Tarot and Timing - How to Read/Determine Time Frames

GoddessArtemis

There are always a lot of questions about tarot and timing in readings. I've done some research on the topic and am sharing them below. Hope this helps some of you. Please feel free to add your own feedback/methods so that we may all improve our readings by using tarot to tell time!

Some pointers on timing:

Swords: days
Wands: weeks
Cups: months
Pentacles: years

Courts: the timeframe depends entirely on the decisions or actions of the querent or another person, which have not been taken yet.
Trumps: will happen once the issues presented by the Trump is dealt with – no timeframe specified. These cards represent major life issues that may take anywhere from days to decades to resolve.

Cups: Spring (water – spring rains, new growth, creativity)
Wands: Summer (fire – fullness of life, sunny, hot)
Swords: Autumn (air – cutting back, harvesting, planning for the winter)
Pentacles: Winter (earth – dormancy, putting down roots, quiet)

Alternatives on the above and ones I personally rely on most:

Suit of Cups

Element: Water
Direction: West
Astrological Signs: Cancer, Scorpio, Pisces
Season: Summer
Vices: Moodiness, excesses and addiction, psychic drains
Virtues: Serenity, love, creative visualization, imagination

Suit of Wands

Element: Fire
Direction: South
Astrological Signs: Aries, Leo, Saggitarius
Season: Spring, sometimes summer
Vices: Pride, restlessness, willfulness
Virtues: Inspiration, creativity, enterprise, drive, exploding, activating
Images: Candles, flames, volcanos, sunflowers, phallic objects, lions and all cats, rams, all forms of new growing life, babies, spring blossoms, plants.

Suit of Swords

Element: Air
Direction: East
Astrological Signs: Gemini, Libra, Aquarius
Season: Fall
Vices: Judgmentalism, sharp-tounged, fear or confusion
Virtues: Penetration, courage, strength, truth and justice, organization

Suit of Pentacles

Element: Earth
Direction: North
Astrological Signs: Taurus, Virgo, Capricorn
Season: Winter
Vices: Stress and anxiety, stubbornness, inability to change, greed
Virtues: Knowledge and ability, endurance, stability.

Websites that offer other options/insights on timing:

**(updated May 31, 2006)**

http://www.supertarot.co.uk/astro/timing.htm
http://www.bewitchingways.com/tarot/timing.htm
http://tarotcanada.tripod.com/TarotTimeFrameReferenceSystem.html
http://www.ata-tarot.com/reflections/03-01-03/TarotForum.htm
http://www.ata-tarot.com/reflections/01-01-04/timing.htm

Best way to tell time with the tarot is to use your own intuition. Sometimes I go by the guidance stated above; other times, by gut instinct. But this is a start...

GA :)
 

Emeraldgirl

Thanks for that. i have always had a problem with timing and tend to associate positions in the spread with times rather than any cards cause I have never seen a card time system before. Thanks for a great refernce :)
 

GoddessArtemis

More Updates

Figuring out tarot and timing is like searching for the Holy Grail!

But I'm still seeking answers and will update this thread as I come across useful info. Below is another good website; not to say I agree/disagree with the information, but it's helpful. In the end, though, you are the only one who can determine what "feels" right to you--time-wise.

I'm passing the info on here, in case the link goes b'bye...but the link will also be included at the bottom. Please feel free to add any references you may come across on this topic as well!

GA :)

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The Tarot and Time--Some Suggestions
by Eva Yaa Asantewaa
©1994, 2000 Eva Yaa Asantewaa

Using Time/Energy Factors in Tarot:

If you are looking for indicators of time period, timing of action, or pacing of energy in a spread, here are my suggestion for some ways that the cards may give you helpful clues. Of course, remember to interpret everything creatively and intuitively within the context of the specific question and reading.

Swords (air) can mean fast, airborne energy; something happening very quickly; can also be any time period governed by the air signs of the zodiac (Gemini, Libra, Aquarius).

Wands (fire) can mean fast, fireborne energy; something happening soon. Relationship to Sun means happening within a day or days. The number of wands could indicate number of days. Can also be any time period governed by the fire signs (Aries, Leo, Sagittarius).

Cups (water) can mean slow, gradual, deep movement. Relationship to Moon means happening within a month or months. Takes a little time to develop. The number of cups could indicate number of months. Can also be any time period governed by the water signs (Cancer, Scorpio, Pisces).

Pentacles (earth) can mean extremely slow; year or years. The number of pentacles could indicate number of years. Can also be any time period governed by the earth signs (Taurus, Virgo, Capricorn).

Aces--the beginning, new cycle Nines or Tens--process coming to fruition, prelude to a new cycle

Kings--the past; long development of experience; maturing Queens--the status quo present; Pages and Knights--the new, the active present, what's potential

The Fool--impulsive; things happening very quickly; unplanned.

Magician--things may happen quickly but only after skillful arrangement, effort, willpower.

High Priestess--slow energy; things happen only after something is revealed or discovered; may take time and effort.

The Empress--gradual, steady, natural; things may take time to develop.

The Emperor--things may take a long time to manifest but then will move rapidly.

Heirophant--things happen easily only after appropriate connections are made, then movement flows steadily.

The Lovers--things happen only after a decision has been reached or a change in thinking has occurred, then movement is quick.

The Chariot--things may happen, facilitated by internal and/or external momentum. Some care should be taken in one's movement.

Strength--things happen only after something is brought into sharp focus. It would be best to proceed in a careful, moderate way.

The Hermit--things happen in a fairly slow, careful manner or after a period of careful thought, planning, meditation, and/or solitude. The pace of events is determined by one's inner processes and needs, not by the outside world.

The Wheel of Fortune--things happen in cycles; things happen again; necessity to know where you are in a certain external or internal cycle and to act or make your decisions from that awareness.

Justice--things happen only when there is balance or when a decision has been reached, then can proceed swiftly.

The Hanged Man--very slow, gradual, steady development; natural time; nothing forced. It is advised to stop action and wait. This card can also indicate a period of looking into the past, regressing or having a sense of being regressed, or feeling stuck.

Death--dramatic change; beginning of new cycle.

Temperance--gradual, moderate development; things happen only as a result of healing or balancing process.

The Devil--regression; sense that time has stopped or moved backwards; inertia; things happen only when lessons have been learned and you've moved on from the past--or--challenging things happen again and again until awareness changes them.

The Tower--rapid, dramatic change; break with the past; usually unplanned, unexpected.

The Star--things can happen after a period of cleansing or after something has been communicated; then they happen with ease; can be unusual, unexpected.

The Moon--gradual, natural change; observe and follow the lunar cycle.

The Sun--daily occurences; natural cycles of highs and lows in life.

Judgement--things happen only after different things are each acknowledged and drawn together; things happen only after awareness is heightened.

The World--holistic sense of time--timelessness; past, present, and future as one an all equally valuable and accessible.

Remember: These are suggestions. What works for you

from: http://www.planetauthority.com/TarotWorld/february-00.html

P.S. Please report dead links..either to me, via PM, or to a moderator.
 

GoddessArtemis

More Updates - Nevermind

Oops...posted twice. Weird.
 

Arania

For my partner, Air is winter and Pentacles are autumn... for me, it's sometimes like that, too. The other stuff, like days and weeks etc, I don't think I could see in a card. I truly think it all depends on the context.
 

calligirl

My biggest problem with the timing is...trying to remember what the cups, wands, etc are! My poor little brain is barely grasping the basics without remembering whether wands are summer or winter or was that weeks? Maybe days?

What's the best way to REMEMBER all these (since I'm trying really hard to NOT look them up in a book)? Maybe a journal to see how long before an event takes place?

In one book I read (didn't pertain to Tarot), the opinion of the author was that, life being ever changing, it was difficult to foretell anything much past three months since anything further out would be subject to actions taken in the interim.

Having said that, I'm attempting to do a horoscope spread for the upcoming year so I guess I'll have to cheat and look at the notes!

Looking forward to more comments on this topic.
 

namesoftrees

timing

I'm also avidly watching this thread for more and more, but I suspect a lot is in the questions we ask and how they're re-cognized.
A card in wands might pertain to the finality of an impetus in the reading as much as it does to the initiation of that impetus.

This is a guess. Are even numbers more likely to show an out come and odd numbers a new urge or instigation?

Are there timing readings on the site that we could look at as an example? Anyone?
 

namesoftrees

also

thankyou Rtemis, -straight into my study book.
 
The Moon as feelings? "I know, but what do you think?"