A full spread.
YOU DREW TEN CARDS:
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Environment
Temperance
A proper balance of character traits leads to psychological health. Being temperate; tempering our behavior. Moderation. Rising above limitation through flexibility.
Economy, moderation, frugality, management, accommodation. Reversed: Things connected with churches, religions, sects, the priesthood; also disunion, unfortunate combinations, competing interests.
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Obstacles
Ten of Swords
Swords: Defending. Self-defense and setting boundaries. Think of drawing a line in the sand with a sword point.
Ten: Enough already. You’ve attained your goals, but find them unsatisfying. Time to begin something new.
A prostrate figure, pierced by all the swords belonging to the card. Divinatory Meanings: Whatsoever is intimated by the design; also pain, affliction, tears, sadness, desolation. Reversed: Advantage, profit, success, favour, but none of these are permanent; also power and authority.
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Above
Four of Coins
Four: Making it happen. Your efforts result in concrete manifestation. Initial success.
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.
Four of Pentacles: A crowned figure, having a pentacle over his crown, clasps another with hands and arms; two pentacles are under his feet. Divinatory Meanings: The surety of possessions, cleaving to that which one has, gifts, legacy, inheritance. Reversed: Suspense, delay, opposition.
Seeking happiness exclusively from money. Putting material gain above all else. Also, solid financial foundation. Positive rewards are yours to enjoy. You’ll work very hard in business to achieve your goals. Reversed: Rewards are less than expected or less than fulfilling. Can’t hold on to your money. Your goals are being blocked. Don’t have the power or influence you require. Holding on to something when you should let go.
A crowned figure has a pentacle over his crown, two under his feet, while he clasps another with his hands and arms. He holds on firmly to what he has. Divinatory Meaning: Clinging to material possessions. Love of earthly power. May indicate a miserly, ungenerous character. Possibility of inheritance, gifts, legacy. Reversed: Setbacks in material aspirations, chance of loss of earthly possessions. Obstacles, delay, opposition.
Surprise inheritance, a peak of success.
At the very heart of the greatest material stability, there is the perpetual renewal of the mythical bird that is consumed and reborn from its own ashes.
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Below
Six of Wands
Staves: Creating. Creative energy. Think of building a house with wooden planks.
Six: Keeping it going.You’ve established a pattern or rhythm which allows things to run smoothly. Things are going well and you’re in a position to be generous with others or even to give up some of your goals for others’ benefit.
A laurelled horseman bears staff adorned with laurel crown; footmen with staves are at his side. Divinatory Meanings: The card has been so designed that it can cover several significations; on the surface, it is a victor triumphing, but it is also great news, such as might be carried in state by the King’s courier; it is expectation crowned with its own desire, the crown of hope, and so forth. Reversed: Apprehension, fear, as of a victorious enemy at the gate, treachery, disloyalty, as of gates being opened to the enemy, etc.
Once again, through hard work, intelligence, and a clear understanding of the objectives, you achieve your goals. You have the drive, ambition, and desire — and a belief in your abilities — that lead to success. But even though you’ve earned your place, you’ll have to work to keep it or someone might take it from you. Victory cannot last forever. Reversed: Victory eludes you. Not strong enough for the challenge. Letting others beat you. Keep trying, you may be successful yet. Need to develop faith in yourself and a desire to win.
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Behind
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.
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Ahead
Four of Cups
Cups: Interacting. Emotions and relationships of all kinds. Dealing with people. Think of two people toasting each other with wine glasses.
Four: Making it happen. Your efforts result in concrete manifestation. Initial success.
A young man is seated under a tree and contemplates three cups set on the grass before him; an arm issuing from a cloud offers him another cup. His expression notwithstanding is one of discontent with his environment. Divinatory Meanings: Weariness, disgust, aversion, imaginary vexations, as if the wine of this world had caused satiety only; another wine, as if a fairy gift, is now offered him, but he sees no consolation therein. This is also a card of blended pleasure. Reversed: Novelty, presage, new instruction, new relations.
Material pursuits no longer satisfy. Time to reassess, reevaluate, turn inward for answers. Looking for new, more fulfilling, satisfying challenges, pursuits. Answers to your questions are within reach. Reversed: Ready for new challenges, relationships. A sense of excitement is in the air. Feeling revitalized, refreshed, and invigorated. Ready to resume past relationships, renew friendships.
Seated under a tree, a young man contemplates three cups on the grass before him. Out of a cloud in the sky comes a hand offering him another cup. He is nevertheless discontented. Divinatory Meaning: Discontent with environment, but hesitancy to embark on a new venture. Contemplation, dissatisfaction with material success, re-evaluation of one’s earthly pleasures. Reversed: New instructions, new relationships, novelty.
Expressive of emotions, but beware of over-indulgence.
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You
The High Priestess
Secrets, mystery, the future as yet unrevealed; the woman who interests you, or perhaps your own feminine side; silence, tenacity; wisdom, science. Reversed: Passion, moral or physical ardour, conceit, surface knowledge.
The institution of religion, as opposed to the manifestation of it in individuals. Alternatively, a feminine spirit in opposition to patriarchal religious institutions and customs. Writing and written history.
The High Priestess symbolizes the power of unconscious forces in the world — the unseen forces that give the earth its form and purpose; the invisible thread that binds us together. Reversed: You are ignoring your own impulses.
The High Priestess sits with the crescent moon at her feet and on her head a diadem showing the full moon set in two crescent moons. On her breast is a solar cross showing the union of the positive and negative life elements. The scroll in her lap is the Tora (Divine Law); it is only slightly unrolled, for the instruction contained therein is hidden, save for a partial glimpse, from the ordinary human eye. A veil also covers half of the scroll, thus intimating that only one-half of the mystery of being can be comprehended. She sits between the pillars of the positive and negative forces. The black pillar, Boaz, represents the negative life principle; and the white one, Jakin, the positive life principle.
The High Priestess is both eternal and the subconscious mind. She is the balancing power between initiative and resistance — thus she sits between the pillars. The veil between the pillars is decorated with pomegranate (female) and palm (male) symbols, indicating that the subconscious is only potentially reproductive. Only when this veil is penetrated by conscious desire can creativity be actualized. Divinatory Meaning: Hidden influences at work, unrevealed future. Creative forces of the subconscious, the female side of the brain at work for the artist, poet, and mystic. A woman of great intuition, inner illumination. Reversed: Accepting surface knowledge, sensual enjoyment, conceit.
The woman in this card carries with her a deep intuition and special knowledge. She can be creative, with a slightly offbeat view of the world around her. She may possess a deep psychic understanding. This card suggests a female influence in your life, as well as the chance of a problem coming out of the dark and into the light. Reversed Meaning: Beware of becoming overemotional, which could lead you to become irrational and lose control of the situation.
Creative outburst, expression.
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Others
The World
The spirit which permeates and connects all living beings. Learning something by direct experience. Feeling connected to others. Seeing other living beings as sacred. Finding permanence in an impermanent world.
Assured success, voyage, route, emigration, flight, change of place. Reversed: Inertia, fixity, stagnation, permanence.
The final stage, a circular mandala symbolizing achievement, jubilation and culmination of a well-lived life. Just as the world is round, the cards of the major arcana can be seen as a circle, beginning with the fool and ending with the world. A new circle will begin on a higher plane with a greater goal. Reversed: Ultimate failure as opposed to ultimate success. A bleak future, no hope of progress.
A wreath of leaves surrounds the dancer, who holds in each hand a magic wand. The four corners of the card show the four animals of Ezekiel and the Apocalypse. This is a slightly different version from that in Key #10. The wreath symbolizes Nature on her regular course, and also the crown of the initiate, which is given to those who master the four guardians and thus enter into the presence of unveiled Truth. The dancer represents the final attainment of man, the merging of the self-conscious with the subconscious and blending these two with superconsciousness. This card implies the state of cosmic consciousness, the final goal to which all the other cards have led. Divinatory Meaning: Completion, reward, assured success. Triumph in all undertakings. Arrival at the state of cosmic consciousness. Can mean also movement in one’s affairs, travel. Reversed: Fear of change. Earthbound spirit attached to one place or profession. Sloth and stubbornness. Refusal to learn the lessons of life as shown in the other cards.
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Illusions
Two of Cups
Cups: Interacting. Emotions and relationships of all kinds. Dealing with people. Think of two people toasting each other with wine glasses.
Two: It takes two. A dialogue. Weighing and comparing different possibilities.
A youth and maiden are pledging one another, and above their cups rises the caduceus of Hermes, between the great wings of which there appears a lion’s head. It is a variant of a sign which is found in some old examples of this card. Some curious meanings are attached to it, but they do not concern us in this place.
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To Come
Page 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.
Knave: Learning. Curiosity. Becoming interested.
A youthful figure, looking intently at the pentacle which hovers over his raised hands. Divinatory Meanings: Application, study scholarship, reflection; another reading says news, messages and the bringer thereof; also rule, management. Reversed: Prodigality, dissipation, liberality, luxury; unfavourable news.
Approach new projects with a schoolboy’s wonder and enthusiasm. Study hard, apply what you learn and you’ll reap positive rewards. Seek out solid, well-researched information before making any moves.
Reversed: Not using your intelligence to guide you. Your actions bespeak of ignorance, closed-mindedness. Should listen to the advice of others, learn from their experience. Don’t allow your nonconformity to lead to difficulties, losses.