The Submersible Dali

...In reference to the photo of Salvador Dali wearing a diving suit while sitting amongst a group of people in street clothes. Dali said this was because he explored the depths of human consciousness, but I think he was trying to get attention. And I forgive him, the crazy brilliant master painter.

This is actually about the Tarot, which also plumbs the psychic depths.

I was writing about the face cards before. The king, queen, knight, and page of each suit. The three adults fit into the three sets of star signs. Kings are the cardinal signs, Queens the fixed, and Knights are the mutable. The four elements of water, fire, air, and earth that are common to both Astrology and Tarot mean that there is a knight, queen, and king for each element.

The king of fire (suit of wands) is Aries, the ram. The queen of water (cups) is Scorpio. And my own sun sign, Gemini, is the knight of swords.

At first sight the gender roles are apparent. Queens are female and Kings are male. But the elements are also female (water and earth) and male (fire and air). So our queen of fire and our king of water are a combination of gender characteristics.

Are the knights any less confused? I don't believe so. And the pages are asexual children, with the function of heralds and messengers.

Here it is, then: One lesson I have taken from the Tarot is that gender roles are worth questioning. Characteristics like leadership or nuturing are not innate for either sex. People are more often than not a bundle of characteristics attributable to both sexes.

What is the purpose of this subversion of gender roles? The Tarot is not a dark and evil force bent on tearing society apart. No, really. Sorry to disappoint. The intent of Tarot is to advise and empower people, and here it is suggesting that one can use or discard the powers of earth, fire, water, and air without regard to gender.

Consider yourself corrupted and subverted, gentle reader.