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!

Spiral Tarot 8 of Cups

Spiral Tarot by Kay Steventon US Games 1997

I like the Spiral Tarot a lot, but it's such a shame about those borders. I even cropped them off a deck, but then it felt denuded and wrong, so I passed that deck along to someone else and bought a fresh copy. You just have to wonder - why? Why purple and white marbling? Why a red and white inner border? Why the white on red italic, why outline that in white? Did the artist come up with this or was it the publisher? (Shaking my head.)

Anyway, I do like the Spiral Tarot. A lot of the cards depart from traditional meaning, like this one, 8 of Cups. The LWB says: 'The goddess is returning to the underworld for the winter cycle. A need to go into your inner world to find what is missing from your life. Unfulfilled love. Leaving an unhappy situation.'

Okay, 'leaving a situation' is a common interpretation of 8 of Cups. But descending to the underworld, or going within, is not seen so much. That would make this figure Persephone (or in Roman mythology, Proserpina). Persephone was abducted by Hades, which you'd think would be a bad thing, but Persephone adapts so well to the Underworld that she becomes its strong and powerful queen. She loves it down there, and loves Hades, too. When her mother Demeter finally finds her, Persephone doesn't want to come back, but she agrees because, well, it's her mother. But she had tasted the pomegranate in Hades (which has all sorts of juicy connotations having to do with awakenings of various appetites, ahem) and is no longer 'pure'. She's tied to the light and to the velvet dark. So for part of the year she visits her mother in the light, and brings with her growth and life, and for part of the year she goes back to the arms of Hades and her role as Queen of the Dead, so the earth lies dormant and cold for lack of her presence.

Well now, that brings up all sorts of possibilities for reading this card.  But the crux of it is changing directions, or turning away from one path to follow another, or moving your attention from one thing you love to another thing you love. It could even be moving into the underlying or deeper levels of a situation, or examining its hidden or shadow side, particularly of emotions, as this is a cups card. Eight of Cups is Water of Water, so this is the 'feelings of feelings' card. Maybe it's a time for doing some introspective journaling, or listening to music that amplifies your mood and just going with it, or immersing yourself in a book or film that brings out your emotions. Anything that helps you experience your emotions more fully and perhaps explore what lies beneath them. Most importantly, like Persephone, you get to come back from this journey. You don't have to choose one or the other. You can have both.

Or maybe you just need a big juicy bite of pomegranate, if you know what I'm sayin'.

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.

When emotions cloud the issue: the Lovers

Intuitive Tarot by Cilla Conway

The guidebook suggests these lovers are conjoined at the shoulder and chest, but I don't think they look any more conjoined than the male in the image looks armless -- I just thought the female's arm was tucked behind her. However, a lot is made of this 'conjoined' element in the text, so the artist must think it's really important.

To me, the conjoined element points to enmeshment, not in personal relationships for me at this moment, but in other kinds of emotions. Because Lovers also points to choices, and you know what I've been thinking about a lot lately. This Lovers card seems to warn against lack of boundaries and logic in choice making. Who is that sinister figure looming while the lovers remain distracted by their emotions?

It's no secret that I am involved in magical practice, and lately I've been asking my like-minded friends to contribute energy to my house search. Twice now I've found places I've been interested in, and have sent out a call for energy. Most of my friends offer it without hesitation, but last night I asked my niece, who has been practising magic a lot longer than I have, and she said something that brought me up short: 'Do you love this house or are you settling?' Whoa. I said I like the photos but haven't seen the house yet. She said go see it and talk to her again. 'I would 100% give my energy, but you need to feel your own first.' I told her yes, but that this house coming up right now seems portentous, because just Friday night we went for a walk on that street and I had wished for a house to come up on that street, and on Saturday morning the listing appeared! She was not impressed. 'Understood, but you haven't been in the space yet. Wishes are all fine and good, but sometimes...not so much. You need to cleanse and open channels and walk the space. Those of us that use our feelings or other parts of the mind are often susceptible to being pulled in to unhealthy situations. Do not jump before you think.' So I asked her what I should look for. 'It's not about looking for problems,' she said, 'It's about walking the space with an open mind -- shields and guards up of course -- but feel, and trust your gut. If anything feels off, not good. Just let go of any want for the house. If you walk in with expectations, that is not good. Be clinical. Not personal. Meditate and cleanse your mind before you go. Then let me know.' Now that right there is discernment and wisdom, folks. So the viewing is tomorrow night and tonight it's a cleansing ritual.

Anyway, so that's what the Lovers means to me today. Choices about enmeshment in my desire to own a house. Today is the day to separate my emotions and fears and baggage from logic. I had resolved to be logical in my house search, but in spite of myself I find myself setting my heart (somewhat) on something far before it's time to get emotionally involved, and sending out calls for support far before it's time for even me to commit to any sort of intention. That enmeshment in the process has to stop. Yes, the housing market is brutal and if you hesitate you lose out on a property. So be it. So be it.