Year Six

Recently I had some insight on something I had never really grasped- what a surprise, it's a Tarot card. It's the Six of Cups, which is a card of balance, like all the Sixes. Interestingly, 2012 divided by six produces a repeating decimal- 335.333... and so on. There might be some profound significance to this, I just thought it was kind of cool. But at any rate, back to the cards. The Six of Cups has often been identified as 'nostalgia', looking backwards and fond memories. With this is the emotional context of those memories. But the past can trap people- a good example is the thoroughly creepy Miss Haversham from Dickens' Great Expectations. Here's a woman trapped by an event in her past- in her case, getting stood up at the altar, hence the Miss. At the time of the story, she has not left her house since the wedding, and has not changed or moved anything- including the wedding cake. This is kind of missing the point, however. Though the past can provide positive emotions, it shouldn't control us, and this is what the card is pointing to. All the Sixes have balance as a common thread- here, that balance is expressed in drawing strength from the past, but perhaps using that strength to move out of a comfort zone and avoid stagnation in the present. When the time comes to move forwards, it's best to act, not wait.
The remaining three Sixes reflect this as well- first, the Six of Swords- commonly associated with travel, it represents moving from one place to another, in some sense of the term. But it carries the sense of moving from some established place to the unknown- a foundation for further exploration, one could say. I particularly liked one version of the card I've seen, which has the common (read: Rider-Waite symbolism) of a boat with six swords in it. In this case, the boat is leaving across a lake, at the shore of which is a burning house. Seems pretty clear there, though this might be a rather extreme example.
Next, the Six of Wands- here we also see a balance- the card commonly represents victory, and the accolades coming from a victory. Here the balance is on the one hand, what led up to this victory in the first place. On the other, the potential coming from it- often victories, whatever form they take, can lead to a positive set of conditions for new growth and development. So here is both realized potential and unrealized potential.
The Six of Pentacles represents altruism, and giving. The type of giving here is that which benefits everyone- the Law of Three, as Wiccans like to quote, works both ways. Usually the law refers to negative or harmful actions- when these are done, the person who does them receives that energy back three times over. The same is true for positive or helpful actions- what benefits one person often has farther-reaching effects- benefiting more people than may have first been apparent. Here the focus is on resources, be they money, time, or other somewhat tangible assets. Again, there's a balance here. On the one hand, again we find a known- in this case, the resources that are given out. On the other, the potential good those resources can do.
So the common thread among the sixes is balance, though in two types- on the one hand we have an established foundation- that which we know. On the other hand, that which exists as potential until we make use of it. It's almost the end of the year, which means in a way we have the same situation- my wish is to take the positives from this year and use them to build a future, in essence. Move forwards, not back, from the good things that have happened this year to the potential for still greater good next year.
The Sixes in the Tarot are 'governed' or correspond to the Lovers card- another symbol of balance. Here we have two halves, be they a couple or some more abstract expression of paired and complementary opposites, and with this, the potential coming from that pair. The present combined with the potential of the future creates a kind of dynamic, bringing about change. Whether or not this change is for the better or worse remains up to us to decide.