Today, I’m giving a talk on a product I sell, and I did a quickie 3-card reading for advice. I chose three positions:

1. What I should do
2. What I shouldn’t do
3. Important consideration(s)

The Reading

I used my Universal Waite Deck and got these three cards:

If the picture’s not clear, these are The Lovers, 4 Pentacles, and Queen Swords.

First off, the two air cards overwhelm the central earth card. This emphasizes that the presentation (a webinar), is all about conversation and ideas rather than physical presence or money. Ok, makes sense.

Having the Lovers in the “what to do” position tells me that I should be trying to create a community and bring people together in harmony with my talks. If I can do that, the sales will follow. Also, as this is a major arcana card, I view it more as on ongoing process I should be undertaking, rather than something I can do in one shot with this talk.

The 4 Pentacles, in this context, speaks to me about fear and protecting yourself, and positioning yourself in a place of “power” (semi-sarcastic quotes due to the Chesed/demiurge aspect of the card). Possibly, it could refer as well to pushing to close individual sales. Grab the low-hanging fruit, if you will. This position says: don’t do that. The sales will come as a natural part of the process.

The important consideration is the Queen of Swords, who dominates Libra. This tells me that, yeah, I should be trying to bring people together and create a sense of community, but I shouldn’t compromise my principles or play favorites to do it. I should be diplomatic, even-handed, and logical with people. At the same time, I should stand by my decisions. Tough but fair.

Not a bad reading, for just three cards, if you ask me!

Someone was asking me about a series of classes they were considering taking. I assigned three positions:

1. Take the classes if …
2. Don’t take the classes if …
3. Important consideration(s)

… and I pulled a main card and three support cards for each (as I described in this article).

The cards (from my Universal Waite Deck) fell this way:

Take the Classes If …

For this position, we got 3 Cups, supported by 7 Pentacles, Wheel, and 3 Wands. I saw Jupiter (wheel) fighting back the constrictive force of Saturn in Taurus (7 Pent), making way for the Sun to shine in Aries (3 Wands). But, not yet, as the Wands are at odds with the watery main card 3 Cups. That puts the immediate focus on celebrating the accomplishment itself, rather than what the accomplishment makes possible. So I responded:

“By taking the classes, you could gain new skills that could expand your possibilities in the future. You’ll be more confident about your prospects, which will be especially good if you have a nagging dissatisfaction with what you are doing now. But I see that result a bit in the future… for now, you’ll feel good about having taken steps in that direction, and possibly meeting similar people in the process.”

Don’t Take the Classes If …

Here we have the High Priestess, supported by 5 Wands, 5 Swords, and 2 Swords. Here, we get a glimpse that the classes aren’t entirely a rosy experience. We have Saturn in play again in the 5 Wands showing multiple impulses at an impasse. Unlike the first position, Jupiter will not come to our aid this time… instead we get the bitchier side of Venus in Aquarius (5 Swords)… so there could be arguments either in class, or in the other parts of her life that are stressed by the new activity eating up time. Lunar energy dominates this position, in both the High Priestess and the 2 Swords (Moon in Libra). So, it would seem that we do end up in a state of peace and balance, but only underneath a turbulent surface. So, I said:

“I wouldn’t take the classes unless you feel confident deep down that it’s in line with your needs right now. There will be difficulties, perhaps in terms of the material, or competing approaches to it that may not agree with you. Tension between you and others could cause arguments that strain your relationships. You can still achieve balance despite this, but make sure it’s worth it to you to go through all that.”

Important Consideration

Here, we got the Fool, supported by 8 Swords, Page of Pentacles, and Page of Wands. So there is elemental conflict between the Page of Pentacles and the 8 of Swords. To me, this position is about what would happen if she just waltzes into the situation blindly (Fool). It indicates that if she has too many things going on in her life, or merely in her mind, then expanding the list (8 Swords is Jupiter in Gemini) is probably not good for her ability to study and learn (Page Pentacles). And I can even see this leading to her blowing off the class for things that seem more important at the moment (Page of Wands/Fool). So I said:

“Keep in mind that you shouldn’t make this decision lightly. If your life is already hectic, then adding a set of classes to the list will not help…. you might find that you end up dropping the classes, or at least not performing at your potential.”

Today’s reading was simply for “what are tarot cards for?” On one hand, meta-questions like this seem a bit silly. But, on the other hand, you never know what kinds of insights might spring up. Buddhists spend plenty of time pondering Buddhism, after all. Same idea!

I used my Universal Waite Deck for this reading. And, I think it’s one of the first readings I’ve done with positional meanings since the Reader’s Studio. I’ve been on a real free-form reading kick lately.

Anyway, I did my overlapping 3-position spread with positions for “what tarot is,” “what tarot isn’t, ” and “important considerations.”

I thought the insights from this reading were interesting… not quite what I expected to see going into it. The cards here seem to speak to the notion that performing a tarot reading is effectively a magickal action in and of itself, rather than just a passive information-gathering activity. Also prevalent were themes of spirituality and reaching beyond the basic human desires and needs, difficult though that may be. Very cool.

What Tarot Is

So, for “what tarot is,” we got The Fool, supported by 6 Wands, Knight Wands, and Judgement. Interesting that both trumps involved here are elemental, bringing raw Air and Fire energy to this portion of the spread. Interesting, too, that those same trumps are also attributed with energy of transpersonal planets Uranus and Pluto, respectively. The Fool’s Uranus is said to be the higher octave of the Sun and Mercury, which calls to mind the notion of the “higher self.” Of the three card groups in this reading, this is also the least conflicted position from an elemental standpoint. We have Air in the fool supported by three fire cards.

I would put all that together with the traditional card meanings to say: Tarot is bursting with energy meant to be harnessed actively (even daringly and disruptively, one could argue) to bring about and get in contact with one’s higher self. It’s okay, and possibly even required, to take risks and be a bit impulsive with it. Leave your rationality at the door.

What Tarot Isn’t

For “what tarot isn’t,” we got The High Priestess, supported by Judgement, Page Pentacles, and 5 Cups. Now the explosive plutonian power of Judgement is struggling to express itself against three passive cards. The basic answer is the High Priestess, which is the third and final trump in the spread. And, it has a loose connection with the third basic element of water, through the Moon’s rulership of Cancer. But, unlike the other trumps, which were transpersonal, the Priestess’s moon energy is all about the subconscious desires of individuals.

So, to me, this position says: Tarot is not merely a passive reflection of the reader’s subconscious. To study it as such (Page Pentacles) will be unfulfilling (5 cups), and ultimately thwart the potential for deep transformation (ill-dignified Judgement).

Important Considerations

For “important considerations,” we got 7 Cups, supported by 5 Cups, 6 Wands, and Knight Wands.

Basically, this says that it’s easy to think you are getting somewhere with tarot, which certainly feels good. But, you may actually just be fooling yourself… there are so many conflicting options and opinions about what tarot is and how to use it! It’s telling that in the support cards, we have the same active risk taker (Knight Wands) making strides that appear to be correct (6 Wands), just like the support cards for the first position… But, this time, our fiery intuition finds itself deceived in the context of the watery 7 Cups… and instead of the upheaval and transformation of Judgement, we just get the sulky disappointment of the 5 Cups to show for our effort.

Since this is a new blog, today’s reading was about: “How can I make this blog successful?” Before the reading itself, I’m going to introduce the spread I used, which I think is rather fun.

The Spread

This is a spread I do sometimes when I want to know what someone (in this case, me) will do, or should do, or did do, etc. I lay out 6 cards in the shape of a stick figure (if it’s unclear what I mean, check the graphic for the actual reading I did below). Here is how I interpret the positions:

1. head Conscious/intent/foreground
2. body Unconscious/impulse/background
3. arms Action(s) taken/WHAT they will do
4. legs Support of the actions taken/underpinnings/HOW they will do it

I lay out the cards in the order given above, and sometimes add further cards as needed. Be creative! You can give them fingers or toes, or you can add a second stick figure if two people are in your question. You can make them taller or fatter. Your imagination is the only limit.

The Reading

Though the pictures here are from the Universal Waite Tarot Deck, for this reading I used my Rider-Waite Tarot Deck. Since I’m using the pictures I thought I’d point out that both decks come from US Games.

Anyhow, here’s how the cards fell:

So that’s: head=5 Swords, body=Strength, arms=8 Pent + 2 Pent, legs=Star + 3 Swords.

The advice here is to put some conscious effort into coming up with something thought provoking, or even controversial (5 Swords). Perhaps this would incite active comments or (hopefully friendly) arguments. The Leo energy of Strength tells me that, deep down, I want to put my personal stamp on this tiny bit of internet property, and make it my own, and get noticed.

At the same time, a very important aspect of a successful blog is regular updates. I know from my other websites that readership drops dramatically if you take time off from posting. So, what am I going to do? I’m going to get into a groove churning out material (8 Pent), and do it in such a way that it doesn’t disrupt my life (2 Pent).

How on earth (no pun intended) will I make this 8 Pent+2 Pent thing happen? Looks to me like I should call on ye olde Aquarian spirit (The Star) and stay focused on the future, and be an individual among the other tarot voices. The Star also implies a certain amount of spiritual development and insight, which could be applied to the kind of depressing perceived lack (3 Swords) that plagues me and many others. These kinds of issues could be the source of my blog postings, perhaps in the form of readings, or perhaps in the form of articles about using tarot for spiritual growth. There’s certainly plenty of material in that area… maybe I can find a unique voice to cover it with.

From an elemental standpoint, the cards point out that this is difficult advice to follow. The conscious effort and the “legwork” involved are all air cards. Meanwhile, the recommended action of frequent and regular blog updates comes from earth cards. It’s hard to pin down intellectual work and force it into a rigid schedule. I can already say (after just a few days!) that I’ve had trouble coming up with readings that I’m comfortable sharing on a daily basis. Either I’ll have to post things that are a little more personal, or find another source of daily posts besides readings… The hope is that my fiery will (unconscious/Strength) can push me through this difficulty.

We shall see!

I’m going to try my best to post at least one reading I do, every day. I generally do several readings a day, but I am horrible about properly journalling them. So, hopefully this blog will “fix” that, somewhat. We shall see!

The Issue

Anyway, today I got an email from a friend (who is quite attractive and also quite married), telling me that a married man that she works with had given her roses, and that it felt inappropriate. He said it was just an innocent gift (she would be working in a different building soon, so he said it was a going-away present). But even ignoring his intentions, she had the reaction of the other people in her office to think about, also. Gossip travels fast, you know!

The Reading

Following the example of my post on expanding a 3-card reading, I dealt the following “Situation/Advice/Outcome” spread:

• Situation:  7 Cups  main card,  Hanged Man + 8 Pentacles + Wheel of Fortune supporting
• Advice: 6 of Cups main card, Queen of Swords + 3 Wands + 4 Wands supporting
• Outcome: Judgement main card, 2 Cups + 6 Wands + 7 Pentacles supporting

I sent mail back saying:

Yeah, he crossed the line for normal workplace stuff, and people are going to think whatever they please no matter what you do about it now. But, we don’t know for sure if it’s not just innocent poor judgement… engineers can be socially awkward, you know! So, try to appreciate and enjoy the gift without trying to do anything about the situation. If he does act creepy, be firm and decisive with him (like a dog, you have to slap them down before it becomes a habit!). After all, you’ll be moving on to a different project soon, no matter what, and you’ll be separated at that point regardless.

Why did I say that? The situation was pretty clear: The main card was 7 of cups, an aspect of which is “too much of a good thing turns everything sour.” The guy had stepped over a workplace etiquette line, whether intentionally or not. The majors in the supporting cards (Hanged Man and Wheel o’ Fortune) give a feel that the situation is a bit beyond her control. The Jupiter force from the wheel I see as expanding the Neptunian emotions in the workplace… perhaps the dude realized he’d miss her when she went on to her new project, and over-compensated, or something. The others will reach their own conclusions, and may indeed apply stereotypes (8 pentacles shows a guy churning out identical pentacles) to the situation and snicker a bit, but the wheel reminds us that it’s hard to stop these things from just playing themselves out.

The main advice card actually has a woman enjoying flowers on it. How cool is that? This is a water card, with 3 fire and air cards “supporting” it. The advice is to try to make peace with the situation, and even enjoy the gift for what it is, despite your internal stress about it. The Queen of Swords is quick to judge, and assertive. But, in support of the passive 6 of cups, I took that to mean that she should hold back judgement unless he forces the issue by obvious further advances. Similarly, the two wands cards in this context tell me that she should probably NOT search for answers, or look for closure on the issue, unless she has to. Don’t make the situation into a bigger deal than it is.

The possible outcome, to me, is all about the fact that this will become a non-issue in no time. The Judgement card is a major card, which to me says the overall forces will be separating the bad from the good in preparation for a new beginning. Judgement is a fire card, so the 2 of cups below it is weakened significantly… further reinforcing the idea that she’ll soon not have to deal with this guy (or most of her current co-workers) at all when she changes projects. We also have the 6 of Wands next to 7 of pentacles indicating that the change of projects is a welcome one, that will likely be pleasing. The 7 of pentacles depicts a guy that’s doing work, but seems dissatisfied with it… this describes her current (pre-move) situation accurately.

Anyway, hopefully this drives home how the main 3 cards still “rule” the reading, and do more or less tell the whole story in and of themselves. The extra cards provide a lot of nuances and clarifications, though, which I find useful. Especially if I’m reading for someone else’s situation, the extra cards help me find “ah ha!” moments, when I realize what they are trying to tell me.