did a practical advice/employment reading for a friend's wife and thought it might be helpful to see what tarot can offer in terms of a method for thinking through more grounded issues. heaven knows we're all miserable etc.
If, after reading this, you'd like to book a reading for yourself, take a look at my pricing!
the question here was: "should I strike while the iron is hot with a good job opportunity, or be more cautious and let things sizzle to see if something better presents itself?"
And here's what I wrote:
"The layout I’m using here is the decision game. The top path is what to look for if you choose to take this immediate job opportunity that’s being presented, the bottom path is the course of things if you choose to wait. While the order of the cards is, in theory, chronological, I don’t place a lot of emphasis on the predictive qualities of tarot. Rather, I’d think about this as a flowchart of concerns and things to look for and orient yourself towards depending on which path you take.
We start with Interference, the 8 of Swords, which did make me laugh because it’s really on the nose. This first position represents your current state and motive for asking the question; Interference is the card of confusion and indecision, a multiplicity of small, mundane concerns that resist being organized into any kind of hierarchy. Nevertheless, despite the number of roadblocks and false starts that come along with this card, it points to the idea that when we feel this kind of crisis it is because we can sense that there IS a true way forward, and so the stakes feel heightened.
Swords is the mental suit, intellect and will, and so I’d suggest that this crisis is likely one of competing wills, disagreements either internally or externally about what is best. Interference asks you to trust that your own judgement serves you, that whatever your initial impulse was before you introduced all of the various competing factors you’re working to balance was probably correct. If you can feel a disruption of your will, a confusion around what to do, that means you on some level DO know what is right, since otherwise there would be no discomfort; you’d simply let yourself be influenced.
From here, let’s look at the top path; what follows from the choice to seize the current moment and take what’s offered to you. Two of Wands is Dominion, which again is almost stupidly appropriate; this is the card of impulsive authority and aggression, seizing what you want for yourself, expanding your domain. It also asks you to consider what fuels your action; if you feel that you’d only be making this choice out of a desire for control or power, you should know that such things almost always ring hollow.
If, on the other hand, you feel that the only thing that stands in the way of choosing this path is fear, Dominion says that fear is just an opportunity to demonstrate courage and indomitable spirit, so charge into it!
Following this, things settle down a bit, as expected, given the circumstances. The Knight of Disks is the pinnacle of the Disks suit, which deals with material concerns and security, very much including finances. He’s the card of doing your job and doing it well, amassing resources and welcoming the responsibilities that follow with that. He feels secure in his place in the world and, once he’s sure that his storehouses are full, turns his attention outward towards actually using what he has. I think it’s safe to say you’d be entering a bit of a sober-minded moment with a lot of responsibilities, but that those things would by and large reward you for your diligence and effort.
However, the Knight of Disks is not a fast mover. He’s an investor, who patiently waits to reap what he’s sown; but it may take time. Even if rewarded, the responsibilities will come first; he’s not in the business of giving advances. There may be some frustration that follows that initial burst of energy presented by Dominion, since most of that will have to be sublimated into routine and persistent effort.
This idea of delayed gratification is, however, given some emphasis on the gratification front with the final card in this path, the Nine of Cups, Happiness. It’s a simple card, and a good one. It’s not euphoric, it’s not transformative, but it’s calm and secure, and invites you to look into the future in the spirit of trust. A place for everything, everything in its place. Putting yourself in a position to gladly receive those more exciting windfalls that may come later. That kind of joy.
Let’s start down the bottom path, what follows from choosing to wait and bide your time.
We start with the Ten of Disks, Wealth. Auspicious certainly, but there’s some stuff to unpack. Wealth asks you to recognize and be grateful for the abundance you do possess, but it also points towards fixation on material security, and warns against standstill and futility. It’s the misers card to a certain degree, and I think there’s the potential that by choosing to wait for something better, the idea of “something better” might become overly fixed in the mind.
Now, it’s still a positive card and I think it does indicate that in fact, there likely are better options waiting for you, but if you’re feeling desperate, rather than confident, I’d avoid this path. That is, if the desire to wait for something better is motivated by a fear of missing out on greater returns by taking this job immediately, I'd be cautious. If, however, it’s rooted in a sense of knowing your worth, it very well might be worth it to wait.
Coming next is Satiety, the Ten of Cups. also a very appropriate card for the “waiting” path, since Satiety is the total culmination of joys, the wish coming true, a complete overflowing bounty of positive emotion. In contrast to the Knight of Disks in the parallel position above, Satiety deals with emotional satisfaction and sentiment rather than concrete material gains and responsibility.
This could point to the opportunity to take a job that you feel more emotionally fulfilled by or drawn to, but it just as easily could represent the bliss of your patience being rewarded. Satiety does, however, contain the seeds of its downfall.
Whereas Happiness shows the cups being stacked in a stable uniform pattern, Satiety positions everything on a single cup. Things rest delicately, and they won’t stay balanced forever. This also brings to mind the warning present in Ten of Disks about fixation; here I think the imagery suggests a pretty straightforward warning about putting all your eggs in one basket.
Even if, (and odds seem good, at least from these cards) by waiting, you find something better than what’s being offered right now, it may not feel as stable, if only because there’s much more pressure placed on it to work out since you’d have passed by other opportunities to pursue this one.
Concluding this path is the Knight of Wands, the ruler of the Wands suit, which governs action. He’s about explosive, aggressive, intense energies that are being directed and concentrated by a white-knuckled willpower and a pioneering spirit, a will to do what you have not done before and the surging impatience and confidence that you will do it well.
Seeing a card so tied up with beginnings at the end of this path makes me think that the wait may be a bit of a long one, or potentially that whatever offer you do end up accepting after a wait may not be where you end up long term.
It also makes me think that the hunch I have about this path coming with a lot of feeling under pressure is probably correct; this is a card about what is possible when we harness the frustration and anger that rises when our path is blocked. It’s about turning an explosion into a shaped charge, a wildfire into a laser. As powerful as that may be, it still requires that initial uncontrolled force to be present, and you’d better hope that you’re pointing it in the right direction even after you have channeled that energy into a burning arrow.
Finally, the quintessence, calculated by summing all the values of the cards and then summing the digits of that sum until you get the value of one or two major Arcana. This is a postscript, a parting word on how to take the rest of the advice you’ve received. This gives us 12/3: the Hanged Man and the Empress. Try turning things on their head. Be willing to accept that your perspective on this issue has been wrong; potentially even backwards and upside down, and trust that if you can successfully transition to another framework for thinking about this, things will flourish and blossom around you.
To me, though obviously I don’t know the circumstances and factors you’re evaluating, I think this is fortunately a situation with no real bad outcome. I think that if you feel in need of more certainty and long term security, and especially if your main objection to taking this job is rooted in fear, I’d go with the top path, and be willing to grind things out for a bit, knowing that you’re going to earn some real stability.
If you feel up for a challenge, confident in your worth, and prepared to raise the stakes, the bottom path seems to offer that; there ARE better things out there, even if they may take a minute to reach you, and provided you’re prepared to be under pressure and can find a useful outlet to direct that intensity, I think it seems likely that you could really enter into a situation where you’re being rewarded materially and emotionally. "
The feedback I received (from said friend and wife both):
"You're actually the tarot goat... [this] reads very accurately to the current situation, and I think you do a good job balancing broad/specific... Thank u so much for doin this!!! It helped to clear up a lot & a lot of it hit home for me! I appreciate ur time & skills <33333... got the job btw, and we’re gonna move!"
 |
| because we are not free goddamnit |
If, after reading this, you'd like to book a reading for yourself, take a look at my pricing!
the question here was: "should I strike while the iron is hot with a good job opportunity, or be more cautious and let things sizzle to see if something better presents itself?"
 |
| here's what I drew |
And here's what I wrote:
"The layout I’m using here is the decision game. The top path is what to look for if you choose to take this immediate job opportunity that’s being presented, the bottom path is the course of things if you choose to wait. While the order of the cards is, in theory, chronological, I don’t place a lot of emphasis on the predictive qualities of tarot. Rather, I’d think about this as a flowchart of concerns and things to look for and orient yourself towards depending on which path you take.
We start with Interference, the 8 of Swords, which did make me laugh because it’s really on the nose. This first position represents your current state and motive for asking the question; Interference is the card of confusion and indecision, a multiplicity of small, mundane concerns that resist being organized into any kind of hierarchy. Nevertheless, despite the number of roadblocks and false starts that come along with this card, it points to the idea that when we feel this kind of crisis it is because we can sense that there IS a true way forward, and so the stakes feel heightened.
Swords is the mental suit, intellect and will, and so I’d suggest that this crisis is likely one of competing wills, disagreements either internally or externally about what is best. Interference asks you to trust that your own judgement serves you, that whatever your initial impulse was before you introduced all of the various competing factors you’re working to balance was probably correct. If you can feel a disruption of your will, a confusion around what to do, that means you on some level DO know what is right, since otherwise there would be no discomfort; you’d simply let yourself be influenced.
From here, let’s look at the top path; what follows from the choice to seize the current moment and take what’s offered to you. Two of Wands is Dominion, which again is almost stupidly appropriate; this is the card of impulsive authority and aggression, seizing what you want for yourself, expanding your domain. It also asks you to consider what fuels your action; if you feel that you’d only be making this choice out of a desire for control or power, you should know that such things almost always ring hollow.
If, on the other hand, you feel that the only thing that stands in the way of choosing this path is fear, Dominion says that fear is just an opportunity to demonstrate courage and indomitable spirit, so charge into it!
Following this, things settle down a bit, as expected, given the circumstances. The Knight of Disks is the pinnacle of the Disks suit, which deals with material concerns and security, very much including finances. He’s the card of doing your job and doing it well, amassing resources and welcoming the responsibilities that follow with that. He feels secure in his place in the world and, once he’s sure that his storehouses are full, turns his attention outward towards actually using what he has. I think it’s safe to say you’d be entering a bit of a sober-minded moment with a lot of responsibilities, but that those things would by and large reward you for your diligence and effort.
However, the Knight of Disks is not a fast mover. He’s an investor, who patiently waits to reap what he’s sown; but it may take time. Even if rewarded, the responsibilities will come first; he’s not in the business of giving advances. There may be some frustration that follows that initial burst of energy presented by Dominion, since most of that will have to be sublimated into routine and persistent effort.
This idea of delayed gratification is, however, given some emphasis on the gratification front with the final card in this path, the Nine of Cups, Happiness. It’s a simple card, and a good one. It’s not euphoric, it’s not transformative, but it’s calm and secure, and invites you to look into the future in the spirit of trust. A place for everything, everything in its place. Putting yourself in a position to gladly receive those more exciting windfalls that may come later. That kind of joy.
Let’s start down the bottom path, what follows from choosing to wait and bide your time.
We start with the Ten of Disks, Wealth. Auspicious certainly, but there’s some stuff to unpack. Wealth asks you to recognize and be grateful for the abundance you do possess, but it also points towards fixation on material security, and warns against standstill and futility. It’s the misers card to a certain degree, and I think there’s the potential that by choosing to wait for something better, the idea of “something better” might become overly fixed in the mind.
Now, it’s still a positive card and I think it does indicate that in fact, there likely are better options waiting for you, but if you’re feeling desperate, rather than confident, I’d avoid this path. That is, if the desire to wait for something better is motivated by a fear of missing out on greater returns by taking this job immediately, I'd be cautious. If, however, it’s rooted in a sense of knowing your worth, it very well might be worth it to wait.
Coming next is Satiety, the Ten of Cups. also a very appropriate card for the “waiting” path, since Satiety is the total culmination of joys, the wish coming true, a complete overflowing bounty of positive emotion. In contrast to the Knight of Disks in the parallel position above, Satiety deals with emotional satisfaction and sentiment rather than concrete material gains and responsibility.
This could point to the opportunity to take a job that you feel more emotionally fulfilled by or drawn to, but it just as easily could represent the bliss of your patience being rewarded. Satiety does, however, contain the seeds of its downfall.
Whereas Happiness shows the cups being stacked in a stable uniform pattern, Satiety positions everything on a single cup. Things rest delicately, and they won’t stay balanced forever. This also brings to mind the warning present in Ten of Disks about fixation; here I think the imagery suggests a pretty straightforward warning about putting all your eggs in one basket.
Even if, (and odds seem good, at least from these cards) by waiting, you find something better than what’s being offered right now, it may not feel as stable, if only because there’s much more pressure placed on it to work out since you’d have passed by other opportunities to pursue this one.
Concluding this path is the Knight of Wands, the ruler of the Wands suit, which governs action. He’s about explosive, aggressive, intense energies that are being directed and concentrated by a white-knuckled willpower and a pioneering spirit, a will to do what you have not done before and the surging impatience and confidence that you will do it well.
Seeing a card so tied up with beginnings at the end of this path makes me think that the wait may be a bit of a long one, or potentially that whatever offer you do end up accepting after a wait may not be where you end up long term.
It also makes me think that the hunch I have about this path coming with a lot of feeling under pressure is probably correct; this is a card about what is possible when we harness the frustration and anger that rises when our path is blocked. It’s about turning an explosion into a shaped charge, a wildfire into a laser. As powerful as that may be, it still requires that initial uncontrolled force to be present, and you’d better hope that you’re pointing it in the right direction even after you have channeled that energy into a burning arrow.
Finally, the quintessence, calculated by summing all the values of the cards and then summing the digits of that sum until you get the value of one or two major Arcana. This is a postscript, a parting word on how to take the rest of the advice you’ve received. This gives us 12/3: the Hanged Man and the Empress. Try turning things on their head. Be willing to accept that your perspective on this issue has been wrong; potentially even backwards and upside down, and trust that if you can successfully transition to another framework for thinking about this, things will flourish and blossom around you.
To me, though obviously I don’t know the circumstances and factors you’re evaluating, I think this is fortunately a situation with no real bad outcome. I think that if you feel in need of more certainty and long term security, and especially if your main objection to taking this job is rooted in fear, I’d go with the top path, and be willing to grind things out for a bit, knowing that you’re going to earn some real stability.
If you feel up for a challenge, confident in your worth, and prepared to raise the stakes, the bottom path seems to offer that; there ARE better things out there, even if they may take a minute to reach you, and provided you’re prepared to be under pressure and can find a useful outlet to direct that intensity, I think it seems likely that you could really enter into a situation where you’re being rewarded materially and emotionally. "
The feedback I received (from said friend and wife both):
"You're actually the tarot goat... [this] reads very accurately to the current situation, and I think you do a good job balancing broad/specific... Thank u so much for doin this!!! It helped to clear up a lot & a lot of it hit home for me! I appreciate ur time & skills <33333... got the job btw, and we’re gonna move!"
 |
| but god willing this will be all of us one day |
Comments
Post a Comment