3 Things Cards Always Do

1. CONFIRM 

2. ENCOURAGE

3. DIVINATION 

If you've been to one of my classes or readings you have probably heard me say this. When we do a reading there are three things the cards always do. They will be in varying degrees with each reading but all three will always be there. 

CONFIRM - The human mind can and often will vacillate with how it feels about key events and circumstances in life. One of the least recognized roles the cards play in a reading is to confirm things we are indecisive about. The cards want you to know that just in case you're unsure and need that extra "prodding," the answer is yes, this is true. We want you to know that we know it's important. 

ENCOURAGE - So who doesn't need a little positive reinforcement every now and then? Often we are on the brink of that crucial step into making a key choice about something but we get stuck. The cards come along and give us that last glimmer of hope we needed to feel safe and secure in the action. But encouragement also spans all four elements. Besides action (wands) we can also be encouraged mentally (swords,) emotionally (cups,) and with material matters (pentacles.) 

DIVINATION - The word comes from the Latin divinare which means "to foresee." This area of course relies heavily on interpretation and there are many things which can be revealed, the most common being events, signs, and people coming ahead. The divination in our spread always comes in the future positions in the spread, for example positions 6 and 10 in the Celtic Cross. 

Also note that there will be some cards in the spread that might be doing two of these at once, for example encouraging and confirming, or encouraging and divination, etc. Every now and then there will a card that will be doing all three. The past position in the spread is always a confirmation and only can be a confirmation. 

The M.O. Of THE MAGICIAN!

"AS ABOVE, IS BELOW" 

I have been teaching lately that there are a few cards in the deck where the "M.O." or "method of operation" in that specific card is in many ways more important than the card's entity. The Magician is one of them. The way he does things are more important that the things he does. It starts with inspiration- I can see it, I can be inspired by it, I can dream it up, therefore I can manifest it. With with wand in one hand pointed to the heavens (above) he literally calls upon that inspiration and with the other hand pointed to earth (below) he manifests it. However, what most people tend to overlook in this process is the connecting force between the inspiration and manifestation and that my friends is The Will. It is very easy to be inspired but it is a whole other thing to have the strong will necessary to make the manifestation happen. 

The card's correspondence is the planet Mercury which represents action in all forms and phases. Crowley says of this energy that it is "the language of modern physics, that electrical charge which is the first manifestation, thus continuous creation." When this card shows up in a reading it almost always represents the creativity of the person being read for and of course is further defined by which position in the spread and   the question at hand. And this is why the "M.O." previously mentioned is very important because it can often be the cards way of saying that there is an issue with the will and the will needs to rise to the surface. If we look at the artwork, we can picture the will located right in the middle connecting the inspiration and the manifestation, therefore it would be located right over the magician's heart. A person's will is directly connected to his heart. 

Regarding "associations" which you often hear me speak of in class, this cards makes associations with many other cards. On a basic level he is associated with every single Minor Arcana card due to the fact that the Magician works with all four elements. (See them on the table?) More specifically he is automatically associated with all the wands cards and really any card that has an astrological Fire sign as it's correspondence. Very specifically with the four aces, as similar to his basic energy they are literally the spark and force that makes everything happen. I often describe the Fire signs like this- I know what I want, I'm going after it, now everybody just get out of my way. Just like a magic wand- boom!