Gilded Tarot

Weekly Card Celebrating the 3 of Cups

May 14, 2015
150430 3 of Cups Yoga
Yoga Tarot

Wow! We’re getting the Tarot version of 2×4 between the eyes (anybody else have that dent there from calls to pay attention?). It’s been less than a month since we last saw the 3 of Cups.

So what does it mean when we repeatedly see the same message in the cards?

150514 3 of Cups Gilded
Gilded Tarot

One possibility is that we’re being shown places where we’re stuck in a rut. I have to say, 3 of Cups isn’t such a bad rut to be in.   Of course, we can get caught in celebrating heart connections (the dancing women in the Gilded Tarot) when we have practical things to do. Or we can be overly emotional (those overflowing cups in the Haindl image) when what’s called for are rational decisions. Or we’re putting our creative ventures on public display (Yoga Tarot) right when there’s a big media storm to blow our projects away.

150514 3 of Cups Haindl
The Haindl Tarot

Another is that we’re in a long-term process. We’re not in the habit of being highly sociable or expressive and creative or of letting our emotions flow. It can take time to un-make an habitual hermit or logical Spock or repressed artist.

And a third is that, although we’ve got 3 of Cups in our repertoire, we’re focusing elsewhere. It’s the “hey, over here!” attention call.

How many times have you put aside social connections because you’ve just got too much to do? Or decided that now is not the time to celebrate; your problems are way too big and pressing? Or shelved creativity in favour of the sure thing to please the boss? And we all know that emotional stifling is the order of almost any day in the life . . . .

Here the message is, despite the apparent strong demands in other directions, the useful action or useful focus is to choose creativity, to choose time with your heartfelt friendships, to choose joy.

So which is it for you: long-term process, an unrecognized rut, or a repeated call to re-focus? And, since life is a many-layered thing (why am I thinking “cake”?), it could be all the above.

Celebrate the loves in your life!

Weekly Card 3 of Swords

May 1, 2015

This post is part of a Tarot Blog Hop.  You can find the previous blog here, the master list here, and the next blog here.

150501 3 of Swords RWS
Rider Waite Smith tarot

Oh, we so don’t love to see these kinds of cards . . . the “sad” ones, the “bad” ones. We’ve had a couple of encounters before, here and here.

And here, at the 3 of Swords, we’re encountering sorrow at a very personal level. How much more clear an illustration of heartache can we get?  Since we can’t spit it out, how do we deal with this distasteful card?

Look back to the heartaches in your life. What brought them on? Loss of a love? Loss of social standing? Loss of a cherished pet? Loss all around, isn’t it?   Nothing we would have asked for.

Then again, when have you heard yourself say “he certainly asked for that one”? We could look at any situation and see how the ending had its seeds in the beginning. Heartless as it is, I’ve had people tell me that I was just asking for trouble by living in an hurricane evacuation zone.

And there’s the opportunity in the 3 of Swords. We’re putting our mind – the mental world of the swords – into our hearts. Rather than dissociating our thoughts from our humanity, we come to a deeper understanding of why it’s worth making connections regardless of the inevitability of endings.

For a writer or an artist, this can be a brilliant opportunity, this meeting of intellect with emotion. What needs to be expressed? Is there a story to tell? Is there a sorrow to be danced, painted or composed?

For the rest of us, the lemonade out of lemons involves developing compassion. For ourselves. For others who’ve travelled a similar path. And that requires taking heart in the positive sense: courage. Courage to believe in a life that continues. Courage to look outside ourselves again.

150501 3 of Swords Baroque Bohemian Cats
Baroque Bohemian Cats Tarot
150501 3 of Swords Haindl
Haindl Tarot

But how do we deal with the pain? You’ve got lots of clues in the multiple images for the 3 of Swords. The sad grey puss in the Baroque Bohemian Cat image finds the pain too difficult to take in. She has her angel holding the pierced heart. It’s still close at paw, but she’s got assistance. Who are your angels?

The Haindl Tarot image speaks to the isolation that pain can bring. Is that necessarily a bad thing? Time alone to mourn the loss, to replace what’s no longer there with tears, is a healing action. Recognize where your paradise has come to an end and grieve. It’s not necessarily fun, but healthy grief helps us move forward, back into life and connectedness.

150501 3 of Swords Gilded
Ciro Marchetti‘s Gilded Tarot
150501 3 of Swords Contemplative
Contemplative Tarot

By getting to the heart of our sorrow, by understanding what happened and who we’re becoming as a result of our loss, the Gilded Tarot image offers us the possibility of enlightenment. Our old way of thinking, our old way of expressing ourselves has cut us to the heart. As we recognize the old ways, we can move into the light of the new.

But not too quickly, says the Contemplative Tarot image. Life is possible, says the vine around the bleeding heart – and life with love, says the heart shape in the vine. It’s even going on around us. But so is the fish out of water, belly up in the cloudy sky. It speaks to the discomfort of no longer being the self we recognize. Allow the new life of connection to grow out of the wounded self, in its own time.

In your own life this week, what has pierced you right at the quick? How can you use your mind to get to the heart of the matter? And how can you express yourself about it all?

Let your mind and heart work together to keep compassion in the foreground this week.

 

This post is part of a Tarot Blog Hop.  You can find the previous blog here, the master list here, and the next blog here.

Weekly Card Comparing the Page of Pentacles

March 5, 2015
150319 Page of Pentacles Revelations
Revelations Tarot

We’ve talked about the qualities of the Page of Pentacles, and we’ve given the Page a chance to encounter some of the other energies in the Tarot deck.   Let’s compare a trio of different Pages this week.

Take a look at the Zach Wong Page of Pentacles from the Revelations Tarot. Be very Page of Pentacles in your assessment: just describe the facts of what you see. Then comb through what you’ve described to see where you’ve assigned meaning, rather than just made a description. See if you can tease out only the Page of Pentacles from the other qualities of Tarot.

150319 Page of Pentacles Zen
Osho Zen Tarot

How about the Page of Rainbows from the Osho Zen Tarot (remember that this deck uses Rainbows, Clouds, Water and Fire instead of Pentacles, Swords, Cups and Wands)? Be factually descriptive: what’s the image? What are the colours involved? Of course, we’ve got our individual responses to the caption, “Adventure”. Can you be as factual and practical as possible in describing an adventure?

150319 Page of Pentacles Gilded
Gilded Tarot

What about the image from Ciro Marchetti’s Gilded Tarot? How are the colours different from the other two representations? What’s the same and what’s different to the Revelations and Zen images?

Now let’s find meaning in the elements of the images. Rather than assigning meaning based on the symbolism of the cards, look to your own experience. Is there anything you’re reminded of in your own life by what you’ve seen here? What specifically is it on the cards that’s reminded you of whatever memories or situations came to mind? How can you understand various facets of that experience by examining it in connection with one card at a time?

And, there you go . . . . a Page of Pentacles experience of learning about the world around you by examining its elements.

Head out on your own learning adventure this week!




Learning tarot is definitely an adventure! Begin – or continue – your learning adventure through the BCACE classes on 20th March and 1st May. For private consultations or lessons, you can find me here.

Weekly Card 2 of Cups

December 17, 2014
130926 Gilded 2 of Cups
Gilded Tarot

Well, would you look at that!

Earlier this month we had the seed card — Ace of Cups  — for this week’s 2 of Cups.

130926 RWS 2 of Cups
Rider Waite Smith Tarot

Twos are when we make choices about our seeds: do they need more water, more warmth?  Do they need protection or just to be left alone?

We need to be responsive and cooperative at the stage of 2.  We’re being in sync with someone or something else.  We’re blending and sharing what each brings to the relationship.

And since we’re in the world of Cups, relationships are literal.  You have a chance to get intimate with someone else and start making the choices that will impact the direction of your relationship.

The world of emotions is all bound up in 2 of Cups, so we’re not necessarily being rational here.  Past wounds can impact us, so that we’re operating from old feelings.  If we’ll keep our heads — our awareness — we can heal some of the old wounds under 2 of Cups.

Our creativity has an outlet under 2 of Cups.  The relationship is metaphorical, but we still need to be responsive to the media with which we’re working.  Our creations have lives of their own and we’re already discovering that.

This week, you can connect the dots between what’s going on now and what feelings and creative ideas were awakened earlier in the month.  Are any of the elements from earlier in the month still attractive enough to continue the relationship?

If so . . . .

Let the shared sparks fly!

 

 

If you’re looking for personal help with your tarot learning or for phone, email, or in-person tarot counseling, here‘s where to find me.

Weekly Card Ace of Cups

August 29, 2013
130905 Gilded Ace of Cups
Gilded Tarot

Oh yay!  It’s one of those cards that mean we’ve got a new love interest!

Or is it?

Have you noticed how often people want to know about their love lives?  Almost as often as they ask for lottery numbers, right?

Maybe that’s because we’re social creatures.  We all want to be loved.

But does Ace of Cups really mean that we’ve got a new love coming our way from out there in the world?

The Ace is an indicator of newness and of beginnings.  It’s the seed or the potential for something to manifest.  And Cups put us in the world of the heart, corresponding to emotions, relationships and creativity.

But the Ace doesn’t indicate an “out there”.

The emotional awakening we feel when Ace of Cups shows up is purely between we, ourselves, and the individual I.

Our higher selves looked down and saw that it was time to refill the cup.   Or, if you like, our higher selves dipped into our subconscious and served up a big helping of new awareness.

We don’t even need an object for our affections or a goal for our creative bursts.  We might transfer our inner awakening onto something out in the world, but it’s really still an inner change.

And it’s a seed.  A potential.  It will need to move and become something else if it is to successfully manifest (stay tuned . . . .).

Keep connecting these cards with the elements of your own life, week to week.  This week that means you want to notice when you

Feel that loving feeling!

 

Weekly Card Knight of Pentacles

May 31, 2013
Ciro Marchetti's Gilded Tarot
Ciro Marchetti’s Gilded Tarot
Rider Waite Smith Tarot
Rider Waite Smith Tarot

 

 

Welcome to the Court!

Court cards can seem as confusing as any attempt to manage yourself in a real court.  But once you know the rules, it’s really very easy.  And there’s much less chance you’ll hear “off with his head!”.

Court cards can refer to actual people in your life.  Once we get into the description for Knight of Pentacles, you’ll be able to relate his character to people you’ve met.  Court cards can also indicate aspects of yourself that will be important in a given situation.  Or they can indicate the energy with which circumstances will proceed.

Let’s look at the Knight of Pentacles — since he’s so kindly standing still for us — and then we’ll look at examples of each of the 3 applications.

Knights are the Air of the Court.  Air has lots of movement and operates in the mental field.  Pentacles, remember, are Earth, the material world.  So, if we bring Air into Earth — we get movement and ideas around practical matters.   But Earth is more dense than Air, so it will take persistent effort for Air to move Earth.

Not to worry, the Knight of Pentacles has that persistence and doesn’t mind working hard.  By the time he’s done, you’ll think a bulldozer’s been in.  And, being the embodiment of Air’s mental correspondence, the Knight of Pentacles knows how to plan and organize.  He’ll plan your garden, prepare the soil, plant everything, maintain it along the way, harvest it and make a profit from the produce.  Since Knights are in service to a calling (remember, they work for the King and Queen), they’ll just keep at their task till it’s done, for the betterment of the kingdom.

So who are we looking for when we look for an actual Knight of Pentacles in our life?   Look for that really practical person who keeps his nose to the grindstone.  He’s business savvy and can be counted on to invest wisely.  He may not move very quickly or dramatically, but he’ll keep it real and make sure the project gets done and everyone stays down to earth about it.  Traditionally, Knights are young adults of either gender, but my experience over thousands of readings says that it’s really the energetic commitment, rather than the actual age, that shows up.  Keep track of your own experiences with Knights to see how they appear in your world.

If we’re looking to the aspect of ourselves that is most useful (or, in some positions, a hindrance), we’re looking to tap into our practical side.  We’ll want to plan well, pay attention to details, and be prepared to work steadily in the mundane world to get things done.  We’ll have a change we can point to in the world around us when our inner Knight gets involved.

And if we’re considering the general energy around a situation, expect things to proceed slowly, step by step.  If you like intuitive leaps, progress will be maddening slow and infuriatingly logical.  If you’re reassured by well-planned situations that can be explained and improved gradually, you’ll be delighted to see Knight of Pentacles.  Again, we’ll be involved with the practical, the wise investment financially or naturally or health-ally.

There are some systems in Tarot that look to the Court cards to supply answers to timing questions.  The timing for Knight of Pentacles is Taurus in western astrology: 21st April to 21st May.  I have no experience to back up that tradition, so I’ll leave you to document your own experiences.

And keep on keeping on this week:  your practical investment is sure to pay off!
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