Love inquiring

SPOILERS!!!

12 of the tarot cards have zodiac signs assigned to them. It's surprising how much these cards relate to the characters on the comic, so I've decided to point out the similarities. Here's the list:

Aries: The Emperor

Tauro: The High Priest

Gemini: The Lovers

Cancer: Chariot

Leo: The Strenght

Virgo: The Hermit

Libra: The Justice

Scorpio: The Death

Sagittarius: The Temperance

Capricorn: The Devil

Aquarius: The Star

Pisces: The Moon

Some of these conexions are pretty obvious: -Gamzee goes crazy and starts serving an omnipotent demon

-Nepeta is lion-themed and has a STRONG bond with Equius.

-Sollux has a lot to do with duality, and even gets to have a relationship with Feferi (maybe just friendship?) And Aradia, similar to the tarot card depiction.

- Terezi is all about Justice, no need to explain

- Equius has problems with self-control, and with submission/domination.

-Eridan is a Hero of Hope, and the star is a clear symbol of that aspect.

The other zodiac signs aren't so blantantly obvious, and so need more examination:

-The Emperor: The Emperor has complete control over his kingdom, he is a father and a ruler, a principle of order. In the world of Homestuck, both the rules of Masculinity and of Time are dictated by Lord English. Aradia takes the role of his servant, doing what the horrorterrors (and indirectly, Lord English) want her to do. The idea of pater familias, along with predestination, transform Aradia into a subservient maid. When she comes back to life, she defies the Emperor, fighting LE and being her own Emperor: ruling her life as she pleases.

-The High Priest: The High Priest is not only a symbol of inspiration (like the Pope, Tavros could gather millions of people with one common goal). He is a symbol of connexion with our true self: the inner child. Tavros isn't afraid of being childish and nice (even though he has trouble accepting himself)

-The Chariot: this card represents victory, specially victory over one's emotions. Karkat, as a Knight, impersonates the warrior and aspires the fame and power of this card. However, it is not until he accepts his flaws, his emotions and his identity that he becomes a true leader.

-The Hermit: Friendsim shows the life of jadebloods as trolls who live lives of solitude: when taking charge of the mother grub, they spend their days in the brooding caverns, and they can't offer their genetic material in the process of reproduction either, so they can only assume a life of ascetic isolation when adults. Kanaya had a completely different life from the rest of the trolls, being awake during the day and having dreams from prospit, for example. More things could be said about the relationship between the hermit and the nurse, and Kanaya's depiction as a virgin Mary. I like to see the relationship of these Tarot cards not only to the sign, but to the aspect of each player. For instance, every space player.

-Death: This card doesn't mean literal death. It means change, and more specifically, change within oneself. Vriska, like this card, is commonly understood as utterly malicious. And like this card, what Vriska craves is change. That's why she is obsessed with breath players. Vriska is able to do terrible things for the greater good thinking that 1 her actions were predetermined and unavoidable and 2 that will make up for her previous mistakes, just like a reaper who cuts the harvest in order to sow the field.

-The Moon: This card represents illusions and duality. I see Feferi as a happy-go-lucky idealist, who seems to be a good person and have great plans, but is able to impose her ideas by force if she seas fit. The life aspect has a clear theme of duality, as arrghus and OptimisticDuelist explain:

These two are the most "philosophical" aspects for some obvious reasons. The most common representations of light are victory, usefulness, communication, luck, knowledge, control, order and meanimg.

Some of its symbols are the Sun, vision, and pure light. An uncomon representation of light is existence, and more specially, essence.

Void is jut the opposite, it's lack of communication, blindness, uselessness, darkness, chaos, nonexistence, meaninglessness, matter and a lot more.

The opposition of these two aspects is specially revealing, as it shows how each aspect needs the other one in order to be defined.

Light indicates what's true, what's relevant; it imbues everything whithing its reach with meaning and relevance, and since this notions are subjective it is natural to see light's position in the aspect wheel: just between Life and Time.

Light shares a lot with Life: control, free will, wealth and the expression of the subject through it's impact on the physical plane. However Life tends towards dominion, abundance and growth, while Light goes more to the side of value. For example, richness is valuable (light), it gives power and control (light/life), and allows the surpassing of economic limitations (life).

On the other hand, Light is close to Time, the power of singularity, subjectivity and limits. The process of transforming something that can be, to what it is, destroys its other possibilities (time is destruction of possibilities). The process of giving form to something entails giving it a finality, a limit and a singularity. All this is Time. To understand the role of light in the process of conceptualization/limitation/formation, we must understand the dichotomy between Ideas and matter.

Imagine that there's a God creating humankind. Before bringing the human into existence, the God first has an idea of their creation (Light). Then they act (Time) according to that idea and bringing it to existence. If the God were to create more than one human, These creations would all have different existences, but their essence/Idea/Form would be the same.

This is Plato's theory of Ideas/Forms, except there's two Gods actually: the one who creates the Ideas (The One) and the one who shapes the world according to them (the Demiurge). The later is an imitator that acts inspired by the forces above. But there's another ingredient in this formula: the clay that this Demiurge shapes to form the world.

Matter is void, since it is the lack of ideas itself. It is informed and because of that any form can be printed on it. Ideas are active, since they are the principles of formation; matter is receptive, since it is what receives this formation.

Light can be understood as the power to know what can't be known (the horrorterrors, the unconscious), or to take control of what's uncontrollable (uncertainty, other person's will). It usually reverts its opposing aspect. These examples describe actions and transformations that include void. Can we get to an understanding of light without its pair? Let's try.

One cool example of how light can behave without the intervention of void is Spinoza's "connatus". To him, every existing thing is exerting a power that secures its existence, as if reality itself had a drive to keep existing. In this case nothing is being brought to existence from nonexistence, it is a reaffirmation of light in itself. Could we say that we succeded in explaining the nature of light without its contrary? I wouldn' agree, sorry...

Existence can't be conceived without nonexistence, just as life can't keep its meaning without death. We might have a*void*ed direct contact with void, but the thing about this aspect is that it is always there, not being there.

Now, Void time :)

Void is one of the most confusing aspects. How could you describe that wich is undescribable?It is imposible to attribute anything to nothingness, the mere fact that we're talking about "a" void implies that we have to transform the 0 to a 1, in order to objectify it.

Even if we start by mentioning what Light isn't, we still will be mistaken: A denial about Light is as contradictory as an affirmation about Void. This problem is presented by Parmenides in his Poem: "What is, is; what isn't, isn't". To the poet, it is impossible to make a mistake, because mistakes do not exist. It is imposible to be wrong about something, because wrongness does not exist, and so on. However we make mistakes, and sometimes we are wrong. How is that possible?

Imagine that you know all the fake paths that don't lead you to your destination. Would this knowledge give you the ability to see which path is correct? In a similar way, to discover the path of Light, we must understand the nonexistent paths of void. I would say the most frustrating result of this navigation through the void is discovering that you only fail, that the possibility of error is limitless, and so you are as close to truth and clarity as you where when you started.

I would say it, sure, if I weren't so amazed by the beauty of contradictions and mistakes. Plus, there's an statement made by Socrates that we have to take into account:

"I only know that I know nothing" .

The mere act of admiting our ignorance takes us a step closer to the truth, since our ignorance is certain.

Void is closely linked to space, as they both have to do with limitlessness, multiplicity and pasivity. If space is the picture, void is the blank canvas. Void is the condition of all the possibilities that Space, the force of creation, holds.

The other aspect close to knowledge is Doom. Both have a lot to do with lack of agency and necessity. If we imagine void as the blankness of a paper, then Doom would be the grid in the paper, forming something like a squared notebook, establishing rules and limits.

Void has two qualities:

First, as the blank canvas. It ensures existence through its nonexistence. Void has some will to stay in this state, just like Light has the will to keep existing.

Second, as an eraser. Void brings to nonexistence something that existed previously. This void can be sensed somehow, paradoxically. The feeling of emptiness is the result of not perceiving what once was there, and now is not. this is perception of not-perception. This is the Void understood as emptiness.

Breath and blood are equidistant from Time and Space because their power is as related to creation, and posibilities as to destruction, action and completion.

This is a curious thing to take into account: All aspects have a passive or active nature except for these two.

Breath represents liberation, renovation, inspiration, individuation and especially change. The relationship between the wind and the soul is incredibly strong. In fact, two greek words for wind are amenos and pneuma, which both are refered to soul. From this two words we get pneumatic, animated and other words that imply movement.

Breath is the aspect between Hope and Life

-Hope means change through creation of ideas. Hope comes with the posibility to change. Here we can se how hope is both linked to space and breath.

-Life means change through action. Acting according to one's ideas, bringing them to completion. It is the union of breath and time.

So we can agree that breath doesn't only mean change, it also has to do with ideas. These ideas are pure and simple, as Tavros's and John's minds, but they are also independent, as these two kids end up being. The problem of being too independent is that you can get isolated from the rest of the world.

(When I talk about ideas, I'm referring to the usual term, but also to the "Ideas" in Plato's Theory of Forms. We'll get to that later.)

Blood is what we all have in common, it appears when we are wounded, when we make mistakes and suffer. Blood is present at birth, all along our lives and until we ultimately die. We cannot avoid blood, although we'd love to. Blood is common to all human beings, and so it represents restriction and society, pain and absence of change. Another curious thing to say about blood is how it means heritage. We do not choose our bodies, our families or our crushes.

If breath represents autonomy, blood represents dependence. We need many things to survive, but specially others. The bonds we make with the people around us, the ability to connect with them and to see that we are all the same, that's what makes us human beings.

Blood is between Doom and Rage

-Doom represents the general restrictions that rule the world, the inmutable laws that are necessary for a thing to exist. This aspect is very tricky and will require further explanation. It has to do with the restriction (blood) of posibilities (space).

-Rage is the power to act (time) in response to our restrictions (blood)

At this point we have to understand the so disputed duality of nature and spirit, body and soul. Are we authors of our life or are we determined by our genetic and society? Is society even something natural? Could we live by our own? Are we different to the rest of animals because of our conscience?

Space and time are, like all other aspects, defined by their opposite: birth and death, creation and destruction, multiplicity and unity, but more importantly: what's general and what's particular. These two aspects are necessary for the concept of matter to exist, and for a sburb session to take place. They together form the physical plane.

The Space aspect is related to the setting, the environment and circumstances of any story, the colours of any painting , the frame where action takes place. To sum up, it is the "where".

It's nature is purely passive and, being the setting, it has a lot to do with aesthetic and the way things are done rather than the final result.

Space is between Void and Mind, and both have some relation to possibility:

-Void, as nothingness, is the canvas behind the painting that is space. Void gives the possibility to create.

-Mind shows the actions that we make based on possibility and their outcomes.

Time is linear, singular and subjective. It represents destruction, pace, and focus on a particular point. It is the aspect of music and decadence.

Time is between Light and Heart, and both have something to do with actualization: giving something a defined form, taking only one of the multiple possibilities of a being and bringing it to completion.

Light is the actualization through enlightenment, it is the power of shaping reality through external forces such as ideas.

Aspects, as "fragments of reality", are quite interesting to study. Their flexibilitiy allows us to make very detailed and complex associations between them. That's why I've been having trouble figuring out how to explain their complexity, but it's still a fun thing to do. My aim is to give a philosophical description of these aspects and their huge symbolism, as well as to explain the relationships between them and their position in the aspect zodiac.

The more difficult aspects to crack in my opinion are time, space, breath and blood; not because their concept itself is ambiguous, but because it's general and by extension pivotal in the understanding of the other aspects (which are much easier to understand as diferent mixtures of these four aspects)

To make it even more fun, I will try to use arguments from philosophers such as David Hume (a well known mind player) to explain the challenges that every aspect poses.

I will try to explain in detail the simbolism behind homestuck's aspects and my interpretation of them, even though other people already have done that, because I would like to link them with philosophy, psicology, Tarot, Kabala, etc.