Day 3: 11.30.16

Deck: Rider-Waite

Reading Style: Classic Five-Card Spread

The following exercise was taking from my text:

Card 1: What do I bring to the relationship with this deck? (Five of Swords)

Card 2: What special qualities and learning experiences does this deck have to offer? (Page of Swords)

Card 3: How can I most productively use these cards? (Four of Swords) 

Card 4: What limitations or obstacles might I face with this deck? (Eight of Cups)

Card 5: What will be my overall experience of working with this deck? (The High Priestess)

*Note: all cards pulled came upright

♡★☽

1. Five of Swords: Mourning a Loss

This card is described as winning a dispute, confidence in doing what you want without judgement, learning a spiritual lesson from defeat, and can also mean rejection, hurtful humiliation, hard feelings, and poor sportsmanship. I'm interpreting this in the way that I initially will feel judgement from wanting to learn tarot, but my striving for knowledge and to learn it will help me overcome the rejection. I am a very headstrong person, and have full belief that I will learn the deck the way that I want. The phrase that stood out in my text was "spiritual lesson from defeat". I have always felt "defeated" spiritually from my own personal faith (re: being raised Christian and realizing it was just not for me). I haven't really found any sort of religion that I would like to join (Buddhism is probably the closest, but I still have some issues). However, I think using these cards and positive, personal energy is a good use of my spiritual beliefs. 

2. Page of Swords: Keen Observer, Clever Spy

This card is intelligent, alert, perceptive, easily connects the dots, unexpected/astonishing news, and analytical. Reversed, it is secretive, suspicious, a hurtful communication, unwelcome news, and unforeseen difficulties. I believe this deck will help me understand myself and introduce me deeper into the world of tarot. This deck will allow me to grow as a reader and will show me the ins and outs that a good tarot reader needs to know. I think it will also teach me how to deliver the message the cards are trying to say. I want to be honest and tell the query both positive and "negative" sides of the reading. After practicing these readings the past few days, I am in agreement with the author of my text. I don't think that upright vs. reverse necessarily matters. It's important to deliver both sides of the message to get the most out of the card.

3. Four of Swords: Solitude and Retreat

I pulled this card yesterday! it represents solitude, a time of healing, and a time of retreat. It can also mean possible rejection or ostracism and withdrawal from society. I think the most productive way to use my cards is to practice as often as possible when I can most effectively concentrate and work alone. My plan right now is to study them for about a year before doing a reading for another individual. I think the card is also saying to not hide the gift of reading the cards and to share the knowledge with other people. Perhaps a year might be too long, but I know with my current 9-5 job, I felt most confident after one year. (I also recorded my progress with this via photographs and compared my work before and after.) Keeping this blog for the year will help my improve my work and confidence with the cards. 

4. Eight of Cups: The Decline of Matter

This card represents a renewed interest, moving onto greener pastures, travel, seeking a greater meaning in life, or lifestyle changes. It can also mean abandoned success, walking away, chasing an illusion, or emotional withdrawal. As far as limitations I may experience, I think this represents my attention span. Much like anything in my life, I can become instantly infatuated and put months and months of work/interest into a certain hobby/TV show/book/person/etc. Then one day, I will fall out of pattern and stop. One day of not doing becomes two... then three... then four... and so on. I think the important thing I need to learn is keeping my interest going and not giving up when it gets hard or repetitive. The only way I will "get good" at tarot is by continuing to practice it.

5. The High Priestess: Guardian of Secret Wisdom

She is my favorite card right now... the High Priestess. She represents secrets, revelation of the hidden, intuitive awareness, psychic infatuation, mystery, and our inner voice. She can also mean superficial knowledge, escape from reality, ignoring intuition, and inaccurate hunches. I could not imagine a more appropriate card for this question. I think working with this deck will tune me into the face that I do have an ability to read cards to help people answer their deep questions. I feel that I have a great intuition and usually the feeling in my gut is pretty accurate. When I saw a tarot reader in Salem, she mentioned to me that Leo's have great intuition and the ability to understand people. I think the High Priestess represents my new interest and how I can help myself and others reach the awareness. She is also slightly warning to not ignore my intuition and to study very hard so I don't give inaccurate readings.

Day 2: 11.28.16

Deck: Ancient Italian Tarot

Reading Style: Classic 3 Card (Past-Present-Future)

Past: Death (13), upright
Present: Four of Swords, upright
Future: Ten of Pentacles, upright

♡★☽

1. Death (A New Chapter Begins)

Death represents transition, transformation, endings, renewal as well as refusal to let go, procrastination, clingy-ness, and fear of the unknown. My texts describe that when upright, there is a period of charge and a new beginning is coming. We are to have courage to face our new changes. Reversed death indicates avoiding change and creating conditions to avoid new ideas or propositions. Similar to my posts yesterday, I am experiencing a new chapter with the relationship I just severed. Even though my car wasn't reversed, I am also experiencing a bit of stagnation in my life as well. This card falls under Scorpio, and the dates of the tropical chart (23 October-22 November) are particularly intriguing to me as a lot of change occurred in this period.

2. Four of Swords (Solitude and Retreat)

This card represents solitude, rest from strife, retreat, solace, truce, meditation, and also exile, banishment, isolation, loneliness, or being stuck in a stressful situation. Upright it represents a time of healing and recharge. Reversed, it warns of rejection or ostracism. I'm interpreting this in relation to my previous card. (Clearly this severed relationship is weighing heavily on my spirit.) I need to find time to meditate and retreat from my stress. Since it was upright, I'm seeing this as a positive sign to take a few moments of silence for the day. This card is associated with Libra... sidereal charting points to 6 November-15 November... this was a time of turmoil for me. This is a sign that rest is much needed.

3. Ten of Pentacles (A Prosperous Household)

This represents wealth, prosperity, abundance, social status, family prosperity, legacy, and gifts. It can also represent loss, family feuds, failed spending, hoarding, and financial insecurity. Upright it can mean a secure family environment or a prosperous financial gain. Reversed it indicates a poor use of finances or a family unrest due to finances. The zodiac charts again don't do much for me here as the dates are way off from today. (Again, I am ignorant still on how to interpret them for future readings.) Despite that, it is upcoming to December--aka the busy season for my job. I'm picking up a lot of hours so I can save a lot of my funds. Starting tomorrow, I work 11 days straight, with one day off (Dec 10). Then I work 13 days, with three days off (Dec 24-26). I finish off December with five more days on and one day off (Jan 1). I'm excited to see what December brings. 

Day 1: 11.27.16

Deck: Ancient Italian Tarot

Reading Style: Classic 3 Card (Past-Present-Future)

Past: The Moon, reversed

Present: Six of Cups, reversed

Future: Queen of Cups, reversed

♡★☽

1. The Moon (Things That Go Bump In The Night)

The moon is associated with illusion, mystery, haziness, intuitive knowledge, confusion, lack of clarity, hidden enemies, and ambiguity. It has a dark side, hidden from plain sight. When consulting my text, there is a reading for "upright" and "reversed". Interesting enough, the reversed reading states that there is an emergence from a troubling time. I have just recently ended a professional and personal (non-romantic) relationship with someone. I'm hardly familiar with zodiac signs beyond my own (leo!) and beyond that I'm only familiar with the tropical/standard chart. This person I've cut ties with, doesn't fall in the tropical chart. However, they do fall within the sidereal chart. The connect here is so close that it is eerie. 

2. Six of Cups (Remembrance of Things Past)

This card is associated with the past, awaiting the near future, happy memories, reunion, harmony, pleasure, clinging to the past, wallowing, and retreating to nostalgia. As this card was also reversed, it refers to things happening shortly or taking refuge in past pleasures rather than facing a certain situation. I can see both the positives and negatives in my present life as we speak. My new beginnings would definitely be learning tarot and also finding myself officially on track with my financial debt. (It still lingers, but I am no longer behind.) As far as the "negative" reading, I am definitely usuing nostalgia as a form of escapism in my personal life. My reading in early November in Salem also referenced this feeling. Again with the sidereal zodiac: November 26-December 5 is the indicative time of this card being active... it's November 27. Wow.

3. Queen of Cups (Emotional Intelligence)

The Queen of Cups is described as dreaming, sensitive, patient, intuitive, creative, romantic, loving, mystical, but also passive, insecure, sentimental, vain, unrealistic and lacking in personal boundaries. Upright she is inspiring and sensitive to those around her. She helps guide any situations at hand. Reversed, she is emotionally insecure and unreliable due to her ability to get caught up in emotions. I don't see tarot as a way to tell the future personally, but use it more as a divine guidance.  I know that I often do get caught up in my emotions and sometimes make petty decisions because of this. The zodiac dates in both charts didn't really match up to anything significant for me at this time, but (again) I'm not super familiar with the importance of the dates. I'm sure this will make more sense when I do more research.