An Ode To The Wheel Of Fortune

I think the following W. H. Auden poem beautifully encapsulates the yin and yang of the Wheel of Fortune card. I reproduce it here for your contemplation...

Musee des Beaux Arts

About suffering they were never wrong,

The Old Masters; how well, they understood

Its human position; how it takes place

While someone else is eating or opening a window or just walking dully along;

How, when the aged are reverently, passionately waiting

For the miraculous birth, there always must be

Children who did not specially want it to happen, skating

On a pond at the edge of the wood:

They never forgot

That even the dreadful martyrdom must run its course

Anyhow in a corner, some untidy spot

Where the dogs go on with their doggy life and the torturer's horse

Scratches its innocent behind on a tree.

In Breughel's Icarus, for instance: how everything turns away

Quite leisurely from the disaster; the ploughman may

Have heard the splash, the forsaken cry,

But for him it was not an important failure; the sun shone

As it had to on the white legs disappearing into the green

Water, and the expensive delicate ship that must have seen

Something amazing, a boy falling out of the sky,

Had somewhere to get to and sailed calmly on.

Note: Auden wrote this poem after a visit to the Musee des Beaux Arts in Brussels where he saw a painting by Breughel called 'Landscape with the Fall of Icarus'. In Greek mythology Icarus is the man who flew on wings of feathers and wax too close to the sun whereupon the wax melted and Icarus fell into the sea where he drowned. In the painting several men and a ship go about their business ignoring Icarus's death in the background. Just as we can go about our daily activities not realising the pain our neighbours/workmates/loved ones may be in (or vice versa).

Can you see the connection with the Wheel of Fortune card? Please comment below.

Tarot: So Much More Than A Fortune Teller's Tool

I had a comment on my blog the other day (yay a comment!) asking me to predict somebody's fate, her doom even. I declined of course, being the non-psychic Tarot card reader that I am (As if I'd want to predict someone's doom anyway. What the?) As I've said before that's not what this blog is on about. I mean, yeah, sure, you can use Tarot cards to predict the future if you want (I keep warning you but that you can get into trouble if you do. Feel chained to a particular outcome. Mind you, that doesn't stop me doing it now and then, ha!) But as I cannot emphasise enough there is more to Tarot than that. Clearly the message needs to be hammered home with triple exclamation points: Tarot is so much more than a fortune teller's tool!!!

What kind of more you ask? Well, for starters...

It's an Agony Aunt In A Box for on the spot advice. Ever so useful if you are prone to panicking like me about everyday situations. It's a bit like asking one of those toy fortune telling balls 'Does he like me?' but with more reliable and detailed answers.

It's a language. One written in picture form like Egyptian Hieroglyphs. Both use images that can be interpreted in different ways according to context. This association with the ancient world makes Tarot kind of cool don't you reckon?

It's the ultimate story telling tool. Great for would-be novelists. Just chuck some cards in the air, see where they fall and make a story out of that. Or do what I do. Tell the news-of-the-moment using the cards.You can also use it to send secret messages in code. Say for example you're worried about your boss reading your emails at work, you could send a message to your loved ones in picture form e.g.

Ten of Wands: Am overloaded with jobs.

Ten of Swords: Feeling slaughtered.

The Star: Need to escape.

Three of Cups: Let's go have lunch.

Or simply:

Five of Swords: My workmate is being a prick right now!

It's a library. A repository of stories about the human condition. I feel like I'm reading you another chapter from the Great Book of Tarot as I write these posts each night. A little bedtime story for you (or wake-up story if you live on the other side of the world.)

It's a philosophy. This is perhaps my favourite thing about Tarot. There is a hidden book of life lessons written in the Tarot cards e.g. Tarot says you can't feel truly at peace unless you're contributing to the wider community in some way. (This message comes from the placement of the Judgement card just before The World.)

Can you think of anything else it could be used for?

The Tarot Of T.G.I.F.

I had that darn Katy Perry song 'Last Friday Night' stuck in my head for months this year. You know, the one that has a chorus singing T.G.I.F. T.G.I.F. T.G.I.F. louder and louder. Well, after a week back at work, I couldn't agree with that lyric more. So just for fun I thought I'd explore the Tarot of Thank God It's Friday.

This is how I normally feel by Friday...

The Ten of Swords i.e. Slaughtered.

This is how I feel when the school bell rings on Friday afternoon...

The Fool i.e. The world is at my feet (or the weekend at least.) Yee-ha!

This is what I do on Friday night...

The Three of Cups i.e. Celebrate. Although while Katy is dancing on tabletops and drinking shots my idea of a great time is lying in bed with a good book and a cup of tea. Maybe a bit of catching up on TV over the internet if I really want to live on the wild side, lol (I know, I know, I lol way too much but I find life hilarious, that is, when it's not giving me panic attacks.)

This is the gift the weekend offers...

The Star i.e. A holiday from responsibility. A retreat to the sanctuary of home (or pub, whichever!)

Can anyone relate?

8 Cups Reversed: The Commitment-Phobe

So, as I've mentioned before Tarot cards can be read in both a positive and negative light. As with all readings you work out which meaning to choose depending on the position of the card. One of the more obvious ways you know when to choose the negative meaning is when a card appears upside down.

Of course, just as with the positive versions of each card there are lots of negative meanings to choose from. For the Eight of Cups this can include:

Being a commitment-phobe. Running whenever a relationship gets too serious. Warren Beatty was a classic case until he met the right woman Annette Bening and settled down (or maybe she just came along at the right time?)

Dating a commitment-phobe.

Needing to walk away from a situation that is bad for you even though you may not want to.

Having a restless spirit. Being unable to settle down.

Feeling like you're being held back from your true path by commitments you have made to others.

Being too scared to follow your dreams or to break away from relationships that no longer sustain you.

Any other suggestions?

Eight Of Cups: Searching For Something More

A man turns his back on eight cups and heads off in another direction. Mountains lie in his path. The cups belong to him. They represent relationships or things from which he draws emotional satisfaction. But he turns his back on them because they no longer serve his needs. He's off to find something or someone better.

There's a lot of emotion surrounding this card as evidenced by the EIGHT cups and the winding river. Water = feelings. It's never easy to let go of a partner or friends or things which have been an emotional support for you even if you know this is the right thing to do (or the card tells you it is, lol.) That's why the moon's face looks so sad. You have to be really dissatisfied with what you already have.

And that's only half the battle. A lot of work and effort will be required to create new relationships/emotional supports in your life. It's as hard as climbing mountains. And there's no guarantee you'll find anything on the other side. The man looks alone and is alone in this quest.

Because there are eight cups you are dealing here with deep emotions. This isn't the card you get when you break up with your first puppy love. More like when you break up with a long-term partner. Someone who has brought plenty to the table but isn't the right fit for you. Think a la Goldilocks. The girl with the golden locks could have had her hunger sated by those first two bowls of porridge but she keeps looking until she finds the one that satisfies her completely.

The Eight of Cups is also the card of the spiritual quest. It comes up when you feel the need to turn your back on material concerns to search for the meaning of life or it's closest equivalent. I guess you dear reader perusing these posts about Tarot cards fits into that box, ha!

Can you relate? Please share. Someone? Anyone? Helloooo?

Card Of The Day

I’ve noticed there are lots of people on the Internet offering a ‘card of the day’ type service. The way it works is that they pull a card from the deck to represent the day ahead and share the meaning of that card with peeps.

Now, there’s no way that card could symbolize the experience every single one of their followers is going to have that day. Tarot doesn’t work like that. It’s personal. Tarot decks prefer to speak to the people dealing the cards. A reading done for a broader audience is going to be much less reliable, if it works at all.

However, I think card-of-the-day services can fulfill a higher purpose. Namely, they can help you learn the meanings of each card. There is just so much information to take in when it comes to Tarot it’s good to have it broken down into bite-sized chunks to swallow. So long as you keep in mind that there will always be more meanings to learn. Fifty shades for each card, remember?

An even better way to learn to speak Tarot is to do this activity yourself. Buy some cards (You can get a Rider-Smith-Waite deck from Amazon for a reasonable price.) Everyday stick a new one on the fridge or somewhere else you’ll see it. Note what happens to you. See if any of the images on the card leap out. Write down your observations in a journal. I promise you that over time you will see patterns form. (Or just come here and we’ll discuss it together. I’d like that.)

And if you see any card-of-the-day explanations on the net that you think are great please share them below (with the author’s name of course.)

The Tarot Of Meetings

I have to attend a long meeting after work tomorrow and already my spirits are sinking at the thought. So just to amuse myself (and hopefully you too) I thought I'd contemplate the Tarot of meetings.

The Eight of Pentacles = Meetings in general.

A man carves out a series of pentacles one after another. This seems to be the most likely Tarot equivalent to a meeting scenario. (Please correct me if you have other ideas. As I keep saying I want this to be a conversation not a monologue. You can spend a lifetime studying the cards and still not know everything. I learn things all the time about the cards just like you are.)

The Eight of Pentacles + The Seven of Swords = This is me tomorrow night pretending to listen whilst really shopping for school, surfing the net or writing my next post. Ha!

The Eight of Pentacles + The Knight of Swords = The fella up the back of the room jiggling his legs impatient for the damn thing to be over.

The Eight of Pentacles + The Fool = The first meeting ever for a group.

The Eight of Pentacles + The Four of Wands = Meeting to plan a wedding or some other celebratory occasion.

The Eight of Pentacles + The Eight of Wands = The dream meeting! Lots of stuff gets done quickly. Not what I'm expecting tomorrow night however :(

The Eight of Pentacles + The Six of Wands = Scoring a win at a meeting.

The Eight of Pentacles + The Five of Swords = Being bullied at a meeting. Or maybe being the bully. Depends which person in the card you gravitate to most.

The Eight of Pentacles + The Four of Pentacles = Someone being a tightarse with the budget.

The Eight of Pentacles + The Eight of Swords = Being unable to come to a decision.

The Eight of Pentacles + The Ten of Swords = A meeting where you've lost the will to live. That's pretty much my experience every time. He he!

What about you? Which card combination would encapsulate the way you experience meetings? Please share.