Tarot card for Kundalini?

[Jasmine]

Are there any cards you would associate with Kundalini rising? 

 

The Tower was the first one that came to my mind.  Perhaps there are other cards too? 

[Teemu]

My card of choice would be the SUN.

[Jasmine]

20 minutes ago, Teemu said:

My card of choice would be the SUN.

 

Yes.  Also Ace of Wands. 

[Teemu]

Yes, in a wider sense all aces may hint to Kundalini rising.

[DanielJUK]

I've moved this thread to Tarot Talk & Technique as it's not discussing a card's meanings but what cards would fit a meaning 🙂

 

Also I wanted to define the term for members that might not know, Kundalini is divine feminine energy that sits as the base of the spine. It is a term from Sanskrit and means "coiled snake". It's an important idea or point in Tantric practice to awaken and cultivate and also in some forms of Yoga, meditation and schools of Hinduism. It's also crossed over from Hindu philosophy to Western New Age ideas and various writers like Jung. Activating this energy is supposed to feel like electricity in your spine and is linked to feminine and goddess energy. It is meant to rise up from the base of your spine to the crown chakra as enlightenment.

 

[Guest]

It's quite interesting to equate the Ace of Wands - a traditionally *ahem* masculine card - with something so powerfully feminine as Kundalini, but when I regard the upright wand as vertically-aligned chakra points through which the snake slithers up on its way to fulfillment, then I can get aboard it. 

 

To answer the question though, I associate the Lovers card with Kundalini. 

[Jasmine]

46 minutes ago, Akhilleus said:

To answer the question though, I associate the Lovers card with Kundalini. 

 

I had forgotten there's a snake coiled around the tree on the Lovers card (in RWS deck at least).  Kundalini translation from Sanskrit is "coiled". A snake is a well known symbol for Kundalini.   

[Jasmine]

1 hour ago, Akhilleus said:

It's quite interesting to equate the Ace of Wands - a traditionally *ahem* masculine card - with something so powerfully feminine as Kundalini, but when I regard the upright wand as vertically-aligned chakra points through which the snake slithers up on its way to fulfillment, then I can get aboard it. 

 

Yes, that was my thinking. Looking at the imagery on the card I was imagining the Kundalini moving from the base of the spine upward vertically through the chakras.

Kundalini energy feeling powerful and intense I felt Ace of Wands might be fitting. 

[Misterei]

I have a whole section of Yoga of Tarot manual devoted to this topic.

Tarot has cards that associate with Achemical Marriage or heiros gamos ... which is basically the Hermetic Western version of Kundalini science.

So, there is a whole set of cards that reference the process in detail.

I'm going to speak of RWS first.

Lovers, Temperance, Devil, Sun all directly relate to Kundalini or hieros gamos / alchemical marriage in RWS

Devil is one of the main ones. Thanks Occult Revival and Victorian repression of sexuality.

AE Waite and even the Theosophists were extremely negative toward the sexual aspects of kundalini. Theosophy is full of admonitions against "kundalini yoga". They're not wrong ... but for different reasons than sexuality.

 

In TdM look to the Star, Moon and Sun cards for reference to alchemical marriage or kundlaini. The majors of TdM and Tarocchi deal with it in a different way.

[Jasmine]

@Misterei

 

Thanks for sharing this information. 

 

The Tower is the actually the card I get most frequently in readings relating to Kundalini.  

[Misterei]

Hi Jasmine,

Yes, tower can also relate to it ... too much for a forum post ... that's why its a whole section in the manual.

But yes, several cards play what I call "secondary roles" in describing kundalini awakening.

Tower is definitely one of them.

My method is grounded in Vedic science and Hermetic science ... so not particularly intuitive ... beyond applying intuition to connect Yoga and Hermeticism to RWS or TdM.

 

Many people apply meanings based purely on their own intuition about visual symbols.

 

Care to share how/why you interpret Tower as kundalini? I have a guess why you might be doing it ... but thought I'd ask };>

11 hours ago, Jasmine said:

@Misterei

The Tower is the actually the card I get most frequently in readings relating to Kundalini.  

 

[Jasmine]

22 minutes ago, Misterei said:

Care to share how/why you interpret Tower as kundalini? I have a guess why you might be doing it ... but thought I'd ask };>

 

I have done energy work and readings with someone who believes they had an unexpected and difficult Kundalini awakening.    From what I could see the effects it had on their system could be best described by the Tower card! Maybe for others it's a smoother process and less of a shock to their body. 

 

Your manual sounds interesting. 

[Misterei]

3 minutes ago, Jasmine said:

 

I have done energy work and readings with someone who believes they had an unexpected and difficult Kundalini awakening.    From what I could see the effects it had on their system could be best described by the Tower card!

Interesting! LOL and not what I expected you to say.

 

Yes, I agree an unexpected kundalini awakening would definitely be a Tower experience.

Actually ... it's ALWAYS a tower experience. But when you've prepared for that Tower experience (hint with Temperance and Devil) it's not destructive. It's welcome and expected.  Tower and Devil both give us some very practical warnings about kundalini rising when the system isn't purified and adequately prepared.

[Ellie_moons]

I love this topic and all the previous mentions for representation of the kundalini energy. The first card that came to me for representation of an awakened kundalini is The Empress & the Queen of Wands but upon second thought I believe the High Priestess could also represent it very well. 

[Yola]

Hi guys, how are you? I usually associate it with the 2 of cups (in RWS), but I agree with colleagues regarding the ace of wands 😀

Interesting because I had never thought about the tower, great idea!

 

Edited November 24, 2022 by Yola

[Misterei]

LOL 2 cups literally pictures it. No question.