Not long ago I was asked whether my New-Moon-based “Lunar Month Look-Ahead” spread (link below) can be used to predict world events in addition to personal circumstances. I responded that I didn’t see why not, and then decided to attempt it myself. This reading has no regional or national focus, and is simply a high-level, wide-angle view of potential developments anywhere in the wold during the October-November, 2022 “lunation cycle.” I used my favorite sociopolitical deck for this reading, Brian Williams’ Post-Modern (aka “PoMo”) Tarot, along with the Thoth Deck for the “quintessence” card because the required trump had already appeared during the draw. Note that, although Williams attributed Air to his suit of “Guns” and Fire to his suit of “TVs,” I find the ignition of gunpowder to be more of the nature of Fire in the form of Guns/Wands, while communication over the airwaves better fits the concept Air as TVs/Swords. I began using the deck in 1994 and have consistently swapped them for my own purposes ever since.
Here is the sequence of dates for the eight-phase cycle beginning with the New Moon on October 25th. The titles are from Dane Rudhyar’s astrological book, The Lunation Cycle, supplemented by astronomical notation. Although world events seldom come to a boil this rapidly, the cards do suggest “setting the stage” for the possibility.
New Moon – October 25 – 0% Visible (“Dark of the Moon”)
Crescent Moon (Waxing) – October 29 – 25% Visible
First Quarter Moon – November 1 – 50% Visible
Gibbous Moon (Waxing) – November 3 – 75% Visible
Full Moon – November 8 – 100% Visible
Disseminating Moon (Waning Gibbous) – November 13 – 75% Visible
Last Quarter – November 16 – 50% Visible
Balsamic Moon (Waning Crescent) – November 19 – 25% Visible
New Moon – November 24 – 0% Visible
In the PoMo deck the “Boys” are the traditional Knights and thus reflect movement and a certain amount of restlessness. Here, “TV Boy” (Knight of Swords) reversed looks like a “troublemaker,” suggesting that a new “hotspot” may emerge somewhere in the world with the arrival of the New Moon near the end of October.
The waxing Crescent brings the Three of TVs/Swords onto the scene. It appears that this incident will be a “thorn in the side” of world leaders, causing much anxiety. However, the response may be more one of hand-wringing, finger-pointing and name-calling than decisive action.
The World at the First Quarter implies that “the world is watching” but taking a “wait-and-see” posture.
The Five of TVs/Swords reversed at the waxing Gibbous phase suggests “sabre-rattling” but no active engagement of adversaries (more posturing than anything else at this point).
“Dad” (Emperor) reversed on the Full Moon advises that “Dad has checked out” and will be withholding support from the miscreant in any number of ways (economic, military, political, moral, etc).
“Out of It” (Hermit) at the Disseminating (Waning Gibbous) phase shows that the Knight of Swords will be largely thrown back on his own resources and will have to “go it alone.”
Five of Guns/Wands at the Last Quarter could portend a sharp rebuke and possible military intervention (the knives have come out).
The Eight of Bottles/Cups reversed is a dismal augury for the Knight of Swords, who may have been forced into full retreat by the confrontation. In a previous essay on the RWS Eights as conveying “anxiety,” I noted:
“In the 8 of Cups, the distress of the retreating figure is palpable. He appears despondent, as if peering into the eight cups has left him mortified. Abandonment of hope would seem to be fertile ground for anxiety to take root.”
The monthly “New Moon” summary card was derived by summing the numerical digits of October 31, 2022 and reducing the result (10+25+2022 = 2057; 2+5+7 = 14), yielding “Neither Here Nor There” (Temperance); it looks like the Knight of Swords will wind up in a kind of “limbo” by the end of the month, a pariah in international circles but still holding onto power through political finesse.
The other “big picture roll-up” card for the month is the “quintessence” card calculated from the sum of the eight “phase” cards; in this operation I always treat the court cards as 11-through-14 and subtract the value of any reversed cards. So the math looked like this: ([-12]+3+21+[-5]+[-4]+9+5+[8] = 9). Here we have a repeat of the Hermit from the Disseminating phase. “Out of It” coupled with “Neither Here Nor There” makes it look like our protagonist could be “up that well-known creek without the means of locomotion” by the end of the month. He may want to rethink his strategy before diving headlong into the fray at the end of October.
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