21. The World
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Welcome to Soulchology’s worksheets, your starter-kit into an intuitive self-enquiry using tarot and astrology. I write these in my usual dry humour, which reflects the tone of my sessions too, because learning is intense enough without stripping it of humanity. A little wit makes the wisdom easier to digest!
Anyway, while full sessions include numerology, Lenormand, and therapeutic layers, these worksheets are your solo starter kit designed to get you going without frying your nervous system.
Grab your deck, take a breath and don’t overthink it. No altar required. You can read these on your lap, mid-commute, or in bed with questionable lighting. If you know current transits, great, add them in. If not, the cards still work because they’re generous like that.
And, if you shuffle really fast, they love to fling out like you’re live in an episode of Ghosts and Trevor is standing next to you.
Each sheet prompts you to connect the cards with your real life, that is, not your aspirational, one-day-when-I-journal-daily life. Pay attention to the artwork, colours, symbols, and emotional tone because tarot is layered, not linear. Study only what leaps out, don’t go looking for clues.
This isn’t about mystical perfection, it’s about noticing yourself. Your thoughts, your choices, your patterns. If you’re new to tarot and feeling twitchy about it, you might want to read my piece on Substack that gently dismantles the pressure.
My advice is to pull (or fling) your card at the end of the day, not first thing. That way, you’re reflecting and not pre-loading your brain with vague forecasts. It’s a faster way to build intuitive confidence and a more honest way to learn what the cards actually mean to you.
i. The Nutshell
Upright
This is the final bow, the standing ovation and the moment when all the threads come together and you finally see the tapestry. You’ve danced, or limped, through the Fool’s journey, and now you stand centered in your own life as a complete story. This card is about integration, wholeness, and owning every part of the path that got you here including the divine detours and disasters. This card is the passport stamp from the universe saying: You’re not who you were when you started, so think, love and behave as the person you are now. The World is about being, and from this place, the next cycle begins.
Keywords: Completion, integration, wholeness, fulfillment, mastery, arrival, unity, next-level readiness
Translation: You made it. Now what?
Reversed
The World reversed feels like trying to graduate without finishing the final project. You’re trying to take the cake out of the oven before it’s baked. Something’s incomplete. Maybe you’re circling a lesson you don’t want to fully integrate, or you're keeping one foot in a chapter that's long since closed. There's a reluctance to cross the threshold, to claim the ending, own the evolution, and let go of the identity you built during the climb. It can also show up as near-success syndrome: you’re so close you can taste it, but stuck in a loop of perfectionism, fear of “what’s next,” or impostor syndrome. Closure is a quiet decision to stop re-reading the same page.
Keywords: Incompletion, resistance to closure, stuck cycles, fear of success, avoidance of growth, unfinished business
Translation: You’re at the finish line so take the last step.
ii. Illus-traits
A symbolic glance at The World in the Rider-Waite-Smith deck:
Wreath with Red Ribbons - The laurel wreath is your divine gold medal. It’s victory from earned integration; a symbol of completion and containment. The red ribbons loop into infinity symbols, reminding you that every ending curls into a new beginning. Celebrate, then evolve.
Nude Dancing Figure - Centre stage and exposed as the figure embodies wholeness and authenticity. She holds wands in both hands like a magician and a conductor representing she’s the entire symphony.
Oval Wreath (Mandorla) - A portal, a threshold or a doorway. You’re suspended in a sacred space: not the beginning, not the end, but the moment of unification. The shape echoes a birth canal; rebirth without the amnesia.
Four Creatures in the Corners - The fixed signs of the zodiac: Taurus, Leo, Scorpio, Aquarius, and their elements of Earth, Fire, Water and Air - each one a guardian of stability, holding the four corners of experience. These are your elemental witnesses. They’ve watched your journey and now nod in approval. You’ve balanced the wheel.
Blue Background - The peace is real and internal because you’re no longer searching.
iii. Influences
Planetary
The World is ruled by Saturn - the planet of structure, restriction, discipline, time, and earned wisdom. Saturn rewards commitment, accountability, and long-haul mastery. This is the planet that says, “Grow up, show up, and finish what you started.” With The World, Saturn delivers the diploma after a cosmic curriculum. It’s about having done the work to deserve it.
Natal House(s)
The World resonates with the Tenth House (MC); the domain of legacy, public achievement, mastery, and how your reputation is seen in the broader world. This is the apex of the natal chart - where private evolution becomes public embodiment. The Tenth House asks: What did you build? and Can it stand the test of time? The World answers with presence, impact, and coalescence because your becoming is structural.
Astrological Sign(s)
While traditionally linked to Saturn and Capricorn, The World contains the essence of all fixed signs being Taurus, Leo, Scorpio, and Aquarius - symbolised by the four beasts in the corners of the card. These signs ground the wheel of life, representing mastery over the physical, emotional, creative, and intellectual realms. Capricorn’s influence brings the slow climb, the patience to evolve, and the satisfaction of legacy built brick by divine brick.
Numerologically
The World is 21, reducing to 3 - the number of creation, harmony, and expansion, and is also the number of The Empress. But unlike the fresh abundance of The Empress, The World’s 3 is seasoned because you’re creating and curating from lived experience. This is the final number in the Major Arcana and therefore the culmination of cycles. If 0 is the Fool’s blank canvas, 21 is the art gallery - wonderful as it is yet still excited for a new painting that captures the next chapter.
Elements
The World is an Elemental Synthesis card where Earth holds it all together. The dance, the wreath, the four corners: this is grounded transcendence. While the journey here required the trials of Fire, the emotional depth of Water, and the insight of Air, The World is ultimately Earth being a full embodiment of spirit in form. This is spiritual realisation that plants roots.
iv. A Day in the Life of The World
Well That Escalated Quickly
Wait… is this the end or just a loading screen? You’re reorganising your junk drawer or stress-scrolling job listings when it hits you: Am I… done? Like pulling a soufflé from the oven five minutes early because it smells done and you’re tired of waiting. Maybe you’re one step from completion, trying to submit your final paper but your Wi-Fi, aka soul, keeps buffering. You’re stuck in that awful in-between where you know the finish line is close but can’t tell if you should sprint, stroll, or just stand there holding your breath. Meanwhile, the soufflé is still wobbling and the timer’s ticking.
Adjusting the Knobs
You’re now syncing with curiosity instead of spiraling. You’ve stopped Googling "am I cursed or just tired?" and started noticing how far you’ve actually come. You're fixing inner leaks without declaring it a full renovation. The ego still tries to give TED Talks in your head, but now it’s limited to open mic night. You’re refining your speech and building structure and context. You’re content with your current growth and know you’re not quite ready to go viral and that’s OK for now.
Unsubscribed from Self-Sabotage
You’ve completed the soul quest, but you still don’t know what to do with your hands in the photos. You’re no longer haunted by your ex’s Spotify playlists or the time you ghosted your own therapist. You’ve got boundaries the ability to say “no” without over-explaining. You’re glowing because you’ve stopped outsourcing your self-worth to people who can’t spell "empathy."
Writing the TED Talk
You’re not trying to teach anyone anything, but people keep asking you for life advice like you’re a Wizard. You don’t have answers but you do have the receipts from every version of you who tried, failed, cried, evolved, and didn’t post about it. You’re living your closure with self respect and dignity, are not being annoying about it and quietly radiating the energy of someone who’s been to hell, reorganised it, and love yourself for it. You’re not at the top - because you are the mountain now.
v. Working with these Energies
The Arrival
The World is the quiet moment when you realise what you already have. This card embodies choice over chase. It’s where the work pays off, the lesson sinks in, and you can exhale because you don’t have to prove yourself to anyone.
Own Your Wholeness
When was the last time you acknowledged just how far you’ve come without immediately moving the goalpost? What version of yourself did you once pray to become - are you already living it? If you stopped striving for five minutes, what might you feel proud of?Tidy the Loose Ends
What unresolved story are you carrying like a voicemail you keep meaning to listen to… but never do? Are there stories you're still half-living because closure felt too quiet to trust? What needs a gentle goodbye so you can travel lighter into your next chapter?Audit the Integration
Which lessons have become lived wisdom, and which ones are still theoretical Instagram captions? Where are you acting like you’re still in survival mode even though the flame has long been snuffed out? Can you trust peace without sabotaging it?Let Legacy Lead
What are you building that outlives your moods? How do you show up when no one's clapping? Where can you stand taller because you belong to yourself?Celebrate the Everyday Completion
What practises keep you grounded in your growth? How do you honour the fact that this is it - not the preview, not the waiting room, but the main event? What does it look like to live your life like it's already enough?
vi. Building Skills
Integration In Action
Exercise: “Completion Compass” (ACT-Inspired)
In Acceptance and Commitment Therapy, values-based living is key. The World card represents living in alignment with your values after a long journey, so this exercise maps what you've completed and how to sustain or recover that wholeness.
Step 1: Name Your North
Write down one area of your life where you feel a genuine sense of completion, be that a relationship healed, a goal reached, and/or a habit transformed. Now ask yourself what value you honoured to get here? Was it perseverance? Honesty? Creativity? Circle your main three values because these are your true north.
Step 2: Plot the Gaps
Next, choose one area that feels reversed World energy, i.e. unfinished, scattered and/or avoidant. Ask yourself what value you’re neglecting here? Be that Courage? Responsibility? Self compassion? Name it, don’t shame it.
Step 3: Daily Re-commitment
Create a five-minute daily practise to act on that neglected value. A call, a boundary, a breath… tiny actions are essential to the whole and you’re folding that missing piece into it. This is a process of including what’s been left out because wholeness is participation with the entire self on purpose, and is never about perfection.
vii. Embodiment
If you’ve spent a lifetime bracing for impact or waiting for the next emotional invoice, The World can feel almost suspicious in its stillness. But this is the calm. The reward. The moment when your soul says, “Eureka! We made it!”.
Smell:
What does arrival smell like? Maybe it’s sun-warmed skin, sea air, or that inexplicably soothing scent of laundry drying in the wind. Inhale slowly. This is what peace - real peace - smells like. You’re allowed to trust it.
Body:
Where does completion land in you? Is it the spine, standing tall with quiet pride? The chest, soft and open? Place a hand there. Let that groundedness anchor you.
Soundtrack:
Pick a song that makes you sway, stretch, or stride. Honour what’s already in motion.
Action:
Mark this chapter’s close. Archive an old project, delete that unneeded app, burn the journal page. Choose something that gently but clearly says: That part is done.
Nature Cue:
Lie on the earth, lean on a tree, or feel the breeze wrap around you. This is what being held by life feels like.
Notice What’s Whole:
What part of you no longer needs fixing? Let that be enough because completion settles.
viii. Your Impressions
Look at The World card in your own deck if possible. Take a moment to observe to really see and witness it.
Is it the figure in the centre, nude, poised, unbothered, and gloriously unmasked? The wreath framing them like a divine “You’ve arrived” laurel? The symbols in each corner, quietly nodding to all the lessons you’ve survived, absorbed, and embodied?
What stirs in you? Is it a deep exhale? A quiet “finally”? Or maybe the strange stillness of realising you’re not waiting for the next test? Let that sensation rise. This isn’t a finale, it’s a return. You’ve been here before - just not as this version of you.
Now check in with your body. Are your feet planted like they trust the ground? Is your breath spacious, or catching in the awe of completion? Let yourself relax and notice what that feels like.
ix. Intuitive Meaning
If The World Keeps Appearing…
Then it’s time to ask what part of you is done shrinking to fit a space you’ve outgrown but had not stopped long enough to actually admit that to yourself? Maybe you were offered another platter holding a canape-sized test, and you backed away from it like last night’s sushi? Maybe that’s all it’ll take to flip the World the other way up, i.e to leave you realising you’re there already. Consider:
Where am I ready to live like I’ve earned the joy, without disclaimers, downplaying, or strategic humility?
Where have I already arrived, but keep pretending I'm still en route?
What version of success am I clinging to that no longer fits my shape, soul, or sanity?
What truth about my wholeness am I finally brave enough to believe?
Applied Insight: A Three-Card Spread for Embodied Arrival
Where have I already arrived, but keep acting like I haven’t?
What part of me deserves to dance at centre stage, not just wait in the wings?
What joy is calling me forward with no justifications or edits?
Let’s shift from seeking to seeing. Pull or shuffle-fling three cards to reflect your World-worthy moment:
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x. Closing Reflection: Track Your Evolving Lens
Your relationship with each card will grow over time because it’s meant to shaped by your life. Consider the prompts below to revisit and reflect.
What I thought this card meant when I first pulled it: —————————————————
A recent experience that changed how I see it: —————————————————
How I feel about it now, in my body or life: —————————————————
What surprised me as this card kept showing up: —————————————————
One way this card is living in my life right now: —————————————————
If this card visited me today as a guide, what would it want me to remember? —————————————————
Revisit these after a week, a moon phase, or a meaningful moment. Let the card evolve as you do.
If you feel a quiet sense of recognition, curiosity and want to explore it, browse the sessions page for what feels right.