KEYWORDS: Action, potent energy.
The militant yang aspect of the female principle, the Amazon here replaces the Emperor. She is the warrior of the Major Arcana, the masculine within the feminine. Her martial image represents the phase in the spiritual evolution of this planet when the sword of the warrior is turned in anger against the hand of the agrarian matriarchs. At first this phenomenon manifests only on the spiritual plane, when beings had not yet come into their denser female and male physical bodies. The anger impulse generated separation and disharmony. It marked the beginning of the severance of the spiritual from the material plane. Consciousness split and the experience of differentiation and ego replaced that of wholeness and essence.
Interestingly, modern-day neo-Amazons (radical feminists and radical lesbian feminists, along with other gender-benders of all sorts are attempting to heal this schism by their blending of the yin/yang or feminine/masculine energies within themselves; the cycle continues. But I am jumping ahead….
Eventually these spiritual forms came to manifest on the physical plane in prehistoric and ancient times. According to J. J. Bachofen, amazonism was a worldwide phenomenon, as were matriarchy and patriarchy. My research revealed that the image of the warrior woman is global appearing early among all peoples. In amazon cultures, the women and children form a nomadic core supporting the activities of the warrior women. The male groups are in the hinterlands, interacting for purposes of trade and procreation and parenting the maturing boys.
As eventual integration brought the males into the women’s society, matriarchal systems evolved out of these early amazon groups. Matriarchies broke down again into amazon systems as women formed their own groups in flight from and to fight against patriarchal persecution. The amazons did territorial battle among other amazon groups as well as against patriarchal and even matriarchal tribes.
Trump X is Myrine, or Merina in Libyan style. Ultimately “the swift-bounding one” becomes the warrior queen of some 30,000 Libyan amazons – meaning all of Africa except Egypt. History records a fierce battle between Myrine’s Amazons and the neighboring Gorgon Amazon group. “Myrine escaped and pursued her military career eastward, conquering Lesbos, Samothrace and Lemnos.” She died in battle, under siege by a union of patriarchal kings bent on annihilating the amazon nation of Asia Minor.
Myrine wears traditional Libyan Amazon attire of red snakeskin armor and boots, and carries a python-skin shield in one hand and a sword in the other. (To this day, Morocco is known for its red leather.) Around her waist, supporting a labyris, is the traditional gold, crystal sword-belt – a symbol of virginity. This dark-skinned, muscular women is mounted on a powerful horse. The equestrian prowess of the amazons was second to none; the mare was their totem animal.
In Armenia, ‘amazon’ means ‘moon woman’. Many of the lunar deities have a warrior aspect as maiden or new moon. There are countless ancient warrior goddesses, e.g., from Nigeria we have Oja. The Greco-Roman Artemis/Diana appears as Artemis, 9/P in The Wise Woman’s Tarot, along with several others: Pohaha – Native Am, 6/W; Trung-Trac – Vietnamese, 5/S; Boadicea – Celtic, Pr/S; Gorgon Medusa – Libyan, Trump VII; Hippolyta – Greek, 10/S; Valkyries – Norse, 7/S.
When the Amazon appears in a reading, expect swift and decisive action regarding any matter at hand. Beware of a tendency to be short-tempered and “insensitive.” Do not become the oppressor to fight the oppressor. As the I Ching states, “hatred is a form of subjective involvement which binds us to the hated object.” This is certainly a time for action: breathe deep and quickly ascertain what is truly right action for this particular circumstance, and bravely move forward, assuming the stance of the warrior.
