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
An opportunistic move means a burden needs to be carried; victory ensues.
Two things come to mind immediately when I look at this week’s tarot reading.
The first is that, yet again, we have Wands. Last week, we had two, and the same goes for this week, although the numbers are different. If I take a step back and look at the readings as being connected, then there is a surge of energy — or will — that has moved across the weeks. This might be part of an ongoing story, where there is a narration or sub-text that is being woven by the cards, or it might speak of a broader theme — in this case, one of fire, drive, impetus.
The second is that the third card stands apart from the other two in terms of the feeling it evokes. The Five of Swords and the Ten of Wands have, to a greater or lesser extent, a connection with conflict and challenge, while the Six of Wands (which has made regular appearances over the weeks) is associated with victory, or a graduation of sorts. How does the first card, especially, lead on to the third? Let’s take a closer look.
In each card, a figure holds an item, or items, representative of its suit, upright in his hand. From this, and the way that they are all placed dominantly in the foreground by artist Pamela Colman Smith, I take the view that this is a linear narration of a development as the protagonist moves through various states as the cards progress.
Also, look at how he is carrying each item. In the first card, two swords are resting in the palms of his left hand, another in his right. He is holding them rather casually given that they are carefully honed weapons. What to make of that? In the Ten of Wands, he is pitted against all ten wands that now seem to overwhelm him. He is not easily able to wield any one of them, and needs both arms to cope with the burden. In the final card, the figure carries his Wand capably and with authority. There is no need to struggle, and yet the rather relaxed attitude of the first figure has gone.
The Five of Swords speaks of an opportunistic move, and one that isn’t necessarily harmless. The figure in the distance is hunched over, as if crying, while the figure in the foreground seems to be collecting the swords after some kind of conflict, a smile on his face, his almost fire-like hair giving him an impish edge. He does not seem to have everyone’s best interests at heart. In fact, this feels more like self-interest. Yet these are swords that he’s holding in his hands, and he is definitely not handling them like a fighter. Does he really know what they are capable of?
Swords are to do with thoughts, and the waters in the background are flat, which I suggested in an earlier article could mean that emotions are suppressed. Is what he initially thought a good idea turning out to be something that calls for more responsibility and more strength of will (Wands) than he imagined? In the Ten of Wands, the figure is consumed by the task of carrying his load towards a town in the distance. Maybe there are repercussions that weren’t factored in because the initial action was based on thought alone, which was not integrated with the other methods of analysis at his disposal.
So in the Ten of Wands he is confronted with the ramifications of his actions, but he is committed, whether voluntarily or involuntarily, to this course of action. Is he acting out of a greater sense of responsibility, or simply persevering through sheer will? Whatever is going on underneath the surface of this card, he reaches the town in the Six of Wands. His trial is over, and he emerges triumphant.
It is tempting to put a moral angle on this reading: to bring the Five and Ten to some resolution in light of the Six of Wands; the triumph of righteousness over selfishness, if you will. It may well be that this is accurate. However, the cards simply don’t work that narrowly.
What I feel can be inferred is that there has been a triumph of will over circumstances created by the protagonist. He is the architect of his own experience, and emerges with no small amount of kudos at the end of it. He might not have anticipated what he was up against, but he comes through, crowned with laurels, supported by his peers, and with victory ribbons fluttering.
Perfect description of my job situation at this time. Definitely haven’t reached the kudos stage yet. Might come to deserve them in about ten years.
..Mind over matter..
Do we not feel good when we learn something new? Perhaps not, if what we learn upsets the balance of previously held conceptions.
Has anyone ever carried a load of firewood for some distance, with your arms burning, body aching, thinking you need to quit but going on anyway ’cause you’re dead if you don’t?
..And then, have you not learned something of value in self-worth when you can kick back and enjoy the moment?
..Trials and tribulations..
I like a reading with three minor arcana, they are usually short and to the point, not abstract. This is an Air card with two Fire cards, a little blast of scorching wind, but let’s not do an elemental analysis, the cards speak for themselves here.
Fives are always a lot of crossing forces. 5S is often named Defeat but I also think of it as Surrender. The 10W is an overburdened man. He can go on suffering under the weight, or surrender to the burden and stop trying to carry more than he can bear. And of course the 6W is the victory that comes through what seems like the opposite, Surrender.
thank you sarah. i’m finding this _very_ timely.
Carol: Thank you, i agree with you about the “narration or sub-text”. Whenever the distribution defies the odds the oracle (of whatever kind) is tracking something.
eco11: Thank you for your reflections. A novice in the Tarot like myself always benefits from a parallax.
Yeti: Thank you! Plan to do my I Ching tonight. Will see how it trends with yours.
I got Possession In Great Measure from I Ching this morning. It’s counsel seems to resonate with the victorious figure. The Yin line second from the top, heart of the Fire trigram with the Heaven trigram underneath shows that devotion and receptivity to the energy of the heavens allow the apparently weak to hold the heavenly fire of the other 5 lines in check. The figure on the horse only has one wand. Victory is a group effort.
The first two cards remind me of another saying in the I Ching, paraphrased- that before heaven places a great responsibility on someone they first must develop strength and receptivity through hardship. After a defeat in battle, the traveler learns to master fire by embodying the force of Earth- the 10, the Kingdom on the Tree Of Life. It’s no easy task, but if it were easy the sustained energy represented by the Sun of the 6 wouldn’t be able to keep itself lit long enough to accomplish anything.
Card One: The folly of thinking that the preparation for battle will be a good adventure. The immaturity of youth. I think of the young Libya rebels who shoot their guns at heaven in celebration and then dance.
Card Two: The hard work of lifting/pushing energy up so that it may work and conduct properly. I think of all the massive effort to stabilize the nuclear power plant in Japan.
Card Three: The victory and dignity and peace (the wreath) that rides with a straight back and a grounded presence through the streets/world. (Not the shooting at heaven. This is a nobler, soberer understanding, i.e. mature.)