By Sarah Taylor
This week’s tarot reading — the final one using the Xultun Tarot deck before I move on to a new deck next week — is a simple one. It is all minor arcana, which means it deals more with external events than internal processes. However, don’t be fooled into thinking that ‘simple’ means insignificant. Every moment is an act of self-definition, and this is no exception. It will feed into larger, soul-based themes; it is a proving ground for your own evolution.
The first card that I laid down, as per a clear instruction from my intuition, was the middle card — the Five of Cups. This feels like the pivotal card. It is being emphasised. It is a watershed moment.
The Xultun version of the Five of Cups is not so different from its Rider-Waite Smith counterpart that you cannot see the same theme to the story being woven. The figure in the card stands facing a small temple, arms crossed, head bowed, a look of defeat on her face. This defeat seems to be mirrored in the glyph enclosed in brick-red rock under her feet. There is sorrow, but not one where there is an ‘opening to’ the pain of the situation. Here, there is a ‘closing off’, a disavowal.
The Mayan temple might be in the distance — hence its being smaller — but what feels more important, making allowances for perspective aside, is that it is dwarfed by the figure. There is a contraction of Spirit in that moment that she closes her arms around herself, closes her eyes — a decision not to look. Cups are feelings and here three are spilled. Perhaps there is a feeling of disillusionment, of not wanting to do this anymore. The atmosphere feels futile — punitive, even. “Why me?” “What did I do to deserve this?” “Why can’t I get a break for once?”