STATES OF CONSCIOUSNESS
A tarot student asks: Which tarot cards represent the super-conscious, conscious, and subconscious mind? Here are three possible combinations of cards that could represent these states of consciousness.
Starting at the beginning, The Fool is the first emanation of the Creator God/Goddess, or Universal Energies, as I think of them. The Fool is the direct incarnation of these energies in the physical world, and as such I think of the Fool as having the most direct link to the super-conscious. Following directly after is the Magician, who represents conscious thought, awareness and will. And thirdly, the High Priestess representing subconscious. The Magician stands directly between them and links them together, with one arm upraised and the other pointing downward - as above, so below.
Mirroring these three cards at the other end of the Trumps, are the Moon, Sun, and the World. As you pass through the Moon stage, you travel in your subconscious and know the deepest parts of yourself, learn to be comfortable with this part of yourself. Once this is accomplished, you pass into the Sun card, in which your conscious mind and the world around you reaches perfection. Finally, you pass through the veil (represented by Judgment, which I see as a transitional state), into perfect harmony with the Universe or super-conscious, in the World card.
Taking another approach, one could look at this from the point of view of astrology. The Twelfth House represents your subconscious mind, and is ruled by Pisces and Neptune. Pisces is associated with the Moon card, and Neptune with the Hanged Man. So these two cards could be thought of as associated with the subconscious. The Moon as a planet is also associated with the subconscious, and it is associated with the High Priestess.
The conscious mind and communication are associated with the Third House, ruled by Gemini and Mercury. Mercury is associated with the Magician, and Gemini with the Lovers, in the sense of discrimination, decisions, and balancing. The Sun as a planet also represents conscious thought, and it is associated with the Sun card. So each of these cards could be associated with the conscious mind.
The super-conscious is less obviously associated with a single house, but could be either the Ninth House or the Eleventh House. In the Ninth House we find Sagittarius and Jupiter. In the Eleventh House, we have Aquarius and Uranus. Sagittarius is often associated with Temperance, but in some decks is also associated with the Hierophant, which to me could be related to the super-conscious. Jupiter is thought to represent the Wheel, but to me also has associations with the World. Now, the Wheel and the World are very related also (just look at the four corners of the two cards). But in some ways, Aquarius and Uranus works better for this purpose, Aquarius being associated with the Star, and Uranus with the Fool, as cards representing the super-conscious.
So in summary, we have:
Superconscious: Fool, Star, World
Conscious: Magician, Lovers, Sun
Subconscious: High Priestess, Hanged Man, Moon
