Conversation around the Tarot

I was sitting in a coffee house looking at a new deck of cards. You know, one of these days when the wife is shopping and you just want to relax… with a new tarot deck. As I was looking at a few cards, a young woman, well dressed, approached my table.

“Are these tarot cards? My friend Kate, over there, had a reading with you and told me you could help me with a small problem I’m having.”

“Sure I said”, waving to Kate. “Sit down and make yourself comfortable”.

“My name is Judy, I really don’t want to intrude”, she replied, while sitting in front of me.
Well, a nervous client, probably her first tarot reading. I would have to ease her slowly into the story the cards would tell. “Why don’t you order a drink” I said, just to relax her, “while I start shuffling these cards”.
A few minutes later, Judy was back with her latte or whatever fancy beverage they serve these days. “What is concerning you today? Is there a specific question you’d like to explore?”

“I was part of a social gathering and I don’t feel that I belong anymore. I don’t want to hurt anybody, but I’m wondering if I should be leaving.”

“I’d like you to concentrate lightly on you question and all the issues involved while I shuffle a little bit more.” When I felt that the deck was ready, I put it in from of her and asked her to cut it in 2 piles.

I lay down 3 cards in front of her. “These are L’Amoureux, Le Bateleur and Le Chariot”. Three cards spreads are very powerful, that’s certainly not a secret for people who know me that three cards without positional meaning is my preferred way of starting a reading.

“Which cards are these?” she replied, “they look very old”.

“This is a Tarot de Marseille. These are among the oldest tarot decks ever created”.

I point to the middle card. “This is Le Bateleur, what they call the Magician in modern decks. The card represents you in this reading. That’s where you are, looking at l’Amoureux.”

“That card with three people on it, Is that the group?” Judy replied, pointing at L’Amoureux.

“Yes, they certainly represent that circle, and looking at where you stand, it seems that you already have departed a little bit from that group. You still look at them, but feel different, like an outsider.”

“That’s amazing, that’s exactly how I feel.”

“Look at that Magician, how big he is compared to the others. He knows he’s into better things, he’s got in front of him everything he needs to succeed by himself. Observe how tall he his compared to the others, the others have already taken less importance for you. There is a sense that they’re going in every direction without much thought, just reacting to peer pressure. Nobody is in control, even if they think they are. The only one having control might be that cupid on top of their heads, trying to deliver that arrow; but he is blindfolded, there is absolutely no sense of where he’ll throw it at, no sense of direction. You, on the other hand, control your own destiny.”
“That’s exactly how I feel. But what should I do?” Judy asked.

“Look at that third card, the Chariot. It’s just waiting for you to climb in before it leaves.”

“So the cards are just telling me to leave!”

“Yes, that’s their first message. I cannot help but notice that there is already someone in that Chariot. With his fist on his side, camped as he is, it looks like he’s waiting for you to decide and join him before he leaves. Is there anyone pressuring you to leave?”

Judy looked at me with wonderment. “It’s my husband. He says I’m wasting my time in that organization. But I also think he feels that I spend too much time with them, far from home”.

“Let’s see if we can get some information about this.” I shuffle the minors, Judy cuts, and I draw two complementary cards: the King of Cups and the 4 of Deniers.

“That’s because he feels a lot for you and certainly wants to protect you emotionally, he wants a more stable home life”.

“I understand him completely, I have been disturbed recently by the behavior in this group, and I spent too much time with them. I understand that I should leave, but how do I tell them?”

I proceed by drawing two additional majors for advice. “These two additional cards are about advice. The top one is what you should do, the bottom one what you should not do.”

I have no idea where that spread comes from originally, but I learned this particular incarnation from Camelia Elias, certainly one of the most brilliant readers around. What is interesting here, is that, while most spreads have an advice position telling people what they should do, most lack a card telling them what they should not do, how they should not react. Most of the time, the interaction between these two is key to the interpretation.

“You should act like Justice. You just validate what is right, that you are already an outsider, you just cut yourself from the group, without looking back. Look at the Moon, with all its unknows, all its doubts. That’s what you should not do, doubting. Don’t go emotional, you just cut without messing with feelings, without arguing with them, you just climb into that chariot and move on without turning back.”