The Star/Revelation and Moon/Evolution cards show a pool in the foreground. The pool signifies both the mind and energy. The Revelation card illustrates what happens on the surface of the mind, and the Evolution card shows what happens below the surface.
The respective power of consciousness is subconsciousness, aka the automatic consciousness.
Subconsciousness has many jobs. It maintains our bodies, manages memory, weaves a network of knowledge, and integrates revelations into our worldviews. Subconsciousness’s secret function is evolution.
Ageless wisdom assigned to this card the epithet corporeal intelligence, which means bodily consciousness. We have a body for each level of human expression: the soul for the spiritual level, the mental body for the creative and intellectual level, the astral body for the mind, and the physical body for the bodily level.
Each of these four bodies has its own subconsciousness. The soul’s subconsciousness distills wisdom, understanding, and empathy from our life experiences and integrates them into the soul. The subconsciousness of our mental body performs all the mental subconscious activities, like thinking, connecting the dots, and recollecting relevant memories.
Our physical bodies’ corporeal intelligence is the DNA, the body’s operating system that controls all involuntary bodily functions, like the heartbeat, breathing, digestion, and cellular regeneration. Our physical bodies’ corporeal intelligence is the DNA, the body’s operating system that controls all involuntary bodily functions, like the heartbeat, breathing, digestion, and cellular regeneration. With a comatose patient, only her body’s consciousness remains.
Subconsciousness manages habitual responses, which are partly physical (reflexes) and partly mental (responses). As we grew up, parents, school, and experiences programmed our subconsciousness. Since puberty, we have been in the business of re-programming our subconsciousness and adding new mental programs.
Eighty percent of the time, we are on autopilot. Autopilot can be good and bad. Let’s take driving as an example. We need to be on autopilot while driving because we don’t want to use our attention on pushing the brakes or shifting gears. We want to pay attention to the traffic and switch from autopilot to manual in case something goes wrong.
Unconstructive subconscious programs (habits) can cause trouble, for example, negative expectations, fear or anger responses, and negative cognitive responses like prejudices. Psychological Tarot readings can identify detrimental subconscious programming.
We can (re)program our subconsciousness because it is amenable to suggestions from our self-consciousness. It doesn’t question suggestions — neither our own nor those of others — and it executes them indiscriminately. This is a two-edged sword. If you give your subconsciousness negative suggestions, it will weave negativity into your mind and body and life. If you give your subconsciousness positive suggestions, it will bring about a happy mind, a healthy body, and meaningful experiences.
The number of this Tarot card is 18. According to Tarot numerology, 18 signifies the faculty of 8 working through the faculty 1. 8 is the number of the Strength/Suggestion card, and 1 is the number of the Attention/Magician card. Hence, 18 signifies how self-conscious attention uses the power of suggestions to improve subconscious programming. This evolves the body-mind-soul vehicle.
Mind Homo sapiens is the pinnacle of natural evolution on this planet. This is as far as nature can go. From here on, people need to take evolution into their own hands. That’s where enlightenment practices come in.
The moon, the yellow path, the red-violet sky, and the yellow rain illustrate how subconsciousness (the moon) integrates our responses to experiences into our body-mind vehicle (rain). It does so when we sleep. The woman and man you see in other Tarot cards are missing because they are asleep. Subconsciousness works its magic while we sleep. It is not time that heals all wounds, but sleep, or rather, subconsciousness.
The Evolution card also represents the Jungian shadow. The shadow is the dark side of our inner moon, where repressed desires and urges, traumas, weaknesses, and inner demons are lurking.
We are used to repressing our shadow. Instead of suppressing it, we should face it and integrate it. For instance, we can integrate aggression by engaging in competitive sports, martial arts, or police work. As you can see, an auspicious Evolution card also represents the final stage of the Kübler-Ross model: the integration of revelations into our body-mind-vehicle.
An inauspicious Evolution card may indicate that bad habits, unresolved complexes, negative expectations, or the querent’s shadow may have caused her challenge. This calls for resolving subconscious complexes, the reprogramming of the querent’s subconsciousness, the formulation of positive suggestions, and the formation of constructive habits.
An inauspicious Evolution card may also indicate that the querent is feeding the black wolf instead of the white wolf.
On the Tree of Life, the path of the Evolution card connects the 7’s and 10’s spheres, Creativity and Materialization. The Moon in the picture represents Creativity. Hence, the moon should be green, but Tarot cards always show the perfect, spiritual expression of a faculty of consciousness. Yellow is the color of the higher self, and a yellow moon signifies that the sphere of creativity is transparent to and extends the light of the higher self.
The 7 → 10 direction signifies the influence of feelings (love) on our body, which leads to well-being. The 10 → 7 direction signifies emotional reactions, emotional desires, and desires we copy from experiences. An inauspicious Evolution card may indicate a sense of lack, which is a negative self-suggestion. An inauspicious Evolution card may also signify addiction, in particular, drug addiction, but also mental addictions and sensuality.
The titles and the five core meanings of the Evolution card are:
Enlightenment Tarot title: Evolution
Traditional title: Moon
Power of consciousness: Subconsciousness, the corporeal intelligence
Constructive use: Evolution
Unconstructive use: Devolution, aging, degeneration
Auspicious state of mind: Maturation
Inauspicious state of mind: Immaturity
On the spiritual-intentional level, the Evolution card stands for the great work — the evolution of the body-mind-soul vehicle through advanced enlightenment practices. Enlightenment practices unlock latent faculties of the DNA.
On the creative-feely level, the Evolution card signifies cultural evolution (class, style, elegance) and the refinement of desires.
On the intellectual level, the Evolution card symbolizes the evolution of our body of thought and cognitive sophistication. On this level, an inauspicious Evolution card may indicate subconscious psychological complexes. Mind that we resolve psychological issues on this level too — through rational analysis and planning.
On the bodily-practical level, the Evolution card stands for the DNA, the body’s operating system. The Evolution card calls for relaxation and healthy sleep. Lack of sleep can reduce our performance by 15 to 30%. An inauspicious Evolution card may indicate issues with the DNA and/or the autonomic nervous system. An inauspicious Ten of Pentacles (corporeal well-being) may confirm this. An inauspicious Evolution card may also signify a lack of emotional control and chronic emotions like anger, and hence, suffering. Last but not least, an inauspicious Evolution card may also indicate, in particular in children, sensitivity to the following afflictions: poor circulation and other issues in the feet (see body zone below).
More Attributions:
Number: 18
Letter: Qoph, meaning the back of the head. This refers to the ancient part of the brain that rules subconscious processes.
Astrology: Pisces
Color: Red-violet
Body zone: Feet