It's about balance!

My patience for this deck has worn quite thin, so it's a good thing this is the last day of Titania's Star Tarot. We have Two of Pentacles here, a card which normally represents (to me at least) achieving a balance in life. To Titania, all 2s are about work, and she says they mean as follows: 2 of Wands - business including scientific and rational thought, 2 of Swords - burn-out and fatigue, 2 of Cups - enjoyment of work, 2 of Pentacles - 'hard work that brings out its just rewards.' Well, I give up. What's the bird all about, then? Why is it yellow? I don't know and Titania's not telling. So I will just have to go with my own interpretation of the card today, since Titania's interpretations don't make any sort of sense to me at all, and say that today will be a day when balance can be achieved. Conditions are right for achieving equilibrium, and that's a good thing; I have been trying to get some aspects of my life to come into balance today. Today may be a day when I do a bit better. :)

Chain breaker

Titania's Star Tarot, 2003

Wands can easily be mistaken for swords in the Titania's Star Tarot; one has to remember that the swords are curved scimitars. It's just one of several of the frustrations of using this deck. Another is trying to make sense of the colours chosen. Are they random? Or do they have some sort of significance to the deck creator? There certainly doesn't appear to be any Golden Dawn connection between the 9 of Wands and the colour purple. I'm also curious about the three-linked chain at the top of the card. So, I turn again to the companion book for hints.

Again, Hardie gives us a tidbit about 9s in general -- they 'relate to the most optimistic side of Aquarius' and that the number 9 is 'concerned with wishes'. Okay.

'The Nine of Wands shows a friendship that is true, wise, solid and perhaps also profitable. It might be a best friend, but also an indication of someone who is lucky in friendships generally. The key meaning is understanding.'

And that's the entire entry for 9 of Wands. I can't say that this deck and its companion book would be the ideal starter set for a tarot beginner. This interpretation of the 9 of Wands sounds very little like the traditional  Golden Dawn interpretations:

Golden Dawn - 'the Lord of Strength' - Okay, I can see how the chain could be a reference to strength
Rider Waite Smith - Strength in opposition; ability to meet an onslaught boldly
Thoth - 'Change is stability'; 'Balance is made difficult by not going fast enough. So also, one cannot draw a straight line if one's hand shakes.' (That's from Crowley's companion book, Book of Thoth)

All traditional interpretations aside, I tend to interpret this card as a wariness based on past experience, and a readiness to meet whatever life throws at you. So my view is closest to RWS. (It usually turns out to be!) Now, that's not very much like 'a friendship that is wise, solid and perhaps also profitable.' To me, Wands are about action, not friendship. I would be more likely to see Cups as referring to friendship. However, Hardie seems to see the number 9 itself as being associated with friendship, because her 9 cards have to do with friends (in fact her companion books says it is 'best friend to the world'):

9 of Wands - True friendship
9 of Swords - Frustration with friends
9 of Coins - Spending money on friends
9 of Cups - NOT about friends, but 'fulfillment of a wish'

So her interpretations are the opposite of how I would see them - only the cups card would default to a possible 'relationship' meaning.

If I were to draw this card, given my conception of the 9 of Wands, I would see the chain as being whatever obstacle, impediment or opposition that is faced or expected, and the configuration of the wands into three triangles look to me like three wedges or battering rams that would come up against it. If the first triangle breaks on the chains, there's a second and third to follow through. The army is in formation, ready for battle, should the need arise.

I don't think I will be coming up against any opposition today, unless it's my daily battle with food choices! I'm off to pick up my new prescription varifocals, so wish me luck that I don't walk into a streetlight pole or fall down any stairs on the way home! :)

Status Quo

Titania's Star Tarot, 2003

The 4 of Wands is the card for today from Titania's Star Tarot (Quadrille 2003).  All interpretations given in the companion book have an old-fashioned fortuneteller feel to them. Four of Wands, for example, says only: 'The Four of Wands is concerned with money coming through a legacy or legal endowment. Usually this card indicates that the client will be the recipient of a will. The inner interpretation is self-government.' Titiania Hardie also writes that all tarot fours are the sign of Scorpio and indicate matters of luck with money, legacies and sensuality.

At least that explains why the four wands are depicted on a scroll, a reference to legal documents. Personally I have never read anyone say that the Four of Wands is about a legacy, not that I put much stock in simplified 'fortune teller' reading of tarot cards. (For me, that's more the realm of Lenormand or simple playing card decks). I can see, possibly, how the scroll might remind me of the title deed to property, especially a house or other dwelling, since I usually see Four of Wands to indicate firm foundations of any type, and often see it in reference to a settled domestic situation.

I don't really know anything about Scorpio (the 8th House, Hardie helpfully adds), but Aleister Crowley says in Book of Thoth that the 4 of Wands is 'Venus in Aries,' and that the energy of the Wands suit 'is now built up into a solid system: Order, Law and Government.' So that is another reason why the card might be depicted with a scroll, as we associate law with documents written upon scrolls. It would seem, based on this evidence, that Titania's Star Tarot might be more Thothy than RWS.  I haven't looked at it enough to make that connection for sure.

As I doubt I will inherit a windfall today, I will take this card to mean that today is a day to 'go by the books', to follow established traditions, to avoid making waves of any kind or take any action that might disturb the status quo. Not that I'd intended to! It also suggests that today there won't be any kind of shake up, but that it will be a day of stability and balance. That's good news. :)

Magic Monday

Titania's Star Tarot, 2003

Girded about with a snake, his third eye glowing gold, the Magician in Titania's Star Tarot stands behind a table ranged with the symbols of the suits: sword, coin, rod, and cup. His right hand holds a wand topped with an infinity symbol (lemniscate), and his left hand points to the ground. Pretty traditional, in many ways.

'In readings, the Magus tells us we have a strong will. He encourages us to create and realise envisioned goals...it is better at the present to do the wrong thing than to do nothing, so ACT with will and determination.' ~ Titania Hardie, Titania's Star Tarot Companion Book

The card has the symbol for the planet Mercury and so could be associated with swiftness, boldness, action and will power.

I have just returned from a few days away, during which I saw some lovely things and enjoyed lengthy conversations, and even a couple of tarot readings, all of which have given me lots to think about, and even more encouragement to 'act with will and determination' in ways that are unfamiliar to me and out of my ordinary habits.

My main objective for today is to get through it without wilting entirely! Some people love a heat wave; me, not so much. I prefer a cool breeze, even it means a grey sky. There's a lovely cool breeze blowing through the window right now (6.15 AM), but we'll see how it feels at 5.30 PM when I get home to a flat that's had its windows shut all day!

A study in raspberry

Titania's Star Tarot, 2003

The scan looks darker than the card in real life, the 9 of Swords from the curious Titania's Star Tarot (Quadrille 2003): a field of pale lavender, a 10-pointed star in a darker shade, with 9 lurid magenta scimitars ranged in three triangles over all. Weird.

Titania says in her book that 9 is 'the most optimistic side of Aquarius' and that it is the number that is always concerned with wishes. She then goes on to say that the 9 of Swords 'points to frustration with friends, and a tendency to be let down by them' and that its key word is doubt.

I wonder why there is a 10-pointed star instead of 9-pointed star. I wonder why it's pink. I wonder how a person could ever get Titania's interpretation from this card. If you didn't know, how would you know? When I see decks like this one, I always wish I could sit down with the deck creator and just ask them to go through with me their thinking behind it, and reveal to me the little secret, private meanings that the symbols have for them, because I am convinced that everything that goes into a deck means something special to its creator, particularly in a deck like this one.I don't know why, but this deck just shouts at me, 'Created by a witch who knows exactly what she is doing, whether you do or not.'

If I were doing a reading with this deck for someone, I'd call upon my own knowledge of the 9 of Swords and suggest that they may be feeling stressed or worried, perhaps with troubled sleep. Depending on the cards around it, though, it could be saying not to expect the worst when there's no evidence of trouble--and in that case, it could represent a pessimistic state of mind that needs addressing.

Bull's eye

This week, let's explore the strange world of Titania's Star Tarot (Quadrille, 2003). It is a bizarre and, at times, unattractive deck. Its companion book has tiny print, and features enormous and unusual layouts. The smallest layout has nine cards, and is recommended for yes/no questions! I have a feeling that the way of reading and using cards presented in this book is a more old school tradition than today's 'life coaching' tarot reading style. It is certainly firmly couched in astrology, though apparently does not use the traditional astrological associations of Golden Dawn. There's nothing wrong with being old school--in fact, I find it fascinating. When I first got this deck (which was kindly given to me), I took a brief look at the book and decided it was all too much like Greek to me. But one day, I think I might take a closer look at it. In fact, I intend to do a bit of that this week.

Titania's Star Tarot, 2003

Like most of the cards in this deck, the 4 of Cups is seen as a positive card. Titania Hardie's companion book states that fours fall under Scorpio and represent 'fruitfulness borne of practicality and a sensible approach.' This is okay for 4 of Wands, the firm foundations card; 4 of Swords, the card of taking a break from thinking; and even 4 of Pentacles, the card of holding on to what you've got. But in the Four of Cups in the RWS and most Golden Dawn decks, Four of Cups is said to represent boredom, ennui and dissatisfaction. Titania Hardie bucks that trend:

'The Four of Cups indicates, always, an increase in family, and usually a good loving relationship with a healthy physical life. Only if reversed and surrounded by difficult cards, the 'increase' might be ill-timed in the relationship. The key is increase.'

This succinct card description (none of the pip cards are any longer, to be fair) doesn't tell us much. I look at it and see a green target with four goblets superimposed on it. They are arranged in a solid, 4-suqare shape. If I were going to read this intuitively (which Titania does not seem to advocate), I might be inclined to say it has something to do with focusing one's attention on the true relational foundations of life. The concentric circles almost become a tunnel when you stare at them, and the four cups get sucked into the whirling vortex. Not sure why, but I envision these swirling cups going straight into the heart chakra. Is that too fanciful?