By Sarah Taylor
One of the things I love about gathering with a group of tarot readers is that I get an insight into the many different approaches to a tarot reading, both in terms of field of expertise and technique. (It’s also a great opportunity to participate in some “Ooooh, what deck/s do you use?” banter, with its inevitable cohort: deck envy. Good times!)
This past weekend, while attending the UK Tarot Conference’s ninth annual get-together in London (The theme was ‘The Hermit’, ninth card in the major arcana), I was fortunate enough to meet and talk to a number of colleagues and new friends about their work with cartomancy. I came away with a sense of connectedness to a process that refuses to measure up to some Western empirical ideal but which consistently and simultaneously validates what is happening and expands on what is possible.
Most inspiring of all was the headlining speaker, Rachel Pollack, who was at once learned yet approachable, teacher and maverick, with a depth of knowledge that I would dearly have loved to tap if I had been able to spend some one-to-one time with her. She is at ease with the psychological school of tarot, but makes no bones about her belief in it as a tool of divination. You ask a question; you get an answer. Simple as that.
The nugget of gold that I took away from the conference as a professional reader was the opportunity to peer under the hood: to listen to, learn from, and collaborate with other tarot readers. What prep work do they do before the reading starts? How do they shuffle the cards, and why? Which layouts do they choose? How do they lay the cards out? Is their reading style ethereal, non-directive or metaphorical? Is it mundane, prescriptive or practical? This is one of the key ways that tarot readers of any level can hone their craft. And the learning never stops.
So today I am lifting the hood on my own approach to the kind of three-card reading that I do for the Weekend Tarot Reading. I’ve done a couple of articles on layout and reading techniques in the past, but perhaps not one that deals with the process from start to finish. Some parts of the article will be practical — and where I work intuitively I will do my best to try and encapsulate some of what goes on.
But, really, when it comes to working with intuition, you are your best teacher. People may be able to point you in its general direction, but it is you who will know best how to get there, and it is something that you will find becomes increasingly easier. If you’re not used to working with your intuition, it can feel like you’re beating a path through the undergrowth. But like any path, the more frequently you travel on it, the more your route becomes unimpeded.
This is how I tend to do a three-card reading.
Aligning
When I wrote about the Ace of Wands last week, I wrote about approaching a reading in a state of reverence — in other words aligning with the flow. Personally, I align with God in the way that I choose to understand It, and I do that by vocally invoking the forces that I recognise as playing a part in my life to assist me.
I ask that they walk with me — essentially that they remind me of my place when treading the fine line between the personal and the collective. I am not unaffected by my tarot readings; yet it is my utmost responsibility to ensure that my clients and readers are not adversely affected by my personal connection to meaning. To me, this works like psychotherapy: there has to be a personal participation by the therapist on both a conscious and an unconscious level. Without that, there is no alchemy. There are only two non-reactive substances. When there is empathy, gold can be created and magic can be divined. Your client can go there because you have been there yourself.
Shuffling and cutting the cards
I then do my own centering of the cards, most practically to shuffle the last reading out of them. This is also a meditative process, however, and it opens the inner gateways to the reading. One of our commenters suggested that seven riffle-shuffles randomise the deck, and I either do that, or swirl the cards on the floor. If a card ‘jumps’ out of the deck or makes itself impossible to ignore, I use that as the first card in the reading, any other ‘jumpers’ following on from there. I see these as aligning with the law of synchronicity; to ignore them is to ignore the very tenet of meaning on which tarot is based.
Finally, I cut the deck three times with my left hand — which has the effect of activating right-brain functioning. I move away from the analytical and into the intuitive. Whichever pile of cards calls to me, I work with, putting the other two piles underneath it.
Checking in and laying out
I do a final check-in to make sure I still feel ‘in flow’, pause and rejoin it if I do not, and then I lay out the cards. Typically, I will place them face up, from left to right.
Sometimes, however, I get a clear instruction before I look at the cards to order them differently. When I receive an instruction like this, I prefer to go with it rather than to second-guess it. Second-guessing is tantamount to moving out of the flow, and upstream card readings do not an effortless experience make. On the other hand, if you get an ‘instruction’ after you’ve looked at the cards, for example, entertain the possibility that you are standing at the threshold of the Land of Wishful Thinking and Denial — a position most often based on a feeling of fear. When we feel fear, we tighten, and when we tighten, we restrict flow. I see a tarot reading as a labour of love, which is the opposite of fear. Love expands.
Immediate reactions
If something comes to me when I first see the cards, I’ll write it down. Sometimes it takes the form of a few words or a phrase; at others it is a piece of verse or a song. This becomes the foundation for the reading.
Sometimes nothing comes to me. That’s fine too.
Time out
Then I walk away — perhaps for ten minutes, perhaps an hour or two. Occasionally I will do a layout and sleep on it. Sometimes I will literally ‘sleep on it’, putting the cards under my bed.
I find the energy of the cards challenging to limit to human form, with human words. In her book On Becoming an Alchemist, Catherine MacCoun writes about the ‘ascent of the vertical’ — the journey to bring something down from Spirit — and the effort it takes to remain focussed and to act as interpreter in a way that preserves the integrity of the message. When I read her words, I understood why I have to disengage and recharge. Engagement, disengagement, recharging: this is the energetic description of a tarot reading. So when I first look at the cards, it can feel like cosmic overload — all of these things rushing at me at once. Walking away allows the messages to form an orderly queue, which, as it happens, also appeals deeply to my British sensibilities.
Revisiting and writing
When I come back, something has taken shape in the background, and it is this that I translate into words. Looking at the three cards accompanying this article, here is my immediate reaction and what has taken shape since I walked away:
Immediate reaction
Cactus (Strength) is Leo. It is the eight card of the major arcana. The other two cards issue from this one. The reader will most likely be identified with this major arcana archetype, and the cards to the right will most likely be events and experiences that they will encounter as this archetype.
Two Tens — two qualitatively different experiences that can be compared side-by-side because they are counterparts, both in terms of number and suits, which are both feminine.
What is that little bird doing?
What takes shape during the break
The Cactus, by nature, is static. When we encounter the archetype of Cactus, it is telling us that things might not move at the pace we want them to, but everything is happening as it should, in its own time. The cactus is of the Cereus family. It represents the physical world, but with its route into Spirit: the cactus was used in shamanistic rituals to reach other planes of consciousness. This correlates with the image of Strength in the Rider-Waite Smith tarot, which shows a maiden in white with an infinity sign above her (the divine feminine) holding the jaws of a lion (the instinctual, embodied masculine). There is a need here to tend to body in order to develop spiritually.
Psychotherapist Michael Owen also points out that a white bird appears in alchemical images depicting one of the phases of alchemy known as ‘sublimatio’. In the Xultun Tarot, he describes the white bird in The Cactus as the first incarnation of the Feathered Serpent in The Planet Venus (Judgement), the 20th card in the major arcana. Its presence expresses the potential and the desire to grow, but within the limitations that are conferred on us. This takes me to the theme of Saturn in our current astrology: evolution through experiencing and working with limitation. Easy does it. You will get there. Keep steady, honour both maiden and beast, soul and body.
The proving ground for this will be in relationship — to love, to possessions. It feels like a choice. The two Tens feel contrasted to me. Or perhaps it is a choice to engage with both in a way that is balanced — although that second interpretation does not have the same resonance. In the journey towards integration, what feels more important: what you have that feeds and enriches you emotionally? Or what you have that feeds you materially? What legacy do you want to pass on to future generations? What do you want to birth?
The expressions on the figures on both Tens feel key, as does the bird in relation to them.
The final word that comes to me, emanating from this alchemical process of holding the balance between the carnal and the divine, is: discernment. Discernment in how you choose to express what is created in the coming together of the two parts of you in Cactus.
Final check-in
Once I have written what I feel is asking to be expressed, I ask one more question: do I feel complete? I receive the answer through sensation rather than intellect. Is my work done? Or do I feel strung-out, at odds, as if there is a thread connecting me to something as-yet-unexpressed that is still waiting in line? I know when I’ve found it because the feeling dissolves.
What might be left is a perfectionistic niggle, but that’s my own unfinished business, not the reading’s. All that is left to do is to hand it over in a spirit of humility, faith and detachment.
If you want to experiment with tarot cards and don’t have any, we provide a free tarot spread generator using the Celtic Wings spread, which is based on the traditional Celtic Cross spread. This article explains how to use the spread.
eco11 – I agree, there is a lot going on here, and perhaps not all of it yet apparent. Is the first part a conversation that could have taken place in the context of your life, whether you were involved directly or indirectly? Is this a conversation that your ancestors had? Is this a conversation that is transpersonal in nature?
Alayne – You’re welcome – and thank you for getting back to me.
P. Sophia – I really like the idea of compersion here. Being open to it and in the flow of it, and recognising when there is an opportunity for it in spite of what might be going on. And taking it back to Strength. If you look at the Thoth version of Strength — called Lust — it is of a woman surrendering to love, but in a way that is inescapably carnal. The body cannot be ignored. The body as a receptacle for Spirit, one that senses and responds in ways that are altogether physical — often a source of shame for many of us. But the Cactus is there, flowering without shame. It took long enough! Why be a shrinking violet? 🙂
Your ‘mini-me’ comment also falls in with the interpretation of the Ten of Cups as the ‘marriage of the Self’. Thank you for that reminder.
Sarah, thank you so much for your insight and reply. Yes, the more I looked at the pictures late last night they reconfirmed for me are all, so much representations of relationship ‘ in’ love. Meaning to give is (the same as ‘in present’) to receive.
So, you ask of my meaning in the Tens, it is not in recognizing ‘what’ others can ‘offer’ us, or what we can offer them, as in/through the mere value of what is to receive. Bit I see the meaning is found in the actual appreciation and recognition of the gesture -of understanding the true expression of giving is the receiving received. As seen, or experienced in another (again compersion as efc suggests) can open one path that leads one to the acceptance of what the message truly means. Still, I believe the first card; Strength shows the true path ‘in’ complete.
The foundation of stone or, the pedestal can be viewed, as the solid cornerstone of true faith and therefore is not in need of for its growth (giving and receiving) to pull from our earthly life. I also noticed that the color of the liquid / fog is the same as is found in the buds and flowers of break and is perfectly expressed in the fertility.
Thank you for offering the interpretation here below which in suggesting makes whole, the cards meaning, a beautiful picture of the cycle of unity.
“…an ornate doorway in front of which the Sage (the Hermit) is crouching in the next card, tending the inner fires into full flame. You can see the smoke in the bottom right of the Cactus, which ends up in the Dead Man (Death) card — the final proving fires of transformation.”
eco11: As Sarah says in the article, and hope you don’t mind I add, it intuitively seems to me that whatever one feels in the cards is revealed for them to experience and to recieve. What you see is in learning for you! I truly believe this reading through Sarah is a gift to us. Concerning the ten of cups card only, I would just offer can be found the fullest, truest, most intimate part of one’s self represented as the ‘mini me’, or baby (Sun). I feel he is offered up, and being presently accepted with the open cup to its authority. No danger, I feel, yet is a gift. Shown as and seen this way can be accepted a divine gift to/from another made only available by a calling, or place of true giving- as is ours to receive.
Thank you, Sarah Taylor. Things have been so skewed that I “ducked” before I uncovered. You are most kind. It is, indeed, a rich reading after all.
So so interesting. Seeing the larger, connectedness and picture of the cards fills in some of the blanks.
Looking again at the cards, asking them to speak again, from your exercise:
1. Holiness Leans towards Light and Cleansing Smokes.
2. But here is the baby. What will we do with it?
3. There is much to discuss.
Babies are complicated.
They are not out own though
there are beliefs that they are.
They are.
1.
Holiness Leans.
Return Here for the proper understanding.
Be Careful when you see confusion.
Things may appear out of order.
Life is oft strangely aligned – uncomfortable.
Yet Majesty is simple. Holiness Leans towards the Light.
Lean towards the Light.
~~
Still uncomfortable. But possibly more is going on than I think.
eco11 – The shape that you say that the Cactus seems to be leaning towards is actually the top part of an ornate doorway in front of which the Sage (the Hermit) is crouching in the next card, tending the inner fires into full flame. You can see the smoke in the bottom right of the Cactus, which ends up in the Dead Man (Death) card — the final proving fires of transformation. (You can see an image of the major arcana when they are assembled here.)
I too find the Cactus somewhat whimsical, and the ‘tongue’ reminds me of the lion’s tongue and tail in the Rider-Waite equivalent, Strength.
As for your reaction to the Tens: I found my reaction towards the Ten of Cups a positive one, and the Ten of Jades one that is contrasted as the ‘lesser’ option. The couple are smiling in the Ten of Cups; the bird seems to be indicating to them; the awning over the male figure feels like a continuation of the white doorway in the Cactus. The Ten of Jades, by comparison, is separated from the Cactus; it feels at a remove, and this is emphasised by the couple who also seem at a remove from each other: the figure on the left is looking away from the figure opposite her, whose eyes are closed. The positioning of both figures’ hands are quite sexual – but what is the progeny? What are they creating? Their surroundings are more sumptuous – fertile, even. The family in the Ten have the Sun.
If you have a strong visceral reaction, see if you can find a connection between the images and your own experience, which you hinted at. How far back can you take that experience? Then I would imagine what each figure would be saying if you saw them in an entirely positive light, their flaws still apparent, but where they are expressed in a way that informs and opens the way for healing, rather than one that ‘drops the baby’, as it were.
What comes from your conversations with the cards then? And what, if anything, are the bird and the Cactus now saying to you that is different?
Alayne – Are those cards in the order of the Celtic Wings reading? My immediate reaction is that it is a very rich reading – far from a negative reading at all. If you want to contact me offline, please feel free: sarah [at] integratedtarot [dot] com. Or I am happy to work with you here in the comments section.
P. Sophia – What a lovely read of the Cactus! Strength and humility, fertility even within a pot, which is itself beautiful. It can flower anywhere.
When you write ‘recognizing in the other’ I am assuming that you mean acknowledgement of the potential that others offer to us — what they bring to us, how their experience feeds into our consciousness and unconsciousness and expands our awareness. That kind of thing?
Hopefully I’ve explained the other elements in the Cactus card that you point out, in my message to eco11, above.
Ah, yes – the stone images. They elude me. I need to do some more investigation. I do have Peter Balin’s accompanying book, but it is a psychedelic read. Maybe they are pointers to the unconscious, and therefore do not need a rational explanation. Maybe I’m just being lazy suggesting that. 🙂 Food for thought.
Thank you, all!
Sarah! I am so glad i caught this article today. So much great information and intuitively it is almost as if i am reading, you are completing my very thoughts with your healing understanding through words. You must have put this one under your bed for sure!
As you say i understanding the Cactus of strength, I do see as it’s foundation looks of stone and is seated firmly on a pedestal. Interestingly to note it is not planted in the earth, though it is offering new life, growth. It mainly appears in motion, near bud break and with the sign of flower, is beautifully demonstrating fertility. Yet from the first look, still feel this strength of the overall card image and also represented by the bird, as coming from a place of humility, (tiny trepidation, or awe) of source- gratitude. Really believe the story is absolutely complete here, spiritually.
The two tens to me i feel as our more human worldly efforts in relation to our place, our brothers and our journey here. Providing, very personal, as shown in the cups -gifts (feeling like Sun), sacrifices (Saturn?) and in Jades- communication (Mercury?), acts that are all in fulfilling admiral needs. Still it feels not so much rewards in the actual acts, but as recognizing in the other. Which is one path that can lead back again to the original intended message, first card.
Question, curious what the image is in the right top corner of Cactus card and the pink liquid in right bottom too?
Also Sarah have been meaning to ask you if you would not mind mention the stone images shown on the bottom of each card in this deck. Assuming is some Mayan language picture code?
Yet again, should have left well-enough alone. I tried the tarot generator and…
Five of Wands Ace of pentacles
The Mermit Knight of Swords The Star Eight of Swords Seven of Wands
The Hierophant Three of Swords
What was that the other day about pulling covers over one’s head?
HI Sarah,
Thanks for answering me. I have looked at the cards again with that in mind, however, it still *feels* yucky to me. Again, maybe it is personally what’s going on. But also, my own take on mothering is to cradle, to embrace, to protect. The Mayan may have a very different take on “protecting life” than I do. That comes up for me. It feels dangerous. for the child, for the family unit, I do not feel the reverence.
But I am just sharing my intuitive read and am not well experienced or trained in Tarot or these cards, and still learning much. I very much appreciate the conversations here, the sharing of experiences and reads, your enlightening articles, the different and varied cards, and the commenters, as well as the often discernible connection between various subjects that can occur on this most interesting and synergetic blog.
eco11 – I am going to respond to your post at greater length tomorrow, but I wanted to make an observation that might — or might not — make a difference to your reaction to, and interpretation of, the cards. The Xultun Tarot deck has a very particular symbolism for ‘birth’, which is the opening of the hands in the position demonstrated by the figure on the right in the Ten of Cups (middle card), and the figure on the left in the Ten of Jades (right card). If you look closely, the infant in the Ten of Cups is not being suspended or held as much as it is being ‘ushered’ in.
Bearing that in mind, how does that feel in terms of your interpretation now?
Hi Sarah.
I missed your cards and words over the weekend. It sounds like a fascinating weekend though and it was very generous of you to also share it with us here. Thank you.
Regarding the three cards:
The bird on the cactus seems to be looking up and even the cactus seems to be leaning towards that unformed ethereal shape in the right heavens. The cactus is beautiful and elegant, but also also humorous. It seems to be sticking its tongue out at the left bottom and a pickle of it dances out of balance on the top left. The figure on the urn seems to be perching outward, balancing a lean to the right as well.
I find the two tens disturbing. The first one looks like a woman is offering up a child like it is an offering to a man, who holds out his cup.
The second one looks like a progression of a man and woman animated in haggling or bargaining. (*Note: The word that came to mind was “niggling” but I checked that as although it has a different etymologically, I find it a hard word to choose to use – but rereading your article, I see that word came up for you too -interesting.)
My emotional take on these two cards is really yucky – like -oh no- family and the mother are really not trustworthy “keepers” -or guardians-in these cards.
(This may just be that I am having a really personally emotionally bad day – but my reaction was intense on these cards. What do you think?)
Yes, rucognizant. I’ll add that in. Thank you!
10 of jades…= 10 pentacles??