To understand Tarot it helps to compare cards with one another. We’ve met the cards below in previous posts. They both signify that it’s time to have a break in some way. Let’s explore their similarities and differences shall we?
The Four of Swords is Continue reading
Two people in ragged clothing walk barefoot in the snow looking mighty sore and sorry for themselves, ignoring the lighted window of what looks like a church (stained glass window) in their vicinity. It’s all very doom and gloom. As so many singers have sung, ‘Oh baby, it’s cold outside.’
As I mentioned yesterday this card has Continue reading
Psychics at fetes and fairs read Tarot cards to tell others their future, often in great detail. As I’ve said before I think this can be both blessing and curse, reassuring but also a map you can feel compelled to follow. It kind of quashes your free will, your freedom to choose another destiny when you feel locked into one already.
The rest of us non-psychic mortals can Continue reading
You might have heard of the Celtic Cross. It is the most common type of Tarot card reading. Most common. Most famous. Most comprehensive. And my personal favourite. It looks something like this:
I know, I know. This blog’s title is a shameless ploy to hop on someone else’s gravy train, isn’t it? Well why not I say! It’s true. And I’m not talking about Tarot as a whole, no siree, it’s bigger than that. Every single card has about 50 different shades, 50 different versions of what it means. So my blog title may be shameless but it’s also appropriate.
How’s that work you ask? Continue reading
Here is another card like the Six of Cups with a golden glow. But in this case the glow represents Continue reading
Not all of the Tarot cards speak to me. Some I got straight away, others I have built a relationship with over time and some I might never understand no matter how hard I try. Kinda like people really.
The same goes for Tarot card readings. Some I look at and straight up I get the message whilst on other occasions I can’t make head nor tail of the darn thing. I find it helps to sit on it. To keep the cards in front of me and reflect on the meaning of the images. But sometimes it’s like trying to read a foreign language and that’s all there is to it.
The Six Of Cups has been one of those cards that hasn’t sung for me. Which is a pity cause I get it often enough. Can’t tell you the number of times it has come up in a reading and I’ve been like, ‘Oh! I’m going to meet up with someone from my past’ but then I don’t. And I’ve been left wondering what the card was really trying to say.
However after forcing myself to write a blog about it yesterday I feel clearer. Like we might have connected a bit more. I’ve always interpreted this card as referring to the past but now I see that it can refer to living in a golden glow in general. And I do get carried away in love affairs. And I can look on the rosy side of life sometimes unrealistically so. (Have I mentioned my so-far thwarted ambition to be a novelist?) I am very glass half-full, maybe over-full at times. Fantasy is my friend.
How about you? Is your relationship with Tarot a work-in-progress like mine? Or do you get each and every card no problemo (and good luck to you I say)?
The scene portrayed in this card looks kind of unreal. Like a dream. There’s all those golden colours for a start. And the lead characters are unusual. Can you see how small they look compared to the cups? And what is that funny hat the boy is wearing? They put me in mind of the Little People of myth and legend. Either that or they’re children. The castle guard and thatched cottage in the background only adds to the whole fairytale feel. This card whisks you back Continue reading
There are four suits in Tarot as in playing cards. They can each be equated with an astrological element.
Wands = Fire Signs i.e. Aries, Leo and Sagittarius
Cups = Water Signs i.e. Cancer, Scorpio and Pisces
Swords = Air Signs i.e. Gemini, Libra and Aquarius
Pentacles = Earth Signs i.e Taurus, Virgo and Capricorn
You can see the correlation. Wands deal with our talents and enthusiasms, the fires that burn within. Pentacles deal with possessions and earthly values. Swords describe our thoughts while Air Signs are thinkers. And both Cups and Water Signs are all about feelings: owning them, using them, being lost in them.
You might find that you relate more to the Everyday Tarot (Minor Arcana) cards that match your astrological sign or they might turn up more often in readings. I notice that so far I have written three blogs about sword cards and none about cups. Maybe that’s because I’m an Air Sign.
Some people have matched the star signs to particular cards in Lifelessons Tarot (the Major Arcana). I’ve seen Libra equated with the Justice card and Gemini with The Lovers. You can see why. Libra and Justice are both pictured as scales, both value reason and The Lovers has a dual aspect like Gemini. But I have my doubts about the usefulness of this allocation. Every card in Lifelessons Tarot is important in the journey of us all.
However I’ll keep my mind open for the moment. What about you?
Three swords hang ominously over a man who is resting or asleep. The fourth lies beneath his bed, he is literally sleeping on it. It’s all a bit Princess and the Pea. Remember how that pea kept her awake night after night tossing and turning, well I’m guessing the sword under this dude’s mattress plays a similar role. The swords on the wall indicate Continue reading
The Tarot Teaclub 