The World Upright:

Before the Olympians, even before the Titans, there was Gaia, the great mother who was literally Mother Nature (her body was the earth). Gaia is an interesting character, because despite the fact that women in ancient Greece had about as much political power as the family dog, Gaia was depicted as being a major force in Olympian politics.  It helped that she’d given birth to pretty much everyone and everything: the heavenly gods resulted from her union with Uranus (the sky), the sea-gods from her fling with Pontus (the sea), the Giants from her affair with Tartarus (the hell-pit) and mortal creatures directly from her earthy body.

Gaia, in other words, got around.

However, the whole creation thing almost didn’t happen. Gaia’s first children with Uranus were Cyclopes and hundred-handed giants known as Hecatonchires, neither one of which was the kind of offspring to make a papa proud.  Uranus took one look at them and decided that fatherhood might not suit him, after all.  So he stuffed the lot back inside Gaia’s womb and blocked the exit with the only thing at hand—his own privates.  No, I am not making this up.

This did not sit too well with Gaia, as any woman who has suffered through pregnancy and labor can well imagine.  Nine months, or whatever gestation period was required by the gods, was long enough, and she wanted them out.  She therefore gave her youngest son, the Titan Cronos, a scythe and instructed him to clear the blockage.  So to speak.

Cronos solved the whole fatherhood dilemma for Uranus in the most final way possible, and the kids streamed out into the world to begin populating the planet.  And everyone tread very, very lightly around Gaia from then on.  That included the ancient Greeks, who might break an oath made in any other god’s name, but never one made in Gaia’s.    

As in Gaia’s story, the World card represents birth, new beginnings, fulfillment, achievement and satisfaction.  It’s one of the rare cards that is difficult to read as anything other than positive.  It usually heralds the successful end of a huge project or endeavor--not an everyday event but something that calls for breaking out the champagne. It’s the pay off for hard work, patience and dedication, the triumphant end of a cycle and the beginning of a wonderful new phase of life.    

 

The World reversed:

When mama ain’t happy, ain’t nobody happy. 

That’s especially true when the mama in question is Gaia, the all-mother.  Literally mother earth to the ancient Greeks, Gaia was both revered and feared.  Because while she could be kind, nurturing and sweet, you did not want to piss her off. 

Just ask Uranus, her one-time lover, who ended up emasculated after he tried an unusual form of birth control.  Or her son Cronos, who was Gaia’s favorite until he started imprisoning his siblings and devouring his children (one of whom, it had been prophesied, would eventually overthrow him).  Gaia didn’t appreciate him dining on her grandkids, and conspired with Zeus, the only one of them to get away, to overthrow his father. 

The plan succeeded, and Gaia must have breathed a sigh of relief, hoping that things were finally about to calm down.  But no.  Zeus had won her assistance partly by promising to release the children Cronos had imprisoned.  But once in his father’s shoes, he began to see that maybe the old man had had a point. Some of those kids were dangerous, and might eventually start casting covetous eyes on his throne.  So back to jail they went. 

Gaia must have started wondering just how many more obstacles were going to be thrown in her path. It had seemed a simple enough desire: get the family back together.  But every move she made just seemed to end at the same place.  It was frustrating to a tear-your-hair-out extent, to have worked so long and have achieved so little. 

It’s the same way someone who draws the World reversed might feel when discovering that all their hard work on a project hasn’t been quite enough. As unfair as it may seem, more time and energy are needed to bring about a desired result.  Or you can just do what Gaia did, and send some tough guys to rough up the source of the delay.  It didn’t work, but at least she had some fun.