By Sarah Taylor
There are some striking parallels between today’s reading and the previous Weekend Tarot Reading, on May 25.
Last time, the card on the left was the Eight of Wands; this time, it is the Nine of Wands. The card on the right last time displayed a fragile bloom made of light; this time, there is a petal-shedding flower backed by a darkened sky. The centre card was The Moon; this week, that has made way for a similar globe — this time, the rounded belly of fertile creativity.
Some things the same; yet, this is also different. It is a shift, either in circumstances or emphasis, suggesting a different feel, perhaps offering choices that were not available — or were not as visible as they are now.
The key card here is the card in the centre. The two words that I can discern on the card are “renewal” and “Harmony”, which in turn evoke the concept(ion)s of evolution and attunement. The Princess of Disks is very much attuned to her own environment, her golden hair at one point undulating into a loose wheat sheaf, her leafy mask becoming feathered, the folds of material gathering towards her at her waist, as if embracing her.
She is unable to see; she doesn’t need it. She feels, is sensate. Her body tells her everything; the world moves to meet her body.
The Princess of Disks is the Rider-Waite equivalent of the Page of Pentacles. Representing the earthy element of earth, she is, quite visibly, the physical world at its most physical. Unlike the Page of Pentacles, she is femininity incarnate — a deeply sensual, naked figure, on the verge of birthing what she is carrying. This could be a physical baby, but ‘gestation’ can refer to anything brought into material form, whether an idea or inspiration that is shaped into matter, or the process of fully inhabiting oneself as an embodied being. In other words, where you become your own act of creation that has a tangible presence and effect on the world around you, which in turn responds to you. Co-creation.
The outer cards seem to me to describe two distinct experiences emanating from the central act of creation — offering a ‘map’ of sorts, but one where each path signals a move towards contrasting outcomes.
In the Seven of Cups, what has bloomed has nowhere to grow and nothing to nourish it. The earth under the flower is dry and cracked, offering no life-giving water, the cups empty, small, diminished, two fallen. The single cup to the left of the stem seems to lead me back to the card at centre — the flower, too, bowing its stem towards it. There is a clear message of a choice that need not be taken, another choice at hand: the Nine of Wands.
The Nine of Wands, or Strength, is a progression from the ‘mind-meld’ Eight of Wands from May 25. It is a symbolic return to the exchange that was taking place between the man and the woman, and the opportunity to shift something that once seemed unshiftable. The stone block structure — its walls dauntingly thick — is blasted apart in a supernova explosion. This is a profound and unmistakable release of energy that was once trapped and beyond reach. The block itself floats above the ground, defying our notion of gravity.
What seemed impossible has now become possible; light — consciousness — can move mountains. The dark sky in the Seven of Cups here feels natural and accepts the light; the cracked ground in the Seven is grassy, soft. We are in the realm of the Princess of Disks when she has found expression and birthed what she has been carrying for so long.
What is emerging, what you have been nurturing, asks for patience and a deep knowing that what you hold is of value and that who you are is someone fully capable of bringing it into being. This is something you have been made for; whether in part or in whole, it is why you are here. The result is a form of liberation that clears the way. Your world reveals more of itself to you. It seems bigger than it was before.
Astrology/Elemental correspondences: Nine of Wands (Moon in Sagittarius), Princess of Disks (the earthy element of earth), Seven of Cups (Venus in Scorpio)
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.
Ah, the Rohrig Tarot — that’s my jam! :^)
I see this Princess of Disks card as representing a nascent, emergent fertility not quite yet come to fruition: her belly more an egg than a pearl, the young plants around her thighs and hips just starting to grow (eventually but not yet bearing harvestable crops, maybe wheat or corn?) from tilled furrows of earth carrying a pattern like the veins and cells of a leaf, behind her an expanse of green field suggesting more spring crops in early growth. Her posture suggests an offering, as you say — she could almost as well be reclined on a bed amongst rumpled sheets as standing before her field — yet receptive and alluring, even somewhat coy despite her self-display, rather than actively seductive. Her leafy mask suggests a concealed identity soon to be revealed, akin to a bridal veil or masquerade colombina; she can see us through the narrow gaps in the leaves, but we cannot yet identify her. The glow above her head suggests warm sunlight, the ultimate source of energy behind the bounty that she promises to deliver in due time.
The netting pattern clearly connects the Princess to the following 7 of Cups, yet I think there is a hidden stage between them, representing her fruition; she has not yet disclosed what bounty she has in store for us and isn’t about to offer any hints, but the final card reminds us that, whatever it turns out to be, all good things must pass — the crops are ultimately harvested and leave the ground barren and cracked (speaking of mud, interesting the cracking pattern is characteristic of dried mud), the wine runs out, the flowers wilt and lose their petals, a sunny day gives way to night and a bright summer to a darker autumn, as her fertile interconnective influence loses contact with the earth and wafts away.
Lizzy and KathyC – You’re welcome!
Amanda P – Yes, there is a lot of water in the card, isn’t there? But there are also a lot of earth tones. So what we have is, in essence, mud. (Is there a more aesthetic term for it? I wish there were!) Water is emotional and feminine; earth is physical and feminine. Which makes for a lot of feminine energy in the card. I love your analogy of the pearl, and that makes sense for me too.
The seaweed stalks are what I thought of as wheat, given their colour. Rohrig uses a collage effect, and so not everything is placed in its conventional position – I took the image of this to mean that there is a place for everything with the potential for life, even in the least intuitive ones.
I noticed that continuation of the lace pattern too — as if the Princess could be there, but can have no impact on the ground to nourish it. My sense is that what she is carrying would perish there.
I love your observation of the light above the Princess’s head. I saw that immediately as “feather protection”. I have no idea what that means! It was just the hit that I got. It’s soft, like a shelter. Her arm position always holds some mystery for me. Her breasts wouldn’t be so beautifully shaped if it weren’t for that. Connected to that, there is something about ‘offering’ herself, but in a way that is self-contained and inwardly focussed. She’s a strange cross of a playboy centrefold, demure, and unconcerned with who or what is looking at her. Food for thought …
Amanda M – This deck seduces me, and continues to seduce me, the more I use it. I have referred to it as a love affair before, and that is a feeling I very much hold to this day. We have an exquisite rapport, and I have no idea why.
(If you’re interested in buying it, but don’t want to pay the exorbitant prices for the English versions – which only had one print run nearly 20 years ago – then there are German and Spanish versions too. I am assuming that the English handwriting on the cards will stay the same, particularly with the German edition; I can’t think Rohrig did three language versions of each artwork. But I could be wrong.)
Those Rohrig images are so stunning…every time I see them here I covet the deck a little more. Good lord.
interesting that the princess of disks is the earthly element of earth, because i see strong suggestions of water in the card. first, her “pregnant belly” looks very much like a pearl to me, both in its whiteness in contrast to the rest of her flesh, and in the shading/coloring suggesting a pearl’s luminosity. it is in interesting image to me, since we would think a pregnant belly to be more like the oyster, with a “pearl” of a baby growing inside; yet here she is with the pearl-as-belly… the gem of great value being the thing that creates, not just what is created?
not entirely sure how to parse that; it’s a very curious conflation of images.
the back ground to the lower third of the card is the pattern of a sea fan (related to coral) and against that background are the long, seemingly undulating stalks of what look like delicate seaweed-type plants.
i was wondering where you see the sheaves of wheat in her hair? i’m not sure i’m seeing them, even in the larger version of the card.
also, i was struck by how the sea fan pattern dissolves into a kind of net pattern, and that very same patter is echoed in the sky of the 7 of cups; in fact, the swoop of netting from the princess of disks flows nearly exactly into the 7. i’m not really sure what to make of that, though it does look like the netting pattern and whatever energy that represents coming from the princess of disks, is “deflected” away from the cracked ground in the 7. it swoops in from the left, but curves up into space, rather than nourishing in some way the parched land.
hhmmm… in small format, the light-colored area at the top of her head is reminiscent of the burst of light at the center of the 9 of wands… almost like she’s either shielding her head from the blast or (when i look at the larger version again) like she’s resting her head on some thatching.
ok, i just realized i have no idea what to make of all that, so i’m going to stop rambling and go to bed. 🙂 i’ll see if i (or anyone else) can feel some kind of insight coming through about it in the morning.
🙂
affirmation of choices made <3 Thank you
Thank you so much for this stunning reading, dear Sarah.