A full spread.
YOU DREW TEN CARDS:
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Environment
Ace 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.
Ace: There’s a first time for everything. Beginnings. A seed that will grow.
A hand – issuing, as usual, from a cloud – holds up a pentacle. Divinatory Meanings: Perfect contentment, felicity, ecstasy; also speedy intelligence; gold. Reversed: The evil side of wealth, bad intelligence; also great riches.
Good foundation for increasing money, perhaps through new venture or enterprise. Fertile soil in which to plant your ideas and come back later to harvest what grows. A chance to better your financial situation through promotion, career change. Reversed: Move with caution before making major investments. Plan carefully, weigh the risks. Don’t succumb to greed. Possible loss on the horizon. Material gain may not provide the answers you are seeking.
The familiar symbol of a hand issuing forth from a cloud here holds the pentacle, while lilies grow in the garden below. Divinatory Meaning: Perfect attainment. Ecstasy, felicity, bliss. Gold, prosperity, wealth. Reversed: Corruption of character by surplus wealth; the evil side of riches.
Financial success.
The Last Shall Be First
This card signifies material energy in all its potential forms: body, resources, the position we hold in the world, territory. The fact that pentacles are always referred to in the plural shows that this energy is essentially collective. The Ace of Pentacles orients us on our relationship with incarnation, family life, the home, money, and health. It directs our questions to the concrete aspects of life. Its negative meanings can refer us to a financial problem or denial of matter; or, to the contrary, an excess of material preoccupations, illness, physical neglect, malnutrition, or poverty.
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Obstacles
Seven 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.
Seven: Going deeper. You become aware of deeper levels of meaning and hidden motivations. You’re no longer satisfied with superficial answers.
A young man, leaning on his staff, looks intently at seven pentacles attached to a clump of greenery on his right; one would say that these were his treasures and that his heart was there. Divinatory Meanings: These are exceedingly contradictory; in the main, it is a card of money, business, barter; but one reading gives altercation, quarrel; and another innocence, ingenuity, purgation. Reversed: Anxiety about money.
You have a lot to show for your efforts, but you are not sure if your achievements are what you want. Weighing your options about the future. Also, taking a moment to reflect on your gains. Reversed: Difficult choices facing you about finances. In doubt about which way to turn. Afraid wrong choices could lead to loss or debts. Be careful not to make rash decisions. You want to abandon project, undertaking.
A strong young farmer leans on his hoe as he watches his crops growing. Is he indolent or just contemplative? Divinatory Meaning: Pause during the development of an enterprise. Possibly a stalemate with more energy needed before it can proceed. Growth or material possessions without effort. Reversed: Cause for anxiety over money. Little gain after much work. Unprofitable speculations.
Career advances ahead; use caution.
Spiritualization of matter and materialization of spirit have been achieved. Ideas move into action in the world and produce money.
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Above
King of Swords
Swords: Defending. Self-defense and setting boundaries. Think of drawing a line in the sand with a sword point.
King: Controlling. Using force and authority to impose one’s will.
He sits in judgment, holding the unsheathed sign of his suit. Divinatory Meanings: Whatsoever arises out of the idea of judgment and all its connexions — power, command, authority, militant intelligence, law, offices of the crown, and so forth. Reversed: Cruelty, perversity, barbarity, perfidy, evil intention.
Use your experiences of the past to guide your thinking. Be fair in making decisions that affect other people. Reversed: Lack of compassion can cause hurt to other people. Don’t be so strict that it borders on cruelty in your dealings with others. Don’t allow prejudice to cloud your vision.
A stern king, his sword unsheathed, sits in judgment. Behind him on a banner are the butterflies of soul. They are also found on the queen’s throne. The cypress trees of Venus stand out against a stormy sky. Divinatory Meaning: A man with dark brown hair and brown eyes, he has the power of life and death. It may betoken a wise man, a counselor full of helpful ideas; whatever rises from authority, military, and government concerns, law, judgment. Reversed: A man who can be cruel, barbarous, unjust. Caution in matters that may result in a ruinous lawsuit.
A thin-faced, sharp-featured, clever man will help with professional advice.
He supervises his thought and puts it into action in the world.
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Below
The Hermit
Solitude. A search for spirituality. Turning away from institutionalized wisdom. A search for virtue. The passage of time. Patience.
Prudence; also and especially treason, dissimulation, roguery, corruption. Reversed: Concealment, disguise, policy, fear, unreasoned caution.
The Hermit is alone on a snowy mountain peak far above the weary climbers below, for whom he lights the way. His lantern is a six-pointed star, suggesting “Where I am, there you also may be.” He is Absolute Wisdom, the goal of existence, while the Fool typifies the same Absolute before manifestation. Consequently Tarot #0 is a youth looking upward in the morning light, while Tarot #9 is a bearded ancient looking down at night. Every practice in occult training aims at the union of personal consciousness with the Cosmic Will which is the cause of all manifestations. Divinatory Meaning: Silent council, wisdom from above, prudence. A meeting with one who will guide the seeker on the path to material or spiritual goals. Attainment. Possible journey. Reversed: Immaturity, foolish vices, refusal to grow old, the perpetual Peter Pan.
The figure in the card is shown to be moving away from spiritual concerns. A reevaluation, inner growth and personal development are called for here. There may be a person you should turn to for consultation about your future. Reversed Meaning: Guard against foolishness and stubbornness. Do not rush forward blindly. Stop to think about your actions and be open to wise advice.
I have arrived at the end of my path, there where the unthinkable presents itself like an abyss. Faced by this nothingness, I can no longer move forward. All I can do is retreat, while contemplating the road I have already traveled. With every step I take backward, I form a reality before me.
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Behind
Three of Swords
Swords: Defending. Self-defense and setting boundaries. Think of drawing a line in the sand with a sword point.
Three: Having a plan. Formulating a strategy to accomplish a goal.
Three swords piercing a heart; cloud and rain behind. Divinatory Meanings: Removal, absence, delay, division, rupture, dispersion, and all that the design signifies naturally. Reversed: Mental alienation, error, loss, distraction, disorder, confusion.
It was necessary to remove what was causing you pain, trouble, or difficulty. And now you experience new pain. But it will soon pass. The new pain will cause you to sharpen your focus, to see new directions, to put the problems of the past behind you. Reversed: Your pain will remain with you until you acknowledge the reason for the separation or change you had to make. You must put it behind you so you can get on with your life. Also, discord crated by different points of view; can’t seem to find a consensus with others.
A heart pierced by three swords. Rain and clouds in the background. A depiction of stormy weather. Divinatory Meaning: Sorrow, tears, separation, delay. For a woman, the possible flight of her lover. Reversed: A meeting with one whom the subject has compromised. Disorder, confusion. Care should be taken against possible loss.
Benefits from obstacles removed.
The fantastic bursting forth of primary ideas and first opinions. Intellectual enthusiasm and passion for studying and reading. The Three can also point to a lack of follow-through on ideas.
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Ahead
Six of Cups
Cups: Interacting. Emotions and relationships of all kinds. Dealing with people. Think of two people toasting each other with wine glasses.
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.
Children in an old garden, their cups filled with flowers. Divinatory Meanings: A card of the past and of memories, looking back, as — for example — on childhood; happiness, enjoyment, but coming rather from the past; things that have vanished. Another reading reverses this, giving new relations, new knowledge, new environment, and then the children are disporting in a newly-entered precinct. Reversed: The future, renewal, that which will come to pass presently.
Memories of good times fill you with happiness. The past is not lost, it can always be remembered. Also, past events can figure favorably in the present. Old friends may serve you well at this stage. Reversed: Can’t allow the past to cloud your emotions. Time to open yourself to the present. Need to find new friends, share new experiences. Leave the past in the past.
In a village green a boy offers a girl a cup of flowers. The manor house in the background suggests home and happy childhood memories. The other five flower-filled cups suggest beauty and abundance. Divinatory Meaning: A card of the past and memories. Looking back on childhood things that have vanished. It may be the beginning of new relationships, new knowledge, new environment, or a meeting. Reversed: Living in the past, clinging to outworn symbols and associations. Possibility of an inheritance, or a gift from the past.
The Cups relate to emotional matters of love, sex, marriage, fertility and creativity.
Lighthearted memories, the past reawakened.
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You
King of Cups
Cups: Interacting. Emotions and relationships of all kinds. Dealing with people. Think of two people toasting each other with wine glasses.
King: Controlling. Using force and authority to impose one’s will.
He holds a short sceptre in his left hand and a great cup in his right; his throne is set upon the sea; on one side a ship is riding and on the other a dolphin is leaping. The implicit is that the sign of the Cup naturally refers to water, which appears in all the court cards. Divinatory Meanings: Fair man, man of business, law or divinity; responsible, disposed to oblige the Querent; also equity, art and science, including those who profess science, law and art; creative intelligence. Reversed: Dishonest, double-dealing man; roguery, exaction, injustice, vice, scandal.
A king is shown with a sceptre in his left hand and a large cup in his right. His throne rests upon the sea; a ship is seen at one side and a dolphin rises at the other. (Note that water, the symbol for the subconscious, appears in many of the Court cards.) Divinatory Meaning: This represents a man with light brown hair and hazel eyes. He is a man of business, law, or divinity. He may be a bachelor. Friendly, of creative intelligence in the arts and sciences. He is disposed in favor of the subject of the reading. Kindness, liberality, generosity. Reversed: Man of violent, artistic temperament; could be dishonest, double-dealing. Can indicate considerable loss, scandal, injustice.
An intelligent, prosperous, sophisticated man.
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Others
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.
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Illusions
The Wheel of Fortune
X – The Wheel. Feeling helpless in the grip of fate. Accepting the limitations of life. Awareness of the cycles of life. Foolishly chasing after success. A promise of rebirth.
Destiny, fortune, success, luck, felicity. Reversed: Increase, abundance, superfluity.
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To Come
The Pope
Spiritual wisdom and authority. Orthodoxy. Petitioning another for help, or someone is petitioning you. A person who deserves respect and, at the same time, wariness.
Marriage alliance, captivity, servitude; by another account, mercy and goodness; inspiration; the man to whom the Querent has recourse. Reversed: Society, good understanding, concord, over-kindness, weakness.
The Heirophant is the link between God and man — the high priest on earth. His are the ways of tradition. He is our spiritual guide who transcends the material world.
The master of the sacred mysteries wears the triple crown of a pope, signifying the creative, formative, and material worlds. He holds a sceptre terminating in a triple cross. At his feet are crossed keys, a gold one for solar energy and a silver one for the unseen forces of the moon. The two tonsured priests kneeling before him again indicate duality, for one garment is decorated with the white lilies of spiritual thought and the other with the red roses of desire. He may represent the Pope, but more likely the idea of a pontiff who is master to the masses. He is the ruling power of external religion, whereas the High Priestess teaches only in secret to initiates. Divinatory Meaning: Preference for the outer forms of religion. The need to conform, to be socially approved. Reversed: Unconventionality, unorthodoxy, openness to new ideas in any field. Danger of becoming superstitious. Can be the card of the inventor as well as the crackpot.
This card speaks of a spiritual rather than a worldly power and authority. The priest offers wisdom and rational knowledge, creative intelligence and inspiring perceptions. You are gaining insight and a stable understanding of your life and surroundings. This knowledge is not necessarily a religious one, but rather a profound and sensible understanding. The High Priest in this card may symbolize an influential friend, adviser or teacher. Reversed: Beware of lies and misleading information.