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My relationship w/tarot is changing

My relationship w/tarot is changing

Lately I’ve found myself processing some shifts in both my relationship to the cards themselves, as well as my relationship to the tarot community. So I made a video to have a chat about this, and you can watch it here.

 

 

To make sure you’re aware, I want to mention one of the biggest things I talk about in the video which is that I QUIT INSTAGRAM!

The inundation of scammers on this platform was the last straw for me (but not the only reason). In case you weren’t aware, scammers have been targeting the tarot/witchy community on Instagram for months. They set up a shell profile with a similar username, steal the reader’s photos, and then reach out to the reader’s followers via DMs to solicit readings. Then, of course, they take your money and run.

This is something to watch out for if you’re still on Instagram. A trustworthy reader will NEVER DM YOU FOR A READING. When you encounter scammer profiles you can report the account to Instagram… at least in theory. In reality, Instagram has basically ignored these reports. I suppose it’s not surprising that the platform that knows they are harming young girls’ mental health and did nothing about THAT, isn’t doing anything to resolve scamming in the tarot community.

On a somewhat related note, in this video I also spill the tea on something tarot-reader specific that’s been annoying me on social media lately. It felt good to get that off my chest!

Anyhow, I won’t say too much else here for now as there are plenty other thoughts on offer in the video itself.

I hope you are doing well, thank you for being here, and I look forward to connecting with you again soon!


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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.

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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.
Journey to 1970 w/ the Aquarian Tarot

Journey to 1970 w/ the Aquarian Tarot

Every now and then I get on a kick of scrolling through eBay looking for old tarot decks. This is how I recently acquired a first printing of the Aquarian Tarot, which came out in 1970. Join me for a chatty video walking through the deck and speculating on what it was like to be a tarot reader at that time.

I bought this deck on a whim and didn’t expect to like it very much. But as I explored the cards whilst filming, you’ll see me slowly but surely become actually pretty smitten! Sure, it’s mostly a RWS clone. But with its art deco influence and retro color palate and a few interesting diversions from RWS imagery, the Aquarian Tarot certainly has a charm.I did have to brave a battle with tech issues + a cat intrusion while filming, but somehow I made it through and I hope it might be of some interest to you, lolllll.


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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.

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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 Activities for 2022 (free ebook)

Tarot Activities for 2022 (free ebook)

So, here we are my dear. The beginning of another new year. Welcome, 2022! What I present to you here is of the ‘better late than never’ variety, but I hope you will find something of value in it nonetheless.

You may recall that in years past I created an ebook series called Dreams & Themes around this time of year. I have decided to retire that series, but wanted to do a little something in its honor.

So I’ve created a free mini ebook with some tarot activities to guide you in integrating 2021 and facing forward to 2022! These are modified versions of favorite activities from previous editions of Dreams & Themes and I hope you enjoy them as much as I do.

You can download your free ebook HERE.

This is of course optional, but if you find enrichment from the ebook you might choose to place an offering in my tip jar.

Sending you warm and cozy wishes as your year begins to take shape!


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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.

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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.
stimulate/motivate/generate: a tarot spread

stimulate/motivate/generate: a tarot spread

Equinox blessings…

It’s not that I’m SUPER dedicated to following the wheel of the year, but I’m usually at least somewhat cognizant of it. But I’ve felt less in synch with it than usual this year and I think this is a common experience lately (my friend Áine mentioned the same thing in a recent video).

I guess I’ve actually felt less in synch with everything than usual lately. I’m just…tired. So tired. I think we all are, to different extents and for different reasons. There’s been a lot of think pieces out there about surge capacity (human beings’ ability to take on additional stress during crises, and how we’ve all depleted this reserve) and ambivalent loss (loss that does not have a clear ending or resolution) and I know that’s part of the tiredness.

Even if, like me, you’ve been lucky enough to be physically healthy and have relative stability, the past couple years have just been… a lot.

BUT! Before you click away from this post, be assured that I’m not here today just to wallow in collective gloom. All of this was actually a lead up to say that I’m personally actually feeling a little bit…better lately. A little more in tune with possibility. A little more open to different perspectives.

I finally feel some stuff shifting in me. I’m a little less tired and something is activating. This happens to coincide with the autumn equinox.

Last week I picked up a new to me book, The Tarot Handbook by Angeles Arrien. Originally published in 1987, some of the content feels out of tune with the current zeitgeist, but there’s still some really interesting tidbits I’m finding.

As one example, there’s a phrase Arrien uses when talking about the transition from the Moon to the Sun in the major arcana that pinged something in me: “making choices that honor our authenticity rather than our dutifullness, we are able to be natural generators, motivators, and stimulators.”

Generate. Motivate. Stimulate. Those are the three words that hooked me and I thought…this needs to be a spread. So I switched the order around because it makes more sense to me like this: stimulate (the beginning, the initial spark), motivate (the follow through, tending and developing the initial stimulation), generate (the transformation, what is activated through this process).

Some might say this would make more sense were we dealing with the energy of the summer solstice, not the autumn equinox (Arrien did pen this phrase in relation to the Sun card, after all). To which I say: fair point, but again: I’m kind of feeling out of synch, and this spread seems like something that could be fruitful for me right now.

I’m going to give it a go here and share my thoughts with you below. Perhaps it’s a spread you might like to try for yourself, too. I’ll be using the Pastel Smith-Waite tarot.

Stimulate: The World
Motivate: Two of Swords rx
Generate: The Empress

Sometimes you lay out a spread and immediately feel this sense of yesness, and that’s what’s happening to me right now.

What is being stimulated is not something new, but a return to form. The World represents my inherent wholeness and completeness, that which can never truly be taken away, only obscured or temporarily forgotten. At this moment, what is being stimulated is my memory of this wholeness. And there’s various levels to this memory. On the surface, I’m reconnecting with memories of who I am, what I value, what is meaningful to me.

But I’m also experiencing memory that goes beyond my conscious mind, beyond my sense of self and identity. It is what could be considered a transpersonal memory (transpersonal: “of, denoting, or dealing with states or areas of consciousness beyond the limits of personal identity” via dictionary).

These two levels of memory work together in this card, keeping me grounded in a sense of being Carrie Mallon, while at the same time remembering this is only one aspect of the bigger picture of Who I Am.

It’s a nice card to see here because for quite some time now I think I have been stuck too much in separation and quite disconnected from any memory or awareness of the transpersonal. That fog has moved some now, making space for the blue sky to shine through…

…which connects to the imagery in the Two of Swords, another blue sky is present here. This card speaks to how I can actively engage with remembering my wholeness. And I think the message is: by practicing selective attention  (“the ability to select and preferentially process specific information while simultaneously suppressing the processing of irrelevant, competing distractors” via PNAS).

Often the Two of Swords is framed as avoidance but sometimes avoiding thinking about things is necessary. In fact, our brains flat out could not function if they did not avoid processing certain information.

One specific way I could follow the advice here: spend less time on social media! Story of my damn life. Every few months I’m like “should I just burn all my social media accounts to the ground?” Then five minutes later I’m scrolling through TikTok again. Maybe this time I’ll do a better job on following through here because I know that part of the tiredness I described earlier is caused by the constant barrage of opinions, information and external energy that comes at me like a firehose every time I touch my phone.

Selective attention would be helpful right about now, indeed.

It’s kind of funny because I mentioned some aspects of this book I’m reading being “out of tune with the current zeitgeist” but this card reminds me that it’s also possible to be TOO in tune with the current zeitgeist. I do think there’s some truth to the idea that social media encourages groupthink. Sometimes there’s a sense of fear that I’ll say something which isn’t phrased in the right way or which is out of step with what folks have decided is the “correct” opinion and in turn I will be exiled.

I mean, don’t get me wrong, I’m all for calling out problematic shit and being open to evolving my mindset, but it doesn’t ALWAYS feel like that’s what’s happening on social media. Through selective attention, I can discern what opinions actually ring true to me. Through selective attention, I can let information move through my own unique processing mechanisms, and express things in a way that is authentic to Who I Am. Not just a regurgitation of prepackaged viewpoints from infographics on Instagram.

Anyyyywaaayyyy… I’ll leave this there for now because this is another thing there’s already eight million think pieces about and it’s not something I want to go further into at this moment.

The point here, is even though it does take a lot of resolve to be more selective in my attention (like how much strength it must take this person to hold up those two swords) I’ll be more available to the Wholeness of the World if I take on this advice.

I have to say, seeing the Empress in the Generate position is a delightful synchronicity, since the Empress IS generative (“capable of producing and creating” via dictionary).

Sidenote: why do I keep inserting definitions? No real reason, just vibing with it today.

What I’m noticing the most right now is just how…comfortable the Empress is in their own skin, and their environment. The Empress isn’t trying to impress anyone or jump through hoops for recognition. The Empress is simply and gloriously embodied in who she is. She shows what is available to me: a calm, grounded authenticity.

Much like the World, the Empress is a return to form. I have experienced phases where I did feel embodied, where I did feel grounded and authentic. And the Empress is here like “yeah. That’s your birthright. Let that memory move through you. Do that selective attention thing and come back to this.” Then I join her, and to take this all full circle, I move forward “making choices that honor (my) authenticity rather than (my) dutifullness.” 

Well, that was a journey. Thank you if you made it this far with me, I really do appreciate it. I hesitate to promise more consistency in my blogs/newsletters because it seems every time I promise that I fall short. But I will say that as attested to by this spread, I am finally feeling like I have more to say. So perhaps you’ll hear from me again sooner rather than later. Until then, take good care.


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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.

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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.
peeking out of the cave

peeking out of the cave

Hullo! A few bits and pieces to share today. Starting with some musings on the cards I drew this morning for myself from the Spacious Tarot, the Hermit and the Explorer of Pentacles.

I jotted down some quick notes on this pair in my morning pages (and also shared them on Instagram):

Going places and doing things alone can be quite satisfying. The solitary path is expansive and centering. Having the space to find your own way forward – without rushing or conforming – is a gift. So take the long way around. Sometimes your own slow scenic route is exactly what your soul and body need.

As the day went on I kept thinking back to this draw and some additional messages came to the surface. Most notably, I kept thinking about the order: The Hermit, then the Explorer of Pentacles. Visually, it’s almost like the bear has been in hibernation and is now venturing into the wider landscape. Which is pretty fitting for how I’ve been feeling lately, slowly doing a few more “normal” things like going to bars and seeing friends and family now that myself and many of my loved ones are fully vaccinated.

Visually, the bear is on the edge of the card closest to the Hermit, so it’s like she’s just peeking out of that Hermit cove. Juuuuust starting to move slowly into what might be out there. In her own time, at her own pace.

A thing I’ve thought a lot about over the past year is: what aspects of ‘normal’ do I not WANT to go back to? In what ways do I want to sprawl out not into the way things were, but the way things will be? It’s something I’m now slowly figuring out through direct experience.

Another question I’ve been mulling over – maybe kind of related to all this – is what do I want to share with the world, and what do I want to just be mine? This is part of why it’s been a while since I wrote a more personal, chatty post like this.

Most of what I’ve shared online over the past few months has been more directly tarot related – like all those Instagram lives I did about reading reversals, court cards, and spread creation (all of which are available on my IGTV). In a way it feels safer to be in ‘teacher mode’ and not sharing so much of my own journey. I think it’s good to have boundaries.

But I also do miss doing more of this type of thing, just rambling, talking about my personal tarot draws and my existential angst and such. So maybe (probably) I will continue to share a mixture of things. Cuz boundaries are good, but vulnerability is good too. I can have both, and you can too.

Alright! From here, I want to share more about a few exciting things I’ve got on the horizon.

The Witch City Tarot + Divination Gathering is happening virtually this year, which in a way is a really good thing because it means you can attend from anywhere in the world. Happening July 23-25, learn more or get a weekend pass here.

I’m looking forward to my presentation, titled ‘Telling a New Story With Tarot.’ And I’m really looking forward to the whole line up of amazing presenters, ranging in scope from tarot deck creation to herbalism to ritual to the creative process. Eventually the fine folks organizing this event will have the option to buy tickets for individual presentations if you just want to see mine, but honestly they’re all going to be great and you can buy a full weekend pass right now so probably you should just do that, I say! Support weird, wild, independent witchery.

Annie are still in the midst of creating the Spacious Tarot Expansion Pack. Here’s me holding a mockup of the Gemini card… UGH I’m so excited and also nervous for this project.

If you haven’t heard, let me tell you more about this. One of my personal favorite decks, the now out of print Spolia Tarot, took inspiration from an older cartomancy system called Minchiate. While related to tarot, Minchiate packs contained additional cards for the four elements, twelve zodiac signs, and classic virtues.

Our Spacious Tarot expansion pack is an homage to these older decks and will contain 22 cards: the elements + zodiac signs, and instead of depicting the classic virtues we will have cards that reflect modern values and the vibe of the Spacious Tarot. The expansion pack can be mixed right in and used along side the tarot deck, or can be kept separate and used kind of like an oracle deck.

We hope to release the expansion pack before the end of this year, but we’ll see how that goes! Gotta trust the pace of the creative process (and not to mention the production process, once we reach that point).

I have to say, creating the zodiac cards has been quite daunting for me. I love astrology, but every time I’ve tried to get serious about learning it more in depth I get overwhelmed and give up. Thankfully my friend Shonna recommended Steven Forrest’s book ‘The Inner Sky’ and it’s really helped so many things click into place for me.

Here’s what I shared about our Gemini card on The Spacious Tarot Instagram, inspired by what I’ve learned from Steven Forrest:

Gemini energy is communicative yet scattered, always in motion. In awe of the variety of life.

Gemini notices details…like the feathers here…but may be challenged to contextualize bits and bobs into a coherent whole.

Gemini is effervescent and always inquiring. Gifted in unraveling layers of lofty ideas, yet prone to flights of fancy.

Exemplifying curiosity, Gemini is the gift of perceiving that which might otherwise go right over your head.

I’m still a little nervous about sharing more of these cards, but I’m also grateful for this creative challenge, and I’m very pleased to finally be deepening my astrology knowledge. I hereby officially upgrade myself from Astrology n00b to Astrology beginner.

Another big ‘behind the scenes’ thing happening with Spacious Creations is we are officially hiring a fulfillment center to take over the shipping process. This doesn’t change anything for our customers, but is a pretty huge change for me as I’ve been doing allllllll the shipping out of my back bedroom ever since we launched the deck. The transition is still a few months away but I’m already looking forward to having more time to work on creative projects and less time hunched over folding, labeling and sorting boxes.

Mostly, Annie and I are both GRATEFUL that the initial tarot deck has been so well received, grateful to have help with the arduous task of shipping, and grateful that we’re now able to focus on making something new.

And one more note before we wrap up the journey of this post: I’m still open for tarot reading sessions and I actually have quite a lot of availability in June. Let’s explore some cards together? All the booking info is here.

That’s it for now. Thanks for being here! Oh and hey, happy PRIDE month! Take good care and seek joy because you deserve it. See ya next time.

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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.

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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 4 Styles of Reading Tarot: a free workshop

I recently hosted a free workshop on Instagram live, ‘The 4 Styles of Reading Tarot.’ Here’s the replay, in case you missed it on Instagram!


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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.

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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 3 Best Books For Tarot Beginners

So! I finally made a video I’ve been thinking about making for, like, ever – sharing my three favorite books for tarot beginners and WHY I chose the books that I did.
Although I really focused this video on books I think would be great for beginners, all three of these are still books I reference a lot. I honestly think they’re great for readers of any experience level.

You’re welcome to comment on the video if you wanna share some of YOUR fave books for tarot newbies, as well. 🙂

In somewhat related news…

After being closed for quite a while, my mentoring services are finally available again. If you feel called to some one-on-one guidance for developing your own tarot practice, mentoring is a great option. Or maybe you are looking to level up in business and could use a grounded chat with a more seasoned entrepreneur. Whatever you’re looking for in a mentorship, you + I will customize the focus areas of our sessions to fit your unique situation. Details are here.

Begin or deepen your tarot studies with
Foundational Tarot, my free video course!
Join the email list for instant access.


 

Hi, I'm Carrie!

I'm a tarot reader and mentor.
My purpose is to encourage your expansion. If you're new, start here.

Archives

Creative Commons License
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 of the Holy Spectrum Walkthrough

Tarot of the Holy Spectrum Walkthrough

I got a new deck, Tarot of the Holy Spectrum, and the second I opened it I knew I needed to do a walkthrough video to note some of my initial impressions. Click here to watch!

I talk about this in the video, but this is an indie deck I came across on Instagram a while back, and by the time I got around to thinking about purchasing it, the first edition was already sold out. Luckily there’s now a second edition, which is what I have here. You’d think as an indie deck creator myself this would be a lesson I’d learned by now: when you see an indie deck you vibe with, buy it immediately, if you can! Because you never know when they may be gone.

Tarot of the Holy Spectrum was created by Chase Voorhees. Chase is married to Lindsay Mack, whom I became acquainted with about a year ago when she reached out to Annie & I with some wonderful praise about our deck, the Spacious Tarot. Through our brief email exchanges, Lindsay and I discovered some very cool synchronicities in how we view tarot. It’s an honor knowing Lindsay has and admires the Spacious Tarot, and now I have and admire Chase’s deck. He includes a note sharing his gratitude to Lindsay, as her thoughts have greatly informed his process.

The deck is inspired by the Rider-Waite-Smith, but brings some fresh energy and new takes on the cards as well. It doesn’t come with a guidebook, giving you lots of room to feel into your own interpretations of the imagery. Of course, you should really just watch the video to hear more and see every card! But here’s a little peek + some additional things I noticed after filming the video.

The first thing you’ll notice about this deck is the use of color. The major arcana is somewhat reminiscent of the Wild Unknown, featuring primarily black and white with strategic splashes of color. The minor arcana cards each have their own color spectrum that unfolds throughout the suit.

It was only after filming the video I realized many of the major arcana cards seem to feature the same character. In particular, I see a story unfolding from The Tower to Awakening (the retitled version of Judgement).

A few favorites from the minor arcana. The card stock is a beautiful matte (already covered in my fingerprints, but beautiful nonetheless) with a black core that lets the colors really pop. In choosing favorites, I definitely gravitate towards those that most deviate from the RWS tradition.

Out of my own collection, this deck reminds me most of my beloved Hayworth Tarot. They both have a surreal style that I really love. I talk about this in the video too: they’re two of the only decks with humans I’ve been able to connect with lately. Apparently I connect best with human figures if they are somewhat abstract.

And a couple more majors I love. The Magician has this energetic thread from the lemniscate (above) channeled through their body and hands and into the four tools (below). Red works well here, the color of primal power, reminiscent of the red roses and red robe in the RWS Magician.

I love this Death card, and that’s saying something, because there’s actually not many Death cards I really love! We have the skeleton, obviously, but what I really like is how it is curled up in the fetal position. And the plant life around it almost looks like a sort of womb. A connection to the fact that Death and rebirth and intricately linked.

The colors on the Seven of Pentacles are just *heart eye emoji*, and it reads perfectly. The Three of Wands is a good example of one of the many cards that draw upon RWS imagery but still have a distinct personality. The Four of Swords has a sort of creepy vibe with those headstones, but I love it – it’s one of the ones that reminds me the most of the vibe of the Hayworth deck. There’s an echo on the imagery of the Four of Pentacles – not quite sure what to make of that but I do like them both.
Although I obviously love the deck overall, there’s a handful of cards I don’t feel quite the immediate connection to – some of them are pictured above. There’s a number of court cards I’m not as fond of, though to be honest, I’m not as fond of the court cards in MOST of my decks. Then there’s a couple like the Devil and the Five of Swords that point me to a really specific interpretation of the card so I need to think about how I can expand my views of them. And then there’s a few like the Five of Wands that I’m just not quite sure what I’m even looking at.

I’m sure I’ll get to the point where I can work with ALL the cards. Some will just take a little more exploration and curiosity.

So there you have it! Some initial reflections on a deck I’m sure I’ll be turning to a lot in the future, Tarot of the Holy Spectrum. You can purchase the deck here and watch my full walkthrough video here.


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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.

Archives

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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.
Four of Swordsing

Four of Swordsing

Sometimes a similar message comes at you from a bunch of different sources at once. The mystical part of me thinks this is part of how the universe communicates with us. Probably because the universe knows we humans tend to resist slowing down, listening and noticing. So instead of just telling us once it has to tell the same thing multiple times, in slightly different ways, until we get it.

That’s what’s been happening for me with Four of Swordsing lately.

I guess it started when I was writing Dreams & Themes for 2021 and the Four of Swords was one of the cards that came up for January’s collective reading.

Not long after that, I came across the Nap Ministry on Instagram – they offer reflections around rest as resistance to white supremacy and capitalism.

And just yesterday, I was listening to an episode of On Being featuring Katherine May, author of a book called Wintering, about holding space for the fallow seasons of life, during both literal and metaphoric winters.

image credit: @north (Instagram)

Just this morning someone DM’d me the above photo saying it reminded them of The Spacious Tarot. When I clicked over to see more from the photographer, @mikkolagersted, below was the most recent photo on their feed…

I mean…wow! This took my breath away with how much it looks even MORE like the Spacious Tarot. I love it.

Here where I live, in the land currently known as Utah, we’ve had drizzling snow flurries for a few days now. So in many ways, Four of Swordsy messages are presenting themselves to me. Synchronicities abound.

My keywords for this card are reprieval and contemplation. In the guidebook for the Spacious Tarot I wrote that this card is “a disengagement from the go, go, go mentality of the dominant culture.” Swords are associated with the mental realm, so naturally they have to do with learning. But they also have to do with unlearning.

The concept of ‘unlearning’ is something I’ve seen coming up in wider and wider circles lately, and I love welcoming this notion into a mainstream conversation. So many things I’ve learned personally – and so many things we’ve learned collectively – are harmful, superficial, destructive, outdated and tired.

Part of the lesson of the Four of Swords is unlearning the story that being constantly “productive” is indicative of your worth. It’s particularly challenging when we do exist within broader systems that still push this narrative. But it gives me hope to see so many people questioning this concept and moving into new narratives. New narratives, fuck yeah!

There’s an interesting nuance in how I’ve been thinking about the Four of Swords lately. It’s a four, and fours have broader themes of stability. But in any deck (and of course, particularly in the Spacious Tarot) this card has always felt expansive to me. This card doesn’t symbolize a fixed mental state – which would be a perfectly reasonable interpretation when combining the suit and element. No, the Four of Swords symbolizes a centered mental state.

So a question to ask yourself: what does it mean to you to be centered? What centers you? Are you truly valuing those things? Are the things that once served you in this capacity still effective? How can you carve out more space for yourself and others to become centered? And how can you engage with these questions not from a place of rushing to find an answer, not from a place of pressuring yourself, but from a place of gentle openness?

That idea of gentle openness and expansiveness is essential. I love the vast, snowy landscape on the Spacious Tarot version of this card (and the photographs shared above too). There’s room here for your mind to wander. Meander. Drift, as snow drifts. All of this drifting is not aimless. On the contrary, it is necessary for the kind of deep processing and centering we are called to personally and collectively.

In a conversation with a client recently, we talked about the fact that snow is quiet. Snow actually absorbs sound waves, so when there’s a blanket of snow on the ground, the noise level literally drops. I love this as a metaphor for dialing down the static and attuning more acutely to subtle messages within and around you. Listening is a integral part of Four of Swordsing.

And one more loose connection to draw for now. I think there’s some tie ins here to the last post I wrote about the Hierophant and belief systems. I wrote “no matter how rigid belief systems or societal norms seem, there’s always the potential for them to disintegrate and take new shapes.” I think some of the Four of Swords explorations above support those reflections on the Hierophant.

Wishing you spaciousness + centeredness for your own Four of Swordsing,


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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.

Archives

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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.
Bridges & beliefs w/the Hierophant

Bridges & beliefs w/the Hierophant

Greetings from where I’m plopped on the floor, in front of the biggest windows in my house, enjoying this sunny January day. Lulu’s sleeping next to me. I’ve got a cuppa the herbal tea I’m really into lately (Little Bear from Metolius tea: pear, lavender, lemongrass, ginger, and vanilla blended over green and red rooibos). Oh, and I’ve got a lavender-sage candle lit, handmade by someone I’ve known via the tarot community for years (the Cackling Moon). Lo-fi beats are playing on Spotify (my top genre of 2020, and 5 days in I’m already predicting it’ll be right up there for 2021 too).

It’s a pretty good vibe. That’s something I’ve always been into – creating a good vibe. But during 2020 it became a lifeline, basically. Gotta have time to integrate and reconnect so that you can show up fully for…well…the whole spectrum of reality.

Anywhooo…

We’re gonna talk a little about the Hierophant today. I don’t have a particular plan here, just a meander that I hope will be at all interesting.

A while back I wrote a post on 2020 being an Emperor year and now we’re in 2021 which is a Hierophant year, in theory. As I mentioned in the last post, this isn’t a concept I have particularly strong beliefs on or convictions in, it’s just something interesting to think about. I think we could find connections to any card in the deck during any year but this type of thing gives some focus.

That’s actually a great segue into talking about the Hierophant since this card is all about belief systems! 😀

Imagine my “HMMMM!” reaction when I sat down on January 1 for my very first daily draw of 2021 and pulled The Hierophant from the Hayworth Tarot (a deck I fell madly in love with during 2020).

Here’s what I wrote:

This Hierophant from the Hayworth Tarot seems like a bogey man with his surreal face and hands up like “boo.” A lot of people dislike the Hierophant as its imagery often evokes traditional religious iconography. But to me, the core of this card is about belief systems and societal structures.

Yes those things can be scary and stifling and controlling, but ultimately they are human constructs. No matter how rigid belief systems or societal norms seem, there’s always the potential for them to disintegrate and take new shapes.

We’ve already been seeing the process of old, rigid traditions starting to unravel. Some people will choose to double down and do anything to reinstate the fading bogeyman, but he’s fading anyhow.

Hopefully during 2021 our belief systems can become even more fluid and inquisitive. Less about doubling down on old answers and more open. Less about dogma and hierarchy and more about creating space for everyone to find their own path.

Even though I was referring to the imagery in the Hayworth Tarot there, a few people commented and told me the imagery in the Spacious Tarot (first pic in this message) has helped them really connect to the Hierophant. One person said “I love that you say it’s open and everyone finding their own path. This is EXACTLY how I read The Hierophant in the Spacious Tarot. It’s solid, but there’s space for every individual structure. Everyone gets their time in the sun. The shadows cast change as the season/sun changes and moves.”

Can I just say one of the most amazing things about creating your own deck is hearing other people’s insights on the imagery??!?! I love it.

In older decks this card was known as the Pope. Arthur Edward Waite changed the name, noting “he has been usually called the Pope, which is a particular application of the more general office that he symbolizes.” So the card became the Hierophant, a word connected to Eleusinian Mystery rituals of ancient Greece.

I suppose there may be a tie in here to the imagery we chose for the Spacious Tarot. I can only imagine the Eleusian Mysteries were evocative to Waite and his fancy secret society because they are…well…mysteries. We know some about what happened in these rituals, but there’s a lot of room for projecting your own imagination here (partly because participants in them were sworn to secrecy punishable by death).

Stone circles appeared in a number of places around the world and due to the effort it would have taken to create them, we can assume they were important, even sacred places. But we do not know exactly how they were used. Again, we have some information, but much is left to be filled in by imagination and intuition. It’s a paradigm shift from the Pope imagery which might imply being told what to believe, and into the opportunity to develop your own unique beliefs.

Any way you look at it, I think it helps not to get too hung up on just the religious/spiritual aspects of the Hierophant. The way I learned tarot (shout out to Joan Bunning) this card is about belief systems in general, it can relate to education, and also has an overarching theme of group identity.

All of this obviously can operate in very shadowy ways. People can get so caught up in any belief system that they commit extreme acts or refuse to even consider things that challenge their worldview. People can get so fixated on their group identity that they shun or even harm those who don’t conform to it. One of my hopes for 2021, as it relates to the Hierophant, is that as a collective we maybe start doing a better job navigating the shadow aspects of the Hierophant, because they continue to cause us a lot of problem and it would be great if we could get a little more adept here. There’s more to the Hierophant than the shadow for sure, but we’re unwise to ignore the shadow here or anywhere.

Hoo boy. There’s really SO MUCH MORE to say about all of this, so perhaps I’ll write some more about the Hierophant as the year progresses. I think for now, the last thing I want to touch on is the connection between the Hierophant and the Emperor. These cards do have some overlapping themes. In 78 Degrees of Wisdom Rachel Pollack says:

“…we can see the Hierophant as a companion to the Emperor. The word ‘pope’ means ‘father’, and like the Roman Emperor the Pope is seen as a wise father guiding his children. Together, they share responsibility for humanity, the one providing physical needs, the other guiding spirutual growth.”

And then there’s this great insight from Alejandro Jodorowsky:

“The Pope bears the number 5. This number has evolved from a complete foundation in reality (the number 4) to acquire an objective beyond its position. The Pope takes one more step than the Emperor, he establishes a bridge that makes it possible to proceed towards this ideal.”

So that’s another powerful, Hierophant-inspired hope for 2021: may this be a year of finding bridges and beliefs that move us closer to an ideal.


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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.

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Header art from The Spacious Tarot illustrated by Annie Ruygt

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