You know those blogs that have a niche market? The ones that do the same thing over and over, and have 17 bazillion followers? Lifehacker, Pioneer Woman, Cake Wrecks?
We are so clearly not that. Which is sad, since I do post a tattoo almost every week, and that should be enough to keep SOMEONE entertained.
Which brings us to today's post. And what I think will be a weekly kinda thing, so long as nothing crazy happens in my life, and I maintain a level of interest. And that will be a tarot kind of thing.
Now, let's start with a couple of things, and move on from there.
No, I don't think a deck of cards can tell the future. However, I use tarot cards as a perspective thing. That is, reading the tarot gives me insights and makes me think about events, and people, in different ways. Ways I may not have thought of otherwise.
That said, I also seem to draw the same cards into the same places over and over again in readings, until something happens. And then those cards go away, and new cards take their place. For example, a few weeks ago I was constantly throwing the Wheel of Fortune and the Three of Swords. Which is interesting, because those two cards don't really go together (and we'll get to why later). However, suffice it to say that the Three of Swords happened, and once it did, it has disappeared completely from my throws. I haven't seen it once in weeks. However, I've moved on to other cards that keep showing up.
I am hardly an expert in this. I am learning, putting together a journal of my reads, so I can keep track of what I throw, and when. And can go back and see if the cards were right or wrong. They've been pretty dead-on accuarate up to now, but again, that doesn't mean they predicted anything. Or maybe they did, and I'm just too much of a skeptic to believe it.
I've also been compiling research on the meanings of the cards, and keeping that in a journal as well. I like to look at several resources, rather than thinking that the Little White Book that comes with a set of cards is the be-all and end-all resource for what each card means. That, and I'm overly analytical, so I like to look at things from as many angles as possible, before believing any of them. To that end, I have a few books, and several internet sources that I've been scouring, and keeping notes on. I bought yet another blank journal, and have been patiently researching each individual card and recording what I think is a safe, and personal, reading of each one. While there certainly are books that already have this, I've not been happy with any of them totally. Thus, putting it together for myself.
One of the books I have (no, I don't remember the name) has an assortment of different reads you can do, to tell you different things. As long as I'm in the mood, I think I'll throw the three-card daily experience spread on Friday mornings before I head to work. Then, time permitting, I'll post that spread here, as well as what the cards usually mean. The length will be determined, clearly, by how busy I am that day.
Sometime over the weekend, I'll revisit the throw here, and update based on what occured during the day on Friday.
I often wonder if throwing tarot is akin to scientifically observing people. That is, by observing something you intrinsically change it. Then again, if you forget about the cards during the course of the day (I tried this yesterday, and it actually worked) then by the time you look at them again, you can see how well they did for you.
After all that, here's what I threw this morning, in a three card spread:
Five of Pentacles, the Hanged Man, and Judgment
The ideas behind the spread were this: The dominant energy for the day; how I'll feel about them OR the other people involved; how all of it combined affects me. We'll quickly go through these cards and their general meanings, and then I'm getting back to my regular day.
Dominant energy: Five of Pentacles. This card has two different schools of thought. It depicts, in most cases, figures passing a lit church, or sanctuary. The figures, be they male or female, are usually clothed in a way to indicate poverty. (I use the Deviant Moon tarot deck, and its illustrations are slightly different from the prototypical Rider-Waite deck...but most decks use similar illustrations for cards.) The 5P usually indicates poverty, the loss of a job or other material wealth, worry, despair. However, it also indicates that those around you will be there for you, whether you're rich or poor (the pentacles are usually used in the form of light coming from inside the sancutary). It gives the advice that this too shall pass.
However, there is another reading of the card, that of love or lovers, and something that cannot be reconciled.
How you'll feel or the others involved The Hanged Man. This is one of those weird cards that seems to mean everything. Yet somehow it always seems to come clear by the end of a read. Since there are only three cards here, and we're talking abotu the current day, I have no idea which of its meanings it actually holds. It depicts a figure hanging upside down. It does not connote death, but usually a sense of suspension, waiting, often wisdom and the use of intuition. The basic idea is that in order to gain you must give, you must be willing to sacrifice. The querrent is either doing nothing to achieve that they want, or waiting for someone else to do it for them. (Which is actually the same thing, but whatevs.) Thus, it's either me that's waivering and being undecided, or someone else around me.
Finally, how everything affects me: Judgment. In it's most basic sense, it means a change. Usually a huge one. Leaving something from the past behind and moving on to something new. It often means the need to make a decision, and usually it's a huge one, and one that cannot be changed.
So there they are. For the sake of clarity I will point out that, over the last few weeks (about three, really), I have constantly been throwing cards that indicate change from the major arcana (those are the fancy cards without numerals associated with them, such as the Hanged Man and Judgment, versus the Five of Pentacles). I've thrown the Tower (abrupt change), the World (change in the form of everything coming out as it should) and Judgment (see above) a lot lately. So I have to assume that something is going to happen. I think I already know what the Tower was about, and it's stopped showing up. However, we shall see.
