Here Comes THE SUN

THAT SPECIAL PLACE YOU'VE ALWAYS WANTED TO BE

MAYBE YOU'RE THERE NOW? 

THE SUN is a card that has a variety of meanings and is very broad in it's application. The first thing and most important is that it's an extremely positive card. It may be one of the few cards in the deck that it's almost impossible to find any negative aspect. I always like to describe it as that special place you've always wanted to be, and I have found from experience that here in the desert, it often represents the desert cause a lot of us love to live and be here. 

The baby, the horse, and four sunflowers (which are a subtle reflection of the four elements, or kinds of astrological signs) all can not exist without the power of the Sun. The scene is grey cause it takes place in the astral realm. The banner is there as a matter of pride. How often have we used the expression, "Just another day in paradise"? 

The Sun is the center of our world and the giver of light, but too much Sun can be too harmful, so steady as she goes, yes? Other meanings in a spread are glory, riches, gain, and display. 

KNIGHT OF PENTACLES

IN THE ZONE WITH FINANCES

I am always saying the Knights are in the zone of whatever element they represent, in this case, pentacles or "coins" as they are called in some decks. They are in the center of the action to make things happen, and this knight wants to make things happen with a financial or material situation. A.E. Waite says he rides a "slow, enduring, heavy horse, to which his own aspect corresponds," indicating some of the nature of this earth sign person he represents in your spread. 

He's Capricorn so he's also good in business matters, but as with all the court cards he can also represent the two other signs in his element, in this case, Virgo or Taurus. He is clever, capable, and thoughtful, as well as energetic and practical, slow to anger but if pushed too far can have a violent temper. When he shows up in a spread he indicates increase of matter, solidification, things coming together in a practical manner, and the coming or going of someone reliable. 

More on THE HANGED MAN

LET'S GET SPIRITUAL!

I have been teaching in recent months that there are some cards where the "modus operandi" (method of operation) in the card is in some ways more important than the entity itself and the Hanged Man would fall into this category albeit in a subtle way. In this card that method is rest- a man is walking along the path, takes a break and hangs himself upside down on a tree to gain ILLUMINATION and when he's done, he'll get back up and continue along on his journey. Being a human, he is a living entity, so the card metaphorically represents life literally being suspended while the illumination takes place. 

The Golden Dawn correspondence for this card is WATER because the Hebrew letter attached to the card is Mem which means water and the card represents in a way a Baptism in Water. Again, a suspended animation is taking place and this is a state of meditation which is intensely self-examining. Self-sacrifice is crucial to anyone who aspires to the higher realms of spirituality. (Of course the Golden Dawn saw the Tree of Life as being this spirituality which is why the man's posture with his legs and arms are in the figure of the diagram of the Tree and why he's shown hanging from one.) 

It's meanings in a spread are less important than what's mentioned in the last two paragraphs but include prudence, sacrifice, devotion, wisdom, discernment, and renunciation. Also note this card has a Minor Arcana "kissing cousin" which is the Four Of Swords also known as "rest from strife." 

SEVEN OF SWORDS

"MISTER SNEAKY"

BUT WHAT EXACTLY IS HE TRYING 

TO GET AWAY WITH? 

The Golden Dawn name for this card is "unstable effort." I have a nickname I like to use, I call him Mister Sneaky. But what exactly he is trying to get away with? Well we know that swords are mental energy or thoughts, so at it's most simplistic level, this card is all about putting too many thoughts in one area and running away with them, making the effort unstable. And as I mentioned in the article about 7's, all the 7's are generally positive but reliant on the actions or choices of the individual. 

This card is the Moon in Aquarius adding to the insecurity of the situation. The New Golden Dawn Ritual Tarot says this- "partial success, yielding when victory is within grasp, as if the last reserves of strength were used up. Inclination to lose when on the point of gaining through not continuing the effort. Love of abundance, fascinated by display, given to compliment, and to detect and spy on another. Inclined to betray confidences, although not always intentional." 

A.E. Waite says this- "design. attempt. wish, hope, confidence; also quarrelling, a plan that may fail, annoyance. The design is uncertain in it's import, because the significations are widely at variance with each other."  

THREE OF WANDS

ESTABLISHED STRENGTH

I always like when this card shows up in a spread, it just has such positive energy. Being an Aries card, literally the Sun in Aries it's a card of tremendous strength but also arrogance and pride. You know what I'm always saying about Aries- "I know what I want, I'm going after it, everybody stand back." 

In the card a man stands up on a hill looking out at his empire. Those ships in the water are his business, he owns that. The three wands are all firmly implanted in the hill next to him and his right hand is on one which indicates his readiness and willingness to cast the next action. It is a card of incredibly strong footing. 

Other meanings include established strength and strength, realization of hope, completion of labor, success of the struggle, pride, nobility, wealth, power, conceit, and rude self-assumption. Depending on the question and what position the card shows up in, it could indicate that someone in power is going to be generous to you. 

FIVE OF CUPS

WHAT HAPPENED??

The Five Of Cups is one of those cards that has a negative theme as the forefront but the positive is always there and in this card a very important message to be learned at the same time. The name of the card is "sorrow" and with the fives we always want to keep in mind that we're dealing with a number of confusion, a number that struggles with it's identity. 

Quite simply, the three over-turned cups on the left represent things in his life that didn't turn out the way he planned. Not that they didn't happen, but they didn't have the outcome he had hoped for. Now here's the positive- if he would just get out of his zone of emotional sorrow and look right behind him, there are two cups still standing, just waiting for him to pick them up and do something with them. 

TEN OF PENTACLES

WE'RE TALKING SICK MONEY HERE

THE NAME OF THE CARD IS "WEALTH"

This card has some of the most beautiful artwork in the entire Rider-Waite deck. A young couple enter their lush compound and an old man is watching them. At the same time two dogs are watching the old man (A.E. Waite says they're "accosting" him) and a child is holding on to the tail of one of the dogs, creating this interesting clock-wise circular motion between these characters. There's lots of slightly hidden things in the card like coats-of-arms, a little castle and some bizarre patterns like the one in the center of the old man's back. 

Ten is a number of taking it one step too far to excess in the Tarot. In two of the ten's (the Swords card and the Wands card) this results in a negative outcome but in the Ten of Cups (perfected happiness) it's a good result. This card has a bit of both. It's mainly a very positive card that screams money. We always like to see this card in a future position in the spread. But let us not forget that there is a big difference between "wealth" which is what this card is, and "material success," found in the Nine of Pentacles. Wealth is that overly abundant cache of money that quite often causes us to make choices of folly. The basic meanings of the card are gains, riches, family matters, generational issues, and domestic family topics. 

KING OF PENTACLES

HELLO I'M TAURUS

NOT THAT I'M PROUD OR ANYTHING BUT 

THERE'S 4 PLACES THE BULLS HEAD APPEARS

Ha ha, well here's a card that I can identify with as I'm a Taurus male. Now, first off let's do a quick refresher on court cards. They almost always represent people but a lot of time that person is ourselves. They also have a specific astrological correspondence but can represent the other two signs in their element, in this example, Virgo or Capricorn. If they don't represent a person, they will once in a while represent an event coming into your life with the attributes of the card. 

So what are the attributes of Taurus. I will step up to the microphone and speak. We are all about "I have." I have my HOUSE, I have my CAR, I have my PARTNER, I have this, I have that. Our security comes from the things we have around us, especially home. Now that doesn't mean we don't like to take a little cross-country adventure every now and then, just get up and go, but we could not live our life year after year like that. We are most comfortable at home and work. 

In the Golden Dawn, he is called the Lord of the Wild & Fertile Land, King of the Spirits of Earth. He is laborious, clever and patient in material matters. His negative characteristics are being grasping, dull, jealous, and cowardly. A good provider and sturdy worker but not especially clever unless dealing with practical matters. His success is more due to instinct than intellect. 

THE EMPEROR

NOW IF YOU WANT TO TALK ABOUT AUTHORITY

4 PLACES THE RAM'S HEAD APPEARS TO

MAKE IT VERY CLEAR HE'S ARIES!

So today I have drawn the first Major Arcana in our "12 Days Of Tarot" feature. The Emperor is all Aries and that's very clear with the artwork. Aries makes no bones about themselves, what you see is what you WILL get. Or as I always like to say- I know what I want, I'm going after it, now get out of my way. 

Four being his number, he is a man of structure and discipline. If we could pull out the borders of the card and see the rest, we would see his armies all lined up in front of him awaiting his next command. 

When he shows up in a reading, he always represents authority and usually a authority figure of some sort in that person's life, such as father, boss, landlord, etc. Can also represent corporate or government. Because of the fiery proactive nature of his Aries core, the card is a spark of virile stimulating energy. 

TWO OF CUPS

L-O-V-E 

Today I have drawn the 2 of Cups and that can only mean one thing- love is in the air! But as we've learned by now, each card can not mean just one thing and as you'll see with this card they always have a broad array of interpretations we can apply. Let's talk about the artwork first. Remember, Cups are emotions so in this scene of the couple coming together and depending on how you look at it either bringing their cups together or possibly exchanging cups, it's almost as if one says here's my emotions and the other says here's my emotions and together we make this beautiful thing called love, which is represented by the caduceus. Also notice the house in the background providing the domestic association to the card's theme. 

Now the caduceus which is also known as the Caduceus of Hermes, is there for a few reasons. Simply put, the mere presence of the wings give an association with the heavens or astral realm, the connotation being that love is the closest we get to heaven here on earth. Note that there's a lion's head been added to this caduceus which adds a significant element of strength to the overall meaning of the card. The union represented is a strong one or in the process of strengthening. Hermes was the God of Commerce and the caduceus is a universal symbol of commerce and negotiation which is where the broader meaning of this card lies. Besides love, it can also represent the union of two components related to commerce in the person's life or a strengthening negotiation of some sort. 

Astrologically, this card is Venus in Cancer which alludes to the idea of perfect love intrinsic to this card. The card mostly deals with love, marriage, home, pleasure, friendship, harmony and mirth. Some of it's negative characteristics can be folly, dissipation, wasted energy and silly action. But isn't love a little silly at one time or another? 

EIGHT OF CUPS

ABANDONED SUCCESS

BUT IS IT A PERMANENT ABANDONMENT? 

Today I have drawn the EIGHT OF CUPS, the Golden Dawn name for this card is "abandoned success." A man stacks his cups neatly on the shore and goes off in search of the more meaningful things which are represented in the moon. Those things being searched for could be spiritual or philosophical and definitely are emotional in their core. So it's a card of spirituality and wisdom-seeking and also in a subtle way implies travel. Notice that the cups are neatly stacked which indicates he is coming back for them, so at least we like to hope it's not a permanent abandonment. 

Problem is this is Saturn in Pisces and the heavy laden effect of Saturn turns the calm, passive, watery state of Pisces into what is basically a completely stagnant pool. This influence brings about self-examination and introverted behavior, so a disinterest in the manifested universe sets in resulting in abandoned success, disinterest in anything, and weakness. 

Wandering from place to place, easy-come, easy-go, the card also implies that a matter thought to be important really has little significance. The good news is a searching for spiritual truth and wisdom can never be a bad thing. As George Harrison once said in a interview- anything worth anything in this life comes from turning within. 

THREE OF PENTACLES

APPRECIATED WORK 

FOR the next 12 days, every day I will be drawing a card at random from the deck and posting using my Giant Rider-Waite deck and today I have drawn the Three Of Pentacles. While the Golden Dawn name for this card is "material works," this card is one of the few occasions where I prefer to alter the name to "appreciated work." A man works at crafting a building and the two people on the right are complimenting him on his work.

In usual keeping with his cards, A.E. Waite here takes what he learned in the Golden Dawn and applies it and in this card we see a heavy triangular theme in many places on the top half of the card. This is Mars in Capricorn, a sign that displays the most positive energies of that planet.  Working and constructive force, building up, erection, creation, realization and increase in material things are the order of the day. Commercial transactions are realized and cleverness in business is established. Some of the negative characteristics include being narrow and prejudiced as well as a propensity to seek after the impossible.

Overall a very positive card and one that signifies work, construction, and manifested projects.