hegeliantarot

[hegeliantarot]

A Reading for Adam 3/1/17

Should he take the job offer? 

I was lucky to speak with my dear friend Adam today in what had been a hot minute. Adam was laid off from his crazy start-up job a month ago and wanted to get my opinion on a new offer he was seriously considering. Since Adam was so burned by his previous start-up experience, he was feeling very trepidatious about accepting the new role. During our conversation, it was clear to me that Adam was excited by the new opportunity but that he needed to talk it out. I told him to take the job, but I offered to give him a Tarot reading as well.

I meditated at home on the question “Should Adam take the job offer?”, shuffled my deck and cut it three times.

 Next, I sent a text to Adam asking him to pick one of the three decks. He picked the one on the left.

I selected his deck and drew the first three cards left to right -  opting to do another simple three card spread. The reading was as follows:

 First Card/Past: 9 of Wands, reversed

 Second Card/Present: Temperance, reversed

 Third Card/Future: 9 of Pentacles, upright

I interpreted the card reading as follows:

 The 9 of Wands reversed can mean exhaustion from a great battle or struggle. It symbolizes a great hardship or burden. Adam had a really tough time at the startup. He had left a secure sales job and a happy life in San Francisco to take the role. Moving to New York for Adam was much harder than he anticipated. The startup was not doing well and his stress at work affected his ability to let go and learn to enjoy life in Manhattan. So much of Adam’s identity has historically been tied to his ability to be a successful salesperson and he was not doing well for the first time in his life. Sales and gaining market share for a new company or product is also a lot like fighting a battle – a battle that the company as whole was losing. Adam’s spirit was crushed.

 The card I drew to represent Adam’s current state was Temperance, upside down. Temperance reserved can be a warning to look after yourself. To be prudent and to not overindulge. To focus on health. Adam can be a big partier but he actually told me he has been sober lately so that aspect of the card didn’t resonate with him.  Temperance reversed can also mean that things are out of balance. It would be extremely unsettling to suddenly lose your job after just moving to a new city! Not to mention how burned he was by the company. Quite literally, Adam’s world had been turned upside by the sudden lay-off so no wonder I drew two reversed cards for him in a row!

 For Adam’s final card, I drew the 9 of Pentacles upright. I felt the inclusion of an upright 9 at the end showed a complete turn-around for Adam after the reversed 9 in the start of the reading. I immediately took the repetition of 9 (but upright) as an indication that Adam’s future looked bright. The 9 of Pentacles is card that is all about material success, physical comfort and well-being. Adam had mentioned he was looking for a new apartment in Williamsburg so I could see him in his warm cozy new apartment with a financially stable job as soon as I pulled the card. I also felt that he would experience great financial success in his new role but that he still had some work to do in building out his social network in New York.

Overall, I interpreted this reading a strong “YES. Adam should take the new job and that things are looking up for him in the near future in NYC. 

[hegeliantarot]

First Tarot Reading - 2.16.17

Today was a hard day. My girlfriend stayed home sick with me. I grieved over my aunt for the first time in a few months. My sister was arrested for domestic violence. She is currently in jail with a broken wrist from the hands of her abusive boyfriend. 

Working from home and feeling bored and unengaged today, I decided to finally open the pack of Tarot cards that were gifted to me by girlfriend for Christmas. 

I was first introduced to the Tarot by my cousin Lara when I was 7. It was a fairy themed deck and I used a couple of basic spreads taught to me by my mother. I never mastered the cards meanings but always could look them up to interpret them at will. The last reading of the Tarot I received was delivered by my Aunt Vicki 11 years ago when I was 17 at the red tent party. Perhaps I was missing my Aunt, perhaps I needed spiritual guidance, but the Tarot finally called to me today despite sitting untouched for the last 6 weeks in a laundry basket still filled with unpacked Christmas stockings.  

I pulled out the Tarot but was still unwilling to actually read them - so I relied  on one of my classic avoidant tactics - read everything I can about something so I can pretend I am doing the actual work at hand and not feel guilty. In my reading of the history of the Tarot this evening, I was surprised to find a bizzare and strange connection to my Aunt Vicki’s death. But first - let me back up a bit. Outside of today, the last time I truly wept uncontrollably over my aunt was on the plane ride back to California for her funeral. It just so happens that on that plane ride I sat next to two brilliant and kind young men from Los Angeles who were returning home after a pitch meeting in Chicago for their commercial bike-share start-up. The man sitting immediately next to me intuited that I had lost someone and bought me food and engaged me in conversation. Very quickly the conversation became heated and intellectual. We were in the midst of discussing German phenomenology, Hegel and Budhism when I noticed the bizzare tattoos covering his body. When I asked him about the strange, mystical symbols covering his body, he explained to me that he was a junior member of the Golden Dawn. I had never heard of the Golden Dawn before and had  not thought about it since until today when my grief led me back to the Tarot. In my avoidant reading today, I learned that our modern-day Tarot came out of an esoteric cult called The Order of the Golden Dawn. How bizzare is it, that this stranger who showed me kindness on a four hour plane ride - this Earth angel who held me while I cried was a current member of an occult group responsible for the very deck of tarot I held in my hand. A deck of tarot I was holding for the sake of finding comfort over the loss of my Aunt Vicki.

After several hours of mulling over this coincidence  and meditating on my cards, I finally built up the courage to perform a reading. I elected on a basic three card spread. The first card represents your past. The second card represents your present. The third card represents your future. I cut the deck three times ad selected the top three cards from the largest cut of the deck.

My three card spread was as follows:

Past: The 7 of Pentacles 

Present: The 6 of Pentacles  

Future: The 5 of Pentacles 

My immediate reaction upon seeing the spread was that I had not shuffled them enough. After all - it is a new deck and I had organized the cards by minor suites and major arcana. I decided to follow through with the reading, however, and look up the meanings of the cards.

When I read an interpretation of The 7 of Pentacles I got the chills! It sounded like exactly where I was at in my life 18 months ago! I was doing sooo well at work. Making tons of money. Living in San Francisco. Cool tech job blah blah blah..However, I wanted something more - something different. I was offered a promotion and I decided to take the job, break up with my boyfriend and move to Chicago.

Flash forward to the present and I am currently deeply in love with a woman but in a job that I hate. In fact, my work has become a major source of depression for me. The 6 of Pentacles is an interesting card to represent the present in that it is about both having and not having. I am full of love personally but I feel a lack professionally. I am making less money and concerned about my ability to do so in the future if I stay in this role. The 6 of Pentacles is about power and a lack of power. All things that deeply resonate with me in my current role where I oftentimes feel so powerless yet do little to affect change in my current situation. 

Finally, I looked up the meaning for my future. The 5 of Pentacles seemed to be the personification of all of my fears. Ill health, lack of wealth and lack of power. Considering the 6 of Pentacles was my present card, I interpreted it as meaning that I am choosing the “not having” as opposed to the “having”. That the drawing of the 5 of Pentacles was an exact reflection of my choice to “not have in the present. 

But skeptic that I am - I chose to completely redo my reading.  After all, no one wants to see the 5 of Pentacles as their future card! Besides, I drew three consecutive cards from the same suite - surely that means I didn’t shuffle properly so my reading was bunk. I decided I would pick only one card to meditate on and call it a day

After going into to almost a trancelike zone of cutting the cards ten times, restacking them, cutting them again, and cutting them again for a nth time, I decided to gather cards back up into a single stack. I closed my eyes and spread my cards out again, running my fingers across their edges. Finally a card called to me. I grabbed it flipped it upright and to my shock saw once again...THE 7TH OF PENTACLES! 

I was going to stop at just the one card but noticed when I stared down at the rest of my fanned out deck that one card in particular was hanging outside of the line. “Pick me pick me” it said. I flipped it over and felt a cold chill run down my spine. IT WAS THE 6TH OF PENTACLES! Once again the card of having/not having. The card left to your positive or negative interpretation. Do you have it all or are you empty? Sick or healthy? Rich or poor?  

I could not believe it after all of that shuffling and cutting that I would pick the same past and present card TWICE IN A ROW. 

Now I was really worried. I felt that I definitely need to pick a third a card to complete the reading. What were the odds of drawing the same two cards twice in the same order? 

I selected my third card with fear in my heart. I was so nervous i would get the 5 of Pentacles again. But to my relief I drew The King of Wands. Bold, creative action-oriented and a leader. Essentially, the future I saw for myself 18 months ago and a future that is so hard for me to see now. 

I believe that the 6 of Pentacles is trying to tell me something today. That my ability “to have” or to “have not” is in my hands. I am on a path towards the 5 of Pentacles but that I can chose to be a King.  The future is not predetermined but I can chose the future I wish to have.