Post by STORMDANCER on Mar 4, 2012 20:15:15 GMT
Card 1: Queen of swords ( past)
Have you been direct and honest in your dealings lately? Are you quick to understand the way things are done in any new environment? Have you been there and done that? Are you happy to share your expertise but still excited to learn the new ways of doing things? The Queen of Swords is a pleasant card in the way it reveals that you have plenty of experience from which to draw, but are genuinely interested in always learning more.
When this card appears in your Tarot reading, the worst that someone could say about you is that you are a bit jaded. But the positive possibilities are overwhelming in a card that tells it like it is with kindness and self-assurance.
When the Queen of Swords lands in the past position, the foundation of your current situation is rooted in a choice you made that seemed wise at the time. This is not a card of impulse. Your thoughtful decisions from a time gone by got you on the path to where you are now. This card could represent a nurturing upbringing, and having taken advantage of the opportunities to give you a head start in life. If the card is speaking about the recent past, you can be reassured that a big decision you made was the best choice based on the information you had at the time.
In Tarot lore, it is believed that this card is actually an illustration of a vision of the past. The queen is pictured in profile precisely because we all rely on our specific versions of the past, ignoring inconvenient details and facts. She is looking at something you cannot see … that would be your future. Even though the future is not illustrated on the card, it is still part of it, and the same is true of the present … you looking at the queen in profile is the card's present. If this card is drawn in the past position, you complete the circle it is meant to illustrate. The card tells you that you made decisions based on what was to be had in the future and that if you seek guidance from the Tarot, relying on the wisdom you have accrued over time will be enough to get you to where you want to be.
The Queen of Swords indicates a woman who is blessed (or cursed) with sharp perception, and highly honed intuition. She is acutely analytical, with a razor-sharp ability to get to the heart of a situation, seeing exactly what is, rather than what others would wish her to see.
She is a private woman, unwilling to let people too close to her until she is satisfied she thoroughly understands their motivations. But once won as a friend, she is unfailingly loyal, honest and supportive.
She's usually very intelligent, with a dry sense of humour. Her penetrating insight will often reveal aspects of themselves to others that they had previously been unable to grasp - thus she is a capable therapist, teacher or leader.
The woman represented by this card will be experienced in the flow of life, understanding a great deal about both the great triumphs, and the deepest failings of the race. Her clarity and measured expression will be of great value at times of confusion and sadness.
Sometimes in a reading, this card will turn up to indicate a woman in a particular phase of her life, where she temporarily becomes a Sword as a result of what is happening to her. In that case the card is not quite so positively defined, for it can indicate a woman left alone, and perhaps embittered. She may be a widow, or a woman passing through the aftermath of divorce.
In this case we often see the more negative aspects of the Queen - coldness, judgementalism, criticism. At these times there is a certain sourness about her, with cynicism and sharpness making themselves felt.
It should be said that these qualities are inherent to the woman who is a Queen of Swords by nature too - if the woman concerned either you or another has not evolved sufficiently you will often find that the card represents a person who is hard and cold toward others.
Card 2: Ten of Swords ( present)
Are you at the point where it cannot get any worse? Are you running on empty? Did you make a big sacrifice and end up with nothing? Is your only power in making self-deprecating remarks? Has someone recently walked all over you? The Ten of Swords is the Tarot's card of bottoming out. But this card is a blessing in disguise, as the darkest hours in which you suffer are about to give way to a new dawn. Indicating that you have reached bottom, there is nowhere to go but up when your Tarot reader draws the Ten of Swords.
In the present position, this card is a confirmation that you are turning a corner and leaving behind one of the worst chapters in your life. Keep a mental image of that golden sky rising … your world is about to get brighter, as it hardly could ever be any darker than some recent dramas you have encountered.
The Lord of Ruin is another of those dive-for-shelter cards that most people hate to see coming up in a reading. And certainly sometimes the card will presage a painful, even devastating event.
But this is not the underlying tenet of the Lord of Ruin. It's the end result of failing to engage with the true message it brings.
You see, the 10 of Swords is about the power in our own minds.
The end result of our thoughts, beliefs and aspirations. If we have believed in our worthiness to achieve and attain; if we have struggled to reach the highest limits of our own current spiritual potential; if we have lived in an ethical and fair manner, we will inevitably have attracted joy, happiness and success into our lives.
If, on the other hand, we have fallen short of our best; believed in our weakness and therefore empowered that belief; if we have given in to negative and harmful thoughts, we will inevitably attract to us sadness, distrust and a reason to fear.
And then the Lord of Ruin walks in. We make so many of the events that happen in our lives...and we pay too little attention to ensuring that we make only good things for ourselves. I have never believed that we can eliminate painful and testing times entirely - we learn so well, when we do things the hard way, to give up hurting to learn. But I know, beyond a shadow of doubt, that we can reduce their frequency.
Most often, the 10 of Swords should be interpreted as an unexpected, shocking and traumatic upheaval. But it's worth looking for clues about how you might be able to lessen the impact.
This card has the major function of reminding us that what we think today creates tomorrow. And yesterday created today. We could do worse for ourselves than to do the best we can at the time.
Card 3: The Aeon/judgement ( future)
Are your days of sitting on the fence done? Have you found a reason to keep living? Are you feeling refreshed and looking forward to moving on? Has a casual interest turned into a dominating philosophy of life that you are pursuing as your true calling? Are you able to brush aside the ambiguities and obfuscations of the past and clarify exactly what it is you have been through? When the Judgment card arrives in your Tarot reading, it is time to take a stand as the hardest choices become obvious after the simplest of appraisals.
An especially powerful placement of this card is the future position. When Judgment is here, the murkiness, guilt, burdens and misery are about to go. A coming incident will allow you to finally see the possibilities. It will be like you have been a ghoulish zombie in a graveyard of your own creation and the sudden blowing of a trumpet will pull you out of your stupor and give you a second lease on life with a definite sense of purpose and an obvious direction.
The Aeon (or Judgement, Last Judgement, Atonement, Resurrection) is numbered twenty and often shows figures arising from graves in answer to the clarion call of an angel. The Thoth deck veers away from the Christian overtones and instead we see the goddess Nuit, a primal sky goddess from the beginning of creation. Her body is arched above our heads and curves to imply the ankh cross, a symbol of immortality and life. A child-like male figure stands within the ankh's loop with his finger to his lips in the traditional mystical gesture of silence. A seated regal figure is behind him. Both figures are said to represent Horus, first as child and then as ruler.
Horus was the son of Osiris and Isis. When his father was murdered by his brother Set, Horus was protected and raised by Isis. Horus' ascension to manhood triggered a series of battles with Set, culminating in his assumption to the throne of Egypt. Set was sent away defeated and thus Horus is seen as a god of redemption.
The Aeon forces us to acknowledge that our actions set up a chain of cause-and-effect for which we are solely responsible. Here we pass through the fire of purification, shedding dead and dying wood as we go. We judge ourselves frankly, forgive, and leave the past behind. And then we are free to step into the light.
Card 4: Adjustment/justice ( extra card)
When it is time for you to do the right thing, make a big move that involves absolutes or to accept responsibility for some of your actions and move on, the Tarot deck will reveal the Justice Card in your reading. There is little you will be able to back out of once you set the course demanded by the Tarot's Justice.
This card was traditionally called Justice, but in more modern decks is now named Adjustment. This change reflects one of the deeper aspects of meaning that the card covers - the requirement for constant assessment and balancing which opens us to spiritual expansion.
Life is a flowing river of energy - and when it is blocked for any length of time it behaves exactly as water does. it stagnates. When we fail to consistently assess our position and attitudes in relation to life - in general, and on a personal level - we too begin to stagnate.
So on a day ruled by Adjustment, we need to take stock of ourselves. Have a look at habitual or routine behaviour, and decide whether it is appropriate to your current state of mind, and position. Sometimes a thing becomes outdated, and loses its value as we change and alter. If you find anything like this decide to let go of it, to clear the way for new more appropriate actions.
Think about the ways in which you approach life - do you feel you're getting the most out of it, and putting as much as you can into it? If not, think about why. For some of the fortunate people among us, happiness and contentment come as a result of simply deciding that these things are in our lives now, and then living each day reminding ourselves of that fact. So consider if you are one of those fortunate people who can simply choose to be happy, fulfilled and contented...and then do it.
If you are one of those people who cannot, at this time, decide to be happy, because of surrounding circumstance, try for today, to find something to be happy about - a little ray of sunshine cutting through the darkness. It will make a difference to the imbalance you might be experiencing - go some way toward adjusting your situation.
Card 5: Six of Wands ( Extra Card)
The Lord of Victory is a card of fight, competition and eventual victory. It applies to areas of our lives where we feel we have had to fight very hard to achieve our goals. It can apply to any area of our lives where we have had to contest our position strongly.
So, for instance, it could indicate passing successfully through tough training courses; it could apply to spiritual development after a period of test and trial; it could show that we have managed to establish stable and harmonious relationships through hard work and tenderness; it could even indicate that we have finally managed to get our bank balances to match our desired level of spending after much difficulty!
It's a card which indicates that we have achieved both a point of balance and a moment of ascension during which we feel justifiably proud of ourselves, but maybe just a little overwhelmed by our final breakthrough into good fortune.
There will always have been struggle before this card appears. We will have been striving - sometimes against frustratingly unhelpful influences - to grasp our dreams, our hopes, our ambitions, our needs. There will sometimes have been pain or confusion as a result of that struggle. But when this card comes up, we can relax a little, and enjoy the fruits of our labour.
Card 6: Six of Disks
The Lord of Success is a card full of the promise of bounty. When we have achieved a degree of inner confidence and self-belief, we release new streams of energy which create a powerful and rewarding reality around ourselves. New ideas are easy to implement. New projects are fruitful. We are energised and enthusiastic about the work we have in hand.
This level of productive harmony comes from a deep-rooted trust in the self. Once we simply allow our power to flow, we find ourselves capable of high levels of success and fulfilment. These things flow naturally as a reward for the hard work we have invested in ourselves.
When the card comes up in a reading to indicate everyday matters, it promises that projects currently in hand will be lucrative and abundant. We will do exactly what we had hoped we might - and probably receive even more than we had hoped for. Financial and material matters will be positive and prosperous, allowing us to gain a stable and comfortable position.
There is often, during a period like this, such good fortune that we end up with more than we actually need. If this happens to you, make sure that you continue to allow money (which is after all only energy) to keep flowing. Use the abundance that comes to you, and be generous with your bounty. Ensure that others benefit appropriately from your abundance. That's the best way that you can thank the Universe for flowing with you.
I Hope this makes some sense
Storm xxx
