EDSG #5 - 9 Wands, Hermit, Lovers

rwcarter

For this next set of cards, we have the 9 Wands (Fire), Hermit (Earth) and Lovers (Air) as the first triad.

From my notes from the SuperTarot site, FEA is predominantly active as Fire and Air are active and Earth is passive. The way I read EDs, Fire and Earth are neutral (they are friendly by standard GD rules) and Earth and Air are unfriendly. My SuperTarot notes show Fire and Air urging Earth into an action that probably won't last for long.

EAF is also predominantly active. Fire and Air are friendly while Air and Earth are unfriendly. SuperTarot says that Fire is the strongest card as Air and Earth weaken each other. But it also says that Fire and Earth are friends, thereby providing a solid base for Air's thoughts. Thinking process (Air) will be utilitarian and functional (Earth), possibly brutal (Fire).

AFE is also predominantly active. Fire and Air are friendly while Fire and Earth are neutral they way I read (but friendly per GD rules). Fire is very strong, having a material basis (Earth) and intelligent control (Air). And this is one of the times when the flanking cards are looked at as they are enemies. As they weaken each other, neither is able to reign in whatever Fire starts.

Work/Career
FEA - Working solo on your project (Hermit) is a questionable choice (Lovers) that requires you to hang in there for the long haul (9W).
EAF - Your business partner (Lovers) leaves you always feeling defensive (9W), but you can't run the business by yourself (Hermit).
AFE - Work is wearing you down (9W) and your home life is also rocky (Lovers), and although you want to run away, you know you can't because others are depending on you (Hermit).

Relationships
FEA - Your desire to be alone (Hermit) is in conflict with the demands of your relationship (Lovers), leaving you constantly on edge (9W).
EAF - Your relationship (Lovers) demands a lot from you (and takes a lot out of you) (9W), but you prefer that to being alone. (Hermit)
AFE - You defensively protect (9W) your relationship (Lovers) from those who would try to shine an unfavorable light on it (Hermit).

Finances
FEA - The financial goals you seek (Hermit) are being sabotaged by your partner (Lovers), requiring you to be that much more vigilant (9W).
EAF - Co-mingling your finances (Lovers) requires that you be vigilant (9W) that your spouse doesn't spend everything trying to find himself (Hermit).
AFE - You're tired of working so hard (9W) to give your wife everything she wants (Lovers), but you can't afford what a divorce would entail! (Hermit)

Home
FEA - Things were much simpler when you lived alone (Hermit), but now that you have a roommate (Lovers) it seems like everything is a battle (9W).
EAF - Your wife (Lovers) is difficult to live with (9W), but that's preferable to living alone (Hermit).
AFE - You're worn out from the constant tension (9W) with your roommate (Lovers), causing you to consider living alone again (Hermit).

shadowdancer

Thanks for the latest listings Rodney

I have a busy weekend coming up so will apologise in advance if I am late to the party with my attempts at interpretations.

I have used instinct before checking with my notes to give my overview which is pretty much what you have said.

Fire and air are active so these will have some oompth and impact, as well as getting on okay.

Earth is passive so has it's influence neutralised a little due to the fact a) it is outnumbered by the active's and b) will be having a bit of a battle with air, thus leaving fire either taking the side of it is friend in air, or being stand alone and quite strong in its own right.

I will do what I did before - give my summaries before reading yours, so I am not influenced and will try to use 50 words instead of 500. It may be early next week before I get to this, but I promise I will give it attention, probably on the one area again

Davina

shadowdancer

Hi everyone... I'm bbaaacckkk

Okay, so have dug out a RWS deck as I realised different decks will have different imagery and different vibes. I am guessing Rodney you based this on RWS??

As I answer mostly questions to do with relationships, that is the one I have again focussed on here and my takes are as follows:

FEA - Taking time alone to reflect (E) on past issues which have been obstructive (F) is being thrwarted by someone close to you who has become vulnerable and clingy. (A)

EAF - Prioritising the requirements needed to forward a successful relationship (A) may require you to sacrifice the time you prefer to spend alone (E) with energy being given to the removing any existing barriers to the relationship. (F)

AFE Barriers may exist, making progress difficult in the relationship (F) but by genuinely reaching out and accepting the guidance of someone who cares about you, (A) you lessen the risk of longer term lonliness and isolation. (E)

The last one was difficult. I had to remember Lovers and Hermit would be at logger heads, cancelling each other out. I then remembered the central card would be friendly with the lovers, thus reducing the effect of the Hermit. In other words - lessening the chance of isolation.

These do make me think. I am not sure I have got it right yet, and am still at the stage where I have to think it through as I type. Especially narrowing it down to just a sentence or two

Davina

rwcarter

shadowdancer said:
Hi everyone... I'm bbaaacckkk

Okay, so have dug out a RWS deck as I realised different decks will have different imagery and different vibes. I am guessing Rodney you based this on RWS??

Didja look at the attachments?

It takes time to scan each triad in, modify the image and then attach them to the post. And then people don't even look at them. Le sigh....

shadowdancer said:
As I answer mostly questions to do with relationships, that is the one I have again focussed on here and my takes are as follows:

FEA - Taking time alone to reflect (E) on past issues which have been obstructive (F) is being thrwarted by someone close to you who has become vulnerable and clingy. (A)

EAF - Prioritising the requirements needed to forward a successful relationship (A) may require you to sacrifice the time you prefer to spend alone (E) with energy being given to the removing any existing barriers to the relationship. (F)

AFE Barriers may exist, making progress difficult in the relationship (F) but by genuinely reaching out and accepting the guidance of someone who cares about you, (A) you lessen the risk of longer term lonliness and isolation. (E)

They all make sense.

shadowdancer said:
The last one was difficult. I had to remember Lovers and Hermit would be at logger heads, cancelling each other out. I then remembered the central card would be friendly with the lovers, thus reducing the effect of the Hermit. In other words - lessening the chance of isolation.

One thing I did with some of my interpretations was to look at the unfriendly interaction as bringing stress to the situation instead of "weakening" the main card. Don't know if any of those playing along at home noticed that though.

shadowdancer said:
These do make me think. I am not sure I have got it right yet, and am still at the stage where I have to think it through as I type. Especially narrowing it down to just a sentence or two

Davina

I still have to think them through myself. But I think you did great this week!

Rodney

shadowdancer

With regards the stress v weakening, I do get what you mean. Especially when you have a card like the 9 of wands in the mix. And the lovers just didn't want to consider weakening. Stressing yes. Sometimes, just going for a weakened vibe just doesn't work. Cancelling out, yes, that can have merit. Stressing yes. So I think I can have some lateral leaway when using this sytem.

I did look at one of the attachments a couple of days ago, and didn't look at them again when I went to answer... my bad - but I guess I am forgiven, cos you are such a nice guy

Thanks again for these Rodney - they really are terrific and you have by default kicked my rear end into actually working at them as opposed to just reading through your work and doing nothing further.

I would love if someone else dived in and perhaps took another heading other than the one I had a stab at, and left their thoughts.

merissa_88

Another FEA on a relationship interpretation:

You're withdrawing from the other person because you're tired of fighting over choosing to go for your heart's desires.

Temporarily strong Hermit egged on by the super-charged frustrated 9 of Wands and weakened by the Lovers (going for what you love). I'm assuming "friendly" fire card is more influential? If it's equal to the Lovers than you are going back and forth between withdrawing and "caving in" to what the other person wants?

Will probably try finances next if this one goes ok.

rwcarter

merissa_88 said:
Temporarily strong Hermit egged on by the super-charged frustrated 9 of Wands and weakened by the Lovers (going for what you love). I'm assuming "friendly" fire card is more influential? If it's equal to the Lovers than you are going back and forth between withdrawing and "caving in" to what the other person wants?

Why do you assume the friendly FE interaction is stronger than the unfriendly EA interaction? I would see them as being equal. It's not "wrong" to interpret them that way though. Maybe you're seeing the 9 to be stronger than the 6. Or maybe you generally see positive interactions to be stronger than negative interactions.

merissa_88 said:
Will probably try finances next if this one goes ok.

Please do!

merissa_88

rwcarter said:
Why do you assume the friendly FE interaction is stronger than the unfriendly EA interaction? I would see them as being equal. It's not "wrong" to interpret them that way though. Maybe you're seeing the 9 to be stronger than the 6. Or maybe you generally see positive interactions to be stronger than negative interactions.

I wan't sure but just went with my intuition. I'm glad they're equal rather than the unfriendly interaction being stronger.

FEA interpretation for finances:

Knowing you shouldn't spend money on something you really want, but you probably will anyway.

Here the Lovers (making a choice that you love) ultimately interferes with the more sensible Virgo energy of the Hermit, but the 9 of Wands (toughness) slows this process down? Hopefully for the better as both influences are equal?

FEA interpretation for career:

You really want to be self-employed or more independent at work but don't think you can tough it out or compete with others.

Here the Lovers (what you want) weakens the Hermit's need to withdraw to achieve independence or guidance and interferes with the ability to make a decision (both cards ruled by Mercury/thinking and planning), and the 9 of Wands competitive spirit can only motivate the person for so long.

I'm slowly getting an idea of how the two outer cards affect the central one, but how much is still shaky for me. The good news is that I'm doing daily draw readings this way to practice and am seeing some good results. Thanks for all you hard work, rwcarter!

rwcarter

merissa_88 said:
I wan't sure but just went with my intuition. I'm glad they're equal rather than the unfriendly interaction being stronger.

For a particular interpretation, seeing friendly being stronger than unfriendly (or vice versa) is perfectly fine. I thought you were making a broad declaration about all such interactions.

merissa_88 said:
FEA interpretation for finances:

Knowing you shouldn't spend money on something you really want, but you probably will anyway.

Here the Lovers (making a choice that you love) ultimately interferes with the more sensible Virgo energy of the Hermit, but the 9 of Wands (toughness) slows this process down? Hopefully for the better as both influences are equal?

It took me awhile to wrap my head around that interpretation cause I wasn't seeing the Hermit in it anywhere. I'm guessing "Knowing you shouldn't spend money on something" is the interpretation for the Hermit? I don't think I've ever equated the Hermit with spending money. In a similar vein though, I could see "Knowing you shouldn't go on that trip (as the Hermit can represent a journey) with your boyfriend (Lovers), but you probably will anyway (9W).

merissa_88 said:
FEA interpretation for career:

You really want to be self-employed or more independent at work but don't think you can tough it out or compete with others.

Here the Lovers (what you want) weakens the Hermit's need to withdraw to achieve independence or guidance and interferes with the ability to make a decision (both cards ruled by Mercury/thinking and planning), and the 9 of Wands competitive spirit can only motivate the person for so long.

I usually start with the center card and interpret 213 or 312. By starting your interpretation with the Air card, you're interpreting 321. Before I read your explanation, I thought you were giving "compete with others" as an interpretation for the Lovers, which I'd never heard of, but thought was brilliant, as you have two people below a central figure and under the right circumstances, I could see those two people vying for the attention of the central figure. But you didn't go there, so now it's all my interpretation!

merissa_88 said:
I'm slowly getting an idea of how the two outer cards affect the central one, but how much is still shaky for me. The good news is that I'm doing daily draw readings this way to practice and am seeing some good results. Thanks for all you hard work, rwcarter!

I'm glad you and shadowdancer are both getting something out of these exercises. :thumbsup:

But I can't help but wonder if the other people who are reading these threads are getting anything out of them....

merissa_88

rwcarter said:
For a particular interpretation, seeing friendly being stronger than unfriendly (or vice versa) is perfectly fine. I thought you were making a broad declaration about all such interactions.

That works better for me also as I tend to read somewhat intuitively.

It took me awhile to wrap my head around that interpretation cause I wasn't seeing the Hermit in it anywhere. I'm guessing "Knowing you shouldn't spend money on something" is the interpretation for the Hermit? I don't think I've ever equated the Hermit with spending money. In a similar vein though, I could see "Knowing you shouldn't go on that trip (as the Hermit can represent a journey) with your boyfriend (Lovers), but you probably will anyway (9W).

I'm looking at the Hermit as both Virgo, which tends to be practical, and the idea of withdrawing from an action (The Lovers, choosing something you love). Is this a wrong interpretation?

I usually start with the center card and interpret 213 or 312. By starting your interpretation with the Air card, you're interpreting 321. Before I read your explanation, I thought you were giving "compete with others" as an interpretation for the Lovers, which I'd never heard of, but thought was brilliant, as you have two people below a central figure and under the right circumstances, I could see those two people vying for the attention of the central figure. But you didn't go there, so now it's all my interpretation!

That's so funny, because I thought of the Lovers as co-workers a person might be competing with but went against it as I wanted the Hermit to be the center. To me, the important interpretation for the Hermit is "going it alone" at work in some way. I thought being self-employed might apply as well as doing some kind of independent work project.

The Lovers combined with the Hermit becomes two Mercury-ruled cards weakening each other. So, for me, this person can't choose to "go it alone" or listen to higher guidance without distraction(two things I associate with the Hermit). This is how the Hermit stays in the center. The 9 of Wands isn't powerful enough to make the difference for long.

I'm glad you and shadowdancer are both getting something out of these exercises. But I can't help but wonder if the other people who are reading these threads are getting anything out of them....

I'm sure they are. I was a lurker at first because it has taken me a while to figure out enough to start posting. I really appreciate your feedback and the examples. Putting links on the study group thread is huge because I don't always catch new threads. Thanks!

EDSG #5 - 9 Wands, Hermit, Lovers

rwcarter

Attachments

shadowdancer

shadowdancer

rwcarter

shadowdancer

merissa_88

rwcarter

merissa_88

rwcarter

merissa_88