Being the person I am, not only did I pull a card every day during 2016, but I also recorded my draws and made a set of graphs to compare all my cards (I know, I’m a geek đ¤). It was interesting to note, and also quite affirming, that my year was incredibly heavy in Pentacles. Now thinking logically, if we were to completely remove any magic from the Tarot then over the year there should be a rather even amount of each Minor suit drawn and a higher majority of Majors drawn simply because the suits are equal in number and there are more Major’s in the deck! Now don’t get me wrong, I don’t believe this, as I believe that each card comes to you for a reason and hence the draws are not going to be evenly spread between the suits, but I just wanted to put it out there for those of you who still feel a bit skeptical about the Tarot’s power. Now as I said before, my year was heavy on Pentacles, between 25-38 more Pentacles than the other three Minor suits, and only 15 less Pentacles than Majors!
Crazy right!! No, not really, because looking back at 2016, most of my time and energy was spent at work, and thinking about my life with regards to my job and my future. Now don’t get me wrong, my year wasn’t only the drudgery of day to day working life! I met my partner Phillip â¤ď¸, which changed my world completely, we went on lots of adventures together đ, and he brought love back into my life đ. I also got back into acting and performed in a full time play while also working full time! So 2016 was a blessed year as well, but with regards to my daily draws, the fact that my working life had changed, and was now impacting my work/life balance was clearly evident! And what card, more than any other card in the deck, came up most often you ask? Was it The Empress you say?  Oh you cheeky bugger, no my Tarot Stalker from way back when only came up 4 times out of a possible 365!!! So who was it then? Why it was the Knight of Pentacles of all cards. The Tarot’s famous workhorse.
So as it turns out The Hanged Man’s message (seen in my last post) was much harder to take in than I expected! As those of you who have been reading my blog since it’s birth would know, 2015 has been a tumultuous year for me. But while there has been a lot of pain this year, it has also been a year of self-discovery and a deep questioning of what it actually IS that drives me! While this was spurred on by a negative emotional event, which to be honest has pretty much bled into most of my year, it has in turn helped me develop more positive and helpful ways of looking at pain and ‘negative’ emotions. But like most things, this is a stage of development that is going to require a lot of effort, and a lot of time! And during this stage there are of course going to be ups and downs, which I understand, but the fact that I have little control over this is starting to get to me! A month or so ago I was finally starting to feel like I was on the right track, and beginning to open myself up to the world again! To let my vulnerability see the light of day and venture out of the cage of safety I had created for myself since May’s events. But I never imagined it would be this difficult! It’s such an odd experience to feel like you aren’t the person you used to be, I find myself questioning every little thing I do, which is incredibly draining, and I no longer feel comfortable when in new or unfamiliar situations. I’ve tried to put myself out there lately, to meet new people, and get out of my comfort zone, but in these situations I find myself questioning every little thing I’m saying and wondering if the person sitting opposite me is even interested. And I am trying my best to listen to The Hanged Man and his message of letting go, I really am, but I think I’m scared that if I let go of the semblance of control I feel I have, I will be completely lost. And that thought frightens me! So after spending some time with The Hanged Man, I decided that it was time to pull another card of the day to see if the Shadowscapes had anything to help me through this process, and up came the Six of Swords.
The Six of Swords represents a state of despondency, those times when you feel like you are only just keeping your head out of the water, your not incredibly sad, but your not happy either. It’s a dull, listless feeling. But it’s not all bad, it shows that there is a way out! Quite often this card represents the beginning of a new phase after a time of upheaval, a journey away from a stage of unhappiness to a better place. It can represent a change in your frame of mind, or an actual physical journey away from a negative situation. And on top of that, there is help on this journey, you don’t have to do it alone!
Six of Swords – Rider Waite Smith Tarot
Here in the RWS image we see a cloaked figure and a child, huddled together, being ferried off to an island in the distance. The figure is cloaked, which to me represents loss and sadness, that all too familiar feeling that occurs when you are leaving something behind in your past! Another important image that solidifies this is that the water to the right of the boat is rough and choppy, whereas the water to the left, towards the island and hence the direction they are going, is smooth and calm. This shows that the woman and the child are moving away from turmoil and conflict towards a calm and tranquil future. And this I think is the key to this card. Although we may be sad by our loss or predicament, as we move away from the past and its turmoil there is a sense of moving into a brighter future.
And then there is the ferryman, representative of the help that we may find along the way, and also importantly the 6 upright swords in the boat, representative of the importance of a logical frame of mind in these situations. Another way I like to look a these Swords is in the fact that they are not sinking the boat, nor weighing it down! In this respect it is important to realise that on this journey we may carry our past with us, but it will not weigh us down or sink us! Also I feel that the fact that they are coming with the woman and child on this journey shows that they represent something that the two figures have been dealing with for a long time, something that may no longer be painful but that stays with us throughout our life.
I need some help. I’m sick of falling into sadness without a way forward. I feel as if the energies are better today than they were last night so I’ve decided it’s time to consult the cards about the issues I have been having, which I outlined in yesterday’s post. I decided to go with a simple three card spread asking “How best can I deal with my thoughts and feelings around my breakup? This is what came up…
Four of Swords, The Moon, Ten of Wands – Shadowscapes Tarot
So you may be wondering, why all the posts about Tarot Stalkers. Well when you do over six readings in a row, over an extended period of time, and every single time one specific card comes up, you know that something higher is going on. I am personally so very grateful that The Empress gave her time to be with me over all those readings, for it has taught me a lot.Â
Because I am only just starting out on this journey with the tarot, and I’m definitely still only skimming the surface of what there is to learn, it is easy to fall into the trap of a shallow interpretation of the cards. Instead of spending time to see if there is more they are trying to tell me, I would often just take hold of the first thing that sprung to my mind. Now looking back over the last couple of readings, I can see why The Empress kept coming up. It was because I wasn’t listening to what she was really trying to tell me.
the fox and the otter 