What happens next?

Yesterday we made an offer on a house and it was accepted. That's exciting, but there are many fragile junctures along the way where things might fall apart. Our mortgage application might get turned down. The survey might uncover something that means the house is not a good choice for us, or that requires specialist reports. The solicitor searches could reveal information that throws a spanner in the works. The seller might decide to pull out of the arrangement to accept a higher offer. Okay, that's four things.

1. What will be the outcome of the mortgage application? 10 of Cups
No problems. We'll get a mortgage.

2. What will be the outcome of the survey? 4 of Pentacles
The survey will help us to feel financially secure. Safe investment. Or it might bring out extremes of risk aversion. Could be both!

3. What will be the outcome of the solicitor searches? The Devil
They say the Devil is in the details. What can get more detailed than solicitor's searches and the resulting mountain of paperwork? The Devil card is the mirror image of the Lovers card, showing it in its most unflattering light. The solicitor's searches will take all the feeling out of 'home' buying and make it about the mundane aspects of ownership of a building and piece of land. There is nothing pretty or enjoyable about dealing with the conveyancing aspects of buying a house. The solicitor's searches reveal the dark reflection of the property. Every property has snags, and seeing them can be scary.

4. What can we do to prevent being gazumped? 4 of Cups, clarified by 7 of Pentacles
There's not much you can do but sit and wait and see what happens. Not content with that answer, I drew again, and got 7 of Pentacles. Okay, then, 'stand and wait and see what comes to fruition'. Like that any better? (Seriously, my tarot deck has an attitude problem.)

Edited to add: I asked for clarification on the Devil card and drew 3 of Swords. Fantastic! Everyone loves getting that card combination, let me tell you. I've interpreted Devil + 3 of Swords as bipolar or mental illness before. So I asked 'What can I do to prevent this making me feel nuts?' and I got Ace of Pentacles. Be prepared to hand over more money. Interesting. Or it could be, be down to earth about the whole thing.

It's a good thing I believe I am the captain of my fate and master of my soul!

Time to reshuffle the cards and ask something a bit more empowering:

What can I do to make sure that this house is a sound investment? 
What can I do to ensure that the buying process goes off smoothly? 
What should I NOT do? 

I can weigh the pros and cons and decide for myself. It's going to be a balancing act of goods and bads. I can be as informed as I can and also put some stock into advice given to me by impartial experts. And I should NOT think there's a way to 'win' this. The whole process is fraught with risk and compromise. Don't try to be the triumphant warrior, it ain't going to happen and will only hurt me in the long run. 

Okay, time to think about something else. Have a great weekend!

Free your mind and the rest will follow: 8 of Swords

Who's tied herself up with her own thought life, then? Could it be...me??

You've got to hand it to Pamela Colman Smith, if she came up with the concept for this card herself, she deserves to be remembered forever for this card alone. It has to be one my favourites in the deck because its message so blatantly obvious.

There she is, bound and blindfolded and in an impossible situation! She's surrounded by swords! She's all tied up! She can never escape! There's no one to help her, she's doomed.

And yet -- there's a flipping citadel nearly within shouting distance behind her. Her bindings are practically sliding off her. Her blindfold is so askew one wiggle would give her some vision. And that horrible circle of swords is only there on two sides. Yeah, it's a trap all right. A trap made of delusions.

BUT. If she doesn't take some sort of action to take stock of her situation and remove herself from it, when the tide comes in, she could very possibly drown. Drown, even though she was never in any real peril beyond her own imaginings.

Who's to say how she got into this situation? It's pretty hard to blindfold and tie up yourself, so it could well be that whatever delusion she's trapped by was not self-created. Maybe she was taught things that created entrapping thoughts. Maybe she was lied to. Maybe she was gaslighted! Maybe she was fed messages all her life by her own culture that have made her feel disempowered.

People lie. But that doesn't mean we have to drown in their lies. People hold erroneous beliefs. That doesn't mean we have to drown in their erroneous beliefs.

Are you going to try to wriggle free of your programming today? Or keep listening to the bastards who are making you feel crazy, trapped, helpless, disempowered, confused, useless and paralysed with fear? Your choice.

The lady of the house

She's back! 9 of Pentacles from the Pamela Colman Smith Commemorative Tarot.

This lady has turned up at least three times since we started our search for a house.

'A message from this card is to make your home a place of peace, comfort and renewal. This card reminds us that our "outer space", the world around us, plays a part in our spiritual progress, too. No matter how modest your home is, it can be all that, for the size and budget of your home are not important. A small cottage can be a warm, soothing environment, while a mansion can seem cold and sterile,' James Ricklef, The Soul's Journey: Finding Spiritual Messages in the Tarot, p. 256. 

Tonight we view a house. Perhaps it will become the place of peace, comfort and renewal Ricklef refers to here. It is up to us to decide if those particular floors, walls and ceilings will be transformed by us into such a refuge.

I will enter the space with clean hands and a clear mind. After all, we have a viewing of a different house scheduled for tomorrow. There will always be houses. And we will find a house.

Stalked by the Emperor

I've drawn the Emperor again today, so it looks like a good time to try a 'stalker card' spread. I've used Angelorum's before, so I've chosen the one at Over the Moon Oracle Cards.

To get the six cards for this reading, I decided to shuffle the Emperor back into the deck, then find him again and use the six following cards to fill in the blanks (another recent stalker, Temperance, turns up in a key position, and 9 of Pentacles make a comeback as well!):

Dear Carla, 

When I show up in your daily draw, I'm giving you a message about the way you see the world, the way you are searching for 'completion'. You've got your face turned away from the real story. You're using me to try to create the world you think you want. 

I'm here to show you what's happening. You are seeking a 'happily ever after' outcome, searching for whatever it is 'other' people have that makes them appear contented. I want you to find your own balance in this life. I want you to take the good with the bad, because no amount of preparation is going to keep the bad from happening. But you can cope. Life is a mix of both, that's the formula, that's how it is meant to be. It doesn't work otherwise. Keep letting them mix together, shake them up good, that's how to find what you seek. 

When I appear, I am asking you to release your desire to feel competent and secure all the time. You have been using some of my qualities to get those feelings, but you have lost the balance. There is more to me than power to control. 

I want you to acknowledge all that you have accomplished in your life, and to revel in what you have now. I want you to be content in this present moment. I want you to realise that you already have as much security as you will ever have, and it is enough. It is no less than anyone else has in this life. 

When you see me, it's time to practice unconditional acceptance of everything. Find your connection to this life, and to other people! Be guided by your heart, trust your inner sense of what is true, not your fears of what might be unless you make lots of rules. When you see me, it is time to practice the opposite of the me you think you know. It is time to release, and to connect. 

Sincerely,

The Emperor  

Hey ho, he's telling me the same thing he told me yesterday. Tarot is so patient that way. It just keeps pointing you in the direction you need to be looking.

Today I can let go of trying to control the outcome of a certain thing by staying off certain websites and not dwelling on a certain event that happening next week. Instead, I can focus on enjoying my current situation, the freedom of the day, the luxury of a Sunday, and I can phone my mother (I just remembered it's mother's day in the US.)

Do you have a stalker card? What do you think it's trying to tell you? It will send you a letter of explanation if you ask!

The Emperor's new pants

I hardly ever draw the Emperor. He is a bit maligned, but I rather like him. To me, he represents order, structure, and civilization. He's that aspect of the Father, whereas the Magician and the Hierophant represent other aspects of the Father...

But why is he here today? He looks rather formidable.

James Ricklef to the rescue again:

'When we release our need for control and allow the Divine to be the Emperor in our lives instead, we find our way toward peace. This does not mean we should never make plans; it just means we should not worry about them. It doesn't mean we should not work toward or goals; it just means that we should do what we can and then realise that the results will unfold as they are meant to...In other words, when we try to control life here in the material world, it can be like trying to control shadows without realising where they come from' (The Soul's Journey: Finding Spiritual Messages in the Tarot, 26). 

How have my preparations and arrangements been controlling my life? How has this been a self-made trap? How can I become more flexible? How can I allow uncertainty and ambiguity enter my understanding of things? How can I allow 'maybe' and 'I'm not sure' into my vocabulary?

First I must allow that things that my arrangements and preparations had defined as impossible might actually be possible. This entails letting go of particular beliefs. It requires a completely new way of looking at the same issues. It involves risk -- or rather, what feels like risk, because it is outside of the boundaries of a self-imposed 'safe' area.

The Emperor doesn't like that, look at his face. But he'll just have to get glad in the same pants he got mad in.

Is this the house for us?

Can you believe it, there's a house we like!

Hubby's questions:

Is it structurally sound? 
What are the neighbours like? 
What will parking be like? 
Will we be peaceful and comfortable there? 

My questions:

What do we need to know that the seller may not be telling us?
How much work will we have to do to it after we move in? 
What is day to day life in the neighborhood really like? 
Is this the right house for us? 


And I drew:

Now I'd trust a survey over a tarot card reading, but 8 of Swords for "Is it structurally sound?" does bring you up a bit short. At the very least, it reminds me that an intellectual assessment of the situation is going to be better than an emotional one. I drew another card to clarify and got Ace of Swords! So yes, I believe the card is telling me to be sure to get a good survey done, because my own assessment will not be worth much.

Looks like the neighbours are good folk who also want to be happy, so that's good.

For parking we've got a guy looking at wide open spaces, so perhaps this means parking will be available, though maybe not three steps from the door!

9 of Wands for "Will we be peaceful and comfortable there?" Well, home ownership has challenges, and it will be a learning curve for us for sure. So I drew a clarifier and got 9 of Cups -- two nines! and this one shows it will be an emotionally fulfilling situation, even though it has challenges.

The seller may not be telling us something about a struggle they've overcome, and they might even be moving to get away from it, but as long as they've sorted it out before they left, that shouldn't be too bad. We can but hope that the survey will pick up whatever it is.

After we move in, it looks like the house will mainly need routine maintenance and responsible home ownership. It is after all, over 100 years old.

Day to day life in the neighbourhood is represented by 3 of Cups, so while it is generally happy, it may be a bit boisterous perhaps? I suppose living in a house may entail more interactions with our neighbours than we're used to? I'm hoping it doesn't mean drunken carousers up and down the street all night!

Is this the right house for us? 6 of Pentacles. It is the right house for us as far as balancing our finances, for sure. Being recently updated, all things up to code, and more or less completely redone on the inside, it sits comfortably in our budget.

If we make an offer on this house, will it be accepted? - 9 of Pentacles

ETA:

The house opens straight onto the street, what if any problems is this going to present?  - Knight of Pentacles - 8 of Pentacles - Chariot -- Cars getting in and out for work? Though it may also suggest planning to build a little vestibule in the front room (but I don't know how the Chariot works into that one!)

How easy will it be to resell if we decide to move? -- 8 of Pentacles - Hanged Man - Wheel of Fortune -- Maybe not that easy, but it's a crap shoot. 8 of Pentacles turns up again, I see.

Should we buy this house? Or should we wait and keep looking? 9 of Wands for buying, 5 of Wands for wait and keep looking. Neither one seems much better than the other, does it? If we buy we may wonder if we've done the right thing, if we keep looking we're in a competitive market...

It's a good thing I don't make big life decisions based on a tarot card reading -- and I don't recommend that anyone should!

Did she mention the world goes round?

Ha! Yesterday I said 'the wheels have started turning' and now this card falls on the table.

Too much house-talk, too much house-think yesterday. IFAs and properties online, the reality of limited resources. Not to mention my advanced age. Then the worries and fears, big and small ...what if the house has damp? What if there's something bad wrong with it? What if we can't pay the mortgage? What if we lose our jobs? What if the neighbours are noisy and horrible? What if we get in a dispute with someone? What if it catches on fire? What if we buy a place and get gazumped? What if we move in somewhere and we just hate it? What if we spend all our cash on this and then realise we needed those savings? What do we know about home ownership, we can't sew on a button. What if it needs major repairs, how will we pay for them? Maybe a flat would be better but what about leasehold? What if a terraced house is dark and horrible, maybe it's a choice between a dark terrace but with a patch of ground, or light and airy open plan flat but with no garden? Who wants to drag dirt all through the house from the garden anyway, we need a place with access to the rear garden other than through the house. Maybe I am just not smart or rich enough to do this. Maybe it would be better to just stay as we are and not bother. Maybe I'll talk myself out of this before I even start. Thoughts go round. Round and round and round and round. Which makes me think of this lady. Which makes me feel better.






 'Sometimes you're happy
And sometimes you're sad
But the world goes round
And sometimes you lose
Every nickel you had
But the world goes round
Sometimes your dreams get broken in pieces
But that doesn't mean a thing
Take it from me,
there's still going to be
A summer, a winter, a fall and a spring
And sometimes a friend starts treating you bad
But the world goes round
And sometimes your heart breaks
With a deafening sound
Somebody loses, and somebody wins
And one day it's kicks
Then it's kicks in the shins
But the planet spins
And the world goes round
Round and round and round and round
The world goes round and round and round and round'

Who put the mort in mortgage?

Welp, it didn't take until 2021 for the Devil to turn up after all. Here he is this morning. How about that? Big ugly pink-headed crouching bird-footed gargoyle that he is. Holding his torch like a caveman brute clutching a club. Giving us a split-fingered salute forming the Hebrew letter 'shin', which means both teeth and fire. Yay.

'Devil is in the details' springs to mind here.  I've certainly had a lot of details on my mind lately. Remember my birthday reading? I predicted 'changes in love, family and friends, wealth, means and ends', and saw house-buying as something that might happen this year. We've started the process of looking for a mortgage adviser and I've signed up at rightmove and zoopla. Yesterday we walked about 3 miles round trip to go out and take a look at a house, just to walk past it (and see how I might feel about a 3 mile round-trip walk every day, plus to time how long it takes). This would give us an idea of whether a house search that is 1.5 mile radius from the train station is viable. Maybe, is the answer. But under 1 mile would certainly be better, and half mile better still. Trouble is, as you get closer to the town centre, the houses in our price range get smaller and pokier, and are restricted to on-street parking. So it's a choice of walking a lot and having a bit of space to park the car (and a more 'generous' feel to the neighborhood) or live conveniently close to town amenities but be crowded in. And on top of these choices, all this information gathering. Devil in the details, indeed. So today is phone calls to IFAs to arrange initial chats, and we have booked our first actual viewing for next Monday evening.

The wheels have started turning!

It's not about the hulk hand -- interpreting the Ace of Pentacles

PCS Commemorative 

Elemental dignities and affinities have become my favourite means of interpreting tarot. They add such depth, and are much more meaningful for me than wondering why a giant hand emerges from a cloud holding a big coin over a garden gate. Yes, you can do that, and at some point you should analyse images of course, but the elemental attributions cut closer to the spiritual level of tarot, for me. My spiritual concept of life is based on a balance of what is represented by the classical four elements, and tarot provides a fertile ground for exploration of how these elements interact.

Today we have Fire of Earth in Ace of Pentacles. (The other Fire of Earth cards are King of Pentacles, Four of Pentacles and Seven of Pentacles.) Whatever could it be referring to?

Fire of Earth is the will, passion and drive being directed toward achieving groundedness, security, and stability in matters of health, hearth and finance. The Fire of Earth personality is proactive to material gain and eager for growth, and so might be a very avid collector, a personal trainer, an exercise junky, a first responder, emergency services worker, mountain rescue, or a financial advisor. You might think that an insurance salesman, stock broker, or CEO might fit the bill for Fire of Earth, but not really. The Earth element does not allow for much risk taking. The Earth element is fired up by security, not playing the market. It's not interested in power so much as safety and security. When you get into risky behaviours, you're moving into the actual element of Fire, the Wands suit, whereas with Fire of Earth, we're talking about how 'Wandsy' a Pentacle will allow itself to get. (Unsurprisingly, not very -- Fire and Earth have a neutral relationship, in traditional elemental dignities. Some would say that Fire and Earth actually have a negative relationship, because earth won't burn and will actually smother out fire. I suppose it's up to the reader what your take is on that.)

In any case, today is an Ace of Pentacles day for me, Fire of Earth. I have lots of Earthy tasks I could and should focus on today. Tax returns, researching the home buying process, finding an IFA, earning the money I've been paid by doing a reading that's been ordered. I ought to work out, eat well, and go out and buy some needed supplies for my physical upkeep -- healthy food, some vitamins, and some cream for an itchy spot on my skin that's come up. Lots of activities that promote stability, groundedness, and security, with the added fiery sense of growth and improvement.

What earthy aspect of your life needs a bit of fire today?

Push it back, shove it back, waaaaaay back!

PCS Commemorative 

Great! Just trying to get this image on this blog post has been a struggle this morning. Took four tries, my scanner decided no matter where I told it to save, it was going to go in a mystery folder where I wouldn't be able to find it. So yeah, 7 of Wands.

7 of Wands (like King of Wands, Ace of Wands and 4 of Wands) is Fire of Fire. The Fire of Fire energy shows 'formidable determination and resolve' (Benebell Wen), is extremely gung ho, can have a one-track mind, and may be conqueror (albeit a charismatic one), a cult leader, maybe even a Hitler.

If these traits sound negative, sorry, I tend to see the downside of Fire before the upside. Fire is, after all, a wild and destructive force. A useful tool if contained and controlled, but always dangerous. At least the number 7 has its influence here, thus the 7 of Wands shows that despite the seeming struggle involved, important developments are happening, and there is progress, sometimes a leap ahead, sometimes it's the unknown causing the stress, but whatever, the 7 of Wands is a time of challenge. Others may be questioning us or slowing us down, we may be questioning or slowing ourselves down, whichever it is, there is some resistance requiring valour or courage.

I guess the key word here is resistance. The 7 of Wands can indicate a feeling that no matter what you try to do, big or small, you have something to fight against in order to get it done. I remember the other night watching the premiere episode of the show '11.22.63', a character said, 'When you push the past, the past pushes back.' (It's a story about time travel, and the characters are discussing how the past doesn't seem to want to be changed and throws up blocks when you try to change it.) The present can feel that way, too! When you push the present, when you push the status quo, the present often feels like it's pushing back! Want to post an image to your blog? Your PC pushes back. Want to get to work on time? The train timetable pushes back. Want to buy a house? Other buyers push back. Want to lose some weight? The chocolate pushes back!

But the 7 of Wands is Fire of Fire, and the figure in this card may be facing these challengers alone, and no one seems to have his back, there's no wall he's backed up against, nothing but clear blue sky and at least he literally seems to have the 'upper hand'. In any case, he shows no sign of giving up. He is fighting Fire with Fire!

If life is pushing back at you today, rise up to meet the challenge. Your foe may be only yourself, after all.

Reading using directionality and reversals

Pamela Colman Smith Commemorative Tarot  

This is the reading I've been exploring in my journal for the last few days. I'd drawn cards of the number 5 two days in a row (not pictured). Five being associated with finding balance, I asked 'What is attempting to find balance in my life right now? What is out of balance? and What is maintaining equilibrium?' I drew Magician Rx, Strength, Star.

So, a weakened Magician is attempting to find balance right now. Personal power is not being used to bring my needs into reality. I am not identifying my true needs. Strength has come forward as what is out of balance right now -- again a card of personal power and taking the bull by the horns (or lion by the jaw). The Star has maintained equilibrium -- hope has not been lost. I have felt all along that there is plenty of time to address my issues. I just haven't done anything about them. (The reason why is seen in 9 of Pentacles later).

To rectify the reversed Magician, I drew Hermit and placed it above Magician. I can identify my true needs and establish balance in my personal power within myself, or with the help of a mentor, or in a spiritual tradition or practice. wondering what the Hermit's lamp was lighting, I drew another card to see what was in his line of sight. Queen of Cups. Her posture echoes that of the Hermit -- both facing to the left, both intent upon the item they are holding, for the Hermit, the lamp of enlightenment, for the Queen it's the world's craziest cup, shaped like the Ark of the Covenant with the seraphim on either side (if the Ark of the Covenant were made of spare pipe and hood ornaments nicked from the cars of pimps in Starsky and Hutch.)  Queen of Cups is Water of Water -- and so was the daily card that prompted this draw (not in the photo), 5 of Cups, another Water of Water card. This imbalance or disturbance is in the realm of emotions and relationships and personal power.

 Looking at the Queen of Cups and Hermit makes one long to know what is in their line of sight -- so I drew another card to see what they are looking at and got 8 of Cups reversed. Another Water of Water card! 8 of Cups is recognition of time to move on; reversed suggests confusion or delay in making that move.

How can I overcome this confusion, find some clarity? I drew a card to rectify the 8 of Cups reversed and got -- King of Swords reversed! Fire of Air, reversed. I am Aquarius, and King of Swords is the card associated with Aquarius. He's sort of my default setting. But here, to overcome my confusion about what needs looking at and changing, I can't do it through King of Swords, but through King of Swords reversed. Usually, I tend to be rational about things but now that is not what is needed. To clarify this, I remembered a technique of identifying reversed court cards by identifying their elemental opposite. If King of Swords is Fire of Air, his opposite would be Air of Fire --Knight of Wands!

Knight of Wands, that maker of 'down and dirty' plans, that explorer and adventurer, that risk taker! Knight of Wands? How the heck do I access Knight of Wands energy when I don't even feel that I remotely have it right now?

I took the card out of the pack and looked at it for a while. I noticed the pyramids in the background. The Knight of Wands is not drawing energy from his surroundings, which are dry and barren. His passion is inside him. So it must be somewhere inside of me, even when there is nothing in my environment or situation to feed it. What is the Knight of Wands charging toward? What is he charging away from?

I put the card back in the pack and shuffled to find out which cards he would end up between. I found the Knight of Wands and laid him out with the cards on either side of him: Chariot, Knight of Wands, 9 of Pentacles.

The Knight of Wands is moving away from 9 of Pentacles (Air of Earth), whose energy and line of sight are directed away from him (though her body posture is still open to his direction). Her attention is definitely elsewhere, focused on her bird (Air) of prey (Earth). As Air of Earth, she contemplates the material/physical realm. Her satisfaction with her status quo is evident. She is complacent, self-congratulatory, self-satisfied. These are not bad things, but the way she spends her leisure time may no longer be balanced -- too long standing still. Too long watching others move (her bird of prey, which she will presumably set loose to watch fly).

How does the Knight of Wands move me from too much physical luxury? What does he move me toward? The Chariot, a Water card, associated with Cancer and the Moon. Okay, so the Water of Water cards led me to draw a variety of Water cards that have laid me a path to -- a Water major! The emotional plane is dominant in this issue. Not the material plane or the logical plane, but the emotional plane, and how to take action with balanced emotions.

'Cancer is the gateway to incarnation, as Capricorn (its opposite) is the gateway to ascension. Cancer's energy guides us to learn the distinctions of our emotional and logical reasoning so we can recognise how they don't always agree' - agent64.com/cancer-the-chariot

Like a Cancerian crab, the Chariot has a hard shell and a soft centre -- appearing tough on the outside but deep down quite sensitive and vulnerable.

The Chariot card is full of this tension between opposing forces: black and white sphinxes, male and female, facing in opposite directions, meant to be pulling the chariot but not hitched to it and lying down (they seem ambivalent), the lingam and yoni on the shield (which to me looks like a top that spins in place but doesn't actually get anywhere), the chariot is a conveyance but is built like a cube of concrete, no reins and no motion in the charioteer who is encased in the concrete cube (he seems ambivalent), chariots are often associated with the sun ('chariots of fire') but this one is decorated with moons and starry night skies and is associated with the moon.

In other words, the Knight of Wands is me progressing, through my own inner drive,  toward a state of balance created by acknowledging that there is always a state of perpetual tension, and harnessing that tension to drive my life forward. I have been looking for balance rather than acknowledging constant tension. In fact, I have turned from acknowledgement of tension, turned from the areas that need attention (Water and Fire) and settled into some complacent wallowing in the material realm. And there I've wallowed for quite some time.

'To be useful, either to herself or any higher purpose, she had to use her ambivalence as a driving force in her life, a force that would power the Chariot' (Rachel Pollack, The Forest of Souls, 75).

Much to ponder. The Chariot and the Knight of Wands are going on my altar.

Some of these techniques were shared by Caitlin Matthews in a session at the UK Tarot Conference, October 2015. A webinar and DVD of line of sight and rectifying reversals, etc,  may be available at some point. Visit her website at Hallowquest.

Other techniques seen herein have been shared by Alison Cross in TABI conferences, by Benebell Wen in her book Holistic Tarot, and many others.

Tarot Journal - Knight of Wands and Chariot

Tarot journal - 5 of Cups

Firmly planted

PCS Commemorative 

A long day today, my last opening and closing at the library for at least a year. The Knight of Pentacles from Pamela Coleman Smith Commemorative Tarot reminds me to pace myself and be thorough in all the jobs I turn my hands to today. It is a day for tying up loose ends. Rachel Pollack says the Knight of Pentacles is ' responsible, hardworking, uncomplaining' and Mary K Greer adds that he represents 'doing or teaching your accomplishments, using your knowledge.' I guess this shows that today is a day to try to pass on things I know to those who will be taking up my responsibilities over the next year. I ought to go around to the three people who have had my duties divided between them and make sure they know how to do these things and offer my tips, if they are interested.

Out of curiosity, I had a look in Yoav Ben-Dov's 'The Open Reading' to see what he has to say about the Knight of Coins:

'Advancing toward a goal that seems close at hand but somehow eludes our grasp. ...Constantly chasing after money, either due to a real need or because in this frame of mind one can never have enough.'

Now that is not an interpretation I have ever used for Knight of Pentacles, though of course in the Rider Waite Smith deck, the Knight is holding the pentacle, whereas in the Tarot de Marseilles, the giant coin float in the air in front of his face, which could, I suppose, lead to this alternate meaning.

Well, I'm certainly not chasing after money. And in my tarot world, the Knight of Pentacles is the firm, stable, slow-going, patient, hardworking, gentle-spirited, self-effacing one in the tarot courts. Sitting firmly on his big, sturdy horse, well-rooted to the fertile earth, the sky awash with the glow of the life-giving sun, and bunches of lush greenery decorating himself and his horse's harness. I don't think he's materialistic, I think he's grounded, and those are not even close to the same thing.

Judgement reading

Pamela Colman Smith Centennial Tarot, US Games

Tarot Bonkers and Chloe at Inner Whispers have both recently posted about the Judgement card, which got me thinking...what is the trumpet call in my life? How do I hear it? How will I know it? I turned to Rachel Pollack's Tarot Wisdom and found this Judgement card spread:

1. What is the hidden question of Judgement? - 9 of Cups
2. How can I answer it? - 5 of Pentacles
3. What calls me to rise up/become something new? - 2 of Pentacles
4. What can I become? - Knight of Cups
5. How can my life change? - 9 of Wands
6. What/who will change around me? - Ace of Swords
7. How am I called to answer? - 3 of Cups

To find card 1, I shuffled, looked through the deck for Judgement, and then selected the card that was under (hidden by) Judgement. I laid the Judgement card in the middle and arranged the rest as directed in Pollack's book.

A Wisdom Reading: What is happiness?

PCS Commemorative, 2009

What is happiness? 6 of Pentacles

Were you expecting The World? Something really BIG at least. Such a big question. WHAT IS HAPPINESS??  And then what turns up--a mundane pentacles card. A card about charity. Oh, wait. 'And now abideth faith, hope, charity, these three; but the greatest of these is charity.' (That was old St Paul, 1 Corinthians 13:13).  The word 'charity' here means love, the sort of love that reaches out rather than turning in. It is conventional wisdom, 'better it is to give than to receive'. We hear it, but do we do it?

Giving--though depicted here as of a very material nature--need not be about money or material wealth. Many things are more precious to us than material things. What about our attention? What about our time? How would it make someone feel if when he stands before us he becomes, in that moment, the most important person to us in the world? And perhaps more significantly, how would it make us feel to treat them that way? The next time someone talks to you, stop what you are doing, turn to face them, look them directly in the eye and think only about what they are saying. Then think beyond what they are saying (because you might not actually like what they are saying), and go to the common humanity between the two of you. Your eye contact becomes your namaste to the universe. Make them the most important person in the world for that moment. I know people who have this skill. I wish to develop it. I admire those people who seem to come by it naturally. I feel that it is one of the true keys to personal happiness, though it does not seem to be our primal, instinctive response. It is, as Abraham Lincoln called it, one of the 'better angels of our nature', and requires conscious development before it becomes a habit.

On reflection, maybe it is our primal, instinctive response. I was just thinking of the way a baby pays attention to someone. Complete honed-in eye contact and full attention. Have you ever locked eye with an infant? There's some serious connecting going on there!