nisaba
It's that time of year again, the time for celebrating both Tarot and Douglas Adams, his fantastic books, and the unique charge he gave to the number forty-two. So here is my forty-two-card-spread for the day, a day late because I quite literally did not have a moment by myself yesterday until very late at night.
The spread looks like this, and fits nicely on a Towel (I tend to use a large beach towel!)
I decided to use a mini-deck for convenience, and put my hand into the bag in which I keep my mini-decks. I pulled out the Fournier Marseille, which excluding oddities like the Tiny Tarot and the Tarot Nova (earring size), is the smallest deck I have, making it doubly convenient for such a large spread.
And now we begin ...
I pulled XIII (untitled in this deck), L'Etoile, Le Mat, the Nine Coins, the Six Cups, the Five Cups and the Seven Swords.
Death was how I felt last night, with a wave of nausea after eating nothing but food prepared by a friend yesterday. L'Etoile was the moment, overnight, when I felt I might just survive. Le Mat was me just picking up and getting on with today, walking away from Towel and Tarot Day with a blitheness entirely unwarranted by the circumstances of a bad night. The Nine Coins, Six Cups and Five Cups illustrate, possibly, an increasing sense of being unwell today as time passes (we'll see), and the Seven Swords scolds me for deceiving myself that I can function normally today. Too bad - I have to. I'm going to a seminar tonight that I have no intention of missing.
So that's where we stand.
The Six Coins, le Roy de Baton, le Roy de deniers, Le Monde, the Seven Wands, Le Bateleur, the Eight Coins.
The first card reminds me of that classic Tennissee Williams line "I have always relied on the kindness of strangers". Is it the generosity I have received from others in the past that I no longer need - or am I going to lose my new-found capacity to be generous to others? The two Kings tell me that short-lived, also, will be my arrogance, my air of assurance, my certainty about - well - everything. I look forward to its loss with some trepidation. Le Monde - dance. Well, I'm not best equipped to dance, right at this moment.
The Seven Wands - barriers will also fall, and the Magician again tells me that some of the "tricks" I use to get by will stop serving me. Lastly the Eight Coins: will I stop seeing myself as an apprentice?
The Five Swords, the Chariot, the Eight Wands, the Cavalier de Baton, the Four Coins, the Ten Coins, and the Reyne d'Epee.
Hmmm. I shall have to think deeply about these.
The Two Swords, the Ace Wands, the Two Wands, the Valet de Baton, the valet de Coupe, the Eight Cups, the Two Coins. It's made a nice slide of colours from blue, to green to peach to yellow.
The Twos of Wands and Swords seem to be about my own inner saboteur, that dark little voice preaching failure and futility at me. They back themselves up with the Two Coins, my fairly low income and inability to provide for myself the treats I would really like. The Ace Wands .... well, I've always had problems with ambition - I just haven't ever had any. I blame my genes, myself. The two Valets ... well, I shudder to think that any immaturity could be a part of MY bag o'tricks! And the Seven Cups is never good - Making choices is all fine and good in THEORY, but it's a mighty risky business when you don't really know what the Cups really hold.
The Roy d'Epee. My huge intellect. I will be recognised as a genius and a mentor by the whole of the world. The Seven Coins. I won't actually have to work very hard. I can just hang around, and the fruits of everybody else's labour will just drop into my lap <grin>. Seven Wands. I'll -er- break through all the land-speed records and knock over all barriers in my way? The Ace Cups. It's a BIG cup. Everybody loves me. The Ten Swords. Ten's a positive number, yes? The Four Swords. FINALLY everyone will leave me alone and stop hassling me! It's the Greta Garbo or Matchbox Twenty card. And lastly, the Five Wands. It's all an elaborate dance, isn't it? I will dance fiercely, and people will fall beneath my baton.
So the Four Wands enjoy your home. The Valet Deniers. Be playful with money (oh goody, eBay, here I come!). The Six Wands, Hold your head up high, and strut. Easy - I do that now. The Ten Wands - it's a drag. Dolphins don't like drags. I'll take this as permission not to do any laundry today. Six Swords - travel by water. In fact, I live by water, and I had planned to leave the house later. Spooky, how accurate these Tarot cards are! Five Coins. Ignore my poverty, have fun in life anyway. And the Four Cups: thank the Gods you have a nice stable, comfortable emotional life! Gone are all the dramas! Others may thing this is boring, but I really, really treasure it.
So there it is for another year. A spread with room for the serious stuff and for plenty of humour.
The spread looks like this, and fits nicely on a Towel (I tend to use a large beach towel!)
I decided to use a mini-deck for convenience, and put my hand into the bag in which I keep my mini-decks. I pulled out the Fournier Marseille, which excluding oddities like the Tiny Tarot and the Tarot Nova (earring size), is the smallest deck I have, making it doubly convenient for such a large spread.
And now we begin ...
I pulled XIII (untitled in this deck), L'Etoile, Le Mat, the Nine Coins, the Six Cups, the Five Cups and the Seven Swords.
Death was how I felt last night, with a wave of nausea after eating nothing but food prepared by a friend yesterday. L'Etoile was the moment, overnight, when I felt I might just survive. Le Mat was me just picking up and getting on with today, walking away from Towel and Tarot Day with a blitheness entirely unwarranted by the circumstances of a bad night. The Nine Coins, Six Cups and Five Cups illustrate, possibly, an increasing sense of being unwell today as time passes (we'll see), and the Seven Swords scolds me for deceiving myself that I can function normally today. Too bad - I have to. I'm going to a seminar tonight that I have no intention of missing.
So that's where we stand.
The Six Coins, le Roy de Baton, le Roy de deniers, Le Monde, the Seven Wands, Le Bateleur, the Eight Coins.
The first card reminds me of that classic Tennissee Williams line "I have always relied on the kindness of strangers". Is it the generosity I have received from others in the past that I no longer need - or am I going to lose my new-found capacity to be generous to others? The two Kings tell me that short-lived, also, will be my arrogance, my air of assurance, my certainty about - well - everything. I look forward to its loss with some trepidation. Le Monde - dance. Well, I'm not best equipped to dance, right at this moment.
The Seven Wands - barriers will also fall, and the Magician again tells me that some of the "tricks" I use to get by will stop serving me. Lastly the Eight Coins: will I stop seeing myself as an apprentice?The Five Swords, the Chariot, the Eight Wands, the Cavalier de Baton, the Four Coins, the Ten Coins, and the Reyne d'Epee.
Hmmm. I shall have to think deeply about these.
The Two Swords, the Ace Wands, the Two Wands, the Valet de Baton, the valet de Coupe, the Eight Cups, the Two Coins. It's made a nice slide of colours from blue, to green to peach to yellow.
The Twos of Wands and Swords seem to be about my own inner saboteur, that dark little voice preaching failure and futility at me. They back themselves up with the Two Coins, my fairly low income and inability to provide for myself the treats I would really like. The Ace Wands .... well, I've always had problems with ambition - I just haven't ever had any. I blame my genes, myself. The two Valets ... well, I shudder to think that any immaturity could be a part of MY bag o'tricks! And the Seven Cups is never good - Making choices is all fine and good in THEORY, but it's a mighty risky business when you don't really know what the Cups really hold.
The Roy d'Epee. My huge intellect. I will be recognised as a genius and a mentor by the whole of the world. The Seven Coins. I won't actually have to work very hard. I can just hang around, and the fruits of everybody else's labour will just drop into my lap <grin>. Seven Wands. I'll -er- break through all the land-speed records and knock over all barriers in my way? The Ace Cups. It's a BIG cup. Everybody loves me. The Ten Swords. Ten's a positive number, yes? The Four Swords. FINALLY everyone will leave me alone and stop hassling me! It's the Greta Garbo or Matchbox Twenty card. And lastly, the Five Wands. It's all an elaborate dance, isn't it? I will dance fiercely, and people will fall beneath my baton.
So the Four Wands enjoy your home. The Valet Deniers. Be playful with money (oh goody, eBay, here I come!). The Six Wands, Hold your head up high, and strut. Easy - I do that now. The Ten Wands - it's a drag. Dolphins don't like drags. I'll take this as permission not to do any laundry today. Six Swords - travel by water. In fact, I live by water, and I had planned to leave the house later. Spooky, how accurate these Tarot cards are! Five Coins. Ignore my poverty, have fun in life anyway. And the Four Cups: thank the Gods you have a nice stable, comfortable emotional life! Gone are all the dramas! Others may thing this is boring, but I really, really treasure it.
So there it is for another year. A spread with room for the serious stuff and for plenty of humour.
