This Recently release of this new series, a spin-off from 2017's American Satan,( if you haven't seen the film i highly recommend that you do, so you can continue the stream of the storyline.
Paradise city, and the journey of the arcana in the Tarot
Prior to writing this review i meditated and then pull the cards in order of episodes, so each episode wether is by mere "accident" or "intentional" the truth is that i did this experiment and it worked.
First we start the episode with our storie's protagonist Johny Faust ( Andy Biersack) As he continues his journey where the movie ended, so he acts as The fool in the tarot, without any sense of direction, leaving his bandmates and people on a Hiatus, while at the same time he does the walking of the fool's archetype wearing the skin of the Hermit (soon after the events of the film Johnny Goes recluse on his house with his girlfriend Gretchen (Olivia Culpo)
As Above So Below
2. Episode. "A groupie in the tabloids" 'The Queen of Gold, Coins, Pentacles'
In this espisode, the plot centers around Vivian Thomas(Amanda Steele) and The baby she had of Johnny's short sexual encounter. As the episode progresses, we see the archetype of The queen of coins manifested almost inmmedietly, one of the main meanings of the queeon of coins is that of looking at things from a practic and pragmatic perspective.
Some Keywords of Coins or Pentacles, Practical, physical body, money, physical health, greediness, senses, assets, possessions, finance, property, family home, responsibilities, security, possessiveness. foundation, dependable, enduring, environment, work, lifestyle, hygiene, stability, cold, materialistic.
Queen Archetype:
Inner Mastery, nurturing, advocating, bringing awareness of suit to her family and people,
Facilitation
Mother, adult female, smothering, matriarch, authority, attracting, nurturing, nourishing, selfish, foolish, unselfish, absent, disloyal, unfaithful.
3. From a "Friend to a Foe" 'The Six of Swords'
The six of wands gravitates towards gearing to relie more on our adaptation aspect of our selves, accept our own limitations (regardless of the atempt to postpone or avoid certain situations) Compromising in order to make the best of the existing situation.
Six of swords archetype:
Intellect, the mind, thoughts, communication, law, blunt, tactless, honesty, conflicts, gossip, anxiety, legal system, shrewd, detached, logical, rationale, deceit, over-thinking, back-stabbing, victory, clinical thinking, harsh, perception, arguments, courage, freedom, justice, action, wind, expression, decisive, judgement, pen, scissors, sharp objects, projection, dreams, analysis, strategy. Harmony, expansion, indulgence, philanthropy, servitude, devaju, deception, compassion, give and take, charity, nostalgia, fraud, childhood, benevolence, generosity, kindness, selfishness. This are just a few meanings within the six of swords archetype and you can spot a grand majority manifest through out the episode.
4. "The Man of The Hour" 'King of pentacles, coins, gold'
The man atrributes of the king of coins would be Confidence and Security, a cautious but optimistic vision, looking for new achievements whileholding existing assets secure, Practical, physical body, money, physical health, greediness, senses, assets, possessions, finance, property, family home, responsibilities, security, possessiveness. foundation, dependable, enduring, environment, work, lifestyle, hygiene, stability, cold, materialistic, Outer Mastery, governing, authorizing, demonstrating and ruling the suit.
Fruition.
Father, adult male, patriarch, offers security, weak, ruler, dictator, disloyal, loyal, unfaithful, leader, bully, unreliable, tyrannical.
So funny you can see most of this attributes manifest in some form or another through out the whole episode.
5. A couple of Shirley Temples. 'The two of Cups'
This minor arcana archetype is all about partnership, romantic relationships, close personal alliances, Outer Mastery, governing, authorizing, demonstrating and ruling the suit.
Fruition. Father, adult male, patriarch, offers security, weak, ruler, dictator, disloyal, loyal, unfaithful, leader, bully, unreliable, tyrannical.
As we progress in our journey as Johnny (The fool) traverse all this different stages on his path wearing fully the mas of the archetype invoked, he we see that the episode revolves around conflict within human relationships, this is an intense episode, you can relate quite easily into some of the situations and conflicts potrayed in this episode, so relating the storyline with the tarot meanings of this minor arcana card, we can see the embodiment of the two of cups, in each of johnny's Relations both personal and professional, we can see the message of this card come into fruition: Passsion in a love relationship which may turn against itself.
So we can see that the energetic field around the story is al about inner conflict through our interactions with other people, to be honest can be a little uncoftable when it hit too close to home, i've ceratinly had some experiences like this, old friends turning into stranged characters of an even stranged past.
The message of this card come into fruition: Passsion in a love relationship which may turn against itself.
No caption neded lol
6. "Sing it to her face." 'IV The Lovers'
This episode is intense as hell, oh man i mean even before i draw the card i knew the archetype, and the moment i turn the card around yeah, the lovers indeed, the archetypal mode on this major arcana: Love, emotional entanglement, amorous relationship Need to make a choice, or to disengage oneself from past influences. Inclinations of the heart correspond to the will of "heaven" Small steps actually are the visible signs if inner desire. Main message from the archetype: 'Follow the path of the heart'
Second message: Complex relationship between several people, e.g., a romantic triangle or a tension between mother and wife, quandary. Confusion as to one's own feeling and will.
One of the main advices when drawing the lovers is you need to make a choice, a compromise or sacrifice for the other. A choice of the heart or desire? Sexual misconduct.
A new or renewed relationship.
HAHA well i couldn't sincronize this as perfect as magick, the imagery of the card is literally a representation of the intensity of the last scene with Johnny and Lilly, damn that scene was intense as hell.
7. "The best thing he ever created." 'The Emperor'
This one really hit close to home, a very poetic cathartic moment, iv've been dealing with father related issues since my father fucked things up in our family, always feeling like i'm not good enough, not feeling like a man, the fucked up thing is that he didn't just leave, like so many other parents, he helps out a bit financially but as a parent oh man he didn't knew shit at all, not going to get much into it, but i always tried to be close to him and just doesn't work out, anyway i felt very relatable to Simon ( R.I.P Simon Boyd) in many ways i always felt like a bastard son.
Anyway let's get back to the series topic, The emperor is the fatherhood archetype, the leader, the main message when it's drawn is show leadership and responsibility, but also being cautios of not being able to lead properly, the need to set up boundaries, so we see pretty much all the characters go trough the archetype's journey of trying to be leader's themselves in their own personal lives, compromise things in order to make something work out.
This scene was the deal breaker for me, when i burst out in tears, cause i've been there, having to explode with my mother cause all that innner frustation and strugle .
8. "What's your last name." XXI 'The world'
Man what a ride this series has been, we come to the last episode of this season, and we go out with a Bam, with one of the most positive cards on the Tarot XXI 'The World'
the archetypal atributtes are the completion of a process, balanced activity and achievements in various domains. Contact with far places. Harmony and correspondence between different planes of action and reality. Something new is about to be born. The dance of life. Completeness. Time to move onto the next cycle. Completion is near and you need to be prepared for it. Fear of change. The end of one cycle and the beginning of another.
Prety much sums up the journey of Johnny Faust as the fool, in hindsight Johny faust is now another archetype you can use for personal growth, as sure as hell went through the process as i was writing this entry. That's how the tarot works better when you can conceptualize the different meanings of drawing a card, see the paralles in your immediate tunnel of reality and see how you can better a situation or yourself.
XXI THE WORLD
Balanced activity and achievements in various domains. Contact with far places.
Conclusions:
So in my personal opinion this series is great, is fun, you have all the elements for a succesfull series and is no brainer being that American Satan is a great film.
you can relate very easily to the characters and you can even use it as a cathartic moment in your personal life, and if you're a metalhead oh man your're in for a treat with cameos and appereances such as Randy Blithe (Lamb of God), Nita Strauss, Javier Reyes (Animals as Leaders, Mestis), Lorenzo Antonucci (Sworn Enemy ) Sid Wilson (Slipknot) and of course a lot of the rooster from Sumerian Records.
I highly recommend it you watch and suck all the experience that Paradise city has to offer you.
The only complain i have (in a way i get it) is how most of the "occult" is portray in the film as well as the series.
As someone who's been into different spiritual paths i can say that i have never felt so comfortable with myself as with practicing different "occult" or "Magical practices"
Mostly on Ceremonial Magick wich is my main practice, it has nothing to do with fucking sacrificing people, animals of babies, and that perception is quite tiring at this point
Actually by paraphrising Jonny Faust's on the last episode, my main aim with this site and project is to stop this bullshit perception.
Evil is evil meaning that it will lurk anywhere and everywhere, i mean look on the psychology of Serial killers, most if not all, portray themselves as "Righteous" Man of "God"then you find out that behind closed doors they are fucking monsters in the flesh.
Yeah the occult can be dangerous but to be honest what doesn't?
you can go and ride a bike or drive your car, and kill yourself by being reckless or by the recklesness of others. So what's the harm of Magick?
if you ask me, it empowers the self that's why it has this whole baggage behind of being very dangerous, to who? well the powers that be (i will leave it like that, if you know, you know)
I believe in Unity and collaboration and magick is driving me to do all this, to step out and see.
Also i didn't want to touch on the God vs Devil dichotomy, that's a whole other rabbit whole and i have some strong opinions about it, (reading a lot and personal experiences)
So thank you for reading this, i hope you can find the gift here
-Frater CMG-
You can watch the series at http://primevideo.com
Follow the series at http://www.instagram.com/paradisecity/
Thank you Ash Avildsen and everyone involved for this journey
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