The Left Angle Cross of Upheaval (Version 2)

Full breakdown

We arrive at the second variation of this great left-angle 'shit-disturber' cross. Gate 18's fifth line is fascinating, since it's the only line connected to therapy, the only one of 384 lines that touches what we'd call psychological practice, and the only place that mentions a genuine mental patient — real mental instability. It's a complicated line, and because it's a fifth line, it carries an important message: therapy has to be practical, or it will never actually work. How do you help sick people if you can't offer them something practical?

In the first variation, upheaval flowed out of gate 17 — opinions, mental concepts. Here it's different, because gate 18 is always hunting for what's broken, what's wrong, always. These people question every archetype they meet, whoever it is — they're the Davids always ready to take on Goliath. Because it's a fifth line, the projection they carry can genuinely bring down a giant. I'm not saying every one of them has a ticket to heroism, but the quality is there.

The fifth line here gives shape to the challenge, which is why this is Upheaval — the right angle doesn't do this unless you run into it directly; it has no need to jump around shouting until you step on its foot. The left angle, by contrast, does this regardless — they broadcast the upheaval, the challenge to whatever the standard model happens to be, whoever holds it, and it won't go unnoticed. Many people in third-world countries and dictatorships have died for carrying exactly this cross, standing up to authority regardless of the risk.

Something strange happens between the fifth and sixth lines of gate 18. The sixth line is the Path of Buddha, and everyone says 'ahh' — this line means being spoiled, not spoiling others, not challenging, not upsetting the challenger. When 18.6 naively challenges the most powerful person on earth, that person just pats them on the head: 'how charming.' 18.6 always carries this nourishing quality that's genuinely attractive — 'oh, how perceptive, how sweet you are.' But these people still carry their own upheaval; they're spoiled, and they often go their own way regardless. While being patted on the head, the information still gets in — the aura absorbs it. Eventually the spoiled child gets their own way after all: 'I want to be king!'