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The Empress :: Wild Unknown Tarot Card Meanings
I’ve written interpretations for every card in the Wild Unknown Tarot. As the box of the deck states, there are no rights or wrongs. These are simply my perspectives on the tarot card meanings. I hope you find them useful!
Click here for a directory of all posts in my Wild Unknown series.
Deck Creator’s Keywords: the mother, sensuality, creation, nature
Carrie’s Keywords: nurturing, abundance, sensuality
Begin or deepen your tarot studies with
Foundational Tarot, my free video course!
Join the email list for instant access.
The Empress Tarot Card Meanings in the Wild Unknown
The Empress here is portrayed as a lavish, unapologetically luscious tree. A waning crescent moon peeks out above her from the night time sky. The colorful tree stands out against the darkness around her. Remember that the High Priestess was also cloaked in darkness. Night time in the Wild Unknown seems to be associated with the realm of the feminine, signifying mysteries and inward-moving energy.
The Empress is at home in the sensual, life-sustaining energies of the natural world. This card is associated with nurturing in all of its guises: anything from literally mothering a child, to tending a garden, to cultivating a creative project. The Empress breathes life into the world around her. Although it is nighttime, the tree glows as though to offer a safe haven to any creature in need of care.
This particular Empress is unapologetic about taking up space. Her branches and blossoms sprawl freely across the card. She is completely at home in her own skin (or in this case, bark!). She invites us to give ourselves that same permission to inhabit our own flesh and to ground ourselves into the earth that gives us life. She cares for others, providing safety and sustenance; and she is cared for as well, taking in nutrients from the soil and sky. In this sense, the Empress asks you to embrace your own role both as a nurturer and as a receiver of nurturing.
The edges of the tree are brimming with pink, red and purple life. The colors evoke blossoms and fruit – signs of the Empress’ role in creating and sustaining life. Note that this is a deciduous tree, which goes through the repeating cycles of the seasons. She will have color in autumn, lose leaves in winter, and then burst forth with new leaves and blossoms in the spring, bearing fruit once again in the summer. This is an apt way to show the cyclical, life-affirming energy of the Empress.
The Empress can also invite you to pay attention to your own natural rhythms. Much of this wisdom is achieved by noticing physical things: your own breath and body, as well as your mother Earth and the stars. The Empress is not about force (that is more of the Emperor’s thing). Instead, she is about flow. The Empress embodies the wisdom of dancing with the changing cycles that are always within and around you.
The Empress Tarot Card Meanings in General
The Empress is the archetypical mother symbol in the tarot. She is the ultimate care-giver and comforter. But The Empress is also a protector. In the deck I co-created with Annie Ruygt, The Spacious Tarot,we have an eagle in the imagery. This is a nod to the Marseille tarot tradition, and a reminder that although the Empress is sensual, she is also strong.
While the High Priestess is associated with spirituality in a more esoteric sense, the Empress shows that all aspects of the physical, mundane world are aspects of spirit. Experiencing the full range of sensual pleasure available to us on this planet is another mode of connecting to the divine, and the Empress reminds us that sensuality can be just as sacred as prayer or contemplation. This isn’t to say the Empress encourages over-indulgence (that would be the Devil’s domain). Instead, the Empress encourages reverence for physicality and a profound gratitude for all that life has to offer.
In a reading
When the Empress appears, she might ask you to consider what you are nurturing, as well as what may need to be nurtured within you. She often shows up in readings to highlight the importance of self-love and self-care. Are you tending to yourself with as much reverence as you would give to someone you love dearly? Giving yourself that fertile soil to grow from is essential.
This card can also ask you to place your focus on contributing to the cycles of life and creation. You are a sacred conductor of life-force, and now may be the perfect time to direct that life-force into creating something beautiful. Life is rich with opportunities for you to grow, to experience your senses, and to step fully into your authentic nature. The Empress encourages you to find those opportunities and step into them fully and completely.
Hi, I'm Carrie!
I'm a tarot reader and mentor. My purpose is to encourage your expansion. If you're new, start here.
All site content © Carrie Mallon LLC 2017
I am part of Amazon's associate program. If you purchase items linked in this site I will receive a small kick-back.
The High Priestess :: Wild Unknown Tarot Card Meanings
I’ve written interpretations for every card in the Wild Unknown Tarot. As the box of the deck states, there are no rights or wrongs. These are simply my perspectives on the tarot card meanings. I hope you find them useful!
Click here for a directory of all posts in my Wild Unknown series.
Deck Creator’s Keywords: mystery, non-action, going within
Begin or deepen your tarot studies with
Foundational Tarot, my free video course!
Join the email list for instant access.
The High Priestess Tarot Card Meanings in the Wild Unknown
The High Priestess is a tiger, regal and dignified. Many different members of the cat family have long been known for their spiritual energy, and it is a common notion that members of the cat family can see beyond our mundane realm. This tiger sits under a black sky and a crescent moon – the first of many crescent moons we will see in this deck. Before her chest sits an sphere colored with blue and purple. This provides the only splash of color in the otherwise black and white card.
Her expression seems both serene and alert as she gazes to the left of the card. The Magician looked to the right. In one symbolic interpretation, the “right” direction represents light and objectivity. The “left” direction of the High Priestess, in this interpretation, represents dark and subjectivity. This interpretation seems even more apt when you consider that the Magician was surrounded by glowing, sun-like rays, while the High Priestess is enveloped in a night-time sky. In this deck, as well as in many symbolic systems, night time is associated with feminine or yin energy.
The sphere before her contains swirling blues and purples, colors that represent spiritual receptivity and intuition. This sphere could be thought to represent the ethereal energy of dreams, mysteries, and unconscious awareness. Instead of the energy emanating from without and being channeled, as in the Magician, the energy is channeled inward and concentrated in this sphere.
The High Priestess does not try to pin down the sphere. Rather, her paws are spread out around it, suggesting complete confidence in her inner knowing. Notice again the contrast with the Magician, who rested his paws on the pentacle. He also stood upright on his haunches, with his neck turned. She is laying down with a relaxed posture. She is not active, she is receptive.
The High Priestess knows how to be immersed in dreams, visions and the complex realm of unconscious awareness without letting these energies overcome her – but also without her needing to overcome them. She is willing to let things be what they are, even when what they are is indescribable in words. The High Priestess is attuned to the experiences beyond conscious understanding. She does not strain herself to explain the mystery – instead, she immerses herself completely in that mystery.
She asks you to tap into your intuition, to let yourself experience dimensions beyond the relatively small scope of your conscious awareness. Non-rational ways of knowing are valuable even while being fleeting and hard to pin down. The High Priestess shows the part of your awareness that goes deeper than the surface, she asks you to soften into your inner knowing. While the Magician spoke to the visible power of doing, the High Priestess speaks to the quiet magic of BEING.
The High Priestess Tarot Card Meanings in General
The High Priestess shows that your depths are as vast as the ocean, reflected by the imagery in The Spacious Tarot. Your intuition has its own rhythm just like the tides do. In many decks, the High Priestess is potrayed as a woman in long robes sitting between two pillars. The space beyond the pillars is thought to suggest the mysteries that elude simple explanations. She often holds a book in her hands, usually some type of spiritual tome. This shows her connection with the numinous.
While the Magician is associated with archetypical ‘yang’ or masculine energy, the High Priestess is archetypical ‘yin’ or feminine energy. These two cards form an inextricable pair, each speaking to one end of the spectrum of human experience. Both of these energies are equally essential to living an integrated, self-actualized life.
The High Priestess is very much associated with the concept of intuition, and as tarot is an intuitive art, many tarot readers feel a strong connection to this card. Our broader society generally places more value on the Magician-like energy of conscious awareness and action. But as tarot readers, many of us identify with the High Priestess as she speaks to the importance of unconscious awareness and being.
In a reading
In a reading, this card could indicate that your intuitive understanding is essential right now. Instead of straining to pin down answers with your conscious mind, listen to something deeper. The High Priestess invites you to pay attention to your dreams, your visions, your meditations. The answers that you seek are likely right there within you, but you need to shift your perspective in order to access them.
This card can ask you to let yourself sit serenely with mysteries. Questions are often more useful than answers. The sphere before her represents your own inner sphere of spiritual energy. Now is a powerful time to let yourself sit with that energy, to take a few deep breaths and let it be exactly what it is without forcing it to take any particular shape. It’s often when you stop straining so hard that some type of knowledge finally ‘clicks’ within you.
The High Priestess is linked to your intuition and inner knowing. She invites you to sit with the shadowy, less easily accessible parts of yourself. Get to know the whole spectrum of your inner landscape. The more intimately acquainted you become with your whole self, the more of a constant connection you’ll have to your intuitive knowing.
Hi, I'm Carrie!
I'm a tarot reader and mentor. My purpose is to encourage your expansion. If you're new, start here.
All site content © Carrie Mallon LLC 2017
I am part of Amazon's associate program. If you purchase items linked in this site I will receive a small kick-back.
Going back into the Wild Unknown + other updates
You may already know that I wrote personal interpretations for every card in the Wild Unknown Tarot deck. Sometimes I’m struck with utter disbelief when I see how much traffic these posts get (humblebrag: if you Google the meaning for any card in this deck, my site is the first result). When I started writing them, I had no clue people would be this interested in what I was doing. But three years later, I still get emails and comments from people thanking me for the posts, which is pretty cool and makes me happy!
Yep, that’s right – it’s been THREE YEARS since I wrote the first posts in that series. I’ve been wanting to go through and polish up/update these posts for ages…and now I’ve finally started that process.
The essential inforation in each post will remain the same, but some will be edited for clarity. I’ll also be putting in some new stuff into each post that I think will make the information even more useful. Right now, each post is kind of just a wall of text. But as I update them, each post will be structured in several short sections: a description of the card meaning specifically in the Wild Unknown, a description of the card meaning in general, and some thoughts on what the card could indicate in a reading.
I’m also updating the graphics as the current pictures are a bit crappy. Oh, and I have the second edition of the deck now! The current posts are based off the first edition, and I’ve had a lot of people requests updates for the second edition. Those are coming!
(I’ve already updated The Fool and The Magician, take a look at those to get a feel for what’s coming.)
I wanted to announce this, as I know many of you reference the posts regularly. Get excited! But not TOO excited, because it took me over a year to write the original posts and I’m sure it will take quite a while to do all of these updates, too. Ha!
Other Updates
This is just some kinda personal rambles about me and my life. Take it or leave it!
As a water sign (Cancer baby!) I easily get swept away in the romantic, imaginitive side of my creative nature…but it’s always been harder for me to take all that poetic stuff and channel it in a solid way. I’m also prone to feeling all feelings with intensity (empath + water sign = ALL THE FEEELS ALL THE TIME). This means I get swept up in sadness, resistance and overwhelm a lot more often than I’d like. This year, I’ve been trying to get back to the basics of self-care so that I can better process my emotional energy, and so that I can be more productive.
Throughout 2017, I have been working on my ability to set more concrete goals and focus areas for myself. Although I’m a water sign, I’m a Virgo moon sign. Thus, I tend to thrive when I have healthy structures, routines and order in my life. It’s not always easy for me to stick to what I lay out for myself, but I’ve been working on getting consistent once again with things like journaling, movement, and eating well. I’m still trying to sort through my upper limit issues. This is all a work in progress, but I feel like things are heading in a more stable direction, which is really quite nice.
All of this is helping me develop a healthier relationship with my business – I’m getting better about focusing on what really matters. I have felt the pull to create a course ever since I started my business three years ago, and now I’m actually done it by putting together Tarot for Empaths. I cannot even explain how good it feels to have lovingly completed that project. The feeling of choosing something to focus on and actually bringing it into fruition is indescribably awesome (especially if you’re like me and tend to start a lot of creative projects that you never finish).
Some days I feel like the gravity of the daily news pins me in place, but other days I feel so much magic at work in this world. Being alive is a strange, strange thing – but also pretty fucking awesome. Thank you for being here with me!
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The Tarot Reader’s Daily Companion
The Fool :: Wild Unknown Tarot Card Meanings
I’ve written interpretations for every card in the Wild Unknown Tarot. As the box of the deck states, there are no rights or wrongs. These are simply my perspectives on the tarot card meanings. I hope you find them useful!
Click here for a directory of all posts in my Wild Unknown series.
Deck Creator’s Keywords: innocence, naivety, starting out, spontaneity
Carrie’s Keywords: potential, leap, adventure
Begin or deepen your tarot studies with
Foundational Tarot, my free video course!
Join the email list for instant access.
The Fool Tarot Card Meanings in the Wild Unknown
Our fool is a baby chick perched on a tree branch, one foot stretched out as though he is about to step off. Buds and blossoms are unfolding on the tree branch. It is spring-time, and the world is brimming with new life. Potential is bursting forth everywhere! Even the chick itself is a form of fresh, invigorating energy – a spring chicken, as they say.
The sky is orange and yellow, as though the sun is just starting to climb up the horizon. This brings to mind the metaphoric resonance of ‘the dawn of a new day.’ Sunrise is a time of adventure and potential. Where might this new day, this fresh blooming energy take you? The possibilities are truly endless.
The Fool is not concerned with yesterday or tomorrow – the Fool is immersed in the now. And it is always the now, as one moment gives way to the next. The Fool reminds you to place your attention here, in the present moment.
The chick and the branch are black and white. The bright white of the branch makes it look charged with pure energy. As the bright colors of dawn descend along the horizon, they give way to black lines near the bottom of the card. What might be in this black void? You simply don’t know. The Fool is literally heading out into the wild unknown.
There is an interesting use of lines in the Wild Unknown tarot. The direction of lines in the cards give clues to the energy the cards hold. In the Fool, the sky is lined horizontally. These static, horizontal lines seem to me to represent energy that is still free-flowing; the energy is there, but hasn’t yet been guided into a particular direction. This fits in well with the Fool, a card brimming with limitless, not yet fully directed universal energy.
The Fool Tarot Card Meanings in General
The imagery above from The Spacious Tarot is inspired by the Waite-Smith tradition, which shows a person who looks poised to walk off a cliff. In the first person perspective of The Spacious Tarot, you ARE the Fool, poised to leap.
This is not dissimilar from the chick in the Wild Unknown version who is set to walk off the branch and into that black void of the unknown. In fact, taking a leap into the unknown is a core message of the Fool in any tarot deck. This card speaks of pure, unbridled potential. In order for that potential to take shape, risks are required. Taking a leap doesn’t necessarily guarantee a favorable outcome. But if you never leap, you remain stuck on the precipice, never fully immersing yourself in all that life has to offer.
The Fool is card 0, giving it a special role in any tarot deck. Without a fixed number, the Fool is unbound and free, often thought to represent each of us as we journey through life. In some tarot traditions, the Fool is considered to be the character who encounters the various lessons that we see in the rest of the cards. In a spiritual sense, the Fool is infinite universal energy. The Fool is the creative force that animates the entire universe. Without this undirected universal energy, no other manifestations of creation would be possible. The Fool is the energetic magic that allows the entire adventure of life come into being.
In a reading
In a reading, this card can ask you to consider the timeless conundrum of the Fool: are you naïve, about to leap unprepared and face disaster? Or are you filled with a spiritual trust that the universe will support your leap? The Fool asks you to tune into your primal instincts instead of overthinking.
The Fool is also a reminder that there are no right or wrong decisions. The most important thing, the Fool might advise you, is to say YES to life in whatever way feels expansive for you. Sometimes your best option is to remain on the branch until you are ready. But more often, the Fool nudges you to open your heart, set out, and trust that whatever happens from there is a meaningful adventure.
Hi, I'm Carrie!
I'm a tarot reader and mentor. My purpose is to encourage your expansion. If you're new, start here.
All site content © Carrie Mallon LLC 2017
I am part of Amazon's associate program. If you purchase items linked in this site I will receive a small kick-back.
The Magician :: Wild Unknown Tarot Card Meanings
I’ve written interpretations for every card in the Wild Unknown Tarot. As the box of the deck states, there are no rights or wrongs. These are simply my perspectives on the tarot card meanings. I hope you find them useful!
Click here for a directory of all posts in my Wild Unknown series.
Deck Creator’s Keywords: action, self-empowerment, purpose
Carrie’s Keywords: creation, yang energy, doing
Begin or deepen your tarot studies with
Foundational Tarot, my free video course!
Join the email list for instant access.
The Magician Tarot Card Meanings in the Wild Unknown
In the first incarnation of this post, I described this Magician as a cheetah – but upon further consideration, I believe this is actually a leopard. Mythologically, the leopard is known for exuding confidence and independence. Seshat, the ancient Egyptian goddess who invented writing, wore leopard skin. Leopards have long been heralded as powerful and capable creatures.
This Magician is proud and alert; he has a powerful stance and his gaze is focused. He is sizing up his surroundings, not with any urgency, but with a natural awareness of all that is at work around him. Surrounding the leopard are rays of orange and yellow light – colors that convey active energy and vitality. The rays emanate out from a singular point in the distance. This shows a concentration of energy which was previously undirected (as we saw with the Fool) but which is now available to the Magician through his understanding of the four tools before him. The Magician has an innate ability to tap into – and actively channel – infinite energy.
The lemniscate symbol appears on his chest. We’ll see this symbol on a few more cards from the Wild Unknown tarot (it also appears on several cards in the Rider-Waite tradition). This symbol is sometimes referred to as ‘the infinity sign’ suggesting the never-ending nature of all life and all matter. This symbol also shows the ways that the wisdom and archetypes within tarot transcend space and time – this is why the cards have resonated with so many people for so long. The tarot goes through different incarnations and different artistic interpretations, but its core messages always remain relevant.
The four suits of the deck – sword, pentacle, cup and wand – are laid out in front of the Magician. The Magician is attuned to the dynamic nature of life, and these four suits are the emblems of that dynamic nature. His front paws rest on the pentacle, suggesting his ability to take raw materials and create something tangible.
He faces right, a direction that is symbolically linked to activity and conscious awareness. He is ready to act not out of stress, but out of intention. The Magician shows the power of directing your energy wisely, and the importance of having confidence in your abilities. Your greatest skill is in knowing that you are an empowered creator.
The Magician Tarot Card Meanings in General
In traditional decks, the Magician is depicted as a human figure with one hand pointed towards the sky and one hand pointed towards the ground. This invokes the spiritual axiom “as above, so below.”
The imagery in my deck, The Spacious Tarot (above) lets you envision yourself as grounded, reaching up for the tools on offer from the universe.
The Magician has a deep understanding that the true nature of the universe is creative. And as a creative being inhabiting the universe, our true nature is to create in whatever way speaks to us. The Magician takes these etheral spiritual principles and applies them to mundane life in our world. The Magician shows that your highest potential unfolds when your ego (or conscious awareness) is aligned with spiritual energy.
The Magician is archetypical yang energy. This card is about light, conscious awareness, masculinity (not in a gender sense, but in an energetic sense), and action. It is worth noting that the energy of the Magician is intricately linked to the energy of the High Priestess. As the first two cards in the tarot deck, they lay the groundwork for the sweeping concepts of “yin” and “yang” energy that is explored in various manifestations throughout the rest of the cards.
In a reading
In a reading, the Magician can speak to the power of concentration. Where is your attention being placed? The direction of your concentration may need to be re-adjusted towards your capabilities. Instead of looking to what you do not have or what you wish you had, the Magician invites you to pay attention to all that you DO have. Too often we sit around waiting for life to happen to us. The Magician invites YOU to happen to LIFE. This is how you step fully in to your radiating power.
The four suits present in the card speak to your mental, physical, emotional and creative energy. Are you purposefully paying attention to these aspects of yourself? It is time to check-in with how you are distributing those various energies. Make sure you are doing so with conscious intent, giving your power and your energy to things that really matter.
The Magician shows that you can be a conscious creator. Be willing to take action when you know what needs to be done. When you walk purposefully through life, awakened to the always-present light of your creativity, you are embodying the ways of the Magician. You are capable of directing unlimited universal creativity through your consciousness – let yourself step fully and confidently into that truth.
Hi, I'm Carrie!
I'm a tarot reader and mentor. My purpose is to encourage your expansion. If you're new, start here.
All site content © Carrie Mallon LLC 2017
I am part of Amazon's associate program. If you purchase items linked in this site I will receive a small kick-back.
Tarot for Empaths
If you feel called to guide other people by reading tarot… and if you identify as an empath (or at least have some empathic tendencies) I’ve put together something useful and magical for you! It’s a workshop called Tarot for Empaths, which I’m teaching as part of the Tarot Reader Academy’s Tarot Summer School this year.
Enrollment is open now and it’s only $28 for lifetime access. Click here for all the details and to sign up if it sounds like something you’d benefit from!
Here’s a breakdown of what we’ll cover:
Module One: Getting to know yourself as an empath and a healer
In this module you’ll learn:
• What it means for you to be an empath, and what it means for you to be a healer.
• How to clearly define your individual strengths as an empath and as a healer.
• What core themes you are most capable of assisting others with through your readings.
Module Two: Emotional intelligence, energetic protection and boundaries
In this module, you’ll learn:
• Several effective techniques to protect your energy.
• A system for differentiating YOUR emotions from OTHER PEOPLE’s emotions.
• How to develop boundaries, and why doing so is essential for empathic tarot readers.
Module Three: Fostering non-reactive empathy
In this module, you’ll learn:
• The difference between reactive and non-reactive empathy.
• Why practicing non-reactive empathy is SO essential for empathic readers.
• A four step process for practicing non-reactive empathy.
In this module, you will learn:
• Helpful steps to follow before giving any reading.
• Best practices and tips to integrate into your readings.
• The outline of a transformative process that to incorporate into your tarot readings.
In this module you will learn:
• How to ensure you’re in the right emotional energy when you read for yourself.
• How to identify tarot cards that correlate with your empathic tendencies.
• A few tarot spreads to try to integrate the lessons of this workshop.
This is a video workshop, allowing you to interact with the materials on your own schedule. I’m also incorporating a LOT of interactive exercises – it won’t just all be me talking at you! I’ll guide you through many activities designed to help you connect with the lessons on a personal level. There will also be two optional live virtual “campfire sessions” as part of Tarot Summer School. I’ll be hanging out there ready to chat if you have questions about anything you’re learning!
Enrollment is open now and access to this workshop will go live July 18th. There’s also loads of other amazing workshops being offered as part of Tarot Summer School. Check out the full roster of courses here, and considering purchasing a season pass to get access to all 15 workshops for $199.
(If you’re not interested, no worries. I’m just really excited and wanted to tell you about it!)
Feel free to reach out to me if you have any questions – I’d be honored to have you join us for Tarot Summer School 2017.
Sign up for weekly updates and get the free ebook,
The Tarot Reader’s Daily Companion
Hi, I'm Carrie!
I'm a tarot reader and mentor. My purpose is to encourage your expansion. If you're new, start here.
All site content © Carrie Mallon LLC 2017
I am part of Amazon's associate program. If you purchase items linked in this site I will receive a small kick-back.
Five tarot cards to meditate on for tough times
Meditation is one of the outside the box ways that tarot can be really useful. The cards speak to ever facet of the human experience, and meditating on a card can be a powerful way to tap into various themes. Many of us are acutely aware of the tragedies in every corner of the world, and even if they do not “directly” hit us on a personal level, we are affected. Today, I’m thinking particularly about cards to meditate with as we navigate our responses to such tough times.
There are many different ways to meditate with tarot cards, and I encourage you to find what works well for you. What I have found to be effective is to sit with your chosen card in a quiet space. As you would in a traditional meditation practice, take a few deep breaths. From here, you can either keep your eyes open and look at your card, or close your eyes if you prefer. As you continue breathing, invite the energy and lessons of the card to present themselves to you. It may take time and patience, but eventually you will find this a powerful way to experience the themes of the cards.
In this post, I’ll suggest five cards that could be useful as you process painful events either in your personal life or in the broader spectrum of society.
The Empress
The Empress is an affirmer of life. She reminds you that even when times feel bleak, regeneration is always possible. Nodding to the idealized archetype of a mother, the Empress envelops you in unconditional love. In turn, she asks you to act out her nurturing energy yourself. As you meditate with this card, you may be led to ways that you can give of your own loving energy. She can also lead you to greater attunement with the natural rhythms of life. Just as seasons change, so does your inner landscape. Be gentle with yourself during difficult times, and trust the potential for shifts and new growth.
The Star
The Star is a reminder that raw vulnerability is where healing is found. In many decks the human figure on this card is naked, suggesting that there is no need to be anything other than exactly what you are. You don’t need to be perfect, and you don’t need to respond to tragedy in any one right way. The Star asks you to let go of your shields and to let yourself be raw and real. The Star can also teach you to orient your focus towards gratitude and healing. This isn’t in an attempt to ignore or negate the reality of suffering, but rather to give you a broader perspective, one that tells a more complete story.
The Moon
This card may at first seem like an odd fit, but I think it offers contrasting lessons that are of immense value. The Moon is sometimes associated with fears and confusion. After all, the Moon itself is a sort of illusion, it does not emit its own glow but reflects the light of the sun. But this is exactly why meditating with this card during tough times can be useful. When you are confronting tragedy, it becomes more difficult to see things as they really are. Loss, pain and confusion seem all encompassing, and we can be tricked into thinking those things are all there is. In a positive sense, the Moon offers you a chance to refocus the fear that naturally arises within you during difficult times. For example, if one person commits a senseless act of violence, fear can lead you to falsely assume this means large swathes of people are violent. The Moon warns us to to remember that the voice of fear can take us away from rationality and love. When we are aware of this, we can redirect ourselves towards a more comprehensive perspective.
Ace of Cups
Echoing some of the messages we talked about with the Star, meditating with the Ace of Cups can allow you to hold space for ALL of your feelings. It is okay to feel overwhelmed, anxious, sad, and depressed. Denying difficult emotions is quick way to allow them to become toxic. This card offers you an alternative, which is to let all of your feelings flow. Let them move through you, let yourself experience each feeling fully and completely. It is often this simple act of feeling your feelings that cleanses your soul and allows you to move forward refreshed.
Six of Pentacles
Meditating with the Six of Pentacles can help you consider what direct action you can take in response to tough times. One of the most difficult response you may have to bad things is a sense of powerlessness. This card asks you to open yourself to the power you do have to create positive change, even on a small scale. Let yourself be receptive to what useful actions this card ignites within you. It could be something as small as hugging a friend or smiling at a stranger. It’s a bit of a cliche to say so, but you never really do now how much these small actions can ripple out and make a real difference.
That’s all for now, but I believe that nearly any card in the deck could offer you inspiration during challenging times. The next time you find your heart in need of a boost, I hope you will try sitting with a card and seeing what it brings up for you. As always, my thoughts on the card are only something to consider. You may find your own meditations with the cards bring up very different responses. I only hope you’ll feel guided to the messages that will be the most empowering and healing for you.
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Third Party Tarot Readings: Dos and Don’ts
Well, this morning I drew the Fool for my daily card, and thus I decided to try something a little different for today’s post. I got on Facebook and did a live broadcast, but even if you missed it live you can watch the replay. In this broadcast, I’m sharing my thoughts on third party tarot readings – that is, readings that focus on someone other than the seeker. For example, if you ask what someone else thinks of you or about someone else’s personality – that’s a third party reading.
I’m not going to lie, there was a bit of rambling in this broadcast! But not to worry, there are some valuable gems tucked in among the rambling. Watch the replay of the broadcast here and you’ll learn the dos and don’t of third party readings. In the video I also go into detail describing a tarot spread you can try. You’ll find an image of that spread below.
I’ll likely do more live broadcasts on Facebook in the future, so make sure you’re following me over there. If you have a tarot-related question you’d like my input on, feel free to leave a comment here and maybe I’ll talk about it in a future broadcast!
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Hi, I'm Carrie!
I'm a tarot reader and mentor. My purpose is to encourage your expansion. If you're new, start here.
All site content © Carrie Mallon LLC 2017
I am part of Amazon's associate program. If you purchase items linked in this site I will receive a small kick-back.
Your inner world, your outer world (a spread + a collective reading)
In many readings that I do for clients, the cards want to talk about the energies at work in the person’s inner world, and the energies at work in the person’s outer world. It is interesting enough to look at these energies separately, but it’s entirely fascinating to consider how these factors together influence your current experience overall.
As I was thinking about this today, the concept for a simple three card spread came to me, and so I’m going to share it with you here. Here’s a visual of the spread – feel free to pin it!
I encourage you to try this spread for yourself and see what comes up for you personally, if you’d like. You’re also welcome to leave a comment and let me know how it goes for you!
I’m also going to try out this spread by offering a collective reading, with the hope that anyone who reads this can pick out the aspects that resonate for them right now. You’ll find that reading below!
A reading for the collective
I’ll be using the Dreaming Way Tarot for this reading. I’ve shuffled the cards while asking to be guided to the cards and messages that will be the most useful for us.
Considering your inner world, the Queen of Swords suggests that you have recently made some important shifts in how you perceive certain challenges. Things that have caused you a lot of worry over a long period of time might now be slowly seeming more manageable. It’s not that the problem does not persist, but that you have realized that you are more capable than you previously thought of solving the problem.
There’s still a tough road to walk from here. There’s still work to be done, and you might find yourself occasionally back in a fit of fretting. But you can sense on some level that you’ve transformed. You’ve become more aligned with your own wisdom, and from here perhaps you can experiment with really TRUSTING that wisdom. The important thing right now is to move forward into the ACTION phase once you sense you’re ready.
Right now you’re likely still coming to terms with things, still hatching the plan of how you can best proceed. That’s okay. Give yourself the space and time you need to think, plan and ponder. But when you know it’s the time to take direct action, don’t delay.
Regarding your outer world, The Star suggests you’re realizing you are not alone. Although your challenges might be acutely unique to you, you may now be starting to see how they tie into challenges faced on a wider scale. It might seem like all around you, you’re witnessing people rising up. If you look for them, you’ll see so many examples of people “being the change” they wish to see. And if you let it, witnessing this energy externally can inspire you as you continue navigating your own internal process.
For some time, you might have looked out at your external world with a focus on what was going wrong. This was likely not because you chose to do so, but rather something that happened subconsciously. During this phase, you may have found yourself intensely fixated on all the greed, suffering and selfishness in the world. But now, you have the chance to experience the phenomenal magic of shifting your perspective.
This doesn’t mean it’s now wise for you to IGNORE the negative realities around you. But the Page of Cups speaks to how you may now be finding that you are more capable of compassion and service when you place your INNER focus primarily on all of the healing and beauty at work in the OUTER world.
As mentioned earlier, you can see examples of generosity everywhere when you choose to perceive them. Now is a powerful time to consciously practice that shift in perspective. When you find that you are once again dwelling on the vastness of problems, ask yourself to shift to the vastness of solutions that are taking shape. This may continue to seem like a bit of a roller coaster ride for your emotions, but remind yourself that your sensitivity is a great asset. Your attunement to emotional undercurrents can supplement your rational mind in finding creative solutions.
Sign up for weekly updates and get the free ebook,
The Tarot Reader’s Daily Companion
Hi, I'm Carrie!
I'm a tarot reader and mentor. My purpose is to encourage your expansion. If you're new, start here.
All site content © Carrie Mallon LLC 2017
I am part of Amazon's associate program. If you purchase items linked in this site I will receive a small kick-back.
17 questions to ask yourself (and your cards) about success
Alright, let me get this out of the way upfront. The word “success” sometimes makes me feel kind of icky. It’s one of those terms that manages to be both vague yet also tied to some very specific associations of money, status, and hierarchy. Because of this, I’ve been working on re-framing my relationship with the concept of success for a few years now.
Success does not have to be defined through a binary view of success vs failure, winning vs losing, having vs not having. Success does not have to mean climbing the corporate ladder or nailing every goal you set or having 100k social media followers. In fact, by unconsciously playing along with these kinds of unquestioned definitions of success you can easily find yourself despondent and uninspired.
These days, I’m a lot more fluid with how I define success for myself. It’s less about meeting rigidly defined standards and more about how I feel and the values that I live by. It’s less about pushing and forcing myself, and more about inspiring myself. Most of all, it’s about being authentic about what matters to me, and being compassionate to myself as I work towards those things.
If you think you could also benefit from taking a closer look at your relationship with the concept of success, grab a journal and some tarot cards ‘cuz this one’s for you! You can work with these questions however you’d like: perhaps just free write on each question, OR pull a card to prompt your answer for each question.
17 Questions to ask yourself
and your cards about success
• How does society define success?
• What parts of this definition resonate with me?
• Which parts of this definition do not resonate with me?
• What positive associations do I have with the concept of success?
• What unhealthy associations do I have with the concept of success?
• How do I define success for myself?
• Where might I need to re-evaluate my definition of success?
• What might I easily mistake for success?
• How attached am I to the idea of succeeding?
• How can I cultivate self-worth internally regardless of external success?
• What does authentic success feel like to me?
• How often do I feel successful?
• What personal successes have I overlooked?
• When and why did I last feel successful at a soul-level?
• What unhealthy ways might I sometimes gauge my success?
• What is the most healthy way for me to gauge my success?
• How can I cultivate an more inspiring and healthy relationship with the concept of success overall?
If you try this exercise, I’d be interested to hear your thoughts. Did this bring up anything particularly illuminating or useful for you? Leave a comment and let me know.
Oh, and if you liked this post, you might also enjoy 14 questions to ask yourself (and your cards) about love.
Sign up for weekly updates and get the free ebook,
The Tarot Reader’s Daily Companion
Carrie Mallon
Header art from The Spacious Tarot illustrated by Annie Ruygt
All site content © Carrie Mallon LLC 2014-2019
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