A reading in the park

Chloe and I were sitting under a tree today in a local park. She'd just done a reading for herself and she suggested I do a draw she'd read about from Lisa Eddy:

'What truth will set me free?
How will it first piss me off?'

You can see I have drawn Moon and 10 of Cups.

So... what truth will set me free -- confusion, murkiness, something hidden. I was perplexed.

'Life is murky that is just the way it is. Learn from the murkiness, like the crayfish emerging from the depths,' Chloe suggested. 'Out of the mud, the lotus,' I put in, 'and all that malarkey,' I added, waving my hands around. She laughed.

We turned our attention to that 10 of Cups -- the same card I drew yesterday morning. 'It will piss me off because life isn't "Leave it to Beaver"', I said. We stared at the card. 'And I'm not June Cleaver in her string of pearls. This card shows how things are supposed to be -- perfectly clear, a nuclear family, a rainbow, a little house, and everyone happy. It pisses me off that life isn't like that? But I'm one of the most cynical people I know -- I thought I'd dealt with all this already.'

'Maybe it pisses you off that sometimes life IS like that,' Chloe suggested. Brief silence.

'Or maybe there are still things that I expect to be perfect and clear, and it pisses me off that they aren't. I will revisit this later,' I said.

And now it's later, and now a more literal interpretation seems plain.

We went to the Staffordshire Pagan Conference today, and obviously I had expected a certain level of competence from the event -- I had, after all, drawn the 10 of Cups yesterday and sung 'Good Day Sunshine' in anticipation of the event. Yesterday WAS  a fun day in Lichfield. It's a pretty city, and we had a nice meal out.

Then today, we arrived at the venue for conference and there was no signage, no greeter, nothing! But we asked around and found it upstairs.

The venue was set out with chairs facing a stage in the middle, flanked on either side by rows of vendor stalls. Behind the audience was a bar, and behind one row of vendor stalls, a food stall. Everything in one room! This did not bode well, but as Chloe pointed out, we've been to tarot conferences with stalls in the room. It can be done. (Though the addition of a food stall and bar is questionable!)

The organiser did nothing to establish order at start time, he did not call the room to attention, he did not ask participants to find a seat in the audience, and he did not say anything about refraining from shopping the stalls until breaks and lunches. So no one listened to him introduce the first speaker, they just carried on jostling each other at the stalls and talking and laughing loudly. No one listened to the first speaker, who rambled on without once trying to get the attention of the room. We couldn't hear a thing.

I went and complained to the organiser who apologised, but suggested that people would be quieter for other speakers. I suggested it was very rude of them to carry on ignoring the speaker like that. He said he would try to get them to be quieter. When the next speaker was up, the girl who introduced her asked for quiet 'as the speech progresses', but the noise had not died down to indicate anyone was listening to her introduction, and it didn't die down for the second speaker's presentation, either. Couldn't hear a thing. Members of the audience were getting up and wandering away, and by this time they'd opened the bar! Raucous laughter, people getting sandwiches, people milling around the stalls, an echo-y microphone and presenters showing no skills in controlling an audience -- it was nerve wracking. We couldn't take it so we left at 11.45!

That's how we ended up in the park, on a beautiful day, doing tarot readings, a much more edifying experience by far.

So yeah -- murkiness and confusion is a truth about life. I wanted to learn something today, I wanted to hear something I'd never heard before, I wanted some nugget of truth or bit of information that could lead to something new for me. And it didn't happen,  and that did piss me off. But you know, the truth about life is, sometimes sh*t like that just happens. In fact, it happens an awful lot. Things that ought to be good turn out to be disappointing. It pisses you off because you can see how easily it could have been made better, but it wasn't. But you know -- them's the breaks as they say. And if nothing else, today was a lesson in patience, and rolling with it. That includes unnecessarily long wait times between train connections and disappointing porridge. LOL

10 of Cups

Good day, sunshine.
Good day, sunshine.
Good day, sunshine.

I need to laugh
And when the sun is out
I've got something I can laugh about.
I feel good
In a special way
I've got love and it's a sunny day.

Good day, sunshine.
Good day, sunshine.
Good day, sunshine.

I take a walk
The sun is shining down
Burns my feet as they touch the ground.


(Lennon/McCartney)

Earth of Water - Ten of Cups

Tarot of the Hidden Realm (Llewellyn 2013)

I've drawn Ten of Cups today from Tarot of the Hidden Realm (Llewellyn 2013). We see a faerie in her crone years, passing her hands through the smoke of something. She's working some sort of magic.

I am not easily reconciling the image with the meaning for this card. The book says she has lavender and frankincense in the bowl and the wisps rising up are steam. The card is meant to represent 'moments of love and connection', 'wisdom and experience' and a time to 'create ties as well as celebrate them.' I gotta tell ya, I would have gleaned none of that from looking at this image. I'm sitting here staring at it, and I'm still not getting it. Now I know the back story, that she's sending out blessings to her family, I kind of do, but before reading that, no.

The element of the suit of Cups is Water, associated with feelings, relationships. The elemental affinity of the number 10 is Earth, corresponding to stability, the material plane, and resources. Thus the 10 of Cups is Earth of Water, which would suggest a grounded and practical approach to dealing with emotions and relationships.

This is why in the RWS card, we see relationships fulfilled in the material realm -- land, a cottage, children, a spouse. This card from Tarot of the Hidden Realm misses out the material aspect of Water. Perhaps it is there in the transformation of water to steam, but surely that is leading water to an even less substantial state rather than a more stable, grounded one.

If we look at Water as the inner and Earth as the outer, then the 10 of Cups could represent inner peace being reflected in outer manifestation. It is not prosperity; although the RWS image is idealized it does not represent prosperity so much as deep joy in having all one's basic needs met. What else could one wish for than home, health, a beautiful day, and the knowledge that the wolf is kept firmly from the door (even if it isn't the grandest door ever made)?

That's not to say the 10 of Cups card focuses exclusively on happiness being based on material comfort. Just that the inner and outer are reflections of each other. Wanting what you have and having what you want, that's pretty much the definition of happiness in this life.

Good card for a Friday!

USA, UOA, ULA

After my very positive draw yesterday, I had quite a bad day emotionally. Sharing this new program with a loved one was followed by words and tears. Where did it go wrong? What could I have done differently? How should I change the way I approach or handle things next time? 

Morgan Greer 

Looking at this spread, a theme certainly emerges. In two of the cards, I see cooperation. And in one card, a warning against its opposite. 

Funnily enough, I have been reading as part of this new program this morning, reading about three key concepts of the program:

Unconditional Self-Acceptance

Unconditional Other-Acceptance
Unconditional Life-Acceptance

The key word in each is 'acceptance'. Acceptance is not love. Acceptance is not approval. Acceptance is allowing something to exist, just as it is. If I can allow something (or someone -- and that includes myself) permission to exist just as it is, I can work with it. But if I don't, I can't. I end up fighting myself, fighting the universe, fighting the wind. Simple as that. 

In the first card, 2 of Wands, we see the familiar figure holding the globe or royal orb and looking into the distance. We have the rose and lily (passion and purity). We have the two staves. The chap even has a feather in his cap. We usually interpret this card to represent a visionary with vast and expansive ideas, achieving a balance between stillness and activity, etc. But today I notice something in this card that is absent from many other depictions. The man holds the globe in one hand, a staff in the other, and the second staff is held by another person -- a third hand is in the image. The man is NOT staring out into the distance. He would appear to be staring into the eyes of the figure outside the image, the one who is holding the second staff. Or perhaps they are standing side-by-side, observing the horizon together. Together, not separately.

And in the second card, we do not see a family exulting at the view of their little house with a rainbow overarching the scene. No, the card is dominated by a male arm and a female arm entwined to grasp the 10th cup together, and out of this unity the rainbow arises.

And this is where the concept of unconditional acceptance converges. The Emperor, who could be said to embody the opposite of self, other and life acceptance. He does not accept. He demands, he creates laws, he enforces them, he controls. He takes vengeance. He rules.

The Emperor has got to go. I'm as fond of him as I am of the Queen of Swords, but both of them have served their purpose. Time for a new way.

Unconditional Self-Acceptance - 

I accept myself because I'm alive and have the capacity to enjoy my existence. I am not my behavior. I can rate my traits and my behavior, but it is impossible to rate something as complex as my 'self.' My self consists of innumerable traits, not just this one. I strive for achievement only to enhance the enjoyment of my existence, not to prove my worth. Failing at any task cannot make me a failure.

I can choose to accept myself even if am unwilling or unable to change my 'character defects' because there is no law of the universe that says I can't. My approval of myself cannot come from pandering to any external source or bowing to any external authority. My self-acceptance can only come from me, and I am free to choose it at any time. — Nick Rajacic

Unconditional Other-Acceptance -

Similar to USA, UOA is the processes of acknowledging who an individual is without placing a weighted, global judgment upon them. Personally, I believe this concept requires more effort than USA. After all, people must be considerate, right? Unfortunately, no. I do not control the universe and if you haven’t noticed, other New Yorkers are not eager to follow another individual’s personal guidelines. Ok, so maybe “must” is too strong of a word. How about others should be considerate? Wrong again. Where is it written that someone should behave one way or another? Some would say the law; however, people break the law all the time. It would be nice if others were considerate, but it does not mean they must or should be.

Unconditional Life-Acceptance -

Ultimately, you may have some control as to how things pan out in life; however, you will be more at peace once you give up the belief that you must have total control of the universe and insist that things should be a certain way. If you are able to change your thoughts about an event, you can change your world. Although this cannot guarantee pain and suffering vanish, it might just be more bearable.

The Emperor is not very good at practising USA, UOA, and ULA. So he can sod off. Ha! 

Magnificent moments

It's the happy-happy-joy-joy card! Which is kind of funny because today I have to do 'evening cover', which means I don't get to leave the office until 17.30, and with my commute I won't be getting home until nearly 19.00. BUT, hubby and I have planned to have a long lunch and take the picnic blanket and some sandwiches from Subway out to the park and sit on the grass and watch the bunnies and birdies and listen to the wind in the trees and so that is probably going to be my 10 of Cups moment for today. :)

The Sirian Starseed LWB offers some questions for consideration at the end of each card interpretation:

Are you aware of all you have created  and how the world is unfolding through your manifestation? Are you feeling the magnificent of this moment in your life? How are you sharing the joy with others? Do you give thanks for all that flows into your life?

These are very good questions to hold in our hearts as we move through the events of the day.

Taking charge and damn good at it, too

Hey, how about that! I shuffled thoroughly this morning and still drew the next card in the CBD Tarot, 10 of Cups. Those of us with RWS habits will immediate start to picture rainbows and the domestic bliss of the nuclear family. But, nope. the CBD Tarot LWB surprises with this: 'Leadership. A person with special qualities receives appreciation and high status. Assuming responsibility for others. Maintaining a superior position.'

First off, I can see this idea reflected in the arrangement of cups on the cards. There is one gigantic cup at the top, and nine little cups all in obedient lines beneath. The cup is sideways, both to make sure it covers all the rows, and also sort of, I think, to signify a notion of service to those being led. The best leaders both lead and serve. They take care of their charges. If it comes to that, I suppose the best leaders (like in the military) are willing to lay down their life for their charges. On a more mundane level, it could represent being willing to take the fall, ie, take the blame or the ultimate responsibility for the outcome of the team's project. That's a very good leader.

The Golden Dawn title for 10 of Cups is 'Lord of Perfected Success.' You can see a comparison of the meanings of the 10 of Cups card at Super Tarot  (I think it is so awesome of Paul Hughes-Barlow to assemble this website for us. It must have taken ages!).

Yesterday, I found out I'm to be the 'apprentice specialist' for the division. Well, it would have been nice to be told months ago--they started on the 4th of November and no one mentioned this to me! But I am taking the situation in hand because I rule. Ha ha. So I think that's what this card may point to.

Coming up roses

Our last card from this week's Sacred Rose Tarot is 10 of Cups. What a nice card to draw on a Friday, particularly when I could use some cheering up, as I have to work tomorrow, and even after nine years of working weekends, it still depresses me.

The roses featured on the card are also on the backs of the card, and are the 'sacred roses' that the title of the deck refers to:

Red rose = sacrifice
White rose = purity
Blue rose = 'the impossible'
Gold rose = absolute achievement

The background of this card is part of the 'cosmic rose', which represents time and space.

The LWB says, 'This is a card of emotional completion and integration, and the subsequent gifts. Spiritual treasures and peace of mind are present. An emotional growth cycle is complete. A good life is in store.'

That's pretty generic! I like how this card leaves out any notions of what constitutes 'a good life'. The RWS 10 of Cups features the 'wife and two kids' under the rainbow, and that's not everyone's definition of perfect happiness by any means. Sacred Rose leaves it up to us to decide what would bring us 'peace of mind'.

Overall, I read this as the 'Tra la la, everything's great' card. Nothing to worry about, no problems on the horizon. It isn't necessarily a happily ever after card, though I'm not really one of those who will read a 10 as being on the tipping edge of the beginning of a new cycle. I think that's just being a bit fatalistic, even for me, and lord knows I do tend to see the dark side of things! Nah, this card, particularly as a daily draw, means I can breath easy today. No problemo.

Daily draw: Golden Tarot

Kat Black's Golden Tarot

What an auspicious card to draw for today! The 10 of Cups is called 'Lord of Perfected Success', and denotes happiness and good fortune. Even in a reversed position, the card is seen to bode well. So it's rainbows and smooth sailing for me today! I don't see any trouble ahead. 

I quite like Kat Black's Golden Tarot, although the super-laminated and extra slippy card stock leaves a bit to be desired. The images, collages made up of paintings from the middle ages, are all really quite good. 

Right, 10 of Cups. Domestic bliss it is, then!

ETA: Well, the day is done and it was entirely uneventful, save for some really lovely compliments from the hubby and a stroll to Lidl after work--holding hands! LOL Ta dah!

Musings on the Celtic Tarot: Cups

Cups suit from Celtic Tarot, Davis, 3rd edition 2002

The Cups do not lend themselves immediately to a continuous story, as the Wands suit does. There is a thread that runs through them, though. Each card features cups suffused in a kind of effervescent glow, suspended in front of a circular pattern reminiscent of a rose window. The groupings of the Cups and a few subtle cues in the rose window are all the clues you get, really, to help you interpret these cards.