Last month, I did a tarot reading aimed at covering the span of 2020-2021.
If you are familiar with tarot, you might recognize this as the Celtic Cross spread. I was going to do a "Year Ahead" spread, which has 12 cards in a circle, like an analogue clock, with a thirteenth card in the centre, representing the whole year. The idea behind that one was that each of the cards that form the circle represents a month out of the year. However, I looked up the instructions in my book and they didn't sit well with me. They wanted me to start with January at the 9:00 position, spread clockwise and read counterclockwise. Then they wanted each card to be interpreted from the upright position. I would have done it starting with January at the 12:00 position, both spread and read clockwise, including the reversed cards.
So I tried looking online to see how other people did the reading. I didn't see much for the format I described, but I did see a number of people offering alternative spreads to it. It looked like it may have been a popular spread at one time, but fell out of fashion as tarot readers have started distancing themselves from fortune tellers.
Most spreads concern themselves as much with the past and present as with the future. The Celtic Cross offers two alternate futures: an uninterrupted one, and one in which an intervention has been made. So I can see that a spread that offers thirteen static future cards wouldn't fill the regular requirements of a tarot reading.
So I backed off of the Year Ahead spread and me and Lee-Anne both did a Celtic Cross for one another.
I'll go through each card and give a first impression, then I'll try and give a full interpretation afterward. I won't be putting in pictures of each card like I did last time, just because it takes a while and I'd like to get moving with these posts a bit faster.
I'm sure you all want to know how 2021 is going to turn out. Unfortunately, this 10 card spread only offers two predictive cards, and it has to be filtered through my perspective. I can't offer a grander prediction.
This Covers You: The Hierophant
The cover card represents who you are in your present situation. The Hierophant is a male spiritual leader, paralleled by his more earthly equivalent, The Emperor, and female version, The High Priestess. While The Emperor is seen as an authority figure in charge of things that are more physical and practical, The Hierophant is an authority figure that concerns himself with things that are more theoretical, philosophical, and abstract. However, he is seen as an overt authority figure, unlike The High Priestess, whose influence is more guiding and indirect.
So presently I am acting as an authority figure in terms of thoughts, emotions, philosophy etc. The only area of my life that I might consider myself to be seen as holding any level of authority is my job. Obviously, we all do our best to make our group non-hierarchical, but my position does have me offering a service. With our focus on mental health during the pandemic, I could see myself be perceived as offering more abstract supports.
This Crosses You: The Fool
The crossing card represents the presenting situation. Tarot is all about journeys through life. Each suit of the pip cards and court cards, as well as the Major Arcana, represents a journey through life. The lower the number, the earlier on the journey it is. The Magician is card number one of the Major Arcana, The Fool is card number zero. If The Magician is birth, The Fool is pre-birth.
The image depicts a young man, optimistic and naive, walking off a cliff. You're always supposed to mention though, that The Fool is the type of person who could walk off a cliff and keep walking on air, because he doesn't know that he's supposed to fall.
So my presenting issue is something brewing underneath the surface, which has yet to happen.
This is Beneath You: Page of Swords in Reverse
This card represents the recent past. The Page is the youngest of the court cards. He is dynamic in his journey, and he has yet to develop a reputation. Swords represent burdens and the strength to lift those burdens. It's in reverse, so the interpretation might be a bit more negative. Usually, court cards represent people, rather than situations. It could be me or someone else.
So my recent past includes a person who is striking out on a new journey or project. The road ahead looks like it will be difficult, and the person may not be feeling optimistic about it.
This being a beginning card makes sense with The Fool, as they both represent the start of a journey.
This is Behind You: Ten of Wands in Reverse
This card represents my distant past. The Ten of Wands shows a man carrying a heavy load, walking to a nearby village. Wands represent the element of fire, spirituality, and everyday tasks. This doesn't necessarily depict a religious sense of spirituality, but maybe something closer to the concept of "wellness" that has become popular lately.
Ten is the final number in a suit of pip cards. It's interesting that in my past I've finished a journey, and in the present, I've picked up a new one.
This is Above You: Emperor in Reverse
We already talked about The Emperor. He is paralleled by The Hierophant, who is his more philosophical counterpart. The Emperor focuses more on the physical world, such as finances, tangible resources, and external influences. It's also in the reversed position, which implies a less obvious intepretation, often a bit more negative.
Since the two cards parallel each other, and I had the Hierophant as my Cover card, I see these two relating to one another. I interpreted The Hierophant as reflecting how I am perceived by those I support at work. In this potential future, it seems I change my leadership style from a focus on peoples inner thoughts, emotions, and their spirit, and more to a focus on their external circumstances and their situation and resources in the real world. Since it's in reverse, I see myself as becoming more controlling and authoritarian in this change in approach, which is unhealthy and unproductive.
This is Before You: Page of Wands in Reverse
This card represents what will happen to me in the near future. We have another Page in Reverse. I already explained what Pages in Reverse, and what the suit of Wands mean, so it's not too difficult to puzzle out that this is a person beginning a journey and not feeling optimistic, except this time we swap out burdens for spirituality. So I will soon endeavor on some kind of spiritual journey, but I'm feeling doubtful.
These are Your Fears: Nine of Wands in Reverse
Pretty self-explanatory. This card represents what I am currently afraid of. The image depicts a wounded man, wielding a staff, backed by a wall of wands. It represents preparation for one last battle in a long, drawn out fight. This is the card that precedes my Distant Past, so it pretty clearly means that I'm afraid that whatever it was I left in the past will come back to attack me once more.
These are the People in Your Life: Lovers in Reverse
Again, pretty self-explanatory. This card represents someone or some people who are relevant to my current life. It's The Lovers, which is clearly a romantic card. The person I am romantically involved with is Lee-Anne, and since we're quarantined together, it comes to reason that this card represents her. Since it's in reverse, it represents the negative side of being romantically involved. I wouldn't worry too much about it though. It probably just represents the growing pains involved with learning to live with someone, exacerbated somewhat from the fact that we're learning during quarantine.
This is Your Advice: Queen of Pentacles
This card can serve as either advice or a warning depending on whether or not you want the Outcome card to become true. It's more of an optional intervention card than advice.
Queens are authority figures, similar to Kings, but a Queen's influence is more subtle and behind-the-scenes. They are the power behind the power. While the King and Queen cards are gendered, either of them can represent a person of the opposite sex.
Pentacles represent Earth, material wealth and the tangible world. Court cards more represent people than situations. Lee-Anne has sometimes been represented as a Queen of Pentacles, as well as a Queen of Swords, and Strength. Whether or not this card represents her or me, the advice of the Queen of Pentacles is likely to focus on the more subtle aspects of the physical world to build social harmony.
This is Your Outcome: Death
Ok, so this one comes across pretty ominous. It's a classic scenario that someone who isn't familiar with the Death card will panic if this shows up, and the reader has to assure them that it isn't as sinister as it appears. Like I said, each path in the tarot represents a journey, and Death is thirteenth in the twenty two Major Arcana. So it is mid-life, or mid-journey. A better representation of physical death would be The World, Judgement, or the tenth card of any suit.
Death represents an end and also a new beginning. It should be noted that we are all experiencing a state of constant spiritual death. Everytime you change your mind, that is the death of an old opinion and the birth of a new one.
Obviously during a pandemic, seeing Death as a potential future card looks disturbing on a surface level, but I'm going to stick to what I've said and say that this is a more desirable future than The Emperor in reverse, which was my alternative.
Instead of becoming jaded and authoritarian over time, which is the route that I'm headed, I'm offered the opportunity to follow the guidance of the Queen of Pentacles. This will allow me to avoid burning out and engage some form of spiritual rebirth.
Conclusion:
I see my Distant Past and Fear card being connected. I have been on a journey of spiritual burden for a long time. I fear my past resurfacing and needing to deal with it. For these two cards, we came to the conclusion that they represent my housing situation. I had a roommate who had severe health conditions that I took on a lot of responsibility for, with finances, interventions, and continued support. Before that, I had two other sets of roommates who suffered from mental health conditions that required support from me. I often wound up in the middle of conflict in a community that was pretty tightly interwoven. I had a criminal landlord that was constantly antagonizing me and everyone else. The fear is that, changing environments and living with someone new, that similar burdens may surface as they did in the past.
The Hierophant embodying who I am in the present and transitioning to The Emperor in Reverse represents how I handle myself in my career setting. Right now I am attentive, empathetic, capable, present, and attending to mental health needs. If I keep going as I am, I will start to focus on external influences and resources and become more authoritarian, unproductive and unhealthy. This probably means that while I'm doing well in my current role, unless I change things, I'm headed on a path to burnout.
My Cover, Recent Past, and Near Future cards are the ones most concerning the present, and they all indicate the beginning of a journey filled with apprehension and things that I cannot yet see. As I leave behind my past struggles, I look toward my new ones with pessimism.
Then I'm dealing with growing pains in my romantic life as I adjust to living with someone new. I need to look toward building my home life in a way that builds harmony so as to avoid career burnout. If I can do this, I will be rewarded with spiritual rebirth.
The one thing that I'm fixated on is the three cards in my present that suggest a negative development. It looks like I'm being presented with a new journey after completing my past one. It hasn't made itself known yet, but there are signs that it's coming. It leads to a negative future, so I need to be ready to not engage it. Most concerning is that, if I'm not aware of it, I will follow this thread and this will lead to burnout. To avoid it, I need to follow the guidance of the Queen of Pentacles.
