Boss's decision : Queen of Swords - Tower - Hierophant

samantha

I did a larger spread for SO who was asking about their contact renewal. These 3 cards came up for what would be decided about their contract (which as far as I can make out would be a case of renew, terminate or restructure ) I used Kats Golden, no RX

Queen of Swords - Tower - Hierophant

Tower : This really looks like termination ...it has all the hallmarks. However, if that is the case then the element of surprise/shock would be missing as SO believes that this is where things are heading and is quite pessimistic. That said I guess there is always a difference between how you think you will react ( " yeah ...I knew that was on the horizon " ) and how it *really* effects you when it actually hits home ?

Queen of Swords : The boss has his (no women in sight in this department ) agenda and is determined to follow through. Kat has this card in its upright position as " calculating ...and ruthless. " So no leniency here I'm thinking.

Hierophant : This seems to be the workplace itself (Uni) and again speaks to me of keeping to the letter of - their - law. SO knows he does not do everything *according to the book* and I think this will go against him big time.

Although bleak, I can't see this any other way. Any alternative takes ?
 

headincloud

The tower and hierophant to me don't speak of termination but rather restructure, the disruption of the tower would be necessary for the restructuring, reordering, etc of the hierophant, the card is all about formal structures.
 

Barleywine

Lately I've been seeing the three-card line as a "cause-and-effect" scenario: the "actor," the "action" and the "consequences." Here, the actor is the Queen of Swords - looks like a highly critical and impatient "boss" is a reasonable assumption in the situation. The action, if not outright termination, could be a move to "gut" or dramatically alter the contract. Following the Tower, the Hierophant reminds me of the closing line from The Rime of the Ancient Mariner: "A sadder and a wiser man/He rose the morrow morn."

Considering Elemental Dignities, the Tower is surrounded by cards that are unfriendly to one another (Air and Earth), weakening the expression of the Tower energy. However, since Air (Queen of Swords) is friendly to Fire (Tower) and Fire is neutral and supportive to Earth (Hierophant), I believe a "Tower event" will still happen, but it may not be as traumatic as anticipated. Still, the Hierophant - falling back on his "faith in the system" - would seem inclined to accept the inevitable, so your SO should plan accordingly.

Another thought is that, if you do the quint by including the Queen as 13, it comes out the Chariot. One of the core meanings of this card is "victory after struggle," as well as "mastery on the physical plane" (which is the "turf" of the Hierophant as an Earth card.) It's entirely possible that there could be some "maneuvering room" and he will come out of this in better shape than the Tower would lead us to believe.
 

Marsy

I don't see this as positive at all. The Queen of Swords is not someone I would want to go into negotiations with especially if the person hasn't been the ideal employee.

The Tower I read as the end of the contract and while the person knows there's a chance it could happen, they're more than likely not expecting that it really will. So when it does, that will indeed be the shock and reality of it all.

The Hierophant I see as the person deciding to go back to school after the termination to further their knowledge and marketability.
 

samantha

The tower and hierophant to me don't speak of termination but rather restructure, the disruption of the tower would be necessary for the restructuring, reordering, etc of the hierophant, the card is all about formal structures.

Hi headincloud, thanks for chiming in. I can see that the Hierophant wouldn't like - or approve - of chaos certainly, and would like to formalise/organise things as you suggest. However I guess for me the Tower card (which carries the greatest focus in my readings as it is centre stage as here) does not promise/herald a rebuild (of the thing asked about) in and for itself. There is an opportunity to do so certainly, but it is not a given; sometimes we leave the old, giving it up as a bad job.
 

samantha

Lately I've been seeing the three-card line as a "cause-and-effect" scenario: the "actor," the "action" and the "consequences." Here, the actor is the Queen of Swords - looks like a highly critical and impatient "boss" is a reasonable assumption in the situation. The action, if not outright termination, could be a move to "gut" or dramatically alter the contract. Following the Tower, the Hierophant reminds me of the closing line from The Rime of the Ancient Mariner: "A sadder and a wiser man/He rose the morrow morn."

Considering Elemental Dignities, the Tower is surrounded by cards that are unfriendly to one another (Air and Earth), weakening the expression of the Tower energy. However, since Air (Queen of Swords) is friendly to Fire (Tower) and Fire is neutral and supportive to Earth (Hierophant), I believe a "Tower event" will still happen, but it may not be as traumatic as anticipated. Still, the Hierophant - falling back on his "faith in the system" - would seem inclined to accept the inevitable, so your SO should plan accordingly.

Another thought is that, if you do the quint by including the Queen as 13, it comes out the Chariot. One of the core meanings of this card is "victory after struggle," as well as "mastery on the physical plane" (which is the "turf" of the Hierophant as an Earth card.) It's entirely possible that there could be some "maneuvering room" and he will come out of this in better shape than the Tower would lead us to believe.

Many thanks for this BW :)
I like your cause and effect idea - it definitely seems to fit the bill here. I'll make use of this again :thumbsup:
I did give some background, but your choice of "impatient" was well placed. SO has not delivered (in Queens eyes) in terms of monetary contribution/funding. There is no criticism (nor could there be :mad:) in the area of teaching/research but filling the coffers is another matter. As it's uber priority then yes, termination is a real possibility. However you are also onto something with your "gutting" idea. (I will keep this key word too !) My SO often comes up as the Hierophant so I'm not sure why I didn't *see* that possibility this time (I think I saw the cards to left and right of Tower as those energies *bearing down* on it ) Anyway, the sentiment from the poem resonates ...
Ah, the golden ED's ! This approach always yields extra food for thought (if not the main dish)
I can follow what you are saying, but find it difficult to apply this method myself- so Thankyou for these insights. What you imply here (and in your thoughts on the quint ) is also possible. Despite not ticking the financial box, SO's removal would be problematic. They need him for a variety of reasons - nobody else can fill his shoes (at present ....tho no doubt they are working on that !) so it's possible that some deal could still get hashed out. His immediate head has said as much, but no promises - partly because this kind of *leniancy* is a thing of the past ; other colleagues have been dispatched toute suite...
If I'm still here (and you are !) in roughly a years time when this decision is made (the process starts way before) I will be sure to let you know what happened. Thanks again :heart:
 

samantha

I don't see this as positive at all. The Queen of Swords is not someone I would want to go into negotiations with especially if the person hasn't been the ideal employee.

The Tower I read as the end of the contract and while the person knows there's a chance it could happen, they're more than likely not expecting that it really will. So when it does, that will indeed be the shock and reality of it all.

The Hierophant I see as the person deciding to go back to school after the termination to further their knowledge and marketability.

Thankyou Marsy :)
I agree that this queen can be one tough task master. As you will see if you read my comments to BW above, SO is definitely not the ideal in her eyes !
I see you read the Tower much as I did. I think SO really does understand the possibility of this happening but has probably given less thought to the aftermath and what wading through all the debris would feel like (which is understandable. I think few of us can envisage these kinds of things in totality)
SO has 2 Phd's so knowledge is not an issue. I would normally see a card like the King of Wands as someone who can sell/market their ideas if not themselves ...but maybe you are right that the Hierophant does something similar. I will have to think about that some more ! Anyway in this case you are on point ; SO is modest and marketing themselves is definitely not one of their strong suits.
 

samantha

Update

Amazingly I learn today that there has been a decision to renew his contract exactly as is. I'm surprised. His department seems to have done a complete about turn.
In which case the Tower is our surprise, certainly - not an outcome we expected at all (and decided much more quickly than normal) But difficult to know what to make of the other two cards. Im wondering if this spread wasn't just reflecting my expectations as I can't make it fit real life events/outcome ...perhaps someone else can ?? Still, alls well that ends well :)
 

Modal Soul

Amazingly I learn today that there has been a decision to renew his contract exactly as is. I'm surprised. His department seems to have done a complete about turn.
In which case the Tower is our surprise, certainly - not an outcome we expected at all (and decided much more quickly than normal) But difficult to know what to make of the other two cards. Im wondering if this spread wasn't just reflecting my expectations as I can't make it fit real life events/outcome ...perhaps someone else can ?? Still, alls well that ends well :)

Congrats!!!

As for the cards, perhaps a calculated but surprising decision from someone in charge (Queen of Swords + The Tower) means that his position as a professor will remain unchanged (The Hierophant).

The QoS, to me, represents logic, reasoning, taking a long view/eye towards the future when considering things, etc. I know you said there's no women in the department - not that the Queen can't be a man, of course. But perhaps someone further up the chain, like in the provost's office, realized it'd make more pragmatic sense to keep your SO employed than go through the hassle of finding someone else, drafting a new contract, dealing with an unknown quality, etc.

So your boss might have been advised by senior management, so to speak, or the Queen of Swords just explains that his decision was purely logical and not out a sense of loyalty or emotional attachment to your SO. I think the outcome, while shocking, was preferable to maintain the status quo and best interests of the university, also represented by the Hierophant.

Just my two cents as a newbie.
 

headincloud

So the tower must have been the disruption of the threat of job loss.