. The wings point forward (doing the work of spirit) and downward (while staying “in the body”). And smaller wings appear on both of the figures’ bare feet, saying, essentially, “accelerate your Earthly experiences” in service to your spiritual growth and advancement.
The figure holds two cups, pouring water from the left-hand cup into the right-hand one. This image evokes the Star card, with a woman pouring water from her two cups onto the land. In that card, the “faith” poured from the right service-to-other hand nourishes the Soul (see the growing plant) while the water from the left service-to-self hand is returned to the river unused. But now, in the standing figure of Card 14, the service-to-self hand pours water into the service-to-other hand’s cup. There is a merger of STO and STS. What the figure does to accelerate its own personal growth also simultaneously helps its Higher Self and Other Selves.
In the final card of the trilogy, male and female aspects have merged into a single figure. The male “plays music” on the female instrument. The winged symbol above has transformed from a winged circle into a winged Ichthys (or Vesica Piscis) representing the union of the Player Character with its Higher Self and their achievement of escape velocity from the third-density experience, graduating into the fourth.
The Ichthys is surrounded by a wreath of flowers, similar to the circle of flowers that appear in the Sun card. There, the flowers symbolize the “fruit” of God’s love/light alongside the two co-creator figures. But in this card, the flowers represent the love/light produced by the Ichthys itself. The now-advanced Player Self + Higher Self combination has become a “little sun” of its own; a brighter, more powerful Sub-Logos. (The Vesica Piscis is a fundamental geometric shape representing the mathematical “birth” of a new space where two separate entities (circles) overlap to create something third and shared.)
The Great Way exhorts us to: (1) connect with our Higher Self (Chariot), then (2) start merging the Player Self with the Higher Self to finish a final round of “good works” here in the physical (Temperance), so that, in the end, the Two become One (The World) with the resulting graduation from the third-dimensional experience.