A new series where we share personal readings that crack our hearts and souls open so that we can dive deep into specific readings to understand the context, the cards and the story they reveal.
Quick background I’ve been feeling a growing sense of… restlessness in regard to my current commitments and activities around my social justice work and community organizing. I was inspired to consult the cards in order to tap into my intuition and seek clarity. I’ve also been running a couple different volunteer projects that have been taking more time and I’ve been trying to decide how best to evolve those to achieve better balance in my life and do more good for more people.
Deck: Smith-Waite Centennial
Question: Where shall I focus my energy and effort in my work for social justice?
Spread I rarely use canned spreads. Instead, I sit with the question and then intuitively craft a spread that will best address it. So far this has worked extremely well for me and feels like the cleanest channel to my intuition.
In this case, I went with the following:
Card 1: Where shall I focus my energy and efforts in my work for social justice? Card 2: With whom shall I collaborate in this work? Cards 3 through 5: What types of activities might be most effective in doing this work?
Use the arrows to scroll through the five cards I drew and then read on for the story they tell. It’s powerful and on point!
Card 1: Page of Wands Card 2: Ace of Cups (reversed) Card 3: Five of Cups Card 4: King of Pentacles Card 5: Wheel of Fortune
The overall story
It is critically important to look for the overall story of all the cards in the reading, rather than focusing on each card on its own. In my opinion, this is where the real power and insights come in.
The lesson for me here as a Tarot reader is to always remember that the Tarot will tell you what you need to know—even if it isn’t exactly what you thought you were asking for. Always be open to that and trust your intuition.
The visual story here is that we have a youthful (not necessarily in years) person in the Page of Wands who is keen to channel their fiery passion into something and they can be impulsive in doing so. But they have work to do. They come to realize (in the Ace of Cups reversed) that they have some inner work to do, as well as some emotional healing toward boosting their self love. That isn’t a trivial undertaking, and in the Five of Cups we see them deep in that, feeling at times disappointed and pessimistic at the state of the world and their inability to make more change on their timeline. They persevere, though, and come to a place of feeling greater stability, returning to the passionate dreams of the Page—now tempered with hard-won maturity and wisdom—and continue with fresh energy and insights to build something that will truly benefit their community and help make the positive change they long to see. The Wheel of Fortune arrives to reminds them that life is a series of cycles—ups and downs—and they accept this and even take comfort in knowing that when things are difficult, “this too shall pass,” and when things seem too good to be true, they can’t rest on their successes, but instead must prepare for the inevitable challenges that will come. Challenges that, when met with humility, will bring new lessons, more wisdom and fresh opportunities.
Card-by-card analysis
Card 1: Page of Wands
Question: Where shall I focus my energy and efforts in my work for social justice?
Wands: The suit of Wands is ruled by Fire. According to Michele Tea (1), the Wands are “fiery and impulsive, passionate and headstrong, playful and romantic.” Pages: The Pages in the Tarot, according to Brigit Esselmont of Biddy Tarot (2), are associated with the keywords: childlike, curious, spontaneous, exploring new qualities, new beginnings, initiation. Michelle Tea adds that “Pages are the students of the suit, suggestive of a person who has yet to master [the suit’s] special powers but who is earnestly engaged in figuring it all out.”
This card tells me that I should channel my passion and playfulness into effective work for social justice and that this is likely to take the form of new beginnings or new approaches. This doesn’t mean that I leave it all behind, but that I take my knowledge, skills, experience and wisdom and apply them in new ways to new endeavors and/or new approaches. Michele Tea really nails it on this one when she says, “this person could just as easily be an older person who has swapped careers and is starting out at square one once more… with beginner’s mind, an excited humility…” And… that couldn’t be more spot on. I literally left my decades-long corporate career and am in school full time and volunteering and doing community organizing, as well.
Card 2: Ace of Cups (reversed)
Question:With whom shall I collaborate in this work?
Cups: The suit of Cups is ruled by Water and “represents the realm of emotions… all emotional energy—both uncontrolled emotion and emotion you have a grip on…” (Tea). Aces: The Aces (ones) in the Tarot are associated with “new beginnings, opportunity, potential” (Esselmont).
This is one of those times when the Tarot puts a little spin on the answer to the question. I asked who I might work with in my social justice work and the Ace of Cups reversed tells me that I probably have more work to do on my own and on myself before I start partnering closely with someone else on this. Reversed meanings for this card include “self-love, intuition, repressed emotions” (Esselmont) and I am certainly in a place of working on developing all these areas. In the last couple years, I have left the corporate world, come out, started school and started a few projects. I’ve been working to undue the effects of a very stifling upbringing and many, many long years of not being able to let me authentic self shine. Just in the last two weeks, I have been actively working for the first time on further developing my intuition through guided meditation and other exercises. So wow—this card nails it. I’ll keep doing the work and check in again in a month or so on this.
Card 3: Five of Cups
Question: What types of activities might be most effective in doing this work? I pulled three cards for guidance on this question, so this is the first of those.
Cups: The suit of Cups is ruled by Water and “represents the realm of emotions… all emotional energy—both uncontrolled emotion and emotion you have a grip on…” (Tea). Fives: The Fives in the Tarot are associated with “change, instability, conflict” (Esselmont).
Whew! The power of the Tarot is that it is very good at drawing out what we’ve been trying to avoid looking at. This card continues right on theme with the Ace of Cups reversed. The Five of Cups suggests “disappointment, pessimism,” as well as “regret, failure” (Esselmont). As I write this in 2019, things aren’t exact rosy from a social justice standpoint. (I know, I know—massive understatement.) I have indeed been letting what is happening in the world, and especially here in the U.S., get the better of me in terms of feeling terribly pessimistic and disappointed in people and institutions on so many levels. Of course, that is putting me into the state that the Ace of Cups reversed has shown up to highlight.
Card 4: King of Pentacles
Question: What types of activities might be most effective in doing this work? This is the second of three cards I pulled for guidance on this question.
Pentacles: The suit of Pentacles is ruled by Earth and brings “stabilizing, sensible energy” (Tea), and “pertains to the physical and material levels of consciousness and associates with finances, work, bodily health, and manifestation” (Esselmont). Kings: The Kings in the Tarot are self-assured, generous, strong, meditative and tend to be more extroverted and action-oriented than the Queens, who otherwise share similar traits (Tea).
This is a great reminder that there are no bad cards in the Tarot. There are cards that may offer more difficult insights than others, but every single card is necessary and there as part of the whole Tarot—and the Tarot is a tool that is here to help. The last couple cards gave me some difficult (but not surprising) truths, and the King of Pentacles brings it back to what I might look forward to if I do the work asked of me by the Ace of Cups reversed and the Five of Cups. This card tells me that if I do the self-reflection and emotional work those cards call for, I can get back to doing important work in the world. According to Michelle Tea, “if you are the King of Pentacles, something is being asked of you. …if you were thinking of starting any type of charitable organization, or hosting a benefit, or somehow spearheading activity that will benefit your community, this card says, Go!” 😮🤗
Card 5: Wheel of Fortune
Question: What types of activities might be most effective in doing this work? This is the third of three cards I pulled for guidance on this question.
Major Arcana: The 22 cards of the Major Arcana “are a procession of archetypes” that represent “a lifetime’s worth of ups and downs… often referred to as ‘The Fool’s Journey'” (Tea). A Major Arcana card typically refers to a major life theme or event. Wheel of Fortune (X): The Wheel of Fortune, with the number 10, is associated with “good luck, karma, life cycles, destiny, a turning point” (Esselmont). This card is one of the busiest in the deck in terms of the sheer number of symbols on it and things going on. In this case, it builds beautifully on the message of the King of Pentacles with the promise that “change is the only thing you can rely on, and while that can sometimes suck… this card promises that the changes heading your way are happy ones that will tug you out of whatever rut you’re in and thrust you deeper into the bigger, richer themes of your life” (Tea).
they / them Founder ♏︎ Reader ♐︎ Guide ♋︎ Seeker ♎︎
Iris is the founder of Intuitive Eclectic and, first and foremost, a seeker on the intuitive eclectic path with a current focus on intuitive Tarot and its relationship with astrology, numerology, and symbolism more broadly. Iris’s work is grounded in the knowledge that we have gravely important work to do and very little time to do it, and that our work must be intersectional and expansive. Please get in touch.
