By Sarah Taylor
A different timbre of reading this week; the cards are out of the realm of swords that seem to have held us in a grip here for so long in the Weekend Tarot Reading, and into the realm of matter, and a period of deep transformation that is just beginning to sound its call.
We start with the Page of Pentacles — a child of wonder, standing in fertile meadows, small flowers at his feet, the sky awash with sun-yellow. Know the Page in your body-awareness. He is a child of nature; he has something to tell you about yourself and your place in the world. He shows you something about what it is to be conscious of yourself as a physical being, open to the gifts that life brings. He holds those gifts gently — not grasping or clinging, but with tenderness. They are the potential that is bestowed by grace, and the Page is learning to co-exist with it and let it unfold to him.
What is coming up is Judgement. Although the card’s imagery has strong biblical overtones, what it really describes is resurrection and redemption. What needed to die has made room for new life, and the angel above is calling the figures below to a sense of their destiny. There is a uniting under the blast of a trumpet — a divine resonance — whose waves ripple into the body and the soul.
You no longer need to restrict yourself to a space that has confined you.
There is an opening through which you can raise yourself to see a larger picture. You can see others; you can see the world around you. You can stretch your body towards an energy that revivifies you. You can live. The seed of potential that has just started to bloom is one that is now being called into action by a power that lies within you and yet transcends you and everything and everyone else.
The final card is one that comes up regularly in the Weekend Tarot Reading. Its message is clear, especially in light of the first Pentacle card lying on the other side of Judgement. There is a wealth available to you — whether that wealth is material, physical or experiential. To make the most of what has been liberated in Judgement, the Page that you have embodied serves as a reminder: hold to what has been bestowed upon you lightly — not because it needs to disappear, but because holding it lightly is what creates the flow of its bounty through your life.
As the figure of the woman in the Nine of Pentacles, you can choose to feel secure by making sure that nothing can get away. You can keep what you have close to you; you can constrain your wilder nature. The paradox is that you, yourself, will be equally constrained. All dressed up and nowhere to go. The yellow of the sun becomes cloying; the sumptuous robes, beautiful as they are, become heavy and impractical for flexible, intuitive movement.
As the woman looks to the bird and remembers the call of the wild, her left hand mirrors the hands of the youthful Page. In that moment, perhaps she can be reminded of her own inner child, whose presence exhorts her both to value what she has, but not to be owned by it. That way, when the trumpet of a new way of being sounds, she can expand her sense of what is possible and set herself free.
Sometimes freedom means considering a path that lies beyond what you have so far imagined. Sometimes — very important — freedom means honouring the path of the smallest creature in the Nine of Pentacles: the snail. It might move more slowly than a falcon released to the skies, but it is no less free, and it carries with it everything it needs. Sometimes the path calls you to embody one or the other at different times. If you are grounded in your sense of self, trusting in the wisdom of your body — the body that we inhabit so much more naturally as children before we are taught to detach from it — then you will know which one to assume, and when.
Astrology/Elemental correspondences: Page of Pentacles (the earthy aspect of earth), Judgement (Pluto), Nine of Pentacles (Venus in Virgo)
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.
Thank you all!
Brian, I *love* the idea of a middle way described in the Judgement card. This would sit side-by-side with its more active meaning, because it also heralds a particular event, whether inner or outer.
And I also agree: the drawback to the Page is a sense of awe that then holds him in thrall – much like the mirror you suggest P. Sophia. Instead of standing there all day going, “Wow!”, an alternative course of action is to stop saying wow at some point and start doing something with it all 🙂
Brian, I am feeling with you. ” like Judgment being in the middle is implying ‘the call’.
For me I was drawn into the hands, the figures points of reference, and intention. From the Paige he holds the material world almost too dearly, so focused on this he is missing everything else around him. It is like he is looking into a mirror, awaiting only self reflection.
In the 9, sure the scene, it holds a perfect pretty picture, yet still is felt an uncertainty and disinterest. Her one hand is in clutch of the earthly pentacle in security. She looks to nature, but is afraid to let go. In this she is missing the miricle of it’s precious gift right in front of her.
Now I see the open intention and hands and heads raised to and above in the Judgement card. There is no holding on here. There is only to shine and receive.
“What needed to die has made room for new life, and the angel above is calling the figures below to a sense of their destiny. There is a uniting under the blast of a trumpet — a divine resonance — whose waves ripple into the body and the soul.”
Sarah thank you once again for your reading and beautiful words!
Sarah, thank you for this wise and enlightening reading!
I’m feeling like Judgment being in the middle is implying that ‘the call’ is toward the middle way – someplace between the inexperience of the Page and the over-experience of the IX is where the call is coming. I also notice that the man and woman on the judgment card also mirror the Page and Lady on either side of them – though in their natural state, each of them a reference to the child in the middle – the most ‘natural’ of them all and in perfect balance with the trumpeter. The Call transcends both too little and too much…
Thank you, Sarah. This very much, to me, embodies a similar energy message as Alexander’s this week. I, for myself, especially appreciate the warning of the 9 of Pentacles that is emphasized here. As the tapestry of my life has progressed since 2008 the changes have been monumental, and periodically have been painful or frightening. To remember the Page of Pentacles within,and then the Snail and Falcon without, today, reiterates the choices I have made and am making to go all the way into my unknowable destiny. The 9 of Pentacles again is the great reminder of what will be if I stop my pursuit of caring for my authentic self as much as, and occasionally more than I care for others (i.e., total release from co-dependence). I especially appreciate the Little Snail. There have been blindingly quick, falcon-like maneuvers during this long stretch, but mainly, the attention to the minutiae and carrying my home on my back are my main experiences. Your spreads and readings are great companions, guiding lights, and reminders to me of where I have been, where I am and which way I choose to proceed.
((((Sarah))))
Yes, this is a wonderful reading, and in tune with Venus in Leo, and Jupiter in Cancer. I have been impressed by the meaning of the snail, as you’ve brought it both times the 9 of pentacles showed up recently. Power and purpose in small things. I am heading out to the garden to wage battle with the snails, who in great numbers can take a bean plant to the ground overnight. I feel kind of bad about that. But the snail I shall learn from is a metaphor in a Tarot reading, and poses no threat to my squash and beans.
You written some great stuff in this column.. this is poetry in motion! This is aural sex.. and the message so very timely.. bravo and thanks so much!