A full spread.
YOU DREW TEN CARDS:
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Environment
Knight of Cups
Cups: Interacting. Emotions and relationships of all kinds. Dealing with people. Think of two people toasting each other with wine glasses.
Knight: Focusing. Single-mindedness. Determination.
Graceful, but not warlike; riding quietly, wearing a winged helmet, referring to the higher graces of the imagination which sometimes characterise this card. Divinatory Meanings: Arrival, approach — sometimes that of a messenger; advances, proposition, demeanour, invitation, incitement. Reversed: Trickery, artifice, subtlety, swindling, duplicity, fraud.
Following your dreams or traveling down your intuitive path could lead to fulfillment and satisfaction. A time for mental stimulation. Live your vision. Reversed: Lost in a world of dreams, cut off from reality. Motives are insincere. Be on guard against duplicity, fraud, or trickery. Someone may tell you what you want to hear just to get the better of you.
A knight riding quietly and wearing a winged helmet, symbol of imagination. He is contemplative, not warlike; he bears his cup firmly as the horse prepares to cross the stream and approach the distant peaks. Divinatory Meaning: A young man with light brown hair and hazel eyes, of high intelligence and romantic dreams. Love may come from him to the subject of the reading. He may also be the bearer of messages. May indicate advances, a proposition or an invitation. Reversed: Propositions should be carefully looked into. There may be subtlety, fraud, trickery, rivalry.
A bright, cheery youth, possibly a lover.
The way of love has reached its conclusion: it will now become a concrete force.
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Obstacles
Five of Swords
Swords: Defending. Self-defense and setting boundaries. Think of drawing a line in the sand with a sword point.
Five: Challenging yourself. A monkey wrench. Things don’t go as expected and you’re challenged to grow. Or you may be deliberately challenging yourself.
A disdainful man looks after two retreating and dejected figures. Their two swords lie upon the ground. He carries two others on his left shoulder, and a third sword is in his right hand, point to earth. He is the master in possession of the field. Divinatory Meanings: Degradation, destruction, reversal, infamy, dishonour, loss. Reversed: The same; burial and obsequies.
All your emphasis is on winning. But victory itself may not be much of a reward. It could even be a loss in the long run. You must think of all the consequences that may arise — especially those who might get hurt, including yourself — before you come out swinging. Reversed: Same as upright, but with stronger emphasis on likely defeat and feelings of pain, loss, and despair that follow.
A man looks scornfully at two dejected figures, whose swords lie upon the ground. He carries two swords on his left shoulder, and a third sword, in his right hand, points to the earth. Storm clouds fill the sky. Divinatory Meaning: Conquest over others through physical strength. May betoken a threat to the subject of the reading. Reversed: Weakness, chance of loss and defeat. Stormy weather ahead.
Further struggles may bring defeat.
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Above
Ace of Cups
Ace: There’s a first time for everything. Beginnings. A seed that will grow.
Cups: Interacting. Emotions and relationships of all kinds. Dealing with people. Think of two people toasting each other with wine glasses.
The waters are beneath and thereon are water-lilies; the hand issues from the cloud, holding in its palm the cup, from which four streams are pouring; a dove, bearing in its bill a cross-marked host, descends to place the wafer in the cup; the dew of water is falling on all sides. It is an intimation of that which may lie behind the Lesser Arcana. Divinatory Meanings: House of the true heart, joy, content, abode, nourishment, abundance, fertility, holy table, felicity hereof. Reversed: House of the false heart, mutation, instability, revolution.
A new outpouring of emotions: first love, new appreciation for life, a spiritual awakening. A journey that begins with special blessings. Good fortune shines on you. An acceptance of life and all the joys it brings. A sign of fertility. Reversed: Emphasis on material over spiritual. Closed off from nurturing love or from your true feelings. Denying the wonders of life. Not ready for emotional involvement. Neither giving nor receiving love.
A hand reaches out from a cloud holding a cup from which five streams of living water fall into the lake below — a symbol of the subconscious mind. A dove of peace holds a wafer marked with a cross as the dew of Spirit descends onto the water lilies, which are symbols, like the lotus, of eternal life. A reminder here, that when you keep your mind filled with the Spirit it will fill your material cup to overflowing. Divinatory Meaning: Abundance in all things. Love, joy, fertility. Nourishment from spiritual sources. Reversed: Hesitancy to nurture love, instability. The good beginning is cut short. Materiality.
Filled with love to overflowing, great abundance.
Symbol of Love in Potential
Symbol of love in potential, a cathedral that is still closed yet full, it can symbolize all the feelings, all the possibilities of the heart from amorous enthusiasm to mysticism; a great disposition to loving and being loved; a capacity for love that is as yet unemployed but immense. With the Ace of Cups, love appears like a chalice, a question on the horizon that will color the quest of the reading’s subject. It is also the base of communication, religion, in the sense of connecting to the Other and of transcending yourself to reach the Divine. Its negative aspects would be suffering, jealousy, bitterness, lack of affection, a never-sated neediness, and smothering affectivity.
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Below
The Moon
A perception of larger truth, more than the glimpse we saw in the Star but still obscured. Mystery. Unease. Hidden motivations. A wild, untamed, Dianic energy.
Hidden enemies, danger, calumny, darkness, terror, deception, error. Reversed: Instability, inconstancy, silence, lesser degrees of deception and error.
The Moon glows, but it does not illuminate the earth below. It is not a guide like The Star and it does not warm or brighten. The light The Moon casts isn’t even its own — it’s a reflection of The Sun. The reality we know by day is now cloaked in an illusion. When The Moon is high in the night, we enter the dreamworld. And in this netherworld, things are not as they always seem. The familiar shapes of the daytime hours take on different meanings. We must be on guard. Even the Moon doesn’t reveal all of itself to us. It grows from a little sliver to a full moon — another reminder that not everything has been revealed to us.
The Moon card warns us of the unknown, yet at the same time beckons us. It’s that fear of the unknown that attracts. We don’t know where the journey will lead and yet we’re willing to take the risks, to venture out into the darkness. The Moon tugs on us, just as it pulls the tides. Reversed: Not a time to venture out. Stay with the path you know best. Lacking in faith and in nerve. Going through a phase. In the dark about things.
A dog and a wolf are seen baying at the moon. The pool in the foreground is the same as that shown in Keys #14 and #17. It is the great deep of mind stuff out of which emerges physical manifestation. The shellfish symbolizes the early stages of conscious unfoldment. The wolf is nature’s untamed creation, while the dog is a product of adaptation to life with man. The path ascends ever upward between the towers. The upward progress of man is here symbolized; the moon signifies the reflected light of subconsciousness; the falling drops of dew (Yods) represent the descent of the life-force from above into material existence. Divinatory Meaning: Imagination, intuition, dreams. May mean bad luck to one you love. Unforeseen perils, deception, secret foes. Reversed: Storms will be weathered, peace gained at a cost. Imagination will be harnessed by practical considerations.
For a prudent person, this can be an unfortunate card. The moon is an irrational supernatural force in the universe. Sometimes intuition can be your best friend. Believe in yours and listen to it closely. Your irrational side can overcome many obstacles, yet it must be used carefully since it can lead to a dangerous fantasy world. Reversed: Forewarns against letting your life become too stagnant and cold. Don’t become old before your time.
Receptive Female Power
The moon is one of humanity’s oldest symbols; it represents the maternal feminine archetype par excellence, the Cosmic Mother. Its essential quality is receptivity: the satellite body of the moon reflects the light of the sun. The moon is also the world of dreams, the imaginal realm, and the subconscious, traditionally associated with night. The Moon symbolizes the mysteries of the soul, the secret process of gestation, everything that is hidden. The moon is connected with biorhythms, water, tides, menstrual cycles, and the transition from life to death. Its infinite receptive potential is its greatest treasure.
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Behind
Seven of Swords
Swords: Defending. Self-defense and setting boundaries. Think of drawing a line in the sand with a sword point.
Seven: Going deeper. You become aware of deeper levels of meaning and hidden motivations. You’re no longer satisfied with superficial answers.
A man in the act of carrying away five swords rapidly; the two others of the card remain stuck in the ground. A camp close at hand. Divinatory Meanings: Design, attempt, wish, hope, confidence; also quarrelling, a plan that may fail, annoyance. Reversed: Good advice, counsel, instruction, slander, babbling.
Your attempts to deal with your problems are feeble, incomplete, and not well-planned. In the process, you are hurting yourself. Trying to solve things alone may not be a wise decision. It may be more than you can handle by yourself. Reversed: It’s a good time to seek advice from someone else, to learn what you need to know, to do a little listening, seek constructive criticism. Good results may follow.
A man is shown escaping with five swords, with two still remaining stuck in the ground. A nearby military camp is depicted. Divinatory Meaning: Unstable effort, partial success. Uncertainty; a plan that may fail. The seeker finds someone trying to make away with that which is not his. Reversed: Good advice, counsel, instruction.
Difficulties abound; be brave and conscientious.
An active meditation turned to the needs of the world. The pacified mind can put its potential and spirituality into service of the Other.
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Ahead
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.
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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
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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Illusions
Justice
Justice: Fairness. Impartiality. The institution of justice, i.e. the judicial system, courts, lawsuits, judges, lawyers, etc. Judging someone’s deeds. Being judged by others.
If a balance in your life has been reached, success cannot be too far behind. Sound judgement and awareness are called for here. Complete triumph of the spirit is impossible unless you tap into your soul and mind. Only then will material success be within your grasp. This card means that you may be judged for your actions in the world soon. This may be positive or negative — it depends whether or not you’re found wanting. Reversed Meaning: Injustice, harsh or unfair judgment by others.
Fulfillment, balance, perfection; not synonymous with symmetry.
Strength: Power, energy, action, courage, magnanimity. Reversed: Despotism, abuse of power, weakness, discord.
A woman over whose head we see the cosmic lemniscate, symbol of eternal life, the same as that shown in the card of the Magician. She is shown confidently closing the lion’s mouth. Around her waist is a chain of roses — the union of desires which creates such strength that wild, unconscious force bows before it. For a consciousness that is aware of the sign of Eternity above it, there are no obstacles, nor can there be any resistance. Divinatory Meaning: Spiritual power overcomes material power. The triumph of love over hate, the higher nature over carnal desires. Reversed: The abuse of power, the domination of the material, discord. This card suggests the need for meditation as a help in controlling the animal passions.
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To Come
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.