Card of the Day: 4 of Wands

Golden Tarot, Kat Black, US Games 2003

I haven't done a tarot card of the day in a long time, so I thought I'd have a go. Today I've drawn Four of Wands from Kat Black's lovely Golden Tarot (US Games 2003). It's such a beautiful deck. I just wish it weren't so slick and heavily laminated, then it would be more likely to get used. Normally I'd just sit and riffle the heck out of it, but this one has gilded edges (which I have no particular fondness for) and they hurt my hands to riffle them. There's a You Tube by Tarot Oracle showing him cutting the borders off his deck to get rid of the gilded edges, but there's no way I'm cutting the borders off this deck as I feel it ruins the images of the deck. Golden Tarot looks awful without the borders -- some decks need borders!

Anyway, this is joyous card of stability and celebration, so that's good. It suggests to me that today will be a good day at work (I'm in my other work base, the one I'm more familiar with and where I'm good friends with most of my colleagues), so I'm looking forward to that. Any tussling or confusion going on in the background will not be a problem for me today, just like the ladies in the foreground of this card. :)

Uneasy lies the head

This week is the beautiful Golden Tarot by Kat Black (US Games, 2003). I do love this deck. It is extremely well done, made up of a collage of images from medieval and Renaissance paintings. The story is that Kat Black was fashioning a deck for herself, and decided it was worth trying to get it published. It is unashamedly RWS. I saw this deck online when I was relatively new to tarot and my only tarot decks were Osho Zen and Universal Waite Smith. That a tarot could be this beautiful was a revelation to me! I thought it was so creative and delightful, and I still find it gorgeous to look at.

Today's card is the Five of Cups. It's funny I should draw this today, because I don't feel like this within myself today. This is a card of focusing only on the negative without considering the positive. I actually feel more lively today than I did yesterday, and more hopeful. Perhaps the card shows some residual feelings from yesterday's despondent mood. Or maybe I take the role of the comforter today.

Whatever happens, I finish work today at 4.00 and when I get home I'm doing a workout!

Stick 'em with the pointy end

Wow, two aces in a row! Yesterday I drew Ace of Wands and today it's Ace of Swords from Golden Tarot by Kat Black (US Games 2003). This is a card of inspired solutions, clear thinking, ability to cut through nonsense.

I like the way there's a little golden crown slid down the blade of the sword, like some sort of decoration. Nice touch. And I wonder what that 'trailing plant' is that the angel's holding. (The companion book offers no further information about it--maybe Kat Black didn't know, either.) Something about the angel's hair reminds me of Queen of Elizabeth I. I've also noticed that all the swords cards in this deck include a butterfly, a nod to the air element. I think the butterfly is a nice touch for a suit that is often taken to have negative meanings. It reminds us that hardships can be transformational.

Not that this card is an indicator of hardships. Aces are almost always seen as positive. Yesterday I felt inspired to start on a new project (and I drew the Ace of Wands). Perhaps today will see me think of ways to approach the project in a methodical, meaningful way so that I can actually finish it.

'Got my head checked by a jumbo jet'

Why, when I turned this card over, was my first reaction to start singing Blur's 'Song 2':

WOO HOO!!
Well, I feel heavy metal!
WOO HOO!!
And I'm pins and I'm needles!
WOO HOO!!
And I lie and I'm eas-ay
All of the time,
 and I'm never sure why I need ya
Pleased to meet yah...

Maybe it's the flames and the billowy cape and the wings! Woo hoo!

Ace of Wands is a 'Woo hoo' kind of card, anyway. Self-sufficiency. Personal empowerment. Creative energy. New beginnings. Self-reliance.

Where are you gonna get your 'woo hoo' today? I'm going to start the day with some weight lifting, and then finish work at 4.30. How woo hoo can you get??

Honouring the much-maligned body

Golden Tarot, US Games 2003

It's Wednesday and that can be a long day, but I think I'm a little better off than this poor chap in Four of Swords from the Golden Tarot (US Games 2003). To me he looks like he's taken to his sick bed! But maybe he's just having a rest.

The Four of Swords usually suggests we should take a break from thinking about whatever it is we've been thinking about. It's often interpreted to mean meditation, rest, relaxation, withdrawal. As a card of the day, it does seem to be a strong suggestion to continue my strategy of yesterday, to keep myself distant from grumblings and mutterings that have become a habit amongst staff at work. I also take it as a reminder to be very careful of overstriving in areas like my yoga practice. I simply must withdraw from 'effort' in this practice and LISTEN to the messages of my body. No matter what I want it to do, it can only do what it can do. Yoga is meant to be yoke or union between the soul and the universe, but I can see how it is also a union between the mind and the body. People say yoga is about control; I've heard people say yoga is about overcoming the limitations of the mind. I think they miss the point. For me, especially at this time of my life, it is about being inside my body, not fighting against my body, being aware that my body is my ally in this life and not my enemy, and that it is a vital part of me and can be a tremendously rewarding partner in the spiritual journey. But I don't think that is accomplished by ascetism or self-punishment, but through nurturing and loving and accepting the body, and feeling joy in its movement, rather than disappointment or even embarrassment at its limitations. Rest is as important to the care and maintenance of the body as work, and so perhaps this card reminds me that even though the striving part of my mind may think I'm not doing enough or working hard enough, I should also remember to honour the body by resting it as well.

Funny how a card about the mind has led to a post about the body, but I do believe, and yoga is helping me to learn, that we do ourselves a disservice when we say, 'I am not my body. I am not this crude matter.' That crude matter deserves every bit as much respect and care as your mind or your spirit.

He's not complaining

Golden Tarot, US Games 2003

Well, this seems an appropriate card for Bank Holiday Tuesday! We all feel a bit martyred the day after a bit of time off, don't we? Some of us do, anyway. It's also a card of self-sacrifice, self-imposed inaction, and sometimes can indicate looking at things from an entirely new perspective. The most important thing to notice about any tarot Hanged Man depiction is the serenity of the figure. He never appears to be in extreme pain or bondage. Rather, he seems willing, submissive, and to have reached a higher place mentally. (In other words, he looks kind of spaced out. I guess that happens when all the blood runs to your head.) Personally I think I would be so congested I'd have to breath through my mouth and would be feeling like my had was about to explode after 1 minute, but some people love being in an inverted position.

One of my favourite tarot books of all time is Rachel Pollack's Tarot Wisdom. She says that the Hanged Man 'may be an outsider, or with different attitudes than other people, with no push to convince others, and no need to seek others' approval. For those on a spiritual path, it may signal a moment of illumination or an actual initiation experience.' Well, that sounds pretty serious for the Tuesday after a bank holiday. But I will go with the idea of being a nonconformist, a quiet observer. I will make an effort today to not join in with any complaining about being back to work, or other grousing about the many evils and irritation of the daily grind. That's going to be some effort! But if like the Hanged Man I merely keep myself apart, looking at things 'upside down' and keep quiet, it should be quite doable. :)

Go for the Gold

Enough with the cats, I decided to have a dig around and select a tarot I've had forever but hardly posted with. I chose the beautiful Golden Tarot by Kat Black (US Games 2003). I think there are two reasons I don't reach for this deck very often: it's highly laminated and very slippery, and it has gilded edges that hurt the skin on my fingers and hands when I handle the cards. Some people don't have this happening, but I do. I am loathe to trim the deck, though, as I believe it is perfect in every way and quite gorgeous. I've heard there is another edition that is not so plasticky, but I have no idea how to acquire one.

Anyway, I decided to draw three cards today, no real positions:

Golden Tarot, Kat Black 2003

The King of Coins advises me to take mastery of the material/financial/physical aspects of my life. There are some tasks I was thinking of doing this morning regarding Paypal and so on, actually. And of course I see this as a reference to taking care of myself physically - I do intend to work out today. Two of Wands suggests I need to make plans regarding these aspects of my life, and not just drift about waiting for things to happen. So I suppose I better make a 'To Do' list for today. Then of course the Queen of Wands (stalker that she is) tells me that  it's not enough to make plans, I have to light a fire under my butt and actually get them done.

Gosh, guys, it's Bank Holiday Monday!  Oh well. No rest for the wicked, eh? ;)

Sample Super-Quick 3-Card Reading: Golden Tarot

A practice reading for an imaginary querent.

Golden Tarot, Kat Black 2003

Your frantic search for enlightenment, for answers, for happiness... has led to excess. It's rather urgent that you tone it down. Slow down. The key to true happiness is the 'middle way', and you are going to have to go in the opposite direction for a bit to achieve this, to balance things out. In other words, to achieve balance, you need to become extremely disciplined for a time and back off from the things you've been doing.


Look at the ways in which you are going overboard in your seeking. Step way back from those areas. Become downright circumspect. Teetotal. Party pooper. Stick in the mud. However you see being 'moderate' in the areas where you currently are overindulging. Be that! By doing this  you are quite likely to find your 'middle way' to the happiness you seek. 


(Practising to escape the habit of 'teaching' the cards in a reading.)