looking into the abyss

[inomminate]

hi

Marie White, In her introduction to the Mary El deck, uses the famous Nietzsche quote:

'if you gaze for long into the abyss, the abyss gazes also into you'

Is there something that looks back at us from the Tarot?

inomminate

Hi inomminate,

Is there something that looks back at us from the Tarot?

What a wonderful question. Obviously my reply is going to be my personal opinion, but yes, I do believe that something does look back at us.

I know every reader uses tarot differently and has their own beliefs about it, eg where the messages come from, what the message is. But to me, ultimately, what looks back at us, is ourself, unfiltered. It's the 360° mirror under harsh lighting, where our flaws and imperfections get to be displayed and cannot be hidden.

I believe the reader has to want to subject themselves to that level of self scrutiny and a lot of people don't. They become comfortable with focusing on only positive outcomes or dealing with surface/shallow issues. They get stuck in the mindset that a specific card will mean X or Y, instead of looking deep, the feeling that the card invokes, the colour play, the actual image etc, in other words, they follow the general book meaning regardless, as it feels better than acknowledging the voice inside that tells us the harsh truth.

'Gazing into the abyss' for me, means facing what we don't want to see, it's the parts of ourselves we've pushed down, hidden, tried to bury. What stares back at us is our true reflection with all the parts we thought (or hoped) we'd lost.

[sunnyray]

Yes, I agree. What looks back at us from the Tarot is, ultimately, our own Self.

[Clover]

The Mary el tarot deck is an really intriguing deck. It's images have so much depth in them, I think I am most intrigued by the gruesome dark images. They arent easiest to look it either.

I love the original quote it shared by Niezche, " Battle not with monsters, lest ye become a monster, and if you gaze for long into the abyss, the abyss gazes also into you"

I feel this also means accepting the darkness that is in all of us ( The Shadow aspects). The balance of the Yin and Yan energies. The Devil Card in tarot ( who also represents the zodiac of Capricorn/Saturn) couldn't demonstrate this message more. It's looking at the greater scope of our humanity; that we are a part of darkness as much as light.