Tarot cards are similar to playing cards. In fact they both turned up around the same time during the fourteenth century. Clearly, they’re related somehow.
Which has got me wondering…
Continue readingSunday Spotlight: The Ace Card Enigma
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Category Archives: Pentacles
The Tarot of New Year’s Resolutions
We often start our year doing this…
Page of Swords: Setting goals
Sometimes we tackle them like this…
Knight of Swords: In haste
In which case we might…
Ten of Swords: Burn out fast
In other cases, we need to do this…
Knight of Wands: Summon up courage to take action
Or you might approach your goals like this…
Knight of Pentacles: Laying solid groundwork
In which case you’re more likely to…
Six of Wands: Experience success
Maybe a goal you’ve chosen this year involves this…
Knight of Cups: An act of love
You might feel this…
Judgement: A call to serve others
In which case you’re this…
King of Wands: My hero
My resolution this year was this…
Three of Cups: Start up a dinner club with friends to experience the amazing food we have here in Melbourne.
However, this happened…
The Tower: Omicron
And my friends…
Eight of Cups Reversed: Don’t want to go anywhere outside their comfort zone
So I joined a bushwalking club instead…
The Empress: Enjoying nature
This week my youngest daughter said she would join my dinner club. We went to this high-energy Japanese eating house in the city, Yakimono, where I enjoyed the most wonderful smoked paprika raw tuna steak AND spent precious time with a child who is always super busy…
Nine of Cups: Feeling sated
So I get to participate in two new hobbies this year #win
Did you make a New Year resolution?
What was it?
Feel free to share in the comment section below.
The Different Stages of the Christmas Season
We’re in the pause between Christmas and New Year. A time many have off from work. In some ways, this is my favourite part of the Christmas season. The manic rush of Christmas has passed and there is time before the New Year to reflect. But maybe you prefer another part?
Let’s explore the different stages of the Christmas Season…
We decorate the house…
Ten of Pentacles: Taking part in valued traditions
Catch up with friends for a drink…
Three of Cups: Socialising
Buy presents…
Six of Pentacles: Giving and receiving
Rush around like mad at the end to get everything done…
Ten of Wands: Being overextended
By Christmas Eve, you hopefully begin to feel this…
Ace of Cups: Spiritually renewed
Beit through your faith, by listening to carols, or by spending time with loved ones.
On Christmas Day we spend time with family.
Hopefully, it felt like this…
Ten of Cups: Counting your blessings
Rather than this…
Three of Swords: Reigniting old heartaches
Maybe by the end of the day you experienced this…
Nine of Cups Reversed: Food coma or other over-indulgence
We now have a week between Christmas and New Year.
Which is a great time for this…
Four of Swords: Restful contemplation
Before the new year comes around.
When we do this…
Ace of Swords: Set a clear direction for the next twelve months
What is your favourite stage of the Christmas season?
The Tarot of the Northern Winter Solstice
The celebration of the winter solstice in the northern hemisphere has ancient roots…
The Moon: Hidden Depths
Going back thousands of years, possibly tens of thousands of years, maybe even hundreds of thousands of years, into prehistory.
And it’s not hard to see why!
December 21st marks this…
Wheel of Fortune: A turning point
It’s when the Earth pauses in its tilt away from the Sun, before heading back towards the light.
This is a truly significant moment in the year and would have had deep meaning for our ancestors.
The Earth turns towards the light just before the northern hemisphere is plunged into the bleakness of the most challenging winter months, when the weather is freezing and food scarce…
Five of Pentacles: Hard times
The winter solstice commemoration was created to remind us during the darkest of times that the world is turning back towards the light.
It is a celebration of this…
The Star: Hope
And is the true origins of the Christmas festival we now celebrate at this time of the year.
Jesus is another symbol of hope for us.
Of a way we can move forward towards the light.
Just as Tarot is too!
The Tarot of the Most Locked Down City in The World
Yes! I live in the place that has been crowned the most locked down city in the world over the past two years: Melbourne, Australia!
It’s been a journey, to put it mildly. We’ve endured six seperate lockdowns, each one more miserable than the last.
Right from the start, our state government did this…
The Emperor: Imposed strict rules
It was actually amazing how compliant everyone was!
We started off like this…
Page of Wands: Developing new skills
Baking sourdough, taking up crochet, improving our ability to work and play online.
We made lots of this…
Page of Swords + Temperance: Plans to improve our work-life balance
Some did this…
Knight of Wands + The Empress: Moved to the country
Many felt this…
Judgement: A call to serve others
People set up Facebook groups to support their community, gave money to charity, reached out to neighbours.
Some made the experience harder…
Knight of Swords: Sections of the media
With their sniping on the sidelines and their personal political agendas.
But others made it easier to do this…
The Star: Hold onto hope
Medical scientists and healthcare workers, those who went above and beyond to help through this crisis, friends on WhatsApp groups.
That was 2020.
2021 has been much worse.
There was a lot more of this between political leaders and from media commentators…
Five of Wands + Ace of Wands: Fighting for ideological supremacy
Which…
Judgement Reversed: Shattered our sense of community
And was a factor in increased…
The Tower: Mental breakdowns
And for some led to this…
The Star Reversed: Despair
People were either…
Five of Pentacles: Feeling poor
Due to businesses being unable to trade and government subsidies being withdrawn.
Or this…
Ten of Swords: Mentally drained
From being asked to work under challenging conditions.
I’ve worked six days a week for the last two years, as well as writing, and I’m in the latter category.
Up until September I felt I was doing this…
Two of Pentacles: Juggling my responsibilities nicely
But then I finished The Empress and suddenly barely had the energy to publish it, let alone write any more.
My brain just stopped working…
Ace of Swords Reversed: Unable to think clearly
And it’s only just coming back online now.
The inability to think on a deep level is definitely a symptom of this…
Nine of Swords: The ongoing stress of managing life in lockdown.
Which is why I won’t be publishing the next chapter in my Tarot series tomorrow.
I’m not sure when I’ll finish it. Maybe by the end of January, maybe not till next March.
Which is kind of funny, considering the next chapter is this…
The Emperor: Meeting deadlines
Guess this is a card I need to work on in my own life, lol!
More than anything in Melbourne, we have felt this, especially during the past six months…
Three of Swords: Brokenhearted
From being unable to spend time with friends and family – again!
From missing much-needed holidays we were looking forward to – again!
From being cooped up at home alone – again!
My Christmas wish for this year is that you get to do this…
Four of Wands + Ten of Cups: Spend the holiday season with family
Thinking of you all!
Happy Solstice!
June 21st marks a turning point in the year.
It’s when the Earth takes a pause in its tilt towards or away from the Sun. It appears to take stock of its progress, before moving in a new direction.
We can do the same!
If it’s the Winter Solstice where you are, it’s a good time to do this…
Two of Pentacles: Weigh up what you care about most
Then you can…
The Magician: Set goals for the year ahead
The Winter Solstice is Nature’s New Year!
If it’s the Summer Solstice where you are, stop and do this…
Seven of Pentacles: Reflect on your progress
The Summer Solstice is a good time to celebrate your achievements, and fine-tune your goals for the second half of the year.
But what does the word solstice mean?
Page of Swords: Learning about words
The word solstice comes from Latin. Sol meaning Sun and sistere meaning to stand still. Originally, we thought the Sun leaned towards us, instead of us towards it.
In celebration of the solstice, I’ve just submitted the latest chapter of The Tarot Teaclub to Amazon for publication. I’ll let you know when it’s available to read.
Happy Solstice everyone!
The Tarot of the Wuhan Lab Leak Theory
World leaders at the G7 summit in England this week added fuel to the flames of the most pressing conspiracy theory of our times: Did Covid-19 escape from a Chinese lab?
Let’s explore the Tarot of this a little, shall we?
The origins of the current world-wide coronavirus epidemic are currently unknown…
The Moon: Hidden depths
But from the start, various media commentators have speculated that the virus escaped from the Wuhan Institute of Virology…
Page of Swords: Developing A Theory
The most compelling evidence for this is probably…
Death: The fact that Wuhan was the epicentre for the first large-scale outbreak
Meanwhile, scientists around the world have continued to insist this virus spread from animals…
Eight of Pentacles Reversed: It’s not man-made
Although that doesn’t rule out the lab completely, as the Wuhan Institute stores samples of the closest-known relative to Covid-19…
Seven of Swords Reversed: Acting suspicious
These samples were collected in 2012 when some miners fell sick with a mysterious illness…
Temperance Reversed: Feeling unwell
The Chinese virologist whose work is at the centre of these allegations insisted in a recent interview that the claims are baseless…
Knight of Swords Reversed: Feeling slandered
However, China’s ongoing refusal to allow an independent investigation into the lab makes this hard to believe…
The Moon Reversed: Muddying the waters
The High Priestess Reversed: Feeling unsure
If certain leaders didn’t seem hell-bent on blaming the Chinese for this epidemic, they might be more willing to co-operate.
Judgement Reversed: Wanting to blame
The Devil Reversed: Making someone the bad guy
What are your thoughts about this?
The Tarot of Prince Phillip’s Passing
The death of Prince Phillip, consort to Queen Elizabeth, has made news around the world this week. Let’s dive into the Tarot of this a little bit, shall we?
With his passing, Britain has been plunged into this…
The British press has been united in lauding him…
Even though they spent years doing this…
Prince Phillip was definitely…
However, he was also…
I currently run a Duke of Edinburgh club at the school where I teach. Prince Phillip created this award scheme to encourage personal growth in young people. It has been incredibly successful in this endeavour for many decades, and I am proud to be a part of it.
But perhaps his greatest achievement was this…
It wasn’t easy for him to always walk two steps behind the queen, but he did.
He had to give up this completely…
His experience must have felt a lot like this at times…
Vale Prince Phillip!
May he rest now in peace!
The Tarot of Easter
Happy Easter 2021!
On Easter Sunday we remember the resurrection of Jesus Christ. According to Christian lore, his emergence from the tomb 2000 years ago proved he was the son of God. For Christians, this event signifies the new life we can experience when we embrace the Word of God.
But before Easter was a Christian celebration, it was a pagan one.
According to St. Bede The Venerable, the word ‘Easter’ was derived from ‘Eostre’, the Anglo-Saxon goddess of spring and fertility. This is also where we get the word ‘oestrogen’ from (Makes sense that a female hormone would be named after a female being). Many of the traditions and symbols that play a key role in Easter observations have their roots in Her celebrations.
In Tarot, first comes The Empress, THEN The Emperor
The very date of Easter betrays its pagan origins. It is always celebrated on the first Sunday after the first full moon after the spring equinox. Nothing related to the date of Jesus’s death at all. However, full moons and equinoxes were highly significant for our European ancestors.
The period of fasting that precedes Easter is a reminder of the dire food reserves our ancestors were left with at the end of winter. Rations needed to be used sparingly. Much of the good stuff was gone. We suffer as they did.
The eggs that birds produce as daylight starts to increase would have been one of the first fresh foods our ancestors could lay their hands on. Same same for rabbits. Their breeding season begins mid-February. These were the first signs of new life. Thus their significance to the ancient Vernal Equinox celebrations: A festival of gratitude that the darkness was receding and the natural world was springing back to life.
Egg rolling and egg decorating customs were created to acknowledge the life-saving role of eggs at this critical time of year.
At its core, the Easter story has always been a reminder that no matter how bleak the world may seem, things can get better.
Whichever version of the story you prefer, Easter is a time of hope.
Enjoy your celebrations today!
The Tarot of The Ship Stuck in Suez
I love this David and Goliath image. Two men and a tractor turn up to dislodge the massive cargo ship currently stuck fast in the Suez Canal. It feels like a metaphor for these crazy times. There’s us with our little arsenal of tricks trying to deal with the overwhelming corruption and stupidity of the world.
The stuck ship is this…
Those two men are this…
The tractor is this…
The rest of us are this…
Of course, the blockage of one of the world’s largest shipping channels is no laughing matter. It is a very big, very expensive problem for companies which ship goods around the world. It will impose a cost that will eventually be passed down to us consumers.
But maybe, like Covid, it’s another sign from the universe that we all need to slow down and reflect on just where society is at in this moment.
Thoughts?
The Tarot Teaclub 