Constellation of Influence
Learning from the company we keep
The lines of the tarot
The late, great Rachel Pollack was the first tarot reader and scholar to split the 22 major arcana cards into three lines. Each line is an evolution of the last. They are pathways, levels, or rungs of enlightenment that the Fool—an innocent childlike being traveling down the path of life—traverses to learn about the self, the collective, and the spiritual.
The Fool meets many teachers on their journey, each with a unique lesson about what it means to be human. When we group these teachers together along the lines of the tarot, we begin to recognize themes.
Line 1: Becoming conscious of the external world, forming a self molded by society.
Line 2: Being challenged by the external world, bringing one’s place in the collective into question.
Line 3: Emerging from internal friction and external challenges to contemplate life's biggest spiritual questions and find peace and enlightenment.
The collective Fool’s Journey is dictated by the card of the year, and this is a big one—we’re shifting from the last card in first line, The Chariot, to the first card in second line with Strength.
In the second line of the tarot, themes of death, the collective, and the subconscious come to the fore. Questions to consider (or pair with tarot pulls):
Life → Death: What arises when we think of release, endings, and death? (Fear not! In tarot, Death represents a shedding not actual death. All of us could use a little shaking off after the energy that’s been circulating the last four years. )
Self → Collective: How does our view of the world and ourselves evolve when we step outside our own point of view and consider a collective lens?
Conscious → Subconscious: What truths does our subconscious hold that we cannot access through the conscious mind?
Constellation of influence
One of the most influential factors in who we become is the company we keep. The motivational speaker Jim Rohn famously said, “we are the average of the five people we spend the most time with”.
I don’t know how I feel about him or motivational speakers in general, but as we move from the line of the self to the collective, the concept rings true. Perhaps we’re not just floating islands but stars that contain more meaning within the constellation of our communities than apart.
The same goes for tarot. Each major arcana has a constellation of other cards that help tell the story of what it is and what it becomes in community with other cards. This concept was introduced by Mary K. Greer whose old-school haircut is back in full force in Brooklyn these days.
The constellation of influence, as I like to call it, typically relies on numerology to dictate which cards are included, but because I don’t want anyone to feel left out, I expand this definition to contain the pillars of the major arcana. The cards in Strength’s pillar are the Magician and the Devil. As a collective, this trio teaches us about power: the power to create, the power to transmute, the power to play.
The Magician shows us how to wield the tools our disposal to manifest the world we want.
Strength teaches us how to temper our emotional ups and downs as we learn to live in the world we desire.
The Devil challenges us with excess, making sure we can enjoy the world’s delights without being consumed by them.
Other cards exist in Strength’s constellation of influence—the wands, the eights, and most importantly, Strength’s teacher card, The Star.
A teacher card holds a deeper lesson for the major arcana at hand. Think about it as a spiritual mentor. This relationship, however, is non-hierarchical, meaning that Strength has just as much to teach the Star as the Star has to teach Strength.
Calculating Teacher Cards
Identify the card and number of the year. In 2024, 2+0+2+4 = 8 and Strength
Find the major arcana card whose digits add up to the number of the year
The Star is number 17 → 1 + 7 = 8
The Star and Strength form a picture of self healing through balance. Together they recognize our personal power, without using it for self punishment. They cultivate gentleness amidst the roar of our wildest tantrums. They show us that healing is little more than finding a way to integrate life’s traumas into our story, to accept them as an indelible part of who we are.
I love these constellations of influence because they show us how much richer life can be in community.
The stars in your universe
So who is in your personal constellation of influence? Who makes you feel safe enough to create, dream, cry, share, fight, and love? Who doesn’t?
These questions call to mind an exercise in “The Artist’s Way”. Written by the brilliant Julia Cameron, the book takes artists of all kinds on a 12-week journey to rebuild trust in their artistic selves through the daily practice of morning pages, artist dates, and weekly tasks. Week two is all about recovering a sense of identity (apt as we move into the line of the tarot where our identities are about to get drop kicked into evolution). One such exercise goes like this:
Take a sheet of paper. Draw a circle. Inside that circle place the topics you need to protect (this could be things like sleep, creative practice, alone time, sex, exercise, cooking etc.).
Place the names of those you find to be supportive (I like to play with positioning; the more supportive someone is, the closer they are to the center of my circle).
Outside the circle place the names of those you must be self-protective around just now.
Place this safety map near you when you write your morning pages (or when you do anything that requires bravery or strength). Use this map to support your autonomy.
Add names to the inner and outer spheres as appropriate.
This circle is your universe and the people inside it, your constellation. Think about the ways you complement, challenge, support, and uplift one another. Who in your life is a manifestor like the Magician? Who can get to the heart of any situation like Strength? Who parties hard, but also knows when to give it a rest like healthy Devil energy? Hold these people close, let them be your teachers.
If you find yourself with more people on the outside of your circle than in, know that unlike the stars our relationships aren’t fixed. Relationships can shift, the universe can expand, and we can go searching for new relational galaxies anytime we need.
For more on the lines of the tarot:
“78 Degrees of Wisdom” by Rachel Pollack
Tarot for the Wild Soul—Episode 243: Revisiting the Lines of the Major Arcana
For more on tarot constellations:
“Tarot Constellations: Patterns of Personal Destiny” by Mary K. Greer
Moonbeaming—Episode 36: Working with Your Patterns of Destiny: Tarot Constellations & Teacher Cards
XO
ALTARU TAROT
Interesting - thanks!
This is incredible. Visually, spiritually, collectively, all the things. Thank you for sharing your wisdoms + frames