A NEW MEANING EACH WITH IMAGES FOR: The Hierophant, all 4 Pages, The Eight of Wands, The Eight of Cups, The Seven of Swords, & The Three of Pentacles

I'm trying a new approach to posting additional meanings I've stumbled across for the cards. Usually I cover only one card in depth, but I've collected a great many more meanings for most of the deck since my last post. So thought I'd include one card each from the basic sections of the Tarot: The Majors, The Courts, and the four Minors. Each will be preceded by an image for that card from a different deck. I had great fun searching for an appropriate image to go with the one meaning I've chosen to post for each. And I chose what I consider to be somewhat unusual or maybe quirky meanings from my readings for myself.

Please note that the below is intended as only a tiny taste of the cards; a quick Google will produce a wide variety of takes should you not be familiar with them. (Given my heavy reliance on projection of my feelings and experiences onto the cards, I recognize that I may very well reveal more about myself here than I do about any particular card. However, this is exactly my point: I use the cards as a path to self-discovery and healing. I hope what I post here that comes out of that process will be useful in some way to other seekers.)

First card for today is:

THE HIEROPHANT (V)

-- The world's teaching and pressure deeply impressing/forming both the conscious and the unconscious mind.

This Hierophant image is from one of my favorite old decks in my collection, The Xultun Tarot (Mayan mythology). He always looks to me as if he's really into inculcating his audience and that he has a great deal to say.

Second card for today is:

THE FOUR PAGES

Well, not "a card," but "cards," actually. I sometimes get a feel for the overall effect or function of type of card (by its number, say, or suit, etc.) In this case, it was for the four Pages in the Court cards:

-- Pages in general can encourage taking a more youthful stance, i.e. less about one's stash of knowledge and experience, and more about just putting one's self out into the world to see what will happen. The particular suit of the page and/or the details of its illustration can help further refine what the card is representing.

The four pages above are from the Rider/Waite/Smith deck.

Third card for today is:

THE EIGHT OF WANDS

-- Spirit breaking through in a moment of mystical union with everything manifest.

The Eight of Wands above is in the Lo Scarabeo Tarot. Most frequently the wands on this card are up in the air, nowhere near the ground. I like the sense of imminence and the physical world in this one.

The fourth card for today is:

THE EIGHT OF CUPS

-- Putting a distance between one's self and some emotional event(s) in order to survive it all. To have time to heal enough not to be destroyed or destabilized by it. In a more difficult sense, using drugs or alcohol, etc. to create that distance. Though even there what looks to the outside world as destructive, can very well be life saving on the person's inner plane.

The Eight of Cups above is in the Anna K. Tarot. Usually the figure is walking away from a bunch of cups, and almost as often, away from the viewer. Here, it's from a relationship (anyone remember that old song "Silhouette on the Shade"?). And the movement toward the viewer makes it more personal, more immediate. Of course, those two figures could simply be sadly watching the foreground character leaving. And I'm sure there are other readings that could be made. But that makes my point about how evocative this particular Eight of Cups version is.

The fifth card for today is:

THE SEVEN OF SWORDS

-- Feeling that things have been stolen from you; taken away by life or some actual person(s). But it's how life goes: we lose stuff, we lose out, we lose people. Shit happens!

The Seven of Swords above is in the Rider/Waite/Smith deck. I looked at a lot of Seven of Swords cards, but none of them (IMHO) beats this one for getting across that feeling of thievery.

The sixth and last card for today is:

THE THREE OF PENTACLES

-- You are being put on alert. Someone around you may be quite a piece of work. Watch out. The nastiness may be extremely well hidden by an earnest, sugar wouldn't melt in his/her mouth aspect. [I laughed in a somewhat embarrassed way when I found this meaning, as this is my primary card in The Tarot, right up there with The Hierophant. Blush! Having stumbled across this meaning with respect to a situation I've been in, will (hopefully) serve to keep me honest, too.]

The Three of Pentacles above is in The Circle of Life Tarot. I'm not overly fond of round cards, but this one is too perfect. Those little figures are either sneaking in or sneaking out of that window, and I always feel they can't be trusted to be up to any good! :-)

And on that self-conscious note, I'll end this post. Now that I've actually put it all together I don't think its approach can make any difference in the long haul, in how fast I get new meanings posted here. But it was entertaining to produce and there's a lot to be said for that in my life these days. LOL ... my moods are like those little figures in The Three of Pentacles above, not to be trusted one inch in all their comings and goings!

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N.B. A small thing, but just in case: some of the extra reference links offered at the very end of my oldest (years old) posts no longer work. As there are so many posts here to go through I am choosing not to search for and change all of those links that are "dead." (Though I do immediately delete any I stumble across that now lead to questionable sites.) If you are interested, you can try Googling for the name of the site or article referenced. I've found that some are still around in new locations or incarnations, some not.

'til next time, keep enjoying The Tarot, in whatever ways it comes to you in your life,





[aka: Patricia Kelly]
****If you wish to copy or use any of my writing, please email me for permission (under "View my complete profile")**** SEE ALSO: (charter member); Roswila's Dream & Poetry Realm for Tarot poetry; Roswila's Taiga Tarot for taiga (illustrated tanka); Trying to Hold A Box of Light for digital photos only; and THE MARKER TAROT.

THE EIGHT OF CUPS REDUX

The Eight of Cups in the Rider/Waite/Smith Tarot

Today's post was prompted by a sort of "reverse reading." The insight came first, then I thought of the card that fits it: The Eight of Cups. This post is also a rather odd, but sincere honoring of my father for Father's Day. Much of the emotional underpinnings to this inquiry were based in feelings generated in my relationship with him.

The Eight of Cups showed up briefly in my review of and reading with The Bohemian Gothic Tarot recently. Although I got a lot out of the Eight of Cups then, I now see even more. I had a dream last night on which I did some journaling this morning. It became clear the issue I am dealing with profoundly now is disappointment. But of many different varieties and going in different directions at once. And it hit me, ahHAH! The Eight of Cups, since "disappointment" is a major meaning for this card. It also hit me that a dream from the night before had also been about disappointment.

Not to belabor this point, but my inquiry now is into how deeply I fear disappointing others, and how that has been a major theme (and unfortunately, reality -- deserved sometimes, but many times not) from at least my teen years. Not only that but recognizing how underneath the enthusiasm and energy with which I take on new projects is a deep fear of being disappointed by others, in addition to a fear of letting them down. I now see how this is one of the factors undergirding my tendency to be a hermit. I'm not saying this is totally realistic or that others don't also experience various disappointments. Only that given my particular history and issues, it's been an almost paralyzing "double whammy" of fear at times.

Then when I decided to make this post about what I am now seeing in The Eight of Cups, I went to my notes to see if there were any "new" meanings for it I'd filed away since my last post on this card. And there was this one I'd forgotten about: "You are more disappointed in yourself than they are." Phew. (Along with "Are you really willing to make this move/change? Be sure before going any further.")

All of this takes me down an avenue of thinking about expectations and hopes. How much can be invested in them without becoming so attached to them as to be sand-bagged ultimately by disappointment when they don't work out. I hadn't even -- until this morning -- recognized that what underlies so much of my withdrawal tendency *is* disappointment. Disappointment that prompts the walking away from we see in many Tarot versions of this card, as in the RWS version above, and this one from The Light And Shadow Tarot:


Or the diving deep, retreating from the outer world, to figure out just what is going on, as seen in this version by Stephanie Pui-Mun Law of Shadowscapes/Tarot:


Or taking off in the boat of one's own, ultimately too small world, to protect one's self, as seen in this version from The Tarot/The Complete Kit:


Here's a the link to my initial post about The Eight of Cups. It covers the issue of disappointment, among some other areas the card can be seen to address. It's illustrated with a version from The Sacred Circle Tarot.

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‘til next time, keep walking toward self-knowledge, and enjoying The Tarot,

[aka: Patricia Kelly]
****If you wish to copy or use any of my writing, please email me for permission (under “View my complete profile”)**** SEE ALSO: Roswila’s Dream & Poetry Realm for Tarot poetry; Roswila’s Taiga Tarot for taiga (illustrated tanka); and Yahoo DREAMJIN: Group for Dreamku – Haiku-Like Dream Poems.****

The Eight of Cups (Brother and Sister) in the Fairytale Tarot

I believe our lives are always being guided by the mythic, and sometimes that sense of an underlying framework is even stronger. My life has been like this for some time now as I prepare to pull up 23 years' of roots in this apartment (60 years worth in New York city as a whole), for a retirement residence in parts as yet unknown.

The Fairytale Tarot seemed the perfect deck to consult tonight. I randomly pulled the above card, The Eight of Cups whose story in this deck is "Brother and Sister." I was astounded (I am always grateful that after over 30 years of working with many different decks I can still be astounded) at what meanings the authors gleaned from this story. But mostly how absolutely on the mark it is for me right now. Here's just a few excerpts:

Leaving one thing to move on the next. A sad parting but a new beginning. Mingled regret and anticipation. Making the steps that are necessary, even though it's hard. ....usually contains an element of pain in the parting. The sad but sensible decision that Brother and Sister take in moving away from their unhappy home is a very good example of the mixed feelings of both hurt and hope that are at the heart of this card. ....It also recalls the Death card in Tarot, a card that is as much about transformation, and a journey from one 'life' to another, as about any actual physical death. ....However, the Eight is essentially a positive card. It tells us to acknowledge the difficulties of deciding when change is needed, but it also assures us that sometimes it's a decision that has to be made.

This story and what the authors say about it have confirmed the necessity of and my resolution to make this move. This confirmation will help to sustain me as I continue on through all the uncertainty, sadness, happy anticipation, and hard work.

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‘til next time, keep facing up to the difficult decisions and changes, and enjoying The Tarot,

Roswila
[aka: Patricia Kelly]
****If you wish to copy or use any of my writing, please email me for permission (under “View my complete profile”)**** SEE ALSO: Roswila’s Dream & Poetry Realm for Tarot poetry and Roswila’s Taiga Tarot for taiga (illustrated tanka).****

THE EIGHT OF CUPS

TODAY'S CARD is The Eight of Cups. This version is from The Sacred Circle Tarot, by Anna Franklin and Paul Mason, Published by Llewellyn:



Here's The Eight of Cups in The Rider/Waite/Smith deck for comparison:



THE EIGHT OF CUPS: I've had the Sacred Circle Tarot deck for many years and have always found some of the designs stunningly apt and beautiful. There's a video on YouTube of some of the cards in the Sacred Circle Tarot. This video re-awakened an interest for me in this deck's images so I thought I'd post one today. When I looked through the deck and came to The Eight of Cups I was astonished! The landscape on the card is exactly like a years-old dream I still remember (but no longer have the notes for). Then when I read the flash word at the top of the card it opened that old dream image for me: abandonment by others, or by one's self of one's self (or fear thereof). Often this card speaks more to abandonment in the sense of debauch, and both can ultimately result in (or can even be caused by) disappointment -- which is a traditional meaning for this card.

DIFFERENT OR LESS COMMON, EVEN QUIRKY MEANINGS FOR THE EIGHT OF CUPS: (i.e. the below is not intended to be an exhaustive exploration of this card; a quick google will produce a wider variety of takes should you not be familiar with this card):

Abandoning one's responsibilities (to others or to self).

Over-empathizing or over-identifying with others, which can overwhelm and exhaust you.

Fear of disappointing others; fear of being disappointed by others.

Focussing all of one's needs/desires onto one object, i.e. addictive tendencies.

A tendency to project responsbility for one's own feelings/actions on to others.

You may appear to others to be self-indulgent, however it is not only appropriate but necessary for you to have all these feelings about this situation.

It's not good or necessary for you to get involved; you can walk away.

Time to walk away, either literally or metaphorically. Your part in this is complete.

Walking away from this will free up more positive energy than you can presently imagine. Renewal awaits.

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Resource: Images from The Sacred Circle Tarot at aeclectic.net.

‘til next time, keep recognizing what your responsibilities really are, and enjoying The Tarot,

Roswila
[aka: Patricia Kelly]
****If you wish to copy or use any of my writing, please email me for permission (under “View my complete profile”)**** SEE ALSO: Roswila’s Dream & Poetry Realm for Tarot poetry and Roswila’s Taiga Tarot for taiga (illustrated tanka).****