21 | The World
Model, Sage Horsey & Photographed by, Lindsay Colburn
"All the world's a stage, and all the men and women merely players.”
-William Shakespeare, As You Like It.
The World is card number 21 in the Tarot’s Major Arcana. In numerology, the number 21 carries the meaning of completion, accomplishment, & fulfillment. A number associated with perseverance and determination of overcoming life’s tests and challenges, reaping the rewards of achievement and full potential. It’s also a number frequently reduced further, 2 + 1 = 3. For more on the number 3, check out The Empress’s card here.
It’s now the end of a cycle and time to take a bow, acknowledging this significant moment in time worthy of celebration. With The World at your feet, this card comes up to signify recognition, achievement, and completion are yours to savor and enjoy. This full circle moment in the dance of life is a time of feeling connected and whole, giving room to bask in the joy and gratitude of the journey that’s brought you to this point. No matter the occasion, from life’s big milestone moments of graduation, marriage, welcoming a child, to achieving a personal dream or aspiration, this card’s grandiose message encompasses all. The grand finale and integration of this spiritual life lesson is one to feel proud and accomplished for. The question is, where will you let this monumental personal growth take you next? Because after all, every new beginning comes from some other beginning’s end, and The World is your oyster!
General Meaning - Completion, integration, accomplishment, fulfillment, celebration, & travel.
When out of Alignment - Resistance, stagnation, setback, delays, & disappointment.
Navigating The World’s archetypal energy-
The World is the grand finale to the Tarot’s Major Arcana storytelling journey of spiritual lessons. The finish to the voyage of highs and lows, twists and turns, from the teachers met on the path to the various trials and tribulations, brings us to this final lesson. The World’s lesson is to draw attention to the hard work it took to get to this point, and the inner recognition and reflection it deserves. However, it should never be mistaken for an ending, for as much as this card wraps up a major life cycle of personal growth, it’s also a doorway into the next stage of development. During this time of spiritual integration, you can feel like you’re on top of The World, with all becoming clear and making sense, much like completing a puzzle and seeing how the picture all comes together. The things that once felt like a punishment all of a sudden make sense for why it had to go the way it did. Making way for a true aha moment of beauty and wonder if you’re paying attention. An energy that inspires you to want to connect with your inner Fool again and start all over, understanding it’s all a worthwhile experience, and perhaps the meaning of life after all is for the soul to gain these rich experiences to grow and know itself better with more depth and feeling.
In this card, we see The World as a dancer leaping from the water, arms raised in a silver dress signifying victory, celebration, and completion. Behind the dancer, we can see a mountain range and a sailboat reflecting on the journey that brought them to this moment of achievement and pause in movement for the time being. The ripples in the water flowing out from the dance give a sense of continuation of what’s next following this moment. The prominent blue color shown symbolizes wisdom, peace, and connection to the divine, all felt in the message of this card. And last, we see the alchemy symbols for the four elements shown in each corner of the card: air, water, fire, & earth symbolizing the importance of working with energy in its elemental state, and the interconnectedness of life.
This week was the last card release in The Green Mountain Major Arcana’s collection, and while there are no other cards to come for the time being in this project, it’s also not the end. Look out for a wrap-up to this project and one day a physical version of each of the cards, along with others, to complete the set.
With love,
Megan Gonzalez
