A free Tarot reading, using a simple three-card spread. Hold a thought, or let the cards to speak to you. Meditate, reflect and bring your own understanding.
This is a spread about our inner lives. It is deeply personal, one you can use for private meditation about some of your most heartfelt hopes and troubles.
On the left and on the right you have two opposing or conflicting ideas about who you are, or about a situation you are facing. How do you really feel? Are you angry, or sad? Are you relieved, or guilty? Are you feeling fear, or excitement?
The conflict might also be about an idea of yourself that feels out of reach. Perhaps you feel that the pressures of life get in the way of your true self. You would flourish and be the best you can be if things beyond your control were not in your way.
We often experience many emotions at the same time and we struggle to make sense of what our real feelings are. At other times, we become set on an idea or a course of action and we lose sight of possible alternatives that might lead to better outcomes.
In this reading, the card at the centre is the key to the reconciliation of the opposing sides.
When we talk about a conflict within ourselves, we’re often dealing with two real aspects of who we are. We’re not one thing or the other, we’re both and many more. We just have to find a way to live with ourselves. To forgive our failings, celebrate our successes, and accept all aspects of who we are.
After all, we’re only human. And that’s a helluva thing to be.
Let’s now look specifically at this three-card spread.
Our subject here is a person who has undergone a sudden, dramatic change in their life. It has called into question almost everything that mattered to them – their hopes, desires, plans and sense of self-worth.
What the cards show is a deeper story, perhaps one that they have been trying to deny, or of which they have not been conscious.
On the left is VIII, Justice, a stern, officious figure bearing a fearsome sword and the scales in which our souls are balanced.
Let’s assume that, for our subject, the meaning is clear: they believe that they have been treated unjustly and that the change that has come upon them is the fault of other people. They are feeling self-righteous anger and a loss of power.
On the right is another dimension of this person – one that their loved ones recognise. This version of the Nine of Wands presents us with a Pan-like nature sprite, green and organic. It evokes the spiritual, nature-loving side of our subject that their loved ones remember.
They feel that the person has lost sight of who they really are and that they need rescuing from the prison of denial into which they have withdrawn.
In the centre is XVII, The Star.
Here again we have a woman, but she is naked and serene. She does not brandish a sword. Instead, she is vulnerable and open, in flow with the water, and inspired and illuminated by the stars. She is in harmony with nature, like our Pan-like character.
Perhaps our subject has taken refuge in rational, measured thought and lost touch with the intuitive, expressive side of their nature. The mystery of spirit and the uncontrolled creativity of nature are frightening places of uncertainty.
If the subject is a man, this reading maybe about their relationship with women. They may feel threatened by women, or have a history of unsuccessful relationships.
There is a hard judgement and elusive nature in these cards. A rational man, locked into his head and defining himself by his work and social status, might find them painfully revealing.
Yet the cards themselves make no judgement. They present us only with ideas that take on meaning when we consult them.
Justice might not be a cruel or ruthless figure, just strong and clear thinking. The Pan-like Nine of Wands is also symbolic of work and creativity. A person can be strong and creative, clear thinking and intuitive.
For our subject, the cards are telling them not to deny the aspects of their character that do not suit their idea of who they are. Perhaps having been hurt too often in unsuitable relationships (and having avoided responsibility for the choices they made) they have buried themselves in rationality and, inevitably, been undone by the fragility of living in a way that is all head and no heart.
These cards are from the Sheridan Douglas Tarot deck, copyright and published by the Sheridan Douglas Press, 1972/2006.
