Update on recent readings...

On Saturday I did a 'dumb reading' about the negotiations for a house we were trying to buy:

CBD Tarot by Yoav Ben-Dov

I interpreted this reading thus: A woman offers a coin to a situation that involves a lot of money. A youth rides past the offered coin toward an older man holding a cup. A collaboration ensues, and an agreement is reached that is mutually beneficial. It didn't turn out 'quite' that way...

A friend told me that the Ace of Cups in this type of reading almost always means a 'house' -- which makes sense if you look at the shape -- and the 2 following it could be read literally to make 'a second house'.

The negotiation happened today. The woman made the offer. The vendor did walk right past it. We are very grateful for that, because we had no intention of offering any more for that house than we did; we went and looked at a house this afternoon that just came on the market today and we liked it so much we are going to make an offer on it first thing tomorrow morning. So -- we loved a second house.

What actually happened was this: our negotiator put an offer to the estate agent. The estate agent phoned me and I said exactly the same thing. The vendor didn't like the offer (even though it was for what the house appraises for) and rejected it.

The King of Cups may be us, older and wiser, following the counsel of our hearts (by accepting the rejecting without counter offer), turning our heads toward a 'harbinger of good news about a second house' (6 of Wands + Ace of Cups + 2 of Coins), because after we got the news they weren't interested in our offer, we saw the house listed and phoned to make an appointment to see it. We just saw it this afternoon and liked it enough that we are going to put an offer in on it tomorrow morning.

It did turn out to be a second house. Now who knows if we end up buying the house, but the negotiations turned out just as depicted in the cards.

I have learned a new lesson -- look at the picture in the card, be literal The Ace of Cups does look like a house. And remember to keep the reading focused on self. Someone in this reading had to be me. Turns out I was the King of Cups -- the one in the middle, of course!

Valuable reading experience gained. I won't forget it.

Full Moon in Aries Emperor Reading

                               1. How am I an Emperor?
                               2. How am I not an Emperor?
                               3. Where do I need to take charge?
                               4. What will help me do that?
                               5. How am I weak?
                               6. How am I strong?

I really don't think I like this reading at all--and it is those uncomfortable readings that we need to pay most attention to. This one has brought up some of my shadow aspects, things about myself I don't like to look at.

There were times I'd take my pen...

...and feel obliged to start again...

Alison at This Game of Thrones put up this spread about time management, so I thought I'd give it a go, with the Thoth Tarot. The first card should be drawn from the courts: 

1  WHO can possibly help me improve my time management?
2  HOW will this character help me improve my time management?
3  WHAT does this character warn me against?

The Princess of Cups, Turtle Girl, turns up again! SHE is the one who can help me improve my time management! She's balancing on a free form tubey thingy, dancing around in her voluminous lavender robe, with a swan on her head, holding a turtle in a shell, with a fish and a lotus flower on either side. Let's just say she doesn't scream 'self control and list making' at me. Instead she is saying to me to go with the flow of my own desires. Whatever is most conducive to the free flow of my inner peace and fulfillment is where my time should go.

Will I? What then?

Anna K Tarot, 1st edition

I'm just embarking on a new opportunity, which would be of 6 month duration. I thought I'd ask the tarot about it.

Who am I?

Esoteric Celtic Cross 

Having seen Rachel Pollack's Esoteric Cross Spread in action on Kerry's Neopagan Priestess blog, I changed the order around and laid the cards out my own way: 

1) Who am I?
2) Where do I come from?
3) What deep energy powers me?
4) What higher truth guides me?
5) What is my task?
6) Who is my hidden self?
7) What will I discover when I leave this form?

------------4------------

5----------6/1---------7

------------2------------

------------3-----------

Lay out the cards face down: 1, 2, 3. Then at the top of the column place 4. Then go across, placing 5, tucking card 6 horizontally under card 1, then laying down 7.  (In the above photo, I forgot to tuck card 6 under card 1, but in the real one, I did...sorry!)

To read the spread, turn the cards over one by one, beginning with card 1, considering each answer on its own before moving on to the next card. When you turn over card 6, lay it across card 1. Consider how these two 'selves' work together (or against one another) in your life. Consider how this combination of cards manifests in you. This in itself could take quite some time. Then examine the full spread and the cards' relation to one another.

Of Wands and Swords and What to Do

'Stop wasting time,' I found myself writing in my journal today. 'We don't have 'all the time in the world'. Get on with it.'

So.

What is time? How can I make best use of it? What should I do with the time I have been given today?

I was certainly not expecting the cards I drew from the Original Rider Waite Tarot Deck:

Original Rider Waite, US Games 1993

I turned to the cards for an easy answer. But 1) the tarot doesn't give the easy answer, it gives the answer, and 2) this question doesn't have an easy answer.

In the human experience, which really is the only context in which we can understand it, time really is a constant battering of conflicting priorities. Our attention is called from all sides. We can but pay attention to one thing at a time before turning to the next thing. This is not to say that time should be spent in a reactionary way. The boys in the 5 of Wands card are not just reacting. They are also taking initiative, both reacting to events and planning their next step. They aren't actually trying to hurt each other and neither is time trying to hurt us. But the activity of the boys in the card is a relentless barrage, and so is the human experience of time. It can be as spirited or as gentle as we can manage to make it, but it is relentless nonetheless. This is an important lesson. If you drop your wand, time may beat you down. It might hurt you without meaning to. It neither wants to hurt nor heal, it just wants to keep whacking away. How you take the whacks is up to you.

Don't feed the plant!

Chloe's post today about Life Purpose, based on the 7 of Coins, led me to ask what the 7 of Coins has to say to me today.

Using my new Crystal Tarot (Trevisan), I shuffled the deck and searched out the 7 of Coins, then laid it out with the card before it and the card after it:

Left: What seeds am I watering in my life right now? -- Knight of Cups
Right: What seeds should I watch for opportunities to water today? -- 8 of Swords

Crystal Tarot, Elisabetta Trevisan

Lately I've been watering seeds of the Knight of Cups. He is one who believes very fervently that there is a Purpose to Life! He is extremely passionate about it, in fact, he's almost all passion. But it's not Wands passion, not an energetic, goal-driven mission, but a more romantic, idealistic, meandering and capricious kind of passion. Of all the knights in the tarot deck, he's the man to send forth with only the instruction, 'Go find a quest and fulfill it.' He's unlikely to ask, 'Well, what am I looking for, and more importantly, why should I listen to you?'  He is the most likely to believe there is such a thing as The One True Soul Mate, as well, and is the most likely to engage in a short, vague search, then a long, long time mooning and emoting about not having found it. The Knight of Cups even thinks there is some sort of noble beauty to a life spent on a quest for a prize that he has no clear idea of,  nor any notion what he might do with it once he finds it. His subsequent breast-beating and hair-tearing can become a show performed for his own gratification, something he can wallow luxuriantly in and label his 'Dark Night of the Soul.'

Wicca Moon: First Reading

I just received Wicca Moon Tarot today and I really like Alison's Autumn Equinox spread on This Game of Thrones, so I thought I would try both out together:

First of all, get the 16 Court Cards into a single section. It's very simple. Cards 1 and 2 are laid out as if at either end of a see-saw, and Card 3 goes in the middle.
Card 1: This is where I am unbalanced and deficient
Card 2: This is where I am unbalanced and over-endowed
Card 3: This Court brings me back into balance

Wicca Moon Tarot: 6 of Swords, K&Q of Swords, 2 of Swords

 First thought: Wow, am I doing a lot of overthinking or what! All those swords, all that air. Hot air? Possibly.

Card One is 6 of Swords -- the card of moving on. The card of letting go of defeat, or defeatist thinking. Usually this card is associated with some real experience being moved on from, but in my case, I think it's just imaginary stuff.

Card Two is 2 of Swords. Notice how the points of the swords cross, pinpointing something (in this case a dragonfly that has been whirring around). I see this card as meaning I scrutinize every tiny thing too closely. Possibly that I try too hard to think everything through and control everything, to the point that I have blinded myself too much.

So I am under-endowed with 'get-over-it,' and over-endowed with a tendency to stick my fingers in my ears and sing 'la la la' when I am faced with a decision or a truth I don't want to see. Stubborn little air sign that I am. Funnily enough, the way to bring me back to balance is not from another suit, but yet more Swords. This time the King and Queen of Swords. Wicca Moon combines the King and Queen into one card. There is no explanation for why, as there is no LWB with this deck, but Chloe at Inner Whispers suggests the marriage or balance of the mature aspects of the suit. I like that, and it does sit well with the deck's Wiccan theme.

Basically, I see the King & Queen card as telling me that I don't need to change my basic nature, my very Swords nature, but that I need to just grow up. I need to balance the masculine and feminine aspects of the Swords suit. Emotional maturity will help me to move on from troubled thoughts, as well as face up to harsh truths. Well, I didn't need tarot to tell me that. But it is very useful to see that I do not have to try to be all Wands or Cups about life. I can still be Swordsy and be balanced. That's nice.

So. What am I overthinking? Pretty much I overthink every thing that happens to me all day long. Learning to let go of each moment rather than playing it out again and again so that I can examine it for more evidence to support my little story of me as a failure--that would be a good skill to hone! And what am I postponing, ignoring, or being stubborn about? Lots of things, but lately, it's been the question of where to go next. Ah ha! The 6 of Swords could be this reluctance to move on to the next phase! Oh ho! Yes that must be it. We've been wondering if we should start thinking about ... I dread to say it ... buying a house. (Yikes!) And our minds have been so made up about how impossible it is for so long... like that blindfolded chick in the RWS 2 of Swords. Could the united K&Q of Swords be hubby and me facing up to the truth of our situation and making an informed decision?

Well. Possibly...

Sample Super-Quick 3-Card Reading: Aquarian Tarot

A practice reading. Hypothetical querent looking for a general reading. Cold reading.

Aquarian Tarot, US Games 2006 (original 1970)

You seem to have got it in your head that there's no rest for you, that in order to create a decent home life you must constantly be 'doing' for them, sacrificing your time to their needs. You think it's only fair that the family come first and you come last. 

There is another side to 'giving' and a 'happy family' that you aren't seeing. You and your family would likely be more contented if you all spent some time thinking about others and not yourselves. Consider ways that you and your family can act together for the good of someone else. This would prove both relaxing and rewarding to all of you. 

If your first thought is, 'Oh great, here's something I'm going to have to organize and then make my family do,' then you really are mired in backward thinking! Involve them, and see what happens. They might just take the reins and you'll find yourself able to kick back and enjoy. They might even go out and leave you at home to take an actual nap.

Sample 1-Card Reading: Anna K Tarot

A practice reading with a specific question, for a hypothetical querent.
'What is the best way for me to be supportive of my child right now?'

Anna K Tarot, Klaffinger 2008

Do some soul-searching, and face up to all the fears you have for your child right now. List them. You could even write them down. What are you afraid might happen?  Remember that most of the things we fear and worry about never happen. Thinking about them won't make them happen. Worrying about them won't make them not happen. 

So...make two lists. On one side, list your fears. Then on the other side, list the ways you can see your child preparing himself  to face that very thing. Because chances are, even though you might not consider his way of preparing for or dealing with the issues you fear to be the 'right' way to handle it, your child is doing something. The Moon asks you to accept both your fears for your child, and your fears of the possible outcomes of what you see as the flawed solutions to his potential problems. 

Once you have faced these murky depths you harbor in your heart, you can realize that worrying about these imagined bad outcomes does no good. And you can let go of those worries and trust that your child is capable.

What is the best way to be supportive of your child? The Moon suggests you should have trust in his capability to deal with whatever life might throw at him, rather than projecting your own fears onto them. Just be there for your child should he actively seek your help, and dismiss worries from your mind as they arise; dismiss them as the things they really are -- scenarios of your imagination.

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.)

Sample Reading: Celtic Tarot

What am I not focusing on in my life now
 that I really should be paying more attention to?

Celtic Tarot, Davis 1990

Two aspects of the self need to be released from their captivity, two aspects of hidden or long-suppressed desire. The figures in both the flanking cards orient themselves toward the middle card, Judgement. The Page of Cups points his arms and holds his harp toward Judgement, while the Knight of Wands charges his horse toward it. Both figures are yearning to rise up. Rebirth is what both of these aspects of self really long for. 

Current challenges, Future outcome spread

Ancient Italian Tarot, 7-card spread from 'Tarot Bible' by Sarah Bartlett 

Cards are numbered 1-7 starting with the bottom row, left side.
1. Personal challenge right now
2. Relationship challenge right now
3. What holds me back?
4. What motivates me?
5. Where will I get support?
6. What decision do I need to make based on 1-5?
7. The outcome

The draw suggests that my current challenges are higher profile in my life than I might have expected. Four out of seven cards are majors, and there's an ace. This would seem, then, to be a time when I could make some important changes in my life, if I choose to.

Wort Moon Reading -- Haindl Tarot

Haindl Celtic Cross (pardon my toe)

Wort Moon Reading using Haindl Tarot: Celtic Cross (Rachel Pollack's version from Haindl Tarot: Minor Arcana, 248-250). 

Another Rocky Horror Picture Show Reading

Here is a sample reading using the Rocky Horror Spread I created, with feedback from the recipient:

Davis Celtic Tarot 

1) Science Fiction Double Feature -- What influence from your past colours the way you see and experience everything to this day? (In the way that science fiction B movies did for the narrator of this song) -- 4 of Cups
2) Dammit Janet -- What do you feel passionate about in the here and now? --9 of Cups
3) Over at the Frankenstein Place (There's a Light) -- What has suddenly emerged that might be of help to you? (Or does it just seem helpful? Could it be harmful?) -- Page of Pentacles
4) Sweet Transvestite -- Who is the real you? -- Queen of Wands
5) I Can Make You a Man -- What is your greatest strength/skill? -- 5 of Cups 
6) Sword of Damocles -- What is your biggest fear? -- 10 of Wands
7) Rose Tint My World -- What is your greatest desire, ie, what you like to not dream, but be? -- 4 of Swords 
8) I'm Going Home -- What outcome would be the most deeply satisfying to you? -- 10 of Cups

All those cups in your reading make me believe you are led by your emotions and that relationships and feelings are very important in your life. Also, the lack of majors suggests to me that things are going pretty good for you right now, on an even keel, and you've got no big 'life changing' moments or decisions upon you any time soon.

Your past suggests to me that you don't want to feel bored or unfulfilled in life. Perhaps there were examples in your past of people who let life slip by them and you don't want that to happen to you. (4 of cups)

So this has led you to passionately pursue a feeling of deep self-satisfaction and confidence in yourself. Material success isn't the goal for you, but feeling that your life has been a happy one is what matters to you. (9 of cups)