22 October 18: Six of Swords

There’s nothing more for me here, I must move on. There is something I find melancholy about this 6 of Air (Libra/Gemini/Aquarius). This isn’t a particularly happy card, but it is a hopeful one, and one we should find encouraging. Home is always home, troubled as it may be.

Here is a boat, itself an ancient symbol of transition, and a human stands at the stern with his or her back to us pushing the boat away with a long pole, like an Italian gondolier. Huddled low in the boat is a shrouded figure, who is traditionally depicted as  a woman, often with a  child seated beside her. On this Morgan-Greer card, we see only the one rather sad passenger draped in a blue shroud so dark it looks almost black, indicating a darkened and dampened spirit. It’s almost the same color as the choppy water they’re steering out of – but we can see smooth, clean, aqua – blue open water ahead. Perhaps this kind captain has saved this person or these people.

Taking up a whole lot of space in the front of the boat are 6 tall swords stuck blade-down, standing straight up like masts. The boat is heavy, and only a few inches above the water. Swords are of the mind, and can represent ideas. This human isn’t understood at home,  so he’s off to find like minds somewhere else. This is a card of science.

This is all about finding peace and a place where we feel we are understood, where we harmonize with others who ‘get’ us.  Water in the Tarot represents emotions, and it’s plain they are moving on from stormy, volatile ‘waters’ into calm and tranquility.

But swords are double-edged, and hopefully this isn’t mental ‘baggage’ he’s bringing along with him. As they say, no matter where you go, there you are.

I read this card recently and in the spread the passenger in the boat was in spirit, not a fleshy, which told me someone was with the traveling human in spirit who was and is the inspiration and motivation for this somewhat painful but necessary journey.

If this is your move, it’s worth it. Good luck.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

20 October 18: Three of Wands

Follow me shouts the human from the edge of a tall cliff from where he can see further than the rest of us (Rider-Waite). The is an Aries card but Leo and Sagittarius can be and are also represented by this inspired, passionate suit of Fire.

This is about leadership. You ‘fire people up’ with your vision, enthusiasm and drive. I’m all in with this human, whoever they are.

One of the many interesting concepts of the ICHING (Chinese Book of Changes) is that of leadership. Generally, rather than the idea of a ‘leader’ as a drum major leading a parade of followers,  ‘the center’ is to whom everyone looks to for guidance, wisdom, and counsel: a woman’s role in the home. When the ‘center’ is off, everything’s off.

On the Morgan-Greer card, the caped human with their back to us is looking way off out into the distance. Although we don’t see him standing on a cliff, he is eye-level with the mountains he sees out there, so we know his vantage point is one from some altitude. He or she is a visionary. In fact  there are no mountains higher than his own feverish human head. He sees no obstacles, only his destination.

One tall staff is held in the left hand, another in his right, and standing behind his back is the third. They form a triangle around him, and he or she is at the center. 

This is the card of the visionary with the ‘long view’. The breakthrough artist, writer, inventor, or even actual explorer. This sometimes means travel or trade by water. We don’t see any water on this desert landscape, but he’s the team leader and says the ocean is just over those mountains.

That third branch – starting to sprout, as they all do, with new energy – seems to be planted in the ground. This human could have established a business or name for himself where he is and is thinking of expanding, possibly overseas. New territory, new readers, new fans or followers, new investors.

If they don’t ‘get you’ where you’re at, take it somewhere they do.

 

 

19 Oct 18: Wheel of Fortune, reversed

Not the day for Vegas. Of all the things I could say about this Grand Card of Destiny of the Major Arcana, the Wheel of Fortune, I’ll start with the obvious. You don’t have to read Tarot to understand this card.

You certainly do for the arcane olde tyme images which could have you studying this one card for years: Egyptology, the Kabbalah, Hebrew, Torah, Astrology, Mythology and Numerology (10=1+0 =1, a cycle ends so that another can begin) create the code that is the message of the great Wheel. However, the Morgan-Greer deck keeps thing mercifully simple. A King and Queen sit high in the sky atop a great spoked wheel, having a grand old time. They both wear gold crowns and he lifts a gold cup in celebration. We’re on top of the f’n world, he sings to his  lucky Queen, who sits up high beside him, resplendent in a royal purple gown. The lucky planet of expansion, jolly Jupiter, rules this card as well as happy-go-lucky Sagittarius – what could go wrong? The King toasts their good fortune.

From stage left out of the white fluffy clouds sneaks the infamous giant Skyhand of the Tarot, who turns the Wheel by means of a golden handle attached to the center of the spokes like an axle.

Stage right we see the flailing legs and feet of a peasant who has just been thrown off the Wheel altogether, with a long way to fall. He was just on top a minute ago!

Let’s turn it upside down.

This is a turning point, and not just for you. There are others on this card as well. The human cast to the bottom is now on top, and the King and Queen on the bottom.

This is all about a cycle.

You’re riding high in April, shot down in May -Sinatra

Or, think of the poor singer in Journey who apparently was not copied on the itinerary yet still placed his trust and faith in the ever-turning Wheel in the Sky to have him where he needed to be when he needed to be there.

If you’re down on your luck right now, you won’t be forever.

One of the keywords of this card is Destiny, which is where it gets complicated. This is a life-changing twist of fate or a literal ‘turn of events’ you didn’t see coming, and can make us wish ‘major turning points’ in life didn’t always have to be so jarring.

This is the shit over which we have no control, but you’re not alone. Learn to recognize and appreciate the ending of a natural cycle rather than fight it. Every phase of life has it’s own challenges and rewards.

This reminds me of the old Chinese adage about change being thrust upon you if you don’t recognize the need/time for it yourself. This is that.  Fortunes come and go, and the Wheel turns for everyone.

Enjoy the ride while it lasts…and drive safely.

 

 

 

 

18 October 18: Eight of Swords, reversed

Free your mind, and the rest will follow.  This angst-ridden card of self-limitation is an interesting draw after yesterday’s, and I’m actually glad to see it today in reverse.

This sharp card of Air (Gemini/Libra/Aquarius) is described ad nauseam in the WordPress archives and the image is uncomfortable: a human stands on a deserted shore, eight swords stuck in the sand in a circle shape around her forming ‘prison bars’ that are spaced far enough apart that she could certainly squeeze out if she wanted to. She is also loosely bound with ropes that she could easily slip out of. But the blindfold she wears tells us she isn’t even looking for a way out of this situation. Why not? Is it that hopeless?

Some people are more comfortable with the ‘devil they know’ than the ‘devil they don’t’. The job is shitty, but at least it’s a job. This relationship is shitty, but at least I’m not alone (even though she looks pretty lonely to us). I hate living here, but where else is there to go? Well you’ll never know, lady, if you don’t take the blindfold off and look.

Yesterday’s beautiful and talented but reversed Queen of Cups showed us someone who has everything going for her but is limited by her insecurity, emotional instability, laziness and behavior. I dedicate this morning’s card and x-tra large Circle K cup of Organic Dark Roast Mexico to her.

Reversed, the swords as prison bars have fallen away. The blindfold has fallen off, and the ropes drop.  She realizes now there never were any ‘prison bars’ except those of her own making in her own mind. She was blind to the opportunities all around her. This is no easy thing for our human, all this freedom. The Number 8 means she’s ‘had the power all along’.

It’s possible, of course, that this is a release from some kind of physical restriction or bondage, even a hospital stay involving some physical therapy of some kind, or an actual release from prison or jail.

Either way, this is an important and welcome message. Subconsciously or consciously, most of the time, we impose our own restrictions on ourselves, and only we can ‘break ourselves out’.

The good news is you have the power.

 

 

 

 

 

 

17 October 18: Queen of Cups, reversed

“It’s hard to love her when she’s like this.”

“Oh no. What is it now?”

This lovely blonde Queen of Water (Cancer/Pisces/Scorpio) is dressed in dream-blue and wears an eccentric and lovely crown of seashells and pearls – probably created especially for her by one of her famous artist friends – and holds her soup-bowl sized cup with both delicate, pale hands. She stands by the sea in front of a giant white seashell. It’s like when you hold a seashell up to your ear and listen for the sound of the sea: this psychic Queen is well in tune with the mysteries of the deep and beyond. That shell is huge and it looks loud (Morgan-Greer deck). Turn it down.

This is the poetic dreamer, in love with love. She’s the beloved mother, sister, wife. Upright, she’s artistic, psychic, spiritual, imaginative, has natural talent for fine art and dance, but isn’t very confident and can be delicate in both body and mind. She’s a very romantic and emotional Queen, easily moved to tears and feels deeply others’ pain and suffering.

Reversed, she’s all over the place. Emotional instability, addictions, drama and more drama. Questionable morality and manipulative, passive-aggressive tendencies.

Or is she an empath:

Empath (chiefly in science fiction) a person with the paranormal ability to apprehend the mental or emotional state of another individual.

Doesn’t sound, or seem, so ‘paranormal’ to me, ask any mother with a child in pain. These people often show up in the form of what we call ‘people pleasers’. This Queen is one, probably because she suffered some kind of emotional damage in the past. The problem is that you can’t please everyone, and there are people certainly not worth the effort.  She may be ‘shutting down’ emotionally altogether, probably with the help of alcohol or drugs. She doesn’t want to hear what her own intuition is telling her. She looks around the party and realizes she doesn’t even like these people.

The ‘I’m a victim’ thing is getting old. You’re a grown-ass Queen, act like one.

 

 

 

16 October 18 Four of Cups

Letting life go by. On this frustrating card of the Minor Arcana we usually see a human sitting cross-legged under a tree, arms folded, not going anyware. Leave me alone.

He or she seems to be lost in thought, not even looking up to notice, acknowledge or accept an offer from the notorious Skyhand of the Tarot a beautiful, big, shiny, gold goblet. Cups in the Tarot are always full o’love, but he already has 3 cups sitting on the ground before him, untouched, contents evaporated and wasted. Why our human is not currently participating in life is a bit of a mystery.

Has he been so disillusioned with love that he no longer want anything to do with it? They’re all starting to look alike to him. These women – I mean, these cups. They’re all the same. They’ll never be another one like_______________.

I’m even sick of myself. 

He must meditate on this.

I do prefer the Morgan-Greer image of a human so lost in their own world he or she is oblivious to the green vines that have been slowly growing over them. We only see a bit of face peeking out, they’ve been sitting there so long.

On this card, the stability of the 4 has calcified into emotional numbness and apathy. The contents of the cups – representing the emotional suit of Water (Pisces/Cancer/Scorpio) -stagnate and sour before him.

How can he or she choose to be so disconnected? Why?

How could I have wasted/why am I wasting my life in/on this/that last relationship/job? 

Sooner or later, we hope, he’ll get up and dust his ass off and move on to the 5, where he’ll cry a little over ‘spilled milk’ and at least realize he can no longer live this way, and although I think the word is overused and misused, healing can begin.

That next offer may be the One, but if he doesn’t make some kind of move that ivy will finally close over him and, well, out of sight, out of mind.

Don’t bother asking him/her, they won’t come anyway.

I’m sorry for this person, but life has much to offer.

He may someday wish he hadn’t refused those cups.

 

 

15 October 18: Ten of Clubs

The burden of success. A burden we’d all like to have, you would think, depending on your idea of ‘success’. If it’s basically simply to accomplish what one sets out to do, this human, staggering under the weight of the huge bundle of heavy, wooden sprouting branches he carries, has. He is barely able to hold on to them all. In fact, he can’t even see where he’s going anymore, his head is down as he struggles along, intent on shouldering this load all by himself. Ruled by the heavy, serious disciplinarian Saturn, this overwhelmed human of the suit of Fire (Sagittarius/Leo/Aries) has worked himself to the point of burnout, so it looks like he won’t be enjoying that ‘success’ as much as he thought he would.

I’ll do it myself, he had said back at the Ace when he was all fired up over this idea, plan, project or job in the first place, or had started up his new company and felt he couldn’t say ‘no’ to any potential new assignment or contract and now he’s headed for an early grave trying to deliver on all his promises and deadlines. He’s plainly bitten off more than he can chew. These are not ‘burdens’ placed upon him but things he’s taken on willingly, and now he’s stressed, pressured and sleep-deprived, working day and night. He’s very much in demand, but can’t or doesn’t enjoy his success.

Our human’s face is grim.

Would he rather be throwing himself into his work than go home? Is he having problems at home? Maybe his or her spouse is running up the credit card bills.

Why do I have to do all the work in this relationship? 

Is he or she or you a workaholic needing a vacation at least? Good luck talking them into it.. all work and no play, etc. etc. etc.

This suit does like to travel (usually for work), but it looks like somebody overpacked for this trip. Better dump something, those overweight baggage fees will kill you.

Lighten up.