Okay, enough with the 2012 already, right? I promise, well, I can't promise, but I am determined to resist any more articles about 2012 and the Doomsday sayers after this one.

First of all, RELAX! 2012 is definitely not the apocalypse, nor it is any herald of great awakening and enlightenment. Why there are so many out there predicting one or the other, or both is, in my opinion coming from deep seated psyche, fears, and hopes rather than on factual evidence or astrology. Even though the predictions are supposedly based on the Mayan calendar, the fact is that there is more than one Mayan calendar, and none of them really reflect the astrology of the year. 

...a shattering experience represented by
 the Tower card will cleanse us and clear
 away that which was trivial or
destructive in our lives in order to get us
 moving again along the path of
our spiritual journey.

"The Hanged Man does represent sacrifice and surrender, but it emphasizes that when such acts are undertaken willingly and for a greater good or a higher purpose, they are transformed into a means of enlightenment rather than of loss and suffering."

It is not the surface value of such things that matters, however; it is the way in which they touch our heart and nourish our soul that counts.

...dealing compassionately with our own inner beast, helps us become
 more like the lady in the Strength card and less like the lion,
 and as a result, we also learn how to calm the
fierce aspects of other people with love and kindness.

The twenty-two Major Arcana cards in the Tarot deck are quite eloquent on the subject of our spiritual journey, and a particularly interesting aspect of these cards is the fact that duality is a recurrent theme throughout them. For example, the Magician and the High Priestess (cards 1 and 2 in the Major Arcana) form a dualistic pair, representing (among other things) activity and passivity, respectively. Consideration of these two cards in this light suggests some soulful insights, which we will explore here.