A full spread.
YOU DREW TEN CARDS:
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Environment
Three of Wands
Staves: Creating. Creative energy. Think of building a house with wooden planks.
Three: Having a plan. Formulating a strategy to accomplish a goal.
A calm, stately figure, with his back turned, looking from a cliff’s edge at ships passing over the sea. Three staves are planted in the ground and he leans slightly on one of them. Divinatory Meanings: He symbolises established strength, enterprise, effort, trade, commerce, discovery; those are his ships, bearing his merchandise, which are sailing over the sea. Reversed: The end of troubles, suspension or cessation of adversity, toil and disappointment.
You are reaping success from your efforts. Like the ships on the card, the results are starting to come in. Now that you’ve proven what you can do on your own, it is time to form partnerships and alliances with others so you can seek their advice and work together as a team. Reversed: Achievements may not last. Your alliances are not proving to be productive. Goals seem elusive. Control is slipping away. Best to take time to reassess and regroup. Be wary of advice from others.
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Obstacles
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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Above
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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Below
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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Behind
Five of Wands
Staves: Creating. Creative energy. Think of building a house with wooden planks.
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 posse of youths are brandishing staves, as if in sport or strife. It is mimic warfare, and hereto correspond the divinatory meanings. Divinatory Meanings: Imitation, as, for example, sham fight, the strenuous competition and struggle for the search after riches and fortune. Hence some attributions say that it is a card of gold, gain, opulence. Reversed: Litigation, disputes, trickery, contradiction.
The calm is shattered. You face competition from others for the same thing. The outcome could be in your favor if you are careful, act forcefully, and don’t give in. Be firm and stand your ground. Don’t let anyone get the advantage over you. Reversed: The conflict and disharmony are passing. New opportunities will be forthcoming. Positive change is in the air. Be ready for it. Also can indicate healthy competition.
A group of young men are shown brandishing wands as if in combat. It may be mimic warfare. Divinatory Meaning: Strenuous competition, strife. Struggle in trying to attain riches and success. The battle of life. There may be quarreling and a lawsuit. Reversed: New business opportunities. A compromise is reached.
Don’t let obstacles get in your way.
The Five of Wands carries a temptation, a new desire, and an energy to go beyond what has been known to this point. This can be initiation into hitherto unknown sexual practices or, in the creative domain, evolution toward unsuspected depths and a larger dimension. This is also the strength of the teacher or saint who is not afraid to use the energy of the Wand to heal and bless. In its negative meanings, the Five of Wands concerns perverse sexual practices, a conflict between sexuality and spirituality, creativity that requires drugs or alcohol to express itself, or a desire for evolution that has not been acted upon.
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Ahead
The Emperor
Stability, power, protection; a great person; aid, reason, conviction. Reversed: Benevolence, compassion, credit; also confusion to enemies, obstruction, immaturity.
Material power and authority. Safety and security. A reminder that even the mighty will fall. The necessity for earthly power to work in tandem with spiritual values. The fate of one’s kingdom, whether it be a nation, an office, or a home, depends on the spiritual state of its ruler.
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You
Five 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.
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.
Two mendicants in a snowstorm pass a lighted casement. Divinatory Meanings: It foretells material trouble above all, whether in the form illustrated – that is, destitution – or otherwise. For some cartomancists, it is a card of love and lovers – wife, husband, friend, mistress; also concordance, affinities. These alternatives cannot be harmonised. Reversed: Disorder, chaos, ruin, discord, profligacy.
A destitute couple pass under a lighted window. The unfortunates in outer darkness have not yet realized the inner light. Note that the Fives of each suit are negative cards. Divinatory Meaning: Material trouble, loneliness, destitution, spiritual impoverishment. Could mean unemployment, loss of home. Dark night of the soul. Reversed: Money regained, new employment, good companionship, new interest in business or spiritual matters.
The Pentacles deal with money, finance, business, prosperity and security.
Five of Pentacles: Ruin, financial collapse.
In the heart of stability a new interest is opening connected to a spiritual, planetary, or cosmic dimension. The negative dimension can be a reversal of fortune, a bad doctor, a descent into drugs or alcohol, a venal financial advisor, a swindler, an unscrupulous industrialist, a stock exchange crash, or nervous depression.
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Others
Four of Swords
Swords: Defending. Self-defense and setting boundaries. Think of drawing a line in the sand with a sword point.
Four: Making it happen. Your efforts result in concrete manifestation. Initial success.
The effigy of a knight in the attitude of prayer, at full length upon his tomb. Divinatory Meanings: Vigilance, retreat, solitude, hermit’s repose, exile, tomb and coffin. Reversed: Wise administration, circumspection, economy, avarice, precaution, testament.
Once again it is time to back away from your troubles, to make time for quiet contemplation. Your problems will still be there when you return, but you’ll be energized and able to approach things with a clearer head, wiser from your rest. Reversed: No time to rest. Action is needed. You are being called back. Because you may not be ready to act, take care before committing yourself. Use caution.
The effigy of a knight lies at full length upon his tomb, in an attitude of prayer. One sword lies beside his tomb, while three hang over him. Divinatory Meaning: Rest from strife; retreat; solitude. Hermit’s repose; convalescence after illness; exile. Not a card of death. Reversed: Activity, social unrest, qualified success. Use precaution, economy and circumspection.
Harmony, calm, reprieve from struggle.
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Illusions
XIII
XIII – Death. Something has come to an end; it will only continue in a new form. Our shortsighted view of life as unchanging is challenged. A warning against hubris: you too can be brought low by natural forces.
End, mortality, destruction, corruption. Reversed: Inertia, sleep, lethargy, petrifaction, somnambulism.
The Death card strikes fear in the hearts of most people when it should be welcomed. It is not an evil card. It is a card of change, of transformation. It is the darkness that precedes the light, the death that is necessary for rebirth to take place. It is another turn on the Wheel of Life. Death and life go hand in hand. Both are linked as part of the eternal process. Life ends in death. And from death comes new beginnings. Where The Hanged Man represents a suspension between two states, death symbolizes the end of the old and the start of something new. Death tells us to be open to new adventures about to begin. Reversed: Fear of change, especially the future. Clinging to old ideas or values that are no longer relevant. Not a good time to make the break. Stop grieving for the old ways or what you’ve lost.
The mysterious horseman, Death, rides a well-bridled horse, and moves slowly across a field. He bears a black banner emblazoned with the mystic rose, which signifies life. On the edge of the horizon, the sun shines between two towers. All are powerless before the rider — king, child, girl, fall prostrate before him, while a priest awaits his coming with clasped hands. The card represents the death of the old self — not necessarily physical death. The sloughing off of fleshly desires. He who realizes that death must be conquered by the regeneration of the soul is on the way to attaining eternal life. Divinatory Meaning: Transformation, change. Sometimes destruction followed or preceded by transformation. The change may be in the form of consciousness. Sometimes it may mean birth and renewal. Reversed: Temporary stagnation, tendency to inertia.
This is not as ominous as it seems despite the title and image. Whatever card came before it will be strengthened by this card. To continue to grow in the future, sometimes the only way is to lay the past to rest in some sense. Then your soul can be reborn. You can expect a strong spiritual rebirth. Any setback that you may be going through at this time can bring you a new understanding and new hope. Reversed: Foresees distraction without renewal.
“Permanent impermanence, I am the secret of the sages: they know they can only advance on my path. Those who incorporate me become powerful minds. Those who deny me, seeking vainly to escape, lose the delights of the ephemeral. My permanent destruction opens the way to constant creation.”
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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.