I 100% believe that divination can be a useful tool in gaining perspective and helping you navigate life a bit.
I also 100% believe that divination is *not* about predicting the future that will be. At most, it gives us an idea of what may be. More often, it opens our minds to possibilities and lets us better focus on things we may want to look for or work to avoid.
Long ago, I used to do Tarot readings all the time. People tell me I was pretty good at it. Over the past decade, though, I really haven’t picked up a deck to do anything other than show it to people. The Universe and I have had some disagreements and, well, we really weren’t talking to each other. (Yes, there’s more to that story, but now isn’t the time for it.)
2020 was a hell of a stressful and strange year, though, so I figured it was time to dust off my trusty Rider-Waite deck (which, regardless of usage, I do still carry with me just about everywhere) and try to get a sense of what may be in store for me in 2021.
Month by Month: The First Quarter
I chose to start with a simple 12 card spread. One card for each month. Just to get a bird’s eye view of things. Once those were out, I proceeded to add four more cards to each month to get a little deeper into the beats. Since this is a reading mostly for myself, I chose to keep both Major and Minor Arcana together (some year spreads I’ve seen utilize Major Arcana exclusively, focusing more on the “theme” of each month than anything else). That decision was made because I’m a firm believer that the most important things are sometimes the small ones, the ones that are more personal than high-concept. Also because, in my experience, the Minor Arcana court cards can really help identify people (either by appearance or traits) to gravitate toward or away from.
Let’s take a look at the first quarter.
January
Overview: Six of Wands (Reversed)
Detail Cards: The Hermit (Reversed), Nine of Pentacles (Reversed), Five of Pentacles (Reversed), Queen of Cups
That most certainly seems like a mixed bag to me. Leaning toward “not so great” based on the reversed Six of Wands. Kind of a false sense of progress, overall, but with a couple of interesting turns along the way (I’d much rather have that Nine of Pentacles in a standard orientation).
Overall, though, far from as bad as it could be, especially with the Queen of Cups there at the end. If nothing else, that’s a bit of progress.
February
Overview: Knight of Wands (Reversed)
Detail Cards: The Emperor, Seven of Swords (Reversed), The Tower, Knight of Cups (Reversed)
Well… that doesn’t look pleasant at all. Reversed Knight cards are rarely great things to have show up and there’s no “good” position for The Tower (that whole “unplanned, probably violent/sudden change” is just something that has to be rolled with most of the time). Hopefully The Emperor there will open the door to some wisdom to be gained from the probable chaos.
Interesting that the Knight of Cups occupies the same position the January’s Queen of Cups did. That hints at some possible connections in events/people that will be playing through my life over these two months.
March
Overview: Eight of Wands (Reversed)
Detail Cards: King of Wands, Five of Swords, Knight of Pentacles, Eight of Pentacles.
That’s the third Wands card in an overview position in three months… and all of them are reversed. That speaks of a lot of conflict and feelings of stagnation. Not that that’s an unexpected thing, seeing as how I’m kind of deeply following politics. Everything if the first quarter of this year is likely going to be fallout from the transition from one Administration to another, and we’re already have been seeing the potential for some very problematic shenanigans from the outgoing Administration. I fully expect to continue to feel a bit frustrated and stressed out by all that for some time.
That Eight of Pentacles at the end is nice. Some indication of effort put in actually coming to some sort of fruition. And all of the detail cards are upright, so that’s progress.
Forward is the Only Way
I’m not expecting this year to be easy. Most of the past decade hasn’t been particularly easy. One of the big reasons I’m dusting off the Tarot deck and this site is so I can get back to reconnecting with (metaphysical) parts of myself that have been quietly healing for a while.
It’s time to test those parts out, get them back into the world, and put a little pressure on them to be sure they really regain the strength they once had.
2020 was supposed to be the year I did that. But, well, we all know how 2020 went for everyone in all sorts of ways.
So… onward! Ever onward!
I came here from your “100 Days” group on Facebook. I have a Tarot deck/book kit that I was gifted because of interest, but I’ve never actually used it other than to do 3 card readings for myself (by looking up each individual card). How did you learn how to do readings? Did you have a friend or family member teach you? I felt overwhelmed with all the cards, and I think that’s why I gave up before really trying.
Welcome to one of my other corners of the web. 🙂
I’m completely self-taught. I developed an interest in “strange and unusual” things early on and picked up my first Tarot deck (a set of just more than postage-stamp sized cards) when I was 13 or so. Also picked up a decent book (The Complete Guide to the Tarot by Eden Grey), pretty much the only one on the subject at the local book store at the time, and read through it.
It can definitely be overwhelming. Especially if the book you have dives into all the correspondences, numerology, and other connections and connotations among the cards, their places in the layout and whatnot.
The real secret is: none of that really matters.
That’s not to say it’s not important. It most certainly becomes important the more you dig into things and develop. But for initial readings, all you really need is a general sense of the symbolism and a taste for good narrative.
Every reading is a story. All the cards introduce themes, characters, and plot hooks. A deck like the classic Rider-Waite is best to start with because they symbolism is pretty bold and classic and it’s easy to make up stories from what you see. (There’s also a lot of deeper detail in the designs, but, again, you pick up that as time goes on.)
In the years since that first book, I’ve picked up a lot more. Including full on course books that spend a week at a time on each individual card–mediating on it, repeating it to yourself forward and backward, delving into all the different iterations and symbology over the course of the history of Tarot. There are so many different ways to get into it, learn it, live it, and get creative with it that there’s bound to be one that will work for you.
Of course, the most important thing–as is true of any metaphysical endeavor–is that you do have to want it and you have to commit to it. At least for the first few steps, past the first hurdle or two.