Editor’s Note: 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 tells you how to use the spread. You can visit Sarah’s website here. –efc
By Sarah Taylor
In last Wednesday’s exploration of Death and The Tower, I referred to the idea that no card has a definitive meaning that can be applied in every reading. The message that a card brings with it is affected — however subtly — by each client; by that client’s interaction with the tarot reader; and by the circumstances and subject on which a reading is based.
Its message also depends on the other cards in a layout, and it is this correlation between cards that we’ll be looking at today.
The three-card reading
I am going to be talking about the cards as they are depicted in the Xultun layout — although I have also included the equivalent cards from the Rider-Waite Smith deck so that you have something familiar with which to anchor yourself if you start to feel somewhat adrift. If you do get that floating feeling, look at the Rider-Waite Smith cards for a few moments, and then go back to the Xultun layout.
A little earlier, I shuffled the cards. One card fell out of the deck while I was shuffling, so guided by the law of synchronicity I took that as the first card. (I refer to these “jumpers” and take their calls for attention seriously.) I then cut the deck, and picked the other two off the top of the last cut.
These are the three cards, in order:
– The Sun
– 9 of Jades (Pentacles or Coins)
– 8 of Staffs (Wands)
My first thought was, “What a contrast from last week.” It felt like a counterbalancing of Death and The Tower, or perhaps an antidote of sorts — not to the cards themselves, but to some of our more fear-based reactions to them, mine included.
My overall impression on looking at them is one of lightness, swiftness and flight — borne out by the Sun, and the wands and the bird respectively. It feels like there is an initiation at play, its origin in some form of focused energy — life force, perhaps — that then develops its own momentum because the necessary preparation has taken place so that it can be harnessed effectively.
But I’m jumping ahead of myself. How did I come up with this particular message? Let’s take a step back, look at how the cards are interrelating and communicating with each other, listen to what they are whispering, and watch how the story develops.
The Sun is a high-octane card in that it tends to bring with it a distinct and powerful charge. It is often viewed as ‘positive’ because it so obviously seems to be about light in its most concentrated form, and the antithesis of darkness. However, given the suggestion that I made last week that cards are neither positive nor negative, where does that leave us with The Sun?
The first step is to try to separate The Sun from our emotional reactions to it and look at it with a modicum of objectivity. In our solar system, for instance, the Sun is the giver and sustainor of life. The light that emanates from the Sun is also able to banish darkness, and across the world this is experienced cyclically after it rises in the east, and before it sets in the west. At certain times of the year, the Sun’s intensity is able to warm the skin, melt the ice and frosts of winter and early spring, and coax new shoots out of the ground. In astrology, the Sun represents the ego: our conscious mind, how we express ourselves in the world, the outward aspects of our personality. These all suggest radiance, the idea of things being brought out into the open, being more easily perceived.
Given this idea of radiance, I believe that The Sun card has more ability than most to affect the other cards in the layout — as if its rays do not recognise the limits of its own margins but spread out over its neighbours… much in the same way that a pool of light has a wider sphere of influence than a shadow.
Bearing this in mind, look at The Sun on the left-hand side of the Xultun layout. There is a feeling of movement about it, as the eye gets drawn to the centre of the Sun, then out to the sides with the rays — all the while being fed by the downward movement of the wind on the left and earth on the right. Earth, wind and fire. Green shrubs opening to each side in the configuration that suggests birth. The Sun in the middle, giving out life. Genesis.
It is at this point that I find my eye wandering across the right ray of the Sun, and traveling into the second card along the upper red strip that suggests the ground on which the female character is standing. Here is a clear example of the rays extending their influence beyond the margins of the card — so much so that there is the sense that The Sun and the 9 of Staffs are joined, and that the sun is shining on the woman’s back. It is part of her picture. She is richly clothed, regal. She seems prosperous. Her hands, too, are in the configuration that suggests birth — one pointing up, the other down, palms open. The energy that has its genesis in the Sun has given birth to something in this card too: the bird that the woman releases into the air.
The 9 of Jades is about reaching some form of culmination after a period of hard work and where the one who has been toiling is able to benefit from the fruits of their labour. Perhaps the figure here was assisted by the light in the previous card; perhaps the ‘enlightening’ nature of The Sun worked in concert with her to enable her to achieve this. I also notice that her back is to the sun, for The Sun, as with our own heavenly body, carries with it an implicit caution. More isn’t necessarily better, and too much of it can be blinding. We get caught up in the brilliance of an idea, an event, a feeling, and we can lose our perspective — even our sight — and with it our ability to act consciously. With her back to the Sun, the figure can benefit from its rays without being overwhelmed by them.
Finally, we move across from the second card to the third, the 8 of Staffs. As with The Sun and the 9 of Jades, these two cards work poetically together. The forward motion of the bird cast into flight is picked up by the eight staffs moving into the picture from the left. The two figures face each other and mirror their hand movements. The blue circles of jade in the first card are rolled out into the blue waters of the second. There is a sense of balance and reciprocity. There is a sense of evolution as the bird becomes less physical and more abstract — the concept of creativity, fire, libido. This force is contained by both figures, while the movement isn’t lost. It is a contradiction that holds together: movement and containment (evocative a force field); masculine and feminine; physical and abstract. And The Sun endures, a steady presence on the left.
Yes, cards have their basic meanings; but the way that they interact with reader, client and situation is unique. You might even find yourself throwing out a textbook interpretation altogether if that is what the reading is calling for.
What remains a constant is the message, and it is through the interplay between knowledge and intuition, and our willingness to be confident but humble, that we are able to find a clear path to its door.
Thank you for the suggestion, Charles. As an aside, I’m doing some work with the Thoth right now, so perhaps that will come up during the course of my studies.
And please don’t feel that there is any show to steal here. There is nothing to lose and everything to gain when people share their knowledge and opinions.
— S
You’re welcome, Sarah. I hope you don’t mind me going on at such length. I worry that you might think I’m trying to steal the show. But my card skills are kind of hot at the moment. When Neptune is retrograde, the cards seem to want me to speak, it just flows out. I only spent about 10 minutes writing that. But I could have mostly summed that essay up in two words: Autumn harvest.
Anyway, if you want to know more about Elemental Dignities, you can consult the Supertarot.co.uk website, there are extensive lessons and commentary on this method. It takes some effort to learn, it’s an old Golden Dawn tarot method and is probably deliberately difficult. But it is uniquely suited to GD style decks like RWS or Thoth. But the method is probably not suited to everyone’s style of reading, but it can add some depth even if you don’t use it as your primary reading style.
Amanda – me too! Being Leo, the sun is rather important to me. Though, strangely, I find The Sun – moreso in the RWS deck – a bit tacky at times. Maybe it’s my Scots blood balking at the extravagance of it all!
Agreed, Len – there is definitely a new dimension that is opened up with a third card. It puts you in a whole other ballgame, and the narrative starts calling out to be heard in a way that I don’t get with two cards. Strangely, one card also feels more useful than two.
Charles:
“The cards should project their meaning to the client, the reader or client should not project themselves onto the cards.”
Two things come up for me here. The first thing is more of a difference of emphasis. It’s not the reader or client projecting themselves onto a card that changes the meaning as much as the story that wants to be told … though separating the two can be a lifetime’s work, I agree.
The second is that when cards are used in certain therapeutic mediums, then projection is exactly the aim – so the cards are not a tool for divination as much as a means of accessing what is hidden and unknown in the client. The client initiates and owns the projection so that they have a greater chance of its coming to consciousness.
Be that as it may, your elemental analysis of the cards is a new approach for me, and it has enriched the discussion tremendously. Thank you for the thought and effort that you put into your responses.
hypnotic – I love it when I get to exercise my intuition when I write here; and I’m glad you’re enjoying the series. I used to work with the World Spirit Tarot online a little – I found it a very nurturing deck. I’m not sure if the Xultun is still in print, but it’s definitely on Amazon.
Hi Sarah,
I love the way you are able to describe intuition and the archeology of tarot so that others can learn from you.
I just received my new World Spirit Tarot by Lauren O’Leary a few days ago, which I am looking at now, one -by – one.
I love the xultan deck you use. Is this deck still in print?
xo
Hmm.. I’m of the opinion that cards have an exactitude that should not be affected by who you’re reading for. The cards should project their meaning to the client, the reader or client should not project themselves onto the cards. But this is very difficult to achieve.
When doing short readings like 3 cards, I like to use elemental dignities. Since you don’t really have meanings for each card’s position like in a Celtic Cross layout, you need to work the cards harder against each other and pull more meaning from them. Some people do a 3 card layout as past/present/future but I never do.
I can’t read your Xultun cards so I’ll stick with RWS, it’s better suited to elemental analysis anyway. In this case you have Sun (fire), 9P (earth), 8W (fire). Fire and earth are friendly, but together, they are generally neutral since Fire is active and Earth is passive. So let’s analyze. First, pairs. Sun(F) 9P(E). The sun is always a good card, signifying happiness that is active and glorious. As a major arcana, it also represents forces beyond your control. The 9P is a card traditionally labeled “Gain,” but I think it has a wistful feeling. I read it as reaping exactly what you’ve sown, it is good, but no more than what energy you have invested. Compare to the 10P which is more financial gain and monetary riches, the 9P is materialistic but more limited. As an odd card, it is about unresolved and unbalanced situations. It is about not seeing the good results of what you have done, she has her back turned to the fruitful vines she planted, and her falcon wears a hood so it cannot see, nor take flight. I read this pair as symbolic of happiness limited by one’s ability to see it, preventing the energy of the world from enriching you. I might quote an old Wiccan prayer from Dion Fortune, “May the blessings of heaven be upon you, and may you be able to receive it.”
The next pair is 9P(E) and 8W(F). Again, the passive and active forces of Fire and Earth end up neutral. These are minor cards, so these are personal forces under our control. I covered the 9P already. I read the 8W as “electricity,” its essential property is that it flows as long as the circuit is connected. Break the wire, the flow of electrons stops. This is a card about continuation of energy movement. Some people say this card is a portent of the arrival of a message, but I read this as the electric current, but not a message carried by that current (like a phone message or internet packets). It is the medium, not the message. I read this pair as a desire for continuation of the state of gain we are in, a continuous but not overwhelming surge of beneficial results, continuing to reap what we have sown. Perhaps this is more like collecting interest on a bank account, rather than making huge sums of money to put into the account. The emphasis is not on the speed (8W implies speed) but on the continuousness of that flow. Penny by penny, it accumulates into a large sum by compound interest.
Now put them together. Fire is surrounding earth on both sides. There is an excess of Fire energy exerting pressure on Earth. Think of it like an earthenware pot in a kiln, the pot glows red hot and is transformed and hardened. But it has not cooled, so it cannot be useful yet as a pot. Together, there is intense pressure exerted on the Self, to make one’s gains real and continuous. I don’t read this as an omen of riches coming, but as a symbol of desire to make the situation into one where gain happens continuously and naturally. It is not happening yet, but Earth cannot remain passive when such overwhelming force is exerted on it.
Result: It is time to actively work with the energies that are transforming your situation. Open yourself to the riches around you, and the benefits will become a natural, sustainable part of your life.
ha! š thanks, len for the reminder.
Sarah – Thank you for being so patient in your presentions, gradually bringing up up to the synergy concept. It’s amazing how exponential things get with the third card. At least that’s impression of a struggling novice.
Amanda,
The thing to remember is that this not your usual autumn. The “general feel” is out the window this year.
I love that The Sun was the lead card for an article on the equinox.
Something about the play of contradictions seems in line with Eric’s bit about the equinox yesterday; he made the statement, with regard to the Sun being opposite the Jupiter-Uranus conjunction, “There is something here of the feeling of an unresolvable polarity; of needing to stretch across a contradiction; of having two concepts of who you are.”
and yet, in this stretch between contradictions and the balance of the equinox we have the seed of movement and the next phase…
does this seem at odds with the general feel of autumn? i think i’ve just talked myself into a circle…