Why is my Business Failing?

For very sound reasons many tarot readers will not give advice on health, finances or legal matters. This is not because the Tarot is not able to do so but because the reader is the interpreter a lack of knowledge and expertise in these areas can lead to mistakes. If you are a lawyer, I can see no reason why the Tarot cannot be a great asset in your thinking about a case.

Here the querent wants advice on why her business is failing? No doubt the answer will be complex and this reader has no expertise in either business or finance matters. So the answer I think this reading gives is going to be centred on the querent and her attitudes. Attitudes play a tremendously important part in our decision making. Science tells us and our common experience has also known this, that much of our decision making is based on emotion and feeling. Do I feel I can push on through hard times? Is it worth it? What is the point? These questions are as relevant as any spreadsheet when it comes to running a business.

So, in the spread we have just one court card who is front and centre. Without a doubt this is the querent herself - yes, that is right the querent is a woman and the court card is a man - a timely reminder that court cards are not gendered per se but can point to aspects traditionally associated with historical gender roles.

I have no idea what the business is but if it is anything to do with armed services I would not be surprised. Anyway, what is clear is that all three cards are from the suit of swords and she is personified as the King of her realm. What is striking is that to her left is the Ace of Swords. This is the powerhouse of the whole suit and yet, look, she is turning her head away from that source. She is looking at the 8 of Swords instead.

The eight is associated with 'hopes & fears' according to Camelia Elias, and many others too. So, I'm thinking if perhaps our querent is not losing sight of her original inspiration for her business and, having run into some rocky times, might be succumbing to fear of failure?  Maybe the suit of swords is advising her to fight back a bit more too. 

Why is my Father Absent from my Life?

A more complex question that does not need a Yes/No response benefits from a longer spread.

The only figure we have is the Knight of Wands slightly to the left of centre. This is a person of movement who does not stay. I think therefore that this figure is your father. He is a younger man in this card and he holds a baton aloft which 'rhymes' with the Ace of Swords to the extreme left. The ace pierces the crown and suggests, in the context of this question, conception, yours, but maybe others also.

The knight faces away from his progeny and he looks through the 10 of Swords over to two coin cards. I think this is where his interest lies. For this question a child is asking of a parent there are no cup cards, nothing here that is denoting relationships. I think this is significant for this reading.

So to the left we have the cards portraying him in the past, assertive and ambitious.  I think his thoughts are more with more material gain (the 2 grows to a 10 of cups which might suggest he became quite wealthy).

I've left the central card until last because I think here lies an important piece of the jigsaw.

Eight scimitars form a 'vulva' with two crossed swords barring the way in. I think something has gone seriously wrong with the relationship with your mother. From his side, he felt rejected and I suspect that a man who found it it difficult to form affectionate attachments to people projected his attachments onto sex and material gain. For him this is how he loves.

The 'sex' allusions in this reading are highly symbolised through shape rather than 'in the flesh and I think this is because the cards are suggesting this is how he sees both sex and material possessions. These things for him are not just 'sex' and 'money' rather it is what they symbolise for him and how the compensate for a more emotionally satisfactory series of relationships with people.

Will the Antiquarian Bookshop I Work for Last Another Year?

Yes, but probably by the skin of your teeth. There will be cuts also.

The Queen of Swords is looking back to the past and away from the future. I'm wondering if the owner is not facing reality. Behind her we have 3 of coins this is our central card and shows the small shoestring budget that a lot of independent booksellers are facing here. The third coin faces downwards and I get the sense that this is the trend. 

Over on the right hand side we have 7 of Batons. Six of those batons bar the way but there is a seventh that is just breaking through. The Queen needs to turn around though and face the other way if this possibility is to be realised.

The answer for the 'Queen' is in her hands, literally, she holds a sword but she needs to wield it and make the cut with the past so that the shop can move on and maybe expand into new directions. Someone needs to sit down and come up with a strategy.

Good luck with that, remember we magical folk need our antiquarian booksellers!

Would It Benefit My Life To Move To London?

It's cups, cups cups all the way with this reading!

The short answer is a "YES!", although the benefits are not necessarily financial. In fact the absence of coins means that this querent may not be wanting to going for purely monetary purposes anyway.

Starting from the left we have the 6 of Cups. Look at how regimented they seem all lined up on either side of a boundary. If this is the past or current situation then we have a somewhat limited social life, maybe a feeling of having to play things down in order to 'fit in'.

Our central card is a nine so an increase in cups, in social contacts. Just look at how the central boundary has been replaced with more cups.  The valet is carrying an oversized chalice to the party of 9 to make a 10 cups which is a completion number. I think there is much promise here but that satisfaction will be on relationships, fun, networks, but not necessarily great financial rewards.

One comment on the numbers we have '6' and '9'. Both these are divisible by '3'.  A '3' is a change card either upwards or downwards. Cups is a 'red' suit so we have, I think, the emergence of a new life in a positive sense.

This is one party you want to bring your own cup to.

Pip Card & Courts: A Freestyle Reading

All part of the Rune Soup PM course on Tarot. We are giving up our beloved Major arcana cards to 'fortune-tell' like the devil with the pip cards and court cards only.  The cards are read simply with no set meanings or placements, just creating the narrative with what can be seen.

OK - this isn't quite freestyle as there are suit and number associations but these are staying close to the associations with the suits rather than the usual element.

First question:

DOES MY NEWLY-PROMOTED BOSS THINK HIGHLY OF ME OR IS SHE JUST PRETENDING?

First thing that strikes me is the absence of 'people' cards, or court cards. I think what we have in their place is symbolic representations of people. What this means is that this reading is about the qualities that each person has and how they interact.

Reading from left to right the 2 of Cups We have the partnership in focus here. The two protagonists, the querent and his/her boss are on either side of an ornamental candelabra with two fish-like flowers. Both stick out their tongues and one has eyes open the other closed. The reading is highlighting the nature of the relationship. It's like the constantly bickering couple who are absolutely tied together.

Swords are a clash or conflictual suit but a 'four' is indicative of stability, a tension which ultimately is creative indicated by the 'birthing' of the third cup in the last card.

I see nothing here to indicate pretence rather a creative relationship that relies on a tension between the protagonists to produce a result.

Smoke & Daggers!

After Breitbart published a report saying that 12 churches across France had been vandalised in the month before Notre Dame du Paris burned on 15th April; a conspiracy started that the fire was arson. 

The fact-checking site www.snopes.com investigated and said the report was “mainly false”. Investigations are at an early phase and currently the authorities say it was not deliberate.

Q) Was the fire at Notre Dame du Paris arson?

Using the RWS pack - one card draw:

II Swords. A seated woman, who is blindfolded and holds a sword in each hand. Her arms are crossed, behind her is the sea, above her a crescent moon.

☽ in ♎︎

The usual interpretation for this card is a ‘difficult decision’ to be made. It can suggest procrastination, indecisiveness, an unwillingness to take sides or make a judgement. It is also a justice card, hence why it is placed in Libra. The moon describes a reflective mind-set.

There is a suggestion of something hidden which could lend itself to conspiracy. Swords have a connotation of the execution of justice. It may be that the authorities do have their suspicions but are playing their cards close to their chest.

What does seem to be clear in this murky answer from the tarot, is that things may not be as straight forward i.e. not ‘just’ an accident.

Summoning the Solomonic Archangels I

Herewith, some entries from the magical journal for these workings:

The First...

7th March 2019

Using the Rudd Nine Celestial Keys, I called forth Sachiel in the day and hour of ♃.

Also used this in combination with the Deeply Theta entrainment track (10 mins). This was used in the scrying spaces in-between callings.

After the original conjuration/invocation there was a sudden inner image of amethyst tinged clouds; looking up I saw a triangular window open up and a ray of light shone downwards through the clouds. An angelic figure appeared sometimes in the mode of the Temperance angel in RWS pack and then holding a sword. I thought this was just the RWS image intruding but it became fleshy and moved in a strong breeze. His eyes were closed. The impression was quite strong. Then I saw in the stone shapes moving like someone riding a horse at full gallop, then a gazelle running fast. These were phantom-like and indistinct.

After the 1st recitation post conjuration, the imagery faded as did the feeling of opening up and I had to make a continual effort to reach ‘heaven-ward’. 

After the second recitation I returned to the amethyst clouds and realised why those soapy New Age images are styled the way they are.

The light shone onto the stone and once more the figure returned holding a light which he offered to me and I reached out and accepted it. Next the light was in my heart centre.

After this an hour had elapsed and decided to call it a day; so welcomed the angels in an approximate ad-libbed formula and then asked all to return to their own places, thanks them and asked them to complete any further knowledge, wisdom etc. over the next two days (as above).

Closed with Our Father, Hail Mary and Glory Be.

And the Second...

22nd March 2019

Invocation of the 7th Key, Anael, angel of ♀︎ in the day and hour of the same.

Following the invocation, I had the impression of a Winged Egyptian Scarab and there was a connection with the phases of the planet ♀︎. I am unaware of any such connection so will do some research on this.

I also saw a golden sandal topped with a rose on an angel’s foot; for the 1st repetition.  

The 2nd repetition the scarab appeared again and this time opened his wing casings and beat his wings as if to fly off.

The Deeply Theta is quite conducive to the working because it has an ethereal sound and nature. There is a depth and sense of the imaginal as its own reality. It’s difficult to say exactly but it is a series of experienced images that feels more than the usual mental stream. There is a connection of some sort.

Scarabs were a very popular form of amulet from the Middle Kingdom onwards. Associated with the rising sun and the god Khephri. He was regenerative in his associations, which may be why he could be associated with ♀︎ too. He is also associated later on with the ‘Heart’. He was a popular choice to be laid over the heart in mummy wrappings and was used advocate on the deceased’s behalf in the Hall of Judgement. The spells from the Book of the Dead were spoken to the amulet who was then wrapped up with the mummy for burial. His association with the underworld may be because he traverses two worlds, upper and lower.

So, this may be a form of the angel Anael, or one of his angels, who rises up and is reborn, who can traverse two worlds and maybe transmit spells to the otherworld - a messenger!