“Pass the dynamite ’cause the fuse is lit”
– from Riot in Cell Block #9 by The Coasters

AUTHOR’S NOTE: Here I’m using my favorite sociopolitical deck, Brian Williams’ PoMo Tarot, to pose the question “What are the prevailing circumstances for invoking the Insurrection Act in Minnesota?” (I decided that national/international politics and world events are still within the scope of my new agenda.) The symbolism is quite stark: the images of a gun, a young woman and harsh (reversed) judgement seem emblematic of the situation, while the “facing” of the Empress (Mom) and the Emperor (Dad) places them at odds.

Right off the top, the Empress and the Emperor introduce the spread and look like “Mr. and Mrs. Middle America” of the “It Can’t Happen Here” generation, and the reversals indicate that they are at risk of being inconvenienced by what might occur to disrupt their tidy little world. The keynote of this pair is “uneasiness.”

We could get even more creative and consider “Mom” to be DHS head Kristi Noem, who is “cooking up something” behind the scenes (watch out for that rolling pin), and “Dad” to represent Minnesota’s male politicians, who were belligerent of late but who are now starting to insinuate moderation before they run head-on into the implacable reality of that Ace of Guns, which is declaring “Make my day!”

The Ace of Guns as the “turning-point” card could not be clearer. Williams attributes his suit of Guns to the element of Air but I don’t agree with him since the explosive nature of gunpowder (and, by extension, gunfire) can only come under the aegis of Fire, while Air would be more inclined toward a civil difference of opinion. Because it’s a preparatory and abeyant Ace, the most that may emerge from the scenario is a credible threat and not yet an actuality, but I would say enforcement action is “hanging by a thread” and could drop at any time.

Bottle Girl (Page/Princess of Cups) brings to mind the acknowledged state of affairs in which “Liberal White Women” have been singled out as the standard-bearers and foot-soldiers of the resistance, and this one, like the protagonist in Lynyrd Skynyrd’s Gimme Three Steps, is “staring straight down a forty-four.” (The identified age demographic is 18-to-44, so this card skews toward the younger end of the spectrum.)

The Judgement card, which in this deck is prophetically named “The End,” suggests the title of the Megadeath song, Foreclosure of a Dream, with its chorus:

“Foreclosure of a dream
Those visions never seen
Until all is lost, personal holocaust
Foreclosure of a dream”

While the implication of this verse is the “voiding of an unrealistic hope,” the reversal of the card may imply the ability to maneuver out of the worst of the consequences. The threat of the Ace of Guns may be enough to “turn down the temperature” on the ground in Minneapolis. But Bottle Girl is “full of piss and vinegar,” so she may be reluctant to retreat without a fight.

The only thing that might defuse the situation would be if the reversed Empress and Emperor reveal the military “standing down” and refusing to participate, but that is a very long shot indeed, and it seems that the (ahem) “adults” in Congress – aka “Mom and Dad” – don’t have a say in this matter. I suspect it will evolve to the “end game” described by Judgement and, as the caveat goes, “There could be Hell to pay” if nobody blinks. (To me, that figure with the megaphone in Williams’ redesign of the card doesn’t portray the traditional archangel with his trumpet, but looks more like a professional “rabble-rouser,” and I certainly hope the skeleton in the background isn’t portentous because the reversal emphatically does not signal salvation.) “All’s well that ends well” is simply not in the cards here.