Into the Flow
One day in the past week or so I drew for my morning reading the Four of Pentacles, the Page of Swords and the Seven of Pentacles.
I was not happy to see the Four of Pentacles. This is a very limiting and claustrophobic card for me. It gives me the sense of being tied down by material things or a stubborn sense of duty to the point of martydom. How can you fly free when you are held down by money worries, or a sense of “doing what is required of you”. You can see the bitter-looking old man here, hanging on to what he has. Unaware and uncaring about the open sky, the birds in flight, the breezes and the life going on outside his self-imposed walls. This card makes me think of stale air in a closed room.
Fortunately the next card gave me a deep breath of fresh air. The Page is outside of boundaries in the open air, running to a goal on which she has fixed her eyes. She’s almost flying. Her feet have wings on them, and are not touching the ground. She wears feathers and streamers in her hair to accentuate the illusion of flight. Nothing is holding her back. At her hip is the spyglass she no doubt used to find the point in the distance toward which she now runs. Her sword is held high. She is positive she has found what she seeks and will reach it without fail.
My circumstances have such that I have been worried about losing what little I have. Financial troubles have caused stress and have made me feel like the old man holding onto what he has. The problem with that sort of outlook is that this does not allow any energy to flow. You may keep what you have, but you also will not allow any more to flow to you.
The Page exhorts me to let go and run toward what I seek. By not clinging to what I have, I can then free my energies to do the work of bringing more into my life. Swords represent thoughts, and this seems to represent very positive thinking. The Page does not doubt her success and neither should I. Neither should anyone. I love the spyglass. It seems to represent farsightedness – keeping one’s attention fixed on the goals ahead, instead of getting mired in the troubles of the present moment.
The final card shows the result of working toward a goal. Reaping what we have sown. Rather than sitting in a fortress holding onto what little he might have, this gentleman has gone to some trouble to turn what he had into more. Only by planting tiny seeds and cultivating them, can we reap a bountiful harvest.
Both first and last cards are Pentacles, relating to material things. The center card is Swords relating to mental power, in this case the mental power needed to break out of the cycle of hanging on to things and stopping the flow. The reading is about my financial situation. The Page is telling me to let go and run toward my goals, rather than worry about whether or not I will succeed and lose everything. If I would not end up like the old man in the fortress, I will have to get out in the open and take chances. But also be confident that I will succeed. You do create your reality. I must stay positive and persist.
Conflict of Queens
Yesterday, I had an interesting experience. I did my usual three-card spread in the morning to understand the major influences for the day. I drew the Five of Swords, the Queen of Cups and the Queen of Wands. But the only thing significant that happened to me yesterday was a major panic attack I had while worrying needlessly about someone I love.
I can have an overactive imagination, and sometimes worries will take absolute control of my thought processes. The worries become stronger than anything, and I cannot seem to prevent them from overriding any rationality or reasoning that I normally use to calm myself. It is like being in a car with no brakes and no steering and going down a steep hill very fast. You can only pray that you don’t crash and burn. I don’t know why I get like this, but I do.
I tend to read the Five of Swords as “cheating” or “gloating after winning”, but sometimes I find it signifies a mental imbalance of some kind. When I pulled the card in the morning with the two Queens I immediately thought that I would have some sort of confrontation with someone who would be the Queen of Wands, and one of us would have a bad attitude about the outcome of the confrontation. When I pull the Queen of Cups I usually think that it is me, as this card tends to signify myself in readings. But I could not determine who the Queen of Wands would be. All the ladies I work with would likely be Queens of Swords, Cups or Pentacles. There is only one co-worker who could be the Queen of Wands I had no confrontations with her that day.
So, in retrospect I think this spread was warning me of my impending panic attack. But I can’t quite figure out how.
It could be that the two Queens were opposing aspects of myself (Cups=Water, Wands=Fire) with the resulting turmoil in my psyche (the Five of Swords) causing the disturbance. I can also note that at certain times of the month I tend more toward panic attacks than at other times. The presence of the two Queens in the spread could certainly point to such a state in my body and mind, with the Five of Swords representing the mental imbalance that can result from that state.
Whatever the meaning and however it might fit the events of the day, I will continue to ponder it. The cards speak clearly, it is just sometimes hard for us to understand what it is they are trying to tell us. This is why a daily spread is such a good learning tool for those who would understand the Tarot. Comparing spreads with the daily events can help us understand how these various elements interrelate, and work together to form a meaning and a message.
