A full spread.
YOU DREW TEN CARDS:
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Environment
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.
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Obstacles
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
The Hanged Man
Betrayal. Being discovered doing something unethical. Being accused of something, rightly or wrongly. Being made an example of. Being embarrassed. Voluntarily submitting to public humiliation.
Wisdom, circumspection, discernment, trials, sacrifice, intuition, divination, prophecy. Reversed: Selfishness, the crowd, body politic.
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Behind
King 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.
King: Controlling. Using force and authority to impose one’s will.
The figure calls for no special description; the face is rather dark, suggesting also courage, but somewhat lethargic in tendency. The bull’s head should be noted as a recurrent symbol on his throne. The sign of this suit is represented throughout as engraved or blazoned with the pentagram, typifying the correspondence of the four elements in human nature and that by which they may be governed. Divinatory Meanings: Valour, realizing intelligence, business and normal intellectual aptitude, sometimes mathematical gifts and attainments of this kind; success in these paths. Reversed: Vice, weakness, ugliness, perversity, corruption, peril.
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Ahead
The Sun
Well-being. Warmth. Security. Peace. Innocence. Optimism. Clear perception of that which was glimpsed in the Star and obscured in the Moon.
Material happiness, fortunate marriage, contentment. Reversed: The same in a lesser sense.
In The Sun we are free. Free of our burdens, our material concerns. We have traveled far since beginning the journey as a Fool, and yet we come to this stop along the way even younger than when we began. That’s because we are young in mind and spirit. Enriched by the past experiences of our lives, we begin a new stage in life on a higher plane, wiser and more confident. We have been reborn many times on this journey. And we will be reborn many times more.
A naked child mounted on a white horse holds a banner aloft. The child rides without saddle or bridle because he represents perfect balance and control between the self-conscious and the unconscious. He seems to have emerged from the walled garden behind him into the glorious sunlight. Four sunflowers, corresponding to the four kingdoms of nature — mineral, vegetable, animal and human — are turned toward the child, signifying that all creation turns to man for its final development.
Creativeness, life forever renewed. Nature, the mother of all growth and life.
Attainment and material happiness. Good marriage and happy reunions. Achievements in art, science and agriculture. Studies completed, liberation; pleasure in the simple life. Reversed: Future plans clouded; possible broken engagement; loss of a valued object unless vigilance is exerted; voided contract.
At the end of the long and dark night will always be the light. Let the sunlight warm you and give you strength to overcome any difficulties that may rise up before you. Wholeness and harmony can be achieved if you can keep the sun in your heart. This is a card of triumph and rewards greater than gold. Reversed: Complete failure, loss of hope. At best only minor success can be attained.
The beginning of a new life in which past difficulties are left behind.
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You
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.
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Others
Queen of Swords
Swords: Defending. Self-defense and setting boundaries. Think of drawing a line in the sand with a sword point.
Queen: Encouraging. Getting things done in a calm, understated way. Using persuasion rather than force.
Her right hand raises the weapon vertically and the hilt rests on an arm of her royal chair; the left hand is extended, the arm raised; her countenance is severe, chastened, and suggests familiarity with sorrow. Divinatory Meanings: Widowhood, female sadness and embarrassment, absence, sterility, mourning, privation, separation. Reversed: Malice, bigotry, artifice, prudery, deceit.
Learn to rely on your mind; hone your intellectual abilities. Learn to see both sides of an issue, analyze carefully, free from emotions before deciding which action to take. Reversed: Don’t look at things from a narrow perspective. Don’t shut yourself off from the truth by closing your ears to other points of view.
A queen seated on a throne looks out over a cloud-filled landscape. Her right hand raises a sword whose hilt rests on the arm of her throne. She looks sorrowful and grave. (Note the storm clouds in all the Court cards of the Swords.) Divinatory Meaning: A dark-haired, brown-eyed woman, subtle, keen and quick-witted. May signify widowhood, sterility, privation, separation, acquaintance with sadness. The sword of spirit penetrating matter and informing it. Reversed: A woman of artifice, prudery. May betoken narrow-mindedness, intolerance, bigotry.
A sharp, clever, highly qualified woman who demands respect will offer advice.
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To Come
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.
