29&30 May 20: Death & Ten of Wands reversed & Ten of Cups

Stop dying, start living. This is such a cool spread. I’m sitting here in semi-darkness smiling from ear to ear. Death, #13 of the Major Arcana and a Scorpio, doesn’t refer as often to physical death as a ‘seasonal change’, or a natural ending – complete and total transformation.

We always expect to see the sickle-slinging skeleton in the black hoodie in the future position of course, but instead, today we have one of the happiest cards in the deck, the 10 of Cups (Mars in Pisces/Cancer/Scorpio).

Celebration of Life

This is definitely putting something behind us, and today it seems that I could interpret a physical death, as the 10 of Wands, (Sagittarius/Aries/Leo) shows a human struggling along under an impossible weight he or she has taken on in the form of a huge load of logs. The suit of Fire talks about our spirit and passion, and in the upright is a difficult card. It’s overwhelming…but we made it.

10 = 1 + 0 = 1 and we have not 1 but 2 today, 3 cards that are talking about cycles ending and new beginnings, but also that talk about Spirit, love, and protection. When you have the 10 of Cups in your spread, 10 being the maximum of the suit of Love, Cups being associated with warm, squishy, sloshy hearts, you’re blessed.  10’s in the cards talks about a lot of people, so we could be looking at an upcoming wedding finally able to take place after having been long postponed. Or, a funeral. On the Morgan-Greer version of Death,  it is illustrated so that we are the ones offering Death a white rose in full bloom.  Although not pictured on the Morgan-Greer version of the 10 of Cups, white roses, of course, represent purity and are traditional in wedding bouquets. I could make a million marriage/death analogy jokes but it’s a natural ending of one cycle of life and the beginning of another. For those who appreciate death humor why not enjoy a few episodes of ‘Stupid Deaths’? (“They’re funny ’cause they’re truuuuue!”-Ed)

 

The heavy load borne by the ‘burnout’ of the 10 of Wands or Clubs also represents also whatever ‘weighs us down’ in Spirit: guilt, shame, feelings of failure. Even the ever-present awareness or even obsession with Death  just isn’t in the cards much longer.

 

As that Disney song says, ‘it’s a whole new world’. Whatever your ‘dark cloud’ is, on the 10 of Cups, it’s gone and there’s a rainbow in its place. It’s a beautiful card. You are loved, wanted, protected, and absolutely content. What more could you possibly want. (Or have wanted? -Reaper)

 

Glasses are lifted, toasts are made. The past is peacefully laid to rest, and life goes on.

 

 

 

The End.

 

 

27&28 May 20: Three of Cups & Queen of Swords & reversed Queen of Wands

That was then, this is now. See this sword? Asks the Queen of Swords, dead center, sword upright and always at the ready. She is unflinching: there is no avoiding her sharp stare.

Yes ma’am, we do.

A minute detail I’ve never really noticed about the Queen’s of Swords’ double-edged weapon on the Morgan-Greer card is that it is shaded darker on the right side of the blade than the left, which is interesting, because the typically bright and fiery Queen of Wands, coming up in the future and in the reverse, is truly a ‘dark cloud’. It’s almost as if the incoming dark cloud were being reflected – or deflected – by the steely Sword. We don’t know why this is but it’s certainly something or someone we have to be careful of, says the Queen of Swords, or, of course, be careful of not being ourselves.(Aries/Sagittarius/Leo).

I’m thinking of a beach after a storm when things wash up that have been buried for a long time. Years, decades, centuries, even. Here’s an old shoe, here’s a gold coin, here’s a beautiful shell,  here’s a…syringe?

Retrogrades ‘bring back’ all kinds of things, but the Queen of Swords is not asking us to be discerning about what, who or why we’re ‘revisiting’ or why someone may be ‘revisiting’ us,  she’s telling us to be smart. Keep your guard up, says this sharp-eyed, sharp-tongued Queen of Air.

The 3 of Cups in the past position shows 3 friends drinking together at a table. A party card, a happy card, this is – or was – ‘our tribe’ at one time. (Pisces/Cancer/Scorpio.) I’m hearing ‘3 Muskateers’. One for all, all for one, that kind of thing. It’s nice. A lot of good memories there. There may be, though, one of you in trouble. These 2 Queens, male, female, or any combination of the 2 based on Astrological DNA look older than they did back in their party days, Queens representing biological adults in the Tarot.

I feel like this is someone coming back into your life who, for Olde Tyme’s sake, you want to help in some way and they certainly need it. The problem is that the reversed Queen of Wands is a supremely dysfunctional card with his or her own agenda. He or she is today’s PTA, aka the Person To Avoid. Jealous and temperamental, he or she is the OG ‘green eyed monster.

I like this spread, though, because the Queen of Swords is well in control. You’ve certainly come to the right person for advice if you’ve come to the Queen of Swords, but you may not like what you hear. The truth hurts, says the Amazing Cliche Generator App. The Swords are well known for ‘cutting away’ things, people, and even any of our own negative thinking or behaviors that no longer serve our highest good. The Queen of Swords is the intellectual of the Queens: she’s a harsh critic, but knows what she’s talking about, and in the center today, she’s talking straight to Us.

You may have a particularly lethal ‘look’ or ‘stare’,  as in ‘looking daggers’ and  ‘if looks could kill’, that sort of thing. Nobody wants to get ‘the look’ from you.

You may possibly have been the one of your ‘crew’ or family to pursue a higher education, goal, or degree. For whatever reason, today her powerful energy is present and not to be ignored. The Queen of Swords demands the truth. He or she appreciates her past and the people in it, but the Queen of Wands in the reverse is somebody who shouldn’t be having the problems they’re having. You can’t save everybody, as many warm memories as you may have of good times in the past.

The Queen of Swords seems to be the oldest in the spread, and is known in Olden Tymes as ‘The Widow’s Card’. We have a card of cold, hard logic in between 2 very ‘social’ cards, one in the past and one reversed in the future.

Someone may mistake your kindness for weakness, and of course, we all have ‘soft spots’ for certain people that have been integral to our lives or with whom we’ve shared good times: co-workers, friends, family.

The Queen of Wands in the reverse actually does literally represent an actress or someone who should be. In this position, and definitely not showing her ‘best side’, she is the OG Drama Queen. In the reverse, his or her own impulsive, passionate  nature is probably what’s gotten him or her in trouble – again. This vivacious, attractive Queen of Wands  is ‘onstage’ wherever he or she goes, but in the reverse, the attention she’s getting  isn’t the ‘good’ kind of attention.

Keep your guard up, says the Queen of Swords.

 

25&26 May 20: Four of Coins & Strength & The Fool

 

Brave New World. Not necessarily the Aldous Huxley classic novel of dark science fiction foretelling a bleak and soulless future, the Fool is arguable the most optimistic card in the Tarot.

We have a card of holding on for dear life and a card of letting go, trusting the universe and taking a chance. Which is it going to be?

This is a great one. #8, Strength, and #0, The Fool, are both of the Major Arcana although the Fool is in a class by himself – or herself. Rules do not apply to this character. Illustrated in the Wild Unknown Tarot as a little duckling nervously perched on a branch, nobody told him ducks don’t live in trees . The stubby little duckling or gosling also looks ready to hop off the branch, unaware of their inability to fly. How do I know I can’t if I don’t give it a try, says the ever optimistic Fool.  This is one of the strongest spreads (for my own study and entertainment purposes only) we could receive if we were waiting for good news about health, either our own or someone close to us, or, I would like to hope, all of us.  

The 4 of Coins in the past position is the very picture of someone ‘keeping to themselves’, even walled off behind a gray stone wall on the Morgan-Greer card.  Strength, in the center, is exactly that, and one of the ‘healing’ cards.

On the other hand, the world-traveling Fool can represent a world-traveling virus, and these cards refer to African locations, my next level of learning. The individual Tarot cards also represent countries, continents, states and cities. 

The materialistic hoarder of the 4 of Coins, (Mars in Capricorn/Taurus/Virgo) clutching his or her 4 gold pentacles looks petty and desperate beside these 2 powerful Major Arcana. This human on the Olde Tyme card is perceived as ‘hugging his money’, so tightly does he have his or her arms wrapped around his or her gold. Admire it, desire it, don’t you wish you had it? 

Or: it may be that our frugal ways in the past are exactly why we’re in, if we are fortunate, a ‘position of strength’ presently financially and physically. We can’t control what’s going on out there but we always have control over our own behavior and actions. 

Strength, in the center, is positioned higher than the other cards, and it is. This is our higher self overcoming our more ‘animal’ qualities, or ‘base’ instincts, if you will, excessive materialism, selfishness and greed included. 

This is a major change, and whole new chapter.

Perhaps you’re one of the people who see this whole pandemic as a ‘reset’ button on your own life or the world at large,.

The Fool does not face forward, however, in this picture, which means he or she is coming towards us in the center. They’re entertaining, witty, and without guile, and possibly starting ‘from zero’ themselves, in which case you’ll be a source of strength and comfort. There are still good reasons to take care of yourself, as the 4 of Coins does.  ‘Put your mask on first before helping others’ has never been such literal – and universal – advice. If you are a health care worker, you may be called to pack a bag and help out in some remote or rural or underserved location. 

The woman in the white dress of the Strength card often represents a nurse or veterinarian or dentist, in which case being too ‘cheap’ to maintain scheduled checkups or office visits may in the future prove to have been, of course, foolish. 

The potential of these 2 cards powerful energies combined  is almost blessed; somehow our past life may now feel trivial  and  shallow .

 

Or: if the duckling jumps off the branch, catch it – they trust you.

23&24 May 20: Two of Wands & Knight of Cups reversed & Ten of Swords

It’s Not The End of the World. We haven’t seen too many cards from the suit of love and emotion lately. People have other things on their minds these days. But today we have the romantic Knight of Cups in the center, who, in the reverse, is someone you may want to stay ‘socially distanced’ from, depending on who you ask.

This charmer is of the suit of Water, of course, Pisces/Scorpio/Cancer. He’s the Knight in Shining Armor. Unlike the King of his (or her) suit, who has mastered control over his emotions, this Knight may be emotionally up one minute and down the next. This Knight in the reverse is prone to fantasy and unrealistic expectations – or, we could be the ones with the rose-colored glasses on, projecting our own romantic fantasies on to this human who, unfortunately, does not feel the same about us.

Venus in retrograde can bring back all kinds of ex-partners, friends and lovers, but I can’t find many things said about the reversed Knight of Cups  that are very flattering, and do your best to keep him (or her) away from the bar.  The nicest thing I can say about this Knight is that they’re hopefully not a bad person, just screwed up. But there is a chance that this sweet-talker is taking advantage of your feelings for them when in fact it may be something else they want from you. Flattery will get you everywhere, says the reversed Knight of Cups. But there is, of course, another interpretation. This Knight could be, for some reason, unable to express or confess his or her deepest feelings: this Knight is famous for his or her proclamations of love, but in the reverse, there is either no love to proclaim no matter what he or she says, or they are unable to express or identify their own feelings, much less control them.  This is, any way you look at, an offer, proposal or declaration of love that isn’t, won’t, or can’t be made.

In the past is a card about the future, the 2 of Wands (Sagittarius/Aries/Leo). This is a card of collaboration and partnership, but it’s all business – mutually beneficial business. Following the Ace, of course, the 2 and 3 now consider expansion and growth. It’s an exciting card, but there is only one thing on this human’s mind as he discusses future plans with a potential partner, holding a globe in one hand and a tall staff in the other – it’s strictly business, and all about them.

It may very well simply be a matter of physical distance – the active and high spirited suit of Wands loves to travel, and obviously, so do Knights on horseback. The quarantining and isolating and sheltering away from each other may be ‘killing’ a relationship, and that Knight of Cups in the reverse just can’t help himself or herself – you’re probably not the only one Zooming or Face-timing or whatever it is you’re doing to try to keep – or get – a relationship going.

I’m sorry about this, actually. This is a person you or someone really had planned to build a life with.

The 10 of Swords in the upright is a card of ‘ruin’, and, in the upcoming position, in the reverse, this screwed-up character could have or may very well be or cause yours. He or she may even want to see you fail. (Libra/Gemini/Aquarius).  The bleeding human with the swords in his back – all 10 of them – has been ‘stabbed in the back’ too many times.

Whether in a business or romantic partnership, this spread warns against mixing business with pleasure.

Very interesting cards. This can also talk about all kinds of scams or offers that seem ‘too good to be true’.

Consider yourself lucky. If this is/was a romantic interest, this person could or could have caused your downfall.

Never mind: I see you’re over it already.

10 = 1 + 0 =

1

21&22 May 20: Seven of Wands reversed & Eight of Coins reversed & The Star

The Cards Never Lie. With the gorgeous Star, one of the ‘healing cards’ of the Tarot and #17 of the Major Arcana in the ‘future’ position, we have every reason to be optimistic. Inspiration is one of the things money can’t buy, and we are about to be encouraged and inspired in some way.

We are lucky to have the card of inspiration, hope and healing to look forward to, because the rest of the picture as illustrated by the reversed 7 of Wands (Leo/Sagittarius/Aries) and the 8 of Coins (Capricorn/Taurus/Virgo), also in the reverse. is not very encouraging.

Back in the day, Mr. Baker was called Mr. Baker because he was the baker. Mrs. Shoemaker was married to the shoemaker. Mr. Smyth, of course, was the blacksmith.The 7 of Wands is a card of public recognition. Even if you aren’t a public figure, generally speaking, the general public knows you by what it is you do. In the Zodiac, the Houses for ‘work’ and ‘career’ are at 2 different places on the wheel – they are not necessarily the same thing.

Both of these cards are goal and success-oriented. Obviously, in the reverse, work and the overachieving energies represented by these 2 cards are blocked, which is of course, nothing we need cards to make us aware of. In the reverse, we for some reason are lacking motivation, confidence, ambition or a goal, or simply, our goals have changed. Looking at that reversed hero on horseback parading his award on the 7 of Wands I can see a cancelled graduation, or even worse, whatever diploma that was being received was possibly for an industry that may at present not even exist, or may not be as prestigious or lucrative an occupation as it once was, causing you to want to give up altogether.

This can also mean efforts unrecognized or unrewarded.  Depending on your astrological DNA more than anything else, the prestige and position is essential to your identity and ego – you need constant affirmation and validation – it can be said and we need the people who need us.   The 6 of Wands is about admiration, even idolization. When this card shows up, we are to ask ourselves if we are leaders or followers. Are we the hero leading the parade, or one of those admiring from the sidelines? In the reverse, while the money, fame, and attention may have once been the goal, the game has changed, in a manner of speaking.

The 8 of Coins, showing the blue-collared worker forever hunched over his bench (or desk, or stove) stamping out the same thing day after day is most likely who these cards are talking about when it comes to unrecognized efforts, because the futuristic Star of the Major Arcana and a New-Age Aquarian, brings all sorts of cutting edge technology and innovation – as in robots replacing workers on the assembly line. The daily news  rivals any science fiction, which is also ruled by the Star.

The Star, is here to take us higher. It’s my favorite card of the entire deck. You may not want to go back to work or to who and what and even maybe where you were before.

Perhaps you sense there is a higher purpose for you here on Earth.

The Star also encourages self-care. The serene bathing lady on the card peacefully kneeling in the grass by the cool water is relaxing to look at. All things pertaining to new-age health care: tonics, waters, saunas, spas and hydro-therapies are also suggested. You may be inspired to enter the health care or alternative health care profession yourself: I have a friend who, after a horrible accident in which he very nearly lost his life if not at least his limbs and certainly his job, was so inspired by the care he received from his nurses he decided to become one. I’d certainly want him looking after me if I were in the hospital, he was born to be a nurse.

 

 

What do I do now? – everybody

 

19&20 May 20: Three of Swords & Ten of Cups reversed & Ace of Coins reversed

Let it go. The worst is over, it would seem. If the card of grief and sorrow, the 3 of Swords, must turn up at all at least let it be in the past position which is where it is today.

The 3 of Swords Anything that left you feeling ‘stabbed through the heart’. Divorce, breakups, betrayals, the Wild Unknown card shows 3 swords tangled together in blood-red ribbons – or veins, drops of blood dripping from the sharp tips.  Ouch.

This is actually a great little spread. If we aren’t happy today, here, and now, according to these cards at least, today it may be on us – our holding on to some past ‘hurt’ is in the way of our happiness today, and yes, we may have been the one to have caused or created these ‘wounds’ not only our own, but someone else’s as well.

You couldn’t ask for 2 better cards in ‘today’s’ and ‘tomorrow’s’ places than the 10 of Cups (Pisces/Cancer/Scorpio) and the Ace of Coins, Pentacles or Earth (Taurus/Virgo/Capricorn). They’re almost too good, actually. It’s all here: the perfect marriage, family, kids, home, life. The imagery of the  2 cards combined is dreamlike: roses, rainbows, a gold ring and a lovely garden path. They are beautiful cards. Why are they in the reverse? This is the fantasizing, forever romantic Pisces energy  wearing rose-colored glasses.

This sad and sometimes guilt-ridden 3 of Swords has no place in this spread, and for a Minor Arcana card in the past position seems to be throwing quite the shadow over the reversed 10 of Cups, the card of family harmony and emotional fulfillment. A black sky threatens to invade the joyous, multicolored space shared by 10 white cups, shooting soft, straight rays of red, green, blue, orange and yellow back and forth between them, all forming a gorgeous, safe sphere of white light. (Wild Unknown Tarot.)

This could be something ‘tangled up’, possibly the ‘red tape’ of a painful divorce or anything else preventing you from experiencing the potential riches of the rest of this picture, but it seems it’s our own holding on to past hurts or losses that is keeping us from being happy today. This Ace of Swords can talk about banking, so an inheritance or anything relating to the family business could be held up by some ‘clash’ in the past – this past position today I’m feeling is way back there…

You’re in the way of your own happiness and prosperity, say the cards. Nothing is perfect .and everybody gets hurt. It would be a shame to pass up ‘near-perfection’ for an unattainable fantasy, or because of a painful past – this gives me a ‘throwing the baby out with the bathwater’ vibe.

Always recycle, says the earth-conscious Ace of Coins.

Aces are always new beginnings, opportunities, or offers having to do with money, career,  contracts or marriage. This is the suit that lives IRL. This Ace is a gift, and a very powerful card. If these cards were upright, our lives would be ‘perfect’ but it’s exactly believing there is such a thing as ‘perfect’ that we’re not, if that makes sense. Unrealistic expectations of yourself and life in general is only hurting you and other people, who are probably only trying to love you, and, like you, are not perfect.

Carpe diem. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

17&18 May 20: Four of Wands reversed & The Magician reversed & Four of Cups

Settling for less. I was going to name this reversed Magician the ‘Person to Avoid’ today, as he or she classically represents the quintessential ‘snake oil’ or ‘used car’ salesman type – someone may be trying to ‘sell’ you something . As I type this my beloved and long-suffering  ‘vO watches the sun rise from a lonely dirt road out on the mesa having, I’m pretty sure, given up the burning, acrid, smokey ghost. Odds are that out of the endless stream of texts and e-mails yesterday from every used car dealer within 100 miles there was a reversed Magician among them. I need a car as soon as possible, of course, but once you’ve had a Volvo, nothing else will do…possibly an older Mercedes or Jaguar. They’re giving those away, and yes, I can haul hay in either.

I digress.

The card of good times and sociability, the joyous Four of Wands (Venus in Aries/Sagittarius/Leo) is today, in the reverse, anything but. There isn’t anything on this card you don’t know already or are not being bombarded with everyday from every angle. Cancelled, postponed,  what should be a party is not, people who should be together are not, and all the people around events and gatherings and shows and performances such as caterers and bakers, florists, drivers, musicians, birthday party clowns and Magicians, all over the world, are screwed.

A 4 can often represent 4 wheels on a car, and in the reverse or ‘belly up’, you don’t have to read cards to get that message, but that’s for me. The coolant light didn’t come on, what can I say. #burnout. Not me, the car. (You sure? -Ed)

These cards don’t feel good. What should be a harmonious card is dissonant; we feel out of touch and disconnected, even vulnerable, and indeed we are. 2 x 4 ( think of the 4 walls you know oh so very well by now) are too many walls closing in and it’s a claustrophobic, cranky and irritable energy.  You may even be forced to, at this point, for whatever reason, move.

The 4 of Cups in the upcoming position is of the suit of emotion which is Water, Pisces/Cancer/Scorpio.  Is it possible someone may feel a bit like this character on the Morgan-Greer card, whose face is barely visible, so grown over is he or she with green vines and leaves, having been sitting there for so long.  This is inertia, more discontent, and can be taking people or anything else for that matter for granted. 3 cups have already been served to this apathetic man or woman as yet another is offered from the mysterious and divine Skyhand from a golden cloud, but nothing appeals. This card is unsatisfied – and it’s it’s own fault. It’s a picky, picky card.

The Magician is ruled by Mercury and associated with both Gemini and Virgo and, in the reverse, can represent someone whose talents or position are impressive but he or she also has a bit of an ego. #1 of the Major Arcana, he or she is impossible to ignore today, or ever.

However: the Magician can only do his or her magic when all the talismans laid before them, representing the 4 elements, are in place (wand, coin, cup, sword). It is the perfect ‘climate’ for ripoffs.

Or:

‘I’d love to make you a cheese omelet, honey, but we don’t have any cheese and I’m not a f****** Magician!’ At least try the fake bacon.”

This is a hard one to lighten up. The little bits and minutes of social connection and attempts at interaction aren’t enough, but we have to take what we can get, and should be, according to the sometimes lacking-in-gratitude 4 of Cups, grateful for it, but we do not feel that way. The explanations offered are, judging by the jungle of leaves that have grown over the ears of the human on the 4 of Cups, are either not being believed or accepted.

The Magician may be wanting to make a change of some kind in what looks like a rather uninspired, cold or tense home environment, possibly involving both where he or she lives and with whom. This could also be someone who wasn’t honest with you in the past, and you may now- unfairly –  reject other perfectly honest, loving offers of friendship and/or other more intimate relationships.

If this isn’t someone trying to sell you a used car this may be suggesting that you yourself are the Magician and you’re the one holding the power in this spread  (of course you do) and you are the one responsible for the environment at home and it is your own inaction that is affecting everyone around you.

Musicians want to play, actors want to be on stage, venues want to open, the kids want real birthday parties, but only 4 people may be allowed in, and it’s just not the same.

However, there is magic to be made! You can make fresh mozzarella from milk and white vinegar. YOUTUBE it, it’s amazing.

I know. It’s not much, but it’s something.