by estellew | Aug 7, 2015 | Major Arcana, Tarot
The card of The Hierophant is ruled by Taurus and is also referred to as the Magus of the Eternal Gods. Taurus represents tangible materialism and the beauty and longevity of material things. This is the card of shared ethics and beliefs, institutions that transcend the individual and preserve society and are built with permanence and multitudes of generations in mind. It is representative of rituals and rites of passage that humanity take as part of belonging to a society and that bestow comfort by emphasising the sameness and continuity of experience. It can represent a spiritual mentor who comes into your life to encourage the deeper questions and a journey along the path of personal growth and enlightenment. He can help you to shine the light of consciousness on inner sacred experiences and give meaning to the deeper parts of our psyche that we are normally unaware of. By participating in the student's enlightenment, the master also experiences enlightenment. The darker side of The Hierophant is control and hoarding of power, as well as exerting power indiscriminately and loving power for its own sake, but more generally it is personified in a spiritual and respected teacher, someone who is held in high esteem in your community and acts as a teacher or guide to help you navigate the waters of faith and spirit. It can refer, not to a person, but to institutions such as universities, hospitals or large organisations - often when you are required to follow the guidelines and rules of these institutions in order to get ahead. Depending on your character, this will be easy...
by estellew | Aug 7, 2015 | Major Arcana, Tarot
Known as the Children of the Voice and Oracle of the Mighty Gods, The Lovers is ruled by Gemini and represents divine union, consequences of choice and reconciliation of opposites. The Lovers is one of those cards in the tarot that many hope to see as they believe it signifies the arrival of true love. But Love is not so simple as that - it is the beginning of the discovery of our other nature, the realisation of the qualities that we believe we are missing and the sacred union that reconciles the divided whole. It is no wonder that love is so fraught with despair and simultaneously imbued with delight when you consider what is at stake. The Lovers represents a choice that must be made, often between the satisfaction of what the heart desires and the head demands. The Heart does not regard commonsense and practicalities in pursuit of happiness, where the Head will always throw up hurdles and reasons to take a sensible stance and delay the realisation of bliss. And so this is a recipe for conflict, which is also embodied in the sign of Gemini. This is the journey of the Twins, appearing in myth and fairytale in such characters as the mortal Castor & the immortal Pollux; Hansel & Gretel; the Prince & the Pauper; and the Navajo Monster Slayer & his brother Born of Water. The twins are opposites and yet inseparable, and speaks to the journey to wholeness we all must take. This yearning for wholeness is most often realised through union with our 'better half'. But the underlying differences between...
by estellew | Aug 7, 2015 | Major Arcana, Tarot
The Lovers is also known as Children of the Voice and Oracle of the Mighty Gods. It is ruled by Gemini and represents choice, desire and consequences. Gemini is the sign of the Twins, representing the potential for harmony and the threat of discord in opposites. It is the missing half that is the lover and the foe. It is separate and inseparable at the same time. It brings to consciousness the deeper workings of the heart and mind, There are important decisions that you need to make in your relationships, and it should be noted that the decisions you arrive at now have very serious and far-reaching consequences. What appears to be the obvious choice on the surface is often not what is best for you in the long run - it is time to take a longer view, be completely honest with yourself and truthfully decide what it is you will do. You must be prepared to take full responsibility for your choice, and not blame the other person or other people involved if it turns out to not turn out as you planned. This card reminds us that there are many types of love in this world and that we will experience many aspects of llove in our lifetime - love for our partner, love for our family of origin, love for our children, love for our friends, and love for Spirit, or Universal love. All of these types of love have a place in life and the heart is not restricted in the amount of love that it can hold. Indeed it is said that the love...
by estellew | Aug 7, 2015 | Major Arcana, Tarot
Known also as the Children of the Voice and Oracle of the Mighty Gods and ruled by Gemini, The Lovers represents choices, love and relationship as a path to consciousness. When we look at the card of The Lovers, we see a union of masculine and feminine energy, the meeting of minds and the completion of a cycle of separation. It is said that we all seek a soulmate in life, someone who completes us. On a deeper level even than this, it is our desire to return to a state of wholeness that we all believe is possible but without the map to achieve this goal we often feel lost. The interesting thing about The Lovers card, is that it highlights our ability to learn so much about ourselves by what we feel is missing in our own personality and psyche. It is said that what we most yearn for, what we find irresistible in the "Other" is what we don't recognise in our own personality and yet what we deeply need in order to feel complete, at peace, and worthy of love. But these concerns are Mysteries, and not for everyone to contemplate or even attempt to solve. Most people will experience this card as an impulsive attraction towards someone, and often will result in creating romance, separation and resulting dramas when, inevitably, there is trouble. It can also represent an important relationship choice, one that seems rather tricky and likely to trip one up. If this is your experience, it is only presented to you now to help you differentiate what is really important to you on a...
by estellew | Aug 7, 2015 | Major Arcana, Tarot
This reading is for David Skinner. Image from
by estellew | Aug 7, 2015 | Major Arcana, Tarot
The card of Justice is also called the Daughter of Lords of Truth and Ruler of the Balance. It is aligned with Libra and so represents balance. She has links with the Egyptian Maat and her husband Thoth, as well as the Greek goddess Athena and the Hopi, Keresan and Navajo Spiderwoman. The Justice card brings to the Major Arcana the first of the so-called four moral lessons - along with The Hermit, Strength and Temperance - and these represents the necessary faculties to progress in life. The appearance of Justice in a reading means that you need to bring a balanced and dispassionate view to your current situation, and not be carried away by emotion. Emotion is hot and variable, while Justice is cool and considered. The situation calls for a calm and cool head that can step back and consider the facts in order to come up with a fair response. Embodied in this card is a lesson and instruction to step away from the well-meaning influence of friends, family and upbringing and start to develop your critical thinking faculty after laying out the facts, weighing them up and always taking the path of least conflict or giving people the benefit of the doubt. This card often presages a turning point in your life where you may currently feel some inertia and inability to move either way. But a decision is required, so best to take a birds eye view of the situation, remove the emotion from it, and honestly decide the pros and cons. If this gives you trouble, ask someone of your acquaintance who you know to...
