August 30, 2017

Today I’d like to talk about an impromptu reading I did for a woman who had been greatly affected by the recent loss of her father. He had been very ill for a while, and she had taken time off work and her marriage to take care of him. Eventually she lost her job and her marriage was now also on the rocks. She wanted to know what the near future of her marriage was.

I did a three-card reading for her, using Wilfried Houdouin’s Millennium Tarot (2011 edition), and got Lermite (the Hermit), Lestoile (the Star) and Le Pape (the Pope).

The Hermit showed that this woman was turning away from the other two cards and looking back at something with his lantern. I drew an additional card to see what it was, and La Maison Dieu (the Tower) came up, showing her world literally crashing around her, or her reaction to an event that was equivalent to that.

The Star card can often portray hope, but it depends on the situation. The figure on the card is naked and is pouring out the contents of the vases into a river, thus giving everything, even more than is needed–why would a river need more water–, and not keeping anything back for herself.

The woman confirmed that she had felt no support from her husband when caring for her father, and that everything had fallen on her shoulders, but that she had also wanted to spend that time and energy caring for her ailing father anyway. All of this had taken a toll on her entire life and her husband was about to leave her.

Back to the Star card. So there’s no hope indicated by this card? For that we’ll look at the card to the right of the Star, the third card in that row.

The third was the Pope, indicating that the best way to resolve this situation for the near future would be for the woman and her husband to see a counsellor. (The Pope can represent here any counsellor or advisor. The figures on the Marseille cards refer back to traditional figures or guide posts from the Middle Ages.)

So what did I tell her that anyone else couldn’t have? Nothing. The cards don’t necessarily tell you something new, but they can throw light on what you need to look at, either because it’s a blind spot or something you don’t want to face. But didn’t this woman’s friends already tell her the same thing? Sure. But isn’t it exciting that these precise cards came up?

So then what? If I drew an extra card to see what the Hermit was looking at, why didn’t I draw an extra one to see what the Pope was looking at as the possible outcome of the counselling? Because she has to give a chance for the counselling to take place first. Otherwise, what’s the point? Sometimes (hopefully always), you have to know when to stop.