Tare Reading ' 'Lsit.g
St: elling
Techniques
Section 1
Practicing Your Storytelling SkillsAnd Onward...
Section 2
ReversedThe Cups FamilyPentaclesReversed
In Closing...
Worksheets Card Story Worksheet Spread Analysis Worksheet The End
Storytelling Techniques
By
Madhavi Ghare
Tarot-icallySpeaking
No part of this e-book may be reproduced or distributed in any form or by any means, or stored in any database or retrieval system without prior written permission, except for review purposes.
If you have any suggestions or comments or find anything in this e-book that offends you, please write to me at madhavi. ghare@gmail. com.
The information presented herein represents the view of the author as of the date of publication.
Any reference to any person or business whether living or dead is purely coincidental.
Images from the Universal Waite Tarot Deck reproduced by permission of U. S. Games Systems, Inc., Stamford, CT U SA. Copyright ©1990 and registered trademark by U. S. Games Systems, Inc.
The other images used in this book have been obtained via Google Image Search. While I have taken the care of searching for images that were ‘Labeled for Reuse’ under their license, it may be possible that an image has been used in violation of its copyright as a result of human error. If you are the owner of the copyright of that image, please feel free to drop me a line, and I will rectify.
Images and drawings apart from those mentioned above have mostly been created by me, and can be freely used / referred to with due credit given.
Copyright © 2015 Madhavi Ghare | All Rights Reserved
Section 1
Practicing Your Storytelling SkillsAnd Onward...
Section 2
The Story in the CardsMajor ArcanaMinor ArcanaCourt Cards
In Closing...
33ΗΠΪΗΓΛΙΠ^ΜΚΙ (ΠΙΙΛιΊΛΓaHfrU
hciU ηγ 3ΗΠΗ<ji<i ιι
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From Ignorance, Lead me to the Truth From Darkness, Lead me to the Light From Death, Lead me to Enlightenment
- Brihad Aranyaka Upanishad
Before Enlightenment,
You Chop the Wood, You Draw the Water
After Enlightenment,
You Chop the Wood, You Draw the Water
- Zen Master Rinzai
44
Thank you for your lessons. I have learned much from these exercises and wanted to let you know what while I was examining the cards I had a thought (that came in through the window as it were).
I’ve realized that it does not matter if one deck has different symbols from another because your intuitive powers or whatever you want to call the energy of discernment uses what are on your cards to communicate with you so long as you are totally aware of what the cards have on them
To me this means that we don’t have to learn all the meanings of the Rider-Waite off by heart to be able to read.
Thank you again for your help
- Elsie T
44
What I've read makes things fall into place in readings. I've felt like I was missing something, the big picture. I’m going to keep using this method. :)
- Christa L.
44
I wanted to let you know how much you have inspired me. I have learnt so much about life through studying tarot and I couldn't have asked for a better teacher than you. Every student needs to be truly blessed to have a good teacher, and I truly think I was blessed to find you and to learn under you. My best wishes and prayers for your wonderful initiative and may many students obtain a lot of
knowledge and wisdom through your book.
- Amruta D.
I ordered your Tarot Reading Using Story Telling Techniques last night and all I can say is "where has this book been all my life?" I am fifty and was intrigued by tarot cards since I was a teenager...but could never figure out how to read with them.
I have bought books (I could furnish a Tarot Library) and decks and was alway discouraged and disappointed because I never seemed to be able to figure out what to say - how to tie the cards together.
I would give up and years would pass but that itch, that deep yearning to somehow use those amazingly mystical cards would rear its head every now and again. I would try more books..different decks... And again, frustration.
Three months ago...yet again, I decided to give it another try. This time I promised myself I wouldn't give up. I would at least learn make an effort to learn as much as I could about each card. I would persevere. Still, that old nemesis, not knowing how to put the cards together hung over my head, making me doubt if even this time I could figure it out.
Then, maybe as a result of my diligence for the last few months of tarot study, maybe an angelic hand guided me, or maybe I was just the luckiest girl EVER... I found your site and your book!
I am just reading about how to break down a spread... AMAZING. I feel like something has just clicked, the "Hope" button was just pushed, and I am full speed ahead towards achieving my dream of actually being able to use and read my cards!
Your book is truly inspired!!! I have read ALL sorts of books on the subject and there is not a book like yours out there. What an amazing gift I have found!!! Thank you SO much!!!!
- Star S.
44
I wanted to let you know that I have read your book, which I discovered to by a series of synchronicities. I Never had a an interest in Tarot or divination. But after reading your book, which I am following by the letter, I am discovering how profound the cards can be. I am picking one randomly every day like you suggest analyzing and meditating with them and writing the story etc.
Not only do I feel that is a great way to develop creativity and intuition, but I feel they are mirrors into my soul, but they also amazingly provide a teaching.
I am not at the level of doing readings yet, at the moment I am more interested in the self discovery aspect of them (I am not in a rush) and going one by one.
I am glad I took your advice in not reading your stories of the cards. (I do read them after I did my story.).
One thing I am also doing with the cards is to take the posture of the main character as I meditate on them (I don't know if any one has ever come up with this method or not) but I feel is what really gets the best results for me.
Thanks so much for your teachings. Perhaps one day you can do a reading for me if I am around NJ.
- Charles N.
I got my first Tarot Card Reading in 2006. I fell in love with the mysterious images that seemed to call out at me. I decided I wanted to learn how to read Tarot Cards. So I did. I began reading Tarot Cards professionally soon after. Within a year or so, I started my Tarot blog where I wrote about my experiences with the cards and so forth.
I've been with the Tarot Cards for close to a decade now. Every single moment of my life that I've spent with these wonderful friends of mine, I've been amazed, surprised, shocked, startled, jolted and have been the recipient of the deepest insights ever. I've read cards for thousands of people from all walks of life. I've also taught Tarot Card Reading to many people. Yet, I remain constantly in awe of my cards.
A couple of years after I learned, I taught my first student, and she went on to become a professional Tarot Card Reader as well. Over all these years, I've taught a number of students how to read the Tarot Cards. Many of them have gone on to become professional Tarot Card Readers.
It was also during this time that I taught a few of Tarot students who ended up giving up on the Tarot Cards simply because they got stuck at the part where they had to do a reading. One or two of them persisted and figured their way out, but there were the others who simply gave up and walked away. And I wasn't able to help either the struggling students, or the other students who gave up.
This was the very first time that I felt as if I had failed as a teacher. I spent countless hours agonizing over what caused these awesome students to abandon the cards altogether. No matter how many different techniques I tried out, I never seemed to see much positive development.
Until the cards literally showed me the way.
Along with being a Tarot Card Reader, I am also an Author. For a long time, I've freelanced as a web content writer. But my passion for writing stories comes from my childhood. I've spent hours upon hours scribbling stories of all sorts into notebooks that I still hoard to this day.
After the cards came into my life, I continued writing along with doing Tarot Card Readings. Occasionally, I would use the cards to help me with my stories. Ever so often, in the middle of writing a chapter, I would reach out for a deck and just pull out a card or two. The card would spark my imagination, and sometimes show me a creative way out of my plotting black hole.
I really didn’t analyze what I was doing, until one day when I pulled out The Tower card, and the lightning bolt of realization struck me!
In that lightning burst of clarity, I discovered why it had always been easy for me to do Tarot Card
Readings. I also figured out why so many of my students got stuck when they opened a spread to do a reading. But most of all, I finally figured out how I could help those students come unstuck.
The solution had always been within me all along. I had failed to see what had been in front of me the whole time.
The biggest clue was the storyteller within me. Whatever I do, whatever I say, whatever I see, and everything that I experience - I perceive it all as a story. Every single thing, for me, is a story. Every single event is a story to relate. Every single person I meet is a main character of his own story.
That’s how I look at everything and everyone. That is my natural state of being.
Looking at a Tarot Card Reading from a storytelling point of view was probably a very natural extension of my being. In my head, the reading had unknowingly become a story to be told - a series of different events linked to each other - and I was the one telling the story to the client. In short, I was simply reading out the story told by the pictures in the cards.
Although I never consciously thought about it that way, I realized that I had been unconsciously seeing a Tarot Card Reading as a Storytelling endeavor ever since I did my very first reading.
As my brain got buzzing with the insight I had just stumbled on to, I began scribbling stuff into my notebook, and typing it out on my computer.
Furiously mind mapping away, I started with breaking down the process of what goes on inside of my head when I do a reading. I started to write it down. I condensed it into a series of steps designed to help and guide. The result is this book.
I genuinely hope that by using the guidelines that I've outlined in this book, you too will find a way to ease into a Tarot Card Reading without any fears or inhibitions to hold you back.
This technique and the background knowledge of this process should help trigger the storyteller within you, and you can jump into Tarot Card Reading without holding back.
When I put this book out on my site in the August of 2015, I hadn’t imagined the response it received. Typical to my profession of Author and Tarot Card Reader, I was very skeptical about how many people would actually be interested in a Tarot book that skipped the ‘basics’ (i.e. talking about the card meanings) and went on to show how to do a cohesive reading.
“It is a niche within a niche,” I kept telling myself. And then people began buying the eBook. I got emails from many who wondered if I had an actual book that they could buy.
I was super stumped. Humbled and honored. And in complete awe.
To cut a long story short, I took a deep breath and logged on to Amazon’s Createspace and started to figure out how to put the book on Amazon so people could have a print version.
I must say, the Internet gives indie authors like me such a huge platform and such a chance!! Thank you.
Thank you for giving me so much encouragement with your words and sweet gestures. Thank you for pushing me on to take the next step.
You are the reason for my boldness, and my creative endeavors. Thanks for encouraging me all the way!
Have you found yourself staring at the picture of a Tarot Card, wondering what it really meant? Did you pick up a book about Tarot only to get frustrated with the idea of memorizing all those meanings?
Maybe you’ve spent some time learning how to read Tarot Cards from a book or from a teacher.
Are you still nervous about doing an actual reading?
Perhaps you've spent a lot of time learning all the card meanings by heart. You’ve read every Tarot book you could lay your hands on, gone through every blog post on every Tarot blog under the Internet Sun. Yet, every single time you sit down and pull out the cards, you freeze. Even though you already know the meaning of the card, you wonder which is the right interpretation for that card in that reading.
When you lay the cards out in a spread, do you struggle with connecting with your intuition? Do you find it hard to make sense of the spread as a whole? Do you struggle with putting together the interpretations of the different cards of the spread in a cohesive sequence?
Despite all the stuff you know, do you find it hard to speak up every time you try to do a reading? Your throat chokes up, words refuse to form in your brain, and you look at the card and nothing pops up in your head. Do you draw a blank and wonder why that happened, because you totally knew the meaning of that card?
Finally, after all this, you wonder why you even bothered with learning how to read the Tarot cards.
If you've answered “Yes” to any of these questions, or if you've resonated with any of these situations, then this is just the book is for you.
Many potentially awesome Tarot Card Readers have given up on the cards and walked away from discovering the wonderful world of the Tarot Cards because of these issues. I've even seen a few of my students give up on reading the Tarot cards because of this.
I've worried about this issue for long. This book is my way of reaching out to all of you. There is a way to overcome all of these issues — a simple and straightforward method of using Storytelling techniques to do Tarot Card Readings.
I’ve used this technique, quite unknowingly, to do Readings ever since I started. In this book, I am going to walk you through the steps that will help you understand and use this method of reading the Tarot Cards with ease and confidence.
This book will introduce you to concepts and ideas that will help you look at Spreads and Readings in a different light.
Together, we will walk through the basic concepts of Storytelling, and use them to understand the story within each Card.
The next step, of course, is using that knowledge to look deeper into Spreads. We will learn how to use Storytelling techniques to do a Tarot Card Reading.
Of course, it is imperative to understand the role of intuition in determining exactly which, from among the many interpretations, is applicable to the reading. We will learn how to hone in on the right intuitive feelings that apply to the reading.
Finally, I’ve included a few tips to help you enhance your understanding of the cards, and develop your reading technique even further. I've also included Worksheets that you can use in your Journal. These will help you personalize your journey within the Tarot Cards.
The second section of this book is equally interesting. I've written out the stories of the cards, and the stories of the card groups (Major Arcana, each of the Suits, and the Court Cards), both for the upright and for the reversed positions.
It is also my hope that you will use them as a starting / reference point for your versions of the story. That way you can delve even deeper into these stories, and learn more as you connect with the cards on a personal level.
It is my suggestion that you work through this book step-by-step so that you derive the most benefit from the process.
In the book, I’ve referred to the Tarot Card Reader often as a female, and sometimes as a male.
This is in no way a suggestion of any gender bias.
I've mostly used the words, ‘ The Client’ to refer to the person you are doing the reading for.
The Rider-Waite-Smith Tarot Card Deck
The Rider-Waite-Smith Tarot Card Deck was first printed in 1910. Due to its simple and easy to understand imagery, this deck made Tarot Card Reading accessible for regular people like you and me.
That does not mean that this Tarot Card Deck is too simple. The deck and its imagery lends itself to both, the simple and the complex meanings.
Even today, over 100 years later, this deck is one of the most popular Tarot Card Decks in the market.
In my experience, beginners in the Tarot world find the Rider-Waite-Smith imagery easy to understand. As they grow and learn even more about the cards, they find themselves drawn to the Rider-Waite-Smith Deck again, as the deeper complexities of the images unfold.
There is one more thing which makes this Deck quite important. The Rider-Waite-Smith Deck has served as a template for many other Decks that are out in the market today. Therefore, it is quite advantageous to study and understand this Deck.
Later, when you will inevitably buy other Tarot Card Decks, you will discover that your knowledge of the Rider-Waite-Smith helps you get into their imagery much easily.
The Universal Waite Tarot Card Deck
The Universal Waite Deck is a version of the Rider-Waite-Smith Deck that was recolored by Mary Hanson-Roberts. Due to this, various details of the card imagery which were hard to find before, have now become easy to discover.
This, no doubt, helps the learning process even more.
Have a look at the following:
In the High Priestess card for example, you can see the card details more clearly. The water body hidden behind the veil is easy to spot and even the details on the veil are easily seen.
The Death card has many of us frantically searching for all sorts of hidden details. The search does get easier with the Universal Waite. For instance, you can easily spot the tiny boat in the river (look under the horse’s belly) in the Universal Waite image.
The image on this card (like all the other cards) appears cleaned up in the Universal Waite.
You can see from these examples why I have used the images of the Universal Waite Tarot Card Deck in this book. A clearer image with easy-to-spot details is very useful for students.
Reversed cards are an inevitable part of a Tarot card reading.
They aren't something to be feared or avoided. Think of them as just another way of looking at the scene / story being revealed by the cards.
We have reversed card situations everywhere in life. They aren't rare or irrelevant. We just aren't used to really seeing them as such.
Take a look at the story of life. Things don't always work out the way we want them to or the way they are supposed to. Even in movies and books, the events of the story don't always happen the way we hope for them to happen. Characters don't behave the way they are supposed to behave. Surprises await the reader at every corner.
These surprises add a lot of intensity and tension to the story. They make the story that much more interesting.
The same thing happens when we get reversed cards in a reading. A reversed card is that little surprise that throws the story onto a different path. It is that sudden, unexpected twist in the story that makes us want to read on and discover how it all ends up.
The story of life, and also the story of the Tarot cards is all about those unexpected twists in the tale. That is why I have included the story of reversed cards as well.
There are many ways of looking at reversed cards. Here are a few ways in which I often end up reading them:
- If the energy of the upright card is blocked in some way, then it shows up as Reversed.
- If there is some sort of a delay in the occurrence of the situation depicted in the card, then it comes up as Reversed.
- Many a times the desire for the situation depicted on the upright card exists in the heart and mind of the client, but the other supporting situations aren’t present, or the client isn’t really ready to begin creating the situation he desires. Those are the times when the card shows up as Reversed.
- If the energy of the upright card manifests in the opposite direction, then the card shows up as Reversed. In this case, the meaning is simply the opposite of what the upright card’s meaning would have been.
As you read on, you will find that the story of the Reversed card incorporates all these angles and more.
If you are looking to sink your teeth into a book that goes into more detail about Reversed Tarot Cards, then you may want to read a book titled ‘The Complete Book of Tarot Reversals’ written by the well known Tarot-ista, Mary K. Greer. This book is a great resource for any Tarot reader to have on their bookshelf. The book is available in both printed and eBook format.
You might also want to read my review of the book at http: / / www. taroticallyspeaking. com/book- review/the-complete-book-of-tarot-reversals-by-mary-k-greer to get a better idea of the book before you buy it.
In the book, the author, Mary K. Greer has described 12 different ways of looking at reversed cards - thus giving us 12 different methods of interpreting them.
Note: The different ways I've mentioned in this chapter are also in that list.
Now, without any further ado, let me begin with the first basic lesson of my book.
Let’s start by looking at Storytelling and its various connections that lay down the foundation of what you are going to learn from this book.
Storytelling is an ancient art form. It has existed in some form or other since the dawn of time. From simple tales to complex epics, we are a people who love telling and listening to stories of all kinds.
We listened to them as children. When we grow up, we watch movies, read books and comics. Stories are all around us. The books we read are made up of words that stir our imaginations. The movies we watch put all of that on the screen, making that imaginary world come alive in front of our eyes.
If you look around you, you will discover that everything is full of stories. Stories are everywhere.
From the time of primitive humans with their cave paintings to the complex storytelling in the movies and books, we have always heard, read, watched and listened to stories.
In the olden days, storytellers would tell their stories, often accompanied by music, songs, and dancing. Today, we watch plays and movies, and read books.
We post interesting tidbits of our lives and thoughts on social media, building a live story. We get together with our friends and talk about the things going on with each other’s lives, and in the world. We gossip, and we giggle — we share all sorts of stories, making life interesting and entertaining.
The Wikipedia definition of Storytellingstates:
Storytelling is the conveying of events in words and images, often by improvisation or embellishment. Stories or narratives have been shared in every
culture as a means of entertainment, education, cultural preservation, and instilling moral values. Crucial elements of stories and storytelling
include plot, characters and narrative point of view.
Stories make everything interesting, entertaining, and easy to understand. Complex ideas, thoughts, values can easily be conveyed through the form of a story. While this happens, one is engrossed in and entertained by the adventure of the story world.
Storytelling has also become an important part of business strategy, where stories create bonding within the organization, and generate engagement with the customers.
Whether we are aware of it or not, storytelling and stories are an inherent part of our lives. Without even realizing it, we are already telling stories to each other.
Pictures and images have always been a great storytelling device. As the saying goes: ‘a picture is worth a thousand words'.
Pictures are easy for everyone to understand because they can convey complex information in an easy to digest format.
For example, we use pictorial signs in our daily life to convey essential messages without having to resort to using long sentences to do so.
We are used to seeing these images and we instinctively know what they are telling us. No further explanation of that image is really required.
The use of images in complex storytelling has also been a very integral part of our lives. If you remember, the books we used to read as children were full of pictures that made the story exciting and ignited our imaginations.
Our preference and understanding of images over words is deeply ingrained in our subconscious mind, which is, in fact, a repository for all the visual and sensory information that you have collected throughout your life.
The Subconscious mind stores all its information in the form of sensory data such as images, smell, taste, and sound, along with their associated thoughts, feelings, emotions, and memories. A simple thought, action or memory easily stirs up a flash of visuals or feelings made up with this sensory data.
For example, if I ask you to think about chocolate, you will be reminded of the color, the scent, the creamy texture of chocolate melting on your tongue, and the awesome taste as it spreads all over inside your mouth. You will also recall the last time you've eaten a delicious piece of chocolate, and also the time you ate the most delicious piece of chocolate ever in your life so far.
Thinking about something that you’ve done or experienced before, usually triggers the memories of that activity within your subconscious mind, and along with those memories you also end up re-living every sensory aspect of that entire experience thanks to the information stored within your subconscious.
The subconscious communicates with us using a unique language that is a mixture of images, symbols and other sensory data.
Of course, it would be helpful if those images and / or feelings were accompanied by some sort of a manual. However, it is up to us to interpret the messages we receive.
When the subconscious communicates with us about events that haven’t yet occurred using the sensory data in its repositories, we call them intuitions'.
Intuitions may appear to us as images or visions (clairvoyance), strong ‘gut feelings’
(claircognizance), or sounds (clairaudience).
The subconscious also communicates with us through dreams. When we dream, we see images and scenes (like in a movie) instead of words and sentences, or we feel a very high intensity of emotions as specific feelings are evoked.
There are other ways of course, but these are a few examples.
At different times, some of us may experience intuition in one or more of these ways. However, all of us have experienced intuitive moments at some point in our lives. More often than not, we end up shrugging them off and don't think much about it.
Do you remember that time when you thought about someone for no apparent reason, only to get a call from that person, or to see a message from that person sitting in your inbox or Facebook?
Or how about that time when you kept looking for your phone, only to hear it ring after a few minutes? Or when you had a strange feeling and kept looking towards the door, and then the doorbell rang.
How about that time when you had a ‘bad feeling’ about something or someone, and it all came true?
This was when the voice of your intuition was strong enough for you to hear it. Your subconscious chose to communicate with you, and you heard / understood it.
Everyone has built-in intuitive abilities. Although some of us understand our intuition better than others, it is quite possible to learn how to understand it even more clearly. Like any other muscle, our psychic muscle also needs a bit of exercise to work even better than before. Check out my article on www.taroticallyspeaking.com/knowledge/use-and-strengthen-your-psychic-muscle-with-your-tarot- cards/ for some interesting ways to give your psychic muscles a good workout.
The Tarot cards are one of the most interesting ways of stimulating your intuitive abilities simply because they have powerful images on them. They speak a language similar to that of the subconscious mind. Thus, they serve as a messenger between your conscious and your subconscious mind.
Since the subconscious speaks in the language of images and intuitions, the more frequently you use
this method for communication, the stronger and more often the communication will occur. As you work your psychic musclemore often, it will get stronger, and will give you better and more accurate results.
While reading a Tarot card, you are essentially putting together your understanding of the card image with the sensory / intuitive information triggered by that image that is stored within your subconscious.
You are building and creating a story by combining words and images into a coherent storyline.
As you combine all the bits of information that you get from the Card image, you interpret it and narrate it in a way that is easy to understand and comprehend for those who don’t know the special language of the cards. You narrate it in an engaging and interesting way so that the message from the images is retained by the listener.
In this way, the reading is expressed much easily in a story-like form.
You, the Tarot Card Reader, are thus also a Storyteller.
The most important ingredient of a Tarot Card Reading is the Card Story i.e. the story of the Tarot Card image.
This story is essentially derived from the contents of the image on the card.
There is a very simple way to discover this Card Story.
The first step in figuring out the Card Story is to know the basic components of the Card Image.
In order to get into the imagery of any Card and Deck, you will have to learn and master the process of getting into the Story of the Tarot Card.
A Tarot Card image is comprised of the following:
- The Environment
- The Person
- The Symbols
The person in the card is always standing / sitting / doing something in some sort of an environment. This may be a garden, or inside a building, or on a boat, etc.
Look at the different things that create that landscape. Trees, forests, hills, mountains, lakes, rivers, oceans, houses, castles, people, cities — all of these and more are part of the Card Environment. They give us clues. They tell us what is going on in the world around the person in the card.
These are the things going on in the background. They show us the ultimate, big-picture goal of the person in the card. They add more information to the story that we are building.
Most of the time, these places won’t be where the different things are actually happening to the Client. You will need to interpret this in a metaphorical way.
The Card Landscape / Card Environment is largely influenced by the overall theme of the Tarot Card Deck that you are using.
For instance, if your Tarot Card Deck is based around the Egyptian Mythology theme, then the environment depicted in the card images will be in line with that theme. Therefore, when you interpret the imagery, you will need to take things like the historical / cultural / spiritual aspects of that time and theme into consideration.
As we can see, in the 2 of Wands, the man is standing on the roof of a building. But there is so much more going on around him, in the background.
There, we can see the ocean. We can also see mountains. There’s also this little village complete with meadows and little houses. From this we can deduce that he lives in a small village by the ocean and that the village has mountains nearby.
Also, compared to the other tiny houses, his house seems to be bigger, taller and better. From this we can say that he is financially in a better position than the rest of the villagers.
Now, if we were to metaphorically interpret this, it could mean that while he comes from, or lives in a very simple world, and that everyone around him lives a very humble life, he is more prosperous than they are.
Now, let’s have a look at another card: the 7 of Cups.
Here we can see that the man in the card is standing in front of a cloud of sorts, that contains 7 Cups. Each of the cups holds something.
Each of the things within the cups is a symbolic representation of something that the client wants to achieve. For instance, the snake or the dragon don’t necessarily imply that he wants a snake or a dragon for a pet. They are symbolic representations of different qualities that he may want to possess.
The dark-bluish background color along with the clouds suggests a very dream-like scenario.
From this we can say that the man is either dreaming, or wishing, or imagining about all the things that he wants to achieve.
There is always at least one person in a card. Of course, there may be exceptions (the 8 of Wands from the Rider-Waite-Smith / Universal Waite immediately comes to mind), but mostly each card has a person, who may or may not be doing something.
Look closely. What is this person doing? What are his actions? What are his expressions? How is he reacting to the situation going on around him? What is his posture like? Is his body language giving us subtle clues about his feelings or his situation?
Take a closer look how this person is dressed — his clothes, his shoes. Is he carrying or holding anything in his hands?
How is he moving about? Is he on a horse? Or in a boat? Or is he walking, or running, or sitting?
All of these things will add up and tell us what this person in the card image is up to — what his specific situation is all about.
When we interpret the Card Story, this person will become the client i.e. the person you are doing the reading for.
Whatever the person in the card’s image is doing, will symbolically and metaphorically become what the client will do within the parameters of the story told by the Card / Spread.
The overall theme of the deck will also play a major role in the various details that go into embellishing the imagery of the person in the card. You will need to take all those points into consideration as you interpret the actions of the person within the image.
The Person: The Fool
Now in The Fool card, the Fool is standing on the edge of the cliff, ready to jump off. We can’t see where that jump will take him. To us, the result of the jump is unknown. In our Reading Story, the person represented by The Fool in the card will be the client.
While the client won’t literally be standing at the edge of the cliff, the metaphorical interpretation would be that he is on the verge of taking the plunge into something that is unknown.
Also, we need to take a look at the way The Fool is standing with his face looking at the clouds. He gives off the impression of being a dreamer.
If we observe his clothes, they seem to be of good quality, but not well taken care of. This shows that he has complete disregard for appearances.
Add up all these qualities, and we get a person who has the personality of a happy-go-lucky, maverick.
The Person: 2 of Pentacles
In the 2 of Pentacles, the man juggling the pentacles represents the client in our story. But in real
life, the client is not actually juggling two pentacle coins. What he does juggle are two or more things that the pentacle coins symbolically represent.
The juggling may seem like an unending cycle for him, because of the lemniscate shape in which they are being juggled. (The shape means infinite or infinity)
Since the card is upright, those pentacles could represent two ways in which money comes into the client’s life.
Now the client becomes someone who is juggling two different ways of making money and doesn't have any idea when the juggling will end for him
His clothes also look like a special sort of a Juggler’s outfit. Through this, the image is metaphorically trying to convey how the person may be feeling like someone who is putting on a show and hiding his true feelings.
You will see a number of Symbols within the entire image — be it in the environment, or on the person. They will add a lot of value to the inherent meaning of the card and will be largely derived from the overall theme of the Tarot Card Deck.
If you are looking at a Suit card, then these also include the Suit Symbols: Wands, Swords, Cups, and Pentacles.
Knowing what these symbols mean is useful because then you can get into the deeper aspects of the card’s story, and its metaphoric meanings.
Many of the Tarot books you that you read, and also the Little White Books (or LWBs) that accompany the Tarot Card Decks contain information specific to these symbols. Understanding the overall theme of the Tarot Card Deck and reading through the LWB or any other accompanying book can supply you with more information about the symbols, and will aid you in understanding the Card Story.
The Internet is also a great repository of knowledge. If the LWB or the accompanying book about the deck does not have enough information, a quick Google Search may easily reveal a host of interesting interpretations and meanings for a particular symbol.
A book titled The Secret Language of Tarotwritten by Ruth Ann and Wald Amberstone and another book titled Pictures from the Heart: A Tarot Dictionary by Sandra A. Thomson are both awesome resources for looking into the meanings of the symbols on the cards. And they are available in both paperback and Kindle formats.
Once we look at the different aspects of the Card Imagery, we can now formulate a Card Story Statement.
To put it simply, just use a sentence fragment for each aspect, and say something like:
In (The Environment), (The Person)’s story was going on.
OR
(The Person)’s story was happening in (The Environment).
Of course, The Symbols within the card’s image will add meaning to both or either of these two aspects of the Card Statement, wherever they appear and are relevant.
Let us look at the cards that we’ve seen as examples in this section and formulate their Card Story Statements.
The Environment: Simple village.
The Person: A man with dream or vision.
The Symbols: Globe = World. Ocean = Possibilities, Dreams.
The Card Statement:
In an humble village, lives a man with a dream of achieving something great in the world. OR
A man with a dream of achieving something great in the world lives in a relatively humble environment.
Card Story Statement: 7 of Cups
Card: 7 of Cups
The Environment: Dream, Imagination, Wishing.
The Person: Scared, Afraid, Fearful, Not Confident.
The Symbols: The Stuff in the Cups = Ambitions and Desires. Man drawn as a Shadow Figure = He is Fearful, Scared, Not Confident.
The Card Statement:
He imagines his desires and ambitions, and is scared because he is not confident of achieving them. OR
He is scared and not confident of achieving the desires and ambitions that he dreams of.
Card Story Statement: The Fool
Card: The Fool
The Environment: On the edge of the cliff. A new day.
The Person: Head in the Clouds - Dreaming / Dreamer. Ready to take the plunge into the unknown. The Symbols: Cliff = Edge of Unknown, Uncertainty. Sun Rise = Brand new day, New Beginnings.
The Card Statement:
Uncertain of where he is headed, he is ready to jump into the unknown to follow his dream.
OR
He is ready to jump into the unknown and follow his dream, even if it is uncertain where he is headed.
Card Story Statement: 2 of Pentacles
Card: 2 of Pentacles
The Environment: Emotional ups and downs. Difficult times.
The Person: Juggling two ways of making money. Looking unhappy about what he is doing.
The Symbols: Lemniscate = Unending Cycles, Infinite. Waves = Emotional ups and downs.
The Card Statement:
Amidst a lot of emotional ups and downs, he is juggling two jobs and wondering when his juggling will end.
OR
He is juggling two jobs while going through a lot of emotional ups and downs and wondering when it will end.
Some More Card Story Examples
Let’s do some more examples using the Card Story Worksheet. You can find the format for the Worksheet at the end of the book.
Card Story: King of Wands Reversed
Card: King of Wands (j)
The Environment / Landscape:
The desert looks vast. A Salamander sits by his feet. The drawings of the Salamanders on his throne and cloak are unique - they are eating their own tail. The cycle of fire energy feeding itself is completed.
The Person:
He looks calm, looking at the wand in his hand.
The card is reversed, so it seems as if he may fall out of the throne any moment. His situation is not that stable - either emotionally, or mentally.
The Symbols:
Salamander = Fire Elemental.
Eating their own tail = Endless creation cycle.
Crown with fire design = Mind ruled by Fiery passion.
The Card Story:
He gets angrier every moment that he cannot get himself out of his slump. His passion cannot sustain his upset mood. He knows he can do it, but for now, he feels as if he just can’t.
Card Story: 6 of Wands Reversed
Card: 6 of Wands (j)
The Environment / Landscape:
There is a crowd of people around the main figure. These are people holding wands. It looks as if they are either following him, or looking up to him.
The Person:
The main figure sits upon a horse. He is well dressed. Even the horse is well dressed. He is holding a wand that is decorated with a laurel wreath. He is also wearing one on his head.
Because the card is reversed, it feels as if he may fall off the horse any moment now.
The Symbols:
Laurel Wreath = symbol of success and glory.
Horse = ability for forward movement.
The Card Story:
He wants to lead his followers (his team) towards success, but his movement is awkward and his growth is stunted. He hasn’t found his footing and therefore is unable to lead them properly. Perhaps that is why success eludes him.
Card Story: 9 of Cups
Card: 9 of Cups
The Environment / Landscape:
9 Cups are arranged as if they were on display, or were trophies of some sort. They certainly gain a lot of prominence.
The Person:
He sits on a bench. He is wearing a good outfit and looks healthy and happy. He is also smiling.
The Symbols:
Cups displayed as if trophies = open display of feelings, wearing one’s feelings on one’s sleeve. Hands folded across chest = keeping one’s heart safe.
The Card Story:
He shows the world how happy he is. And for all intents and purposes he is happy and content. But he’s learned how to safeguard his heart while being vulnerable at the same time.
Card Story: 10 of Swords Reversed
Card: 10 of Swords (j)
The Environment / Landscape:
It is dark, but dawn is breaking on the horizon. There are mountains on the horizon, and a water body in the foreground.
The Person:
He lies upon the ground by the water, ten swords stuck in his back. He is completely destroyed. His one hand forms the sign for benediction - perhaps he sees the blessing in this painful situation?
Also, since the card is reversed, the swords may be slowly falling out of him, reducing his painful situation.
The Symbols:
Swords = logic, painful thoughts, hurt and pain.
Water body = feelings, subconscious mind.
Mountains = hardships.
Darkness = Darkness of the mind, fear.
Breaking Dawn = Relief from hardship, a new day, a new beginning.
The Card Story:
As the hurt slowly subsides, he gets in touch with his feelings, and discovers the hidden blessings in the experience. As a new beginning dawns upon the horizon, he slowly lets go of the pain and wants to begin anew.
Card Story: 7 of Pentacles Reversed
Card: 7 of Pentacles (j)
The Environment / Landscape:
A plant in the field bears fruit, and harvest is round the corner.
The Person:
He leans upon his hoe and indulgently watches the fruit laden plant.
The card is reversed, therefore we can say that he is in a rush to harvest the fruit. Or maybe the fruit isn’t fully ripe yet.
Pentacle Shaped Fruits = Materialization of Hard Work, Fruits of one’s Labor Farm with Crops = Long term project The Card Story:
The project has taken far too long to deliver its results. He cannot wait any longer to enjoy the fruits of his hard work.
A Tarot Card Reading : Behind-the-Scenes
A Tarot Card Reading is a process of consulting with the Tarot Cards to gain insight on general or specific questions and situations.
Here is quick look at an actual Tarot Card Reading as it takes place.
The client asks the Tarot Card Reader his question, and the Tarot Card Reader shuffles her deck of cards, and then fans them out or holds them face down.
Now, depending on the Tarot Reader’s preference, she either asks the client to pull out a bunch of cards, or she pulls out the cards herself.
The Tarot Reader then arranges these cards in a particular layout that will best suit / work towards answering the question that the client has asked.
This layout is also called a Spread, and within the spread, each card lies in a specific Position.
The reading begins.
She opens the first card and looks at the image on the card.
The picture on the card stirs up her subconscious mind, which then sends her a message in the form of an intuition.
She recalls a key word or a key phrase that she may have learned while studying the different elements of the card’s image, and selects one which is closest in conveying the intuitive feelings that she’s just had.
She also keeps in mind the Position that the card has come up in. She now knows the context within which the intuitive words and card’s story need to be interpreted.
The Tarot Card Reader then puts together the intuition, the key word and her interpretation of the card’s image within the context of the Spread Position and starts telling the story of that card.
After she is done with that card, she opens the next card.
The same process as before takes place, and she continues talking.
All of this happens fluidly, naturally. She continues telling the story as she opens up each card, till all the cards in the spread are done. She does not stop talking in between opening up the cards.
Everything is in the flow, and the Tarot Card Reader is navigating through the flow with the images of the Tarot Cards. While doing the Reading, the Tarot Reader is able to form connections between these images, within the context of the Spread Position, and build up the storytelling narrative as she opens up each card one-by-one.
In a Spread with more than one card, the card stories connect with each other. These connections are the threads that connect the pictures with one another and help form the complete story.
These connections can be either one of the following, or a mix of both:
Since the client is The Person in each of the cards, he can serve as an effective thread that links the cards with each other. Either he is doing something in the card’s story, or things are happening to him The story within the cards of the spread tell us the client’s story.
This is what one would call a Character-Based story.
This is the crux of the spread, and the main question that the spread is aiming to answer. Here the theme is the common underlying story thread that is running through all the card images.
This would be a very Plot-Based story.
A Tarot Card Reading is essentially a storytelling session, where the cards and the spreads are used to construct a story, on the spot.
The essentials and building blocks of a story are:
- Setting / Story World
- Plot / Scenes
- Characters
- Theme
Every story has its own setting / world within which it lives and breathes. The story setting decides many environmental aspects.
For instance, Jane Austen’s story Pride and Prejudice is set in the fictional town of Meryton, in th
early 19 Century England. If, instead it was 2015, New York City, there would understandably be plenty of changes to the story.
As a simple example, instead of riding in horse driven carriages, people would take a taxi or a subway or drive a car to go from one place to the other. Instead of writing long letters to each other, people would probably just send emails, or make phone calls. All of this would change the story considerably.
This is but a simple example of how the setting affects a story’s inherent content and flow.
The setting forms the background tapestry of every story-world. This is the time and place where the story lives, breathes, and thrives. Thus the setting is the foundation of the very story itself.
The plot is the sequence of events (also known as ‘Scenes’) that make up the story. These scenes take place within the story-world.
A typical plot will have one event / scene causing or leading to the next, and that one causing or leading to the next and so on, till a conclusion of the storyline is reached.
For example, in the well known fairy tale Beauty and the Beast, the merchant’s daughter, Beauty, asks her father to bring her a rose when he returns from his trip. The merchant subsequently gets lost in the forest, and finds shelter at a castle. Later, while on his way back home, he is caught while plucking a rose for Beauty from the castle’s garden. In order to save himself from being killed by the Beast residing within the castle, the merchant promises to send his daughter, Beauty, to the castle.
If Beauty hadn’t asked for a rose to begin with, her father would not have plucked one from the garden. Then he wouldn't have been caught. Then Beauty wouldn't have to go live at the castle. And so on.
Characters are the people in the story.
You can have a story-world and you can even have a sequence of events that happen in that world, but unless you have characters actually going about and doing things, causing the events to move forward, your story will be lifeless.
Every story has its own set of characters. And each character has his / her own traits and personality quirks. Of course, all of that adds a bit more color to the story world and the plot.
In Pride and Prejudice, the main characters are Elizabeth Bennett and Mr Darcy, and of course, a myriad of other characters, who drive the plot forward with their actions.
In Beauty and the Beast, the main characters are of course, Beauty and the Beast, and also the other characters, who make things happen in the story.
The central theme of the story is the basic message that the story wants to convey. It is the central question that the story intends to answer. It is the crux of the story.
For example, in Pride and Prejudice, the theme is how Mr. Darcy overcomes his pride about interacting with Elizabeth’s family while Elizabeth Bennet overcomes her prejudice about how stuck- up Mr. Darcy seems to be, while circumstances ensure that they get to know each other, and fall in love.
In Beauty and the Beast for example, the theme is how Beauty overcomes her fears of the physical appearance of the Beast because of his personality and generosity, while the Beast overcomes his insecurities over his physical appearance because of Beauty’s compassion and kind heart, while they get to know each other and start loving each other.
Story Components in a Tarot Card Reading
The story components that we’ve just seen are also the building blocks of a Tarot Card Reading. If you look carefully, every story component is present within a Tarot Reading as well.
Setting / Story World = Spread Position
The story world is the world or the environment within which the story exists. In a Tarot Reading, it is the Spread Position that provides us with that context or environment within which we interpret the story of the card in that Position. The Spread Position then becomes the world or the context within which the card’s story is interpreted.
Depending on the Position that the card is in, the entire context of the card’s story will change.
For instance, in a Position called “Situation” a card will describe what is going on. But if in another spread the same card comes up in the “Advice” position, the card’s story will guide us about what is to be done.
Or, for example, if a card comes up in a Position called "Past,” it will describe what has already taken place. The card’s story will be interpreted as if it has already happened, and will be told in the Past Tense. But if the same card comes up in the Position called “Future” it will talk about what is going to happen. Then, the card’s story will be told as if it is going to happen in the future, in the Future Tense.
The story of the card will retain its core essence, but the environment within which it is interpreted will change. The context of the card story will thus affect the way the card story is told.
Each Tarot card is a story within itself. In a Spread, the cards can denote the various scenes that make up the story plot.
One after the other, the cards open up to reveal the sequence of events that is unique to that reading. With the help of the card stories, we can see the sequence of events that have created this story.
Think of these card images as snapshots of the important times from the client’s story. These snapshots are now arranged in a particular order. Now, based on this order, and just by looking at those snapshots, you as the Tarot Card Reader are going to link up the entire sequence of events and create the story.
In the same way, when we read the cards in the spread, we put the story together by linking up the entire plot by looking at the sequence of the cards laid out in the Spread.
Characters = Court Cards + The Person
Court Cards are people cards. And, as we’ve seen before, there is almost always a person within the image of each card.
Together, they are the characters / people from our Reading Story. They represent the client, and / or the people in the client’s immediate area of influence.
They play an important role within the circumstances and situations described by the cards. They can either be actively doing the things indicated by the cards, or they can be influencing the events described by the cards.
Sometimes the client can even show up as two or more different court cards. These are the times when the different sides of the client’s personality become more prominent - and it depends on the situation that the client is tackling. The cards surrounding the Court Cards, or even the environment from regular cards with the person in them will tell you more about what is going on.
Thus, the client is the main character / hero / heroine of our Tarot Card Reading story. Even if he may not make an actual appearance as a Court Card, he will still be there as the main character of the story in the reading as the Person in the card’s story.
The theme of the reading, which is the core, or the crux of the spread will depend upon the question asked by the client.
The question or the theme is the aspect of the client’s life which the spread is looking at, attempting to make sense of, and essentially decipher.
In a general reading, the theme will be the big picture view of the client’s life. But when the client has asked a specific question, then that question will become the central theme of the reading story.
Spreads and Tarot Card Readings
The layout in which the cards are arranged during a Tarot Reading is called a Spread.
A Spread is the tool that a Tarot Card Reader uses to actually do the Reading. The Spread provides a framework for Storytelling during the reading.
Each Spread Position within the layout contains at least one card, and it provides the context within which that card is to be interpreted.
For example, in a typical 3-Card Spread, you have 3 cards laid out in a straight line.
In this 3-Card Spread, the first card represents the Past, the middle card represents the Present, and the last card represents the Future. The Spread Positions therefore are: Past, Present, and Future. The cards in this spread will be interpreted within these contexts.
- The Card Story in the spread position of ‘Past’ will be told as if has already happened.
- The Card Story that appears in the spread position of ‘Present’ will be told as if it is currently going on.
- And of course, the Card Story that appears in the ‘Future ’ position will be told as if it is going to happen.
The Tarot Card Reader uses her intuition and her knowledge to help the client find answers to his questions by using a Spread to do a Reading.
While it is important to know the meanings and interpretations of the cards in the Deck, it is equally important to understand what Spreads are all about as this will give you a strong foundation for the Reading.
Before you start using any particular Spread in your professional Readings, you have to understand it very well. You may have to practice laying it out a few times till you get a hang of the way the cards are placed, and what the Spread Positions are all about.
While you look at the layout, try to also figure out the following:
- Purpose of the Spread
- Type of Spread
- The Spread Positions
- Dynamics between the Positions
Every spread has a purpose. Sometimes it may be a General Purpose (like in the overall Past- Present-Future spread) or it may have a Specific Purpose (for example, a spread designed to help you search for a new job).
A spread can either be a Predictive Spread or a Guidance Spread or a Mix of Both. It is also possible for some spreads to be used as either type depending on the question asked by the client.
For example:
A Yes-No Spread is a Predictive Spread because it will give a specific answer, one which is highly likely to occur in the future.
A spread designed to help you figure out the best way to get that promotion is a Guidance Spread because it will tell you how to achieve your particular goal.
It is also possible that the “how do I get a promotion" spread may have a position that may show the outcome, especially if the client follows the guidance given by the cards. This spread now becomes a Mix of Both, a guidance and a predictive spread.
Depending on the question asked by the Client, a Yfes-No Spread can be either a Predictive or a Guidance Spread. For example, if the Client asks a question like “Will I get the promotion?", then it is obviously used as a Predictive Spread. But if the Client asks a question like “Should I take my boss out for an expensive meal in order to get my promotion?", then the Spread is being used as a Guidance Spread.
The spread positions set up the context within which the card is to be interpreted.
Just like the Spread, the spread positions can also be Predictive, Guidance based, or Indicative of
the situation depicted in the card. Card positions can also be a Combination of more than one type.
For example:
A card in the position of “Advice” will not be a Predictive interpretation, but more of a Guidance interpretation. The card’s image will guide the client regarding the action he needs to take in order to achieve his desired results.
A card in the “Outcome” position on the other hand, is very likely to have a Predictive interpretation. The card will clearly show what is finally going to happen.
A card in the “Heart” or “Mind” position in a spread will have an Indicative interpretation. The card will show what is going on in the Client’s heart or mind respectively. It won't predict or guide but will simply inform us about what is going on in that aspect of the Client’s life.
Dynamics between the Positions
The dynamics between the spread positions are the relationships that the spread positions have with each other. There can be Cause-Effect, or Value Addition, or Influencing, or Dependent
relationships between the Spread Positions.
In a Past-Present-Future spread, the cards in each of these positions have a chronological (i.e. in the sequence of the passage of time), and a cause-effect relationship with each other.
This means that the situations described in them will occur one after the other, and also as a result of something that happened in the previous card. The situation in the Past card will cause the situation in the Present card, which will then lead to the situation in the Future card. Thus, not only will they occur one after the other, but each card story will lead to the events of the next card’s story.
Let’s take another example. In the Celtic Cross Spread, we see the positions of: Advice, Influences, Hopes / Fears, and, Outcome. Here, the card in the “Advice” position is clearly a guidance card for all the other cards in the spread. But the card in the position of “Influences'” will directly influence the “Outcome” card.
The result that is shown in the “Outcome” card will be the direct result of the card in the “Influences'" position. So both “Influences” and “Outcome” will be predictive, and will affect each other’s story in the spread.
“Hopes / Fears'" is indicative of the state of the client’s mind and talks about his hopes and fears. It may influence how the client will deal with the outcome, although it won't have a direct bearing on the actual outcome.
Storytelling Framework for Reading : The Spread Statement
As we study the various aspects of the Tarot Card Reading Spread, we begin to look at the Spread from within a Storytelling framework. From within this storytelling framework, we can start to build a skeleton of the story that the spread is going to tell.
A Spread Statement is the skeleton of the story that the spread will tell.
This gives you a good starting point to get to know and practice the Spread for your Tarot Card Reading. This is especially great if you are a beginner, or you find it a little tough to get into the intuitive reading-storytelling mindset.
Spread Statement Example: 3 Card Spread
Let’s look at a simple example of a 3-Card Spread. Let’s analyze it based on what we’ve learned so far, and derive the Spread Statement.
3-Card Spread: Situation-Obstacle-Advice
The purpose of this spread is to provide guidance that is Specific to the client’s situation.
This is a Guidance Spread, aiming to help the client overcome the hurdle he is facing.
The Situation position is indicative, but the Obstacle position could be both indicative and predictive depending on whether the obstacle has actually occurred or not. The Advice position is a guidance position.
Spread Positions = Setting / Story World
Since the Situation position is indicative, when we talk about it, we will just be telling the story as we see it. So it will be told either in the past or present tense.
But the Obstacle position is either predictive or indicative. If it is indicative, we just relate the story we see in the cards, in either past or present tense. But if it is predictive, we need to bear that in mind, and relate the card story as if it is going to happen in the future i.e. in the future tense.
The Advice position is for guidance. So when we relate this card’s story, we will only talk about the guidance aspect of the card. We need to take the story that we see / sense / feel and relate it as if it is a suggestion from the cards to the client. Whatever is being shown in the card’s story is probably what the Client needs to do, or refrain from doing, depending on the intuition you get when you open the card.
Dynamics between Spread Positions:
There will be a Value Addition connection between the Obstacle position and the Advice position - the advice will be on how to overcome the obstacle. Both of these cards will relate to the first card,
- e. the Situation card.
Since we know the dynamics of the spread positions, we can then see how they affect / influence the other cards that they are connected with.
We need to keep this in mind when we do our reading. The cards that affect / influence the cards that we are reading will have a direct bearing on the story of the card that we’re reading.
While we are doing all this, we need to remain focused on the very basic fact that the Client’s question is the overarching theme of our story. We need to relate everything within that parameter.
For example, if the client’s question or reading’s theme is about his career, we have to interpret the cards so that they will relate to, and make sense to the client with respect to his career.
The story of each of these cards can be narrated as follows:
- Situation: What is going on right now is (card story).
- Obstacle: Amidst all this, the hurdles to achieving your goals are (card story).
- Advice: To overcome those Obstacles you might want to try (card story).
Putting it all together, the spread story could be summarized in a statement format as:
(Card Story - Situation) is going on right now in your life. (Card Story - Obstacle) is not allowing you to achieve your desired goal. What you can do to overcome the setbacks and achieve your goal is (Card Story - Advice).
With this Spread Statement, you now have a skeleton for your storytelling efforts. This is the first step to get into the storytelling zone, and to do a better reading.
Spread Statements Example: 7 Card Horseshoe Spread
Let us look at a 7-Card Horseshoe Spread, and work out the Spread Statement.
indicative
7-Card Horseshoe Spread
This is an interesting spread which can be used for both general readings, and for answering specific questions. Therefore, depending on the client’s question, this spread can serve either General and Specific purposes.
Based on the spread positions, we can say that this spread is a mix of Indicative and Predictive.
The first 3 positions (Past-Present-Future) are part of the general, big picture, overall look. The cards in the Situation and Attitude positions are also indicative. The cards in the Outcome and Answer positions are predictive.
Spread Positions = Setting / Story World
Depending on the question asked, the approach of the spread will change, and so the setting / world of the reading will change from a general, big-picture look to a specific aspect of the client’s life.
Dynamics between Spread Positions:
The first 3 positions of Past, Present and Future are clearly linked in a chronological order. The cards in the Situation and Attitude position will of course add value to the first 3 cards. All of that will naturally influence the Outcome and Answer positions.
Thus, we see how each card pretty much leans on or links to the next one, forming a chain.
The dynamics of the positions have pretty much guided us as to how the card stories / the plot will move and be influenced by which parts of the story.
Of course, if the client has asked a question regarding a particular area of his life, then all our card interpretations will focus on that.
So, if we put down the statements for each of the positions of the Spread, we can see:
- Past: What happened in the past was (card story).
- Present: What is going on is (card story).
- Future: What is likely to happen is (card story).
- Situation: While all this was going on, the circumstances were like (card story).
- Attitude: And the client’s approach towards it all was like (card story).
- Outcome: As a result, the end result will be like (card story).
- Answer: And, the answer to your question is (card story).
(Card Story - Past) was what happened, which led to (Card Story - Present). Most likely, (Card Story - Future) will happen. While all this was going on, the situation was (Card Story - Situation), and the client’s approach was (Card Story - Attitude). All of this led to the outcome of (Card Story - Outcome), and the answer to the client’s question is (Card Story - Answer).
Some More Spread Statement Examples
Let’s do some more quick Spread Statement examples using the Spread Analysis Worksheet. You can find the format for the Spread analysis at the end of the book, in the ‘Worksheets’ section.
Spread Analysis: 5-Card For and Against Spread
5-Card For and Against Spread
Spread: For and Against No. Of Cards: 5 Purpose: Specific Type: Guidance
Spread Positions / Setting / Story World:
- What You Have - Indicative
- What You Want - Indicative
- What Works For You - Guidance
- What Works Against You - Guidance
- Advice - Guidance
- ‘What You Want’ adds value to ‘What You Have’.
- ‘What You Want’ influences ’What Works For You’ and ‘What Works Against You’
- ‘Advice’ will influence the relationship between all the cards.
As of now, you already have (Card Story - What Ym Have), but what you really want is (Card Story - What YOu Want). To get what you want, (Card Story - What Works For Ym) will help you, but (Card Story - What Works Against Ym) will hinder you in your goal. The cards suggest that you follow (Card Story - Advice) in order to achieve your goal.
(Original Source of Spread: Power Tarot by Trish MacGregor & Phyllis Vega. Spread Modified by Madhavi Ghare)
Spread Analysis: 7-Card Consequences Spread
of Probl
7-Card Consequences Spread
Spread: Consequences No. Of Cards: 7 Purpose: Specific Type: Predictive
Spread Positions / Setting / Story World:
- Your Problem - Indicative
- Root Cause of Problem - Indicative
- Past - Indicative
- Future - Predictive
- Advice - Guidance
- Outside Influences - Predictive
- Final Outcome - Predictive
- ‘Root Cause of Problem’ will influence and add value to ‘Your Problem’.
- ‘Past’ will add value to these previous 2 cards.
- ‘Advice’ and ‘Outside Influences’ will influence and add value to ‘Future’ and ‘Final Outcome’ cards.
Your issue is (Card Story - Problem), which was caused by (Card Story - Root Cause of
Problem). The situation in the Past was (Card Story - Past). (Card Story - Outside Influences)
will also affect the situation. The cards suggest (Card Story - Advice). However (Card Story - Future) will occur, resulting in (Card Story - Final Outcome) as a consequence.
(Original Source of Spread: Power Tarot by Trish MacGregor & Phyllis Vega. Spread Modified by Madhavi Ghare)
Spread Analysis: 9-Card Birthday Spread
Spread: Birthday Spread No. Of Cards: 9 Purpose: Specific Type: Guidance
Spread Positions / Setting / Story World:
- Where you are now - Indicative
- Where you would like to be on your next birthday - Indicative
- What empowers you - Indicative
- What you need to create to bring you closer to your goals - Guidance
- Your current material state - Indicative
- Your current emotional state - Indicative
- Your current spiritual state - Indicative
- What stands in opposition to your objectives - Predictive
- What you need to do this year to make your dreams come true - Guidance
5 of the 9 cards are Indicative. This spread will mostly show / clarify to the client what he / she already knows / expects.
The card in the 3rd and 4th positions will help the client in his quest, while the card in the 8th position will also be a value add in terms of knowledge. They will add value to the card in the 9th position.
The card in the 9th position (What you need to do this year to make your dreams comes true) will
influence the cards in positions 2 and 8.
On this birthday you are in (Card Story - Where you are now). Next year on your birthday, you want to be in (Card Story - Where you would like to be on your next birthday). (Card Story - What empowers you) will give you the strength to make it happen, while you need to do (Card Story - What you need to create to bring you closer to your goals) in order to make it happen.
This year, financially your situation is (Card Story - Ybur current material state). Your emotional condition is (Card story - Ybur current emotional state). And your spiritual situation is (Card Story - Your current spiritual state).
(Card Story - What stands in opposition to your objectives) are the obstacles in your path. In order to overcome these obstacles and make your dreams come true, you need to (Card Story - What you need to do this year to make your dreams come true).
(Source of Spread: Power Tarot by Trish MacGregor & Phyllis Vega)
Every single Tarot Card has a number of different interpretations. In a Reading, the Reader needs to identify which one of those various interpretations is applicable for that reading.
Identifying the right interpretation is something that has bogged down so many potential Tarot Card Readers. If you ask around, the most common answer you get is: “Your intuition will guide you ”.
While this answer is correct, it doesn't always help you. It is not a very practical answer, especially when you are trying to figure out the intricacies of actually activating and accessing your intuitive faculties whilst doing a Tarot Reading.
How does one activate and access one’s intuition?
As you’ve read in the chapter about A Tarot Card Reading, Intuition is the way in which The Subconscious Mind communicates with us. Since the Subconscious Mind is conversant with the language of images, symbols, and sensory data, it communicates the right answer to us via these intuitions.
In order to tap into your intuitive faculties and to understand the messages of the Subconscious, you will need to take many factors into account all at once.
Sensory Feedback from the Subconscious
The simplest way is to pay attention to the first thing that pops into your head and / or the sensations you feel in your body as you open the card.
The feelings, the image, the smell, the taste - essentially the sensory feedback from your body and / or mind is how your subconscious is telling you what the card’s image is really all about.
These things, singly or in combination, will communicate with you to let you know the message from your subconscious.
A knot in your stomach may convey fear. An unexplainable urge to laugh and sing may convey joy. You may suddenly see a quick image flash before your eyes. You may feel a scent waft through the air. Lyrics or music from a song will pop up in your head, making you recall exactly what they are trying to convey.
This is the part where regular meditation really helps. Regular meditation ensures you can still your mind and pay attention to these Subconscious Signals that your body sends your way. Meditation helps you find focus and hone in on these signs and messages quickly.
As soon as you turn the card over, you see the card’s imagery and symbols.
What is the first thing that caught your eye when you opened the card and saw the picture?
Which one of the image aspects or symbols have evoked that sensory feedback from your body?
Based on what you have learned about the card’s imagery, what does that symbol or image aspect mean?
Since you’ve studied the imagery and symbolism on the card, and understood the meanings and figured out their interpretations, this knowledge really comes in handy while interpreting the intuitive messages sent by the subconscious mind.
The meaning of the first thing that caught your eye from the card’s image will be your biggest guiding light, adding in to the sensory feedback from your body. What does it talk about? Your interpretation will lie in the direction indicated by that information.
Look at the Spread Position of the card, and word the interpretation of the card accordingly.
As we’ve seen before, the position of the card within the Spread will affect the interpretation to a very large extent. Your body’s sensory feedback and your knowledge of the card’s imagery will give you the crux of the message.
But the tone of the message is set by the Spread Position.
Is the card upright or reversed? The meaning and interpretation of the card will then differ accordingly.
The interpretation of the card will also change depending upon whether it opens up upright or reversed.
Direction and Flow of the Images
Look at the images as if they were stills from movie scenes — as if someone pressed the Pause button at different times while the movie was playing on screen. Think of the Tarot Reading as a collection of those images placed one after the other. What story do they tell?
What is the direction in which the people in the images are looking? Are they looking at each other or away from each other? What about the other things in the image like horses, boats etc? Where are they are going? Does it look like they are going in a particular direction? What is the flow of these card images? What story does that flow tell us?
If we look at the spread above, we can see an interesting interplay between the images. The boatman from the 6 of Swords is rowing his boat in the direction of the next card, The Hermit (|). The Hermit (|)’s lantern shines upon the card next to it, The King of Wands. But The King of Wands is looking right back at The Hermit (|). The story seems to take a break at this point, and now we see the last 2 cards: The Fool (|) and the Knight of Cups (|), who are basically looking at each other.
Assuming that this story is proceeding linearly or chronologically, the story would now start to take on a very interesting tone, based on the direction and flow that these images have shown us.
Now, if we add in other aspects such as the Spread Position, the intuitive messages from our subconscious, and our knowledge of the card’s meanings and the image aspects, we will be able to put together a reading that weaves a very interesting story.
Although this method sounds random, and quite frankly, very daunting, don't let that come in the way of you trying it out. It only seems this way because I've broken it down into its component parts.
During a Tarot Card Reading, these parts integrate into a comprehensive whole, and function beautifully and synchronously to give you the best results.
Using this method, the interpretations that you get will vary from reading to reading. Sometimes, you may even get interpretations which were not taught to you or which you did not learn from that book or that teacher. Don’t be bogged down by that. It is very natural for this to happen. This only means that your intuitive energies are in full force, and that they are telling you stuff which isn’t in the books.
This means that you are making a new discovery for yourself. That is a big sign of progress. Exercising Your Psychic Muscle
Your intuitive skills are controlled by what I like to call “the Psychic Muscle.”
Just like every other muscle in the human body, this psychic muscle also needs regular exercise so that it remains in a good condition, and delivers constant and consistently high quality results.
I’ve mentioned some ways of exercising one’s Psychic Muscle on my blog.
Meanwhile, let me talk about those methods and some more interesting methods in which you can go about Exercising your Psychic Muscle.
Just before you go somewhere, or do something, just pull out a card and pay attention to the first thing you feel or think of as you open the card.
If you like, you can make a quick note of it in your Journal. See if you are getting the right answers.
2. What Is The Card For This Situation?
Every single day, try to find one situation in your day which gives you a feeling similar to, or that can be described by one of the cards from the deck. Visualize that card as you take a mental snapshot of the situation.
Make a quick note of this in your Journal. After some time has passed (days, weeks or even months), you may start seeing specific card images pop up inside of your mind just before a situation crops up.
This exercise requires the co-operation of a friend.
Ask your friend to hold a coin in one of her hands. Focus on the fists and hone in on the hand which holds the coin. What is the answer that popped up in your mind?
Don't worry if you don't get it right. Don't worry if that doesn't happen for a while. But after the initial bit of time has gone by, you will start sensing the coin much better. And you will be surprised by the results.
This exercise also requires the co-operation of a friend.
Ask your friend to hold objects of two different colors and hide them either in their fists or behind their body (depending on the size of the object).
Now, focus on the energy emanating from the object and try to think of a color. What is the first color that popped up in your mind?
Again, it may take a while till you get better. But soon, you will start to see results that may astonish you.
5. The First Card / The Bottom Card
Shuffle your Tarot Card Deck thoroughly. Now, focus on the very first card off the top / at the bottom of your Tarot Card Deck.
Which card is it? Pay attention to what card name / imagery pops up in your mind.
At first, you may sense similar numbers. Or you may sense the correct Suit. Or you may sense a particular symbol or theme. Over time though, your answers will get more accurate.
If you are a professional Tarot Card Reader, then here’s an exercise that may interest you.
If you have a Tarot Card Reading that you will be doing, just close your eyes and focus on what the reading will be about. Pay attention to the feelings, thoughts, card images, or any other images that pop up in your head.
When you do your reading, you will be able to confirm the results for accuracy. Don't worry. As with every other way, this one will also start delivering results over a period of time.
This is an interesting exercise. Take any object that belongs to a friend and hold it in your hand. Close your eyes and imagine yourself tuning into the energies of that object. Once you feel like you've established a connection, imagine that you are able to talk to that object, and that the object is talking back to you.
Ask the object a few questions that describe the last time your friend wore the object. Tell your friend, and check your accuracy. This method too will start delivering astonishing results over time.
Now that we’ve learned how to derive the Card Story and formulate a Spread Statement, all you need to do is put the Card Story in the appropriate place within the Spread Statement, and you will have done your Tarot Card Reading. Of course, listening to your intuitive faculties will only add more detail into the story that you tell.
Although an actual reading may not be as simple as this sounds, this is essentially the crux of the process.
Let’s look at a few simple examples to illustrate this point.
Example 3-Card Spread: Past-Present-Future
3-Card Spread: Past-Present-Future
Purpose: General.
Type: Predictive Spread.
Spread Positions / Setting: There are 3 Spread Positions.
- Past: What already happened. Indicative.
- Present: What is going on. Indicative.
- Future: What is likely to happen. Predictive.
Dynamics: All the cards are chronologically (in terms of the passage of time) connected with each other.
Theme: General, since no specific question has been asked.
(Card Story - Past) happened which caused (Card Story - Present) which is going on / happening right now. As a result, (Card Story - Future) will happen.
- Past: 6 of Cups
- Present: The Emperor
- Future: 7 of Pentacles
The Environment: Good old times, Happy memories of old times.
The Person: Remembering, reminiscing.
The Symbols: Cups with Flowers = Old memories that evoke happy feelings. Sepia toned buildings = memories of old days.
The Card Statement: Remembering the old days and feeling happy.
The Environment: Harsh, Hard, Tiring, Dry.
The Person: Old, fatherly man, ready to protect and fight.
The Symbols: Mountains = Hard Work, Hardships, Many obstacles to surmount. Dry = Devoid of Emotional Sustenance. Armor = Ready to fight. King on Throne = Leader, Man in Charge.
The Card Statement: The old, fatherly person who has already overcome many obstacles in the past, is still ready to fight and protect his world.
The Environment: Slow and Steady Growth.
The Person: Lovingly gazing at growing crops, hard working, patient.
The Symbols: Farm = Land with Potential. Growing Crops = Slow and steady growth.
The Card Statement: He gazes lovingly at the fruits that he has grown over some time with all his hard work.
Spread Statement with Card Statements:
Now, if we plug in the card stories within the spread statements, we would have something like this:
In past, he spent some time remembering the old days and feeling happy.
In the Present, the old, fatherly person who had overcome many obstacles in the past, was again ready to fight and protect his world.
In the Future, he will gaze lovingly at the fruits that he will grow over time with a lot of hard work.
THE EMPEROR.
3-Card Spread
Past - Present - Future
Putting it together, the story we now have is:
In the past, he spent some time recalling the good, old days and feeling happy. In the present, he remembered the obstacles he had overcome, and worked hard to take care of his world / his people. In the future, he will earn a lot of rewards from all his hard work and efforts.
The connecting thread in this instance is the client, who is experiencing or doing the things that are going on in the story.
Example 3-Card Spread: Situation-Obstacle-Advice 3-Card Spread: Situation - Obstacle - Advice
This is a spread that we’ve already analyzed before. So, let’s do a quick recap of the analysis and the Spread Statement.
Purpose: Specific to Client’s Situation Type: Guidance Spread Spread Positions / Setting:
There are 3 Spread Positions.
- Situation: What is going on. Indicative.
- Obstacle: What are the hurdles in the path. Indicative and / or Predictive.
- Advice: What you can do to overcome the hurdles. Guidance.
Dynamics: The Advice card will show how to overcome the obstacle in the Obstacle card, and both of them will relate to the Situation card.
Theme: Specific to the question of the client.
(Card Story - Situation) is going on right now. (Card Story - Obstacle) is creating hurdles in your path. In order to overcome the hurdles, you need to (Card Story - Advice).
- Situation: 4 of Swords
- Obstacle: 8 of Pentacles
- Advice: 10 of Cups
The Environment: Seeking forgiveness and redemption from painful past. The Person: Searching for redemption and forgiveness.
The Symbols: Swords on Wall = Pain from Past. Confession Scene in Stained Glass Window = Seeking forgiveness and counseling. Hands folded as if in prayer = Seeking redemption, Prayer.
The Card Statement: He is looking for forgiveness and redemption through prayer and the acceptance of his hurt.
Card Story - Obstacle
The Environment: Workshop, at work.
The Person: Working hard, learning skills, learning while working, learning on the job, hands on learning while working.
The Symbols: Pentacles = Achievements. Hammer & Chisel = Tools of the Trade.
The Card Statement: He is learning while he is working, and trying to improve his skills.
Card Story = Advice
The Environment: Happy family, emotionally connected family unit.
The Person: Enjoying the company of his family. Enjoying family time. Showing off his happy family.
The Symbols: Cups in Rainbow = Emotionally Connected & Happy Family. Playing Children = Happy Family. House = Stable Family.
The Card Statement: He enjoys the time and the deep emotional connection he has with his family.
Spread Statement with Card Statements:
- Situation: 4 of Swords
He is looking for forgiveness and redemption through prayer and the acceptance of his hurt.
- Obstacle: 8 of Pentacles
He is learning while he is working, and trying to improve his skills.
Note: This will become the obstacle and therefore is to be interpreted as one.
- Advice: 10 of Cups
Enjoy the time and deep emotional connection with the family.
3-Card Spread
Situation - Obstacle - Advice
The Reading:
Putting it all as one story, we get:
He wants to find forgiveness and redemption for the hurt and pain from his past. But he is spending more time at work, learning and improving his skills at his job. This isn’t giving him the time he needs to find peace from the pain. The cards are advising him to spend as much time as he could with his family, and seek sustenance from the deep emotional connection that he shares with them.
The connecting thread in this spread is the theme from the Situation card, which truly begins the story and sets the scene for us to work through.
Example 7-Card Horseshoe Spread 7-Card Horseshoe Spread
Here is another spread that we’ve looked at before. So, lets do a quick recap of the Spread Analysis and Spread Statements.
Spread Analysis
Purpose: General and Specific.
In the case of this particular example, a question was asked. So this particular reading addresses a specific question.
Type: Predictive & Indicative Spread Positions / Settings:
There are 7 positions. They are:
- Past: What has already happened. Indicative
- Present: What is going on. Indicative / Predictive.
- Future: What will happen. Predictive.
- Answer: The final answer to the question asked. (Will be opened the last).
- Situation: What will be going on while the events in the first 3 cards occur. Predictive.
- Attitude: The way the client will approach the situation(s). Predictive.
- Outcome: How everything will end up. Predictive.
Dynamics between Spread Positions:
The first 3 cards will move in a linear, chronological fashion. The Situation and Attitude cards will add value to these first 3 cards. The last 2 cards, i.e. Outcome and Answer will be dependent on all the previous cards, and thus resolve the question asked by the client.
Theme: The client has asked a question, wanting to know how things will happen once he starts a certain project of his.
Based on all this information, we can make the Spread Statement as follows:
(Card Story - Past) happened which led to (Card Story - Present) which is happening. (Card Story - Future) will happen in the future. While all this is going on, the circumstances / situations will be like (Card Story - Situation). In these circumstances, the client will behave like (Card Story
- Attitude). As a result of all this, (Card Story - Outcome) will be the final result, and (Card Story
- Answer) will be the final answer to the client’s question.
For this Spread, the cards that were drawn were as follows:
(I’ve written the list in the order in which the cards in the Spread will be opened, not in the order in which they will be laid out.)
- Past: Moon
- Present: 7 of Cups
- Future: Ace of Cups
- Situation: The Magician (j)
- Attitude: 8 of Cups
- Outcome: The Hanged Man (j)
- Answer: 2 of Cups
The Environment: Confusion, Fearful, Thoughtful, Contemplative.
The Person: Trying to make sense of all sorts of emotions. Seeking answers, seeking clarity. The Symbols: Moon eclipsing the Sun = Emotions cover up clarity = Confusion (Moon = Emotions. Sun = Clarity). Wolf and Dog baying at the Moon = Primal Instinct. Path = Road Ahead.
Card Statement: He is confused and scared, looking for answers / clarity regarding the path ahead.
The Environment: Dreamlike scenario, Facing ones Ambitions and Desires The Person: Fearful, Doubtful.
The Symbols: All the Cups = All his Ambitions and Desires. Clouds = In the imagination / dream. Card Statement: He is doubting his ability to achieve his ambitions and desires.
The Environment: Joyful, Overflowing Happiness, Spiritual Contentment.
The Person: Happy and Content with everything.
The Symbols: Water = Emotions, Feelings, Creativity. Dove with Coin = Peaceful Blessings from Universe. Lotus Flowers in Ocean = Spiritual Growth.
Card Statement: He is full of joy and his happiness is overflowing.
The Environment: Creative Block, Creative Energies Blocked, Unable to take charge of situation. The Person: Poor leader, having creative blocks, difficulties in creating or leading.
The Symbols: Wand in Hand = Leadership. Suit Symbols on Table = Abilities and Talents. Flowers = Manifestation. Lemniscate, Head Band, Oroborous Belt = Knowledgeable Person.
Note: Since the card is reversed, the meanings of the Symbols will be applied differently.
Card Statement: He is unable to lead / take charge due to his creative blocks and self doubts.
The Environment: Confusion, Walking away from Emotional situations.
The Person: Going away, putting a distance between himself and the situation.
The Symbols: Eclipse = Confusion. Stacked Cups = Happiness and Sadness.
Card Statement: To deal with his confusion, he distances himself from the emotional situations.
The Environment: Able to see things in normal perspective again.
The Person: Having learned something valuable, he is ready for something new.
The Symbols: Tied Leg = Unable to take necessary steps. Hands probably tied = Unable / Unwilling to take action. Halo around head = learned, knowledgeable, enlightened.
Note: Since the card is reversed, the meanings of the Symbols will be applied differently.
Card Statement: Having learned a valuable lesson, he is now in a position to actually do something with it.
The Environment: Long term goals, friendship, companionship, healing, passion.
The Person: Meeting / befriending someone.
The Symbols: Cups = Feelings. Caduceus = Healing. Lion’s Head with Wings = Passion. House in Distance = Long term goals.
Card Statement: They meet and share common feelings and goals. Friendship. Partnership. Spread Statement with Card Statement
Confused and scared, he was looking for answers about the path to take.
He is doubtful if he can achieve all his goals.
He will be very happy and joyful.
He is unable to take charge because of creative blocks. He cannot focus his energies properly.
He wants to put some distance between himself and emotional situations in order to see things clearly.
He has learned something valuable, and is now in a position to do something useful with it.
He will meet someone, and share his feelings and goals.
All of this will be about the specific question that the client has asked i.e. a particular project that he has recently started.
[indicative
indicative / Predictive
Fw.tw.re
Answer
7-Card Horseshoe Spread
Past - Present - Future - Situation - Attitude - Outcome - Answer
If we now put it together, the reading for this spread would be something like this:
In the past, the client was quite confused about the entire project. He wanted to know what lay ahead for him. Even now, in the present, he has a lot of doubts. He has many ambitions, and wonders if he will be able to achieve his goals. But the future does look good for him. There are a lot of joyful, happy and satisfying moments waiting for him.
However, as the project continues forward, he will have to deal with many creative blocks and self
doubts. He will also find it difficult to be in control of and lead his team well. He may even feel like walking away lrom the situation. He may want to step back, and distance himself emotionally lrom the entire project. This might even help him see things more clearly.
In the end, he will learn something very valuable (perhaps as a result of distancing himself emotionally from the project’s outcome), and will be in a position where he can take the action required. The project will also lead to a very beautiful connection - perhaps a very strong business partnership. This partnership will be very helpful and supportive for him.
Some More Quick Examples
Now, let’s do some more example readings, a bit more quickly this time, and using the framework laid down by the Card Story and Spread Statement Worksheets.
- What Ybu Have: The High Priestess
The Environment: It is twilight. The High Priestess sits between two pillars of opposing colors. Behind her is a veil, and behind that veil is a water body. The whole environment is very mysterious,
The Person: She is sitting between the two pillars - as if she has to make a choice or find a balance. She hides a scroll in her sleeve - she has hidden knowledge, or she is hiding some knowledge.
The Symbols: Pillars of Opposing Colors = all sorts of opposing things. Pomegranates & date palms = possibility of fertility. Veil = hidden things. Water body = emotions, subconscious mind. Scroll = knowledge, information. Moon = intuition, feelings, emotions.
The Card Story: She is mysterious and wise. She keeps her knowledge hidden because she needs to find a balanced approach before she can be ready to share it with anyone.
- What YOu Want: Death
The Environment: Everything around is either over, getting over, or going to be over. Except for the little boy who seems interested and eager to meet the scary looking skeleton upon the horse. In the background, a ferry awaits to take those who want to go across the river. In the distance, the sun rises, heralding the beginning of a new day.
The Person: The skeleton i.e. Death rides upon a white horse. He doesn’t have any ulterior motive. He has a job to do.
The Symbols: Flag held by Skeleton = Peaceful motives. Horse = Movement. Dead King = End of Rigidity. Praying Priest = Framework of Society coming apart. Lady (in the bottom-right corner) who is giving up = Courage Failing. Child welcoming = Open to change due to no preconceived notions or fears. Ferry Boat on River = Transformation. Dawn = New Beginnings.
The Card Story: The Past is finished. Over. Change is inevitable. If one faces that change fearlessly and without any preconceived notions, then there will be many new beginnings.
- What Works For You: Queen of Pentacles
The Environment: Nature in its wild, beautiful glory. Flowers, fruits and grass growing. Rabbits running by.
The Person: She sits on her throne, admiring the pentacle coin as if it were her child. It is precious and important to her. She is loving and practical at the same time.
The Symbols: Flowers & Fruits = Joy and Rewards. Nature = Oneness with Existence. Rabbit = Fertility.
The Card Story: She is one with Existence, amidst the fruits of her hard work. She is joyful and happy as she cares for the things that she has created / materialized with her hard work. She enjoys the abundance and prosperity bestowed upon her with gratitude and respect.
4. What Works Against You: 9 of Pentacles
The Environment: It is a luxurious garden that speaks of abundance and prosperity.
The Person: She keeps an eye on her financial future with a long-term vision, and plans a slow and steady growth of her finances.
The Symbols: Grapes = Luxury. Kite = Long term vision. Snail = Slow and steady growth.
The Card Story: She enjoyed her prosperous and luxurious life. But she also kept an eye on her future and planned for the long term.
The Environment: It is calm, with only a few clouds. There are only a couple of birds in the sky.
The Person: He sits upon his throne, his fingers clenched. Control is his thing. He is sharp and logical.
But with the card being reversed, he may be in danger of losing his controlled thinking position as he may fall off his position of authority.
The Symbols: Clouds = Cloudy thoughts. Birds = Ideas, Thoughts. Clenched Fist = Controlled. Sword = Sharp, Logic.
The Card Story: He is losing his control. Even if there aren't many things to distract him, his too logical approach hasn't left him with anything or anyone supporting him while his logic falls apart.
As of now, you already have (Card Story - What You Have), but what you really want is (Card Story - What You Want). To get what you want, (Card Story - What Works For You) will help you, but (Card Story - What Works Against You) will hinder you in your goal. The cards suggest that you follow (Card Story - Advice) in order to achieve your goal.
See:Spread Analysis: 5-Card For and Against Spreadfor details.
As of now, you have a lot of knowledge and information. But you are keeping it hidden because you want to be sure before you share it with anyone.
What you really want is to be able to let go of all the things in your life which have ceased to be meaningful and useful for your growth and development as a person. You want to approach this change fearlessly.
To make it happen, what will work for you is spending time in Nature, and genuinely appreciating all the things that you have achieved in your life so far. Like Nature, let go of the things in your life which have completed their cycle.
But you are too focused on enjoying the luxurious life that you have created for yourself. Instead of looking at the long-term scenario of your life, you are focused on the here-and-now aspect, and is hindering your progress along your path for change and growth.
The cards suggest that you let go of your very controlling approach towards everything in your life. Sometimes, all you need to do is stop yourself from thinking in a certain way to begin the process of change that has already been waiting in the wings for you.
Example: 7-Card Consequences Spread
Fiudl Out com
Outside
l iA,fl uteres
Advice
indicative
γour Problem.
indicative
indicative
Predictive
Future
'oblem
7-Card Consequences Spread
1. YOur Problem: King of Swords (|)
The Environment: There aren't many clouds. There isn't much wind either. Only two birds flying in the sky.
The Person: He sits ramrod straight, fist clenched, sword held straight in other hand. But the card is reversed - he may just be losing it. He is going to fall off the throne.
The Symbols: Clouds = cloudy thoughts. Wind = Speed of thought. Birds = Ideas. Fist clenched = holding back anger, controlling. Overall Posture = Rational, Logical Approach.
The Card Story: If he was calm, he isn't going to remain that way for long. He is losing his hard held control, and when he does, it will be bad.
2. Root Cause of the Problem: 5 of Pentacles ( j)
The Environment: Its snowy and cold, and these two are out in the cold without any protective clothing on them. They don’t seem to be doing all that well, but, at least they are together. The card is reversed, so it looks like the snow may be letting up, and a warm place to shelter oneself from the cold may be in sight.
The Person: One is on crutches, while the other is accompanying him. She is barefoot. It is cold, and both are suffering. The card is reversed, so perhaps they may find some hope after all.
The Symbols: Snow & Cold = Left out in the cold, coldness, harshness, feeling of abandonment. Rags and Tatters for Clothes = Financial poverty. Crutches = Disabled, dependent. Window / Door with Pentacles = Hope, Warmth, Shelter.
The Card Story: They were left out in the cold, abandoned and bereft. They were helpless and struggling. But now, they have gone through their share of troubles, and hope and relief seem to be around the corner.
The Environment: It is a workplace of some kind where the work is done by hand. It seems to be situated in a place that is outside / away from the city.
The Person: He is sitting on the bench, and hammering out the design on the pentacle coin. Other coins have been hung up on the wall, showing his slow progress and improvement. He is diligently doing his work.
The Symbols: Apron, Bench, Hammer & Chisel = Tools of the trade. Pentacle Coins = Materialization of hard work.
The Card Story: He is learning a lot as he works diligently, and slowly his skills are improving.
The Environment: Its night, but its bright due to the stars in the sky. The meadow is nice. The Ibis bird sits upon the tree, signaling good news.
The Person: She kneels by the edge of the water pool and pours water out of her jugs - one on the land, and one in the pool. She lets go of attachment to her senses, and also refreshes the knowledge in her subconscious mind.
The Symbols: Star / Constellation = New Beginning. Ibis Bird = Good News, Storm is Over. Water Pool = Emotions, Subconscious mind. Jugs of Water = Feelings that were held contained. Nudity = Openness, having nothing to hide. 5 streams of water from jug poured on land = emotional content gathered from 5 senses being let go.
The Card Story: She lets go of her attachment to her senses, and refreshes her subconscious mind. It is the signal from the stars - a divine portent. A new beginning, a hope for a fresh start is in the air.
The Environment: A water body with lotus flowers blooming. A hand emerges from a cloud, holding a cup that is overflowing and the water streams down into the pool. But since the card is Reversed, the water may not be going into the pool.
The Person: A hand emerges from the cloud holding the cup. But the card is Reversed, so the cup is being emptied out.
The Symbols: Water / Pool of Water = Feelings, emotions, intuitions. Lotus Flowers = Spiritual blessings, something beautiful manifesting from the feelings / emotions. 5 streams of water from the cup = emotional content gathered from the 5 senses. Dove = messenger of peace. Coin with equal armed cross = message of peace.
The Card Story: The cup is being emptied out. There are many blessings already in the situation. All attachment to the senses is also being wrenched apart. It is not a peaceful situation. Letting go of stuff that’s been held in for a long time.
6. Outside Influences: 10 of Cups (j)
The Environment: Cups float in a rainbow. Children play and a couple stands with their arms around each other, showing off their happy situation in life. Their house is in the background. The card is reversed, so the real situation may not be exactly what it seems on the outside.
The Person: The man and woman have their back to us, and their arms around each other. The card is reversed, so it may be that they are posing for show, and their love is not real.
The Symbols: Rainbows = Colorful, joyful. Cups = Feelings. Children at play = Happy family. Man & Woman = happy couple. House = home, sanctuary.
The Card Story: They stand there, showing off their happy situation. But we cannot really see if it is true, or a show that they’ve put on for us.
7. Final Outcome: Queen of Cups (j)
The Environment: Her throne is on the beach, right next to the water. She is close to the edge. Her clothes are colorful and artistic. She looks pretty elegant and delicate. But the card is reversed, so she may be in trouble - emotionally unstable, and / or susceptible due to her apparent vulnerability.
The Person: She sits holding a cup that’s closed. Her feelings aren’t exposed. And yet, in the reversed position, the cup’s top may fall off. Or she may fall off her throne. Either way, her feelings are compromised.
The Card Story: She will let go of all the feelings that she’s held bottled up inside of her, and finally she will find her release.
Your issue is (Card Story - Problem), which was caused by (Card Story - Root Cause of Problem). The situation in the Past was (Card Story - Past). (Card Story - Outside Influences)
will also affect the situation. The cards suggest (Card Story - Advice). However (Card Story - Future) will occur, resulting in (Card Story - Final Outcome) as a consequence.
See:Spread Analysis: 7-Card Consequences Spreadfor details.
Your problem is that you are losing control of your rational, logical mind. You aren't able to remain calm and think clearly. This is because things are starting to look better for you now. You are finding a way to deal with the rejection and abandonment that you faced.
In the Past, you spent a lot of time diligently working and perfecting your craft, making sure that your work was the best.
You will discover the reality behind the show that was being put on - the truth will be revealed to you. The cards suggest that you just let go of all the feelings and emotions that you've been holding in for a while. Empty out your heart - let go of the negative stuff, so that you are ready for the positive things to come in.
This will make you feel hopeful, positive and open to happiness and joy. You can even see it as a sort of a divine omen. There will he hope in the air. As a consequence, you will find release from all the bottled up emotions, and discover your true creative nature.
1. Where you are now: Knight of Wands
The Environment: It is the desert, but it feels like a familiar territory for the Knight.
The Person: He rides upon a horse - the horse is jumping for joy. The Salamanders on his cloak aren’t quite there yet with the ‘eating the tail’ thing.
The Symbols: Salamanders = Fire Elementals, ability to channel the power of the fire element. Jumping Horse = Excited, cheerful and joyful.
The Card Story: He is excited about something new that’s going on in his life right now. But how long that excitement will last is anybody’s guess. He is not able to fully sustain the fire of his passions.
2. Where you would like to be on your next birthday: The Lovers
The Environment: They are in a garden. The tree of knowledge stands behind her, while the tree of life stands behind him. There were hardships that they have overcome, and others that may be ahead.
The Person: They are standing nude and open, with nothing to hide. They are totally in love with each other, and the Angel is blessing their love.
The Symbols: Tree of Knowledge = Knowledge, Wisdom, Clarity, Truth. Tree of Life = Sustainability, Joy. Mountain = hardships. Angel + Blessings = Divine Blessings. Sun rays = Clarity.
The Card Story: They share their wisdom and joy with each other, and are open and honest with each other. Their love for each other is blessed by the Divine. This is a union of wisdom and joy. Theirs is a true connection of equals.
3. What empowers you: The Magician
The Environment: Flowers and plants that have manifested as a result of the Magician’s energies.
The Person: He is knowledgeable and well versed. He is connected to the divine energy of the Universe. He is charming, charismatic and quite a flirt. But is also a good leader, and very knowledgeable.
The Symbols: Wands, Sword, Cup & Pentacle on table = Tools of the Trade, Knowledge of all elements, Lemniscate & Ouroboros Belt = Knowledge of endless cycle of energy transformation, Wand in Hand raised upright = Channeling energy from the Universe. Fingers pointing downward = Directing Energy towards manifestation.
The Card Story: He is well versed in the art of making things happen. He is in control of his elements and tools, and is able to focus on what he wants.
4. What you need to create to bring you closer to your goals: 2 of Cups
The Environment: There is a home in the background. A caduceus and a lion’s head with wings floats in the air between them.
The Person: They are looking at each other and exchanging cups. The man reaches out to the woman.
The Symbols: Caduceus = Healing. Lion Head with Wings = Passion (Fire). Cups = Feelings.
Home = Sanctuary.
The Card Story: They reach out to each other in healing. They share their feelings and their passion. Together, they will build a sanctuary.
5. YOur current material state: King of Pentacles
The Environment: A castle in the background stands strong. His throne sits in the garden full of green plants.
The Person: He is wearing a cloak full of grapes. He looks indulgently at the pentacle on his lap.
The Symbols: Castle = Well to do, sanctuary, stronghold. Plenty of Plants = Well to do, Abundance, Prosperity. Grapes = Luxury.
The Card Story: He is doing well for himself. He has built a strong financial base. He looks on indulgently at the materialization of his passions and desires.
6. \bur current emotional state: The Fool (j)
The Environment: It is sunny after the snow. The air is crisp and clear.
The Person: He stands on the edge of the cliff, looking into the clouds in the sky. The card is reversed though, so, he isn’t all that impulsive. He is looking to explore his dreams and talents.
The Symbols: Bag = Hidden Skills and Talents. White Flower = Peaceful. Cliff Edge = Edge of the Unknown. Dog at Heels = Friends (who may or may not accompany him) / Anima or Animus = His inner self which may or may not agree with his decision. Cave = Womb, Past.
The Card Story: He wants to just go with the flow and explore what he can do with himself - his skills and talents. He wants to follow his dreams. He isn’t scared of taking the jump. But he can’t be careless about it.
7. \four current spiritual state: 7 of Pentacles (j)
The Environment: Farm with plants ready for the harvest. The image is reversed, so it may be that the plants aren’t ripe for the harvest yet.
The Person: He leans on a stick and looks at the fruits hanging off the plant. The card is reversed, so it may be that he is in a hurry to enjoy the fruits, rather than wait for them to be ready / ripe.
The Symbols: Farm = Long term growth. Fruits = Fruits of labors, materialization of hard work.
The Card Story: He looks at the fruits on the plants, and feels impatient. He doesn’t want to wait till they are ripe or ready for the harvest. He’s worked long and hard for this and is in a hurry to enjoy the results of all his hard work.
8. What stands in opposition to your objectives: 9 of Wands
The Environment: A fence of wands stands between him and the rest of the world.
The Person: He is hurt - there’s a bandage on his head. He also holds on to a wand, looking carefully beyond the fence. He doesn’t want to get hurt again.
The Symbols: Wands like a fence = putting distance between you and the world. Bandage on head = hurt from past.
The Card Story: He is careful. He’s been hurt before, and doesn’t want to get hurt again. So, he’s
built a fence and put a distance between himself and the rest of the world.
9. What you need to do this year to make your dreams come true: 2 of Wands
The Environment: An ocean stretches out before him. In the distance we see tall mountains. From the terrace, we can see the pretty village. Looks like this home is taller and bigger than all those houses.
The Person: Standing on the terrace of, he looks at the ocean. He holds a globe in one hand. He is well dressed, so he is doing well for himself.
The Symbols: Ocean = Emotions, Opportunities. Mountains = Hardships. Globe = World, Opportunities.
The Card Story: Even though he is better off than all the others around him, he still wants to explore more opportunities. He doesn’t care about the hardships - he knows of them. But he wants to go out there and pursue the opportunities that lie before him.
On this birthday you are in (Card Story - Where you are now). Next year on your birthday, you want to be in (Card Story - Where you would like to be on your next birthday). (Card Story - What empowers you) will give you the strength to make it happen, while you need to do (Card Story - What you need to create to bring you closer to your goals) in order to make it happen.
This year, financially your situation is (Card Story - Ybur current material state). Your emotional condition is (Card story - Ybur current emotional state). And your spiritual situation is (Card Story - \hur current spiritual state).
(Card Story - What stands in opposition to your objectives) are the obstacles in your path. In order to overcome these obstacles and make your dreams come true, you need to (Card Story - What you need to do this year to make your dreams come true).
See:Spread Analysis: 9-Card Birthday Spreadfor details.
Today, on your birthday, you are feeling excited, cheerful and joyful. But you don't know how long this joyful feeling will actually last for you. By your next birthday, you want to be able to share your joy and your wisdom with someone who genuinely appreciates it. You want to be with someone who is your equal in many different ways.
You are empowered by your ability to make things happen. You are able to focus on what you want, and totally go for it. You need to be in a position where you can share your feelings and passion with someone. You need to share and heal together.
Right now, you are doing well for yourself financially. You are able to materialize all your passions and desires. On the emotional front, you are less impulsive, but you still have what it takes to go with the flow and explore what lies ahead of you. On the spiritual front, you aren't feeling all that patient. You just want to enjoy the benefits of your spiritual energy without waiting for it to be ripe for harvesting.
The fence you've put up between yourself and the world is what is holding you back. It is preventing you from truly interacting with the world and materializing your desires into reality. What you need to do is to forget about the hardships and the pain and suffering, and go after what you are looking for. You need to explore all the opportunities that are out there. You need to take the chance on yourself.
Practicing Your Storytelling Skills
Thoughts About The Storytelling Reading Process
The process that I've outlined is a detailed, step-by-step way of looking at each Tarot Card and Spread. It also shows you how you can go about doing an intuitive Tarot Card Reading. We use storytelling techniques to unlock the hidden potential of the images and make sense of the messages that the cards are trying to tell us.
Of course, in our examples, we have just skimmed the surface of the potential that this process can unleash within you.
I have deliberately kept the interpretations in the examples simple. This way, I am hoping that you do not get too influenced by my style of storytelling, but instead experiment, develop, and become accustomed to your own style.
You will get used to the process, and you will be able to slowly transition to creating detailed, complex and layered stories for each of the cards, and Spread Positions.
As your knowledge of the cards and the symbols deepens, your intuitive feedback will become more informative, and you will discover many more meanings and interpretations as you keep doing Readings. This is a sign that you are doing pretty well for yourself. Do not worry if an interpretation is different or stands out from what you may have read or learned. In my experience, the wacky interpretations that do not make any logical sense are often spot on in the Reading.
The Worksheets that accompany this book can easily be added to your journal. Start filling them in with the details for your card stories and also for the spreads. You can use this process as a way to get to know new Spreads, as well as new Tarot Card Decks.
You can also refer to my article about Journaling with the Tarot Cards if you want. Keeping a Tarot Journal is a great way to study, learn and enhance your knowledge of the cards.
As you flesh out the Spread Statement with the card stories in the Spread, you will have a full fledged story that you can relate as the Tarot Card Reading. This is the base or the guideline which will help you develop and improve your storytelling technique.
This process gives you a framework within which you can explore the potential of a Spread, and get into the story flow of the card image. As you practice more and more, the stories will begin to come much easily. The creative juices will flow freely, and more often. Eventually you will enjoy and trust the process so well that after a point you will even forget that you are doing this process. It will become natural for you.
As you practice with this method, it will also become easy to get into the intuitive Tarot Card
Reading flow. Storytelling is sometimes a great gateway into the intuitive zone. Allowing yourself to be creative somehow manages to pull down all the mental barriers to accessing your intuitive insights. Practicing the storytelling reading method will thus aid in unlocking your intuitive pathways, helping you to get into a creative story flow much more easily.
As with any skill, practice is the key. And practice will unlock the hidden storyteller within you. This will help you build up confidence for when you read for other people, and even unlock your hidden potential.
Here are a few tips that might enhance your practice with this process. You can try one of the following every day till you become conversant with the storytelling method of reading Tarot cards.
- Do a simple 3-Card Spread every day. If you want, you can change the position names, and work your way through these spreads before moving on to spreads with more than 3 cards.
- Search for Spreads online or in books and work your way through them, trying to figure out their Spread Statements.
- The forums on Aeclectic Tarotare also a great place to discover a variety of spreads.
- Power Tarotis an awesome book to have, especially if you like Spreads that cover a variety of question types. You can select the spreads from this book one-by-one, and work through their Spread Statements.
- Pull out random cards for each of the Spreads you study and make a story out of them. It will be a good practice.
- I think this is the most important tip I can give: While doing a reading, keep talking as you turn the cards over and talk about what you see / sense / feel etc. Don’t ‘um’ and ‘ah’ as you read the cards. Don't stop. Don't take a break. If you can’t think of anything to say right at that moment, just move on to the next card. This way, you don’t let your mind interfere with your intuitive processes. If, some cards later, you feel like talking about a previous card, do so. But don’t stop talking. And don’t ‘um’ and ‘ah’.
As a Tarot Card enthusiast you will often come across a new spread. The storytelling process is a great way of learning the spread. You can use the Spread Statement Worksheet to get to know the spread and understand its intricacies.
In fact, if you pull out random cards and do a storytelling session with them using this Spread, then it works to reinforce your knowledge of the spread as well.
Using this process to get to know a new spread is really awesome.
You may often buy different Tarot Card Decks.
You can use the Card Story Worksheet to get to know the stories within each card of your new deck. I would also advise you to read through the deck’s accompanying LWB (Little White Book). If the Tarot Card Deck comes with a bigger book, then you are in for a treat! Read through that book as you work through the card stories, and you will truly get to know the deck much better.
As you pull out the cards and build your stories with spreads that have now become familiar territory, you will soon become comfortable with the theme / world of that deck.
For a while, you might even want to work through your daily 3-card spreads with the new deck. Some Real World Examples
There are some really awesome places on the Internet where you will encounter Tarot that’s steeped in awesome Storytelling. Here are some of the places I've encountered it.
Looking at these can prove to be quite inspirational.
- Tarot Vignettes on FaceBook: Luis does an awesome job putting the Tarot cards and the characters in the cards into a comic strip. What they say and do after that is everyone’s guess! Funny, irreverent, and deep at the same time, these strips go a long way in illustrating how storytelling can genuinely enhance your reading.
- Prisma Visions Tarot Card Deck: This deck is special. If you visit their Web site, you’ll know why. Each of the Minor Arcana Suits is one big image that’s been split up and presented to us as a card. So, if you put the suit cards next to each other, they form a single image. And of course, through that tapestry, they tell a story.
- The OH Cards: These are NOT Tarot cards. In fact, the deck creators strongly advise against using these cards for doing readings that predict the future. The Web site has a number of different card decks that focus around different themes. All of them are great for storytelling endeavors. I've often used the images of the Sagaand Mythos decks for inspiration whenever I write fiction.
This brings us to the end of the first Section of this book.
I genuinely hope that the Storytelling techniques that I have outlined here are useful for you. Please do spend some time with the system, and work through the steps.
If you have any questions / queries / suggestions, feel free to write to me at madhavi. ghare@gmail.comwith the words Book Suggestions' in the subject line, so it becomes easier for me to look for your emails in the mad mass of messages in my inbox.
You may also want to sign up for my email newsletter — you can go to my site at www.taroticallyspeaking.comand sign up. I promise I won’t send you many emails unless something exciting is going on.
Now, let us move on to the next part of the book. This is the section where I have written out a version of the card stories for all 78 cards in the Tarot Card Deck.
It is a version of the story, or rather my version of the story. It is not the entire story, or the only story.
My aim here is to inspire you to create your own version of the story. Please do. When you get to know your cards this way, your readings will be true to your intuition, and thus, more powerful and accurate fro each Client.
I really struggled with whether I ought to write this section or not. Because I genuinely did not want to influence you with my version or my vision of the story. The cards and their interpretations have always been influenced by the experiences of the Tarot Card Reader and interactions that she has with the world. I didn't want my experiences and interactions, and the resulting interpretations to influence or color your view.
But I decided to put this section in the book anyway because I sincerely hope that you won't let that happen. Read through the stories that I've written. They can serve as a useful base, perhaps.
Something that will inspire you to explore, discover, and write your own version.
Write it — your version of the story. Or make a voice recording of it if you prefer. It doesn’t matter how you do it — just do it.
Play around with the decks. Play around with the deck themes. See what happens when you allow yourself to just lose yourself into the story of the card images.
Invoke your inner Storyteller, and let her come out and play.
If you feel like it, you can pop over to the FaceBook Group and share your version of the story too.
And now...
The Tarot Cards are a book of stories within stories that can connect with each other in amazing ways, and in the most baffling of places. Each of the cards in your Tarot Card Deck is a story by itself. And when you put them together in their groups, they form a bigger story.
Imagine, if you will, that you are looking at stills of the scenes from a movie. These pictures are from significant parts of the movie. If you arrange them in a single line, you will be able to figure out the story of the movie. Based on these pictures, you will be able to decipher the plot of the entire movie. A little bit more than a movie trailer, and a lot less than watching the entire movie — these series of stills nevertheless tell the complete story of the movie.
Imagine now, that the Tarot Cards laid out in the Spread are like the stills from a movie. What will this movie’s story be? As you arrange the cards in the Spread, what could be the plot of this story? Who would be the main characters? What would be their motivations and desires in life? What would they want to do with their lives? How would they react to different situations in their life?
I have explored this concept in the following section. I've written the story that I've seen within each card, and also the long story of the group of cards. These are the 5 big stories of the Tarot: the story of the Major Arcana + the story of each of the 4 Suits of the Minor Arcana. I have also looked at the personalities of the Court Cards, and grouped them as a family unit to make their stories.
These stories will help unleash your imagination. They will help you go back to the time when you used to look at the pictures in the storybooks with awe and wonder.
Let your imagination take flight. Cultivate a child-like perspective, even while you combine the knowledge of the images and symbols with the intuitive messages from your subconscious.
Hopefully, reading this will give you a deeper insight about the cards. I urge you to use these stories as an inspiration, as a sort of a base, to write your own version. This is one way to really get into the storytelling aspect of each card, as well as the entire group of cards.
I strongly encourage you to use the Card Story Worksheet (at the end of the book) to make up your own version of these stories. It would be a great exercise for building your storytelling skills.
If writing / typing them out is an issue, consider making an audio recording of your story.
Nowadays most smartphones come equipped with some sort of a voice recording app.
Either way, this is an exercise for yourself. Make it as personal as you like. Invoke the storyteller within you. Let the card images beckon that storyteller from within. Allow the stories to come forth and be told.
As with the rest of the book, I've used the images of the Universal Waite Tarot Card Deck for this section as well. As I've stated earlier, these cards are a recolored version of the Rider-Waite-Smith Tarot Card Deck, and the images are much clearer. Also, this is one of the most popularly used and easily available decks. Due to its imagery, this deck is perfect for both beginners and advanced Tarot Card Readers.
Introduction...
The journey of the Major Arcana is often called the Journey of the Fool. This is because The Fool is considered to be the person going through all the stages of the story. This is a card that can be placed between any two cards of the Major Arcana, and the story would still make sense. In fact, the energy of The Fool is perhaps even essential to make the jump from one card to the next.
While writing the stories of these cards, I have often referred to them by a gender. That is because writing ‘he’ or ‘she’ is easier than writing ‘this person' or ‘that person’ or the equally cumbersome ‘his / her’. However, that does not indicate that the card only talks about that gender.
At the most, these gender specific words might indicate which aspect of the card’s personality has come into play. The logic behind this is that we contain both male and female aspects within our selves. In some situations the male aspect comes into play, while sometimes the female aspect comes into play. And of course, there are times when both aspects come into play.
In this Journey of the Fool’, we are not only the observers but also the participants. As we observe others who go through these phases, we also undertake the journey ourselves.
Sitting in his cave for a long time, he had been pondering upon the mysteries of life, about the purpose of his life, about himself. One day, he decided that he’d had enough of just thinking, and now it was time for doing! It was time to go out there, and live his dreams, have his adventure!
His dreams had grown bigger and bigger in his heart till he couldn’t stand it any longer. He put all his hopes, his dreams, and his talents in his bag, and slung it over his shoulder on a stick.
Stepping out of the cave with a smile on his face, he turned his face up to the sky above him.
“It is a fine day to begin,” he smiled to himself.
Sniffing the rose in his hand, he closed his eyes to enjoy the moment. His heart went thump-thump- thump. He was anxious and excited at the same time. The urge to start something was like a fire burning deep within him.
The yipping of the puppy at his feet gave him pause — but only for a moment. Here was his mind, his ‘other self’, hisanima or animus, his well meaning friends.
It felt as if all of them called out in that puppy’s yipping. “Don’t go!” they all said at once. “You won’t know how it will all turn out! Be careful! You have to....”
He turned away. He didn’t need to hear it now. None of it mattered to him now. He took a deep breath and looked up at the sky once again.
“Ready or not...” he joked as he took the first step.
“Watch out for the cliff!” the voices called out, but he didn’t care. He stepped off of it anyway...
He stood under the sky, surrounded by flowers. So far, he had only ever thought about this, but now he was actually doing it. He felt the zing in his breath as he moved into position.
His bag of talents had opened - his tools laid out on the table - a wand, a cup, a sword, and a pentacle. They were his passion, his emotion, his clarity of thought, and his practical nature.
He’d never realized that it would be difficult and easy, both at the same time. But he felt it — instinctively, deeply and fully. He was ready.
He loved this feeling — this connection with the Universe.
He straightened his robe, making sure hisouroboros belt was at its place and his head band was on just so. They signaled his status as a knowledgeable leader for anyone who was interested.
He took a deep breath and focused. “Now!” the feeling inside of his heart screamed.
Confidently, he raised his wand to the sky. The energy began coursing through him. In that one instant, he knew that all the things that he’d wanted to do, and had dreamt of doing — he had the power to make it happen.
In fact, he was actually making it happen!
He pointed his other hand downwards, to the Earth, directing the energy that was pulsing through his entire being. Flowers began to bloom on the soil. The Earth had responded to him, giving him the bounty he had craved so long. His desires were being fulfilled. He’d made it happen with the strength of his knowledge and his will. He felt great, down to his very bones.
“Ahhh! Yes,” he smiled to himself, “this is what it is all about! This is what it has always been all about! I am the Universe and the Universe is me. We are one. We are all part of each other! We are made of each other.”
As all these realizations came together within him, the lemniscate above his head begin to glow with the light of his knowledge.
She sat still, between the two pillars — one dark, one white. Right in between the opposites that exist in this Universe.
Everything she saw in the world seemed to contain an inherent duality within it. Black and white. Right and wrong. Good and bad. Male and female. Yin and Yang. The world seemed to be composed of all sorts of opposing forces.
She existed in the space between that duality.
From where she sat she could see that one without the other is meaningless — each exists to give the other more meaning, more sense. In fact, one exists only because the other does as well.
Amidst all this, she’d found her place, her balance. This was her place of calm - right here - between these two so-called ‘opposites’. She was right where she had wanted to be.
On her crown, the phases of the moon flickered from waxing to full to waning. The moon in the sky called out to her, making her feel the stirrings deep inside of her soul. She had heard and answered her inner call with all her heart.
Oh, she’d done all her research. She knew what all the symbols meant. She knew how to invoke the Divine Feminine, the essence of the Goddess within her. BothIsis and Persephone lived and thrived within her, waiting to release their creative energies.
The scroll of instructions was tucked in the sleeve of her robe, right where she’d hidden it. But those instructions couldn’t do enough justice to the way she was feeling every single thing, and yet finding the deep well of calm within her being. It was almost as if a seed within her was gathering its energies, waiting for the right time to sprout.
The veil behind her fluttered in the slight breeze, revealing the ocean of her subconscious mind behind it. The essence of her being, the symbols of her heart and soul were hidden deep within its waters. She only had to take a dip in those waters to evoke her hidden energies.
She had so much more to learn before she could go ahead on her chosen path! And the more she learnt, the more she realized that she knew so little!
She instinctively knew what she had to do. Her intuitions had never guided her wrong. And the more she trusted them, the more they kept her right on her path. She closed her eyes and centered herself. Her meditations were getting easier and easier as she practiced them.
She took a deep breath as she prepared for the next phase. The scroll had only shown her the way for coming up to this point. Alter that, it had been her inner self that had opened the floodgates of knowledge.
“Soon, the time will come for all things to bear fruit,” she smiled to herself and began to go deep within her inner self, letting the waves of the ocean of her subconscious mind sweep her away into the world of mystery and knowledge.
She took a deep breath and inhaled the fresh air of the garden. After all the waiting, now she was witnessing her creations coming to life and bearing fruit.
She adjusted the cushion behind her back to get comfortable on her seat. The baby inside of her wiggled and moved. She patted her belly and sighed contentedly.
The crops were growing. The rivers were flowing. The trees in the forests were reaching up to the sky gathering up life giving rain.
Everything was indeed connected — her inner world and her outer world — everything was at peace. She felt so full of life! Alive and joyous, dancing in the warm breeze, she felt the pulse of life in her veins, in her belly, and in the world around her.
“This is what it means to bring forth new life,” she thought as she played with the pearls in her necklace. The world, the stars and planets in the skies — the entire universe — it was a crown upon her head. She felt as if she was giving birth to all of it!
It was such a thrill, such a joy — to create, to nurture, to care for all of her creations. She instinctively understood what Demeter must have felt when she cared for all her crops and for the children of men who fed on those crops.
Of course, deep within her she also knew that when her creations had run through their cycle of life,
they would go back into the soil, into the universe. But there too, they would only serve to nourish and fuel the next cycle of creation.
It never stopped - this endless cycle of creation and of re-creation. It went on, and it was as endless as time itself. Just as she was.
“Someone has to make sure things are taken care of.”
This is what he thought as he sat on his throne, watching over his children, making sure they did everything the right way. He was their Father, their guardian and their protector. He had given them life, but more than that, he was also their provider and caretaker.
Perhaps he was a bit too strict, but he had learnt his lessons the hard way. He knew that unless you followed a disciplined path, and unless you worked hard at it, you could never attain your goals. He knew it from painful experience that nothing in this world was handed down to you on a silver platter. Nothing ever came easy. You had to work for it. And he had worked — very hard — to get to where he was right now.
The armor under his cloak clanked as he moved his aching legs. He had grown old now. But he had fought with the world as and when he had to. Even now, despite his age, he was still ready. His experience had taught him that no matter how high up you were, the fight was never over. In fact, it grew even more vicious and harder as you climbed higher. That was why he still practiced hard every single day. He had trained himself to remain alert, and stay focused on his task.
The mountains behind him were the stark reminders of his battles. They were the difficulties that he had surmounted to get to where he was today. The tiny rivulet that almost disappeared into the Earth, right at the bottom of those mountains, had washed away his blood stains many times.
He played with the hair of his white beard with his fingers as he recalled the hard days that had gone by in his life, and knew that no matter how hard he had tried, he could not change much for his children. They would have their own battles to fight.
He only hoped that he had made it a little bit easier for them. He only hoped that he had taught them well. He hoped that he had prepared them well for the struggles that lay ahead of them. That was the
most, and the best that he could ever do for them.
“How my students have learned!” he beamed as they knelt in front of him. Raising his hand in the sign of the benediction, he blessed them. He looked resplendent, sitting on his chair, dressed in fine robes, wearing the Triple Crown and holding the Triple Cross in his other hand.
“Yes,” he thought, “this is good and correct. Just the way it is supposed to be.” Everything was exactly how it was set down in tradition, and he was glad of it.
He was proud of his students who had followed the rules and learned their lessons well. Now it was time for them to set forth into the world and seek their own adventures. All that he had taught them would guide them along their path.
One of them planned to use the learning to make something truly enriching for other people, while the other one planned to keep on learning more and more.
He, sitting there, couldn’t decide which one was more deserving.
Both of them had, in their own way, made him a better teacher. Both of them, in their own way, would one day supersede him.
He laid down the keys in front of them. These were the keys to the knowledge that they would now hold in their hands, and one day perhaps, pass on to someone else who deserved them. This was their prize, their reward for all the hard work that they’d put into their studies.
He smiled to himself as he watched the scene unfold.
He had followed the rules laid down by his teachers, and these students would now follow those same rules, laid down by him. It was a great system. It was a great way to reach the Divine. It was the best way he knew — the only way that he knew.
They stood in the Garden, naked, open to the world around them. They had nothing to hide or disguise. Blessings rained down upon them, bestowed by the Angel above them.
She stood in front of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, along with the snake who had tempted her to eat of its fruit. He stood in front of the tree of life, which would grant humanity eternal life.
Although they had eaten of the fruit of the tree of knowledge, they weren’t ashamed of all that they had learned. In fact, their knowledge had made them feel more at ease, happy and fulfilled.
What he felt for her wasn’t just physical attraction, but something far more deeper. He realized that although they were split apart, they were merely two parts of a whole. As they came together, they held the power of creation itself within their grasp.
He held the seed of life within him, and only through her, and with her could he unleash it into reality. He wanted to reach over, pull her close and tell her how much he loved her. He began to shine with the power of his love for her.
As he looked at her, she looked at the Angel above them. Basking in the blessings of the Angel, she gave in to the soothing, healing energies of his blessings. The knowledge of good and evil that she had gained, coupled with the seeds of life that her partner held, had made it possible for her to bring forth the creation of life into reality. The Universe that they had created together was vast and unending.
When she had taken the knowledge of good and evil within herself, she knew why she had to be the one to bear the burden of being the first to know. It was because she was the only one capable of bringing forth new life that she had chosen the responsibility.
She had instinctively known that together they would be able to surpass the limitations and look beyond the duality that split them apart. Together, they could combine their strengths to overcome their weaknesses, and look beyond the veil of ignorance that shrouded the world.
The force of life within him combined with the seed of knowledge within her as they indulged in the age old rites of creation. Creation that surpassed all the boundaries and limitations that the mind could set down upon them. Joined together as one, they were not just the creators of their world, but also the result of their own creation.
He stood tall in his chariot, gazing upon a world that lay beyond the boundaries of his city. The waters of his consciousness flowed around his chariot wheels, powering his move ahead, as he gazed upon the vastness of the world. He smiled to himself, feeling the surge of determination and joy within him.
The union of all the dualities within himself had empowered him to cross all the boundaries and look beyond them. The stars and the sky formed a canopy of blessings above him — blessing him, giving him the power of creation. The wand in his hand surged with the power of the Universe. He clenched his fist, determined to channel his powers in the right direction. His knowledge and his abilities pulsed and glowed in his heart, as he focused on the next step of his growth.
The two sphinxes awaited his directions. Between the two of them, they always held opposing views. He was the only one able to join their powers in one single purpose. Thus enabled, he had conquered the limitations of the world. And now, he was on the verge of exploring the unknown, standing at the precipice of a new dimension in his growth and development.
“I shall be victorious,” he declared. Taking a deep breath, he felt ready for the next stage and willed the sphinxes into action. They began to pull his chariot forward.
“Onward,” he thought, “and into yet another unknown! There is much to learn and conquer!”
She stood in the meadow, dressed in white, adorned with the jewels of Nature. She felt the pulse of life flow deep within her, and around her. As she caressed the lion’s head, she felt him lick her hand. She smiled.
The lion, her Ego, had been tamed with her new found knowledge. Within herself she had discovered the ability to reach out to all of life with love. And Life had responded in kind. Not only was she able to speak with the wild side within her but she was also able to tame it and direct it with the power of her will.
When she had set forth, she hadn’t realized how far she would actually come. She hadn’t realized how much she would learn!
With her strength of will and determination, she had crossed so many boundaries, overcome so many limitations. But only when she had combined them with her inner compassion, did she discover empathy. And her connection with Nature had become so much stronger!
Logically, she had known that everything was made up of the same energy. The energy of Existence that coursed and pulsed within her, also flowed in and around all of Nature’s creations.
Only now was she able to live it in reality. As the love within her flowed in and around her, it also flowed in the world around her, responding to her and joyously dancing with her.
As she reveled in her knowledge, theLemniscate above her head began to radiate with the energy.
He stood on top of the snow covered mountain and gathered his robes around him. He felt the cold, but somehow, he didn’t feel cold. His knowledge surged within him, keeping him warm.
He leaned on his golden stick as he held up his star lantern. Closing his eyes, he thought of his life’s journey so far. How much he had learned, how much he had gained, how much he had grasped, and how much he had let go!
Living here, on the mountain top, surrounded by the silence of his solitude, he was finally able to hear his inner voice even more clearly than ever. It was now that he was finally able to gather all his thoughts, and coherently organize them in his mind. The process of crystallizing his knowledge had taught him that nothing was certain. Everything was bound to change and grow.
His white haired beard fluttered in the cool breeze, but he held fast to his lantern. The light of his knowledge wouldn’t be extinguished so easily.
His solitude powered him. Although he was alone, he felt that the Universe respond to his questions, giving him answers and helping him figure out his truths.
There, standing atop the snow covered peaks, he had discovered within himself the wisdom of the ages. And he was more than ready to share it with anyone who asked it of him.
The deeper he plunged into the depths of knowledge, the more he discovered about the world and about the threads of Fate that connected everything.
The four elements of Nature (Air, Water, Fire and Earth), the relationship between good and evil, the thread of the Divine that ran through all of Creation, and the Wheel of Time and Fate that carried everything upon its back — everything was becoming clearer to him.
The Angels had kept a very clear record of all the deeds in their Akashic Record Books. He had understood how the actions of the Past had led to the Present, which then carried within it the seeds of the Future.
He had learned that it is Evil that carried within itself the seeds of its own destruction, while Good carried within itself the seeds of its own rewards. And then, just likeSet and Anubis, sometimes Evil also carried within itself the seeds of Good.
Like theAlchemical Elements, everything merges into one, giving rise to theDivine Name that was Creation itself.
What we have done before, causes what is now. What is here and now leads on to the possibilities of what could be. Each step led to the next, and on the wheel of Time, nothing was wasted. Nothing was really dropped. Everything led to something else.
The cycle of life, whether symbolic or not, brought forth life and then having lived, it also brought forth the destruction of that life. And that destruction is the fuel and the cause of the new cycle that begins.
Sometimes it was predictable, and sometimes a mysterious revelation, sometimes a surprise, and sometimes a shock. But nothing happened here without a reason. Even if the reason was obscure and unknown, the reason always existed.
There is always a cause and an effect. One without the other didn't exist. Even if we don't know it consciously theThreads of Fateare woven by our own actions.
As he learned this, he let go of his attachment to the process of cause and action, and freed himself from the threads that bound him.
Sitting between the two pillars, holding a pair of scales in one hand and a sword in the other, she clearly saw what lay in front of her with her eyes wide open.
First, she had to find the balance between the dualities of her inner and outer world. After that, she had to act upon those decisions that she had taken.
She thought long and hard: about the pros and cons, about the consequences and the repercussions. She thought about how much she felt she deserved, and how much she really deserved. She thought about the worth and value of the next step, and the importance of her actions. She worried about everything and nothing, and everything in between.
She didn't just have to balance the scales in her hand, but she also had to set into motion a sequence of events that could change the course of her own path. She had to do it with the compassion and purity of her heart, while also following the dictates of right and wrong set down by her logical mind.
Behind her, the purple veil fluttered between the pillars, reminding her to not forget the karmic threads of fate. She held within her hands the power to decide what the next turn of their revelations would bring forth.
This time, she wasn't just accepting the duality of the inner world — she was looking at the duality of the entire world, and combining it into a cohesive, balanced whole. She had to make a just and balanced decision, one that would have far reaching consequences through time.
It was a hard task — a task that called upon all of her knowledge and understanding. She felt a thrill as the revelation manifested itself in front of her eyes — finally, all that she had learnt and strived for in her journey was going to bear fruit.
In that instant, she knew exactly what she was going to do and how she was going to make it happen. With a smile in her heart and joy in her mind, she held up her sword. Now that she had made her decision, it was time to act upon it.
He was hanging upside down, smiling to himself. Although his foot was tied to the tree, he was relaxed and comfortable. In fact, he was just where he was supposed to be, and doing exactly what he was supposed to be doing.
Events around him unfolded one by one as he watched. He was detached and held himself back from participating. From this new perspective, things had started to look a bit different from what he had perceived them to be. It had been quite the revelation for him. And so, he stayed still and just watched.
Just for now, he wanted to give up his power to take action, and see for himself the truth about the revelations and understanding he had gained in his journey so far.
He, in his detached perspective, had gained something even more valuable: objectivity. He smiled as he felt the knowledge radiate around him, almost like a halo over his head.
It was very tempting to stay right here, watching everything unfold without participating while he thought about all the things going on objectively and dissected every decision and action.
He had gained a lot of knowledge so far — by exploring his subconscious world, and with the experiences of his victories in the outer world. It was now that he could re-visit those experiences and sort out the threads of his experiences with an even clearer perspective.
The more he used his objectivity and cleared his point of view, the more he began to trust his inner voice, his intuitive energies. He knew, right then and there, the power he held within his grasp. He understood just how his participation and lack thereof within the events in life could affect those very events.
Above all else, he understood that being detached from participation differed from refusal of participation.
He stood there watching as everything gradually changed around him. Beginning with the slow disintegration, life moved forward to complete destruction. As the aftermath settled down, he also watched the slow stirrings of resurrection.
This was the cycle of life. Everything ends, only to sow the seeds of a new beginning. However, he discovered that the process of the ending was difficult for him to go through. He had been holding on for so long that it had grown harder and harder for him to simply let go.
“Death comes to us all,” he whispered as he watched the destruction of everything he held dear — his ego, his beliefs, his will power. “Everything ends,” he sighed as he slowly let it all go.
Life itself held the seeds of it’s ending. And he watched the ending unfold, slowly like the petals of a blooming rose flower.
Just like the souls were ferried across theRiver Styxand into Hades, he saw that each and every creation was herded into the arms of destruction.
That is when he realized the best way to go through this transformation. It was simple: he had to drop all his ideas, his concepts, his preconceived notions, his conditionings — everything. It was only when he dropped everything that he would receive the gift of a new day!
He let it all go, watching the consequences of his action unfold. In the distance, the sun began to rise. A new day had dawned. His fears had died within him. His attachments, his ego, his pride — everything had been left behind.
He was ready for the next step. He was ready for his renewal.
He had come a long, long way to be to where he was right now. Humbled by the journey he had taken, he thought back to the beginning, trying to understand how things had turned out. He pondered upon the sequence of events, reveling in the knowledge that he had gained from it.
He felt so calm, so much at peace. He’d left his ego behind him, a long, long way behind. He had only just started to master himself, change himself, transform into something miraculous.
He stood by the pool, dipping his foot in the water, testing its calmness as he kept one foot on the ground.
All around him, the transformation of the world was more than apparent for him to see. As the silver of his soul transformed into gold, so did every single aspect of creation transform within his Universe.
All of his knowledge began shining like a halo around his head. He had transformed from a mere Seeker into a Messenger of the Divine.
He was bound in chains. Although it was dark all around, a strange glow was cast upon the scene - as if a light had been lit somewhere behind him.
He looked around, and saw her. She too, was chained. They stared at each other, in anger and contempt, their love cowering behind their hateful gazes.
Together, they turned around and discovered that they were chained to a block. Atop that block sat a beast.
Pan, Baphomet, Satan - these were some of names that people had used to call the horrifying creature. The horned beast stared down at them, his bat wings unfurled — the very image of Baphomet. His goat-like body was covered with fur, the likeness of Pan.
But they knew different. This wasn’t a beast that came from somewhere out there. It was a beast that they had brought to life with their dark desires and inner fears.
The beast made a Sign with one hand — making the blessings of the Universe manifest in the material world. With the other hand, he held the fire that was casting the light in this darkness.
They looked at each other as understanding dawned upon them. They had created the beast themselves. These chains, this darkness — they were the result of their attachment to the desires and fears that the material world threw at them. Their relentless pursuit of all these material things had driven them into this inner darkness, chained them to their wants and desires.
They knew that it wasn’t bad to want or desire. But they had allowed those wants and desires to rule them so completely that they had been taken over by those desires. Without knowing it, they had become addicted to these desires. The darkness was their own creation — and the light was their last thread of hope towards freedom.
The chains about their necks weren’t tight. They could lift them up and get away from this dark place.
Looking at each other, they wondered if they had it in them to make that tough choice. Could they leave this behind? Could they step away from this darkness which had strangely become their place of refuge for all this time? Had they gotten too used to the chains that bound them?
Craaack!
Thunderclaps sounded in the sky and a jagged bolt of lightning struck the tower. At the impact, the roof collapsed. The earth shook. The structure rocked with the tremors and the walls began crumbling away. Fire burned through everything.
Our seekers were caught in the darkness. They wondered if they should just jump out and save themselves, or if they should wait for someone to come rescue them.
But the Universe couldn’t wait for their decision. The force of this impact threw them out of the crumbling tower, purging them out of the darkness that had held them trapped within its walls. The crown, their ego, crumbled into nothingness.
As they fell, they saw the sky dotted with many brilliant lights that looked like Yods. The Divine Name echoed through the air as they fell to the ground.
“This is indeed a blessing from the Universe,” they realized as they allowed the forces of Nature to take them wherever they were meant to go.
Sometimes, when one is so blind to the darkness, the Universe takes it upon itself to hurtle one out of it. When that happens, it is better to just go with the flow.
Fighting against this tide will only hurt more.
She was in a meadow. It was calm here, peaceful. Although there was a nip in the air and she wasn’t wearing anything, she didn’t feel cold.
“This is my body,” she thought with a smile, “but this is not me.” She had learned a powerful lesson. She knew that attachment to the material world wasn’t her answer.
She looked up at the sky for guidance. The stars were shining, lighting her way, giving her hope. There was a new beginning around the corner. She could sense it in the air around her.
She picked up the two jugs lying by her feet and walked to the edge of the pond. Gently, she bent down and placed her foot over the water. This time, her foot didn’t get drawn into the water, but floated above it. This time, her detachment was pure.
She began pouring the water out of the jug she held in her right hand into the pond. At the same time she poured the water out of the other jug onto the Earth outside of the pond. Her feelings and emotions flowed back into the pond of her subconscious, while her attachment to her senses poured back into the Earth.
Relief washed over her as she let go completely.
In the distance, the Ibis bird called out, heralding the change that she had created in her life and her understanding of everything around her. The storms were finally over, and now a new start was upon her.
The Moon rose in the sky covering and eclipsing the Sun. Clouding the Sun with a Shadow, the Moon had become powerful. As the world was shrouded in a strange twilight, he saw the Divine blessings rain down upon the world.
Even though everything around him was cloudy and confusing, he knew that if he reached deep within his inner self and listened to the guidance of his intuition, he would find his way ahead.
A crayfish clambered out of the pond, trying to gauge what was going on. Although it was a bottom dweller, but it had risen up in that confusion, bringing with it the hidden, suppressed images of the subconscious.
He watched as the dog and the wolf howled at the moon realizing that regardless of how much he let go, his primal instincts lay at his deepest core. The question was, did he want to let go of those instincts? Especially when those instincts helped him survive. They helped him sense and intuit through the roughest and toughest patches of life.
Did suppressing them make it better or worse? Hadn’t they helped him navigate through these confusing times? Wouldn’t they help him conquer his fears?
The path lay ahead, and he decided that he had lingered on in this confusion for a long time. He decided to trust his instincts as he let himself be guided by his intuitions and took the first step on that path.
He would reach the other end, he knew it now. He would find his way. He trusted in the Universe, and the Universe trusted him right back.
He laughed atop his white horse. He had transformed - become childlike. That was exactly how he was supposed to be! He knew that now!
Life wasn't supposed to be lived with the mind or with the instinct alone. Life wasn't about possessions or power either. It was all about creating joy and happiness within and around you.
He held up his orange banner, enthusiastically looking forward to what lay ahead of him. Behind him, the sunflower covered wall stood strong. He’d crossed that limiting wall a while back, and he didn't need to look back.
Just like the sunflowers that gazed at the Sun above and refreshed themselves, he too had gained his clarity from his long and hard journey so far, and had found himself refreshed.
His path lay ahead. With a quick laugh and a joyful heart, he let the horse guide him forward.
The Angel sounded the horn in the skies above and the dead rose from their coffins to greet him.
After the journey that they had gone through, they were finally on their way to finding their release from the endless cycle of life and death!
This would mean the freedom from their pains and aches, both in their bodies and in their souls. This freedom would release them from the bonds that they had knowingly and unknowingly formed during their long journey here. This freedom would give them the release that they had been craving for all this while. Their long, seemingly unending struggles would finally come to an end.
The river of the subconscious had carried them for so long, but now it was time to let go of everything. They had nothing to hold on to any more. Everlasting peace was finally within reach.
Closing their eyes, they raised their hands to the sky, heeding the call of the Angel and letting the divine energies take them over.
She floated in the clouds, free and joyous, having found herself not just a part of the Universe, but discovering the power of the Universe itself within her.
Now she held wands in both her hands, able to channel all of the energies of the Universe. She danced to the music of Creation, joyously reaching out to the Angels on all the four corners of the World. Now, she was free and she was connected at the same time.
She had come a long way in her journey, and had finally found her destination. At the end of this journey, she had found success and glory. Everything was in her hands.
She was not just the Creator any more. She was Creation itself. Her joyful steps were light as she danced with the flow of the Universe.
She had finally found her destination. Her journey, her quest was now complete.
He stepped out of his Cave, eager and ready to make his dreams come true. He wanted to have his adventure. So he put all his ideas in a bag and threw it over his shoulder on a stick and stepped out of the cave.
But before he could go any further, he paused for a bit and thought about the next step. He had to plan out a few things in his mind before he stepped up to the edge of the cliff.
He knew that being spontaneous was fun, but he was a bit of a planner and needed to know at least the first few steps along the way to his final destination.
He looked up to the sky with a smile on his face.
“It is a fine day to begin,” he thought.
The ideas came to him one by one. He sniffed the rose in his hand and closed his eyes to focus. The incessant thump-thump-thump of his heart spurred him on, starting the fire in him.
“Yes!”
Even though he felt it deep down in his bones, he knew he had to do this the right way. He couldn’t just risk his entire life on a whim.
The puppy at his heels yipped away. He smiled at it fondly. He always listened to the advice that his ‘other self, hisAnima or Animus gave him. He listened to all that his well meaning friends told him.
Although, in the end, he knew he would only take the advice that made sense to him, he knew that it didn’t hurt to listen to them at least once. And some bits of their advice would be sound. He couldn’t afford to be careless with his dreams.
Now that he knew the next couple of steps in his journey forward, he stepped up to the edge of the cliff. He knew what he was doing and why, and now he also had an idea of how he would make it happen.
“Watch out for the cliff!” the voices called out behind him, and he smiled. He nodded at them in acknowledgement, took a deep breath and took his first step...
He stood under the flowers, his left hand raised and holding a wand. His right hand pointed to the ground. He waited for the familiar zing in his energy, but whatever it was, it felt weak.
On the table his bag of talents lay open: his wand, his cup, his sword, and his pentacle. But something was off. He should have felt his passion drive him, but he felt listless. His feelings were all over the place. His thoughts ought to have been clear, but he felt them grow hazy. He simply wasn’t able to manifest all the things that he’d wanted to.
He frowned. What had once been easy for him, seemed so hard! He simply wasn’t able to feel the energy surge within him the way it used to before.
What was wrong with him? Why couldn’t he just connect with the energy of the Universe the way he used to?
He straightened his robe, made sure his Ouroboros belt was in its place, and felt for the headband. All of these things signaled his status. He was a leader. He was the person who made things happen. He had all the knowledge. He was the man.
He raised his wand yet again, but he just couldn’t feel it. He felt his confidence slipping away.
What was wrong with him?
He had been the one who had once manifested the flowers at his feet. He had once made things happen simply with the strength of his knowledge and will. But today, he couldn’t even grow a blade of grass!
This can't be happening to me! he thought angrily. I am the Creator! How can I not be able to create?
But deep in his heart, he knew. The knowledge had always been in his soul. He wasn’t the Creator. He was simply the means through which the Creative Force manifested itself. He knew, deep within his heart, that he wasn’t the one making things happen. Rather, he was the one who was the conduit for the Creative energies that made things happen.
His ego had grown and blinded him to the reality of the situation. He had brought this upon himself. 2 - The High Priestess Reversed
Sitting there calmly balanced between the duality of everything in the world wasn’t going to make things happen. She knew that. All her research, all her knowledge, all her internalizing — none of it would be of any use unless she rose from her seat and actually did something with it.
The scrolls with the instructions nudged at her inner world. The Moon beckoned her, and she had to answer the call. And right there, sitting between the opposing sides of everything, she made up her mind.
She knew that she had to make things happen. Even if she had to lie for it, she would manipulate the facts to suit her purposes. Sometimes, listening to the inner stirrings of one’s subconscious simply wasn’t enough. Sometimes, it was just the right time to act. And that was exactly what she would do.
As she rose from her seat and set out to do the things that had called out to her, she knew that even if the time wasn’t right, action was what was required. Thinking did serve a purpose, but sometimes action was what was needed.
All of her knowledge about the inner symbols could guide her only so far. Knowing and doing were two separate things. Although her instinct advised her against it, she knew she had to take the plunge, so to speak. And so she rose.
“The time may not have come for all things to bear fruit,” she whispered into the darkness, “but sometimes, the seedlings just have to sprout, regardless.”
She inhaled the fresh air of the garden and frowned. Something wasn’t quite right. She was trying really hard to bring forth her creative energies, but something wasn’t working.
She adjusted the cushion behind her back, and felt the ache cut its way deep within her belly. A tear escaped her eye. She knew what it was. And no matter what she tried to do, she couldn’t stop it. Her peace of mind had been shattered. She wasn’t going to be able to create, to give birth. All of her creative energies had slowed down.
The crops weren’t being fruitful, and neither was she. The forests around her were reaching up to the sky, but they weren’t able to gather enough of the life giving rain to sustain themselves.
The world had turned upside down for her, and she wasn’t in any position to change it. She felt like Demeter, bereft and alone as she had hunted and searched for her missing daughter. The process of creation had suddenly lost all the joy, all the thrill. She had nothing and no one to nurture.
Deep down within her heart, she knew that this cycle would turn too — one day, she would be able to create again. But it wasn’t today.
“What is wrong with me?” he whispered, afraid that someone might hear him, and think that he was weak.
But the reality was that his power was slipping away from him.
“Why can’t I protect my kingdom?” he worried, not seeing the truth that lay right in front of his eyes.
He had long believed that he was the only one who could take care of all the small and large things in the day-to-day life of his kingdom. But lately, he had sensed his abilities fail him. He felt listless, and unable to keep to his daily routine. His discipline had failed. His projects lagged behind. His children didn’t heed his words.
Although he was their Father and their guardian, his children chose to go their own way, upsetting the delicate threads of balance that he had woven into their lives. Perhaps he had been too strict with them, or maybe he had worked them too hard. No matter what he tried, the control had been slipping away from his fingers, like the sands of the desert that he ruled over.
His painful life experiences weren’t the inspiration that he had hoped them to be. He had relied on his abilities for far too long. He had become careless, sloppy. The armor under his cloak still gleamed. But his aching legs screamed out in agony with every step he took. He had become old and weary of the constant fighting.
“Maybe it is time I gave up,” he thought as he let the stability slip away a little bit more. But then, his old training clicked back into place. He had to stay alert, stay focused. He had to regain his lost discipline, and bring back the stability that he had created.
He resolved to himself. He had to make sure that he taught his children well. He realized that he had to let them in and see how he worked, and why he worked the way he did. Perhaps that way, he hoped, they would understand, and implement his rules after he was gone.
He took a deep breath and made up his mind. He wasn’t going to let this go so easily.
He watched as his students knelt in front of him, telling him how he ought to teach them. He had always thought that his knowledge gave him an edge over them. But now he was realizing something else altogether: having knowledge doesn’t mean that he could impart it just as well. He had to learn how to teach so that he could become a better teacher.
Perhaps, the very formal setting of the institution was not the right place. Perhaps, the very formal method of teaching wasn’t the right way either.
He felt the weight of the Triple Crown on his head, and clutched at the Triple Cross in his hand. All the three planes of life had to merge and create the knowledge that he had learned. The times were changing, and probably his methods had to change along with it. He paid attention to the concerns of
his students as they went on speaking.
“Maybe, this is how it is supposed to be now,” he thought as he began forming a plan in his head about how he could incorporate their suggestions. He felt proud of his students, who had trusted him enough to come to him. He realized how scared they must’ve been, daring to take such a step. He appreciated their courage.
It took a lot of strength of will to face up to the long held traditions of society and the world, and to bring about a change in their way of thinking. And yes, changing times called for the changing of rules and perspectives. He loved how his students, in coming to him with their thoughts and ideas, had in fact, lived up to the long standing traditions of building and creating knowledge from their practical experiences.
He smiled as it began to dawn upon him. Knowledge wasn’t a rock that remained steady and unmoving. It was quite the opposite, actually. It was a growing, flowering tree that added more and more branches as it aged. With each season, the fruits were sweeter, and more fulfilling. With each branch that was added to it, the tree grew bigger and stronger, alive and fruitful.
Knowledge is not static, but dynamic. And he had to make sure that he imparted it that way.
The Angel blessed them as they stood in the garden, naked and open to the world around them. The snake of guilt had crept into their garden, bringing shame with him. They couldn’t look at each other openly any more.
Behind her was the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. Alter eating its fruit, she had started to feel ashamed of what she had learned. Behind him was the tree of life, but he hadn’t reached out for his sustenance. He felt that he had nothing to give, no value to add in the life that they had built.
They looked at each other, and all they felt was lust. After it had been sated, deep in their hearts they knew that they would go their separate ways. Deep inside, pain gnawed at their very beings. Something wasn’t quite right about this situation. But this is exactly what their world had devolved into these past days.
They had found their separate ways in life — and they couldn’t connect with each other any more.
The grand power of creation that they had once held together, had now become divided. Their egos had started to stake their claims and they had both lost the battle.
The Angel above them had sensed the distance that had started to creep into their love, and he had stopped wanting to genuinely bless them for their love. Split into two, they each fought with the other for their rights and for their claims. Instead of being together and owning the world, they wanted to split it apart, and keep the fight alive and kicking.
Although he willed the chariot to move forward, it wouldn’t budge. He stood there, floundering in the mess of the emotions he had allowed to go awry, and seethed at the impossibility of his situation.
He had left the boundaries of the world behind him, but now he craved them. The waters of consciousness that flowed around his chariot wheels were suddenly muddy and unclear. He felt weak and tired, unable and unwilling to move forward in his life.
The star studded canopy over his chariot had become clouded with contusion and distractions. The wand in his hand didn’t hold any power. His knowledge and his abilities had failed him at the moment he had needed them the most. The two sphinxes that pulled his chariot simply couldn’t see eye to eye, and had stopped listening to his commands. He hadn’t been able to resolve their differences, getting carried away in the emotions - both this way and that.
“I can’t win like this,” he whispered, unsure of his abilities, his confidence wearing thin. “How can I conquer the world if I can’t conquer my own emotions?” he thought, frustrated with himself. “How can I learn more, if I can’t understand my own feelings?” he wondered.
She stood in the meadow, dressed in white, and adorned with the jewels of Nature. She caressed
the lion’s head and felt him lick her hand.
She felt the pulse of life weaken within her, she felt her resolve slip away. Bit by bit, she felt the anger rise, as the slow burning frustration that lay deep inside of her consumed her from within. Restless, she paced up and down the grassy meadow, looking for an answer, an outlet. But she found none.
The lion — her Ego — that she had once tamed with her inner strength and her will power soon began to roar and assert himself. His tail wasn’t tucked between his legs any longer and he let out a loud roar that echoed deep within the inner reaches of her consciousness.
All of a sudden, her knowledge, her experiences — none of that seemed to matter. She felt no compassion for anyone or anything. All she felt was the restlessness that rose up from deep within herself.
The Lemniscateabove her head began to lose its shine as she let go of all her restraint and gave in to her emotions, to the chaos that her surroundings had brought upon her. Her will power collapsed as she let the lion take over and roar.
He stood on top of the snowy mountain, gathering his robes around himself. Although it was cold outside, he had started to feel it in his bones nowadays. He leaned upon his golden stick, and held up his star lantern. He recalled the experiences from his past, all the knowledge that he had gained so far. But none of it gave him the peace of mind that he so badly craved.
He had tried being by himself back then, when he had been surrounded by everyone but still hadn’t found what he had been seeking. He had wanted to be alone, but no one had let him be — even if it was for just a little while. So he had gone off, all by himself, in search of his solitude.
He thought he had wanted the silence, the solitude. But even here, among the snow covered peaks where he was all alone — he still felt as if he wasn’t by himself. His memories, his troubles had come along with him.
“You can run away from people, but you can’t run away from yourself,” he realized as he stood there shivering in the cold, waiting for an answer — any answer, really — but not finding any. All the wisdom of the ages, all the experiences he had gone through in his life so far — nothing could make
him understand why he was feeling this way.
10 - The Wheel of Fortune Reversed
As he went deeper and deeper into the intricacies of the knowledge that he had gained, he discovered how the threads of Fate joined everything together. He could see the relationship between every single thing in Nature.
The four elements that made up all of Nature (Air, Water, Fire and Earth), Good and Evil — the divine thread of Fate ran through everything. Angels recorded every deed - good or bad — in their Akashic Record Booksand made sure that the cycles of life were such that some sort of a balance could be achieved.
Just as the Past led to the Present, and that in turn led to the Future, Good deeds led to good times, and Bad deeds led to bad times in one’s life. All of it was cyclical, and as the Wheel turned around, everyone had to turn upon it.
Good and Bad — everyone had to go through the different times of life where things didn't work out the way one hoped or planned for. But nothing really was unplanned, or unknown. In the grand scheme of things, the Threads of Fate were woven long, long ago. All of us have to accept the circumstances and situations that are dealt out to us.
In a strange way, Bad often lead to Good, and Good often created Bad. There is always a cause and effect. One without the other doesn't exist. One without the other couldn't exist.
Although she saw everything in front of her quite clearly, she couldn't shake off the sense of imbalance within her. She looked at the sword — it felt shaky in her hand. The pair of scales in the other hand weren’t balancing. She couldn't decide which was worse — her deep sense of imbalance,
her shaky sword, or the scales which weren’t calm.
She sensed herself wavering. She couldn’t even make up her mind. She was being pulled, first this way and then that way. Nothing felt right. Even though the facts were in front of her, she just couldn’t decide what her next step was going to be.
She wondered how this had happened. After all, she had spent such a long time thinking about the pros and cons, about the consequences and repercussions of every single thing. She knew, deep inside of her heart, what she needed to do. But somehow, she couldn’t bring herself to act upon the decisions she had taken. She kept second guessing herself. Her confidence was totally shaken.
“What if I take the wrong decision?” she worried to herself. “What if I make the wrong choice?”
Although she hated to be unfair, the delay in taking any decision would ultimately affect every single thing that was supposed to be set in motion after her decision. The threads of Fate and Karma were woven into everyone’s lives. But sometimes, delaying the decision, or taking the wrong decision could be the distance between life and death.
He was still tied to the tree, but now he stood upon one leg, and watched the world as it was, right side up. His inability to take any sort of action had led him to this point. The world around him had gone on forward — they hadn’t waited for him.
But now that he wasn’t hanging upside down anymore, it was time for him to step up. He had to do the things that he’d meant to do, wanted to do. His detachment had given him a deeper insight. But now was the time to act upon all the wisdom that he’d gained from it.
He had grown hesitant. He had gotten so used to not being the one taking all the decisions. He had gotten comfortable with the idea that his action or inaction wouldn’t stop the wheels of the world from turning.
Deep down inside though, he knew. His role in the play of life was replaceable and sometimes even forgettable. Regardless, it was his role, and he had to play it.
No matter how comfortable it was to just stay still, it was imperative to participate in the workings
of the world.
Everything was supposed to change. The old had to go, so that the new could come in. The stuff in his life that had gone bad needed to be discarded, and then replaced by something good and true. If he didn't do that, his life would never change. He would remain stuck in this rut forever.
He knew that. He knew that it was only after he cleaned up the old, bad, and redundant stuff in his life could he begin anew. A fresh start waited for him. But he simply couldn't bring himself to end it. He couldn't bring himself to change it. He had to be the one taking the action, to set things right once again. But he was scared. He was petrified at the idea of change.
“What if things don't turn out the way I want them to?” he wondered. “What if the new things are scarier than the old ones?”
As he sat and wondered, his will power weakened. His resolve eroded. He decided to cling on to the old, hang on to it for dear life. His fears had paralyzed him so much that even though he knew it was the right thing, and even if he knew that it was the only thing that he could do, he held himself back.
A new day waited for him ‘round the corner. Life went by, but he stayed where it had always been — stagnating and static — caught up in the same repetitive cycles.
He had come a long way from where he had started. The journey so far had left him feeling heavy with the burden of the things he had learned and done. He began to wonder where and how things had become so tiresome.
Somewhere along the way, his peace of mind had left him. He had thought he was starting to master himself, change himself. But he couldn’t shake off the feeling that he had given up on something very precious.
“If only I could remember what it was!” he wailed to himself. He watched his reflection in the pool of water as emotions welled up in his heart.
He looked at the two cups in his hands. The transformation that he was supposed to make hadn’t materialized. Something had gone awry. His soul felt so empty, his journey meaningless. Everything that he had learned dissolved into nothingness, as a strange unease began to grip his very soul.
In the eerie glow of the firelight that surrounded them, they glanced about, scared. The chains that had been thrown around their necks had fallen off, and suddenly they were free. They looked at each other, remembering how it used to be, how they used to love each other once before.
They turned around to see the block that they had been chained to, and the beast that sat over it. The beast seemed to smile down upon them, almost as if it was glad that they had thrown off his chains by themselves.
They had conquered their fears. The darkness didn’t scare them any longer. They had battled for their very soul in this darkness, and they had found the path to their happiness. All the things that had bound them, chained them, held them in their old, painful cycles were now gone. They had set themselves free. The beast that they had created, had also set them upon the path of finding their own freedom.
When they had attached themselves to the material desires of their lives, they had unknowingly chosen the path that would eventually lead them to this point. It was only when all their materialistic desires had consumed them completely, that they had discovered that it held no attraction for them any longer. They had outgrown it. They had gotten over it.
They had chosen well. They smiled at each other once again.
As the thunderclaps sounded in the sky, a jagged bolt of lightning struck the tower. The roof collapsed, and the walls of the tower began crumbling. The earth began to shake. Elsewhere, a fire began to rage through the rooms.
They weren’t caught off guard as the impact of the lighting threw them out of the tower. They had somehow sensed that something like this might occur.
The darkness of the night was brighter compared to the dark room that they had chained themselves in. All around them, the sparks from the fire cast a glow of light that looked a lot like the blessings of the Universe itself.
They had been mentally prepared. Deep inside, they had known that the breaking down of their entire life would cause some damage — and so they had prepared themselves for the eventuality.
As the crumbling tower purged their lives of the old and useless structures that had governed their existence so far, they began to feel light, relieved, unburdened.
“Sometimes a sudden change can also being about a lot of blessings,” they thought. “And since we were prepared for it, we just might handle it better.”
It had been peaceful in this meadow. And even though it was a bit cool, she didn’t mind it that she wasn’t wearing anything. She didn’t feel cold.
“Not in my body,” she whispered, “but I feel cold in my soul.”
She felt broken inside, as if there was no hope for anything. She had wanted to let go of so many things, but somehow, found herself holding on to them. No matter how much she tried to forget, the painful memories from her past continued to torment her. The water that she poured out of the jugs never seemed to be over no matter how long she kept pouring.
Even the stars in the skies were unable to guide her. There was nothing and no one to give her hope. Even though she wanted to make a fresh start, the ache in her heart left her helpless and unable to do so.
She hadn't been able to detach from the things in her life, and now she felt it - the severity of her depression. She felt hopeless and listless, unable to take charge of her own life.
The Moon rose in the sky, covering the Sun, causing an eclipse, thrusting the whole world in darkness in the middle of the day. In this way, the tiny Moon showed its mighty power over the great Sun.
As the Divine blessings rained down from the sky, every single cloud began to fade away from his consciousness. He suddenly began to see things clearly. Even as the world was plunged into confusion, he started to see a path towards clarity.
The hidden, suppressed images of his subconscious that the crayfish had brought up with it, started to make sense. The primal instincts that made the wolf and the dog howl at the moon, had given him the power to overcome his confused state of mind.
He began to walk through the world, leaving his fears behind him, confident and strong.
He had crossed over the limiting walls, riding atop his white horse, laughing joyfully, just like a child. He held up the orange banner upon his black stick, enthusiastic and child-like.
Finally, he had started to see things clearly! He knew that he had overcome many things, and that he had the ability to overcome many more.
A twinge of sadness did tingle his heart, but he let it go.
He knew how and when he would take care of it. He also knew that he wouldn’t let anyone else see that little bit of leftover pain within him.
He laughed as he began his journey forward. There was so much more to discover!
The Angel sounded the horn in the skies above. Many rose from their coffins to greet him. But he didn’t want to.
Even though he had heard the ‘wake-up call’ he turned a deaf ear to it.
He had gone through so many struggles and hurts in his life that he really didn’t pay any heed to what the Universe was telling him.
After all the trials and tribulations that he had gone through, he thought that he was at the stage where he was finally able to see things clearly for himself. He felt confident that he would find a way to resolve everything, all by himself.
He wanted to resolve all the lingering issues before he walked away from them. He didn’t want to have any loose ends to bother him later on.
“You’re just telling yourself that,” came a whisper in the air around him. “You just want to keep on going through this again and again, because it makes you feel something. If you wanted to resolve it, you would’ve already done it!”
Shaking his head, he chose to ignore it, and slept on.
She floated in the clouds, free and joyous. She felt the Universe pulsing and breathing within her, and around her. She wasn’t just a part of the Universe, but she also held the Universe within her.
Although she held wands in both of her hands, she felt something amiss. As she danced to the music of the Universe, she felt out of step. Something wasn’t quite right — she felt it deep within herself. Although things had seemingly worked out, it didn’t feel quite right.
She had come a long way in her journey to being this free and joyful. But now, something bothered her.
“I have to go back and take a look at each and every step of the way,” she thought. “Somewhere along the way, either something must have gone wrong, or I must have done something incorrectly.”
In her mind, she began retracing her steps, charting the path towards her goal, trying to identify where and what went wrong along the way for her. That was the only way that she could stop the nagging sense of inner disquiet that had started to bother her so much.
Introduction
In the previous section, we looked at the stories that resided within each of the cards of the Major Arcana — both upright and reversed. Each of those cards, and each of the positions of those cards revealed a depth of information — all of which created the story, and helped you grasp the deeper meaning within the image of each card.
While each of the cards contains a story, when you put all the cards together, they weave themselves into a bigger story. Of course, the same happens when you put together all the cards in a reversed position too.
Surprisingly, stories also take shape when the numerical order of these cards is reversed too. That is also an interesting perspective.
So, let’s look at the story of all the Major Arcana cards when we put them together.
The Fool had a dream, and he realized that he just wanted to go out into the world and achieve it. He couldn’t be bothered to listen to all the people who stopped him, nor did he bother to make any sort of plans. He just jumped off the cliff and into the unknown.
When he jumped, he discovered that within him was the energy of The Magician, who knew that everything in the world was made up of energy. Things didn’t completely go away — in fact, they simply transformed from one form to the other. He laid out all his tools, and raised his wand to the sky. Channelling the energy of the Universe, he pointed downwards, and manifested flowers on the ground. Discovering his potential, he was pretty pleased with himself.
Within him, he also found the feminine energy of The High Priestess. She sat patiently between the two pillars that symbolized the opposites, the duality, that was present within the Universe. She had a deeper, intuitive knowledge of all the things that were hidden deep within the ocean of the subconscious mind. With the secret knowledge that she had internalized, she could easily access all the information and use it to her benefit.
When The Empress decided to step out of the hidden depths and put her knowledge to action, the world around her began to thrive in abundance. The flowers and crops grew. The trees reached up towards the skies. She realized that she could literally give birth to the entire Universe — that she was the Great Mother.
He was also The Emperor. He was the Great Father of the Universe, and he had a great responsibility towards his children. He had to protect them, guide them and lead them towards attaining their full potential. He worked hard so that he could care for them. He inculcated the discipline of hard work and patience within his children, feeling proud of their achievements. It was hard work, but it was so very rewarding.
After he had learned and mastered all this knowledge, The Hierophanttaught it to his students. Everything in life had a system. Everything in the Universe had its own place. Since he knew it, he could impart his knowledge to those who sought it. When his students had learned from him, he gave them the keys to knowledge so that they could go ahead and teach others and live their lives in the correct way.
The Lovers had found each other in the garden. They were soul-mates, and they had nothing to hide from each other. They shared all their knowledge with each other, holding nothing back. They weren't ashamed of what they knew, because all the wisdom that they had gained could only take them closer to the energies of the Universe. The Angel blessed them, and they united their energies to begin Creating their world.
Standing in The Chariot he sought victory over everything that stood in his path. He had a strong will, a drive and a determination to win. He had found his balance, and was more than happy to go to any lengths to make things happen. With all he had gained in his journey so far, he was more than ready to take on all the challenges that would come his way. Driven by his will, his Chariot began to move forward.
Deep within her, she felt theStrengththat helped her win over her own wild side. She had tamed the lion of pride that roared within her, and made it her pet. Her determination was her power, and she charged herself with the energies of the Universe, deeply aware of the energy connection that existed between all the things in the world around her.
Standing on top of the snowy mountain peak, The Hermit closed his eyes, and remembered how he had come this far in his journey. In his solitude, he could make sense of all the things that he had learned and seen in his life. He held up his lantern, hoping to guide all those who came to him seeking knowledge.
The more he learned, the more he discovered. It was so very interesting to watch the interplay of theThreads of Fate that connected everything.The Wheel of Fortune turned round and round. The rewards of good deeds were fortunate, and the rewards of the bad deeds were not so fortunate. Everything was connected. Bad led to good, and good led to bad. With all these intricate karmic connections, how was the story going to shape up?
Balancing the pros and cons of the situation, she made her decisions. With her sword of truth, and her scales of balance, she only served to bring about Justice in the world around her. Her decisions were balanced, and her actions swift and logical. Who could find fault with her?
There were times when it was best not to take any action, and to just wait and watch. When The Hanged Man watched the world from his tree, everything looked different upside down. This change of perspective brought about a very enlightening change to the way he looked at things. Sometimes, it just wasn't the time to act. All he could do was just watch, and learn.
He watched as the horseman of Death swept everything clean — pride, will, systems, rulers — everything that had outlived its purpose had to go. It was only when the slate was wiped clean, that one could begin writing a new story. As a new sunrise dawned over the horizon, he greeted this change with a childlike heart and welcomed it into his life.
He stood by the lake, one foot on the ground and one foot in the water, balancing his feelings with his practical thoughts. He had left his ego far behind as he had traversed his path, learning so much more than he had bargained for. He felt the calm in his soul. In his hands he held the cups of transformation — he was changing from inside out. A fire burned deep within his heart, and the Temperance of the Universe was transforming him from silver to gold.
They were bound by the chains of their own making. Caught in the darkness of their material desires, they looked up at the beast who held them in his thrall, while they went on with their lives. The Devil was not a creature that had gobbled them up. He was their own creation — the manifestation of the lingering attachments to all that the material world symbolized. And despite all the knowledge that they had gained, they still found themselves chained to that material world, unable to free themselves from it’s clutches.
Sometimes when you are ready to transform, but make no effort to do so, the Universe steps in and makes it happen for you. Both of them felt the jolt of lightning hit The Tower and were expelled from the crumbling edifice. As the structure collapsed around them, they realized that this destruction was a blessing in disguise. Although it looked like a disaster, it was actually a blessing from the Universe. As they fell away from all the walls that had held them back, they were grateful for those blessings.
She found herself in a meadow, at peace with everything around her. She took the two jugs of water and emptied them out — her attachment to the senses was returned into the earth, while her knowledge was returned into the pond of the subconscious. In the sky, The Starburned bright — a beacon of hope, a sign of the change that was about to come.
AsThe Mooneclipsed the Sun, all of his fears began to manifest themselves. He trembled and watched as his fears rose up from the darkest parts of the ocean of his subconscious like the crayfish. The wolf and the dog gave in to their primal instincts and began to howl at the moon. He knew that if he wanted to move forward, he would have to face all of his fears. And unless he did that, he would forever remain stuck in this confusion. He began walking, not allowing himself to get scared by the shadowy figures of his fears. As he walked through, the Universe began to rain down blessings upon him.
He crossed over the boundary wall, a childlike being, joyful and enthusiastic. The Sunshone bright in the sky, filling his vision with a clarity he had never experienced before. Sitting atop his white horse, he laughed and held up his orange banner, excited to move forward to the next stage. Life was meant to be embraced with a childlike joy and so that was exactly what he did.
The Angel sounded the horn in the skies above, and everyone rose to heed his call. It was the day of Judgement — the day when all the cycles of life would finally come to an end. It was almost the end, and he could feel himself slipping out of the grasp of theThreads of Fate that had been woven around him. He would soon be free from their grasp. Relief flowed through him.
As she floated through the clouds, one with the Universe, she danced holding two wands in both her hands.The Worldwas hers — literally and figuratively. She was full of joy, and the energies of creation flowed out of her, into her, and through her. She had been successful. Her journey was over, and she had found her destination.
The Fool Reversedhad a dream, and he wanted to go out into the world and achieve it. He had a plan, of sorts, and he wanted to make it happen. But when his friends told him about the hurdles in his path, he heard them out and altered his plans here and there. Now that he had prepared himself a bit, he smiled and took the leap.
When he jumped, he discovered that the energy within him was ofThe Magician Reversed, who had no idea how everything worked in the world. The tools that he’d laid out on the table didn't help him at all. In fact, when he held his wand in his hand and raised it to the sky, he discovered that he simply couldn't channel the energy of the Universe. What he manifested wasn't quite what he had been aiming for. He had forgotten how every single thing in the Universe was made up of energy, and he’d become lost in the power of his own ego. He wasn't happy with what he’d created.
The High Priestess Reversedwasn't a patient person. She had been waiting for a long time, and now the balance between the opposing dualities had come undone. With her secret knowledge about the hidden symbols of the subconscious, she began to manipulate the situation to suit her needs. She was eager to move forward and didn't want to heed the voice of her own intuition in the quest to achieve her goals.
The Empress Reversed frowned at the way the crops and flowers around her had manifested. They weren't growing like they were supposed to. In fact, they weren't growing at all. She could feel her life giving energies slip away, like losing an unborn child from her womb. She broke down, pain coursing through her entire body, wreaking havoc upon the creation around her.
The Emperor Reversedfelt his power slipping away from him. He hadn't been able to fulfill his responsibilities towards his children. He hadn't been able to protect and guide them properly. He had become weak and listless, unable to take care of his responsibilities. Perhaps his strict discipline had made them walk away from him. He had tried to convince them of the benefits of following his path, but they hadn't listened to him. The world around him began to crumble from all the instability that these reckless actions had brought about.
The Hierophant Reversed looked at the system that had been put in place long before he had even been around. No matter how much he tried, he simply hadn't been able to explain the advantages of being a part of that system to his students. They didn't want any part of it. He felt as if had failed as their teacher. Perhaps the system had failed him too. Perhaps the students were right after all. The system had become too rigid, too fixed. The world had changed around them, and maybe, the system needed to be changed and adjusted to fit that changed world.
As the guilt and shame of their knowledge crawled into their lives like a snake in the garden, The Lovers Reversed looked at each other with anger and disgust. All they felt for each other was lust. They knew that after they’d sated their lust, they would be full of guilt, and that would soon be followed by disgust and shame. They had misused the blessings of the Angel, and they had misused their creative powers, and they would pay the price for their wrongdoings.
InThe Chariot Reversed, his failure descended upon him. There were many hurdles in his path and he couldn't move forward no matter how much he tried. His will power had failed him. His determination had left, him He simply couldn't move forward, no matter how hard he focused his energies. His emotions were starting to get the better of him, and he felt himself weakening.
In her heartStrength Reversed realized that she hadn't been able to tame her pride. Her ego had roared into life, and she had let herself go. Her determination had turned into anger, and her inner strength had turned into a physical force that gave in to the darker emotions that resided within her.
She didn't feel connected to the energies of the Universe. She felt deeply restless, and unable to understand what was going on with her.
The Hermit Reversedstood atop the snowy mountain, unable to find the peace and solitude that he’d been seeking so desperately. He had wanted so badly to just be by himself, so he could figure out what was going wrong. But life kept swirling around him, not letting him find his peace and not allowing him to look deep within himself for the answers that he sought. He was plagued by self doubt. How could he guide others when he didn't know the answers for himself?
The Threads of Fate had been woven. No matter how much he tried, The Wheel of Fortune Reversed made sure that he suffered for all the bad deeds that he had committed in his life. But he held on to his hope. He knew that bad situations often carried the seeds of good within them And so he held on to that hope and waited for the tide to pass.
Justice Reversed found it hard to balance the pros and cons of the situation in front of her. Her hand shook, wavering the sword of action that she held on to for dear life. The scales that she held in her other hand were imbalanced. Everything was unclear. She couldn't decide what her next step would be. And even if she knew, she wasn't confident that she could act upon it. Her thoughts were confused, and she kept second guessing herself all the time.
Finally, as The Hanged Man Reversed, he found himself in a position to do something about his situation. Even though he was still unclear about what he wanted to do, he was at least in a place where he could act if he figured out the way. But something held him back. Maybe he had gotten used to not taking action and just observing? He even wondered if it was worthwhile to participate in what was going on. He doubted if his actions would even have the desired effect.
As doubts kept their firm grip upon his heart, Death Reversedensured that he remained caught up in the endless cycle of heartache and pain. Since he refused to walk out of the difficult situation — since he refused to make the hard choice — he found himself still caught in the painful situation, barely clinging on to the hope of finding some sort of happiness and peace. By not allowing the change to manifest in his life, he remained caught in the same old cycles of pain and misery.
It had been a long, hard journey for himTemperance Reversed felt the heavy burden upon his shoulders, as all sorts of emotions came over him, overwhelming him He was tired and angry. He had hoped for some life changing transformation, but nothing had happened. The water had drained out of the two cups he had held on to and left him feeling bereft, out of place. His peace of mind was completely shattered.
They were bound by the chains of their own making. In the eerie glow of the firelight, as The Devil Reversed, they dropped off the chains that held them bound to the beast that they had created. They began to walk away, free of the material desires that bound them They had suffered so much, only to discover that the power to free themselves resided within their own hearts. So they had conquered their fears, and had made it happen.
As the lightning bolt hitThe Tower Reversed, they found themselves suddenly freed of all the structures and boundaries that had held them back from being truly free. They had known for some time that this moment would come. They knew that when they had helped themselves and found the path, the Universe would lend them a helping hand. Glad of the blessings that rained down upon them, they walked away, looking for happiness and joy, finally understanding the deeper lessons that they had been forced to learn the hard way.
Kneeling by the pond of the subconscious in the meadow, she found it hard to let go of her attachments to her senses, and to her experiences. No matter how hard she tried, she wasn't able to pour out the water from her jugs. Even as The Star Reversed shone in the sky, she could not find any peace, any hope within her heart. Something inside of her didn’t let her move on from her pain. She could only hope that things would change in her life. But, even about that, she wasn’t quite sure.
As The Moon Reversed, and eclipsed the Sun, all his fears began to manifest. Strangely, he could see his path through them as clarity gripped his soul. As the hidden image of his subconscious emerged with the crayfish, he used them to guide himself through the shadows of his fears. When the dog and the wolf began to howl at the moon, he smiled. His primal survival instincts strengthened him through his journey. His confusion started to disappear, and he could see his path pretty clearly now.
He had crossed over the boundary wall, a childlike being, joyful and enthusiastic. Even as The Sun Reversed shone bright in the sky, a twinge of sadness came over his heart. He had overcome all sorts of hardships and had finally found the joy and peace that he had been searching for all this time. Like a child, he embraced the new journey with all his enthusiasm. He sat atop his horse, and began to move forward. He had so much to discover!
When the Angel sounded the horn in the skies, many had woken up to heed the call. But he didn't want to. He had finally overcome his struggles, and was finally starting to see things clearly for himself. He was sure that he could resolve his struggles by himself. And so, when Judgement Reversed called out, he ignored the call, and tried to resolve his issues by himself. He wanted to take charge of his life, but he didn't realize that he had missed out on such a great opportunity to free himself from the clutches of the unending struggle.
She floated through the clouds, free and joyous. She danced to the sweetest music, holding two wands in both her hands. She was in a good place, but withThe World Reversed, she felt that something was not quite right. She realized that she had missed out on something — something very important. Not quite sure of what it was, she began retracing her steps, charting her path so far, trying to identify where and what went wrong along the way. Maybe she could find a way to fix it and put everything back on track once again. She may have been close to the end of her journey, but her trials weren’t over just yet. She had to start all over again, and do it right this time.
She danced through the clouds, her spirit free and a wand in each hand. She had The World in her grasp. Full of the joy of creation, the energies of the Universe flowed into her, and through her, creating each and every aspect of the world around her. Not only was she the creator, she was also the creation.
The Angel sounded the horn in the skies above, and everyone rose to heed the call. It was the day of Judgement. All the cycles of life would find their culmination, right here, right now. Slipping out of the grasp of the Threads of Fate, he felt the relief as he finally found himself free of all the tangles of life.
As he crossed over the boundary wall, he felt a childlike joy course through his entire being. Like The Sunthat shone bright in the sky, he too had a clarity of purpose. He held up his orange banner, enthusiastically laughing atop his white horse. He embraced his life with a childlike joy, and began his journey forward.
The unknown was full of shadowy creatures that personified all his fears. Before he could move forward, he had to face them. But as The Mooneclipsed the Sun, he felt his clarity slip away into confusion. The wolf and the dog howled, primal instincts screaming. The hidden fears from within his subconscious rose to the surface with the crayfish. All he could do was rely on his intuition as he navigated the shadowy path through all his fears.
Finally, she was in a calm and serene meadow, at peace with everything around her. She knelt at the edge of the pond of the subconscious, and emptied out the jugs. She let go of her attachment to the senses, and returned all her knowledge back into the subconscious pool.The Starburned bright in the night sky, heralding the new beginning. Hope stirred within her. Something good was about to happen.
Transformation and change are the eternal aspects of growth within the Universe. Sometimes, the Universe steps in and makes the change happen for you. The bolt of lightning struck The Tower with such a force, that it brought down all the walls of the ancient structure. As they were expelled from the walls that had held them within, they realized that this destruction of their long held beliefs was indeed a blessing in disguise.
But they were still bound by the chains of their own mind. Caught in the darkness of their material desires, they came face-to-face with the fierce beast that their minds had conjured up. Made up of all their desires and their fears, The Devil watched over them as they came to the realization that they were still attached to the material world.
Knowledge has a way of opening up a pathway where once there was none. With one foot in the water, and the other on land the Angel ofTemperance found his way back to the calm within his soul. He held the two cups of transformation, causing the change. The Universe had tested him, and he had transformed — the silver was turning into gold.
Transformation brings about a sweeping change. And the horseman of Death swept through all of it, making sure that nothing of the old stuff was left behind. The slate was being wiped clean, and soon, a new story could be written upon it. All the old systems, rules and rulers — everything was decimated under the scythe. Every cycle has to end, and this one was ending right in front of his eyes. Like a child, he greeted it, and even welcomed it.
There are times in life when the best option is to not participate. All you can do is wait and watch. LikeThe Hanged Man, you can see things from a changed perspective, and give up on your right to be a do-er, and simply be a watch-er. This way, one could learn. And that is exactly what he did.
Decisions are made after a lot of thought. Pros and cons need to be balanced, and once the decision is made, action needs to be taken. With the sword of truth in one hand, and the scales of balance in the other, Justice looked at the world with her eyes wide open. She didn't follow any man-made laws but relied on the Universal Laws for her wisdom Swift and logical, she used her balanced approach to understand everything that was happening around her.
Nothing in life happens simply by chance. Luck is simply the manifestation of Destiny, which in turn was woven by theThreads of Fate. Whichever wayThe Wheel of Fortune turned, you had a hand in the way your destiny manifests in your life. Good deeds led to good rewards, and bad deeds led to bad times. But the seeds of the bad were often planted in the good times, just like the seeds of the good were sown in the bad times. It was all connected and all cyclical. Always.
Standing atop his snowy peak, The Hermit contemplated upon the things he had learned and seen in his journey so far. In his solitude, he started to internalize all the knowledge that he had gained so far. He held up his lantern, hoping to guide all those who came to him seeking knowledge. He would help them, and guide them without holding anything back.
She had tamed the wild lion of pride with her innerStrength, and he was now her pet. Her determination was the source of her power, and her connection to Nature was her sustenance. Everything was connected to the other, and she discovered the path to her own inner journey with the knowledge of her experiences.
Standing tall in The Chariot he looked at the path that lay ahead of him His strong will guided him Driven and determined, he knew that he would win, no matter what. He was more than ready for the challenges that life would throw his way. Armed with the knowledge of his experiences, he confident of success. Powered by his will power, his Chariot moved forward to his goal.
The Lovers found themselves in the garden, being blessed by the Angel. They were soul mates. They were friends. And they were lovers. They shared their knowledge and their love, holding nothing back. All the knowledge that they had gained had only led them towards creating happiness and joy in this world. They were happy, and fulfilled. Together, they created the world and brought joy to each other.
He took all of the knowledge that he had gained in his journey and set it down in a systematic way. The Hierophantwanted to make sure that he gave everyone a way to understand the things that he had learned. He wanted his students to learn the way to finding peace and joy in this world. With the keys of knowledge that he gave away, he was sure that his system was the best possible way for them to live their lives in the correct way.
He was The Emperor, the Great Father. And he cared for his children. He was responsible for their happiness and success. He protected them from harm, and cared for them He knew that anything was possible with hard work and discipline. Perhaps he was a little strict, but his principles had also made their life stable. His work was tough, but it was also very rewarding.
She was The Empress, the Great Mother. She had given birth to the Universe, and she cared for her children in a way every mother cares for her child. She gave rise to the abundance that helped the crops and flowers grow and thrive, feeding her children, and sustaining them. She was their Mother, and she would nurture them always.
Holding all her knowledge and experience within her heart, The High Priestess had found the balance between the opposing dualities of the world. She sat calmly, balancing those dualities around her, and internalized all the things she had learned in her journey so far. She hid all the knowledge deep within the pool of the subconscious so that she could access the information anytime she wanted.
Everything in the world was made up of energy, and energy didn't disappear. It simply changed form Armed with this knowledge, The Magician raised his wand to the sky, and channelled the energies of the Universe through him As he pointed downwards to manifest his desires, not only did he become a part of the creation, he was a part of the Creative force as well.
As he emerged at the edge of the cliff, The Fool realized that life was all about taking a leap of faith and jumping into the unknown in search of one’s dreams. People may warn you and try to stop you from walking into untested waters. But if you wanted to have an adventure and discover something new, or make something happen and bring about a great change, you had to follow your dreams. Peace in his heart, he jumped off the cliff and began his journey into the unknown.
She floated through the clouds, free and joyful, dancing to the music of the Universe. A wand in each hand, she felt the energy of creation flowing through her. Even as she danced, The World Reversed realized that something was not quite right. She wasn’t sure what it was, specifically. Although she had everything, she wasn’t feeling complete, whole, fulfilled. So she decided to figure out what it was, and possibly fix it. She had no idea that her trials were just starting.
The Angel sounded the horn in the skies, and many woke up to heed the call. But he didn’t feel like it. He was feeling quite satisfied with where he was right now, and didn’t want to change anything. He was sure that he could figure everything out by himself. With his Judgement Reversed, he felt confident that he could solve the problem and resolve his issues on his own. Little did he know that his struggles were just starting.
He crossed over the boundary wall, excited to see what lay beyond his perceptions and limits of understanding. AlthoughThe Sun Reversedshone brightly in the sky giving him all the clarity he needed, he felt a tiny little twinge of sadness deep within him. The adventure was finally starting, and he had left his comfort zone behind him. Sitting on his white horse, laughing with child-like glee, he held up his orange banner enthusiastically, and began his journey.
The Moon Reversedeclipsed the Sun, making his fears manifest. But he still retained his clarity. Even in the midst of his shadowy fears, he held on to his resolve. Armed with the knowledge of the subconscious that emerged with the crayfish, he walked the path bravely, standing firm in the midst of all his fears. His primal survival instincts rescued him — just like the dog and the wolf that howled at the Moon. Every journey was beset with fears, and he had just navigated through his deepest, darkest fears. He felt confident that he could face whatever adventures lay ahead on his path.
As she knelt by the pond of the subconscious in the meadow,The Star Reversed was unable to let go of her attachments to her senses, or the knowledge from her subconscious. She couldn’t pour the water out of the jugs. Despite all the appearances to the contrary, she had given up any hope. She knew that she wouldn’t find her peace so easily.
When the bolt of lightning hitThe Tower Reversed, they found themselves expelled from the longstanding structures that had governed their lives so far. They had known that such a moment would come someday, and so when the Universe helped them along, they were glad of it. They realized that by destroying their comfort zone, the Universe had in fact rained down a wealth of blessings upon them. Sometimes, lessons had to be learned the hard way.
As they looked at the beast that their minds had conjured up, they realized that they had been caught in the chains of their own making. In the firelight glow ofThe Devil Reversed. they took off their chains and walked away. Freeing themselves from the chains of their fears and their material attachments and desires, they realized that they could still find happiness and joy without such trappings.
The journey so far had been hard on him Temperance Reversed felt the heavy burden upon his shoulders. His emotions overwhelmed him. Tired and angry, he looked at the two empty cups in his hands, frustrated. He had hoped for some life changing transformation to come upon him, but nothing had happened. He had left so much behind, but all that effort had been rewarded with nothing. He had never felt so out of place.
He doubted everything that he saw. His heart was gripped by pain and he was caught in an endless cycle of unending grief. With Death Reversed, he had refused to walk out of his unending cycle of heartache, hoping that somehow things would change if he remained firm. But nothing had changed because he hadn't allowed the change to manifest in his life. His fear of getting out of his comfort zone, even if that comfort zone was painful, had led him to this point. He had become used to being this way. He remained wallowing in the same cycles of pain and misery.
The Hanged Man Reversed realized that the power to make things happen resided with him If he chose, he could actually make things happen in his life, and participate more joyfully in creating the life that he wanted to create. His inner fears held him back. He didn't feel confident enough to actually do what his heart was telling him to do. He doubted himself, and remained passive.
Justice Reversed made it hard to act upon her decisions. For that matter, she wasn't even sure whether she had made the right decision to begin with. She weighed the pros and cons on her scales, and they didn't balance! Her hand was shaky. The sword that she held in her other hand felt jittery too! Would she be able to act upon her decision, if she ever arrived at it? Was she even making the right decision? Her self-doubts plagued her endlessly.
Life was a series of events that kept on turning upon a wheel. And when The Wheel of Fortune Reversed, the results of your ‘bad’ actions would descend upon you. TheThreads of Fate had been woven and he had to suffer the consequences of all the things he had done, and not done. Action and inaction, both have their consequences. But there was still hope. The ‘bad’ situations in life often carried the seeds of future ‘good’ within them He resolved to find those seeds, and waited for the tide to pass.
Standing atop the snowy peak, The Hermit Reversedstrived to find the solitude he needed. He needed to think and figure things out. All the things he had learned, all the experiences that he had - he needed to make sense of it all. But life kept pulling at him, and he couldn't find the peace and quiet he wanted to mull things over in his head. How could he guide others when he himself didn't know the answers?
Strength Reversedfelt the restlessness deep within her. Anger coursed through her. She was angry with the situation around her, but most of all, she was angry with herself. She had let her pride and her ego take her over. She felt so disconnected from the energies of the Universe. Unable to understand what she was going through, she let herself give in to her rage and lashed out at everything around her.
Standing inThe Chariot Reversed, he felt his failure descend upon him His emotions were all over the place, and he was in no control over the direction of his life. His will power had weakened, and he wasn't feeling determined at all. No matter how hard he tried, his failure made him feel useless and unmotivated. His life was now at a standstill.
The Lovers Reversedlooked at each other with shame and disgust. Their love had become nothing but lust, and they had misused the blessings that the Angel had showered upon them. The snake of guilt and shame crawled in their midst, and they were unable to recreate the joy that they had once felt. All of that was completely lost to them
The Hierophant Reversed realized that the system had failed them What had been true all those years ago, didn't hold much ground today. He had tried hard, but the system was failing as he watched. His students no longer wanted to be a part of the age-old system It had been too rigid for them — and it held no place for all the new things that they had discovered over the years.
The stability of the world that he had created was slipping away. The Emperor Reversed felt guilty. He felt that he hadn't been able to fulfill all his responsibilities towards his children. He hadn't been able to guide them, protect them He had been too strict, too rigid with his discipline. And they had walked away from him, from his rules. With no discipline, no stability, the world began to crumble away.
Every growing thing suffered from the lack of life giving energy. The Empress Reversedwatched sadly as her abundant world collapsed under the lack of loving care. She felt like she was losing an unborn child. All the potential, all the richness of the Universe was simply wasting away. All her creative energies had weakened, and she broke down with the pain of it all.
Deep in her heart,The High Priestess Reversed realized that sitting calmly between the opposing dualities of life wasn't helping her at all. All her patience was gone. Her kindness had dissipated. She began to use the secret knowledge of the hidden symbols from the subconscious to manipulate the situation to suit her needs. She ignored the voice of her intuition, and began moving forward.
The Magician Reversedcouldn't connect with the energies of the Universe. All of his knowledge wasn't helping him at all. No matter how hard he tried, he simply couldn't channel the energies through him anymore. He had been so sure of himself, but in the end, his ego had become his biggest barrier. No matter how high he held up his wand, no matter how many tools he used, he simply couldn’t manifest his desires in the world anymore.
Although he had started out with a dream,The Fool Reversedrealized that without some sort of a plan, there was no way he could make it happen. So he listened to the advice of his well meaning friends, and came up with a sort of a plan. He thought about the hurdles that he had faced before, and about the difficulties he would face ahead, and made some alterations to his plans. Thus prepared, he held on to his hopes and his dreams, and took the leap, eager to make his dreams a reality.
The Minor Arcana are the largest group of cards in a Tarot deck. In that sense, I feel that there is nothing really Minor about them
However, while the Major Arcana cards talk about the major Spiritual turning and learning points in the journey of life, the Minor Arcana actually describe the various small and large situations that one can and does face in life.
That seems to be the only reason why they are referred to as the Minor Arcana.
In order to make things simpler, these cards have been divided into 4 groups. Each group talks about a specific aspect of life. Each group also connects with a specific element of Nature.
The Suit of Wands connects with the element of Fire. Therefore, the suit talks about all those places in life where that element can manifest. Passion and Desire can manifest in relationships and at work — any and all such places where you need to have a certain fire in your actions in order to move forward and to grow. Conversely, it can also come up in areas where an excess of passion can manifest as obsession, or even cause tiredness. The other areas where the Fire energy manifests itself include: Inspiration, Self Growth, and Impulse.
The Suit of Swords connects with the element of Air, and so talks about the areas of life where the Air element manifests. Logic, thoughts, intellectual pursuits — all the mind stuff — manifests again in relationships, at work, in creative endeavors, and also in various situations where negative self talk begins to manifest as the reality, as also conflicts. Other areas where the Air energy can manifest itself includes: Problem Solving, Rational and Analytical thinking.
The Suit of Cups is linked with the element of Water. And so, it shows up where feelings and emotions play a major role in the situation. Feelings can be both happy and sad. Thus, the element of Water can manifest in areas related to Relationships and Imagination.
The Suit of Pentacles is linked with the element of Earth. Since Earth is the physical manifestation of the combined properties of all the previous three elements, this suit is all about the manifested aspects of all these three suits combined. This suit shows how all the aspects of the energies of these three elements combine and manifest in practical life, and on the material plane of reality. While it does talk about money, it also talks about the different situations that create money, as well as the situations that emerge from a lack of, and from an abundance of money.
As you read along, you will discover that each suit is a complete story in itself. All these cards link to one another building the story. They begin with the Aces and end the cycle at the 10s. But this isn't the only way to see the story. You can also begin the story at the 10s and work your way through to the Aces.
And of course, the same applies to the reversed aspects of the story.
It is actually quite exciting and fascinating.
Ready? Let’s begin.
The Universe was created by desire. The fire, the passion that creates is what stirs up the action in us all.
And so, as the cycle begins, the Divine Hand emerges from the cloud bearing a live wand, complete with green, sprouting leaves. The wand is the symbol of this fire, this passion that drives us all to act, to create, to follow our desires and make them real and manifest.
All around us, the Universe smiles. The green meadows of abundance and the rippling river of emotions come into being because of this passion. A new desire is born. A will to act, to do, to make something happen.
Far in the distance, a castle stands atop a hill — the sole symbol of sanctuary, of safety and security. Perhaps this is where one can retreat to if one is tired, or it is a destination — a goal that one can aspire for.
But does it matter now? Right now is when all your passions are surging into one, forming a force that will only drive you forward.
He stood there, on the terrace of his house, within the doorway created by the two wands. With one hand, he held on to the wand of passion and desire that had led him there. In the other hand he held a globe, the very image of the entire world.
Yes! The world was his, and he wanted to go forth to win, to conquer, to embed his name into history!
He was doing well, especially when compared to the others in his village. His knowledge and his actions had made him successful. But it wasn’t enough for him. The ocean lay ahead of him. Perhaps he ought to travel. Perhaps he ought to explore. Maybe he should to learn some more. He desired to experience so many things.
Regardless of the mountains of hurdles that would crop up in his path, he felt the urge to do more, and be more! His life couldn’t just be this, could it?
He felt like a frog in the well, and now he wanted to get out of the well to discover the rest of the world for himself. There were so many options and opportunities for him to choose. He only knew that he had to follow his heart’s desire to walk on his path. That was the only way ahead for him.
He had started his journey now. He had walked quite a bit, and come far onto his chosen path. So far, things had gone well. But now, he stood atop this mountain, looking at the ships in the ocean, waiting for the messages that were being sent back and forth.
He had conquered the first set of difficult tasks, and was patiently waiting for news about how he had done. Constantly reassuring himself with the energy of the desire that had led him so far, he held on to one wand, while he stood in the doorway created by all the three wands around him. He waited and watched.
The results of his actions, of all that he had done so far would decide what he would do next. He had gone ahead and started what he had meant to. Now he waited for the results of his initial actions. He was tense, but he remained calm. The sense of anticipation did cause him some worry, but he remained hopeful, positive, and energized.
All that he had hoped for, all that he had wanted — the results were finally revealed! His actions had borne fruit! This was a cause for celebration!
All around his home, his guests milled about, as he stood at the doorway welcoming the joy with bouquets of flowers in his hands. What a beautiful marriage it was — the coming together of desire and action!
The wands of desire and action, the energy of his choices and decisions stood in the forefront of his world, decorated by flowers and fruits — the symbols of his success and abundance. The joy overflowed and the celebration was full of laughter and happiness!
He could not have wanted for more, and yet, deep inside his heart, he knew that this was just the beginning. There was more to come, for sure, but for now, he enjoyed every single moment of his success.
Ah! He should have expected this to happen!
He had found the joy, the success, the harmony that would take his actions further into the world and bring more success to his doorstep.
But then, everyone with him had a different idea about how to move forward with it. Everyone joined his team, each with their own goals, their own agendas, their own desires. Amongst themselves, they argued, they stressed their points. Each of them believed that their path was the right path — the only path that was to be followed going forward.
Yet, he knew that it wasn’t so. He knew that if they could only see the scope of his grand vision, perhaps they would direct their energies, together, and create success for themselves as well.
But first they had to come together. This chaos was only serving to confuse the harmony that he had brought about.
What was he to do now?
He had understood what must be done. The group needed strong leadership. They needed someone who would bring them all together and unite them to see the big picture.
So he decorated himself with the laurels of his success and sat atop his horse. He even decorated the wand that had brought about the surge of desire within him and had given him the first taste of his success in this venture. Thus attired, he rode through the group, startling them out of their disharmony. There, he began to explain his grand vision. His words brought them together, giving them a focus that would unite their energies, giving them the singular purpose that they were craving for.
He disregarded any envy directed towards him, and led them forward into more glory, more success.
This taste of victory fueled by his leadership was a unique, personal growth experience.
As they surged forward in their quest for more and more success, he discovered that he had so many different hurdles to overcome, so many different battles to fight. At each stage, at every turn, he had to find a way to manage everything that came his way.
It was starting to overwhelm him. He had become so caught up with the battles on every front that he had even ended up wearing two different shoes on his feet!
Although it was starting to get difficult for him, he knew, deep inside of his heart that this was a priceless learning experience. If he could manage to cross this stage, he would most certainly have what it takes to make his grand vision a reality.
“Just a little bit more,” he pushed himself. “Just a little bit longer.”
If he could survive this, he could survive anything, get through anything else that came at him in the future.
This was so beautiful!
He had crossed his hurdles and had learned about managing the various things needed to make his dream come true. And now, everything was starting to come together. It was as if everything was in sync with his grand vision, with the rhythm and flow of the Universe.
He felt it everywhere around him — the pulse and breath of the Universe — surging around him, bringing him joy, bringing him abundance. Everything was working out beautifully, seamlessly, wonderfully. Things were moving and happening as they were supposed to.
“This is what it was all about after all!”
Deep within himself, he sensed it — the joy, the happiness, the feeling of being one with the Creative force of the Universe.
He had come so far! So much time had passed! So many things had happened!
He stood there, carefully watching the fence he had built up, bit by bit. The bandage on his head was a testament to the hurt and the pain he had endured, and the betrayals he had suffered. When one had a grand vision, there were many who would stand in one’s path and cause harm. But now, he was prepared. He had become careful. Not everyone was allowed within the world that he had created.
Like a talisman of hope and power, he held on to the first wand — the first surge of desire — that had brought him so far. That wand gave him power.
He was careful now. And he wouldn’t let anyone hurt him anymore. It wasn’t wrong to be careful, right? After all, he had to protect what he had built up after so much hard work, patience and sacrifice.
“Life was nothing but bearing the burdens of one’s desires,” he thought as he went about his tasks.
There were so many things to be done, things to be handled, things to be taken care of. He didn’t even have the time to worry about other things. He had so much work to do! The world he had wanted to explore, the world he had created, the success he had craved — he had made all of it happen. And yet, he didn’t even have the time to look at it, to enjoy it. He was so caught up with the many different tasks that had come along with his dream, his grand vision.
His back hurt, his shoulders were sore! Every thing was starting to feel like a burden. But he knew, that he had to keep on going. Even if he had come this far, there was always something more to be achieved. There was always another thing to be taken care of, another goal to be achieved.
“There are only so many hours in a day,” he mumbled to himself as he went about his day, wishing that he had more time, and more energy to accomplish all his growing desires.
The desire of the Universe manifested itself in the Divine Hand that emerged from a cloud bearing a live wand, complete with green, sprouting leaves. But the desire was weak. And so the wand emerged upside down.
The fire and passion — the drive to create, the zeal for following up on the desires — all of it was weak. Although the will to manifest the desires existed, it wasn’t strong enough to make them happen.
Sometimes, even though the project was started, it just didn’t take off like it was supposed to. The Universe smiled upon the energy, but since the energy — the drive -- was weak, the process didn’t get the momentum it was supposed to.
There was a long way to go. The castle, the sanctuary that stood atop the hill waited. But the tiredness that had set in right from the beginning, ensured that no matter how hard one tried, it was getting more and more difficult to reach it.
He stood on the terrace of his house, looking through the apparent doorway created by the two wands. In one hand, he held on to his desire, his passion. And in the other, he held a globe — the very image of the world that he wanted to conquer.
And yet, something wasn’t quite right. He could feel it in his bones. Either he wasn’t ready to take the next step, or he wasn’t planning right. He had to fix it before he could even start his journey into the next phase of his life.
The ocean lay ahead of him, waiting for him. He wanted to do so much, but things weren’t moving as fast as he wanted. He had felt like the frog in the well for such a very long time! He wanted to make his way out of there.
“I suppose I must prepare properly,” he thought. “Unless I am really ready for the challenges ahead, or unless the Universe is ready for me to take that next step, nothing is going to even begin.”
He was getting impatient. Even though he had started upon his journey, he hadn’t received the messages that he had been waiting for. And he had been waiting for some time now. Standing upon the hillock, he watched the ships go up and down the sea. His hand rested on one wand, the symbol of his deep desire, while the other two wands created the symbolic doorway — the portal opening onto his path. This was the way towards achieving his goals and dreams.
But his patience was wearing thin. His will weakened with each passing day.
“Why don’t I hear from them?” he wondered. “What is causing the delay?”
Unless he heard what the responses to his ideas were, how could he move forward with his great plans?
He had waited and waited for the results. Alas! They weren’t all that promising. His actions hadn’t given him the results that he had been looking for. All the preparations that he had made for the celebration were now laid to waste. The flowers wilted in the sun, and the celebration had devolved into a grief stricken environment. People were probably laughing at him, making fun of him.
He felt sad, and disheartened. Everything he had worked for had started to fall apart. The harmony
in his heart, in his life — all of it — had turned into one acrimonious situation.
His relationship was on the verge of breakdown. His work was going unrecognized. There was nothing in his life that was working out for him. His sadness knew no bounds.
Alter his sadness had dissipated a bit, he had started to look deeper into what went wrong. He began to discover so many things! He decided that he had to set things right, and get his life back on track.
The first step needed was to ensure that the people he was working with were all working towards the same goal. He had discovered the inherent disharmony within the group, and now he set about harmonizing their combined efforts.
Although everyone had their own agendas and desires about what they wanted from life, he had to make sure that where his project was concerned, they had to work together. Each and every person brought a useful skill with them, and their combined skill-set would be the cause of their unified success.
He knew that although this was the first step, he had to make sure his team worked as one, so that he could ensure their future success. He wasn’t ready to give up just yet.
Slowly, but surely, the realization began to dawn upon him. Although his team needed to work together, what they also needed was a strong leadership. They needed someone to guide them towards their unified goal. They needed someone who could resolve their differences, and guide them on a regular basis. Even though they were skilled and smart, he had to be always around, available to solve their issues as they cropped up.
Sadly, he had failed them in that regard. Although it had been his grand idea, he hadn’t led them well enough. Perhaps that was why they didn’t succeed. Even with his past experiences and successes, he had managed to overlook that one simple fact.
He realized that even though his team worked hard and, even as they unified their efforts, he still had to be the guiding force for their growth and success.
As he dealt with the overwhelming amount of self doubt in his mind, he also started to deal with the day-to-day concerns that inevitably cropped up.
He realized that some issues just need to be let go, while some needed to be tackled right away. He set aside his doubts and fears, and concentrated on the tasks at hand.
He knew that even if it seemed as if nothing was going quite the way he had planned it, right now, there would come a time when everything would settle down in their proper place. Eventually, a good day would arrive, greeting them with joyful news.
Finally, things were starting to work out. Although it was slow, and a bit tiring, all the small and large processes had started to function harmoniously.
He still had a long way to go, and a lot many things to master. But, he was starting to get the hang of things now. And although things were starting to sync up properly, he knew that he couldn’t take it easy just yet. He kept his watchful eye on the everyday goings-on, and made sure that he didn’t repeat the mistakes that he’d done before.
He was tired and starting to feel a little worn out and overworked. But he still stayed around, just in case.
He had come quite far, and a lot of time had passed. He had learned so much!
Through his bad experiences, he had gained a deeper insight into each of the small and large details that helped him make his dream come true. Ever so slowly, he began letting down the walls that he had built up over the years. He hadn’t wanted to get hurt, and so he had kept his distance from getting involved. But now, he learned something even more valuable: it wasn’t worth it.
Even if there were situations in the world which made him vulnerable, and although there were many times where he’d gotten hurt because of his vulnerability — he realized that it was this same openness which also gave him the inner strength and will power that made him not give up, and made him stronger.
His inner strength had brought him closer to attaining his goals.
All his life he had carried so many burdens upon himself. All the doubts, all the hardships, all the pain — it was now time to lay down the wearisome burden. Yes, there were many things that he had to do, there were many things he wanted to achieve. But while doing that, he didn’t have to carry all his doubts and pains with him.
If he had to do something, he didn’t have to do it all by himself. Even if he could supervise a group of people who were doing things for him, it was really a great privilege.
He could explore the world, he could achieve his dreams — he could fulfill all of his dreams. But to do so, he had to remain light — rid himself of the burdens that were hurdles in his path. He had come this far, and he planned on going even more forward.
The Divine Hand emerges from the cloud bearing a live wand. With the Ace of Wands, the Fire energy of desire and passion, stirs up action in us all. This is the birth of inspiration — the moment when one is propelled to grow, thrive and prosper. The drive to begin emerges, and pushes us forward.
Standing on the terrace of his home, within the doorway created by the 2 of Wands, he dreamt of all the things he wanted to achieve in the world. He had a thirst for adventure, and a desire for growth that surpassed all that he had achieved in his life so far.
He had started on his journey, full of dreams and hopes. Standing atop the hill, flanked by the doorway of the 3 of Wands, he waited to hear the messages that the ships would carry in from the distant lands. He wanted to hear how he’d fared. He wanted to know if his actions had brought forth the desired results. Waiting was difficult, but he was patient, and hopeful.
All his hopes and dreams had finally borne fruit! The results were promising and he was happy. With the4 of Wands, he celebrated his success, and shared his joy with the rest of the world. The marriage of desire and action had resulted in a joyful beginning of a new pathway of life for him. The celebration was just a small way of showing the world. Everything was harmonious and blissful.
As more and more work came their way, everyone on his team began to put forth their ideas of how things should be done. These diverse ideas opposed each other causing the conflict and chaos of the 5 of Wands. Instead of working together for one common goal, they argued amongst each other, focusing only on their individual goals.
He realized that his team would only unite under a strong leadership. So with the 6 of Wands, he took over the reins of the team, and started to lead them, uniting them with a single purpose. He disregarded the bursts of envy that often came his way, and led the team to victory. Under his direction, together, they reached yet another peak of success.
As they moved forward in search of more success and glory, he realized that he had many more hurdles to cross. In the 7 of Wands, he tried to tackle all the battles by himself, even if it meant ignoring his own emotions. It was overwhelming for him, but he stood his ground, braving all the tough times that came his way.
Soon enough, the tide had turned. Things were moving smoothly. His dreams were coming to fruition, and he couldn’t be more happy. With the 8 of Wands, he witnessed the synchronicity and the flow of the Universe, helping his grand vision become a reality. His happiness surged higher, and he began to feel more energetic and joyful.
All the good and bad experiences so far had started to take their toll on him. He realized that he needed to be careful, or he could get hurt by exposing his vulnerability to the world. With the 9 of Wands, he started to build a fence around himself. Nursing his wounds, he stood, ready to protect himself from any oncoming assault on his vision. He had made his dream into a reality, and now he had to protect both himself and his dream.
The burden of all the tasks he had taken on was wearing him down. As he walked home holding the 10 of Wands, he could barely see where he was going. He had gotten so involved with all the things he had taken upon himself that he didn’t even realize how his back had bent down with the weight of it all. He knew he had come this far on his own, and no one else could ever do his work better than he could. He was tired, but he couldn’t stop. He had to keep going on.
Reversed 1 - 10
Suit of Wands (4)
1 to 10
The Divine Hand emerged from the cloud bearing a live wand. But with the Ace of Wands Reversed, the energy of that desire was weak. While it did stir up action, how long it could sustain the passion was anybody’s guess. There was an impulse to grow, progress — but how long could this weak energy burst sustain him?
He wanted to make his dream come true. He wanted to achieve so much. The world was there for him to grab on to. But here, standing between the doorway created by the2 of Wands Reversed, he knew that he would need a lot more than his thirst for adventure to drive him forward.
He had grown impatient with the delays. Even though he had pushed himself towards achieving his dream, he couldn’t bear to wait. Standing on the hill, flanked by the doorway of the 3 of Wands Reversed, he waited to hear what the world thought of his vision, his dream.
Alas! He hadn’t received the news that he’d been wanting to hear. Even with all the hard work he’d
put in, he hadn’t received the results that he had desired. He had celebrated far too early, and now in the 4 of Wands Reversedthe joy had turned into grief. Nothing in his life looked like it was working out for him. There was no harmony, no joy, and definitely no cause for celebration.
As his sadness slowly dissipated, he started to look for what went wrong. When he discovered the 5 of Wands Reversed, he began to harmonize the inherent chaos that had taken root within his team.
He began harmonizing their separate, opposing desires into a single, united purpose. He just wasn’t ready to give up.
As he worked with his team in the6 of Wands Reversedhe slowly began to realize that the team needed a strong leadership to make it work well. And he hadn’t been able to cut it. He had failed his team, and hadn’t led them well enough.
He started to doubt his own abilities. In the7 of Wands Reversedhe tackled the day-to-day issues while being bogged down by his feelings of inadequacy and his fears. Every passing moment made it difficult for him to handle all the things that were happening.
He had a long way to go and many things to master. But as the days passed, he began to feel things slowly getting back on track. In the8 of Wands Reversedhe could feel himself getting easily tired of everyday, mundane tasks.
He had come so far and learned so many things. He had experienced so much. Each experience had left an indelible mark upon him. And in the9 of Wands Reversedhe slowly began to pull down all the walls he’d built up around himself over the years. He had kept his distance, and not wanted to get involved. He didn’t want to appear vulnerable. But after all these experiences, he realized that he just didn’t care anymore.
In the10 of Wands Reversedhe slowly began easing the burdens that he’d been carrying for so long. As he began to feel lighter, he also realized that sometimes you just had to trust someone else to do a better job than you. He realized that the reason he had to do that was because he didn’t have enough drive to push his dreams forward.
Suit of Wands
10 to 1
He had taken on so many burdens. He was starting to get worn down. As he walked home with the 10 of Wands, he felt their weight upon his back and shoulders. He had become the master of micro-
management, never trusting anyone else to do a job correctly. He absolutely had to manage everything by himself. In this way, he had taken on far too many responsibilities.
He knew that he was being tough on himself, but he had learnt the lesson the hard way. He had been hurt so many times, that he’d lost count. His openness had left him vulnerable. And so, in the 9 of Wands, he had built a strong fence around his heart. He made sure that he could protect himself and his dream He knew that if he didn't do it, no one else would.
His work was his dream, his vision. It gave him joy and happiness. It made him feel the pulse of growth within himself. Seeing his dreams manifest into reality in the 8 of Wands gave him a joy that couldn't be expressed in mere words. This gave him more joy and more energy than he could contain within himself.
All of that success and glory came at a high cost. The path wasn't easy. He had so many hurdles to cross, so many battles to fight every single day. Sometimes he didn't even have the time to deal with his own emotions. In the 7 of Wands he dealt with all his problems by himself, bravely handling all the difficult times that came his way.
He knew that his team would only follow him if he was a good and strong leader. In the 6 of Wands he made sure that he provided them with such a determined leadership. Together they reached peak after peak of success, tasting the sweet victory and glory that only their hard work could bring.
But there was strife within the team. Everyone had different ideas of how things ought to be done.
In the 5 of Wands they argued and fought over which path to follow. Chaos and conflict ensued. They had set aside their common goals, and were fighting for individual ones. They were ignoring the needs of the team for their desire for personal success.
In the4 of Wandshe finally managed to bring them all together once again, uniting them under the harmonious banner of their combined dream He showed them that by standing and working together they could build an even better team The celebration of their success was a happy marriage of desire and action. He opened up a doorway of joy and togetherness, leading them towards even more glory.
He waited between the doorway of the 3 of Wands, atop the hill, curious to hear the messages that the ships would bring in. He wanted to hear how his dream and vision had been received by the rest of the world. He had worked so hard, trying to make his dream come true. And he hoped that everyone else in the world appreciated his hard work and efforts too.
Standing on the terrace of his home flanked by the 2 of Wands, he looked at the globe in his hand and the vast ocean that stretched out in front of his eyes. He had conquered the world, so to speak. He had achieved all that he had set out to achieve. He had worked so hard, and he had finally seen his dream come true.
As the Divine Hand emerged from the cloud bearing a live wand he witnessed the Ace of Wands bring forth the fire energy of desire and passion. He watched how that energy had manifested in all his actions, and pushed him towards achieving his success. He was grateful and humbled by the power.
Suit of Wands (i)
10 to 1
All his life he had carried many burdens upon himself. In the10 of Wands Reversed he slowly began to ease those burdens off of his back. He had many dreams and ambitions. And the only way he could pursue them was with a lighter burden upon his back.
He had been hurt so many times in the past. So he had built up many walls around himself. But in the9 of Wands Reversedhe slowly began pulling down all those fences. He realized that his vulnerability was also his strength, and that he simply couldn’t distance himself from his dreams any longer.
Even though everyday was starting to look the same, things were slowly starting to fall into place. In the8 of Wands Reversedhe realized that he had a long way to go if he wanted to make his dreams come true.
He was plagued by self-doubt. In the7 of Wands Reversedhe tackled the everyday issues of his work and also faced the nerve wracking feelings of inadequacy that stared him in the face. It was hard going. But he pushed himself to make it work.
As he worked together with his team in the6 of Wands Reversedhe began to realize the importance of a strong leadership. Unfortunately, he wasn’t a strong leader. He had failed to lead his team to success. Even though it had been a learning experience for him, he still couldn’t shake off the feeling of failure that constantly encompassed him.
As he began to deal with his sadness, he started to look deeper within the reasons for his failure. When he discovered the reason in the5 of Wands Reversed, he began taking control of the situation. He began to harmonize the diverse actions of his team, and tried to unite them in a single purpose.
All of his hard work hadn’t given the desired results. He had started to celebrate his success a bit too early. Now in the4 of Wands Reversedhe witnessed his celebration devolve into a pity party. He was saddened and depressed that no matter how hard he tried, nothing seemed to work out for him.
His patience had started to wear thin. He had put in so many efforts, made so many sacrifices. In the 3 of Wands Reversed he had waited to hear how the world had accepted his ideas. He was eager to hear what the outcome had been, but the waiting was tiring him out. He wondered why there was so much of a delay.
He had wanted to make his dreams come true. He had made so many sacrifices, given up so much for his desire for success. Standing in the doorway of the 2 of Wands Reversed he realized that he still hadn't achieved all that he had wanted to achieve. He still held on to his dream of conquering the world, but now he wondered where he had been lacking.
As the Divine Hand emerged from the cloud with a live wand, he watched the Ace of Wands Reversed give off such a weak pulse of energy. He finally realized what had caused him to fail. The energy that drove him — the passion, the desire for self growth that propelled him — all of it was weak. How long could this weak energy sustain any desire for success?
The Universe was created by thought. These thoughts were so powerful that they joined together as one and created everything around us. This is the one truth, the only truth. With this knowledge, the Divine Hand burst forth from the cloud, holding the Sword of Truth.
As blessings rained down from the Universe, echoing the Divine Name, a Golden Crown appeared over the Sword. The crown was the crown of achievement and success, both of which contributed towards creating the ego. But the crown had only the truth at its very center.
All around, the landscape was dotted by harsh, stone mountains. The truth always created hardships. People were cold to it. The world created hardships for those who lived by the mind and its logical thoughts, for those who followed the path of truth.
It was a hard path. But it was the only logical choice for him.
She sat on a bench by the side of the lake. Her thoughts were in a turmoil and she had to make a choice. With the blindfold upon her eyes, she couldn't see what lay ahead of her. Perhaps, even a part of her didn't want to see what lay ahead of her. There was a decision to be taken, and she didn't want the fears of consequences and outcomes to rule her. She had to make the choice logically and truthfully.
She held two swords in each of her hands, symbolizing the two different paths that lay ahead of her. She crossed them over her heart — she had to protect herself from getting hurt. But deep inside of her, she also knew that getting hurt was unavoidable.
High in the sky, the moon pointed the way to the path of intuition. The lapping waves of the water behind her reminded her of her inner symbols and the guidance that they could provide her. But she only chose to use her mind, her unfaltering logic, the undeniable truth within her to guide her.
The choice had to be made. The decision had to be taken. The truth was harsh, and no matter which side she opted for, she had to bear the consequences that choosing it would unfold.
The clouds had brought forth rain. But this rain didn’t soothe or calm. It only symbolized the tears that had been brought forth by the pain inside the heart.
As the three swords pierced the heart, the pain became unbearable. The truth had hurt. It had caused more pain than was imaginable. The pain of betrayal hurt even more when it had been exposed by the harsh reality. The pain inside of the heart wasn’t something anyone could escape from, or avoid. One simply had to bear it. One simply had to give in to it. One had to live through it.
The heart ached and suffered. It was being torn apart. But in that searing, tearing pain, it also held a cure — the hurt would eventually heal. The pain had to be experienced for the healing to truly begin.
He lay upon the tombstone, his hands folded in prayer. He remained there, almost as if he had turned to stone because of the hurt he had gone through. On the wall, the three swords that had brought him pain stood as a harsh reminder of the truth that had unveiled itself to him.
He had found a way to let it out of himself — he had spoken to someone, and had confessed his hurts and betrayals. It had felt good to do so. And now, he was lying there contemplating the path ahead. Should he simply forgive and forget, or should he learn the hard lessons fully and go forward armed with this truth?
As he hardened his heart to the reality of the situation, the sword of his truth materialized in the tombstone that he lay upon. For him, that was the only way ahead. Forgiveness was a healing for the heart and the soul. But the lessons, the brutally hard lessons — they were the solace for his mind. He had to harden himself to the even harsher lessons that lay ahead of him.
He watched as the brutal lessons manifested themselves in reality. As the conflict within himself raged on, the cloudy thoughts in his mind became jagged like the edges of a knife — so pointed that they hurt. This hurt was aimed at both him and others around him.
In his mind, the argument continued. A part of him, the cruel and hard person inside of him, started to win the argument. That part completely disabled the kind, forgiving aspects inside of him.
He fought, and he fought well. He used all the words and the arguments to his advantage. He used his razor sharp logic to put forth his points in such a manner that the kind and forgiving parts in him dropped their weapons. The logic and the arguments were worthless. Their advice was disregarded in front of his manipulations.
He laughed as they dropped their arguments, their swords, and walked away with tears in their eyes. Their defeat meant his victory, and he thrived on it, reveled in the joy of it. The manipulative, argumentative, logical, harsh part of him had finally emerged victorious.
His victory over his kind and forgiving side was hollow. He had understood it the moment they had walked away. Although he had won, he only ended up feeling like he had lost something very precious.
He needed time to think, to figure out what he wanted to do, how he wanted to be. So he packed up all his thoughts and climbed aboard his boat. He decided that he would go away somewhere calm. A place where his feelings wouldn’t trouble or torment him. Along with him, he took his hidden desires, his hopes, his childlike nature — he had to protect them. He had to take care of them to recover what he had lost in his inner battle.
He began to row the boat across the river of feelings. Far in the distance, he could see the island sanctuary — his place of peace and calmness and solidity — where he could, perhaps, find his way back to his inner peace.
The mind is a trickster. It plays both sides of the argument, and leads us into believing what it wants us to believe. He had reached his island sanctuary, only to discover that his mind had decided to unleash its tricky side on him.
“You haven’t done anything wrong,” his mind convinced him. “In fact, you have been wronged by others.”
In the end, he had no choice but to embrace parts of the logic that made sense to him. The aspects of kindness and forgiveness — they were left forgotten.
The island sanctuary where he was supposed to find his peace had ended up becoming a place where he held on to the rightness of his choices, and the pain that he had endured. In the end, he ended up embracing the manipulative side of his personality.
The more she allowed her mind to manipulate her, the more the prison around her became stronger and harder to break out of. Soon she discovered that her mind’s arguments and negative self-talk had created a barrier around her. Try as she might, she couldn’t find a way to walk away from it.
The logic of the arguments had bound her hands. She couldn’t fight against the self-defeating arguments anymore. The more she tried to see her path ahead clearly, the more the darkness enveloped her. She had become blindfolded, and blind to the reality of the world around her.
“You are safe here,” her mind told her.
“Better the known Devil than the unknown,” her mind convinced her.
“Do you think you can find something better if you leave this place?” it asked of her.
“Do you think that there is anything better waiting for you out there? It is worse than what you have right now!” her mind challenged her.
“It is the same everywhere for everyone else,” her mind manipulated her. “You just don’t know it. They live with it, and so should you.”
She discovered that she had become caught in a web — a trap of her own making. These self imposed restrictions had put her in a tight spot — rendering her unable to move in either direction.
As her mind took over her completely, the arguments inside of her intensified. The kind, forgiving aspects of her personality clashed over and over with the arguments of her mind. Just like the drawings on the bed panel, her forgiving side was repeatedly defeated by the strong arguments of her manipulative mind.
The logic of the mind sharpened its swords and they converged all around her. Anxiety gripped her mind, nightmares plagued her, and she couldn’t find any rest, any peace in the dark of her mind. If only she could start seeing clearly, if only she could remove the hands that closed off her vision, she would see. With time, things would settle back down into normalcy once more. But she gave in to the fears, her anxiety, and found no relief from her inner struggle.
He lay on the ground, immobilized by the swords stuck into his back. The pain and the suffering merged with the logic and harsh truth within him. As he finally found his path to forgiveness, he discovered that his heart hadn’t really given up on him after all.
The soothing, calming waves of the lake washed by him, easing his pain somewhat. He had brought this upon himself, and he was the only one who could rid himself of it as well. As his realization merged with the dawn of the new day across the horizon, he finally discovered the truth that had been hidden deep within his inner self. Finally, he found his absolution.
The Divine Hand emerged from the cloud, powered by thought, bearing the double-edged Sword of Truth. Everything in the Universe is powered by thought, by a single Universal Truth.
When the Sword reversed, this truth changed into confusion and falsehood. The Golden Crown fell upon the ground, dissolving the rule of truth. There was no success, no achievement. Conflict and confusion became rampant.
The hardships that the mind created were all around in the harsh landscape of the stone mountains. The cold spread far and wide, confusing everyone, covering everyone with self-doubt and negative self-talk.
Sitting on the bench by the side of the lake, she finally felt the peace descend upon her. She had made a choice. She had chosen. Perhaps, she didn’t have a choice to begin with. Maybe the choice was already made up for her. Perhaps, there were things in life that were already decided by Fate.
Either way, she had been blindfolded from what lay ahead of her. She was glad of it. A part of her hadn’t even wanted to see what lay ahead of her.
Even though she had chosen from among the options available to her, a small sense of disquiet still remained within her mind. Was she making the right choice? Although she had weighed all the pros and cons of the decision, she wasn’t sure of her choice. She had made the choice regardless. Of the two different paths that lay ahead of her, she had chosen one. She had listened to her intuition, and had done what made the most sense to her at that moment.
She sighed. Even though she had doubts, there was no way she could go back on the decision now. Whatever the consequences, she would just face them now.
The rain fell down from the sky, bringing much needed peace to her mind. As the pain of the broken heart began to fade away, it even became possible to think about what lay ahead. The swords that had pierced the heart had caused so much pain in their wake. But as the pain began to recede, so many things started to become clear.
The heart feels so much. So much, that sometimes it even stops the mind from thinking. And sometimes, thinking is required more than feeling.
Even if they had been avoidable, the mistakes in the decisions leading up to this point had now become apparent. There was no chance of these mistakes to be repeated again.
Armed with the knowledge of the pain and betrayal, slowly, the heart began to heal.
As he lay upon the tombstone, his hands folded in prayer, his mind turned again and again towards the hurt and betrayal that he had gone through. Over and over again, he kept playing and replaying the scenes in his mind.
He had spoken to his friends. But it hadn’t helped. Sometimes talking about it wasn’t quite the answer.
The harsh reminders of his foolishness and vulnerability lay in front of him — the three swords that had wounded his heart — were hung on the wall. Sometimes it was important just to learn the lessons and then let go of the pain. But he didn’t realize it. Going over the situations again and again didn’t really help him much — it only made him more vulnerable.
“Would he make the same mistake again?” he wondered, and hoped that he would not. The feverish search for his answers slowly died down. And he found himself at the brink of the decision yet again.
As the fierce storm of conflict waned, he started to see the destruction that he had brought upon his world. Words, thoughts, actions — all of them have power. They can cut, sharper than the jagged edges of a sword.
In his mind, his argument began to lose its steam. He watched those who had given up and walked away. He watched those who he had defeated in this war, hang their heads in shame. And suddenly, he felt empty. Hollow. As if there was absolutely nothing left within him any more.
All of the arguments, all of the fights, all the harsh words and deeds, the manipulations, the scheming and plotting — none of that mattered. All of it disappeared within the gaping abyss left by the toxic fallout of the fight.
As he moved away from all the conflicts of the past, he began to relive all the painful memories that had made him so angry and resentful. As he rowed the boat to the other side in the hopes of some peace, he began to drop his resentment, his anger, and his frustration one by one.
Although these thoughts still burdened him, he wanted to find a quiet sanctuary, where he could think and recoup in peace. Only the hope of finding redemption kept him going.
He had been tricked by his own mind. Or he had used his mind to trick others. Either way, he knew that it was his mind which was full of all sorts of tricks. He had only believed the things that he had wanted to believe. He had ignored his conscience, and had come to this point, ignorant of his own real self.
However, everything was going to change. He had realized all the mistakes he had made, and now he wanted to set things right.
It was hard at first — circumventing the tricks that his mind still insisted upon playing. He had to remain steadfast upon his chosen path. Truth was hard enough to find in the world. But before he could find it out there, he had to find it within himself. And his mind was a very skilled trickster.
As she slowly began to unravel the complicated knots of thoughts within her mind, she realized that she had surrounded herself in a prison of her own making.
It was almost as if she had tied her own hands and blindfolded herself from doing or seeing the reality of her situation. She had fought the tiring fight against her own mind’s manipulations, and had slowly started to see victory emerge on the horizon.
Aghast at the depth and extent of how long and how far the illusion had gone on, she finally began to set herself free, and started to walk out of the prison of her own mind.
As he regained some sense of his own self, he felt ashamed of himself. All the words he’d said to himself so that he could continue to live in the prison of his own fears came back to haunt him.
But all this soul searching had also given him his answers. Time had started to work its magic upon him. He had begun the process of healing — and forgiving himself. He let go of all the anxieties and all the fears that had held him back so long, and slowly began to see the reality of his situation — without any fear holding him back.
Finally, he was able to sleep without any nightmares. Finally, he was able to rest and renew himself once again.
Even though the situations in his life had immobilized him and hurt him immensely, he was slowly finding a way to make peace with it, and move forward. Ever so slowly, the pain that had stabbed at him began to fall away from him. Far in the distance, a new day dawned, bringing with it the hope of a new start.
“Yes, there is a deeper lesson — a blessing even — within all the pain and suffering that comes into our lives,” he thought as he slowly opened his eyes.
Hope stirred within him, and he began to feel his way out of the pain and suffering that his own conflicting thoughts had led him to. As he found the peace within his heart, he began to let go, and slowly started to smile once again.
Suit of Swords
1 to 10
The Divine Hand appeared from the clouds, bearing the Ace of Swords. Forged from the ultimate truth, this was the ultimate thought that propelled and pushed the mind, thought, and even conflict. It was a hard fact, but such is the way of truth.
Sitting by the bench beside the lake, she had to make a choice. Within the 2 of Swords, she was unable to see what lay ahead of her - whether by choice or because of the situation. Either way, she had to choose from among the choices that were made available to her at that moment. It was difficult. She had to think hard and use her intuition to guide her.
When the heart was pierced by the 3 of Swords clouds from the sky rained tears upon the world. The truth had hurt more than anticipated, and the pain of betrayal was the harshest reality to accept. The heartache and the suffering accompanied by tears were extremely painful.
Lying upon the tombstone in the 4 of Swords, he folded his hands in prayer. It was as if his heart had turned to stone because of the pain he had gone through. Although he had talked about it and sought counsel about how to deal with his pain, he still needed to think things through before he could move forward in his life again. The truth of his situation was the hardest to bear, but he had to face it sometime.
His conflict hadn’t remained confined to his own life. In the 5 of Swords, it manifested in his outer world as well. It began as gossip, and transformed into arguments. The cruel, harsh part of him lashed out at those who had hurt him. With his words, he hurt them right back. He used his logic to win his arguments. He laughed as they gave up and walked away.
Victory had never tasted so hollow before. He realized that he needed some time to think things through before he went ahead with his life. And so, in the 6 of Swords, he took all his thoughts, and his belongings, and the people he cared for and began to row his boat towards calmer shores. He sought sanctuary for his pain, and hoped to find some sort of a resolution for his pain.
But the mind is a trickster. It makes us believe what it wants us to believe. The hurting place has now become the mind’s comfort zone, and the mind tries hard to keep us there. In the 7 of Swords, he
allowed his mind to trick him once again. When his mind manipulated him, cheated him, he allowed it to happen.
The more her mind manipulated her, the more comfortable she got with her pain. Slowly but surely, within the8 of Swords, she had effectively managed to create a prison for herself. With all the negative self-talk that accompanied such manipulation, she convinced herself that she was better off where she was. Her mind had convinced her into staying right in the middle of the pairful comfort zone. Caught in the trap of her own mind, she remained unable to move forward.
His mind conflicted with his own desire for making some headway through her pain and suffering. In the 9 of Swords he was plagued by sleepless nights and nightmares that kept him anxious and depressed. He was stressed out, and gave in to his fears. There was no respite from his inner struggle.
Immobilized by all the pain he had taken on upon himself, he lay on the ground, suffering. In the 10 of Swords, he had finally reached the peak of his pain. As the waves of the lake washed over him, he realized how foolish he had ultimately become. As the new day dawned upon the horizon, he realized that if forgiveness was the answer, then the first person he needed to forgive was himself. Redemption was at hand, but he was the only one who could provide it for himself.
Reversed 1 - 10
1 to 10
The Divine Hand emerged from the cloud holding theAce of Swords Reversed. Thoughts became confused, and truth became lies. Everything was conflicted, unclear. Reality eluded itself, and everything that was propelled by logic and thought devolved into failure.
Sitting on the bench by the lake in the2 of Swords Reversedshe realized that although she felt as if she had made a choice, in reality she didn’t have a choice at all. She had been blindfolded from the consequences of her decisions. There was even a part of her that didn’t want to see what lay ahead of her. Clouded with conflicting thoughts, she even doubted the decision that she had just made.
In the3 of Swords Reversed, the pain of her betrayal and heartbreak were slowly fading away, leaving behind a dull, blunt ache. A strange clarity began to find its way into her mind. She slowly started to look for a way to heal herself.
As he lay upon the tombstone in the 4 of Swords Reversed, he played and replayed the events leading to his heartache in his mind. He had sought wise counsel from well meaning friends. But, no matter how much he tried, he simply couldn't find a way to let go of the pain he felt from his betrayal. He didn't want to repeat the same mistake again, and tried hard to find out where he had gone wrong. He wanted to make sure that he didn't repeat the same error again when he did move forward in his life.
In the5 of Swords Reversed, as his conflicted thoughts slowly waned away, he came to a painful realization. While it was true that he had been manipulated, it was equally true that he had also manipulated the facts so that he could win his battle. In this crazy frenzy of manipulations, scheming and plotting, it didn't matter who won or who lost. In the end, he was the one who carried the burden of pain upon his mind.
With his newly gained clarity, in the6 of Swords Reversed, he tried to move away from where he was to a place where he could find some calmness for his heart. But re-living all the conflicts in his mind only made him feel the pain more strongly. But now, he was slowly dropping all his resentments, his hurts and pains. He may not have found a peaceful sanctuary, but he was slowly working his way towards a resolution.
He realized how his mind had tricked him into believing so many untruths. In the 7 of Swords Reversed, he slowly managed to realize all the tricks that his own mind had pulled to keep himself ignorant of the real situation. He began to set things right, and make sure that such a situation would not be repeated again. He knew that his mind was equally guilty of tricking him So he played everything very carefully.
As she slowly found her way out of the prison of her own mind in the8 of Swords Reversed, she discovered how she had been caught in the web of her own making. She had blinded herself to the reality, and held herself back with all the negative self-talk. But now that she could see things more clearly, she started to chart her path back to clarity and truth.
Slowly, as his inner demons were vanquished in the9 of Swords Reversed, he began to sleep better. His anxiety reduced, and he began to forgive himself. After much hardship, his healing had finally begun. He could find some rest and renewal. He could let go of his fearful, conflicting thoughts.
When the new day dawned upon the horizon in the10 of Swords Reversed, he slowly found his way to redemption. He had started to forgive himself, and let go of all the painful feelings and thoughts. As his pain and heartache slowly subsided, he began to find his peace of mind. As the hurt of his betrayal dissipated, he began to slowly find his way towards happiness once again.
Suit of Swords
10 to 1
His life was at the pinnacle of pain. He lay on the ground in the 10 of Swords, as the waves of the lake washed over him. There was no relief from his pain, and he suffered in agony. As he prayed for forgiveness, he saw the sun rise upon the horizon. Could he even hope for his suffering to end?
His mind was conflicted. He wanted his suffering to end, but his nightmares and his anxiety kept him up at night. As the demons in his mind plagued him in the 9 of Swords, he gave in to his fears and struggled with his own pain. He found no respite from his internal struggle.
The more she listened to the negative self-talk from her mind, the more she doubted herself. She found herself in the8 of Swords surrounded by a wall made up of her own mind’s manipulations. She was caught in a situation from which there was no escape. She told herself that she deserved her pain, and that she was doomed to suffer it for the rest of her life.
His mind had tricked him so well. It had made him believe what he had wanted to believe at the time. In the 7 of Swords, he had manipulated himself into believing that he was the master of his own life, when in fact, his mind had been cheating him all along.
He wanted to walk away from all these conflicting thoughts and the pain that they kept on bringing him. So in the 6 of Swords, he decided to row his boat towards a sanctuary. It was a place where he could calm his emotions, and find a way to sort out his thoughts, and also protect the people he cared for from being hurt because of him.
But there was no peace for him. He could run away from a place, but never from his own mind. As his conflicts manifested into arguments in the 5 of Swords, he couldn’t hold himself back any longer. He lashed out at all those who had hurt him, and hurt them back. He laughed in his victory when they were defeated by his arguments and walked away crying.
Revenge wasn’t as sweet as he had thought it would be. Lying upon the tombstone in the 4 of Swords, he prayed for redemption. He had suffered a lot, and all he wanted to do was deal with his heartache and move forward with his life. It was a hard truth, but he had to bear it.
His heart had been pierced by the 3 of Swords. As the pain seared through his being, tears rained down like the rain from the clouds. His heartache and suffering was caused by pain and betrayal. And it was the harshest truth to accept. But if he ever wanted to move on with his life, he had to deal with them sooner or later.
Sitting on the bench by the lake in the 2 of Swords, she knew she had to make a hard choice. She was blindfolded, and for that she was glad. She didn’t want to see what lay ahead of her, nor could she see what the future held. All she wanted to do was make a choice that was right for her, no matter the consequences. She listened to her mind and its arguments, and she listened to her intuition, both of which guided her to take the decision.
The truth was harsh, and it was the most real thing in the world. As the Divine Hand emerged from the clouds bearing the Ace of Swords, the ultimate truth was revealed and exposed to the world. The clearest thought, which was also the answer to all the questions. The way of truth was harsh, but it also set one free.
Suit of Swords (i)
10 to 1
He was slowly starting to let go of all the pain and suffering that he had held on to in his life. As a new day dawned upon the horizon in the10 of Swords Reversed, he began to find a path towards forgiveness, and ultimately towards happiness once again.
As his inner demons released their grip upon his mind, he began to relax. As the 9 of Swords Reversed, he began to reduce his anxiety, and slowly began to sleep better. With more rest, he began to hope for a new beginning.
She realized that she was slowly coming out of the prison of her own thoughts. In the 8 of Swords Reversed, she was starting to understand how her own negative self-talk and self-doubts had managed to imprison her into a web of self-deceit and suffering. She removed her blindfold and began to walk away from those unclear thoughts.
He had never realized how tricky his own mind could be. In the7 of Swords Reversed, he slowly began to understand the tricks of his own mind, and began to set things right for himself. Carefully, he started to turn things around for himself, and began to find a way towards the truth of his situation.
As his confusions dropped one-by-one, in the6 of Swords Reversed, he tried to find a place where he could find sanctuary — a place of peace and calm, where he could work things out without his emotions getting in the way. But as he began to re-live the conflicts in his head, he couldn’t avoid the painful feelings that accompanied them.
As he tried to understand the conflicts of his mind in the5 of Swords Reversed, he began to see the truth behind all the arguments and fights. As his mind’s manipulations were revealed, the intensity of the old arguments began to fade away. They were slowly being replaced by a strange clarity: it didn't matter who won or who lost, because in the end, it was he who had carried all the pain in his mind.
He lay upon the tombstone in the 4 of Swords Reversed. thinking about the hurtful and painful times, and trying to unravel those experiences with his newfound clarity. All the wise counsel in the world couldn't have prepared him for the startling realizations that dawned upon him He made a vow never to repeat the same mistakes again in his life.
As his pain slowly subsided in the3 of Swords Reversed. he began to see through the hurt and the tears that he had cried through his suffering. Slowly, but surely, the process of healing had started.
Sitting upon the bench by the lake in the2 of Swords Reversed, she understood how she had blindfolded herself to the consequences, and hadn't made her choices guided by her intuitions. Back then, she had convinced herself that she actually didn't have any choice. But now, she was starting to see the reality of her situation much clearly.
As the Divine Hand emerged from the clouds holding the Ace of Swords Reversed, the confusions and the untruths were slowly being revealed. While the mind can propel the intellect towards greater heights, it can also trick you. The confusions that the mind can create know no bounds. It is only the hard edge of the sword of truth that can reveal the manipulations. But not everyone is strong enough to want to see the harsh truth.
The Universe came into being because of Joy. The happiness and the contentment that was at the very core of the world that we live in is the only feeling that we crave.
The Divine Hand burst forth from the cloud holding a cup overflowing with overwhelming joy and contentment. The seed of the future was planted by the Dove of Peace, as the five streams of the five senses flowed into the ocean of the consciousness.
The blessings of the Universe rained down like water droplets from the sky, refreshing and full of happiness. The ocean of the subconscious was the Divine vision, and the lotus flowers were the manifestations of that Divine Vision. As the leaves of the lotus flowers protected the flowers, they also collected the water droplets bearing the blessings of the Universe, and replenish us constantly.
The man and the woman reach out to each other, their cups of joy in their hands. They exchange their feelings, their joys, their emotions. They share those precious emotions, seeking comfort, companionship and friendship.
Love and healing blossoms between them in the shape of the Caduceus Wand, while the fiery Angel of Fire watches over them, spreading his passionate fire.
In the distance, their house, their sanctuary stands waiting for them to make it a home.
As their partnership blossoms they will become both friends and perhaps even lovers to each other. Their emotional connection will fulfill a deep need within them. This beautiful sharing, this wonderful exchange is a promise that will bring peace and love in their lives.
Joy is shared. The fruits of their labor are harvested. Together the three Muses hold up their cups, cheering each other, celebrating their success and their friendship bonds.
Much joy is shared over a cup of wine, and their friendship blossoms and blooms. The harvest is the manifestation of their collective success. However, the true joy lies within their friendship.
Together, they hold the power of creation in their grasp. Their communal joy is the basis of inspiration and creativity. Together, they invoke the energies of creation, camaraderie and achievement. Among the three of them, they have shared not just a drink or two, but also companionship and friendship, inspiring each other to greater and greater bouts of creativity and success.
The celebration is the best way to partake in the fruits of their harvest.
Alas, a pall settles upon him. After all the celebrating is done, a sense of boredom awakes within him. He craves for the thrill of the moment. He refuses to accept that it was but a moment, and that it has passed. He denies it and it makes him listless and unwilling to move forward.
He sits there, waiting for the moment of joy to reappear. He dreams of that moment and loses himself in the daydream.
There, sitting under the tree, unwilling to accept the fact that it was but a fleeting moment, his life, and thus comes to a standstill.
He has a choice to move forward from that joyous moment, but he is stubborn enough not to choose it.
The cups have spilled over, their contents have flowed away. He cries over their loss. He wanted to recreate the joy — he wanted the joy to last. But the fleeting moment took it away from his grasp.
He sobs his heart out, clad in the dark of depression as the river of sorrows flows. He still has to understand that the moments of joy and sorrow flow away, just like the river.
He doesn’t see the two cups of friendship and understanding that stand tall right behind him. That is one bridge he has yet to cross.
Waiting for him at the other end of that bridge is his home, his sanctuary, where he is likely to find his peace once again.
Yet, consumed by his grief, he sees nothing beyond his own sorrows.
Ah! The memories of the past! They bring back all the happiness that has gone by. He reaches into his past, full of nostalgia and he re-lives his past.
In that nostalgic frame of mind, every single image appears so very beautiful, so very perfect. Even the smallest thing is tinged with even more joy than the real experience.
In that over-perfect vision of the past, he sees the flowers bloom out of the cups. He sees the sharing and the bonds that he had formed. He re-experiences the companionship of friends long lost to the pages of the past.
He re-lives the glorious days of his past. Yet, in the background as the memory of one of his comrades walking away from him pops up, he simply disregards it and pushes it away into the background, focusing only on the good things in front of him, making them even more glorious than they were in real life.
Somewhere in those memories of the past, wrapped up in that nostalgia, he hopes to find his peaceful sanctuary, his comfort zone.
He stands there consumed by his fears as he envisions his desires and ambitions. Floating upon clouds of his thoughts, these desires and ambitions stand strong, beckoning him to come out of his shadows and embrace them.
His desire for sanctuary and comfort, his desire for wealth and riches, his desire for success and glory, his ambition and bravery, the face of his lover and partner, the secret and esoteric knowledge that he craves to learn, the wish of long life and eternal youth — all of them call out to him.
Covering him in darkness, his self-doubts envelop him. Will he be able to shed his fears and come out of the darkness that has gripped his heart? Will he be able to embrace even one, if not all of these desires? Will he be able to face his fears and dive back into his life?
As the clarity of the sun is eclipsed by the confusing emotions of the moon, his world is shadowed and filled with gloom. And in this moment of darkness, he decides that he has had enough.
He stacks up the five cups of his sorrows, and his three cups of his joys and walks away. All by himself, he distances himself from all the situations and feelings that brought him both joy and sorrow. He walks away from them, seeking solitude.
Steady in his realization that both joy and sorrow are but fleeting, he walks away to be by himself — to seek and to find the true core of joy within him — which is not affected by either.
As he walks away, the river flows carrying the emotions with it. All the moments of life are always fleeting, always moving forward, never staying in the same place for long.
Ah! Contentment!
Finally, he finds himself sitting on the bench surrounded by all his nine cups. They are his victory awards, and he loves to show them off.
After a long and hard journey, he has finally found the peace of mind that he has always sought out for himself. And he is proud of himself, and his journey.
Not only has he found the peace within his heart, but he has also discovered that it is in the fleeting moments of joy and sorrow that he is truly alive. As this moment moves on, he has learned to let it go, and welcome the next one as it comes. In this manner, he has learned that it is his inner contentment and peace that keeps him going forward.
He has learned that it is his heart that defines how he feels, not the surroundings and circumstances. And he has finally found his peace, and his joy.
They stand there, together, their arms around each other, showing off their joy to the rest of the world.
As the rainbow of cups shines in the sky, their joy lights up in myriad colors. In the distance, their home stands witness to their journey and is the place where their love took root, bloomed and blossomed. The river of emotions flows around their home, carrying their moments of joy and sorrow with it, ever flowing, ever in motion.
Even if they hide their sorrows, or if they let it go, no one will really know. The world will only see the big picture, and that is of complete and utter joy.
Their two children are the result and proof of their long lasting love and commitment. They symbolize their love, and are the sum of their hopes and expectations from their life.
As their children play, the happy couple drinks in the joy of the perfect moment.
Joy overwhelmed the Universe as the Divine Hand emerged from the cloud bearing a Cup of happiness and contentment that overflowed into the ocean of consciousness.
However, this cup was overturned. Although the water still flowed into the ocean of consciousness, it wasn’t quite as joyful or content. The seed of the future, although it is planted by the Dove of Peace, doesn’t take hold. It doesn’t grow like it is supposed to.
The five senses flow into the ocean of consciousness, but they aren’t full of self knowledge and peaceful acceptance. Rather, they deposit all the grief and pain associated with them.
Joy becomes sadness, contentment gives way to discontent — and sadness takes the place of happiness. Blessings of the Universe don’t seem like blessings. As the cup overturns, everything that it contains spills out, not in joy but in sadness.
The man and woman reach out to each other, their cups of joy in their hands. But something is not right. The feelings, the emotions that they exchange aren’t full of joy any more.
Rather, they are full of pain and end up causing more hurt. The love and emotional healing that this exchange was supposed to bring about didn’t quite take hold.
A distance seems to have crept in, and the friendship and companionship have now turned into disagreements and an emotional disconnect.
Passion has become anger, and the loving and healing has converted into discontent. The promise of love has broken, and the beautiful friendship has shattered. The partnership of these souls has broken apart.
When friends turn against each other, all the joy of their connection is dissolves into acrimony. The three Muses part ways, and all creative energy is lost.
Grief can cause one to seek solace at the bottom of a cup or two. But that kind of solace is only temporary. A drink is not a substitute for a friend. That knowledge, however, comes way too late.
The breaking of the group results in a loss of fruitful harvest, and community. The lost camaraderie and support is disheartening.
Sometimes, it feels like everything is lost. There is no celebration, no joy in working together - there are no common goals anymore. When a friendship is gone, when a group of friends part ways because of their emotional disconnect, everyone in the group suffers.
Now is not the time to sit and grieve. Grief needs to be discarded. It is the time for action. Letting the grief and pain of separation disrupt your life makes the situation even worse than it is.
Although the support of his friends and comrades may be gone, he realizes that he can still make it on his own. He stops daydreaming, and reaches out for his dreams. He seizes the opportunity to move forward, and leaps at it.
He knows it is now or never. Because if he doesn’t seize his chance now, then it will be gone forever.
The spilled cups have pained him much. But now, he has stopped grieving over what once was, and has chosen to focus on what he has now.
He sheds his dark cloak of depression, and looks for support in the friendships that he still has. He has found his sanctuary — a place where he can still find peace and camaraderie.
Life is not about looking back, but about moving forward.
The nostalgic memories of the past don't hold sway over him any more. Nostalgic moments may have reminded him of the good days that went by, but he couldn't ignore the not-so-happy moments that had also come by in the past.
He realizes that he can't remain reminiscing about the past times — he has to live in the present, and create good memories to replace the bad ones.
The good memories of the past may be a good memory to go back to once in a while, but it is not a place to stick around for a long time. He needs to go out there and live in the present, and build his future.
He doesn’t let his fears consume him. Yes, it may be a daunting task to come out of the shadows and live once again, but he realizes that has to face his fears someday.
He had so many desires, so many ambitions — so many things he has wanted to achieve. But the grief and pain had consumed him so much that he had almost forgotten about them. He sheds the darkness around his heart, and reaches out for the future.
Now, as he decides to resume his journey, he first drops his fears. Whether he becomes successful or not is the least of his worries. At this point, he wants to make a start, somewhere, somehow. He stands there, wondering where to start.
The clarity of the Sun is eclipsed by the Moon. All his doubts and fears rear their heads once again. The desire to quit and walk away becomes stronger and stronger.
“Why should I bother?” he wonders. “All of the things I may achieve may also go away one day.”
He looks at the sad parts and the happy parts of his life, and wonders why he even wants to take the effort. He wants to distance himself from all of it and go away somewhere, and be by himself.
But then, as his inner self begins to guide him, he realizes that walking away is not the answer. Something inside of him doesn’t let him leave just like that.
“I can’t leave,” he says to himself. “I have to stay and fight. I need to achieve my dreams.”
He sits comfortably on his bench, admiring his achievements. He feels glad that he stayed and went after his dreams. He is proud that he finally achieved all the things that he’d wanted to achieve.
But deep inside his heart, he still feels the twinge of sadness when he thinks back to his past — of the things he’s lost along the way.
Something inside of him still nags him, to this day. Even though he has achieved much in the material world, it is heart which is still not content with all that he has gained.
They once stood there, together, their arms around each other, happy to show off their joy to the world.
But the rainbow of love and joy was fleeting. Although their home still stands in its place, the joy is not there anymore.
Their children have gone away, and the dark cloud of loneliness looms over them constantly. They miss the hustle-bustle of life that their family brought to their lives.
The distance has also grown between the two of them. Over the years, they have grown apart. Each of them, caught up in their own lives — they’ve forgotten the joy that they could create by being together, by being connected.
Although, on the outside, things still look just as pretty, they know the reality. They know how the inner core has withered away. They know how far away they really are from each other, even though they may be standing so close together.
Suit of Cups
1 to 10
The Divine Hand emerges from the cloud holding the Ace of Cups. Joy and contentment spill out of the cup as the seed of the future is planted by the Dove of Peace. The ocean of consciousness blooms with the blessings of the Universe — like the lotus flowers, bringing with them the promise of happiness and fulfillment.
They reach out to each other, exchanging 2 of Cups, making their vows and sharing their passionate connection with each other. Comfort, companionship, friendship, partnership, passion — all of them are based in mutual trust. It is with this trust that they hope to find their true connection with each other.
When joy is shared with others, it becomes a celebration. As the three Muses hold up their cups in the 3 of Cups, they celebrate the bonds of their friendship. Their togetherness fosters their growth and their harvest is manifested in success. Camaraderie, creation and achievement mixed with companionship and friendship become the basis of many a joyful evening spent among friends.
When the party is over, a pall settles upon him. A listlessness creeps over him as he looks on, with a dull sense of looming boredom. In the 4 of Cups, he notices how the group has left him unfulfilled and dreams of the ideal, losing himself in the daydream. Life has come to a standstill for him. Moving forward is essential, but he can’t will himself to do so.
The 3 Cups have spilled over, and he is left feeling sad and depressed. Within the 5 of Cups, he has not yet noticed the 2 Cups that still await his attention. He cries a river of tears, ignoring the bridge that could lead him to his home, a place of sanctuary.
As he relives the nostalgic past in the 6 of Cups, he only sees the happy moments, and ignores the sad ones. Every small detail is highlighted, every single moment heightened. If he keeps on living in the past, he may never move forward at all.
Consumed by his own fears, he looks at the 7 of Cups — all of his ambitions and desires stand in front of him, beckoning him. Afraid of coming out of the shadows of his own doubts, he stands and watches his dreams float upon a cloud of his imagination.
As the clarity of the Sun is obscured by the eclipsing Moon, he realizes that his world has become consumed by gloom. Stacking up his happiness and his sadness in the 8 of Cups, he walks away from them in search of solitude.
Finally, he finds his peace and contentment in the 9 of Cups. He is proud of his himself and his journey so far. He has discovered that his peace and joy reside in his heart, and that they do not depend upon anyone else. With his inner contentment giving him momentum, he moves ahead with his life.
Standing under the rainbow of the10 of Cups, they show off their happy ending to anyone who watches. Joy and happiness coupled with the laughter of children at play creates the picture of their perfect life. They drink in the joy of this perfect moment, secure in the knowledge that many more such moments will always follow.
Reversed 1 - 10
Suit of Cups (!)
1 to 10
The Divine Hand emerges from the cloud holding the Ace of Cups Reversed. The overwhelming joy and contentment turns to sadness and discontent. The seed of the future planted by the Dove of Peace doesn’t take hold, and the gentle wave of inner contentment is shattered by grief and pain.
As the man and woman reach out to each other in the 2 of Cups Reversed, they can only bring unhappiness to each other. Their friendship and their partnership has given way to an emotional disconnect. They’ve grown distant from each other, their mutual trust broken by hurt and disagreements.
As the three Muses part ways in the3 of Cups Reversed, the creative energy of their camaraderie is broken apart. The joy of community and companionship gives way to trying to find some semblance of happiness at the bottom of a cup. As their group breaks up, disrupting their togetherness and harmony, everyone suffers.
He shakes the grief off of himself. He realizes that this is not the time to spend in daydreaming of the ideal, but to take proactive action. With the 4 of Cups Reversed, he realizes that even if he doesn’t have any support from his companions, he can still make it for himself. So he seizes upon the opportunity that is offered to him.
He stops grieving over the cups that have spilled over. In the5 of Cups Reversed, he finds sanctuary in the support of the friends who still remained by his side through his tough times. Life is all about looking forward, and he has resolved to find that peace and happiness once again.
The nostalgic moments of the past didn’t hold a sway upon him anymore. As the 6 of Cups Reversed. he realized that by focusing only on the happy memories he was doing himself a disservice. He had to think about the unhappy times too — because they gave him an insight into what really went wrong. He wanted to live in the present, and looked forward to building his future.
He shrugs off his self-doubt, and goes after his ambitions and dreams. In the7 of Cups Reversed. he brings forth his courage and drops his fears. He decides to make a fresh start, and starts to forget about his painful past.
As the clarity of the Sun is obscured by the Moon, all his doubts and fears reveal themselves to him once more. Although he wants to quit feeling sad, he wonders why he should even bother. In the 8 of Cups Reversed, he looks at both the sad and happy parts of his life, and realizes that no matter how far away he goes, his feelings will still accompany him.
Sitting comfortably on his bench in the 9 of Cups Reversed, he admires all his achievements so far. Although he has accomplished much, he still longs for the happiness of his past. The lingering feelings still have their sway over him. Although he has everything he wants, he still doesn’t feel any inner contentment.
In the10 of Cups Reversed, he remembers how they used to stand under the happy rainbow and show off their joy to the world. Now the joy has gone, and their emotional connection is no more. The children have left, and loneliness looms over his life. Although things look pretty from the outside, only he knows how emotionally distant they really are.
Upright 10 -1
Suit of Cups
10 to 1
Under the beautiful rainbow of the10 of Cups, they show off their perfect happiness to the world. Their j oy is completed with the laughter of their children — the proof of their love and companionship. Their life is perfect, and they know it.
He is secure in his contentment, and he is proud to show it off to the world. As he lines up the 9 of
Cups for the whole world to see, he demonstrates how his inner peace and joy have fueled his happy and content state of mind. His fulfillment is in his heart, and doesn't depend on anything or anyone else.
Even as he walks away from all the happy and sad moments of his life in the 8 of Cups, he is shadowed by the gloom of the eclipse. While the Moon confuses the clarity of the Sun, he walks away in search of solitude and peace.
His search for more meaning in his life has brought him face to face with his ambitions and desires in the 7 of Cups. He is scared — afraid and consumed by his self-doubts — and he wonders how he can ever bring himself to go after his ambitions.
He reminisces about his happy past. In the 6ofCups, he remembers the happy moments of the days gone by. His memories enhance every single happy detail, while glossing over the sad moments of his past. He longs to stay in those moments forever — that way he won't ever have to move on forward with his life, ever.
But his grief consumes him He misses the happy moments more than ever. Sad and depressed, he stands and cries in the 5 of Cups. He cries for the cups that have spilled out — for all the happy moments that he has lost. He doesn't want to cross the bridge and find sanctuary. He only wants to drown himself in self-pity.
Life has come to a standstill. He doesn't want to move forward. He watches over the 3 Cups that symbolize his happy moments, and dreams about the perfect ideal. Lost in the daydream of the 4 of Cups he sits there feeling listless and bored.
Finally, he finds a group of friends in the 3 of Cups with whom he can share his joys. Their camaraderie gives him a place to share his feelings, and their togetherness fosters his emotional growth. Finally, he finds a path to creation and achievement, and starts to manifest his dreams. The harvest is plentiful and his joy overflows.
He opens up his heart to a special someone. In the 2ofCups, they exchange their vows and embrace their passionate connection. Finally, he finds the healing comfort that he has always sought for himself. He trusts himself and his partner, and together they promise to create a world full of joy and happiness.
As the Divine Hand emerges from the cloud holding the Ace of Cups, he feels his contentment and joy overflowing. As the Dove of Peace plants the seed of the future, his happiness spills over and blessings rain down upon the ocean of the consciousness. The blooming lotus flowers signal the awakening of his inner fulfillment.
His life is not a happy place. In the10 of Cups Reversed, he sees how the emotional disconnect has spread within his family, and created a distance between their hearts. This distance has led to disappointment and discontent, and he wants to find a way to feel happy again.
As he sits upon the bench, among the9 of Cups Reversed. he realizes that the sadness has left him with a deep sense of inner discontent. Although he has accomplished so much, he still feels unhappy from within.
He wants to stack up all his happy and sad memories in the8 of Cups Reversedand walk away. But he discovers that deep down inside he doesn’t have the courage to walk away. His fears have rooted themselves so deeply within his heart that he feels that he won’t ever be able to get away from these memories ever again.
Standing among the7 of Cups Reversed, he tries to cast off his self-doubts and his fears. He wants to chase after his dreams. He wants to reclaim his happiness. He wants to forget the pain of his past, and move forward in life.
As he sheds off the memories of his past in the6 of Cups Reversed, he comes to the realization that sometimes the heart chooses to focus only on the happy times, and disregards the memories of the unhappy times. But he focuses on those sad memories and starts discovering the reasons why things started to go wrong for him.
As he stops feeling sorry for himself in the5 of Cups Reversed, he finds his sanctuary with the support of the friends who have still remained by his side. He wanted to look forward in his life, and find his peace and happiness all over again.
As he shakes off the boredom and listlessness in the4 of Cups Reversed, he realizes that wasting time thinking of some ideal is not always the best idea. He realizes that it is important to seize the moment that is in front of him, and try to find a path towards happiness from there.
As his companions part ways from him in the3 of Cups Reversed, he finds solace at the bottom of a cup. As he drinks to ward off his sorrow and grief, he deeply misses the camaraderie and companionship that his friends had provided to him through his life.
As they look at each other in the2 of Cups Reversed, they realize how their emotional distance has replaced their love and trust with anger and distrust. As they parted ways from one another, they felt the deep rooted hurt and pain that had crept into their relationship. They broke their long-held promises, and brought only unhappiness to each other.
The Divine Hand held up theAce of Cups Reversed. Joy and happiness were not dependent upon anything or anyone else — rather they were within you. If you can't feel happy with yourself, you can never make anyone else happy. As these emotions overflowed out of the cup, the grief overtook him, and he began to cry.
The Universe was created with passion, with imagination, with joy. And when all of that manifested into reality, the Divine Hand burst out of the cloud holding a pentacle coin.
Amidst the lush landscape of the flowering garden, a pathway opened up to the rest of the world. The snowy mountains stood tall in the background, beckoning the adventurers to ascend the peaks and taste victory.
As the energies of the Universe manifest into reality, many gifts abound. These are earthly gifts, and earthly manifestations. These are the real, tangible things that are rewarded upon us. Finally, all that we felt, thought and hoped for has manifested into reality. This is the true gift for the seeker. It is the sum of all the blessings from the Universe.
Like a juggler, he holds the two pentacle coins in both his hands. Within the unending cycle of the lemniscate, he keeps juggling them, dancing along with them.
This dance has gone on far too long. The tiredness on his face doesn’t escape our notice. But he can’t stop, even if he wants to. He has to survive — even if it means working two jobs, even if it means working two different professions.
Behind him, ships bearing messages from his inner self ride up and down upon the waves.
Sometimes the message is of hope, sometimes not. But he is a tough one — a survivor — and he will do all that he can in order to get through this.
He stands upon the bench, ready to begin his work. Slowly and steadily, the sculptor has played his small part in the creation of this building.
Beside him, the Priest and the Architect look at the drawings and the actual work, comparing the ideas with the reality. They are happy with the result.
The joint efforts and creativity of all those who taught him, and all those who will follow him down this path have become manifest here. This is the tangible result of all those hard days that he spent with his hammer and chisel, carving away and bringing the designs to life.
The combined energies of the spiritual world, the creative world, and the hard work of the sculptor have led to the building becoming a reality that will stand tall and survive for generations. Even after they are gone, the building will remain.
He sits on a bench, holding the pentacle coin close to his heart. Another pentacle coin rests upon his crown, while two more lie under his feet. Behind him, the city teems with life.
Although he puts on a happy face, he knows the truth. People may see him as a miser, but the only reason he has all his money is because he has hoarded it. He has spent it well. He has pinched his pennies, extracting the most from their value.
Today, while he can wear the best dresses and stand amongst them, he has no other option but to hold his coins close to him. They may call him money minded, but he has seen the coins slip away from him despite his cautious, miserly nature.
But he has to keep up his appearances. He can’t let them see how far he has really fallen. 5 of Pentacles
The snow falls relentlessly as they shiver outside the building. The lame beggar, and the homeless woman walk through the snow together, lamenting their fates.
He looks up at the window, at the light that shines through it and wonders.
“If I knocked on the door, would they let me inside? If I asked them for a warm place to sleep tonight, would they allow me to sleep in a corner somewhere?”
But he’s been rejected far too many times. He is scared and decides not to go and ask. His poverty and his disability have turned him into someone that nobody wanted to have around them.
Besides, he still had far too much pride to beg for food and shelter.
It was only her, his friend in these hard times, who had stuck by him regardless. He liked it, and respected her for it. She was a true friend. He had discovered that it was only when the times got tough that one recognized one’s true friends.
Poverty was a bad place to be, and the sense of shame and rejection were even worse. But having a true friend in all this, was the best gift that the Universe could give him. And he appreciated that.
The merchant stood by the two beggars. He measured his wealth, and gave only what he could afford to give out. In that, he didn’t hold back, and gave with a true heart.
“I hope they do something useful with this money,” he thought as he gave them the carefully measured out coins. He was a businessman through and through. And even though he had a generous and charitable heart, he hoped that these beggars would find a way out of their poverty with the little bit of help that he had provided.
The beggars knelt and held out their hands for their alms. Gratitude for the merchant’s generosity overwhelmed them.
“I will use this money well,” each thought, thinking back to their past few days and not liking how they had come to this point in their life. “I will make something of myself with this.”
All of life was about balance, they each realized. What you gave, someone took. And what you took, someone had given. In that, and through that, the Universe sought to create a certain sense of balance in the world.
He stood in his farm, looking at his growing crops. His eyes were filled with love, and with hope. Although he was tired, he had been very patient.
From sowing the seeds to taking care of the saplings, he had spent many, many days patiently caring for his crops. Even now, he waited for the fruits of his labors to ripen just right.
He couldn’t cut them off too early, nor could he cut them off too late. He had to wait for just the right time. That was when he would really be in a position to enjoy the fruits of his labors.
Life was all about patience. Slowly and steadily, the things you put your efforts into would yield results. Not a moment too soon, and not a moment later — but it was only at just the right moment that he would reap his benefits.
This was his investment, and he would wait patiently till it matured. That way, he would benefit the best.
The young apprentice hammered away at the pentacle coin in his hand. Here, in his workshop, he had learned so many things only by doing them over and over, till he got them right.
Although he hadn’t been quite so successful in the past, he had decided to put those incorrect pentacle coins up on the wall just so he could see and chart his progress.
With every single coin he made, he was getting better and better at it. He was improving. That knowledge pushed him forward, urged him to do even better.
He was learning, and he was doing. He was getting better. And it kept him going. This wasn’t just a job to him any more. It was a lot more than that.
It was here that he had finally learned the secret of persistence and practice combined with continuous learning. This was the only path to achieving success in the material world. He knew that now, and he resolved to always remain true to that knowledge.
She stood tall in the garden. All around her, grapes grew in abundance, the great symbol of wealth. Among those grape vines, were the pentacle coins that had created this prosperity for her.
She caressed the five coins that symbolized the tough times that she had endured. On the other side were the three coins that symbolized the hard work that she had put in to come this far.
As she held out her hunting Kite bird to the skies, she smiled to herself. Like the Kite, she too had learned to have the long term view.
She glanced at the snail slowly making its way through the garden and knew that it was slowly and steadily that she had come to this point in her life.
Today she was an independent woman and had her own money. The gardens and the house in the distance were testament to her wealth. None of it would have been possible if she hadn’t kept the long term perspective over this wealth, and hadn’t respected her efforts and hardships while she climbed up slowly and steadily.
The old man caressed his pet dogs as he watched his son and his daughter-in-law laugh and talk.
His little grandson peeked out from behind his mother’s skirts to look at him.
He had done well for himself. He sighed in contentment as he recalled his younger days when he had travelled the land trading and working hard so his children would have a good life.
He had made it happen, and his son and grandson would, in their time, carry his legacy even further. He had given them the best of what he could give.
Now all he had to do was enjoy the rest of his days in the warmth and comfort of the home he had built from scratch.
The Divine Hand burst forth through the cloud bearing a pentacle coin that was the manifestation of Joy, Passion, and Imagination. As the hand turned over, the pentacle coin fell down.
In the lush landscape of the flowering garden, the pathway to the world started to close down. Victory suddenly seemed far away from grasp.
Just as the manifestation of the energies of the Universe can bring earthly gifts into your life, sometimes those energies can manifest and take away the gifts from you.
Sometimes, it is essential to give away the gifts that you have received, so that you may create space for new gifts to come in. Blessings come into your life, but unless they are given away, they stagnate and bring life to a standstill.
The unending cycle of the lemniscate finally begins to wind down. There is an end in sight for the juggler who has been tossing the two pentacle coins, seemingly forever.
He has danced this dance for far too long now, and finally the Universe has listened to his pleas. Whether he likes it or not, the time has arrived for him to stop juggling, and start focusing on just one thing.
His inner self goes into confusion, wondering what lies ahead. But he knows that if he trusts the Universe, he will find the stability that he seeks.
The sculptor is ready to carve the designs into the walls of the building. He is more than happy to be a part of the few who are able to make their dreams manifest into reality.
But the Priest and the Architect looking at the drawings aren’t happy with the way things are shaping up. The sculptor senses it — there is going to be some sort of a delay.
As the Architect is worried: this wasn’t what he had planned for. The reality is something vastly different from what he had envisioned.
The Priest looks on. Unless everyone involved feels the joy and the peace, how can he bless the endeavor?
The Sculptor watches on. Unless they tell him what is to be done, how can he make it happen?
Sometimes, when there are many steps involved in converting a plan or an idea into reality, proper planning is essential. In fact, it is a key step in ensuring that things go well. Any sort of misstep, or improper planning, or even a mistake in the implementation can prove to be a major hurdle in the accomplishment of the task.
Although he has held on to the pentacle coin close to his heart, when his world tumbles over, the coin is bound to fall down. The first to topple will be coin that rests over his head. And finally, the coins below his feet will fall away from him.
No matter how hard and strong you may hold on to the things that seem important to you, life can bring about a turn of events when you will lose it all. No amount of hoarding or secreting away helps.
When things are supposed to go, they leave.
He has realized this truth a bit too late. He has held on for so long that he doesn’t know how he can go on without it.
As he walks through the snow, shivering and limping he recalls how he had worried about being able to live without the things he’d hoarded and held on to for dear life.
His friend walks with him though the snow, helping him, being with him even in this tough time.
He realizes it now. The things he’d held on to were not as valuable as he had made them out to be. The true valuables in his life were with him, right here, right now. He had his life, which was precious because he had a chance to set things right. And he had a friend — a true friend — who had stuck by his side even through adversity.
The things and people that he had craved for, and kept by his side — all of them had gone away. They had rejected him. But it was only because of that he had come to realize that he had been truly accepted by his life, and by his true friend.
Today, he didn’t have anything, and yet, he felt as if he was the richest man in the world.
Suddenly, what seemed like a closed window, started to look like an open door for him. He had found a way out of the cold, and into the warmth and sanctuary of deep understanding.
He recalled his old days. He had held so much back. He had measured everything — even when he had given things away.
But he hadn’t realized how much this had taken away from him. By being this way, he had actually spent more than he had earned. He had given away more than he had wanted to.
That is why, when he did receive, he received less than what he had wanted or deserved.
Whatever he had given away, came back to him manifold. He had been miserly, and now he received the same from the world.
Now, although he didn’t have much hope, he knew he had to make do with whatever came his way, and make the best of it.
His patience was wearing thin. How much longer was he supposed to wait? He had suffered so much! He had been so very understanding for so very long of how things had worked out in his life.
Things didn’t come to him fast enough. He had sown the seeds, and cared for the saplings like they had been the most precious things in the world. He had waited and watched as they had grown into plants, flowered and even borne fruit.
Even now, he had to wait just a little bit longer for the fruits to ripen just enough. All this waiting was killing him inside. He raged against how things had turned out for him.
He felt as if the Universe had punished him far too long for something that he had done for such a little bit of time. As his anger raged in him, he reached over and plucked out the fruit that had been hanging in front of him.
“Finally!” he thought as he licked his lips and bit into the fruit.
But it was too late now! The fruit hadn’t ripened, and it tasted just as bad. And now that he had plucked it, he couldn’t put the fruit back on the plant either. All that he had worked for had disappeared in one burst of anger and impatience.
As he labored over his task, the young apprentice was getting bored.
“It is the same thing over and over again,” he sighed in frustration. There were so many other things to learn, he was sure of it. Why should he keep on making more and more of the same pentacle coins?
“So what if they don’t look like the perfect pentacle coin?” he huffed. “Nobody can achieve that kind of perfection in their work!”
Consumed by his frustration, he didn’t pay attention to the things that were being taught to him — the tiny little things that could improve his technique and methods that would have helped him and made him better at his task.
So he made no progress, and he had to keep on doing the same task over and over again. It was a vicious cycle, and it delayed his growth and progress in his profession even further.
As she stood in the garden, surrounded by her luxurious grapes, she reveled in the prosperity that she had around her.
She remembered how things had been when she didn’t have this luxury, and was happy that she had finally found the life that she had sought out for so long. She remembered the days when she had spent her time in labor and hard work, and was glad she didn’t have to do it any more.
Surrounded by all that luxury and richness, she forgot all about ensuring that she would continue to have the life that she had wanted for so long. Her long term vision, just like the Kite, remained shrouded. She just wanted to revel in the life she had now, and she forgot that she had to make sure that she invested in her future as well.
Enjoying the moment that she had in front of her, she forgot all about making sure that she would slowly and steadily keep on having such an elegant lifestyle in the future as well.
He was an old man now, and he still hadn’t achieved all that he had set out to achieve. He had been impatient, and unable to sustain his good fortune.
Even as he worried about his life’s journey, he watched his son and daughter-in-law worry about their fortunes. He had wanted a good life for his children — a life where they wouldn’t have to worry about the small and large things in life. But he hadn’t achieved it completely.
His son still worried. His son still worked very hard. He hoped that his grandson wouldn’t have to carry on with the same legacy.
They had done reasonably well for themselves, but his perceptions of what the ‘best life’ would be had colored the perceptions of his son’s mind as well. No matter how much they had each achieved in life, somehow, because of that perception, nothing was good enough for them.
He had wanted to enjoy the last days of his life — but now he simply worried.
1 to 10
The Divine Hand burst out of the cloud, holding the Ace of Pentacles. The pentacle coin was a symbol of the Earth energy — a manifestation of the combination of the energies of Fire, Air and Water. Everything had come together, and had taken on a tangible, real form in the shape of the pentacle coin. As the gifts of the Universe manifested into reality, a pathway opened up for him — a doorway into a new world.
The juggler in the 2 of Pentacles keeps dancing along with his juggling, not looking too happy about it. He felt as if the juggling had gone on for far too long. But just because he wants to stop it, doesn’t mean it will stop. He just keeps on doing what he needs to do in order to survive.
As the planning, guidance and actual hard work of the architect, the priest, and the sculptor begin to bear fruit in the 3 of Pentacles, creative forces manifest into a reality that will stand tall for generations to come. This is the real, tangible result of all the hard work that they have spent learning and understanding the forces that move them forward.
Sitting on a bench in the 4 of Pentacles, he holds on to a pentacle coin close to his heart. Another coin rests upon his head, while two more lie under his feet. He hoards his money — a fact for which he has been laughed at, mocked at by the world. But when you hold on to things far too hard, and for far too long, they tend to slip away from you regardless.
As the snow falls, the lame beggar and the homeless woman walk through it together. The beggar looks up at the5 of Pentaclesin the window of the building that they are passing, and wonders if he could find sanctuary in that building. But the fear of rejection makes him walk on. He looks at the woman accompanying him and smiles. He had discovered that it was only when the times were tough that you found someone who is your true friend.
The merchant stood in front of the beggars in the 6 of Pentacles, measuring out the coins that he was giving away to them. He gave what he gave after a lot of thought. He hoped that they used the coins well, and did something good with it. The beggars meanwhile held out their hands for the coins, grateful to the merchant for coming to their aid in the time of their need. Life was indeed all about balance — the balance of give and take.
He watched all his crops bearing fruit in the 7 of Pentacles and his chest swelled up with pride. He had worked so hard, so patiently, and so diligently for this. Right from sowing the seeds, to taking care of the saplings and making sure that the plants bore flowers and fruits — he had done every small and large thing. Even now, he couldn’t cut off the fruit before it was ripe and ready to be eaten. He was being very patient about everything because he knew that it was the only way he could reap the most benefits from all his hard work.
The apprentice in the8 of Pentacles hammered away as he learned how to make the best pentacle coin. He had made many of them so far — each one of them an improvement on the other. He had even put them up on the wall, so he could chart his progress. Persistence and practice were the tools to achieve perfection in his work, and that led to success in the material world.
Standing in the garden of grapes, the lady in the 9 of Pentacles knew the true value of all the hard work that had gone into creating the luxurious life that she was leading at that moment. She had a long term view and had slowly and steadily arrived at this place in her life with a lot of hard work. Now, she was finally enjoying the fruits of her labors.
As the old man caressed his pet dogs he watched how the energy of the 10 of Pentacles had manifested in his life. He had done well for himself, working hard at his tasks and had finally created a happy and content life for his family too. He watched his children and grandchildren enjoy the benefits of all the good things that he had created for them.
Reversed 1 - 10
Suit of Pentacles (i)
1 to 10
The Divine Hand burst forth from the cloud with the Ace of Pentacles Reversed. As the coin fell down from the Hand, the gift of the Universe was lost. The path ahead became obscured. The manifestations of the Earth energy — the combination of Fire, Air, and Water — were going away as the Universe took away its gifts.
As the unending cycle of the juggler’s juggling wound down in the2 of Pentacles Reversed, he could finally stop and focus on just one thing. He could finally work towards creating the stability that he had been craving for so long.
The planning of the Architect, the guidance of the Priest, and the hard work of the Sculptor weren’t taking on the shape that they had hoped for in the 3 of Pentacles Reversed. There was a delay in the manifestation of all their efforts. Either the plan needed to be reworked, or the guidance was faulty, or the work that was being done wasn't being implemented properly. Something needed to be fixed, or their task won't be accomplished.
Holding on to the pentacle coin so close to his heart hadn't helped him at all. In the 4ofPentacles Reversed, he finally witnessed all the coins fall away from his grasp. The coin atop his head, and the two coins below his feet — all of them fall away from him Sometimes, it didn't matter how hard you held on to things. When they have to go, they will leave.
Walking through the snow with his friend, the lame beggar finally realized that his fear of rejection was the reason why he couldn't bring himself to recognize the real gifts that the Universe had given him Finally, in the5 of Pentacles Reversed, he learns that he has the greatest gift of all — a true friend who would never leave his side, no matter what. And that, to him, was more precious than anything else in the world.
The Universe is a delicate balance between give and take. And when that balance was upset, like in the6 of Pentacles Reversed, then an inequality sets in. Either you've given more, or you've received more. Even then, the Universe tries to bring about a balance. When you've taken more, then the Universe gives you more. And when you've given more, then the Universe manages to take more from you.
His patience was wearing thin. He couldn't wait for the fruits on his crops ripen just enough. He had patiently waited for so long, ever since he had planted the seeds. But all the waiting and watching in the7 of Pentacles Reversedwas tiring him out. When he eagerly plucked out the fruit and bit into it, he realized his mistake — the fruit hadn't ripened enough, and it tasted bad. Since it had been plucked, he could not even put the fruit back on the plant. All that he had worked so hard for had vanished in one burst of impatience.
Laboring over his task in the8 of Pentacles Reversed, the apprentice got bored of doing the same thing over and over again. He had never understood why he had to create the perfect pentacle coin, and so he never made any progress in his work. Naturally, it delayed his professional growth, and led to even more frustration for him
Standing in the luxurious garden of grapes in the 9 of Pentacles Reversed, she was finally enjoying the fruits of her labors. Caught up in the luxury that she had finally gained, she forgot all about the long term view. She failed to ensure that she had to maintain that luxurious lifestyle for the future as well. She would soon lose all that she had achieved, but for now, she simply enjoyed what she had, and forgot all about the future.
He had grown old and had somehow managed to create a good life for himself in the 10 of Pentacles Reversed. He had been impatient, and hadn’t worked as hard as he could. And now, he simply wasn’t able to work just as hard any more. He hadn’t been able to leave a legacy behind for his children and his grandchildren. He realized that they would have to work harder than he had, simply to create a sustainable legacy for their children.
Suit of Pentacles
10 to 1
The old man petted his dogs, and watched how all his hard work and patience had manifested into a good life for his children and grandchildren. His life had become a picture of abundance and happiness in the 10 of Pentacles, and he was happy as his family enjoyed all the benefits of the good life that he had created for them.
Standing in the garden of grapes, she truly understood the value of the hard work that had gone into creating the luxurious life that she had been leading. In the 9 of Pentacles, she understood how working slowly and steadily, and keeping a long term view had contributed in creating and maintaining her abundant lifestyle. And she planned on making sure that she kept it that way.
As the apprentice in the8 of Pentacles worked hard to create the perfect pentacle, he had learned how he had to keep on trying till he achieved the best results. His persistence and his practice had started to pay off, and he knew that it would manifest in happiness and success in the material world.
He watched patiently as the seeds he had planted had slowly grown into trees, and were now bearing fruit. Even as the fruit slowly ripened in the 7 of Pentacles, he knew that he had to wait for just the right moment to pluck them, otherwise he would lose out on the full benefits of all his patience and hard work.
The Universe was all about balancing the giving and taking. So in the 6 of Pentacles, he carefully counted and controlled how much he gave to the unfortunate and needy. He had plenty for himself, but even as he gave he wanted to make sure that he did not give away more than he could give.
No matter how much he tried to stop it, he had still been left out in the cold. Walking through the snow, the lame beggar looked at his companion and friend, the homeless woman, and began to wonder. He wondered if he could find sanctuary in the building with the5 of Pentacles in the window. But he was afraid that they would only turn them away. So he looked at his one true friend, the one who had stayed by his side in his times of trouble, and limped away in the snow.
As he sat on the bench in the 4 of Pentacles, he held on to the pentacle coin, close to his heart. He kept one on top of his head, and there were two below his feet. He hoarded what he had because he had seen what it felt like to have none. People mocked him, called him a miser. But when you had little, you held on to what little you had.
The planning of the Architect, the guidance of the Priest, and the actual work of the Sculptor were finally becoming real. In the 3 of Pentacles they watched their combined efforts actually manifesting into reality — a structure that would stand for generations as a testament to their hard work. That was probably the only thing that would remain behind long alter they were gone.
Juggling the 2 of Pentacles for what seemed like the longest time, he grew tired of the endless ups and downs that life kept throwing his way. He danced along with it, because he had to, because he could not stop. He wondered if he wasn’t able to stop because he didn’t know how to stop.
The Divine Hand burst through the clouds, holding the Ace of Pentacles. The pentacle coin was the ultimate gift of the Universe — a manifestation of the Earth energy, which in turn was a combination of the Fire, Air and Water energies. All of the passion, ideas, and imagination of the world had manifested in one powerful form. This gift of the Universe opened up a pathway to even more growth. A new world lay ahead of him.
Suit of Pentacles (l)
10 to 1
He had grown old, trying to create a good life for himself and his family. In the 10 of Pentacles Reversed, he finally saw how far he’d actually gotten in his quest. He had been impatient, and not ready to learn. And all of that had manifested in his half-baked legacy for his children and grandchildren. It was too late for him now. They would have to work hard for their lives, he knew that. He hoped that they could overcome the hurdles that he hadn’t been able to.
Standing in the luxurious garden of grapes in the 9 of Pentacles Reversed, she enjoyed the fruits of all her labors. She lived in the here and now, not caring much about the long term view. It was likely that she would lose all that she had gained — but for now, she simply wanted to live her life to the fullest.
As the apprentice labored over his task in the8 of Pentacles Reversed, he grew impatient of doing the same thing over and over again. The fact that his work quality hadn’t improved much didn’t make much of a difference to him. He was bored, and so he just didn’t pay any attention to the lessons that were being taught to him.
With his patience running out in the7 of Pentacles Reversed, he reached over and plucked out the fruit from one of his plants. As he bit into it, he realized his grave folly. The fruit hadn’t ripened enough, and it was sour to the taste. If only he had been as patient as he had been while watching the seeds sprout into the plant, he might have enjoyed the sweetness of the ripe fruit.
The Universe was all about give and take. What you gave it and what you took from it had to remain balanced, or else the Universe will step in and balance it for you. In the 6 of Pentacles Reversed, he realized how he had given far too much, without thinking about this precious balance. And now, he had to face the consequences.
Walking through the falling snow in the company of his homeless friend, the lame beggar realized how precious his gift was. He had been given a true friend — someone who would be by his side even when the times got tough. Such a friend was more valuable than any other gift, that the Universe could ever give him As the realization dawned upon him, the doorway of the5 of Pentacles Reversedopened up to him, and he found acceptance and support within his heart.
He let go of his attachment to the pentacle coin that he had been holding on to, close to his heart. In the 4 of Pentacles Reversed, he realized that no matter how hard you held on to the things that were precious to you, when the tide would turn, they would go away from you. What was meant to leave would always leave.
The work wasn't taking on the shape that they had all hoped for. The Architect had planned well, the Priest had guided well, and the Sculptor had worked hard in converting their ideas into reality.
But with the 3 of Pentacles Reversed, they realized that something wasn't quite right and that they needed to fix it.
The juggler wound down his seemingly unending dance as the 2 of Pentacles Reversed. Finally, he could stop feeling tired of the ups and downs in his life and focus on the one thing that mattered the most to him
But when the Divine Hand held theAce of Pentacles Reversedand the gift of the Universe was lost, there was no clearer path towards the future. The manifestation of the Earth energy — the combination of Fire, Air, and Water — were being taken away by the Universe, and there was nothing anyone could do about it.
The Court Cards are the People Cards. This is the simplest and truest way of looking at them
Many a student of Tarot have found themselves baffled by these court cards, especially at the beginning. I was too. However, once you start seeing these cards as snapshots of people and their personalities, everything suddenly starts to make sense.
The court cards are the people in the Tarot. Just like the Major and Minor Arcana cards describe spiritual and practical situations and truths, the Court Cards are all about people and their personalities.
Since we are looking at the Tarot story, it makes sense to have people (or as we writers like to call them, ‘Characters') in your story. After all, what is a story without a hero or a heroine and a totally badass villain or vamp, right?
These Court Cards were originally based on people from actual Courts — not the Courts of Law, but the Courts of the Kings and the Queens.
Therefore, they have a certain built-in hierarchy. This is also evident in their emotional and mental growth and maturity.
The Pages are the youngest of the lot. They are the ‘interns’ of the group. They are basically Knights in training. They serve the Knight, and learn their j ob while they work for them. You can find them running errands for the Knights, carrying messages, and basically doing all the learning as they work. They are emotionally raw, and mentally most agile. However, they are also quite new, therefore not all of their ideas will have potential. They have a fresh view of things, sure, but they don't have the added perspective that experience can bring to the table.
The Knights are the people who go out there and do something. They are action oriented, and for them, achievement matters a lot. They are the do-ers of the group, and they are the one’s who often make things happen. Since they are practical and hands-on about all the things they do, they are in the process of gaining real-life experience, and also a lot of valuable perspective.
The Queens are those people who have learned a lot from the Knight stage, and have also started to incorporate compassion and understanding within their actions. They are the budding leaders. They are people-persons who are most likely the glue that holds the group together. They make sure everything runs well, and that everyone is also emotionally invested in the goals of the group. They are the mature and open hearted people of the group. They bring the ‘feelings' aspect of every single thing to the forefront, making the process very meaningful with their presence.
The Kings are those who have got it all together. They have gone through all these former stages, and have emerged as ‘Masters' of their respective domains. They not only imbibe the emotional aspects of the group dynamic, but they also bring in a strong leadership role into the group. Besides being able to manage it, they have the additional ability to control things, and run things the way they see fit. Due to their emotional and mental maturity, they bring about a consistent and firm framework to the dynamic. They are capable and emotionally mature, and also quite strong leaders because they have achieved a certain level of control over their impulses.
You may also have a look at the Personality Types described by the Myers-Briggs Personality Type Indicator. It is an interesting coincidence that the MBTI describes 16 different Personality Types, and that there are a total of 16 Court Cards in a regular Tarot Card Deck.
Here’s a fun exercise you might want to try just for fun:
See which of the 16 personality types fits a court card.
Do this exercise ever so often, and see if and how your perception of each personality and card has changed over time.
While the Court Cards describe the personality, and also the degree of growth and maturity of a person in the Reading, they also signify something else. They show the aspect of the person’s personality that came into play during the situation described by the surrounding cards.
The Court Cards are the people in the reading. So they could be the client, or the people in the client’s life that have a direct bearing on the situations that the cards are describing within the Reading.
You might want to give a look at these articles that I've written about the Court Cards. On my site, you will find them under this link: http://www.taroticallyspeaking.com/series/understanding-the- court-cards/ .
He stands upon the warm desert sands looking at the wand in his hand. He is so eager to go out there and show off all the skills and talents he has.
“I’m sure someone will like me and what I have to show!” he thinks as he arranges his cloak over his shoulders. Making sure the feather in his cap is stuck just so, he sets off on his journey.
Some may call him naive, some may call him immature — but he doesn’t care. He feels the energy, the fire zinging through his veins.
He can’t stop himself from showing off. He can’t stop himself from being the person making everyone laugh. He just thrives on all that applause! He loves that energy. The appreciation and the love from his audience sustains him.
He wants to make it in this world. He wants to be known by everybody. And he knows that his talents will open up doors for him.
Although he does get tired of the struggles now and then. But a good night’s rest is all he needs to get back up on the stage and perform.
None of the hurdles matter. He will go forward and make it happen!
He sat astride his horse, eager and ready to begin his ride through the desert. It had been quite a journey for him to come this far, and there was no way he was going to let it go.
His horse could probably sense his eagerness, and he reared himself up in excitement. Holding his wand in one hand and the reins of the horse in the other, he laughed at the exciting possibilities that lay ahead of him.
“If only I could keep my focus, I would probably do a lot better,” he sighed to himself as he rode among the desert dunes. Every shiny new thing attracted him. His curiosity pulled him over to discover more and more new things along his path.
“But I’m learning so much!” he explained to himself as something new distracted him and he led his horse down a yet undiscovered part of the desert. “Someday, all of this is going to come in handy,” he laughs. “You just wait and watch!”
As he dreamt of making his passions come true, his path going this way and that, discovering more and more new things, he learned and he moved on.
She sat on her throne, looking at the desert landscape around her. In one hand she held her wand, the symbol of her passion and warmth. In the other, she held a beautiful sunflower, the symbol of her creativity. She had certainly come far along in her journey.
She had put her talents and skills on the line, and learned so much as she had travelled around the world. But today, she sat there on the throne, guiding and helping all those who came to her for help.
Although many thought of her as aggressive, she certainly didn’t see herself that way.
“Is it wrong to go after what I want?” she asked them. “After all, I have what it takes to get what I want. Shouldn’t I just go after it? What’s the point of sitting here and waiting for it to drop into my lap? It is only a waste of precious time.”
The cat by her feet meowed and agreed with her. She smiled. Deep inside her heart, she knew that the opinions of these people didn’t really affect anything in her life. She had the grace, the skills and the knowledge to make things happen for her. And she would most certainly make them happen!
He sat on his throne and watched over his land — the warm desert sands that had taught him so much, given him so much.
Although the fire in him still burned just as bright and hot as when he had started out all those years ago, he had learned how to control them, how to focus his passions and achieve the dreams he had set out to achieve.
Thanks to that unfaltering passion and drive, he could bounce back from all the setbacks that life had thrown his way. And he had risen up to the top with the fiery energy of his passions. He had eventually found his focus, and had discovered the warmth in his heart and led the way for others to follow.
Today, he was the King, and he loved it. He wanted to do right by his role, and so he made sure that he helped all those who came to him and guided them along the path ahead.
Standing upon the warm desert sands, with his wand in his hand, he is eager to go out there and show off his skills and talents.
“I don’t care if they didn’t like it last time,” he huffs to himself. “What do they know about my talents anyway? Who are they to criticize and judge?”
Adjusting his cloak, he makes sure that the feather in his cap is stuck properly.
Despite all his bravado, he secretly wonders if he really does have the talents that he thinks that he has. Maybe he needs to spend some time practicing, improving upon his skills. Some of the things that were pointed out to him actually did make sense to him. But of course, he wasn’t going to admit to any of it. Not to them anyway.
He just had to be the one in the spotlight. He loved it — being the center of everyone’s attention. He wanted to be loved, to be popular. Showing off his talent was one awesome way of getting all the attention he wanted.
Even if the taunts got tiresome, he knew that if he kept on trying, and yes, improving, he would succeed. Someday soon, he will be someone that they will have to take seriously.
He won’t let these small hurdles get in the way of his grand success.
He sat astride his horse, ready and eager to move forward. He was on the edge. Nothing could hold his attention for a long time. He got bored quickly.
Although many say that it is a sign of the highly intelligent people, the part about leaving so many things done half-way had started to backfire on him. It had also started to bother him.
But he simply couldn’t bring himself to finish all the different things he had started. There were so many projects that he’d left unfinished. How could he help it if they didn’t hold his attention beyond a point?
He always had problems with focusing and sticking around to finish his task. But even so, he couldn’t help but realize that he had learned a lot in this interesting journey.
Still, he had to find a way to finish at least some of the important things he had taken upon himself to do. Otherwise, leaving all these tasks unfinished would ensure that no one trusted him completely to finish what he would start.
She sat on her throne, and looked at the desert landscape around her, and sighed.
“I am sort of like this desert,” she thought, frustrated. “I am warm, but I can be a hard person to get along with, and I can’t be tamed that easily. Not anyone can master me.”
She felt restless with her frustration. She had been warm and kind, and giving and passionate about everything in her life. But all she got in return was people taking advantage of her niceness.
She looked at the sunflower in her hand. A symbol of clarity, the sunflower felt like it was starting to wilt. She had gone after what she had wanted, and had only met people who would disrupt her plans.
“Don’t be so aggressive,” they had told her. “Don’t be so naive and giving,” they had warned her. And now, all their warnings were coming true. She had been pushed away for being aggressive, and taken advantage of for being so warm natured.
She had tried to fit in. She had even put aside her creative abilities, and had stopped listening to her intuition. But none of it helped. She was who she was, wasn’t she? Why was she supposed to change?
Sitting upon his throne, he watched over his desert kingdom. He had tried so hard to make things right — to do the right things for all the people who had depended upon him. But, for some reason, things were not working out for him.
He was feeling so tired, so worn out. Even as he felt the passion within him rise, he couldn’t bring himself to do anything about it.
“What’s the use?” he cried. “All of this is so tiring! No matter what I do, things just go wrong.”
He couldn’t find any respite from this weary feeling. He was just too tired to chase down all the people who didn’t agree with him, and explain the good things that were on his mind.
Upright
It was a bright and sunny day. The King of Wands relaxed in the shade and watched as his youngest, the Page of Wands sang an almost accurate rendition of one of the latest hit songs. His oldest, the Knight of Wands, encouraged the Page and urged him to sing yet another song. Of course, the Page of Wands started singing. The King of Wands looked across the room and watched his beautiful wife, the Queen of Wands bustling about, making sure that everything would be set for their leisurely meal later on. She was the most wonderful woman he had ever met in his life! He was so lucky to have her!
As the Knight of Wands watched his younger sibling sing, he tried to shake off the enthusiasm he had been bottling up for the past few days. He’d had an absolutely brilliant idea, and he had already started to move things around so that he could pursue it. Now if only his father would agree to it. He desperately needed his father’s support to get this project off the ground.
“Maybe I should’ve asked him before I started...” he wondered, but then he shook his head. Of course his father would agree! This time wasn’t like the last time! This time he had done his research and he was well prepared. He’d even started writing the project report. He crossed his fingers and prayed. He would wait till his father had eaten his meal, and then...
The Page of Wands sang the song, putting his deepest feelings and emotions into it. He knew that he had more than what it took to make it big. He loved to sing, and he loved to see the faces of his mom and dad light up every time he sang.
“Someday,” he told himself as he got ready for the next song, “I will make this dream of mine come true. And then, I will be able to make my parents so happy! They will be so proud of me!”
The Queen of Wands made sure everything was well set for the meal. No matter how many things were going on under the surface, she would make sure that all the arguments happened on a full stomach.
She allowed herself a little laugh. The kids were young, she knew. And they were figuring it out. But their Father! Oh! He was another grown-up child! After the arrangements for the meal were made, she settled back down into her chair and turned her attention back to the painting. An interesting thought had occurred to her while she had been taking care of her housework, and she couldn’t wait to see how it would all turn out. Taking a deep breath, she picked up the brush lying beside the easel.
Just a few more strokes of the brush and the painting would be ready. Smiling, she leaned over and began to paint.
The King of Wands looked at his family and smiled. This was a good life he had created. He remembered his younger days — days when he had been like both of his children, and even a little bit like his wife. He had grown and matured now, and was able to control himself better than either of his sons. Unlike his wife, he could summon up his creative passions whenever he wanted — rather than wait upon the whims of his Muse. He could bounce back from adverse situations much quicker than most. His passion and creativity would never let him down.
The Page of Wands Reversed sang in front of the audience, his voice shaky and totally off-key. The crowd clapped politely, hoping that this would be the end. But that wasn’t the case. As the child launched into yet another, seemingly interminable song, they began to get up and move away.
The Queen of Wands Reversed watched this, feeling very upset and angry. On one hand, she knew that her child wasn’t quite as talented, and so was embarrassed no end. On the other hand, she was quite upset with the way the people in the audience didn’t even given her child even a bit of a chance. So when the lady sitting next to her politely asked her if her child was taking singing lessons, she snapped back at her, and immediately regretted it. She wasn’t a rude person, not always. But sometimes, people really seemed like they were out to get her, and she absolutely had to retaliate.
The King of Wands Reversed stood outside, wishing for a quiet corner where he could smoke his cigarette in peace. But peace wasn’t to be had. He’d been going through some tough times lately, what with his business not doing so well, and with the economy being the way it was. And when his wife insisted on attending these silly gatherings, finding a few minutes of peace and smoking a cigarette had become his mini refuge.
“With all these advertisements and health warnings, you would think most people would have quit smoking by now,” he thought grumpily as he made his way past a group of young people smoking and chatting and laughing amongst themselves.
He made his way to a slightly secluded corner, and pulled his pack out of his pocket.
Dad?
He looked up at the frantic whisper and saw his son, the Knight of Wands Reversedstanding in front of him. He raised his eyebrows at his eldest.
“What are you doing here?” he asked his son.
“Dad, I need your help,” his son exhaled, trying to look all happy and excited, and totally failing. “There’s this new project that I've been thinking of taking up, and I need some ...”
“I’m not giving you any money,” he said quickly, not even waiting for his son to complete his statement. “You still haven't returned the money you took from me for the other awesome project...”
“Who said I wanted money?” his son rebuked, instantly angry and hurt at the same time. “Why do you always do this to me?”
Shaking his head angrily, the Knight of Wands Reversed stomped away, his breath coming hard and fast.
“Damn!” he thought to himself. “How did Dad know what I wanted?” But he was glad that he was able to deflect his Dad, and make him feel guilty.
He shook his head as he walked back into the gathering. Perhaps, he might ask a few of his rich relatives if they might be interested in investing in a project that could potentially make them millions. He just hoped that they hadn't heard of his past couple of failures.
He stood upon the hill, holding his sword in his hands, feeling the breeze in his hair. Just like the clouds that floated in the sky, like the birds that flew in the sky, ideas floated through his mind.
As fast as the wind, ideas came and went through his head, and he wondered which one he should pursue.
“There are so many!” he exclaimed. “All of them seem interesting and worth pursuing!”
It all seemed so confusing for him — all these wonderful concepts that went through his head. Each and every idea created its own excitement and its little bit of confusion in his mind.
He spoke about it with everyone he met — he told them his ideas, told them about his confusion. Unfortunately, only a few of those people really understood what he was going through.
“I really don’t know what’s going on inside my head,” he thought, as yet another round of confusion starts inside his mind.
Everything was in chaos. Why was it that only he could see the solutions? Tired of waiting for everyone to catch up with his thoughts, he simply jumped on his horse, raised his sword high, and raced right into the fray.
Growing impatient with the haphazard way in which everyone figured things out, he realized that he was the only one who could make some sense of the crazy situation in which they had found themselves. His mind raced ahead, processing several things at once, thinking on many different levels at the same time.
He was quick, precise and sharp. With a few swift strokes of his sword, he managed to restore a semblance of order in the chaos. Of course, no one liked him for this.
“I’m not here to win any popularity contests,” he sighed as he watched them go about their lives in an illogical manner that he knew would cause even more confusion in the future.
“How can they not see how silly their actions are?” he wondered as he set about solving the problems that they had created. He had to be quick, and he had to be creative. But that was no hardship for him.
He wondered why the women were drawn to him, even with all his abrasive words. But he didn’t have time to play their silly games. When he had lost his interest, he would leave. Regardless of their tears. He had no time or interest in their drama.
There were so many things he needed to resolve, and there was so little time!
“Why can’t they think logically?” he wondered as he raced off to solve yet another problem that their ridiculous thinking had created.
She had gone through a lot in her life. She had left so many painful things behind her, and had found the will to move on.
“Sometimes you have to be kind and understanding,” she smiled to herself as she held out her hand, “and sometimes you need to draw the line which they can’t cross.” Her other hand gripped the sword tight in her hand, ready to enforce her will, and to set the boundaries which others may not cross.
She had faced so many confusions and so many heartbreaks in her past. All of that had taught her many important lessons. Logic had become the driving force in her life now.
“Rational thought saved one from so many hardships,” she sighed as she watched many others go through the same hardships as she had done. She would help all that she could, but that didn’t mean that she would go overboard.
She had become wiser now, and she focused on making the most of her wisdom and clear thinking. King of Swords
“Life is tough enough,” he rasped, “without all these silly emotions messing things up for everyone.” Holding his sword straight in one hand, he made a fist with his other, trying to hold himself back from lashing out at all those who he could see would get into trouble sooner or later because of their illogical way of thinking.
He had worked so hard to come to this point in his life. He had found the will power to control the ebb and flow of his thoughts and find a way to focus on the important things in life.
He knew that people around him called him harsh and strict, and spoke nastily about him behind his back. But he also knew that without him to hold them in check, everything would’ve gone berserk within moments.
“It is a wonder that they all got this far without me to guide them,” he thought as he sat and planned out his next moves and counter-moves. Life was a game of will power, rational thought and logic.
And he was a master of that game.
He stood upon the hill, holding his sword in his hands. The breeze lifted his hair. As the clouds floated about in the sky, ideas fluttered about in his head akin to the birds flying about in the sky.
As the ideas came and went, he found himself getting more and more confused about the path ahead. There were so many things he was interested in, but nothing held his interest for long.
Even though there were so many ideas, he simply didn’t want to do anything about it. Sometimes he even thought about throwing away all those ideas, and walking away from it all.
When he spoke about his thoughts and ideas with others, they gave him their opinions. But that had only served to confuse him even more.
As the confusion bred more confusion, he ended up doing nothing. And when he did do something, it just didn’t work out the way he had thought it would.
As the chaos around him grew, he grew more and more anxious. He simply wasn’t able to come up with the answers to solve it. Trusting his past experiences with problem solving, he had jumped right into the thick of things, but now he couldn’t find the solutions.
With every passing moment, he was getting more impatient and anxious with himself. The chaos around him only served to confuse him more. He simply wasn’t able to think straight.
All of his precise observations and quick techniques were failing him — nothing was going as he
had anticipated or planned for.
As people made jokes about him and laughed at him, he began to feel the sting of their words and laughter. Stumbling about like a person who has lost his way, he thought about all of them angrily, and vowed to remember all their words.
One day, he knew, he would regain his lost composure and stature. And all those people who were laughing at him would rue the day, regret their actions. He knew that he would thoroughly enjoy it when that day came.
She had experienced so much pain in her life, but somehow, she wasn’t able to find the will to move on forward.
She had been too kind to those around her who were in similar situations, and they had started to burden her with their problems. So much so, that she barely had time for herself anymore.
“I must learn how to draw the line,” she sighed as she held on to the sword in one hand. “I mustn’t let myself get burdened when I understand or help others.”
All of her confusions and self doubts returned in full force, making her feel hurt as she recalled the painful moments from her past. She had depended upon rational thought, upon logic to help her and save her, but it hadn’t worked so well with her.
She tried so hard to overcome her confusions, and find the focus and wisdom within herself, but found it hard to implement.
Life was getting to be quite tough with all the emotional people around him messing things up for him
He held on to his sword and clenched his fist as he tried to hold on to some semblance of order and discipline in the things around him When he had tried to correct their irrational way of thinking, he had faced the onslaught of so much negativity.
“How can they not see that my guidance is the best all around?” he gasped to himself. But despite all this, he found himself all alone.
They had become tired of his cold, calculating behavior. They wanted to gain their own experiences as well, and so they didn't need to have him around any longer.
All his strictness and discipline had pretty much gone out of the window, and he was more than ready to find a way back into their esteem.
Even with all his moves and counter-moves planned out carefully, things simply didn't go the way they were supposed to go. A strange sense of failure began to overwhelm him
Upright
It was late in the evening when theKing of Swords knocked on the door of his house. He had been working late, yet again, and was tired and hungry. His wife, the Queen of Swords opened the door and he walked in. When he freshened up, the food was ready on the dining table.
He immediately sat down for his meal.
“Father...” his youngest, the Page of Swords started speaking, and his mom promptly shushed him. He went on eating.
He loved his wife. He thought that she was the most efficient and understanding woman on this planet. She knew that there were times in the day when he preferred to have silence and she ensured that he got it. Of course, he never considered telling her any of these things — he assumed that she would know by now.
“Talk to your father after dinner,” the Queen of Swords quietly told the Page of Swords, who merely nodded and went back to eating.
As the meal ended, he finally looked up.
‘I must've been quite hungry!, he realized, and smiled.
That was when he noticed his other child’s absence.
“TheKnight of Swords isn’t home yet?” he asked his wife.
“Some emergency at work,” she explained as she began clearing up after dinner. “He said he won’t be able to come home for a few more days.” She sighed and went about her work.
He remembered how he used to be back when he was starting out in his career. He knew that these were the days when you had to give your profession your all. Later on, these days of hard work would pay off a million times over.
His eldest was just starting to make his career, and already he had earned the respect of his peers and seniors. He had heard many good reports about his son, and it made him very proud. He only hoped that his child would remain constant, consistent, and steady upon his course in life, and eventually succeed.
“Father?” the Page of Swords piped up as he made my way to the living room. He looked at him and he smiled. The Page of Swords ran over with his iPad and sat next to his father on the couch.
“There’s this paper I’m supposed to write,” he began excitedly, “and I need your help with this topic...”
The Queen of Swords watched father and son bond and sighed to herself. It had been so many years now, and their dinner time routine had never changed. Not only was her husband fond of rules, but he was also a workaholic. And now her eldest was also going down the same path. The younger one would be around for a few years more, but then he too would be gone, busy in his own life.
She smiled. It sounded like she had nothing else in her life. But she did. She had her own thriving internet business, and she spent many hours of her day making and keeping it profitable. But there was deep sense of discomfort within her that she somehow wasn’t able to let go of. She wasn’t able to pinpoint exactly what it was, but that unease had been building upon itself for a few years now. And she had no idea what to do with it.
The King of Swords Reversedwatched in shock as his wife walked away, leaving him all alone.
“You can’t do this to me!” he shouted after them in his sternest voice, realizing that none of his threats would matter now. His family was lost to him forever.
“You destroyed my life,” his wife had told him a few days ago. “All your rules! All your shoulds and should-nots made my life a living hell!”
He wondered why theQueen of Swords Reversed even thought that way about him. Had his rules not made their life better all these years? Hadn’t all his experience and expertise ensured that their lives were smooth and straightforward? Were his rules so despicable? After all, if it weren't for these rules, he wouldn't have achieved all his success in life.
As the Queen of Swords Reversed unpacked her stuff in her new home, she felt tired and worn out. And yet, she also felt quite strangely, very light. She had finally put all the rigid rules governing her life behind her, and was finally starting anew.
The decision to leave her husband had come upon her quite suddenly, and in a rare fit of anger. But she had no regrets. Even if she had no idea what she wanted to do and how she wanted to live, she had a very good idea of what she did not want and how she did not want to live.
“Well,” she smiled to herself, “at least, that’s a good start.” She considered herself lucky. She knew women who didn't even know that much.
The Knight of Swords Reversed walked out the meeting, shaking with anger. He’d just thrown away the project that he’d worked so hard to get. Worse still, he’d also quit the job. Things were going from bad to worse, and it felt as if all control was slipping away from his hands. Everything that he’d worked so hard to get was getting shredded to pieces in front of him, and there was nothing he could do. Every single thing that he touched seemed to break apart even as he neared it.
Underneath all his anger, he was scared and worried. If things didn't work out soon, he would find himself sulking beside a pile of dust that once used to be his life. His family was already breaking apart. He didn't want the same devastation to befall his career as well.
The Page of Swords Reversedsurfed the Internet, looking for something and finding nothing. He flipped through the search results on the screen, opening random websites and skimming through the contents of the web page. His school project lay unfinished — the document minimized on his computer — as he scoured the Internet, looking for something to inspire him. Back when the teacher had assigned the essay, he’d been so full of ideas and concepts that he wanted to include in his essay. But now that he was actually writing the paper, he realized that he was completely confused and had no idea what to do. All of his attention had been taken up by his family issues. No matter how hard he thought about it, both his mom and his dad were strict with him about his studies. So it didn't really matter who put the allowance money in his pocket. He was going to have to follow the rules either which way.
He stands by the water’s edge, smiling. In his hand, he holds a cup — filled with his feelings and emotions.
All of these things are so new to him, and yet, so wonderfully real. He never realized how deeply, how intensely he could actually feel about things.
It was almost as if his emotions kept beat with the rise and fall of the waves in the ocean.
He dreamt of things sometimes — things that meant so much more than what they seemed to be at first. Slowly, he began to unravel the mystery behind the image of the lotus flowers on his dress. When the fish jumped out of the cup, the evidence of plentifulness was impressed upon his soul.
The world was full of many such wonders, he realized. He was happy.
Slowly and steadily, he rode his horse, composing the verses in his mind. He recited them to himself, making sure they rhymed.
He had always been good at expressing himself. But today, his words had the power of healing within them. He felt it deep inside of his heart — the fact that he could use his words to do something really good and beautiful at the same time.
Even though tall mountains stood in his path after he would cross the river, he was undaunted. His mission called out to him, and his heart had responded. He had a true purpose, an altruistic goal. With his words and his deeds, he would spread love and healing in the world.
She sat by the ocean, staring at the waves, staring at the cup she held in her hand. Colorful sea shells glimmered by her feet as the waves lapped at the ocean shore, almost reaching her feet. Her colorful cloak fluttered in the ocean breeze, the pattern of waves woven upon it dancing in the wind. Upon her throne, the Mermaids sang sweet melodies.
She had held so many things within herself for so long. Secrets, desires, thoughts, feelings — all of them deep, meaningful, and so very personal.
Many thought that she was mysterious, but she knew. Her feelings were delicate, and exposing them meant making herself vulnerable. She held herself back, trusting only those who had proven themselves worthy. And even then, she held back from truly revealing every single thing in her heart.
She smiled quietly to herself. If only she could speak, oh, what tales she could tell!
He sat upon his floating throne, riding the waves, confident and strong. As he drank from the cup of life, he watched over the messages that the Universe was sending out to him like fish leaping out from the waves, or the ships sailing upon those waves.
His creative flow was at the peak. He could call upon his creativity at will, and generate an output that would dazzle everyone. He knew that all of this came at a price, but that was something he had already paid.
He had finally learned how to rule his unruly emotions, and found a way where he could still experience his feelings without getting caught up in them He had learned how to remain calm in the face of the storms that inevitably sprang up along his path.
He stood by the edge of the water, but he couldn’t bring himself to smile. The cup in his hand had emptied out, and was devoid of all feelings, all emotions.
It was as if all the pain and the suffering of the entire world had descended upon him alone. He felt it deep within the core of his being. Like the undulating waves of the ocean near him, his dark feelings rose and fell within his heart.
All his worst fears, all his nightmares seemed to have manifested right in front of his eyes, and he was truly unable to do anything about it. Like a child, he found himself floundering about helplessly, incapable of hope and faith.
The world seemed like a bleak and disheartening place, where his soul found no respite. There was nothing at all in this world that could hold him. There was nothing but sadness and darkness within his soul.
As he rode upon his horse, he began composing the verses in his mind. But today, they simply wouldn’t rhyme. No matter how hard he tried, he just couldn’t find the right words to express himself.
He had thought that he had a mission — he had wanted to spread love and healing through his words and deeds. But no matter how hard he tried, he simply wasn’t able to reach into the hearts of the men who heard him.
He tried over and over again, but failed. So he set about rewriting his words, but found himself
failing at that too.
Suddenly, the world seemed like a very harsh place to be in. He began to doubt himself. All at once, he felt that he wasn’t either good enough, or kind enough, or swift enough with his words and deeds to really make any sort of an impact.
Suddenly, he felt completely useless and incompetent.
She sat beside the ocean, the waves in uproar, mirroring the turmoil within her heart. The cup in her hand had opened, and a veritable tsunami of her feelings and emotions had burst through. Like a volcano that erupts after being dormant so long, she had opened up and let all of her heartache and pain be seen.
She had held herself back for so very long — all of the secrets, all of the pain, all the hurt, all her deeply protected feelings — everything just poured out of her eyes in the form of her tears.
Her mysterious exterior had come unraveled. She simply wasn’t able to bear her pain any longer. She didn’t care if all this made her vulnerable. Holding her feelings within herself had started to wear down on her, make her feel helpless and hurt.
Her trust had been broken and taken apart and she was like a broken boat, cast about on the angry waves. Her torment and her anguish had no where to go. She cried, and she broke down.
As the waves rose over him, he sank deeper and deeper into his depression. He held on to his cup - but even drinking didn’t make the pain go away.
He had misread the signs and had taken some wrong decisions. He had given in to his feelings, and was now drowning in their onslaught. Overconfident in his abilities, he was now facing the consequences.
No matter how hard he tried, he simply wasn't able to avoid getting caught up in the clutches of his emotions. He had allowed a huge storm to engulf him, and now he was distraught at his own weakness.
Upright
It was one of those days when everything just seemed to work out. The Queen of Cups watched the waves lap at the sea shore, almost touching her feet. The colorful pebbles by her feet seemed to smile at her, as a story bubbled away in her mind. She had let the story stay inside of her head for a while now, and finally, the plot was starting to make some sort of sense.
“Soon,” she whispered to herself, the waves carrying her voice into the distant lands of imagination. Soon the story would be ready to be written down. That was when she would write it. No sooner. No later.
Up ahead on the beach, she watched her children play. Her elder child, the Knight of Cups watched over the younger, the Page of Cups. He was a good brother, and she trusted him to always be there for his younger sibling.
He was a good listener. He was also studying to become a doctor. But even as he read through his book, he kept looking out for his younger brother on the beach. She smiled. The Knight of Cups would make a very strong leader someday. Until that day came, he would make slow and steady progress towards his goals.
The Page of Cups, meanwhile, had discovered an interesting looking shell by the beach. Holding it up like a trophy, he began to squeal and dance in delight. Within minutes he’d run up to her, and then to his brother, and finally to his father to show off what he’d found.
The King of Cups smiled at his wife as the Page of Cups showed off the shell. He had been busy with his painting, but when his son came up to him, he had put down his brush to properly admire his son’s discovery. After his son had gone off, he picked up the brush and began painting again.
He was supposed to contribute some paintings to an exhibition, and this painting might be just right for it, he thought. But within seconds all those thoughts vanished from his mind, as he lost himself into the colors of his paintings.
It hadn’t been an easy road for him, getting to where he was now. After all these years of struggle, his hard work was finally being recognized. He sighed as he put away the brush, his painting finally completed. It was a good life regardless of all the struggles. He had a loving family. And he was happy when he painted.
He had everything he had ever wanted. He was content.
It was a mess! An absolute mess! TheKing of Cups Reversedrealized, as he sat in the bar, drunk, tears streaming down his face. He had tried to keep things together for so long, only to realize that nothing was really in his control. It never had been.
He had been in charge of the creative aspect of his business. He’d never really had much head for the business aspect of it anyway. He’d trusted others for that. And that was where he’d gone wrong. He had trusted the wrong people and today he was suffering for it.
No matter how much he drank, or cried about it, nothing was ever going to change.
He didn’t even feel like going home. He knew that his wife would totally lose it if she saw him like this.
“Maybe some coffee would help,” he thought as he looked up at the bartender and ordered a cup. It made sense to sober up a bit before he went home.
The Queen of Cups Reversed waited for her husband, her heart held together by hope. She had lost it yesterday when he’d returned home late, totally drunk. Not only had he trusted the wrong people, but now that their business was in trouble, all that the man could do was drink.
She had never realized how emotionally vulnerable he really had been. She had always warned him about those people — she had told him how her gut, her intuition always warned her about them. But he’d always laughed it off. And now, all of her bad feelings had come true.
Every single thing that they had spent their whole life building and creating — everything would be lost if he didn’t take control of the downward spiral of their lives.
She looked up at the wall clock. He was late, and he would probably return drunk again.
“No point talking to him now,” she sighed as she gingerly rose from the couch and made her way to her room. On her way, she stopped in to check in on her two children. Amidst all this trouble, those two were the ones who were suffering the most.
The youngest, thePage of Cups Reversedwas having trouble at school. His teacher had called her a couple of times, telling her about the fights he’d been getting into. She’d tried talking to him, but he had become petulant. After ranting on about how no one really understood him, he had simply run off into his room and slammed the door.
Talking to him when he was like this just wasn't going to help.
“I’ll try again tomorrow,” she sighed as she looked in on her oldest.
The Knight of Cups Reversedhad been suffering from a heartbreak. She’d known, even though he had tried to keep everything hidden. She had found out, albeit by mistake. At first, when she discovered her child’s first love, she had been curious and happy. But when she learned that the girl he liked didn't feel the same way about him, she felt sorry for her child. Of course, since he wasn't talking about it with anyone at home, she couldn't claim to know it.
Amidst all the chaos with the business, and the uncertainty of their life, their children were trusting their parents to take care of them while quietly going through their own crises. She wondered which crisis would mean more to them — the one about the business, or the one going in their personal life. She wondered if asking them to choose like this was fair to them.
He stood in the grassy meadow, carefully holding the pentacle with his fingers. He looked at it reverently, amazed at the great bounty it represented.
All around him the earth flowered and burst into spring. But he was mesmerized by the beauty and knowledge that the pentacle stood for.
“There is so much that I can learn,” he thought to himself. “I mustn’t waste any time, and study it as deeply and as thoroughly as I can.”
Thus resolved, he set upon his chosen task with determination and deliberation.
He sat on his horse, holding his pentacle in one hand. In front of him, as far as his eyes could see, were vast open fields.
They were plowed and ready for the seeds to be sown. But he stood still, watching and waiting for some sort of inspiration to strike him.
He had the means, and he had the resources. He even had the fields ready and waiting. Yet, something held him back from actually taking any sort of action.
No matter how much he may be equipped to perform the task at hand, he just didn’t feel ready enough to actually do it.
She sat on her throne, surrounded by flowers and trees. A rabbit ran past, a symbol of the fertility that was all around her in Nature.
Lovingly, she gazed at the pentacle that she cradled on her lap. She had come to love all that the pentacle represented, and she would do whatever it took to make sure that it was well taken care of.
An almost motherly instinct took over her as she planned and acted upon her plans, making sure that all the knowledge that she’d gained from the pentacle be put to good use.
She knew that she was more than capable of making it happen. The creative power of Nature surged through her, empowering her and enabling her to reach for her goals and achieve them.
He sat upon his throne, surrounded by growing plants. He wore an elegant cloak decorated with grapes — the symbol of a good life. He smiled at the pentacle he held in his lap.
His life was luxurious and prosperous. He had created all of his abundance with a lot of careful planning and disciplined hard work. He hadn't even taken a vacation in a while —he had been that dedicated to turning his dreams into reality.
His life had a steady rhythm and pace — he had a time-table and he followed it every single day. Even if people thought that his life was boring and mundane, he never thought it so. He loved what he did and he did what he loved. Nothing else mattered.
He stood in the grassy meadow, carefully holding the pentacle with his fingers. But somehow, he just couldn’t focus on all the wonderful things that it stood for. Perhaps he was overawed, or maybe he was distracted, but he worried about dropping the pentacle. And his worry distracted him.
Even the beauty and bounty of Nature flowering into spring couldn’t hold his gaze.
“No matter how hard I try, I simply cannot understand what secrets the pentacle holds,” he sighed in frustration. “All this time was simply wasted. And I have nothing to show for it.”
His fears had held him back. His lack of focus had distracted him even more. In the end, he gained nothing from the time he spent holding the pentacle. And finally, his fears manifested into reality as the pentacle fell from his fingers.
He had waited for far too long. The fields had waited for him and the time for sowing the seeds had come and gone.
Although he held all the resources for making things happen, he had allowed himself the luxury of procrastination, and the right time for action had passed him by.
Now faced with the idea of even further defeat, he felt the urgency to act. But he feared for acting haphazardly, and tried to do the best he could in the limited time window that had opened up for him.
Berating himself for wasting time in idle thoughts and worries, he sprang into action, trying and hoping to take advantage of the last bits of time to do the right thing.
Surrounded by flowers and trees, she sat upon her throne. But she couldn't see the flowers blooming around her. She didn't even notice the rabbit that ran past her.
All of her attention was taken up by the pentacle in her lap that seemed to be falling away. She was upset with how things had turned out for her. No matter how much she took care of things, they just seemed to slip away from her.
She had cared for the pentacle coin like a mother cares for her child. But the energy of growth simply wouldn't flow through her anymore. She had to give it all up. The creative power of Nature would surge and flow through her no more.
Day by day, it became harder for her to find her center, and reach for her goals.
As he sat upon his throne surrounded by growing plants, he realized that he had yet to achieve his final goal. Although he wore his cloak decorated with grapes, he still hadn't created a good life for himself.
He had come a long way upon his chosen path. He had an abundant life, but it wasn't as prosperous as he wanted for it to be.
He missed going for vacations. He didn't want to work so hard. His wishful thinking had set his everyday rhythm into disarray, making it harder and harder everyday to get back to his old, disciplined life.
He worried about what others thought of him, and didn't want them to feel that he was someone special.
The King of Pentacles sighed contentedly as he looked up from his book. His youngest child, the Page of Pentacles lay on the carpet, deeply engrossed in a book. He smiled and looked back into his own book as he relaxed into his comfy chair.
It had been a great year, and their annual vacation to the their little villa in the countryside was their reward. His business had done well, and his sons had also fared well in their exams .
He looked up at his elder child, the Knight of Pentacles. That one had seemed to be lost in thought these past few days. But he didn’t worry. He knew that his children would figure out their next steps sooner or later.
He looked at his wife, the lovely Queen of Pentacles, as she stared into the flames in the fireplace. She had been his strongest supporter through all his struggles and hardships. Not only was she a brilliant task master, but she was also a great money manager. She had kept him steady and strong through the years. She had also been a very wonderful mother to both his children. All his familial bliss, he owed to her. He just hoped that all that he had created for his wife and children would suffice to keep them happy for the rest of their lives. He hoped that he would be able to support them and help them always.
As she watched the logs burn in the fireplace, the Queen of Pentacles planned for the next stage of her life. Both her children were growing up. There had been this interesting idea which had been floating around in her head for a while now, and she had been slowly studying it, figuring out its feasibility. Once they got back home, she planned to talk to her husband about it. She knew, he would support her in all her ventures. But she wanted his inputs, and hear him out if he had any specific concerns about her project. His guidance would no doubt be valuable.
The Knight of Pentacles walked over to the picture window and looked out at the forest beyond the walls of their villa. Having just finished his studies, he knew that his father didn’t expect him to do something extraordinary right away. But he had been considering several ideas in his head for quite a while now. Since all of those ideas looked interesting, he hadn’t made up his mind yet.
As the elders pondered upon the intricacies of practical life, the Page of Pentacles read up about all the different and interesting things that his book was talking about. As he looked at the pictures that accompanied the text, he smiled to himself.
“The world is so full of interesting things and topics,” he thought to himself. “Even if I spend the rest of my life studying, I won’t be able to even scratch the surface.” He smiled. “I guess, that’s the tun part of life,” he thought as he turned the page and got engrossed by yet another beautiful image.
The Page of Pentacles Reverseddropped the book he’d been reading and looked out of the window. The book had been interesting, but there were so many other things that seemed to be catching his attention these days. Everywhere he looked around, there were all sorts of things that looked interesting, and he wanted to try out most of them. Sure, his grades had fallen a bit, but he certainly wasn’t going to end up being teased for being a nerd! All of his classmates had teased him no end for always reading books, and he wanted to prove them all wrong. All he needed to do was find something ‘cool’ and interesting, and he would show them!
The Queen of Pentacles Reversedworried for her children, and for her husband. Her youngest child was on the verge of becoming a teenager, and he was going through a bunch of changes. She wanted to be sure that she was there for him when he needed her. At the same time, she also wanted to be there for her husband. His work had been going through some uncertainties recently, and he had been staying up nights worrying and pacing. She just wanted to help him and support him through his tough times. She’d taken time off from her work to focus on these small and large things at home. And now, some of her projects at work remained unfinished. She wondered how she would be able to finish off her work, and be there for her family at the same time.
The Knight of Pentacles Reversedrealized that he’d been waiting too long. All of the projects that he’d been considering were good, and worthwhile. “Just choose one and start,” he had told himself, and he had jumped right in. He’d spent enough time considering all sorts of angles and projections of these projects. But when he jumped in without any sort of long term plan or idea, he began to panic.
“Don’t worry so much,” his father, the King of Pentacles Reversedtold him. “Take it one step at a time, and you’ll figure it out eventually.” Although their situation was a little difficult, it wasn’t completely dire. His children were smart and capable. He knew them inside out, and he trusted them to know and do the right thing at the right time. He had taught them well. So he encouraged and guided his son, and tried to figure out a way to resolve all the tough matters that had been staring him in the face at his work.
Your imagination is the key to opening the doors to your intuition. The more colorful and playful you are with your imagination, the more your subconscious will respond to you.
These stories were but a version of the possible stories that one can make up from these images. When you look at images from different decks, they will spark another direction in your imaginative wanderings. Don't be afraid to explore.
The more compelling the imagery, the more vivid and imaginative your story will be. The more viscerally an image draws you in, the more gut wrenchingly true the story will be. Always pay attention to your immediate reaction to an image — it will reveal a world of information to you.
I hope you find the joy and playfulness that these deeply truthful revelations bring into your life.
The stories that you imagine and create will not only shed light on your inner world, but also help you create a more joyful and abundant outer world. Let these images guide you and lead you to a happy and insightful life.
It is my hope that as you read through these stories, you are inspired to also work with the card images and create stories of your own. And while you do so, I hope you unlock your creative and imaginative side. This way, you will be able to look at the deep connections and story threads that run through all the cards of a Tarot Card Deck. This will unlock many connections and will lead to a deeper understanding of the imagery and story of the Deck.
Thank You for letting me share this version of my card stories with you.
During our study of the card images, we've seen various symbols and we’ve referred to a number of concepts and myths. While this section isn't going to talk about all those things in-depth, it is a small effort to give you a quick overview of some of those symbols, concepts and myths.
I've included links to sites on the Internet where you can find more links (as is the nature of the Internet) to more information. In short, it may lead you down a path of discovery and adventure of your own. Go for it. There’s a treasure trove waiting to be discovered. And thanks to the internet, it is literally at your finger tips.
Do glance through this section and find out what intrigues you. Send yourself into your next adventure — in the wonderful world full of myth, psychology and symbols.
From Greek Mythology
See: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Persephone
Persephone is the daughter of Zeus (the King of the Gods) and Demeter (the Goddess of the Harvest).
Demeter rejects the marriage proposals for Persephone from the Gods such as Hermes (Messenger God) and Apollo (Sun God), and keeps her away from other Olympian Gods. However, Hades (God of the Underworld i.e. Land of the Dead) loves Persephone. So Zeus allows him to abduct her.
Hades rises up from the ground while Persephone is out gathering flowers. He abducts Persephone and carries her off to the Underworld. While there, Hades tricks Persephone into eating some Pomegranate seeds. If you ate something in the Underworld, you couldn’t leave it. Having remained innocent of the ways of the world thanks to her mother, Persephone doesn’t know of this rule and eats the Pomegranate seeds.
Meanwhile, Demeter notices that her daughter is missing, and stops paying attention to the growing crops as she searches for her daughter. Famine spreads across the land. Finally, the Sun God reveals her location and Hermes negotiates a treaty between Hades and Demeter. Persephone is returned to her mother. But since she has eaten in the Underworld, she can also go back to be with Hades.
Being the daughter of Demeter and Zeus, she possesses a mix of their abilities and skills. Thus, when she enters the Land of the Dead, whilst still being alive, and marries Hades who is the God of the Underworld, she brings her abilities with her. Thus, she is able to bring light and life into the otherwise dreary (and generally dead) Underworld.
Symbolically, the significance of Persephone is great — she is someone who can travel between the land of the living and the dead. She thus becomes a symbol of the ability to look at the deeper, hidden truths within the world.
She represents someone who can live and travel in the world of the subconscious mind, and then also thrive in the outer world. She thus has the unique ability to bring into the outer world many of the things that are normally hidden in the inner / subconscious world.
From Greek Mythology
See: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Persephone
Demeter is the Goddess of the Harvest. She presides over grains and fertility of the Earth. She also presides over the sacred law and the cycle of Life and Death.
From Egyptian Mythology
See: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tsis
Isis is worshipped as the Mother Goddess. She is also the patroness of Nature and Magic. She was married to Osiris, and they ruled over Egypt.
However, Osiris had an enemy in his brother Set, who tricked and killed him, and then disposed of the body without a burial. Isis faces many trials and tribulations to recover her husband’s dead body so that she could give him a proper burial. However, Set cuts up Osiris’ body and throws the parts all over Egypt. Isis goes through a lot to recover these parts, and sews them together. However, Osiris’ phallus was swallowed by a fish, and thus couldn't be recovered.
Now, wanting revenge, Isis uses magic to fashion a phallus out of a reed and then breathes life into Osiris’ dead body. Then, she conceives a child by him.
This child, Horus, grows up and defeats Set in a glorious battle, and thus avenging all the sufferings that were inflicted upon his parents and the people of Egypt.
From Egyptian Mythology
See: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Set_rDeity) and https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anubis
Set is the God of Disorder and Violence. He is also Osiris brother. He is married to Nephthys, the sister of Isis.
Anubis is the Protector of Graves and and the Embalmer. He ushered the souls into the Afterlife.
Legends state that Nephthys had an affair with Osiris by disguising herself as Isis. Anubis was born as a result of that affair. Since she couldn't raise the child for fear of Set, Isis adopted Anubis as her son.
See: https: //en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Akashic_records
All our thoughts, feelings, desires and actions, throughout our various lives and reincarnations, are recorded in the Akashic Record Books which are kept in the Astral Plane.
The word ‘Akasha’ is the Sanskrit word for the iSky\
See: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tetragrammaton
The latin equivalent of the four Hebrew letters (called the Tetragrammaton) YHVH refer to the name of God, Yahweh.
Yahweh is said to be one of the secret holy names of God in the Jewish religion. However, this name is not as frequently used as ‘Adonai’.
From Greek Mythology
See: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moirai
The Moirai were three Goddesses: Clotho (spinner), Lachesis (allotter), and Atropos (unturnable), who controlled the thread of everyone’s life from the time they were born till the time that they died.
These Goddesses were considered to be independent of the will of the Gods. In fact, it is said that even the Gods had to bow down to the will of the Fates.
Clotho spun the thread of life onto her Spindle, while Lachesis measured the amount of life allotted to each person with her measuring rod. Atropos chose the manner of the death and cut the thread of life with her shears when the time had come.
From Greek Mythology
See: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Styx
The River Styx is said to form the boundary between the land of the Earth and the Underworld. It is also said that a ferryman, Charon, transports the souls of the dead in a boat across the river and into the Underworld.
A coin was often placed in the mouths of dead bodies to pay for Charon’s toll, in order to ensure that the soul of the dead person was transported to the Underworld.
From Greek Mythology
See: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hades
Hades was the God of the Underworld. Many times, the Underworld itself is also called Hades.
He is the son of Cronos and Rhea. Along with his brothers Zeus and Poseidon, he defeated the Titans and claimed the cosmos. While Zeus ruled the sky and Poseidon ruled the sea, Hades became the ruler of the Underworld.
Hades abducted Persephone, the daughter of Demeter, and subsequently married her.
See: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Baphomet
In the early 14th Century, the Knights Templar were accused of worshipping Baphomet, and therefore faced Inquisition.
Baphomet is said to be a pagan and mystical deity that is connected with several occult traditions.
The head and legs of a horned Goat, body of a man, and the wings of a Bat combine to create the image of Baphomet.
From Greek Mythology
See: https: //en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pan_( god)
Pan is the God of the Wilds, Shepherds, Flocks, Mountains and Music. He is also connected with Fertility and Spring.
He is described as having the lower body and horns of a goat, like a Satyr.
From Egyptian Mythology
See: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ibis
The Ibis bird was highly revered by the Egyptians. The bird was associated with the God Thoth. The Ibis bird is considered to be the icon of Thoth — the messenger God.
The Ibis bird is also said to be a symbol of fertility. According to legend, the Ibis bird is the last wild animal to seek shelter during a storm, and the first one to emerge once the storm has ended.
See: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Karma
The cycle of life / Karma is the spiritual principle of cause and effect, where the actions (karma) of a person (i.e. the cause) will influence the future (i.e. the effect).
According to this philosophy, good intents and good deeds will lead to good outcomes, while bad intents and bad deeds will lead to bad outcomes.
Those who believe in reincarnation also believe that these effects carry over through lifetimes.
See: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Archetype
An Archetype is defined as ‘a primitive mental image inherited from the earliest human ancestors, and supposed to be present in the collective unconscious.’
Essentially, an archetype is a basic concept that becomes a sort of a template for explaining a certain type of pattern, symbol or motif. It conveys the essence of that pattern and becomes a representative of it at the same time.
See also: http://www.taroticallyspeaking.com/series/archetypes-in-tarot/
See: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anima_and_animus
According to Carl Jung, the feminine inner personality within a man is called the Anima, while the male inner personality within a woman is called the Animus.
See also: http://www.taroticallyspeaking.com/knowledge/archetypes-in-tarot—the-anima-and-the- animus/
A cave is a hollow place under the ground. It is often a dark place with a narrow opening.
Caves are symbolically associated with the womb since their interior environment (darkness, narrow opening) can invoke a similar feeling.
Several initiation practices involve having to go deep under the ground inside a cave and spending a certain number of days within. Emerging from the cave after such an experience is then linked with a spiritual rebirth of the person, thus initiating him / her into the secret order or group.
See: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Infinity_symbol
The Lemniscate looks like the horizontal version of the number 8. It is often used in mathematics to symbolize the concept of ‘infinity’.
Essentially the symbol conveys the meaning that the energy within the Universe never truly goes away into nothingness. It changes its shape and form, transforming from one kind to the other. Thus, the Lemniscate is also a symbol of Transformation.
See: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ouroboros
This is an ancient symbol that depicts a snake eating its own tail. It suggests the cyclic nature of all things. It also suggests the constant recreation of the self by the destruction of the self.
See: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alchemical_symbol
The Alchemical Symbols of Mercury, Sulphur, Water and Salt are used on the Wheel of Fortune card.
According to the basic tenets of ancient Alchemy, the three Primes, or basic elements were:
- is Salt (base matter)
- is Sulphur (omnipresent spirit of life)
- $ is Mercury (fluid connection between the High and the Low)
The Crown represents power, victory, glory, triumph, and righteousness. Thus, it is also the symbolic representation of the Ego.
As I worked through the nitty-grittys of writing and publishing this eBook, the combined support of the Tarot Cards, people, apps, and music helped me get through the tough times. I would like to give my thanks and express my deepest gratitude to all of them.
First and foremost - Mom Thanks so much for being my mom You are the best! I love you. Thanks for your generous spirit, and for your unfaltering support. Thanks also for giving me a much need kick in the butt at all the right times. All of it helped. Truly. Did I tell you that I love you?
Also, Dad. You showed me how to forgive and move on. You showed me that it is possible to find redemption when one wanted to, when one chose to seek it. It was rewarding, and most of all, refreshing to have befriended you.
I also wish to thank all my friends and students who went through the numerous iterations of the book with me, talking to me, hearing me out, giving me their valuable suggestions and generally being a great support system You guys are the best. Shankar, Pranita, Madhavi, Bhavesh, Rohi, and Astral Luck - all of you have been truly awesome!
A Big Thank You to all my students — all of you have made me the teacher that I am today. Thank You. Much, much Gratitude.
A huge shout-out to Michael Anasakta! Thanks for appearing in the picture at the right time, and helping me out with your valuable inputs and guidance. Sometimes, we can't see what's right in front of our nose. Those are the times that the Universe sends its messages via Angels like you. Thank You!
A Big Hug to all my blog readers. You guys have the patience of a saint. Thanks for hanging out with this reclusive, moody, introverted Tarot Card Reader.
Heartfelt Thanks to Lynn at U.S. Games Systems Inc. From the very beginning you have been like an Angel and a Fairy Godmother combined. Thank so much for all your guidance and help.
Danielle LaPorte: Your words (The Desire MapBook) and your blog posts have the magical quality of appearing just when I need them the most. Thanks so much for being you.
Nathan Barry: Thanks for writing your book, Authority. It gave me a plan and a direction. Thanks for showing me the way. Now, if only I could follow the plan exactly like you laid it down... Maybe for the next book?
Leonie Dawson: Your workbooks have helped me put my haphazard thoughts in some semblance of order, and have opened new pathways in my thinking process. Your online community on FaceBook has given me something that I never thought I was missing — a sense of community and belonging. Thank You, you charming Unicorn! Big Hugs for putting colors back into my life!
Scrivener. Scapple, Ulysses. Pages, OmniOutliner. Evernote, WordPress. Apple. Google. MailChimp. Apps that rock my world. I sincerely thank the developers of all these apps. You guys made it possible for all my haphazard efforts to make some sort of sense.
Thanks also to the Electronic and Alternative Stations on iTunes Radio (this was before Apple Music) for bringing music into my writing life. and helping me relax into the writing process.
Last. but not the least: Shay. Dev & Mindy. Thanks for everything. You guys were there for me when no one else was. You helped me find my way back to the land of the living. You showed me the path to forgiveness and redemption. And Adventure. Life is so much better for having met you guys.
As we come to the end of this book, I would like to thank you for having read it.
Writing this book has been an experience in discovery, exploration, forgiveness, and redemption.
For a moody, wacky, perfectionist, procrastinator like me, it was also a great exercise in the ‘start- writing-now-and-edit-latef and the ‘ letting-go-even-if-it-is-not-perfect-because-it-probably-will- never-be’ process.
Having you read my thoughts about something so close to my heart is truly humbling, and extremely gratifying.
Tell me if you liked it. Tell me that you liked it. Tell me, also, if you did not like it. Whatever you feel, I would love it if you wrote to me.
Email me at boss@madhavighare.comand share your thoughts / comments / suggestions / experiences. Let’s talk. Let’s connect.
It has been an interesting journey — writing this eBook. And I hope that an even more interesting one begins with its publication in the printed form
I've created these Worksheets to help you document your card stories and to do your spread analysis. You can use these formats in your Tarot Journal, and start recording your card stories, and spread statements.
You can, of course, use these layouts as-is. But if you want to tweak it (and you just might!), feel free to play around with the layout in a way that works for you.
If you want to download a PDF version that you can print out and use in your Journal, do visit www.taroticallyspeaking.com/worksheets for the download link.
Enjoy!
Card Name
The
Environment / Landscape
The Person
The Symbols
The Card Story
Tarot-ically Speaking wvm.tajoticaILyspeaking.coni
Spread:
No. Of Cards:
Purpose
□General
□Specific
Type
□Predictive
□Guidance
□Mix of Both
Spread Positions / Setting or Story World
Dynamics
Spread Statement
Tarot-ically Speaking www. taroticallyspeaking. com