Single card pull from random place in deck. Present state of being.
XIV Temperance, inverted (excerpts are from biddytarot.com, with minor modifications by me; follow the link for their full explanation)
The crow balances between one foot on the rocks, expressing the need to stay grounded, and one foot in the water, showing the need to be in flow. She pours water between two cups, symbolic of the flow and alchemy of life.
Temperance reversed may reflect a period of self-evaluation in which you can re-examine your life priorities. Internally, you may feel called in one direction, but your daily life may not match up to what is emerging.
Similarly, the reversed Temperance card can be a call for profound self-healing. By creating more balance and moderation in your life, you open the possibility for such healing to occur. Given the reversal of this card, you are doing it in a way that is personal and private to you, without the influence of others. You know you have what you need to heal yourself and create more ‘flow’ in your life.
I haven’t done a “Tarot for Fun” post in a while and, purely on whim not very long ago (less than half an hour ago), I threw down the minimalist spread I usually adopt for these not-very-serious looks at what divination says I have going on in my life. My standard caveat stands that I look at tarot as more of a life-guidance tool than a tool for actual divination. I think the archetypes embedded in the cards messages and art are useful for personal alchemy (understanding yourself), but are of limited value in divination. That’s me — if you disagree, that’s quite okay, but I’m not easily swayed away from this stance, so let’s not argue about which role tarot plays.
I use the Crow deck with art by MJ Cullinane. I use a mixture of the accompanying book and Biddy to interpret because I am just a casual user of tarot and haven’t focused on learning all of the symbolism. All of these are highly condensed excerpts — if you really want to dig into the symbolism I suggest you look for a better resource than what I jot down below. Of course, if you’ve been reading tarot for a while, you may have other insights. Please feel free to add or subtract anything from the interpretation below if you are one of those people and let me know in the comments.
Anyway, here is the minimalist 3-card spread for Past, Present and Future (in order from left to right):
Past | XVI The Tower
Present | 5 Wands (inverted)
Future | XVII The Star
[PAST] Tower Symbolism: Massive change. “A lightning bolt of clarity and insight cuts through the lies and illusions you have been telling yourself, and now the truth comes to light,” and “After a Tower experience, you will grow stronger, wiser and more resilient as you develop a new perspective on life you did not even know existed. These moments are necessary for your spiritual growth and enlightenment, and truth and honesty will bring about a positive change, even if you experience pain and anxiety throughout the process.”
[PRESENT] Inverted 5 of Wands Symbolism: Facing internal conflict. Viewpoints are being challenged, arising information from other people or from other sources presents conflicting information, but help have an informed path forward. Find the option that best suits you to move forward.
[FUTURE] The Star Symbolism: “Hope, faith, purpose, renewal, spirituality.” Reprieve. Magic flows around you. Listen to the voice within, dream and aspire, strip away spiritual limitations. “You are entering a peaceful, loving phase in your life, filled with calm energy, mental stability and more in-depth understanding of both yourself and others around you.”
All of this is very interesting stuff, especially considering the rabbit hole I started my day yesterday jumping into, as it relates to some of that stuff directly — do now I’m really interested in the patterns that have emerged in my life these past few months that seem like they hold water (I just don’t know what kind of water they hold, if that makes sense).
For a while, I was having this nagging sensation in the back of my head and I recently realized my subconscious brain was trying to tell me that understanding tarot cards, least in a generalized sense, for the purpose of writing a story. I have a story that has seem multiple iterations over the past twenty-plus years, none of which have ever met my satisfaction. I see these internal grumblings something to listen to because, while almost everyone I’ve ever met is surely smarter than I am on the conscious level, by subconscious is pretty savvy more often than not.
Posts with the “Tarot” flag in the title will be truncated after this paragraph so that you can quickly scroll past them in your feeds unless you are interested. I should point out that I am skeptical of tarot as a divination tool (as far as predictive divination goes), but I see them as having potentially high value as a tool for self-analysis on the archetypal/Jungian level. I have no interest in doing readings for others at this time, but I do welcome second opinions, should you wish to share them. And with that…
Well, got the Crow Tarot delivered today. I was only slightly disappointed in the art once I got a hands-on look, but it will do. Don’t get me wrong, it is well done, but it doesn’t jump out at me with respect to the embedded symbolism and it’ll take some time to see the patterns before I can go reference-free.
I’m not going to wax philosophical about the first basic spread I tossed a three-card “past/present/future” spread with a generalized “how is things?” question in my head and got this:
Interpretation using included book:
Past | Queen Cups, reversed:
Someone trapped by feelings, learned to suppress those feelings so as to not become too emotional. Disconnected feeling.
Present | Queen Pentacles, reversed:
Overbearing, controlling; her way or no way; manipulative; lack of harmony
Future | VI, The Lovers:
Karmic passion and soul relationships; spirits joined through time and space.
Comments:
All I can say is that none of the messaging surprises me if this is the best read of it. I’ll consult other references later. If you have experience in reading Tarot, please feel free to chime in below with your own opinions.
I may throw down a spread intermittently (or frequently, who knows?) just for shits and giggles. I view Tarot as more a tool to better understand yourself than as a divination tool, although I don’t entirely discount the possibility — I haven’t seen evidence for one view or the other for Tarot, although I’ve seen enough in my life to question anyone’s certainity in anything.
