conflicting cards

Thread originally posted on the Aeclectic Tarot Forum on 06 Apr 2002, and now archived in the Forum Library.

KitchenWitch	06 Apr 2002
I have been working with Tarot for almost 5 years now, but was truly stumped last night when doing a reading for myself, and was hoping to get some feedback to help me out. I was using my version of the Celtic Cross, and I landed The Chariot in the Problem ("covers you") position, and the 9 of Cups in the Obstacle ("crosses you") position. In my inital reading of these cards, to me it meant that my problem was victory/triumph, and my obstacle was happiness/success. To me, these seem to conflict with one another in a way that doesn't make sense to me. Any thoughts, or other interpretations? Thanks.

mermaid1622	07 Apr 2002
To me, a whole lot depends on what your question was. But even without your question, the cards in my view don't indicate just one thing per card, such as "Victory/Triumph" as the only meaning of The Chariot. I apologize if I have misunderstood what you wrote; I take you to be saying that is all The Chariot means to you. I will check back to see your reply. mermaid1622

Diana	07 Apr 2002
edited

Mojo	07 Apr 2002
KitchenWitch Try to expand your definitions of the positions a little bit as well. The card that "crosses you" isn't necessarily an obstacle. Sometimes it can be something that is in your path without blocking the path - simply something that you need to pay attention to in looking toward resolution. This card is traditionally not upright or reversed, so it's meaning can be a blending of the positive and negative aspects of the card. In this case, I would take the Chariot in the "cover" position to indicate that you are fairly certain that you will come out on top in whatever situation you were asking for, or at least be able to maintain control. However, the 9 of Cups serves as a hint that you should look beneath the surface because something may be presented as more than it really is. You didn't say which deck you are using, but in the traditional Waite-Smith image we have a rather smug looking guy showing off his prized possessions all arranged on a table that is draped with a long tablecloth. To me, there's just something about his expression that makes me want to go look under that tablecloth to see what he's hiding.

KitchenWitch	07 Apr 2002
I realized after I posed the question last night that (a) there was a more specialized forum to ask these kinds of questions in, and (b) I failed to inlcude what the reading was about. Sorry about that. The reading was about whether or not a certain love interest of mine would actually flourish into a relationship. I will post the entire spread in the Readings Forum, and see if it clarifies anything. Thanks so much.

jade	07 Apr 2002
kitchenwitch, i love your quote :) in light, jade ps welcome to the forum :)

The conflicting cards thread was originally posted on 06 Apr 2002 in the Using Tarot Cards board, and is now archived in the Forum Library. Read the active threads in Using Tarot Cards, or read more archived threads.