Going beyond your limits – Margarete Petersen’s Six of Flames

Six of Flames (trimmed) ©Margarete Petersen Tarot

Here we have an entwined couple within the now familiar rectangular boundary. They might be dancing…? A leopard crouches (or perhaps pounces?) overhead. Lots of yellow-white ‘splashes’ or ‘smears’ of paint across the whole card – some crossing the boundary, others seemingly stopped at the edges.   

The Six of Flames can represent going beyond your limits, then, and expanding your boundaries.  The leopard symbolizes “jumping into another field of force with cat-like agility”, to quote the LWB. There’s reference to victory and triumph, the more traditional meanings associated with the Six of Wands, but here it’s related to being in the present, the here-and-now, through the use of the five senses. 

Although Margarete Petersen’s deck wasn’t designed with astrology in mind, we can see how the astrological association for this card, Jupiter in Leo, works.  Jupiter is about expansion, optimism, faith – and the planet is a giant ball of gas (think of hot air balloons!). Leo gives us a place on centre stage, where the spotlight is on us and our achievement.  Jupiter brings the luck or good fortune - the ability to expand our fortune, perhaps - while Leo maintains the creative fire, as well as the public acclaim for the results of that creativity, and allows us to take pride on our accomplishment.

Jupiter in Leo gives us a sense of optimism, of being able to grow and expand, through creativity and a ‘joie de vivre’.  We’re free to express ourselves with exuberance.  We’re supported and encouraged, and can support and encourage others.  We might want to impress and be recognized by others, which also boosts our confidence.  

The card carries the idea of the potential for being carried away by the fire – being swept away by passion, perhaps. We do need to be wary of allowing our faith in our own importance to become over-blown, though! The victory has been gained fairly – not at the expense of others.  There’s no place for egotism or arrogance here – that’s the shadow side of Jupiter in Leo.

Dancing with passion,
Dissolving boundaries, we
Exist here and now. 

Margarete Petersen Tarot, AGM-URANIA, 2004. www.tarotworld.com

Fire-fighting? Margarete Petersen Tarot

Five of Flames (trimmed) ©Margarete Petersen Tarot

In the Five of Flames we see five figures outlined in red, play-fighting, flexing their muscles. All of them seem to be enjoying it - except perhaps the chap holding his head!  I see this as more as ‘unintentional poking’, rather than real fighting – testing the structure of the Four, seeing how much we can take/give as we strive to grow out of and expand the boundaries that contains the flames of the Four. 

The card is often (depending on what system you might use) linked to Saturn in Leo, so there’s the testing of the structure, pushing us into finding ways to establish ourselves through creative projects, or through loyalty and disciplined affection.   Leo is about individuality, so Saturn could help to focus that into some sort of achievement that would help to attain some sense of security. Alternatively, looking at the ‘shadow’ of this combination, Saturn in Leo could reflect a fear or inability to trust in our own self-worth, which could in turn act as an obstacle or restriction when it comes to being able to express ourselves confidently. 

Pushing boundaries,

We test our resolve and strength

As we move forward.

Margarete Petersen Tarot, AGM-URANIA, 2004. www.tarotworld.com