#world.

there are scattered m8 battles set up throughout the entire season both as an advertisement for the championships &, toward april, to determine the top 7 rankings going into the second break; rank 8 is the only rank that has battles outside the masters eight.

Success, fulfillment, great understanding. One of Smith’s most graceful pictures, the World culminates the Major Arcana. This is the last and most triumphant of the three “victories,” cards 7, the Chariot; 14, Temperance; and now 21, the World. The woman in the picture dances within a wreath, traditional symbol of a great victory. The higher consciousness that was held in chains in the Devil, at the start of the line, is now fully liberated. Where the four figures in the corners of the Wheel of Fortune appeared cartoonish, only symbolic and nothing more, here we see them realistically drawn, almost as elegant as the dancer herself. The figures represent the four fixed signs of the zodiac and, by extension, the seasons of the year—the bull for Taurus (spring), the lion for Leo (summer), the eagle for Scorpio (autumn), and the human—not an angel, as in the Wheel—for Aquarius (winter). We see only the heads, symbol of consciousness, emerging from clouds, as if from a world beyond our normal perception. In the Minor Arcana aces, hands similarly emerge from clouds to offer the objects of the suit—the wand, cup, sword, and pentacle we see lying on the table of the Magician. The cards 1 and 21, the beginning and end of the Fool’s journey, become subtly united united as well as linked to the four suits of the Minor Arcana. In all the Major Arcana, only the Fool and the World show people in motion—dancing with their arms out—while all the other figures stand or sit or kneel in fixed postures. There are other connections between the Fool and the World, the beginning and the end. The World’s victory wreath takes the form of the Fool’s number, 0, tied on top and bottom with red sashes in the shape of the infinity sign . As above, so below. With the Fool, we reminded ourselves that if you divide any number by zero, the result is always infinity. Though a young man, the Fool appeared androgynous (as, in fact, do so many of Smith’s characters), with both masculine and feminine qualities. The World dancer appears as a woman, but a long-standing tradition sees her as secretly hermaphroditic, with male as well as female organs hidden under the sash. And probably the main source for the earliest image of this card was masculine—paintings of Christ risen from the tomb and ascending to Heaven. Where the Fool contained all possibilities with nothing realized, the World brings everything to fulfillment. The Fool is innocence, the World wisdom, but both show us a complete person. The number 21 contains 2, the High Priestess, and 1, the Magician. The dancer holds two of the Magician’s double-ended wands, one on each side, like the pillars of the High Priestess. She dances forward, to the future, while looking over her shoulder toward the past. What is most remarkable about this picture is that all these symbols and ideas come to us in such a graceful, natural form. As we look at the card, we can feel the deep truths in our own bodies. This is the great secret of Tarot reading: to become the cards. Divinatory meanings: Success, breakthrough, a powerful understanding. Fulfillment. Wholeness and freedom. Sometimes indicates recognition from the outer world. Rachel Pollack.