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The Eight of Wands

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INTRODUCTION:

This reading uses two cards _pulled from the Sharman Caselli deck, with the first dealt representing your current situation: what is going on in your life right now, your drive and focus; and the second what is crossing you: situations, people, energies, etc…

Essentially, where you are heading and what is preventing you from achievening it:

  1. First Dealt: Eight of Wands
  2. Second Dealt: Judgement

 

*

OVERVIEW: THE SUIT OF WANDS

The Suit of Wands cards represent fire and primal energy. They are rooted in passion, hard work and adventure. Their focus is on creativity, momentum, action, activity, ambition, expansion, inspiration, intution, spitiriality and determination. They are about taking your ideas and making them real, picking up the tiny seeds of thought you have planted and releasing them into the world – like shooting bullets, like firing arrows.

Wands people and people with the Wands energy in their lives _whether temporarily or indefinitely, discover, push limits, excel, pour energy into and win. They fully believe and they give it their all. They love challenges, are feisty and fiery, thrive on conflict (and will sometimes seek it out). They willing throw themselves into new projects and ventures and will keep going for as long as they are engaged. Because of this, they can be erratic and unreliable: stopping to start the next ‘big thing’, abandoning mid-flow… They hate to be confined and rarely work in an office. They thrive when they are in charge. They make great leaders but find it hard to delegate (which can lose them authority and respect and even land them in trouble). They are passionate and exciting but hard to be in a relationship with, this is because they need a lot of space and freedom and can fall out of love as easily as they fell in. They are best, therefore, when paired with their own kind, who can at least understand where they are coming from when they blow hot and cold and not take things quite so personally.

As cards, Wands act as a mirror for our desires, symbolising a dream or a goal that we wish to materialise.

Take a moment now to ask yourself the following questions:

  1. What gets you excited?
  2. What wakes you up in the morning with the desire to get out of bed?
  3. What do you:

    4.          – spend your free time doing?
             – give away for free?
             – research?
             – investigate?
             – invest in?

 
These are your wands, the very things that make you tick; things that, were they taken away, would wound you.

My wands, in no particular order, are:

  1. Being of service
  2. Spending time and working with animals
  3. Forming and fortifying new friendships
  4. Reading
  5. Writing
  6. Drawing, painting
  7. Knitting, sewing
  8. Making things by hand *
  9. Talking to the people I see everyday:

    10.          – neighbours
             – shop assistants
             – cashiers
             – market stall owners
             – barristers
             – bank tellers
             – homeopaths
             – naturapaths
             – physios
             – hairdressers
             – beauty practitioners
             – gym staff
             – doctors
             – vets

 
* things that I make include, fimo unicorns, origami doves, scented soy candles, greetings cards, gluten-free cakes, gemstone jewelery; embroidered handkerchiefs, napkins and birds; knitted hand-warmers and hats; inside gardens, outside gardens and seasonal altars…
 
I would and do do all of these things for free.

*

OVERVIEW: THE MAJOR ARCANA

The Major Arcana, to which the Judgement card belongs, form the foundation of the Tarot deck. There are twenty-two in total, numbered from 0-21, each representing part of the path to spiritual self-awareness and the various stages we pass through and experience as we search for greater meaning and understanding in our lives. Along this journey we encounter challenges, face adversity, perform labours, make hard decisions and fight opposing forces, each step bringing us closer to the things we truly want: inner peace, personal freedom and enlightenment. As such, they hold deeply meaningful lessons which, if we honour and use them, can help to heal, inspire and guide us along our way.

The Judgement card is number twenty: XX, 20. Dealt the right way up, it represents accountability, confrontation, absolution, resolution, resurrection and rebirth – the activity of leaving the past behind and moving into the light.

Reversed it symbolises self-doubt, self-criticism, self-loathing and self-scrutiny (which essentially means the inaction/inactivity of listening to ghosts from the past and of allowing the continuation of the hold they still have over us – things that prevent both us and our lives from moving forwards and have done so for as long as we can remember).

*

IN-DEPTH ANALYSIS:

We will now look at each of the cards as a picture, independent from the arcana and suit, stepping inside the landscape to unpack the full meaning of what we are:

  1. endevouring to do
  2. attempting to avoid

*

UNPICKING _THE EIGHT OF WANDS:

The Eight of Wands depicts a man with a bow in posession of eight wands, seven of which are airborne. Looking, we can see that one remains, although even as we watch it, too, is being released.

The man is in the desert, standing beneath the hot sun. The surrounding landscape is arid and dry. The overhanging sky, bleached. The time is around noon and, depending on how long he stays, he can easily be home by dark if he tries. His pursuit, the reason he is out here in the first place, is one of valour, his actions charged with desire and intent. He stands with confidence: grounded, present, fully in the moment and totally engaged; the only hint of hesitation in his right foot, which, if it is not providing further balance, could be pulling away. Rather than escaping, running or returning after an absence of many days,months,years… I sense that he has slipped out to attend to a task and, upon finishing, will return to whence he came. Unlike in other cards – like Judgement, for example – he is not resisting or attempting to deny; he is looking ahead and making plans. Having woken from a long sleep in which he drifted and dithered, making up excuses for ‘why not now’: he is full of energy and drive. The danger, though, is that perhaps he is too keen, treating his wands like burning hot cakes instead of precious offspring.

Think about the wands that you have in the air at the moment and the feelings you have around them:

  1. Are you, like the Eight of Wands, simply overly excited: eager to release what would otherwise be burning a hole in your pocket?
  2. Are you practicing for what will later become the real thing?
  3. Are you aiming at something you fear and wish to annihilate?

Think about the changes going on in your life and your attitude towards them:

Do you feel:

  • excited
  • energised
  • hopeful
  • determined
  • inspired
  • motivated
    Or do you feel:

    • fearful
    • resistent
    • reluctant

     
    We are comfortably into the suit now and have come a long way since our humble one-like beginnings. Along ‘this way’, we have figured out what it is we want and what we need in order to achieve it, determining where our strengths and weaknesses are and what we need to release and heal * and begun to put it out there. We are moving forwards, we have cleared the path, everything is flowing freely… There are no physical blocks that we cannot either step around or remove, for we have dealt with most things that injure and inhibit us already: quit a job, left a partner, severed ties with unhealthy people, places and relationships, etc. We are proceeding rapidly: faster than before: faster, perhaps, than we are comfortable with. We are busy but in a good way.

    * If we are not healing and if we are not happy _and I would guess if you have found this particular card reading and if you are still reading it, especially this bit… that you are not, it is because the Judgement card crosses both the present and the future, blocking what lies ahead and holding you back. Once you deal with this, with the contents of the coffins, your coffins, you will be free to embrace the full energy and potential of the Eight of Wands and on your way to success and mental and physical freedom. Embrace the cards, answer the questions, do the homework and make the images into your phone or tablet wallpaper so that you can spend some time with them each day. The more you get to know the cards and how they relate to you: the more you can shift and transform your life.

    The Eight of Wands invites you to embrace action and activity, loosening the usual control and need for certainty to allow for spontaneity and adventure. It’s driving message is to dive in and trust: in the flow, in the natural order, in the journey that is unique to you.

    Like stepping onto a rollercoaster: to truely benefit from the ride, you must first surrender to that which is outside of you and unknown.

    Take a moment to zoom in on the creature _lizard, gecko, salamander, baby dragon… in the bottom right-hand corner:

    1. If he were a stone weighing you down, what would he represent?
    2. If he were a weight pulling, holding you back, who would he be?
    3. If he were a gremlin, highlighting your weaknesses and undermining your confidence, what would he be saying to you?
    4. What negative words do you allow into your head just as you are getting ready to start something new?
    5. What always stops you from pursing your dreams?

     
    These are things you need to consider.

    *

    UNPICKING _JUDGEMENT:

    As I said earlier, the Judgement card is number twenty out of the twenty-two Major Arcana cards. Sitting in-between the Sun and the World, it tells us that we have already successfully opened up the space for power and light to enter into our lives and are on our way to attaining the future of our dreams _as soon as we attend to a bit of important housekeeping, that is.

    To start this process, look at what you judge:

    • in yourself
    • in others

     
    Look at how you respond, react and report:

    • situations
    • experinces
    • settings
    • locations

     
    Ask yourself:

    • Where do I hate?
    • What do I criticise and condemn?
    • What annoys me about others?
    • Where do I lack patience?

     
    These are your ‘red flags‘, indicitive of the things (or similar) you have disowned within yourself.

    1. Maybe you lose patience with people who take their time or who stand before you in a queue talking?
    2. Perhaps you criticise those who eat junkfood, are overweight, fail to exercise and who take little care in their appearance?
    3. Or else you hate those who exhibit aggressive behaviour: road rage, supermarket impatience, pedestrian intollerance and yet do the very same yourself?

     
    The things that we dislike in others are a reflection of the things we dislike in ourselves, our shadow parts, and unless we are already emotionally and psychologically aware, actively analysing our thoughts and our feelings, processing our experiences, clearing the discharge from our reactions and responses… we are likely to be completely unaware of them. This is why therapy, self-help, energy healing and spiritual development are so helpful because they shine light into dark areas, illuminating what would otherwise remain unknown or concealed.

    Take a closer look at the card now. The Judgement card depicts three naked people standing inside three plain coffins with open lids. Above, there is an angel with a horn, floating in mid-air. A white flag flaps gently in the breeze. In response to the horn, the people are waking: standing, rising up; arms extended, begging…The angel is a messenger, declaring, proclaiming, announcing… the start of things to come, the end of things as they are; a birth, a new beginning or a death? In the background the sea is calm and the sky, aside from a few clouds, is clear.

    Look at the people and how desperate they look. Look at the dark space beneath them, yawning, like a mouth. See how they long to escape, leaving behind the limitation and confinement which has become their lives. The angel’s arrival is a blessing to them, waking them from a magical sleep in which they have been unaware of all that they lack. Without the veil of denial and deception covering their eyes, they can see the world as it is: huge, timeless, onmipotent, ever-changing; indifferent and wonderous. They can see that it is people and events that have hurt them and that they have hurt themselves, not the world: the world just is. And if the sun can rise again at the start of each day, beginning afresh without the attachment to the memory of yesterday: so can they. This is what the flag is announcing as it waves and snaps, the cross, emblazoned across its centre, denoting a return to balance. But red, reminiscent of blood: there is a necessary sacrifice of a Christly-kind, which, afterwards, in the white of the cloth, will become clean.

    Consider also The Red Cross and its focus on healing. Red is about bandages and wounds, spilling blood, warning and danger. It is also, for women, about mensturation and the shedding of what is not needed.

    The apprearance of this card in a reading (this reading, in particular) suggests that it is time to step forwards and take charge, even if that means some hard choices. Judgement calls you to attention, demands your presence, confronts you with ghosts, skeletons, dark undersides and cobwebs… In an otherwise empty sea – a vast cobalt platea where, above at least, all is calm – Judgement releases all of the things you would usually try to avoid. When you see this card in a reading, especially when it is reversed, it may be time to reassess your life and to live differently, listening to your needs, doing for yourself for once, valueing yourself first.

    1. So, what do we do about Judgement and how can we move forwards?
    2. How can we embrace the full potential of the Eight of Wands, bringing more of what we want into our life?

     
    Judgement invites you to:

    • contemplate and take stock
    • review and reassess
    • look back and see what you have learned
        •  
        As I have mentioned already, the Judgement card in this spread is reversed. This is not necessarily a bad thing, but it does mean finding the courage and strength to take an honest look at your life, going back over painful events and experineces, some of which may have been truely traumatic and which may traumatise you still, unpicking them until you understand why they happened and how they were able to, and how you can avoid them ever happening again.

        1. Perhaps you gravitate towards empty and unavailable relationships where all you do is give; friendships where there is no reciprocal listening?
        2. Perhaps you work too hard for a tyrannical boss in an environment where there is no thanks?
        3. Perhaps you entertain addictive behaviours, self-defeatist thoughts, spiral from high to low?
        4. Perhaps you simply don’t love yourself enough and this is evident throughout your life?

         
        It is important that you learn from your previous mistakes, that is the key theme here. Take some time to absorb these facts in order to release yourself yourself from the downward energy and the cycle of repetion.

        Judgement is about:

        • personal forgiveness
        • finding it within yourself to cleanse and release your sins
        • cutting the connection with your past and stepping outwards into the light

         
        You have lived too long in shadow, focussed too heavily on helping others shine, hidden your true thoughts, desires and feelings in order to fit in. Only it hasn’t made you happy and it hasn’t won you the companionship, love or life you want to lead.

        Remember, always, that you are in control. Take back your power and pour it inside.

        ~

        SUMMARY:

        Wands are fueled by primal energy and are rooted in dreams and desires. They are all about activity, adventure and taking your ideas and making them real. Like a seed, each represents a goal that needs planting. What gets you excited, wakes you up, do you do even without prompt or payment? These are your seeds, plant them.

        The Eight of Wands invites you to embrace action and adventure, to pursue your dreams with passion and conviction. In order to do this, you need to loosen the control that currently rules you and allow for a little uncertainty in your life. Dive in, trust in the flow, let the journey that is unique to you happen.

        The Major Arcana form the foundation of the tarot deck, representing the path to spiritual self-awareness and the challenges we face as we move towards inner peace, personal freedom and enlightenment. Each one holds a deeply meaningful lesson, which, if used correctly, can help to heal, inspire and guide us as we continue to grow and evolve.

        Number twenty, the Judgement card sits between the Sun and the World. It shows us that we have opened up the space for love and light to enter our lives and are on our way to attaining the future of our dreams. It represents accountability, absolution, resurrection and rebirth and is about confronting the past, releasing our demons and moving forwards. Reversed it represents imprisonment, confinement, guilt and shame and the inactivity of self-destructive behaviour. It tells us that certain things are stopping us from getting what we want and that, maybe, they always have. It also tells us what we need to do in order to get unstuck. The key to moving forwards, to our wands reaching our desired goals which we stretch towards and shoot at but never achieve, is acknowledging, accepting, forgiving and releasing, setting the past and its skeletons free. In valueing yourself enough to put yourself first before others, you regain your power, siultaneously sending out a message to others that you are not to be disrespected, dismissed or denied. Embracing Judgement marks the end of the old and the beginning of the new. What it offers can be incredibly healing if you are prepared to journey with it.

        ~

        CONCLUSION:

        • Respect yourself and others will respect you
        • Love yourself and others will be more kind
        • Forgive yourself and your world will be transformed
        • Devote yourself to the path of emotional healing and spiritual development and you will be filled with light

         
        Now is the time to let go:

        • of the past
        • of the old feelings
        • of the resentments and judgements

         
        …for only then will you be able to truely be free.

        ~

        HOMEWORK:

        You have read this article and found these cards today because they are meant to guide you. Honour yourself with the permission and freedom to really appreciate that.

        This means: reading through the article again from the beginning and taking the time to record your thoughts; then, looking back over these notes and the card on a regular basis to check in, using this disciplined exercise as your motivation to implement the necessary modifications and changes in your life.

        To do this:

        1. Write down the answers to all of the questions in this article, then think about how those answers apply to you.
        2. Do your own reading of the cards and compare your answers to the questions in the article to your reading of the cards.
        3. Make a list of the main points, those that strike you as important.
        4. Check back in with your notes, first daily and then weekly, to inspire change and healing in your life.
        5. Ask yourself where you need healing, where you need help, where you need balance and where you need love, then commit to spending half an hour each day towards working to achieve this.

        ~

        If this article has stirred things up for you or made you realise there are things in your life you would like to resolve, please feel free to visit my contact page or email me me to discuss both these and the possibility of our working together in the future. I work both face-to-face and remotely using Skype.

        Or, to book an appointment directly, see my contact page.

        To be healed is having an awareness that you were never broken

        To keep up to date with my progress and receive love and light in your inbox, send me your email address.

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The Ten of Wands

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INTRODUCTION:

This is a one-card reading with the pulled card representing the present. The deck used is the Sharman-Caselli.

Notice how we have yet another Wand card *, as if the suit is haunting me, along with my current clients and all those who read this.

* other Wand cards: IV, Queen, IX, VIII, Page

Questions:

  1. What is the purpose of this?
  2. Why is it happening?
  3. What is this suit, in particular, trying to say?

*

OVERVIEW:

Think about the energy of the Wands and about what, in their journey, they are revealing:

• travel
• adventure
• growth
• venture
• creative projects

Think about trees and wood and what they symbolise:

• strength
• grounding
• permenance/endurance
• stability
• solitude
• shelter/protection
• connection _between above and below
• life

Think about growth from beneath the ground, shoots emerging after winter, colour and life errupting from months of poverty. Think about giving birth to new things, creating out of nothing, building structures from hopes and dreams. Think about how the tree, after it has been turned into wood, can be used to build fires and make heat, comforting and protecting. Think about how this same wood can be used to make tools, weapons, vehicles, furniture, etc.

Questions:

  1. What do trees mean to you?
  2. What does wood symbolise in your life and where does it feature?
  3. Where do you interact with, use them?
  4. What is their personality, their energy?

Exercise 1:

Imagine your favourite tree. Give it a face, a temperament, a personality and a character. Give it a name and an age. Give it a history and a background and a mini bio. Make it real, like a person. Pad it out, stuff it with details.

Questions:

  1. What is this tree trying to tell you?
  2. What message can you take from it?

Exercise 2:

Imagine a loved piece of wood: an item, an object, a piece of furniture… Give it a face, a temperament, a personality and a character. Give it a name and an age. Give it a history and a background and a mini bio. Make it real, like a person. Pad it out, stuff it with details.

Questions:

  1. Where does the energy and essence of it feature in your life?
  2. What does it, as a substance, mean to you?

Perhaps you have a favourite table that you sit at to work, read or eat? Perhaps you have a chair that you have cherished since childhood? Perhaps you have a fixation with collecting wooden animals, boxes, pencils, etc? Wood is everywhere but maybe you don’t see it.

I’m sitting at a wooden table now, one of several in a café I like. I sit at this table or one similar to it most days. It’s where I go to study and write. And yet today is the first day I have noticed it’s height, width, colour, texture; the first time I have truely honoured it. It’s a lovely table: simple, solid and elegant. I feel comfortable and safe sitting behind it. For me, it represents interaction, grounding, security, connection and sustenance. When I sit here I am welcomed, waited upon, protected and part of something bigger than myself.

Questions:

  1. What about you?
  2. What are your stories?

The Wands are typically associated with our hopes, goals, dreams, etc. Twinned with passion, hard work, creativity, ambition, growth on a personal level and adventure. In other words, they are all about challenge, both facing and overcoming, and learning when to say ‘yes’ and when to say ‘no’.

The ten of wands, especially, draws our attention to this, showing us a man who has said ‘yes’ far too much and who perhaps doesn’t know the meaning of ‘no’. Because of this, he is tired and no longer wishes to keep travelling.

How do you feature in this story? That is what is relevant here.

*

KEYWORDS:

Like all cards, the Ten of Wands is two-sided. And, depending on how you read it and how it is pulled, it means very different things.

On the flip-side of the positive aspects already mentioned: aspects related to the whole suit; those below are purely related to the Ten of Wands and this card and character’s particular journey.

Specific Ten of Wands themes:

• burden
• struggle
• exhaustion
• overextention
• overwhelm

If you are doing or feeling any of the above (or similar), then you are over-doing and pushing in the opposite direction to wellbeing. Be careful, therefore, of what you commit to: whether it’s shouldering all of the labour, working overtime, assuming another’s responsibility or taking on an external debt.

Make sure you make time to relax, see friends, take a walk, exercise, watch television, read, go to the cinema, etc. Things that fill you back up. This is important: you need these things for perspective so that you and others who know you can keep you on track. Very often the danger when we are wearing ourselves thin, is not that we are trapped into something that is inescapable or beyond our control to fix, but that we are unaware or unable to see/realise the situation we are in until it is far too late to A) do anything about it, or B) halt it in its tracks and we have, as a result, crashed or imploded.

*

IN-DEPTH ANALYSIS:

We will now look at the card as a picture and independent from the suit, stepping inside the landscape and the characters to unpack the full meaning of what we are:

  1. endevouring to do
  2. attempting to avoid


The Ten of Wands shows us a man travelling through the desert with a heavy load on his back, much like as if he were a donkey. It is too much for one individual to be carrying alone and he is noticeably struggling. He has been travelling for a long time, lots of lonely months, and although there have been companions, mentors, employees… ultimately, the responsibility and task are his alone. And, because this is a journey without a specific end – there is a ‘B Point‘ with an attached desired outcome but no actual date upon which it will or must be accomplished – this is hard.

Observing, we can imagine the sweat on his brow, the perspiration on his body, the blisters on this hands and feet. We can see how weary he looks and how stooped. But even though he longs to lay down everything that was once wonderful but which has now become a blight and rest a little while before picking up and walking on, he cannot: something inside compels him to continue and he is helpless to retaliate.

It _the something that compells from inside_ is the:

• tyrant
• jailor
• punisher
• people-pleaser
• performer
• perfectionist
• helper
• healer
• servant
• good child

* pick the one or ones that apply to you

The man plods on, uncomplaining and compliant: feet sinking, legs resisting, heart sad. He is familiar with this sensation of being alone and of having too many things to contend with. He has felt like this his entire life, as if there is a hole inside that nothing in the world can fill – no person, substance, thing, activity – and looking to counter it, he has always said ‘yes’ when asked for help and never really said ‘no’: to do so would be to risk alienating those he needs in his life, those whose love he depends upon. He does not trust that without his generousity and openness of heart, they would still be there.

To his rear, there is a gecko/lizard – which some consider to be a salamander. And, while I would ideally like to embrace the positive energy of this creature: its message of new life, its symbolism of rebirth and renewed energy; I don’t feel guided to do so here.

To me, the gecko is more like a gremlin, whispering putdowns, muttering negatives, criticising and judging; convincing us that we aren’t old enough, good enough, clever enough or experienced enough to do the thing we desire most in the world to do. It is the reason why the man cannot stop, not even for a minute: for if he relaxes his grip, slows his pace, breaks with his steady plod… the gremlin will start screaming…
 
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…until he is entirely drained of all that remains of his inner strength and energy and thus unable to summon the will to get up and resume.

In my mind, I see him with a long, slender whip or a hot, fiery poker beating the man into submission like he is a horse or a slave.

It _the gecko/lizard_ is your:

• ego
• inner critic
• shadow
• internalised:
  – partner
  – boss
  – mother
  – father
  – colleague
  – friend
• nemesis

* pick the one or ones that apply to you

 
Returning to the desert that forms the backdrop for this card, we are presented with a landscape that is dry and exposed: no shade, shelter, water or cloud cover. It is not a hospitable environment and cannot be survived, not without due care and careful planning ahead – none of which the man is able to do.

If he could, he would:

  • never have agreed to take on so much
  • stopped before:
    • his arms became full
    • he had more than he could comfortably manage
    • he started losing things that were important to hold onto

     
    However, despite this, he has and is still doing well. It is not a landscape for the faint-hearted. He has proved his worth. He has faced and overcome many challenges. He has done better than others in his situation might have done. Clearly, he is deserving of the rewards. It is the personal cost that’s alarming.

    It _the desert_ is the backdrop for your:

    • work
    • business
    • home life
    • love life
    • family

    * pick the one or ones that apply to you

     
    In the distance, there is a lonely castle set upon a hill: lonely because there is nothing else for miles around. This is ‘Point B’ and although he doesn’t yet know what lies there or why it is so important that he reaches it: the man knows that it is a vital part of what he has started and fundamental to the story of his life. He has sacrificed much to get here and is prepared to sacrifice more still: whatever it takes; his dreams are that important and he believes in them that much.

    Think about the castle and what, with your ‘wands/sticks’, you are hoping to achieve.

    Think about what you envisage happening when you arrive.

    Questions:

    1. How will you feel?
    2. What will you see?
    3. What will you gain?
    4. What will be different from now?
    5. What will no longer be a burden?

    *

    SUMMARY:

    This card is a message to focus on the goal and to be mindful of the initial intention/challenge. It is also a memo to check and monitor your inner resources and repoint if you have gone off course.

    Questions:

    1. How much energy do you have right now?
    2. Do you feel like you are overextending, burning yourself at both ends?
    3. Do parts of your body ache?
    4. Is your heart cracked or broken?
    5. Is there a sadness inside you that feels like it’s coming from your soul?

     
    These are all important pointers towards things on inside that are no longer correctly aligned, allerting us to potential disaster before it descends.

    Perhaps you have developed a rash? Perhaps you have persistent headaches? Perhaps your left foot hurts or else your stomach is cramped? Maybe you feel tired? Maybe you feel depressed? Maybe you can no longer sleep? Whatever the case: if there is something emotional or a physical clinging to your being, something that wasn’t previously there, this is the reminder and the time to check it out.

    Don’t wait until crisis hits. Don’t wait until you are incapacitated and/or crumble. Act now and avoid detriment.

    *

    CHALLENGE:

    Go back to the start. Recall what you intended. Run through it again to make sure you are clear. Check in to confirm that you are still on track, still striving in the right direction… If you are not, this is the time to modify and alter. It’s not a cause for concern; just a message to revise and repoint so as to avoid things like:

    • stress
    • strain
    • anxiety
    • exhaustion
    • low spirits and energy

    Think about the reward waiting for you and how good reaching it will feel. Think about what you have had to overcome in order to arrive. Think about the lessons, experiences and people you have met along the way. Think about how much you have grown and how much you have healed. Take away the positive message of this card and focus on realigning and improving and taking more care of you. It is a message of self-love, gently alerting you to an area of lack.

    Accept the invitation to come home to yourself and you will reap the rewards when you step inside. Sometimes overexertion, exhaustion, illness due to overwork or stress, burnout and mental collapse are the ugly packages concealing the greatest gifts.

    *

    HOMEWORK:

    You have read this article and found these cards today because they are meant to guide you. Honour yourself with the permission and freedom to really appreciate that.

    This means reading through the article again from the very beginning and taking the time to record not just your answers to the questions posed but also your thoughts around and in response, paying particular attention to how you feel inside, what you are currently thinking, any memories that came up and/or people you were reminded of.

    Then, looking back over these notes and the card on a regular basis to check in, using this disciplined exercise as your motivation to implement the necessary modifications and changes in your life.

    To do this:

    1. Write down the answers to all of the questions in this article, then think about how those answers apply to you.
    2. Do your own reading of the cards and compare your answers to the questions in the article to your reading of the cards.
    3. Make a list of the main points, those that strike you as important.
    4. Check back in with your notes, first daily and then weekly, to inspire change and healing in your life.
    5. Ask yourself where you need healing, help, balance and love, then commit to spending half an hour each day towards working to achieve this.

    ~

    If this article has stirred things up for you or made you realise there are things in your life you would like to resolve, please feel free to visit my contact page or email me me to discuss both these and the possibility of our working together in the future.

    Or, to book an appointment directly, see my contact page.

    img_4168

    To be healed is having an awareness that you were never broken

    To keep up to date with my progress and receive love and light in your inbox, send me your email address.

    • Ask me a question or book an appointment
    • Buy remedies, healing aides and helpful accessories
    • Check out my Etsy shop Lemon Rose Petals 🍋 to see what else I do

The Knight of Cups

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INTRODUCTION:

All of the characters in my tarot cards have sad faces. Am I only pulling the sad ones or just seeing them that way? And if so, why would I be homing in on the disquiet, dissatisfaction and nostalgia when there is so much summer left in the sky?

Perhaps it is the storm that is brewing, the turn of the temperature, the feeling of moisture in the air? I have always been deeply connected to the environment, my energy affected by it’s constant shifts. When there is no light or heat; damp that is pervading: I wither away. I need favourable weather and plenty of sunshine in order to thrive.

It might also be related to my recent departure from all things Virtue and Valentine? I feel drawn – for the moment – towards archetypes. It is easier to read a man’s face, pet a dog, get up on a horse, step into a cup or wield a stick then flap along with a dragon, angel or fairy; they seem so much more tangible. No offence to our winged friends.

Or else, simply the basic need for a change of energy to challenge, wake, force out, etc… into a space where it is necessary to face one’s fears? Ejected from the slumber of stagnation, the apathy of security: we, both you and I, confront ourselves anew – realising and realigning, reintegrating and releasing, repairing and remodelling; rising from the flames.

Is there a phoenix in my life? Or am I embodying its essence, taking its message to heart?

Whatever the reason: it is delivering interesting and fresh insights on old cards, something I enthusiastically embrace.

~

OVERVIEW: THE SUIT OF CUPS

As a Suit, the Cups represents our heart, emotions, feelings and mental well-being, determining the quality of our inter-personal relationships, interactivity with others and connection to the surrounding world.

As an Energy, the Cups are impulsive, passionate, powerful, spontaneous, erratic, unpredictable, hopeless, hapless, helpless, honest, optimistic, imaginative, romantic, fluid and subject to ups and downs.

As an Element, they are water.

As a Season, spring.

As People, Cups are highly sensitive, they feel everything – picking up on the slightest atmospheric shift, sensing the mood of a room, sentiment of an object. They can read you like a book. The news hurts. They find it hard to accommodate pain. They make great confidants, healers and friends but often give out too easily and need to pay attention to this, especially if nothing is coming back. They are survivors because they believe that everything happens for a reason. Their optimism and faith make them universally wise and resilient. But they wound easily. They also scare and take offence – running from relationships, friendships, situations and jobs. Hiding their head in the sand, they seek to evade and avoid: circling, stalling, taking the long way around. They often lose things that are precious, either through misguided selflessness and over-generousity or fear. Their life is not as big as it could have been. Their biggest adversaries are doubt, guilt, unworthiness, low self-esteem and lack of self-love. They also dislike conflict, chastisement, rejection, recrimination, punishment and confrontation. They hate to feel bad. They have a tendency to self-punish and hold others in higher regard than themselves. They are in or out, on or off, all or nothing…

*

OVERVIEW: THE KNIGHT

A knight is a servant, soldier, hero, warrior, messenger, traveller, pilgrim, vagrant, adventurer, seeker, survivor and thriver. Patient and steadfast, and good at following rules: he can take charge, pull together and take the lead. He works hard for what he believes in and he is devout. He fights for country and king. He prays and trusts in the protection he receives. His energy is that of action, vitality, mobility, passion, impulse, initiation, curiosity, question, enthusiasm, determination, activity and restlessness. He is archetypal of motion – e-motion, emotion, energy in motion.

– THE KNIGHT OF CUPS:

The Knight of Cups carries a gift. He is bringing something new into your life: something that you lack, something which you need. It is most likely of a romantic or spiritual nature. But this does not mean that it cannot also be a lesson, opportunity, windfall or reprieve, freedom from that which has been restraining you. His presence is an invitation for action and change in your life, prompting you to reach out and embrace it.

~

IN DEPTH ANALYSIS: THE CARD AS A COMPLETE PICTURE…

Looking now at the card as a complete picture, encompassing the meaning and energy of both the cup and the knight: the Knight of Cups speaks of a journey almost done. The knight has been travelling for a long time, fought many battles, lost comrades, companions and friends. He has been hit, struck, kicked, stabbed and covered in blood. He almost lost his horse, and she him. Because of this, they are inseparable, like soul mates or twin flames. Despite being exhausted: both are jubilant. They are alive, they were successful, they achieved what they set out to do; they expect a joyful reunion, much thanks and time to rest.

In his left hand * the knight carries a valuable treasure, an important asset and the key to what comes next. In his possession, it will help the King and Queen to: carry out their goals, furnish desires, improve the overall quality of the kingdom. He is at peace with this: it feels good to serve: all he has ever wanted to be was a servant; it saddens him when there is upset in the world, when the land is unhappy. If he can do something to make it a better place, easier to live with: his life is complete.

* see later breakdown for an in-depth analysis of what the left hand symbolises

But why did the knight choose to be a knight and not a butcher, baker, farmer, farrier, sailor, tailor, artist, monk, etc., and what was his motivation?

• Does he desire adventure, stimulation, something bigger?
• Is looking to outrun, leave behind or escape?
• Is searching for the answer to the spiritual question, ‘why am I here?’
• Is he seeking deliverance from his sins or filling in an empty life?
• Perhaps, like the Prodigal Son, he is returning home after years of wandering
   having tried out multiple careers along the way?

To get a closer look, let’s break it down into pieces.

*

THE CUP:

A cup is a tool, a container, a vessel. A nice cup could be an award, a gift or an object of beauty. Kings and queens are famed for their use of cups, especially golden goblets. And what of the Holy Grail: of all the symbols of the quest for spiritual illumination, the Holy Grail is the most prized. In one’s possession: it can raise the dead, heal all wounds and turn a wasteland into a paradise of perpetual bounty.

In the Bible, a cup is thought to embody grace and salvation or damnation and wrath. It is part of the Holy Communion: it’s contents, the wine, symbolic of Christ’s blood.

A cup helps us to satiate our thirst, celebrate an occasion, feed another, share tea. A cup can conceal secrets and surprises; hold a spell, a potion; contain a remedy or a poison. A cup can be one of many, or entirely alone.

We use cups every day. We are comfortable with lifting, filling, holding, washing, making and breaking them, etc. We trust them to do their job without letting us down. They are ordinary and they are special. They are mainstream and unique.

– THE CUP AS THE GRAIL:

If we consider the cup as the Holy Grain, the knight its seeker and finder; then (in this card) he is returning home after having successfully completed his quest. He will have passed various tests, sought out guides, received visions, translated dreams… He will have travelled far and faced many difficulties and adversaries. He has probably killed a mountain lion, as well as a dragon or two and, perhaps, competing men. But in order to have won and secured this illusive commodity, he must have done away with his former self, rebirthed his soul and embraced the characteristics of acceptance, patience, compassion, humility, justice and grace. He must have died, essentially, and reawakened: his heart pure, his body an open vessel.

*

THE KNIGHT:

If we view the knight as external: a situation, energy, circumstance or person; then he is a messenger, denoting the arrival of something which may or may not be perceived as a gift.

• Perhaps he brings news of a loved one, an invitation to an event,
  word of a marriage or birth?
• Perhaps he brings renewed health, spiritual enlightenment, an
  exciting opportunity?
• Or the arrival of a new relationship?

Welcome things that make us joyful.

But he can also bring us sad news, like an accident, separation, tragedy or death. And bad news, like an unexpected bill, a legal summons or a termination.

When we receive, we allow something outside of us in; something we did not necessarily invite. And with this, we shift the energy around us and even our path. Good news can lift us to new heights and achievements. Bad news send us into a hole.

• Think about the post and how you feel when it arrives.
• Contemplate the power of those packages and that of the
  individual who sent them.
• Do you like your postman? (he is, after all,
  your most prevalent messenger)

In the Bible, the angels Gabriel, Michael and Lucifer serve as ‘Agents for God‘; Mary was visited by the Angel Gabriel and told she was with child; Moses saw God via the burning bush and was instructed to save his people; Abraham received orders to sacrifice his only son, and Jesus was tempted by the Devil. Politicians meet with other politicians to broker peace and threaten war. A friend comes to visit and cheers you up; a relative and perhaps you feel bad. The visitor might be other things, like the wind and the rain; a migraine, cold, cut, mosquito bite…

It is a weighty job to be a messenger: to hold so much power in a single body.

Messengers can reveal things like death, desertion, departure, infidelity, deception, eviction, termination. As well as awards, prizes, commitments, publications, contracts and sales.

Messengers of bad news are often hated. Messengers of good news are welcomed with open arms. Messages we are expecting are okay – like packages from Amazon and Christmas gifts. But surprises and unexpected arrivals can be difficult and challenging.

The knight of Cups is an important messenger, for he carries a potent gift. Cups contain things and his holds the stuff of legends. What he brings will transform lives; elevate the King, granting him immortality, infinite wisdom, salvation from sin, renewed health; save or kill a man, curse or redeem him. And yet, the knight is forced to give it away. He has gone out in search of it; he has endured many trials, passed difficult tests, risked his life and sacrificed his family… For what? He keeps nothing, only the lessons learned along the way.

So a messenger can also be a servant, a soldier, a preacher and a follower.

• Are there any messengers in your life right now?
• What might they be trying to tell you?
• Are they welcome or resented?

– THE KNIGHT INTERNAL:

If the knight is you, consider how you process information.

• Do you work in an office and people the phone?
• Do you sit at a desk and interact via SMS and email?
• Do you predict the weather, stock market, betting odds?
• Do you write articles for a publication or blog?
• Do you teach, perform or act?
• Are you a judge, lawyer, bus driver, social worker,
  ad-man or salesman?
• Do you pray and receive guidance from God?
• Do you work with your intuition:
   – or angels and guides?
   – or speak to the departed?
• Are you a healer: doctor, dentist, counsellor, therapist,
  social worker, homeopath, physiotherapist, etc?
• Are you a parent, sibling, relative or friend?
• Do you watch the news and share or relay what you have
  learned with a third party?
• Do you read a book and then recant or retell that story?
• Do you carry gossip?
• Do you make things up?
• Are you kind, gentle, patient and encouraging?
• Or are you blunt, tormenting, cruel and stern?

Work out what kind of messenger you are. Then work out how you share/transmit the messages you receive. And look at how you respond to others when they send information your way.

• Are you a ready receiver?
• Or are you closed?

• Do you welcome information, help, advice, interference?
• Or do you shy away from it, fearful or resentful of the power it contains?

Then, work out what the knight is telling you about your attitude towards sending and receiving and how he might be prompting you to act.

• What do you have to let go of?
• What do you need to embrace?
• What do you need to strengthen?
• What do you need to reduce?

Follow his lead and balance the imbalances in your life. Moderate your energy.

*

THE HANDS:

The knight is riding with the reigns in his right hand and the cup in his left, his arm extended. The cup is proffered as a gift. He carries it carefully, as if it is of the upmost value; as if its contents might spill easily if not mindfully observed. There is feeling of intense focus and responsibility. While he might have been the one to venture out and find it, passing numerous challenges and tests, and as such be its rightful owner: he is a servant of the crown and it is not his.

If you are right-handed, then the left hand is the hand that receives energy: from the Universe, the earth, objects and others. If you are a healer, you use this hand to remove dis-ease and illness and other unwanted things. It is the hand that rests on a desk or your lap when you write, the hand that eats while the other serves. As your non-dominant hand, it is the weaker hand, the less dexterous one, the hand you neglect; the appendage you dismiss and fail to celebrate.

This tells us that while the knight is definitely bringing something towards us, something that feels positive and useful, something we want, something important to the continued growth and expansion of our lives, and that it is symbolic of a new energy coming in; he is also taking something for himself. He is a servant and a messenger, but he is also a man of the world and wise: he would not have survived this long without making sure that his needs are also met.

• What can he teach us about taking and giving?
• How might we reflect upon this energy in regards to how we feed ourselves:
   physically, mentally, emotionally and spiritually in our own lives?
• Do you over-give or over-take?
• As a person, are you independent or needy?

*

THE HORSE:

Universally, the horse is a symbol of freedom without restraint, because riding a horse makes people feel like they can free themselves from their own bindings. Horses represent your energy or drive to express your authentic self and succeed in life.

The horse is also a symbol for femininity, specifically in regard to sexual expression. Depending on the scenario, the horse could represent repressed or flourishing sexuality or your ability to overcome obstacles in life.

The horse is also a symbol of travel, movement, strength, determination, power, confidence, speed, grace, companionship, servitude, trust and adventure and shows us that we can harness our own energy (or nature’s) to serve us and take us further.

The white horse is a symbol for developing awareness of your instincts and intuition. In some cultures it stands for balance and wisdom. In others, it is always a white horse that carries a hero.

*

THE FISH:

The Fish represents the subconscious, emotions, healing and purification. It also represents movement and independence. As a symbol it connects us with the emotional side of ourselves and symbolises our ability to be wise without being strategic; to simply respond instinctively, without the need for debate or analysis.

And like the horse, the fish is also a symbol of the feminine; only here she serves not as a sexual energy but as a reminder to love and nurture ourselves, accepting and releasing, reconnecting to and reawakening so that we might swim more freely.

In some cultures fish are considered sacred and represent change and transformation. In many religions, they are part of a sacramental meal and Catholics eat fish on Friday’s. In the bible, they represent the ‘Christ Consciousness‘ and the disciples were often referred to as ‘fishers of men‘: man being the fish swimming in an ocean of sin.

Some other interpretations for fish include: transformation, enlightenment, knowledge, deeper awareness, intelligence and thought, creativity, fertility, birth and rebirth, prosperity, abundance, good luck, happiness, faith, determination and adaptability.

~

SUMMARY:

The Knight of Cups _ as a card _ is a messenger and an invitation. It indicates the arrival of something of emotional benefit, possibly a new relationship, or deep, meaningful love – of self or of other; and opens up the way for solid manifestation: dreams made real, fantasies realised, romantic notions solidified, adventures embarked upon, ideas balanced with action, words with results.

Scraping away the veneer you have placed on top of the darkness that lurks _ unmoving and somnolent _ within: it is telling you to pause to assess and alter your behaviour.

Notably, to stop:

• living in Fairyland
• pinning your hopes on winning the lottery, and other such romantic intangibles
• waiting for someone to rescue you
• envying what other people have
• dreaming about Porches and Ferraris
• making excuses as to ‘why not’
• resenting your life and bemoaning your misfortunes/disadvantages
• lounging around and feeling sorry for yourself
• burying your head in the sand
• feeling ‘not good enough’
• putting it off until tomorrow
• getting distracted
• procrastinating
• avoiding
• whingeing and whining
• doing everything else but
• saying ‘yes’ to everyone but yourself
• letting life pass you by

And instead:

• think bigger
• be braver
• get motivated
• get out there and do it
• heal your emotional wounds
• release the past
• let go of resentment and regret
• live your life fully _ as if today were the only day you had

~

CONCLUSION:

The key to the Knight of Cups is in the cup. Work out what is in the cup and who the knight pertains to, and you work out the message and moral contained.

Essentially though, the card is a call to action, an alarm to wake up: out of reverie, out of fantasy, out of fear, procrastination, avoidance and denial.

Years ago you set out on a journey, intending to bring home a certain holy treasure. Somewhere along the way you got lost and forgot, and ever since you have been wandering. You have managed to convince yourself that you are living your life, that you are trying your hardest and working hard. And you do work very hard, daily. But in your confusion and overwhelm, you are working in the wrong direction, circling instead of approaching the desired goal.

Take yourself back to the beginning; recall what it was you wanted; pick up the pieces you have dropped and then return to where you are. With this new information reassess your journey and your destination and rewrite the map.

Try to do one thing a day towards making your dreams a reality. Record your victories and reward your failures. Failing means you have tried, no matter what the results. Chart your progress and at the end of every week look back over your achievements. Pretty soon you will see that you are moving and that this movement feels both expansive and good. You have reignited the adventure, risen from the flames, utilised the cup.

~

HOMEWORK:

You have read this article and found these cards today because they are meant to guide you. Honour yourself with the permission and freedom to really appreciate that.

This means reading through the article again from the beginning and taking the time to record your thoughts. Then, looking back over these notes and the card on a regular basis to check in, using this disciplined exercise as your motivation to implement the necessary modifications and changes in your life.

To do this:

  1. Write down the answers to all of the questions in this article, then think about how those answers apply to you.
  2. Do your own reading of the cards and compare your answers to the questions in the article to your reading of the cards. 
  3. Make a list of the main points, those that strike you as important. 
  4. Check back in with your notes, first daily and then weekly, to inspire change and healing in your life. 
  5. Ask yourself where you need healing, where you need help, where you need balance and where you need love, then commit to spending half an hour each day towards working to achieve this.

~

If this article has stirred things up for you or made you realise there are things in your life you would like to resolve, please feel free to visit my contact page or email me me to discuss both these and the possibility of our working together in the future.

Or, to book an appointment directly, see my contact page.

image

To be healed is having an awareness that you were never broken

To keep up to date with my progress and receive love and light in your inbox, send me your email address.

• Ask me a question or book an appointment
• Buy remedies, healing aides and helpful accessories
• Check out my Etsy shop Lemon Rose Petals 🍋 to see what else I do