The Major Arcana begins with The Child, who represents infinite possibilities, the state of pre-story. From the infinite potentials of life experience, when an impulse carries The Child into the first action, they transition into the energy of the Wizard (Formerly The Magician), which then continues to develop through the Priestess, the Emperor, the Empress, and so on. Along the way we discover the various polarities of energy, such as masculine and feminine, youthful and mature, internal and external motion, internal and external stillness, death and rebirth, temptation and repulsions, and expansion and contraction. These opposing forces continue to engage with each other all the way up until reaching the final gateway called The Aeon, followed closely by the completion of the cycle with what is normally called “The World” or “The Universe”, which in Patch Tarot have been fused together into what is called “The Crown”.
Once you are familiar with the Royal Arcana, you may even observe the pattern of the elements in the beginning stages of the 4 elements, which build off of each other in a similar fashion. The Magician embodies the energy of the Princes, and the Priestess connects with the Princesses, the Empress takes on the role of the Queen, and the Emperor holds the space of the King. The Hierophant after that takes another step farther, and bridges all four together in one, and embodies the birth of the fifth element which could also be known as Christ Consciousness. Finally, the Lovers after that depicts all of these elements together in one image.
Regarding Changes in Patch Tarot
In Patch Tarot, the positions of The Emperor and The Empress have been reversed from the traditional flow, where now The Emperor comes after The Empress. This was done very purposefully, and with great love and respect for the Tarot system. The intention was to align The Empress with the Hebrew letter Heh on the Tree of Life – the symbol of the Divine Feminine in the Tetragrammaton – the holy name of God. In doing this, it also allows these initial four characters (Cards I through IV) to follow the same pattern as the Royal Arcana – Masculine, Feminine, Masculine, Feminine.
Doing this describes that it is through the feminine that the new consciousness – The Hierophant – is born. Thus, the switch is not only about the natural flow of energy between the Masculine and Feminine, but a reflection of our evolving consciousness wherein we learn to honour and respect the majesty of the Divine Feminine.
To learn more about the reasons for changing the positions of these cards, we encourage you to read The Book of Patch, which explores these ideas in much greater detail.
