Completion, celebration, victory

The World card in the tarot deck has a dancing figure at the center. The dancing figure on the card has one leg crossed over the other and holds a wand in either hand. She symbolizes balance and evolution in movement. The fulfillment and unity that she represents is not one that is static, but ever-changing, dynamic and eternal.

The green wreath of flowers that surrounds the central figure is a symbol of success, while the red ribbons that wrap around it are reminiscent of infinity. There are four figures on each corner of the card - and they are the same ones that are in the Wheel of Fortune. The four figures represent Scorpio, Leo, Aquarius and Taurus - representative of the four corners of the universe and the four elements. Together, they symbolize the harmony between all of their energies.

To encounter the World in your cards is to encounter a great unity and wholeness. It symbolizes the moment when the inner and the outer worlds - self and other - become a single entity. In some traditions, this state is described as enlightenment, or nirvana. There is a recognition that the individual self is profoundly linked with all other things, and that we all dance and sway along the flow of life to one rhythm. Not only do you hear this rhythm, but you participate in it - following the dips and the rises, the joys and the sorrows.