A full spread.
YOU DREW TEN CARDS:
-
Environment
Knight of Swords
Swords: Defending. Self-defense and setting boundaries. Think of drawing a line in the sand with a sword point.
Knight: Focusing. Single-mindedness. Determination.
In full course, as if scattering his enemies. Divinatory Meanings: Skill, bravery, capacity, defence, address, enmity, wrath, war, destruction, opposition, resistance, ruin. Reversed: Imprudence, incapacity, extravagance.
Good time to apply your mental energies to solving problems, seeking solutions, developing plans. Time to evaluate results will come later. Reversed: Thoughts are too scattered, coming too quickly. Need to focus, slow down. Be wary of anyone who suddenly presents you with unsolicited ideas for consideration.
A knight rides recklessly, at full speed, scattering his enemies. He symbolizes Galahad, the typical hero of romantic chivalry. Divinatory Meaning: A dark-haired, brown-eyed young man strong and domineering, typifying skill and bravery. Someone about to rush headlong into the life of the seeker. The card may stand for skill, bravery, defense or war, conflict, and destruction. The cards on either side of this one in the layout should give an indication of the good or destructive influence to come. Reversed: Incapacity, extravagance, braggadocio.
A soldier or a brave, dark and strong youth may help you.
Henceforth he will travel on only those paths that have heart.
-
Obstacles
The Chariot
Succour, providence; also war, triumph, presumption, vengeance, trouble. Reversed: Riot, quarrel, dispute, litigation, defeat.
Victory. Heroism. The knowledge that one has made the right choice. Doing what is right as opposed to what feels good. Temporarily getting people or forces to do what you want. An uneasy marriage.
An erect and princely figure rides under a starry canopy in a chariot drawn by two sphinxes. He carries the wand of authority and the will. The shield on the front of the chariot bears a symbol typifying the union of positive and negative forces. The white sphinx is a symbol of mercy; the black one of stern justice. Both the carnal and spiritual urges are under the strong control of the charioteer. The car symbolizes the combination of heavenly and earthly powers. The human personality is the vehicle through which the self manifests its dominion over all things. He drives the chariot by the strength of his will and the magic wand, but the tension of his will may weaken and the sphinxes may pull in different directions and tear him and his chariot in two. Divinatory Meaning: Conquest, success for those engaged in artistic pursuits, triumph over money difficulties, ill health and foes. Advantage for the seeker will result if he resists his lower promptings and masters his animal passions. It is a card of those who achieve greatness. May also betoken travel in comfort. Reversed: Sudden collapse of a project, decadent desires, perhaps an unethical victory, vengeance.
This is a symbol of movement, possible travel, usually coupled with progress and achievement. An important stage has been reached in your life’s progress. You are overcoming obstacles and achieving success through your worldly life and personal dynamism. Reversed: Beware of too much forcefulness, which could lead to ruthlessness.
Action in the World
The Chariot is the preeminent representation of action in every domain, in the self and in the world. The Chariot knows full well where it is heading. The Chariot is often seen as a conqueror performing powerful actions, or a lover with a triumphant sexuality. Sometimes he heralds a voyage. In all cases this is a card that is moving forward toward success.
-
Above
Queen of Cups
Cups: Interacting. Emotions and relationships of all kinds. Dealing with people. Think of two people toasting each other with wine glasses.
Queen: Encouraging. Getting things done in a calm, understated way. Using persuasion rather than force.
Beautiful, fair, dreamy — as one who sees visions in a cup. Divinatory Meanings: Good, fair woman; honest, devoted woman, who will do service to the Querent; loving intelligence, and hence the gift of vision; success, happiness, pleasure; also wisdom, virtue. Reversed: The accounts vary; good woman; otherwise, distinguished woman but not one to be trusted; perverse woman; vice, dishonour, depravity.
You are protected by love, warmth, and caring. Good time to pursue the creative arts — poetry, music, literature. Open yourself up to new visions, new possibilities. Follow the prompting of your heart. Reversed: Emotions out of control, leading to self-deception, false hopes. Confusion reigns. Caught between the worlds of reality and illusion without knowing which way to turn. Be careful not to fall victim to deception by someone you think shares your best interests.
A queen sits on her throne contemplating an ornate, closed cup, signifying that what it contains of dreams and desires is not to be told abroad. Her throne is surrounded by the waters of the subconscious and is decorated with ondines (water nymphs). Divinatory Meaning: This is a woman with light brown hair and hazel eyes. She is the beloved, the good wife and mother. She has the gift of vision, is poetic and imaginative. She dreams, but also acts out her dreams. Love, happy marriage, vision. Reversed: May be a good woman in some ways but is sometimes perverse. May indicate dishonesty, immorality.
A just, loving and creative woman.
-
Below
The Fool
Foolishness. Nonconformity. Devout. Humor which illuminates a situation. Unexpected good advice.
Folly, mania, extravagance, intoxication, delirium, frenzy, bewrayment. Reversed: Negligence, absence, distribution, carelessness, apathy, nullity, vanity.
Who but a fool would leap headlong into the void, seemingly uncaring about the potential dangers, trials, and challenges that lie ahead? The Fool’s innocence is also his charm and what makes him so attractive. The Fool is untouched by life, but ready for the experience. He represents purity of action. There is no time for analysis or strategy. He doesn’t look behind him. He only looks forward. The Fool needs no encouragement to begin the journey. He does not need to test the water. He’ll find out when he steps in it whether it is warm or cold.
His motives are pure. He seeks to discover. His quest is for life — and he is willing to give it a chance, come what may. The Fool lives to live.
The Fool is a believer in all things, especially the potential that life holds. But ask him to be elaborate, and he’ll smile and say, “Find out for yourself.” His source of knowledge comes from inside. He trusts his instincts — he instinctively “knows”.
The card tells us to take the plunge, follow our heart, listen to the inner call. We are being told to face the risks, even tempt fate. The card also reminds us of the power of our imagination and our dreams. The message is simple: all things are possible. Reversed: A thin line divides the act of The Fool from foolishness. The need to exercise caution, not to charge ahead foolishly. It also could mean that you are holding yourself back, not paying attention to your instincts. You say to yourself, “if in doubt, don’t do it.”
The Fool is depicted as a youth lightly stepping to the edge of a precipice surrounded by lofty mountains. He looks out into the distance; the abyss at his feet holds no terrors for him. A dog barks at his heels. The wand over his shoulder is a symbol of the will, and the wallet contains the stored-up knowledge of universal memory. The rose he carries is white, to indicate freedom from lower forms of desire.
The Fool is about to enter the supreme adventure — that of passing through the gates of experience to reach Divine Wisdom. He is the cosmic Life-Breath, about to descend into the abyss of manifestation. Every man must journey forward and choose between good and evil. If he has no philosophy, he is The Fool. He must pass through the experiences suggested in the remaining 21 cards, to reach in card 21 the climax of cosmic consciousness or Divine Wisdom.
Divinatory Meaning: The subject of the reading faces a choice in life — a choice of vital importance to him. Therefore he must be careful to use all his powers to make the right choice. Reversed: The choice made is likely to be faulty.
Unencumbered and unnumbered. Although the Fool may seem like an innocent, it is one of the most complex and human of all cards, containing as it does the holy innocence of a wise man. But the fool is also a trickster and a charlatan, with all of the human contradictions and problems that we all face every day. The fool is neither male nor female, good nor evil, angel nor devil. It is the symbol of human potential and new beginnings, rising up to meet all new challenges that come to it on its long road. The Fool prefers to look forward to the future rather than dwell in the past. Reversed: Beware of foolish lack of forethought.
Freedom, Great Supply of Energy
The fool has a name, but he does not have a number. He represents the original boundless energy, total freedom, madness, disorder, chaos, or even the fundamental creative urge. The key phrase of The Fool could be “All paths are my path.”
The Fool evokes an enormous burst of energy. Wherever he goes, he brings this vital impulse with him.
This card, an inseminator of energy, will exacerbate, nourish, or despoil the surrounding cards. The Fool is a mirror of The Nameless Arcanum, which could well be his skeleton. The Fool shows us that the capacity to act is also acquired through the initiatory crossing through madness and death.
-
Behind
The Empress
An idealized feminine spirit. One’s home, nation, or land. Nurturing. Protection.
Fruitfulness, action, initiative, length of days; the unknown, clandestine; also difficulty, doubt, ignorance. Reversed: Light, truth, the unravelling of involved matters, public rejoicings; according to another reading, vacillation.
-
Ahead
Eight of Swords
Swords: Defending. Self-defense and setting boundaries. Think of drawing a line in the sand with a sword point.
Eight: The efficiency expert. Through use of discipline and structure, you reach peak efficiency.
A woman, bound and hoodwinked, with the swords of the card about her. Divinatory Meaning: Bad news, violent chagrin, crisis, censure, power in trammels, conflict, calumny; also sickness. Reversed: Disquiet, difficulty, opposition, accident, treachery; what is unforeseen; fatality.
You’ve boxed yourself in and not allowed yourself any options. You are holding yourself back — and for no good reason. You need to cast off the blindfolds and cut yourself loose. Reversed: You’ve removed the veil from your eyes and can see, think, and act without restriction. You can put your fears behind you and start moving forward again. You feel a great sense of release and relief.
A bound woman standing in a watery waste is surrounded by swords. She is blindfolded. Behind her on a high crag stands a castle. Divinatory Meaning: The seeker does not know which way to move in a situation. Bondage, crises, waste of energy in trivial detail, censure. Reversed: Freedom, relaxation from fear. New beginnings now possible.
Difficulties will end with patience.
The Eight of Swords represents the Buddhist ideal of emptiness. The intellect achieves perfection: emptiness. This card indicates that the mind has ceased to identify with its concepts. It is a powerful concentration, a trance state or deep meditation in which the duality of opposites dissolves in celebration of the present. The solution to problems becomes obvious, beyond the powers of reasoning. In this state of nonthought, all revelations are possible. If we want to read this card negatively, we see it as intellectual blocks; all illnesses affecting cognition, from coma to amnesia or aphasia; the fear of emptiness; or stupor.
-
You
The Tower
The abrupt end of an untenable situation. Freeing ourselves from the chains of appetite and desire for glory.
Misery, distress, indigence, adversity, calamity, disgrace, deception, ruin. Reversed: According to one account, the same in a lesser degree; also oppression, imprisonment, tyranny.
The Tower card is about breaking free, knocking down the walls that imprison us. It is not a subtle change, but a major transformation in our lives. It’s appropriate that it follows The Devil card. If The Devil card represents the darkness in our lives, The Tower card means we are ready to welcome some light in our lives — even if it descends upon us with the fury of a lightning bolt. The Tower card is the process of transformation itself, not the steps leading up to it. This card says change is happening. A new door has opened in your life and you are going through it.
The Tower card is also about inspiration. The way answers to tough questions that have eluded us suddenly break through our consciousness, usually when we least expect it. Sometimes after we’ve given up on finding those answers. On yet another level, The Tower card represents sudden spiritual enlightenment — knowledge that comes to us from deep within, without warning, and opens our eyes to the wonders and mysteries of the world.
Reversed: The change is over and you’d better get used to doing things a new way. You are out in the open now, so don’t try to hide. The old ways are gone forever. Better brace yourself for a bumpy ride.
Struck by lightning issuing from the sun, the crown of materialistic thought falls from the tower. The falling drops of light seen here, as well as in Key #18 and in the Aces of three suits of the Minor Arcana (Wands, Cups and Swords), are Hebrew “Yods”. They signify the descent of the life force from above into the conditions of material existence. The lightning flash represents the same power as that which is drawn from above by the Magician and which lights the Hermit’s lantern. It is Spiritual Truth, which breaks down ignorance and false reasoning.
The Tower is only one of several titles that have been given to this card. Among them are “The Lightning-Struck Tower” and “The House of God”. The card suggests the breaking down of existing forms in order to make room for new ones. In terms of consciousness, the lightning flash also symbolizes the brilliant, momentary glimpse of truth. The crown on the top of the tower symbolizes the materialistic concept of life — shown as it is thrust from power.
Divinatory Meaning: Overthrow of existing modes of life. Conflict, unforeseen catastrophe. Old notions upset; disruption that may bring enlightenment in its wake. Selfish ambition about to fall, bankruptcy. Reversed: Oppression, imprisonment. The same as above in lesser degree.
This is another unfortunate card — a clear picture for ruin and destruction. Your hopes and ambitions will be torn apart. Out of distraction comes renewal, rebirth and a new understanding of the mysteries of life. The lessons may have been hard to learn, but are always worth it in the end. Reversed: Havoc and adversity that you bring onto yourself.
Opening, the Emergence of What Was Imprisoned
The message of this card is one of great spiritual comfort. Rather than a punishment, the destruction of the tower is a solution to a problem: the deluge now finally ended, the entire planet, abundantly irrigated, has become fertile. This is a blessing more than a punishment. Humanity starts off again to conquer the world and start tilling the fields. Sixth degree like The Lover, The Tower evokes the theme of union — here if we wish to accept the homophony of the original French — the union of the soul and its God.
The Tower signifies the emergence of something that was imprisoned. This can be a residential move, a separation, a moment of great expression, the desire to leave for the country or for another country, or a secret revealed. Or even a lightning strike that causes a “catastrophe”. It refers to a dance of joyous separation; the figures are actually acrobats flying about in a theater. This can be giving birth to something that has long been gestating and takes dual shape here — the twinship of the animus and the anima, collaborating on a long-thought-out work.
The principle message of The Tower could be: stop looking for God in the sky; let’s find him on Earth.
“I am the temple: the entire world is an altar I make sacred. My life, like yours, proves at every heartbeat that the world is divine, that the flesh is a living celebration and life a never-ending construction. With me you will know the joy that is the key to the sacred. I am life itself, the transformation and the reconstruction, the flame and the energy of everything alive, of all matter and all spirit. If you wish to enter me, you must rejoice, cast into the fire the infantile whims of sorrow and fear, and ask yourself every time you awake: What shall I celebrate now? I am the cataclysmic joy of living, the permanently unforeseen and marvelous catastrophe.”
I receive the vibrating universal axis; I am no longer a tower but a channel. I am the central pillar of a cosmic dance. I am quite simply the human body in full reception of its original energy.
-
Others
King of Wands
Staves: Creating. Creative energy. Think of building a house with wooden planks.
King: Controlling. Using force and authority to impose one’s will.
The physical and emotional nature to which this card is attributed is dark, ardent, lithe, animated, impassioned, noble. He uplifts a flowering wand and wears, like his three correspondences in the remaining suits, what is called a cap of maintenance beneath his crown. He connects with the symbol of the lion, which is emblazoned on the back of his throne. Divinatory Meanings: Dark man, friendly, countryman, generally married, honest and conscientious. Reversed: Good, but severe; austere, yet tolerant.
Looking forward to challenges, new pursuits, healthy competition. Give to others and reap the rewards of self-fulfillment. Lead and others will follow. In a position of strength. Reversed: Lack of tolerance. Opposition looms. May be necessary to bend to a stronger point of view.
A crowned king holds a flowering wand. His robe is richly embroidered with mystic symbols; the lion symbol appears on the back of his throne. Beneath his crown he wears what is known as a “cap of maintenance”. Divinatory Meaning: A blond, blue-eyed man of enterprise and authority. Generally he is married and the father of a family living in the country. He is honest and conscientious and can also be impassioned and noble. The card may also betoken unexpected heritage, good marriage. Reversed: A severe, unyielding man, strict in his judgments. Suggests the possibility of opposition or quarrel. May also suggest advice that should be followed.
A powerful, stubborn man.
“It is my action and my works that define me.”
Like all the Kings, he has mastered his energy: vital, creative, and sexual.
-
Illusions
Three of Pentacles
Coins: Obtaining. Providing for yourself. Establishing a comfort zone. Taking risks with resources. Think of the thoughts and feelings you experience when you buy a lottery ticket.
Three: Having a plan. Formulating a strategy to accomplish a goal.
A sculptor at his work in a monastery. Divinatory Meanings: Metier, trade, skilled labour; usually, however, regarded as a card of nobility, aristocracy, renown, glory. Reversed: Mediocrity in work and otherwise, puerility, pettiness, weakness.
You can apply your knowledge, skills, abilities to great advantage. A time of positive, measurable achievement that will win you reward, notice. Others will be happy to assist you and also will respond to your lead. Reversed: Less than satisfactory efforts produce poor results. Disappointment. No gain. Not a good time to enlist others in your project or undertaking. There’s a lot you need to learn. You’re missing what you need to finish task.
A sculptor is shown working in a monastery. This card should be compared with the Eight of Pentacles, where the worker was an apprentice. Here he has received his reward and is a mature artist. Divinatory Meaning: Skill and mastery in trade, art and labor. Sometimes means nobility, aristocracy, renown and glory. Card of construction, material increase. Reversed: Mediocrity in workmanship, commonplace ideals, pettiness, weakness.
Business success will come soon.
-
To Come
The Lovers
Love and attraction as forces which overpower rationality and social mores. Romantic triangles and complications. Sensual motives underlying seemingly virtous actions. Choice. Choosing goodness over sensual satisfaction. A marriage or committed relationship. Creating a formal mechanism by which two energies can be combined.
Attraction, love, beauty, trials overcome. Reversed: Failure, foolish designs.
On its simplest level, The Lovers represents the act of union between the male and female spirits. Man and woman together are a potent creative force.
On another level, the card speaks to the next stage of a development — the point at which we move forward to begin building for the future with another.
A third meaning relates the male and female sides to a personality that exists within each of us — men and women alike. The male side represents the intellect, which is linked to the outer world, through conscious thought and reason, whereas the female is our connection to our unconscious self.
The card also acknowledges the emergence of sexuality within each of us — a change in our physical bodies and emotional and intellectual framework that both separates man from woman and at the same time creates the dynamic tension that draws us together. Similar tensions exist within ourselves as we try to live in both the external and unconscious worlds simultaneously.
Divinatory meaning: Choice between diverse allurements; the struggle between sacred and profane love. Attraction, beauty, harmony of the inner and outer life. The power of choice means responsibility. Reversed: Parental interference, danger of marriage breaking up, quarrels over children. The possibility of wrong choice.
This is the card of your emotional life with its ups and downs; it suggests conflicts of the flesh as opposed to those of the spirit. It also points to a good relationship or marriage and flows over into the making of positive decisions in your life. Reversed: A wrong choice will be made. Sexual infidelity may rear its ugly head, and you may be in for sexual difficulties as well.
Union, Emotional Life
“I am the sun of the Arcanum, the white sun: almost invisible but casting my light upon all the figures. I am this star: the joy of existing and the joy that the Other exists. I live in ecstasy. Everything fills me with happiness: nature, the entire universe, the existence of the Other in all its forms — the Other who is none other than me.”
“I am the awareness that shines like a bright living star in the center of your heart. I renew myself at every moment; at each instant I am being born. At your every heartbeat I am uniting you with the entire universe. It is from me that come the infinite connections joining you to all creation. Ah, the pleasure of living! Ah, the pleasure of becoming one! Ah, the pleasure of doing what I love! Messenger of the permanent impermanence, I am reborn every second. I am like a newborn archer launching arrows at everything his senses can capture.”
“I am not kindness; I am not ambition for well-being or triumph. I am unconditional love. I will teach you how to live in wonder, recognition, and joy.”