Test Reading: Last Paycheck

Testing for accuracy. Test Running a spread. Also shows the thought process behind my readings. Shows how the Tarot can be applied as a tool to the simplest of situations and questions. This is why I only charge 5US$ sometimes, depending upon the simplicity of the question.

Thoughts and Interpretations from readers welcome!!!

The Question is “Is my (missing) paycheck forthcoming soon (in the mail, etc.) and I just don’t know it?”

I didn’t think to clarify as I was shuffling that “is it forthcoming without my having to call HR first?” So I may have to do this again.

I did a Three Card Spread:

1. Truth of the Situation
2. What I Need to Know
3. Answer

I pulled the cards that are shown below:

1. King of Wands
2. Queen of Pentacles
3. Nine of Cups

So, of course, the first thing I looked at was the Nine of Cups as the Answer card, and it’s a great card for a Yes/No question, most usually means a resounding “YES!” So I”m happy with that. I take that to mean my MIA paycheck is on the way and I’m just not aware of it yet.

So maybe check is in mail, or maybe I have to go up and get it, who knows. I’m double checking on that now.

The Nine of Cups is a smug, happy guy; he’s gotten what he wants. That bodes well for me in this case.

The next card I look at is the first one, the Truth of the Situation, the King of Wands.

The first things that pop into my mind are that Kings are about Authority, and Wands are about Passionate Feelings. This King is angled away from the viewer with his left arm presenting. The left arm is controlled by the right brain. (Which is how I deal with Left and Right sides symbolism in my readings.) The Right Brain deals with intuition, spirituality, Creativity, the Arts, etc. This King is sitting and just thinking about things, or about something.

He’s not about action yet. He’s not using his Fire actively or externally yet; he is more contemplating what he should do for the moment. I’d say that’s accurate to what I am doing right now. I didn’t see my pay deposited Friday; I waited til today (Monday) to see if maybe it was in the mailbox before taking any action, and now I am contacting employer to see if maybe I was supposed to go pick up and I just didn’t know it.

It’s worth noting that he holds his Wand in his Right Hand, denoting the Left Brain and Logic/Reason. When he does take action, it will be logic ruled. This also is accurate for me.

Sometimes the Truth card will tell you Truths you are not aware of. So far, this one is only telling me where I am on my part, which I already know, but which validates that I shuffled effectively and that the rest of this spread is most likely accurate as well. Which is always nice to know.

This King has a lot of power but also a lot of self control, as all the Kings do. This tells me that I am handling this situation in the right manner and that I”m right to evaluate before taking action.

Finally, this King if facing away from the Nine of Cups. He’s not focused yet on making his desires manifest. He’s more waiting and seeing if the situation will rectify itself before wasting time and energy trying to force the issue. Again, this is accurate for my frame of mind and response.

And finally we have the Queen of Pentacles in the What I Need to Know position.

The first thing that comes to mind with her is that she also, is facing away from the Nine of Cups. Does this mean I”m too overly focused on my material security? More than I need to be, perhaps? This Queen has a very fertile kingdom but she doesn’t realize the Nine of Cups is right there next to her, it seems like. She’s angled towards the King of Wands, who is contemplating what action to take. The rabbit, a symbol of fertility, is also not just pointed away from the Nine of Cups, but actively running away from him.

Which does reinforce for me, the feeling that this may be advice to not worry and that worry is needless. No one in this card is acknowledging the Nine of Cups at all. They’re not seeing that it will be resolved very satisfactorily. They’re very comfortable and in no danger of poverty in this card. This Queen is also looking down at the huge pentacle she holds in her lap, which to me also could be a symbol of focusing too exclusively on material security. She’s not even looking at the rabbit, much less at the Nine of Cups. She’s not looking at anything around her. Just the pentacle in her lap. The over-sized pentacle in her lap.

So as far as I can tell, What I Need to Know most likely means “Stop worrying.”

And again, a look at their comparative positions to one another:

This spread is made of three different elements, which means it’s fairly well balanced. The only element lacking is the Swords, which means I may be focusing too much with my emotions, my passionate feelings, and my material concern than with any kind of overtly logical thought. Though I picked up on “logic” when I was looking at the King of Wands, so that makes me not too concerned about that.

The summary would be that waiting is fine, nothing is in any peril, and it will work out in the end. Which tells me to go ahead and wait til I hear back from my employer regarding my inquiry about it. If I don’t hear back from them, say, by Friday, I will go ahead and call HR. In which case, it will certainly be the Nine of Cups in the end, because I KNOW HR will resolve this if the individual store does not.

So we’ll see how accurate this pans out to be as the situation unfolds.

And if anyone else has any thoughts to offer, please do!

February 25, 2019 1

Biddy Card of the Week: 10 of Cups

Taken from https://www.biddytarot.com/tarot-card-meanings/minor-arcana/suit-of-cups/ten-of-cups/.

When the Ten of Cups pops up in a Tarot reading, you have a sense of wholeness, completion, and alignment in your relationships with others. You are experiencing an idyllic state of peace, harmony and love where your dreams and wishes have come true. Take a moment to step back and appreciate everything you accomplished. You created a life of connection and bliss by following your heart and trusting your intuition.

The Ten of Cups encourages you to follow your heart and trust your intuition to lead you to the opportunities aligned with your Highest Good. Your feelings and emotions will guide you. When something feels fantastic, do more of it; and when something doesn’t feel right, do less of it. Allow your inner guidance to lead the way. Seek out opportunities that fulfil you and align with your personal values instead of following the path that others expect you to take.

February 13, 2019 0

Six of Swords, Dickens Style

Little bit of a different take on the Six of Swords… not just leaving something unsatisfactory behind for a new future, but leaving something unsatisfactory to the extent of being dangerous … in favor of traveling to somewhere safe.

And the journey itself not being quite as serene as the card imagery depicts … but really emphasizing the choppy waters on the right of the craft … the journey itself being dangerous the whole way through.

And then … in the following story … the ending isn’t what you are traditionally told to expect in the Six of Swords. It’s a very Swordsie ending.

***

“And now indeed I felt as if my last anchor were loosening its hold, and I should soon be driving with the winds and waves. “
– Great Expectations, by Charles Dickens

***

And taken from Chapter 52 of the same:

‘I have thought it over, again and again,’ said Herbert, ‘and I think I know a better course than taking a Thames waterman. Take Startop. A good fellow, a skilled hand, fond of us, and enthusiastic and honourable.’

I had thought of him, more than once.

‘But how much would you tell him, Herbert?’

‘It is necessary to tell him very little. Let him suppose it a mere freak, but a secret one, until the morning comes: then let him know that there is urgent reason for your getting Provis aboard and away. You go with him?’

‘No doubt.’

‘Where?’

It had seemed to me, in the many anxious considerations I had given the point, almost indifferent what port we made for – Hamburg, Rotterdam, Antwerp – the place signified little, so that he was got out of England. Any foreign steamer that fell in our way and would take us up, would do. I had always proposed to myself to get him well down the river in the boat; certainly well beyond Gravesend, which was a critical place for search or inquiry if suspicion were afoot. As foreign steamers would leave London at about the time of high-water, our plan would be to get down the river by a previous ebb-tide, and lie by in some quiet spot until we could pull off to one. The time when one would be due where we lay, wherever that might be, could be calculated pretty nearly, if we made inquiries beforehand.

Herbert assented to all this, and we went out immediately after breakfast to pursue our investigations. We found that a steamer for Hamburg was likely to suit our purpose best, and we directed our thoughts chiefly to that vessel. But we noted down what other foreign steamers would leave London with the same tide, and we satisfied ourselves that we knew the build and colour of each. We then separated for a few hours; I, to get at once such passports as were necessary; Herbert, to see Startop at his lodgings. We both did what we had to do without any hindrance, and when we met again at one o’clock reported it done. I, for my part, was prepared with passports; Herbert had seen Startop, and he was more than ready to join.

Those two should pull a pair of oars, we settled, and I would steer; our charge would be sitter, and keep quiet; as speed was not our object, we should make way enough. We arranged that Herbert should not come home to dinner before going to Mill Pond Bank that evening; that he should not go there at all, to-morrow evening, Tuesday; that he should prepare Provis to come down to some Stairs hard by the house, on Wednesday, when he saw us approach, and not sooner; that all the arrangements with him should be concluded that Monday night; and that he should be communicated with no more in any way, until we took him on board. These precautions well understood by both of us, I went home.

February 8, 2019 1

The Aces

Every morning I sit on my sofa with my coffee and am blessed enough to be able to watch the sunrise out the front door. Sitting there, I realized that Ace energy is present every single morning with every single sunrise.

Not quite my view, but you get the idea. Could correlate with the Ace of Wands.

And I realized also, in a more visceral manner than the intellectual manner I had previously understood Ace energy, I realized it is also present in each new birth.

“My hair! I”m not ready!” My first thought was Ace of Cups, but Ace of Pentacles is very apt as well. The emotional aspect, as well as the birth waters, but Pentacles because humans are so tied to the earth, and every creation of a new human is a new earthly creation.

In each empty page before a writer begins to write:

As well as every empty canvas before an artist begins to paint:

February 7, 2019 1

9 of Swords

(italics mine)

“Guilty Conscience”- is a key phrase I never really connected with the Nine of Swords until seeing the above graphic after listening to the various parts in Great Expectations where the protagonist Pip is tormented by anxiety after committing some heinous (to him) deed that he was sure he was going to be punished for. The first glimpse we get of the Nine of Swords in Pip’s experience is after he has agreed to steal food and a file for an escaped convict:

from Chapter Two:

“My thoughts strayed from that question as I looked disconsolately at the fire. For, the fugitive out on the marshes with the ironed leg, the mysterious young man, the file, the food, and the dreadful pledge I was under to commit a larceny on those sheltering premises, rose before me in the avenging coals.” (Dickens)

***

“Conscience is a dreadful thing when it accuses man or boy; but when, in the case of a boy, that secret burden cooperates with another secret burden down the leg of his trousers, it is (as I can testify) a great punishment. The guilty knowledge that I was going to rob Mrs. Joe – I never thought I was going to rob Joe, for I never thought of any of the housekeeping property as his – united to the necessity of always keeping one hand on my bread-and-butter as I sat, or when I was ordered about the kitchen on any small errand, almost drove me out of my mind. Then, as the marsh winds made the fire glow and flare I thought I heard the voice outside, of the man with the iron on his leg who had sworn me to secrecy, declaring that he couldn’t and wouldn’t starve until to-morrow, but must be fed now. At other times, I thought, What if the young man who was with so much difficulty restrained from imbruing his hands in me, should yield to a constitutional impatience, or should mistake the time, and should think himself accredited to my heart and liver to-night, instead of to-morrow! If ever anybody’s hair stood on end with terror, mine must have done so then. But, perhaps, nobody’s ever did?

It was Christmas Eve, and I had to stir the pudding for next day, with a copper-stick, from seven to eight by the Dutch clock. I tried it with the load upon my leg (and that made me think afresh of the man with the load on his leg), and found the tendency of exercise to bring the bread-and butter out at my ankle, quite unmanageable. Happily, I slipped away, and deposited that part of my conscience in my garret bedroom.”

(Dickens)

***

“I was never allowed a candle to light me to bed, and, as I went upstairs in the dark, with my head tingling – from Mrs. Joe’s thimble having played the tambourine upon it, to accompany her last words – I felt fearfully sensible of the great convenience that the Hulks were handy for me. I was clearly on my way there. I had begun by asking questions, and I was going to rob Mrs. Joe.

Since that time, which is far enough away now, I have often thought that few people know what secrecy there is in the young, under terror. No matter how unreasonable the terror, so that it be terror. I was in mortal terror of the young man who wanted my heart and liver; I was in mortal terror of my interlocutor with the ironed leg; I was in mortal terror of myself, from whom an awful promise had been extracted; I had no hope of deliverance through my all powerful sister, who repulsed me at every turn; I am afraid to think of what I might have done, on requirement, in the secrecy of my terror.

If I slept at all that night, it was only to imagine myself drifting down the river on a strong spring-tide, to the Hulks; a ghostly pirate calling out to me through a speaking-trumpet, as I passed the gibbet-station, that I had better come ashore and be hanged there at once, and not put it off. I was afraid to sleep, even if I had been inclined, for I knew that at the first faint dawn of morning I must rob the pantry. There was no doing it in the night, for there was no getting a light by easy friction then; to have got one, I must have struck it out of flint and steel, and have made a noise like
the very pirate himself rattling his chains.

As soon as the great black velvet pall outside my little window was shot with grey, I got up and went down stairs; every board upon the way, and every crack in every board,
calling after me, ‘Stop thief!’ and ‘Get up, Mrs. Joe!’ In the pantry, which was far more abundantly supplied than usual, owing to the season, I was very much alarmed, by a hare hanging up by the heels, whom I rather thought I caught, when my back was half turned, winking. I had no time for verification, no time for selection, no time for anything, for I had no time to spare. “

(Dickens)

January 28, 2019 1

Ten of Swords

I guess Drama is just what I associate with the Ten of Swords, because I’m reminded of it again while listening to Great Expectations, by Charles Dickens.

And at some point I”m going to have to explore why there are so many swords in Great Expectations. So far – swords cards are all I”m reminded of. No other suits. Just swords. And I’ve got another post coming on a Nine of Swords connection now too!

In this scene Pip’s sister is working her way up into a hysteria, and according to Pip it’s VERY calculated the entire way through. Having been in similar situations, I will defend her and say it’s more likely she’s NOT as in control of herself as Pip thinks, and most likely is standing in the back of her own head, helpless to stop the momentum. In any case, still a decent example of drama for it’s own sake.

(spacing / paragraph length differences and italics are my own to highlight the text)

***

Taken from Chapter 15 of Great Expectations by Charles Dickens:

My sister had been standing silent in the yard, within hearing – she was a most unscrupulous spy and listener – and she instantly looked in at one of the windows.

‘Like you, you fool!’ said she to Joe, ‘giving holidays to great idle hulkers like that. You are a rich man, upon my life, to waste wages in that way. I wish I was his master!’

‘You’d be everybody’s master, if you durst,’ retorted Orlick, with an ill-favoured grin.

(“Let her alone,’ said Joe.)

‘I’d be a match for all noodles and all rogues,’ returned my sister, beginning to work herself into a mighty rage. ‘And I couldn’t be a match for the noodles, without being a match for your master, who’s the dunder-headed king of the noodles. And I couldn’t be a match for the rogues, without being a match for you, who are the blackest-looking and the worst rogue between this and France. Now!’

‘You’re a foul shrew, Mother Gargery, growled the journeyman. ‘If that makes a judge of rogues, you ought to be a good’un.’

(“Let her alone, will you?’ said Joe.)

‘What did you say?’ cried my sister, beginning to scream. ‘What did you say? What did that fellow Orlick say to me, Pip? What did he call me, with my husband standing by? O! O! O!’ Each of these exclamations was a shriek; and I must remark of my sister, what is equally true of all the violent women I have ever seen, that passion was no excuse for her, because it is undeniable that instead of lapsing into passion, she consciously and deliberately took extraordinary pains to force herself into it, and became blindly furious by regular stages; ‘what was the name he gave me before the base man who swore to defend me? O! Hold me! O!’

‘Ah-h-h!’ growled the journeyman, between his teeth, ‘I’d hold you, if you was my wife. I’d hold you under the pump, and choke it out of you.’

(“I tell you, let her alone,’ said Joe.)

‘Oh! To hear him!’ cried my sister, with a clap of her hands and a scream together -which was her next stage. ‘To hear the names he’s giving me! That Orlick! In my own house! Me, a married woman! With my husband standing by! O! O!’ Here my sister, after a fit of clappings and screamings, beat her hands upon her bosom and upon her knees, and threw her cap off, and pulled her hair down – which were the last stages on her road to frenzy. Being by this time a perfect Fury and a complete success, she made a dash at
the door, which I had fortunately locked.

What could the wretched Joe do now, after his disregarded parenthetical interruptions, but stand up to his journeyman, and ask him what he meant by interfering betwixt himself and Mrs. Joe; and further whether he was man enough to come on? Old Orlick felt that the situation admitted of nothing less than coming on, and was on his defense
straightway; so, without so much as pulling off their singed and burnt aprons, they went at one another, like two giants. But, if any man in that neighbourhood could stand up long against Joe, I never saw the man. Orlick, as if he had been of no more account than the pale young gentleman, was very soon among the coal-dust, and in no hurry to come out of it. Then, Joe unlocked the door and picked up my sister, who had dropped insensible at the window (but who had seen the fight first, I think), and who was carried into the house and laid down, and who was recommended to revive, and would do nothing but struggle and clench her hands in Joe’s hair. Then, came that singular calm and silence which succeed all uproars; and then, with the vague sensation which I have always connected with such a lull – namely, that it was Sunday, and somebody was dead – I went up-stairs to dress myself.

When I came down again, I found Joe and Orlick sweeping up, without any other traces of discomposure than a slit in one of Orlick’s nostrils, which was neither expressive nor ornamental. A pot of beer had appeared from the Jolly Bargemen, and they were sharing it by turns in a peaceable manner. The lull had a sedative and philosophical influence on Joe, who followed me out into the road to say, as a parting observation that might do me good, ‘On the Rampage, Pip, and off the Rampage, Pip – such is Life!’

***

January 11, 2019 1

Seven of Swords

When I started learning to read Tarot, it was with the Sacred Circle deck by Anna Franklin and Paul Mason, and the primary keyword they chose to go with the card is

“Diplomacy.”

Franklin and Mason advise tact and diplomacy in dealing with situations if this card appears. In essence, to choose your words wisely in order to convey the illusion you wish to be believed. This scene from the novel Great Expectations by Charles Dickens reminds me of the Seven of Swords because it’s like Diplomacy Run Amuck!

Poor Joe Gargery is out of his element in this scene, and copes the only way he knows how, which is to fling every high sounding word and phrase he can think of around to use a lot of words to say very little real content. Kind of like the Dark Side of Writing. Joe is also trying to hide that he feels inadequate to the task at hand … like an animal puffing itself up to appear larger than it really is when it’s threatened. That’s where the tie to the traditional meaning of this card is – to

Deception

and

Acting Strategically.

***

And now for the Seen of Swords scene:

7 swords sacred circle.jpg — Sacred Circle Tarot by Anna Franklin and Paul Mason

‘You are the husband,’ repeated Miss Havisham, ‘of the sister of this boy?’

It was very aggravating; but, throughout the interview Joe persisted in addressing Me instead of Miss Havisham.

‘Which I meantersay, Pip,’ Joe now observed in a manner that was at once expressive of forcible argumentation, strict confidence, and great politeness, ‘as I hup and married your sister, and I were at the time what you might call (if you was anyways inclined) a single man.’

‘Well!’ said Miss Havisham. ‘And you have reared the boy, with the intention of taking him for your apprentice; is that so, Mr. Gargery?’

‘You know, Pip,’ replied Joe, ‘as you and me were ever friends, and it were looked for’ard to betwixt us, as being calc’lated to lead to larks. Not but what, Pip, if you had ever
made objections to the business – such as its being open to black and sut, or such-like – not but what they would have been attended to, don’t you see?’

‘Has the boy,’ said Miss Havisham, ‘ever made any objection? Does he like the trade?’

‘Which it is well beknown to yourself, Pip,’ returned Joe, strengthening his former mixture of argumentation, confidence, and politeness, ‘that it were the wish of your own
hart.’ (I saw the idea suddenly break upon him that he would adapt his epitaph to the occasion, before he went on to say) ‘And there weren’t no objection on your part, and
Pip it were the great wish of your heart!’

It was quite in vain for me to endeavour to make him sensible that he ought to speak to Miss Havisham. The more I made faces and gestures to him to do it, the more confidential, argumentative, and polite, he persisted in being to Me.

‘Have you brought his indentures with you?’ asked Miss Havisham.

‘Well, Pip, you know,’ replied Joe, as if that were a little unreasonable, ‘you yourself see me put ‘em in my ‘at, and therefore you know as they are here.’ With which he took them out, and gave them, not to Miss Havisham, but to me. I am afraid I was ashamed of the dear good fellow – I know I was ashamed of him – when I saw that Estella stood at the back of Miss Havisham’s chair, and that her eyes laughed mischievously. I took the indentures out of his hand and gave them to Miss Havisham.

‘You expected,’ said Miss Havisham, as she looked them over, ‘no premium with the boy?’

‘Joe!’ I remonstrated; for he made no reply at all. ‘Why don’t you answer—‘

‘Pip,’ returned Joe, cutting me short as if he were hurt, ‘which I meantersay that were not a question requiring a answer betwixt yourself and me, and which you know the answer to be full well No. You know it to be No, Pip, and wherefore should I say it?’

Miss Havisham glanced at him as if she understood what he really was, better than I had thought possible, seeing what he was there; and took up a little bag from the table beside her.

joe and miss h.jpeg — F.A. Fraser – An illustration for the Household Edition of Dickens’s Great Expectations (p. 48). Scanned image and text by Philip V. Allingham

‘Pip has earned a premium here,’ she said, ‘and here it is. There are five-and-twenty guineas in this bag. Give it to your master, Pip.’

As if he were absolutely out of his mind with the wonder awakened in him by her strange figure and the strange room, Joe, even at this pass, persisted in addressing me.

‘This is wery liberal on your part, Pip,’ said Joe, ‘and it is as such received and grateful welcome, though never looked for, far nor near nor nowheres. And now, old chap,’ said Joe, conveying to me a sensation, first of burning and then of freezing, for I felt as if that familiar expression were applied to Miss Havisham; ‘and now, old chap, may we do our duty! May you and me do our duty, both on us by one and another, and by them which your liberal present – have – conweyed – to be – for the satisfaction of mind – of – them
as never—’ here Joe showed that he felt he had fallen into frightful difficulties, until he triumphantly rescued himself with the words, ‘and from myself far be it!’ These words had such a round and convincing sound for him that he said them twice.

taken from Chapter 13 of Great Expectations

***

To learn more about the traditional meanings of the Seven of Swords, click here: www.biddytarot.com.

January 6, 2019 2

Five of Swords

from Great Expectations by Charles Dickens
(italics mine)

***

When I had exhausted the garden, and a greenhouse with nothing in it but a fallen-down grape-vine and some bottles, I found myself in the dismal corner upon which I had looked out of the window. Never questioning for a moment that the house was now empty, I looked in at another window, and found myself, to my great surprise, exchanging a broad stare with a pale young gentleman with red eyelids and light hair.

This pale young gentleman quickly disappeared, and re-appeared beside me. He had been at his books when I had found myself staring at him, and I now saw that he was
inky.

‘Halloa!’ said he, ‘young fellow!’

Halloa being a general observation which I had usually observed to be best answered by itself, I said, ‘Halloa!’ politely omitting young fellow.

‘Who let you in?’ said he.

‘Miss Estella.’

‘Who gave you leave to prowl about?’

‘Miss Estella.’

‘Come and fight,’ said the pale young gentleman.

What could I do but follow him? I have often asked myself the question since: but, what else could I do? His manner was so final and I was so astonished, that I followed where he led, as if I had been under a spell.

‘Stop a minute, though,’ he said, wheeling round before we had gone many paces. ‘I ought to give you a reason for fighting, too. There it is!’ In a most irritating manner he instantly slapped his hands against one another, daintily flung one of his legs up behind him, pulled my hair, slapped his hands again, dipped his head, and butted it into my stomach.

The bull-like proceeding last mentioned, besides that it was unquestionably to be regarded in the light of a liberty, was particularly disagreeable just after bread and meat.
I therefore hit out at him and was going to hit out again, when he said, ‘Aha! Would you?’ and began dancing backwards and forwards in a manner quite unparalleled within my limited experience.

‘Laws of the game!’ said he. Here, he skipped from his left leg on to his right. ‘Regular rules!’ Here, he skipped from his right leg on to his left. ‘Come to the ground, and go through the preliminaries!’ Here, he dodged backwards and forwards, and did all sorts of things while I looked helplessly at him.

I was secretly afraid of him when I saw him so dexterous; but, I felt morally and physically convinced that his light head of hair could have had no business in the pit of my stomach, and that I had a right to consider it irrelevant when so obtruded on my attention. Therefore, I followed him without a word, to a retired nook of the garden, formed by the junction of two walls and screened by some rubbish. On his asking me if I was satisfied with the ground, and on my replying Yes, he begged my leave to absent himself for a moment, and quickly returned with a bottle of water and a sponge dipped in vinegar. ‘Available for both,’ he said, placing these against the wall. And then fell to pulling off, not only his jacket and waistcoat, but his shirt too, in a manner
at once light-hearted, businesslike, and bloodthirsty.

Although he did not look very healthy – having pimples on his face, and a breaking out at his mouth – these dreadful preparations quite appalled me. I judged him to be about my own age, but he was much taller, and he had a way of spinning himself about that was full of appearance. For the rest, he was a young gentleman in a grey suit (when not denuded for battle), with his elbows, knees, wrists, and heels, considerably in advance of the rest of him as to development.

My heart failed me when I saw him squaring at me with every demonstration of mechanical nicety, and eyeing my anatomy as if he were minutely choosing his bone. I never have been so surprised in my life, as I was when I let out the first blow, and saw him lying on his back, looking up at me with a bloody nose and his face exceedingly fore-shortened.

But, he was on his feet directly, and after sponging himself with a great show of dexterity began squaring again. The second greatest surprise I have ever had in my life was
seeing him on his back again, looking up at me out of a black eye.

His spirit inspired me with great respect. He seemed to have no strength, and he never once hit me hard, and he was always knocked down; but, he would be up again in a moment, sponging himself or drinking out of the waterbottle, with the greatest satisfaction in seconding himself according to form, and then came at me with an air and a show that made me believe he really was going to do for me at last. He got heavily bruised, for I am sorry to record that the more I hit him, the harder I hit him; but, he came up again and again and again, until at last he got a bad fall with the back of his head against the wall. Even after that crisis in our affairs, he got up and turned round and round confusedly a few times, not knowing where I was; but finally went on his knees to his sponge and threw it up: at the same time panting out, ‘That means you have won.’

He seemed so brave and innocent, that although I had not proposed the contest I felt but a gloomy satisfaction in my victory. Indeed, I go so far as to hope that I regarded myself while dressing, as a species of savage young wolf, or other wild beast. However, I got dressed, darkly wiping my sanguinary face at intervals, and I said, ‘Can I help you?’
and he said ‘No thankee,’ and I said ‘Good afternoon,’ and he said ‘Same to you.’

***

Traditional Five of Swords meanings at www.biddytarot.com.

Works Cited

Dickens, Charles. Great Expectations. New York: Dodd, Mead, 1942. Print.

Waite, Arthur E.. “Radiant Rider-Waite Tarot Deck.” Smith, Pamela C., Designer,
(Reissued in collaboration with Miss Sybil Waite and Rider & Company, London),
U.S. Games Systems, Inc., 2003, Stamford, CN.

January 3, 2019 0

Horses in the Tarot (Rider Waite)

Inspired by the Knight of Wands exploration, I went through the entire Rider Waite deck and pulled out the cards featuring horses that are in addition to the four Knights.

I found three. Interestingly, all the horses have riders and all the pairs are traveling in the same direction, to the right (and future?). Two are Major Arcana, one is Minor. The Minor Arcana card was of the Wands suit. ALL the horses are WHITE. There is an object in the shape of an orb and in similar placement in all three cards: the sun in the Sun card, the laurel wreath in the Six of Wands, and … what is apparently the White Rose of the House of York, in the Death card.

Also interesting, is the fact that these three could easily symbolize the three major phases of our biological life span: Childhood, Adulthood, and Older Age.

Lined up numerically, they would be:

Since the originators of the Tarot cards didn’t do anything by accident, this is interesting to explore as well. The numbers are 6, 13, and 19. If looked at still as the three major phases of biological lifespans, the Sun would be in the Older Age and Endings placement. If we think about it, our infancy and childhood really is the beginning of our biological decay – our spirits are eternal but the bodies we incarnate into are not, and they begin dying the minute the leave the womb.

I suppose Death could be feasible in the Adulthood placement too, as it is possible it is meant to remind us that our entire lives are illusions of life, and that as adults, we are in full blown Death phase? Could be.

And the Six of Wands in the Childhood placement. When a child is born, it is generally celebrated and heralded with joy and adulation. That is true. So even though the figure in this card is an adult, the adulation he receives could be said to be reminiscent of the birth of a new baby. So I guess that could make sense.

Horses generally symbolize Freedom, so freedom is a theme that will be found somewhere, somehow in each of these cards, as well as in the cards of the Knights:

Www.pure-spirit.com says that “Although the horse was present in many different cultures, they represent the same concepts of freedom and power. In some cultures, white horses stand for the balance of wisdom and power. In others, like Christianity, the white horse is a symbol of death. The horse is a universal symbol of freedom without restraint, because riding a horse made people feel they could free themselves from their own bindings. Also linked with riding horses, they are symbols of travel, movement, and desire.”

All seven of these cards do indeed do mark a transition from one sate of being into another. The Six of Wands takes a person from obscurity to acclaim. Death, from one plane of existence to another; the Sun, from darkness to light. And the Knights are all about movement and change within their respective elements and suits.

And finally, its interesting that there are seven of these cards. Seventy-Eight Degrees of Wisdom, by Rachel Pollack separates the Major Arcana into sets of seven with each set representing a phase of enlightenment while on earth.

Could this set of seven cards as a whole also be representative of something important in the experience of a soul?

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