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7 thoughts on the Seven of Cups
Bottom row: Way of the Panda Tarot, RWS, Wild Unknown, Hayworth Tarot
Sometimes a card just won’t stop showing up for you until you expand your perception and look at it in a different way. Right now for me, that card is the Seven of Cups.
No matter what deck I use, the Seven of Cups has come up in a looooooot of my personal daily draws lately. It’s also shown up in quite a few client readings the past couple weeks, so I don’t think it’s just me. There’s something collective going on here, too.
I do have some knowing of why this card is coming up frequently for me on a personal level. I’m an empathic, feeling person to begin with, and there’s a fair amount of water in my chart. And ho boy, have I been feeling a loooot of feelings the past two weeks, on every level.
Collectively, there’s the continuing discussions around police brutality and white supremacy. Personally, I’ve been continuing to do my own inner + outer work around this, including ‘breaking up’ with my favorite band due to their unacceptable behavior around these issues (I talked a little more about this on Instagram if you’re curious).
And of course, we’re still in the midst of a pandemic, and now I have a family member facing health issues, and my birthday’s coming up and I’m dealing with emotions around aging and my body changing, and we just launched pre-orders for the second edition of The Spacious Tarot which is super exciting but also a little overwhelming, and…yeah. That’s kind of a nutshell summary. Suffice it to say that I’m aware of my privilege and I’m still grateful in so many ways, but I have to acknowledge that I have been somewhat bewildered lately.
And bewilderment is one of the key words I think about with the Seven of Cups, so here we are!
When I began this post, I mentioned the need to expand your perception when a card shows up again and again. This is particularly important for those of us who have been reading tarot for a while. It’s easy to fall back on the tried and true meanings you’ve developed for the cards. But each card truly has an infinite spectrum of meanings, and if a card keeps showing up again and again, it may be time to find new tunnels down the rabbit hole.
So because the internet was made for lists, here are seven different insights I’ve been considering about the Seven of Cups.
1. Bewilderment can be constructive OR destructive.
What does it mean to be bewildered? The dictionary says “lost, perplexed or confused; a complicated or confusing condition.” Sometimes when you are bewildered, you freeze in place like the silhouette on the RWS version. Your brain and body and heart can feel like they’re stalling out when you’re presented with stuff you don’t know how to assimilate. Facing uncharted emotional territory can be flat out disorienting and scary. This is the destructive side of bewilderment.
But here’s the constructive part: bewilderment can mean reconnecting with your own sacred wildness. Bewilderment can mean fully accepting that life is a very weird, strange, and nonsensical experience. This is what makes life LIFE! Our rational minds resist this, and most of us have been taught that our rational mind is to be valued above all other aspects of ourselves. But in reality, the non-rational part of yourself may actually be crying out to experience bewilderment. We like to pretend we are separate from the wilderness, but we are the wilderness. Embracing bewilderment is how magic begins.
2. There is a difference between dreaming and pretending.
This is a line from a Jewel song that has always stuck with me, and it’s a line I do think about a lot when I see the Seven of Cups. This is actually pretty in line with a fairly standard view of this card: it can be about beautiful fantasies that uplift and inspire you, or it can be about deluding yourself.
This view of the card has been particularly resonant with a few of my personal relationships lately. I have a tendency to see the good in people and I think I can be a little too quick to make excuses for other people’s bad behavior. This is pretending. Maya Angelou said “when someone tells you who they are, believe them.” This doesn’t mean there isn’t room for people to learn and evolve and do better, but I can’t be carried away by a fantasy that they are doing this unless there is actual evidence to support it.
3. You can and do feel many things at the same time.
I know this is stating the obvious, but it’s something we could all use a reminder of sometimes. There are blessed times when the answer to “how are you feeling?” is simple and succinct. But the Seven of Cups reminds us that sometimes the answer is, in the immortal words of Alanis Morissette, “I’m high but I’m grounded, I’m sane but I’m overwhelmed, I’m lost but I’m hopeful baby!” In these instances, the Seven of Cups can be a permission slip to just embrace the messiness and all-over-the-place-ness of your feelings instead of expecting yourself to be able to pin them down.
4. You don’t have to feel the way someone else feels.
With the world being in gestures widely the state that it is, it is natural that people have a LOT of strong feelings right now. I have a pattern of being a little too easily swayed by other people’s feelings, especially when their feelings are strong. Maybe it’s my Cancer Sun, maybe it’s because I’m an Empath, maybe it’s just the wiring of my brain. If someone gives a passionate explanation on their stance, I’m often like woah, that makes sense, I guess I should feel that way too! But then five minutes later, someone else gives a passionate explanation of the opposite stance and I’m like, oh well that makes sense too, I guess that’s how I feel! It’s a very Seven of Cups-y experience.
So lately I’m reminding myself to dig deeper into my own feelings. Sure, my feelings can and should be informed by other people’s lived experiences and knowledge. But ultimately, if I want to be authentic, I can’t just absorb someone else’s feelings on an issue and take them on as my own. My feelings need to come from my own heart, my own center, and it’s okay if I actually don’t feel the same way someone else does. It does not make their feelings, nor mine, any less valid if we are not 100% in synch.
5. Anchor yourself.
As I was laying out a bunch of different versions of the Seven of Cups for the photo above, it struck me that you can’t see the ground in any of these images. And of course we’re dealing with the suit of water here, which is always flowing and can sweep you right away if you’re not anchored. So when this card comes to visit, it can be helpful to do some good old fashioned grounding practices, like: go outside. Take off your shoes. Put your feet on the ground and FEEL that connection. Or to go with the water metaphor, envision yourself surrounded by all these watery, ungrounded cups. But then envision an anchor. Maybe you still bob around, but you don’t lose your connection to something solid.
6. Don’t drown it out.
When I began learning tarot, part of how I understood the Seven of Cups was turning to things that are actually poison and expecting them to be medicine. This is something that’s been a recurring lesson for me. When emotions are running high I do sometimes try to drown them out with things that are actually not nourishing for me. These things might provide a temporary distraction or relief, but ultimately they leave me feeling worse than I did to begin with.
So I try to remind myself to discern between actual medicine and poison disguised as medicine. What are the practices and activities that truly make you feel better, and how can you embrace those?
7. Feelings are not facts.
One of the shadowy aspects of identifying as an empath or a highly sensitive person is that you may sometimes treat feelings as facts. But feelings are not facts. Feelings can offer great guidance, to be sure. Emotional intelligence is very important and often overlooked. But feelings don’t always tell the whole story.
Because of this, the Seven of Cups can remind you to question your feelings. Ask yourself: here I am in this weird Seven of Cups place. What would my inner Queen of Swords say? How can I appeal to my rational powers, not to minimize or negate my feelings, but to fill in the gaps of information that may not be accessible through feelings alone?
And there you have it, a few somewhat discombobulated thoughts on a card that is all about discombobulation. I hope that they were at least somewhat interesting! Leave a comment and tell me about it if so.
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I am part of Amazon's associate program. If you purchase items linked in this site I will receive a small kick-back.
Where are the answers?
There’s a meme going around that says “I don’t understand, but I stand” which I guess sums this up. I will never understand, but it is my task as a white person to do the inner work AND outer work to dismantle white supremacy. I want to be an ally, but I also want to get out of the way and listen to Black leaders as they reimagine what the way forward looks like.
I have always believed these things, but have not said them enough or taken enough action. It should not take a high profile event like the murder of George Floyd to get us white people to pay attention to the many, many forms that racism takes in our society.
I don’t have the answers. I am not the voice anyone should be listening to right now. I am a tarot reader, I am not an expert on social justice. I’m a white girl from Utah. I do not have lived experience of the hurt and pain and injustice black people in this country face every day. Later in this message I will share more of my thoughts not because I have authority, but because staying silent is not the answer. White people can’t stay silent, but we also can’t keep centering ourselves in this conversation.
On Instagram this week, I have been following the #amplifymelanatedvoices movement started by @jessicawilson.msrd and @blackandembodied. The idea is for white people to put themselves on mute “to center the voices and experiences of people of color.”
There are SO many Black people and POC sharing resources, perspectives and action items all over social media. If you’re a white person and aren’t already doing so, check out the #amplifymelanatedvoices hashtag to listen and learn. Just a few people I respect greatly (in addition to the two founders of the hashtag) are @mooredarnell, @iamrachelricketts and @ijeomaoluo. I would be remiss not to mention that many Black leaders have Venmo or other ways we can pay them as a tangible way to show gratitude for their presence.
And if you’re a white person still looking for ways to help, here is just one article with many ideas to consider and then act on. We all have unique ways to be of service and there is no one right answer as to what is best for you to do. Keep sitting with this question (how can I be of service?) and then taking action, then sitting with the question again, then more action. We’re always learning and it is messy, and that’s okay.
As white people, it is valuable for us to set aside our egos and defensiveness and focus on what really matters: creating real positive change and offering solidarity to our fellow human beings. I know I have found myself expending energy on things that really aren’t helpful: the fire hose of social media, my own feelings, etc. There’s shadow work for me to do, and maybe for you as well. Wasting energy in these ways is a huge challenge. We need to just keep reminding ourself to focus on doing things that are truly useful. This message brought to you by my Virgo Moon.
Here’s a thing maybe some of you are thinking: why does Carrie keep addressing “white people” and “black people” separately? Aren’t we one united human race?
Well, yes. And no. Let’s talk about that, especially as spiritual people.
Scientists believe that 13.7 billion years ago, the big bang happened and the universe began to expand. You, me, everything and everyone on this planet has the same origin, we all came from that cosmic burst. In the bigger picture, we’re all family. In a biological sense, there is very little that differentiates us aside from the amount of melanin in our skin. We are, in fact, one united human race. This is the core of many spiritual belief systems. We are one. I absolutely believe this both from a scientific and a spiritual standpoint.
But in a social, cultural and historic sense, there are still many things that differentiate us. As a white person in America, I have privilege. This doesn’t mean I should feel guilty or defensive. This doesn’t mean I don’t ever experience real struggles. It only means the challenges I face are not compounded by the color of my skin. As a spiritual person, I believe in acknowledging this and then considering what I’m going to do about it. Using spiritual beliefs to avoid confronting the very real differences people face based on the color of their skin is what some people call spiritual bypassing.
If you believe (as I do) that We Are One, instead of using this belief as a way to deflect from examining issues of race and privilege, consider how this belief inspires you to create an outer world that affirms this truth.
This is a tarot spread I put together earlier this week to help gather my own thoughts. I decided to share it on Instagram. I will paste the caption I wrote with this post:
“Black lives matter. Here is a tarot spread that may be helpful to white people (myself being one) continuing to sort out how to be a more effective ally. I am sure there are better spreads out there created by folks with more knowledge and experience on this topic than myself, but this is just one I put together to guide me in sorting out my thoughts.
I will share some of what I got from my own spread. These are raw thoughts which may be messy, but everyone says we (white people) need to do the work even when it is messy and makes us uncomfortable and I strongly agree.
Racism is engrained in the structure of America, and if we don’t constantly make efforts to change the trajectory, the trajectory continues. Racist practices are so embedded in my country that some white people just think of them as normal, just the way things are. We need to be vigilant, notice, and constantly make efforts to change the trajectory.
White privilege is also so “normal” to white people that we have to remind ourselves and others what it is. White privilege means being able to wear a hoodie or go jogging or write a check without fear of being murdered.
Part of my personal inner work right now is acknowledging that many of the good things I enjoy in life are not “blessings” because I’m special, but are the result of luck due to the color of my skin. Like the meme that’s done the rounds, maybe you manifested it, maybe it’s white privilege.
For my outer work, the strongest message I got was consciously moving out of defensiveness. My energy, and really the energy of all white people, is wasted when we use it up defending white people. That is energy that can and should be spent supporting black people. Personally I will continue to donate what I can to black-led organizations.
Finally, the cards asked me to remember that empowering one group of people ultimately means empowering humanity as a whole. When resources and creative energy and power are accessible to everyone, things are better for us all.”
Most of the feedback I received on this spread was positive. A few people did the spread for themselves and tagged me to share that it was of value to them. Alongside the positive feedback was one thoughtful but critical comment from someone who believed it was exploitative of me to share this. It was something worth considering, and I really did appreciate the feedback. Was it exploitative of me to share this? That’s a question with no one answer. There will be different opinions. I hesitated sharing the spread again here because of this comment, but ultimately it is something I already shared publicly and so you can determine if this spread would be useful for you or not. Part of being a white person trying to sort through all this is setting aside defensiveness and continuing to listen, as I said in the post itself.
A bit of a side tangent: earlier today, I took a small peek at Facebook. The top post in my feed was from one of the biggest tarot sites on the internet, sharing a spread pretty similar to this one I created. There were hundreds of comments and I couldn’t help but read through some of them. I went into it wondering if people would be calling the spread exploitive, like the comment I received. Although there were many angry comments, I didn’t see any that were angry for that reason. No, this thread was full of angry white people who don’t believe that white privilege is real, and/or don’t think a tarot account should talk about “politics.”
First of all: see the section above about spiritual bypassing. And second, caring about black lives is not a political issue, it’s a human rights issue. I am glad that in my (relatively small) sphere of reach, I don’t seem to have attracted this type of toxicity, but I am sad it exists anywhere in the tarot world.
Okay, back on track. Earlier, I talked about focusing on being useful. Perhaps it isn’t much, but I believe one small way I can be useful is by sharing my thoughts on tarot. That’s another thing I said earlier: I’m not an expert on social justice, but I am a tarot reader. For me, tarot is one of the most powerful ways I have found to increase my inner awareness AND direct my outward actions. Do I believe I can simply do a tarot spread and then move on with my life? Absolutely not. I need to take tangible, real world action, again and again. But do I believe tarot can help inspire me to create real change both within myself and the world? Absolutely yes. You may believe differently, and that is okay.
There’s SO MUCH MORE we could talk about in response to the question of what role tarot has in this conversation. For a few years now, there’s been an ongoing discussion about white people being centered in tarot decks and in the tarot community. The tarot community is diverse, but for too long whiteness has been centered in our decks and in our community. In recent years, deck creators have been paying more attention to this but we still have a long way to go. Especially those of us who are white/and or deck creators (like me!), we need to create more space for BIPOC deck creators and tarot readers.
A few places to start:
-A big thank you to Asali Earthwork for creating this Twitter thread sharing Black tarot deck creators!
-The Black Gold Lenormand centers on Black American traditions and is live on Kickstarter for a couple more days here.
-A few incredible Black tarot readers I follow on Instagram: @kialagives, @worthytarot, @mavenunmasked, @siobhansmirror, @tara.nikita. There are more being shared in this post from @thetarotlady.
If you have stuck with me through this long message, thank you for being here. There is always more to say, and as I mentioned earlier, it has to be ongoing, not just when it’s relevant to today’s news. I am not an expert and you shouldn’t just listen to me, but I will try to keep using my voice and doing what I can. If you have thoughts or feedback to share with me, please leave a comment.
Whoever you are, wherever you are, know that I am wishing you connection, peace and joy. There are no easy answers. We need all kinds of skills, talents and perspectives to move forward. Thank you for being here. Let’s stay focused on what matters, always.
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Foundational Tarot, a free video course!
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.
Decoding the Celtic Cross
For better or worse, this was the first spread I learned when I began studying tarot. Mostly for worse, because this spread truly is a beast. Ten cards is a lot to grapple with when you’re a beginner! It was a bit like diving into the deep end before I’d learned to dog paddle. Due to memories of my own overwhelm when I was a beginner, when I’m teaching tarot I advise starting with smaller, three card spreads. But when you’re ready for it, the Celtic Cross can be a great source of insights and illumination!
Up until recently, it had actually been a year or two since I’d laid out a Celtic Cross at all. Not because I still shy away from bigger spreads, but because I got into a groove of custom-creating most of the spreads I used for clients. But within the past month, I’ve found myself returning to the Celtic Cross and using it for nearly all the client readings I’ve done lately!
This is mainly because I’ve been working through the book “Tarot For Your Self” by Mary K Greer. I’ve already gushed about this book a time (or two or three!) lately, but it can’t be said enough: what a great book. It is a classic for a reason. I still can’t believe it took me this long to get it, especially as I’ve been a great fan of Mary K Greer for a long time. She is a legend whose work really paved the way for what tarot has become in the modern world.
Fangirling aside, there’s a section in this book all about the Celtic Cross, and that’s what inspired me to return to this spread. There’s some fascinating info about the history and symbolism of the spread, and several variations on the spread positions. This was my favorite part, because although the Celtic Cross has retained a pretty specific shape and form over time, different people interpret the positions in slightly different ways.
I can’t for the life of me find this now, but I once heard someone (Joan Bunning, maybe?) compare casting a Celtic Cross to making a time-honored soup recipe that has been passed down from generation to generation. The idea being that things like soup or tarot spreads that have been made again and again gain a certain energy around them. We each bring our own flavors to the process, and also benefit from all the flavors that have built up over time.
So, what I’m going to share with you now is the way I interpret the spread positions in the Celtic Cross. Many of the positions are straight from the original, but I do have a few adjustments that I’ve found work better for my reading style. If it speaks to you, give it a try! I’ll also offer a few tips to help you get the most depth of meaning when working with this spread.
How to read the Celtic Cross
The image above gives a quick reference, but a more detailed understanding of the positions is helpful, so let’s take a closer look!
First up: do you need to ask a question when you lay out a Celtic Cross? It’s up to you, but I’ve found this spread is very versatile. When reading for myself, I rarely come in with a specific question, but I do usually have a specific focus area I want to explore. Having a focus area in mind is always helpful in giving context to your cards. But if you feel called to, you could also keep it totally open ended and simply trust that whatever messages you most need right now will come through.
The way I read cards 1 & 2 is fairly similar to traditional methods. Card one speaks to overarching themes or major lessons that are important to consider at this time. For me, card two offers more information about card one. Card two gives additional context to card one and often helps me hone in on the more subtle messages of the first card. These two cards are the heart of the spread, every other card usually relates back to these two in some way.
My view of cards 3 & 5 is also pretty traditional. Card three delves into unconscious influences. Often these are things you are completely unaware of on the surface level, although perhaps they have been seeping into your dreams or meditations. I find this spread position particularly helpful, because clarifying your unconscious influences and bringing them further into your conscious awareness is a key to transformation. Card five represents conscious influences, typically these are things you’re already aware of but perhaps need to consider in greater depth or from new angles.
Cards 4 & 6 are traditionally read as the past and the future. I have modified these to read as energy moving out, or what you need to release; and energy moving in, or what to focus on inviting in. This works better for me as it makes the reading feel less predictive and more empowering.
While all the cards within the spread “talk” to each other, there’s a particularly strong conversation between cards three and cards five, and cards four and six. As such, another useful tip is to really challenge yourself to consider how each card relates to the other card in its pair. What is the dynamic between these two cards? Do they compliment each other, or contrast each other?
As an example, in a recent client reading we had The Tower in position four (what to release) and The Eight of Pentacles in position six (what to bring in). These two had a particularly interesting dynamic because the Tower speaks to tearing something down, while the Eight of Pentacles is about building something up.
Card 7 I look at in a pretty traditional lens: this card speaks to your self-image. The stories you have about yourself in this moment, what traits you are most focused on within yourself, the beliefs about yourself that are most impactful right now. In my modification, card 8 goes along with card seven and offers another perspective on your self-image. This card is particularly helpful because in many instances our self-image is holding us back or not telling a complete story, so card eight opens up a bigger picture.
Card 9 is also traditional. I interpret this card as hopes, or fears, or both. Sometimes I intuitively sense it is speaking more to a hope, or sometimes more to a fear. But most often, I find it speaks to both as our hopes and fears are almost always interwoven.
Finally, I use another modification for card 10. Traditionally, this card represents the outcome. I was never really comfortable with that, because once again, I don’t really read predictively. I now use card ten as an opportunity for any closing messages or further advice to come through. I often find this card summarizes some of the key lessons that came in throughout the spread.
A few more tips for interpreting the Celtic Cross:
Give yourself plenty of time. As you experiment with this spread, you’ll get a feel of what that means for you. I am rarely able to get through this spread in less than 45 minutes. My client sessions are one hour long, and this is usually a good amount of time to do some in-depth exploration!
Begin by noticing overall patterns. This is actually a great way to begin any tarot reading, but especially a spread with lots of cards. Start by looking at the overall scope of the spread. What patterns do you notice? For example: is one suit more prominent? Are there more majors or minors? Do any colors or numbers stand out to you?
Relate everything back to the central two cards. I already mentioned this but it is worth repeating. These cards can serve as an anchor for you. Especially if you get thrown off on how to interpret any other card, it can help to ask yourself how it might relate back to the central cards.
Try spread variations to find what resonates with you. I’ve talked to a few people who soured on the Celtic Cross after trying only the “traditional” interpretations. Of course not every spread is for everyone, but before you totally kick this one to the curb, experiment with some modifications, or create your own modifications.
I hope something I’ve shared here is useful! If you have questions, comments or feedback, do share.
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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.
Connection + disengagement
I am sitting in my home office, next to the window, which doesn’t offer a lot of light at this moment. For one thing, clouds are meandering their way across the sky. For another thing, the tree right outside my window is in a spring growth spurt. New branches and leaves wildly sprawling this way and that. It’s windy (just like it was last week) so the tree – which of course IS a living thing – looks even more alive. Like it is wiggling its fingers and toes. Dancing.
As I write to you today, my intention is to share something that is valuable or at least mildly interesting. I don’t yet know what that will look like because I’m following a method described by Mary K Greer for writing from your heart with tarot.
So I was shuffling The Spacious Tarot and the Lovers reversed jumped right on out of the deck. This doesn’t happen to me too often, so I will usually pay attention when it does. It’s funny seeing the Lovers, this card of connection, when I have been feeling pretty lonely lately. I know a lot of us are lonely. Staying home more. Maybe not spending as much time around friends and family because we don’t want to unwillingly spread illness. Life in 2020.
Physical connection is sacred and we are wired to crave it. It’s hard not to have it, and that doesn’t just talking about sex. Even just the physical connection of like, sitting in a coffee shop chatting to a friend. Being in someone’s physical presence, being all up in their vibes and aura. It can’t really compare to interacting with someone from behind a screen. But we kind of can’t do a lot of that physical stuff right now.
Even before the whole social distancing thing, I had been thinking about people from my past who I’m no longer as connected to for whatever reason. It’s my Cancer Sun. I am emotionally clingy. Letting go is hard, sometimes feels impossible for me. I’m aware of it, and I accept it, and I try to let it come forward as a constructive trait even though it obviously has a shadowy side.
So, maybe you can relate to this feeling of missing someone but knowing that you have to be away from them. Either because of the pandemic so you know (hope?) it’s temporary but it’s still hard. Or maybe you’re away from them for another reason entirely, like your life paths just naturally drifted apart or you had a falling out or whatever the case is.
Leave it to me to go to the dark place when talking about THE LOVERS of all cards. But, y’know, every card has a whole spectrum of meanings. Our Lovers card has a dark background, after all. And love is god damn complicated. Sometimes you love someone even when it’s probably not ideal to do so and you feel weird about it and wish you didn’t.
Anyway, what I love the most about our depiction of the Lovers is that it’s about energy. Love and connection may be amplified when you’re able to connect with someone in the same time and place, but there are other ways to be together that challenge assumptions about the time space continuum. Anyone wanna hang out on the astral plane? Maybe you find some energetic closure with people from your past by visiting them in a dream or on the astral plane or writing a letter you may or may not ever send.
I think we could all do with sending out some love and light, whatever that means to you. Maybe you tell them someone you’re sending loving energy, maybe you do it quietly. I believe putting out love carries an impact any way you approach it.
I’ve now pulled another card and this time it’s Temperance. Soooo in a roundabout way, this card reminds me of something else I’ve been thinking about a lot which is the theme word I chose for this year: DISENGAGE. Yeah…not sure how that choice aged? DISENGAGE came to me very strongly at the beginning of the year, but I did not expect it to align with a global crisis that forced disengagement from so many of our normal activities.
So those are some shadowy things, but DISENGAGE has also felt like a useful theme word for me in many ways. When I think about Temperance, I think about a measured approach. There’s some sense of balance in our version, the fire and ice almost mirror each other. Too much of one would destroy the other, so that measured approach is crucial.
It goes back to my Cancer Sun clinginess. Although there are things I wish I didn’t have to disengage from, there are just as many things I’m still engaging with which fuck with my vibe. I guess the metaphor I’m trying to go with here is, maybe I’m the ice in this card and I’m engaging with too much fire which is destructive to my vibe. A little fire? I can co-create with that. Too much fire? YIKES I’m melting, time to disengage.
There’s a delicate balance in Temperance, just like there’s a delicate balance within me and within you. This card asks: where do you feel out of whack? What are you maybe overly engaging with even though it’s wreaking havok on your vibe? Maybe for some of us the answer is: screen time, news consumption, self-pity, the list goes on.
Looking at these two cards together, the Lovers and Temperance, there’s a synthesis available. The Lovers asked: where are you called to energetically connect? While Temperance asks, where are you called to energetically disengage? And maybe even where are you called to do both of these things at once?
That’s what I’ve got today. It was a little random, but it was beneficial…at least for me! Thank you for taking the time to read these words.
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Foundational Tarot, a free video course!
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.
Following the wind
So I’m doing something different today. Listen here.
It’s an audio message, with thoughts on the pandemic, yes, because it’s still on everyone’s mind. But also thoughts on the wind, dust, what ‘HOME’ really means, and how you can set the intention to “move on by the absurd.”
Plus, a little tarot reading.
It’s kind of a random ramble, yet it’s also all connected.
Kinda like the old days – some of you might remember when I used to have a podcast called Key Finding.
Click here to listen.
It’s a YouTube video, but it’s actually just audio. 🙂
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Foundational Tarot, a free video course!
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.
This space is for you
This was a real delight for me, because as a deck creator I was very concerned (maybe even overly so tbh!) about letting the deck be open to interpretation. When you open the box of our deck, you are greeted with a message that says ‘this space is for you.’ And in the introduction to the guidebook, I invite people to take what resonates and leave the rest, because this deck belongs to you now.
I’m fairly satisfied with the approach I took in writing the Spacious Tarot guidebook. There’s some information about why we chose the imagery we did, but lots of space to project your own thoughts and feelings onto the cards. I basically took the opposite approach from when I wrote my blog posts about the Wild Unknown: in those posts, I went into a lot of detail breaking down the imagery, even what the colors could mean! I analyzed the heck out of those cards.
Interestingly, the reason I was able to do this with the Wild Unknown is that the creator of that deck wrote a pretty sparse guidebook. If she had written a huge manifesto going into all the details about why she made the decisions she did, I wouldn’t have had the inspiration to blog about the deck. And frankly, I probably wouldn’t have felt as drawn to the deck, because on some level I might have felt bound to the creator’s interpretations instead of free to explore my own interpretations. Also: me being me, at the top of every blog post I wrote about the Wild Unknown there’s a disclaimer stating that these are just MY perspectives.
To be fair, some of this is just my own neuroses. A lot of people have requested that I write a more detailed and lengthy book about the Spacious Tarot, and maybe I will someday! There’s certainly a lot more I could say about these cards. And you know what? I would kind of love to write a more detailed book about this deck. But… I’m sure that if I do, I will not be able to stop myself from suggesting that people ignore the things I write that don’t connect with them, and interpret the imagery in whatever way it speaks to them.
There’s an essay by literary critic Roland Barthes called ‘Death of the Author.’ The idea is basically that when you’re interpreting a piece of art, the author’s views/intentions actually don’t matter that much. The work outlives the author, metaphorically and literally. The interpretations of you as the person interacting with the art are what really matters, not who the creator was or what they were trying to convey. Your perception is valid.
There’s obviously a lot more nuanced conversations to be had about this…like if a creator does something truly problematic in their personal life, maybe we can’t always just separate them from their creations. Who am I to say? I’m not a literary critic, just a tarot reader. But I hope that if you own the Spacious Tarot, and you ever see me, the deck creator, expressing an opinion you don’t agree with (IE: I went on an angry rant about current affairs on Instagram last week) or if I do something that you perceive as dumb or troubling, that it will not pollute your relationship with the deck. Forget about me!
The point is: the way I see it, any tarot deck you love belongs to you. Any tarot deck you resonate with creates a space that is for you. You can work with it however you see fit. If the creator has provided a lot of details about their choices, you may find inspiration in that. But maybe you see the cards in totally novel ways and take things in a completely different direction than the creator ever imagined. That’s great, that’s wonderful! That’s the magic of tarot, and that magic is channeled through you.
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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.
Tender (or tender) tarot
So today, we’re going to do Tender or Tender Tarot. I will use two decks. You can choose the deck you feel drawn to. Either way, the message will be tender, and hopefully give you something soft and kind to carry with you.
Before that, just some raw thoughts: most of us are feeling all the things lately. I am, at least. I’ve talked a lot in my past few messages about feeling grateful, and I still do, that’s a feeling I try to cultivate.
But I also feel a lot of anger. And hope. And despair, then hope again, then frustration, peace, guilt, more anger, witchy as fuck, connected, lonely, alive… it’s a wild ride.
The specifics vary widely, but we are all in a weird place lately. And maybe like me, you’re feeling all the things. So, I’m trying to be tender with myself, and today extend some of that tenderness to you.
Take a moment to sense into which pile you are drawn to. Top is the Gaian Tarot, bottom is The Spacious Tarot. The crystal is cobalto calcite (my favorite for loving vibes).
When you have your selection,
down
to
find
your
message.
The Priestess has a similar vibe. She exists on the cusp of sea (unconscious) and land (conscious). She asks you to be equally reverent of your inner youth and inner elder. The owl and the fish remind you to value both traditional wisdom as well as your unique intuition. The moon and the sea are both things that ebb and flow around the Priestess. She asks: what ebbs and flows around you? How can you be present with this, without seeking to repress or control it?
A common thread carries through these two cards: the magic of ritual. Ritual could be the answer to some of the questions posed for you here: rituals honor your belonging, your aliveness. Rituals ground and center you through whatever waves come your way. Your rituals can be big, elaborate traditional ceremonies to honor phases of the moon or points on the wheel of the year. Or your rituals can be small and secular: your morning coffee, watering your plants, Zooming a friend. What ritual can you devote to that will serve and heal you at this time? Do it!
If you chose the Spacious Tarot, you have the Explorer of Swords and Ten of Pentacles. The Explorer (Knight) asks what you are really ready to invest yourself in. Your energy levels may be very different than they were a couple of months ago, so it’s important to make sure you’re not rushing to say YES to every request that comes your way. The Ten of Pentacles guides you to make choices that are sustainable, to only devote yourself to building things you really, really want to build.
Not everyone, but some of us have extra time at home right now. There’s been a lot of heated debates online about what you should do with this time. I think we’re all finally in agreement that you shouldn’t be pressuring yourself to write a novel or compose a symphony during a pandemic, but the Explorer of Swords shows that the voice in your head that yells “YOU SHOULD BE DOING SOMETHING IMPORTANT” doesn’t always quiet down right away, even when you know you need to give yourself grace. So be patient if this voice arises, engage it from a place of understanding and nuance, do not let it try to rush you to conclusions.
At the same time, the Ten of Pentacles suggests that maybe you do feel called to build something sturdy, something that will last. So don’t force the things you’re not in a place to do, but also don’t hold yourself back from the work that calls to you. And don’t judge the scale of that work! Maybe you do have the energy to take on a big, long term project. Or maybe it’s just about finishing a puzzle or making a loaf of bread. Either way: be honest with yourself, speak kindly to yourself, and be selective about what you have the energy to build.
That’s it for today, friends.
Take care, be tender, kindness matters.
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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.
The Paradox of Taurus
I’m always saying I’m not an astrologer, but I am perpetual dabbler. I usually don’t know exactly when things shift, but when I started scrolling through Instagram and saw people posting about Taurus season I was like oh. Yeah, that’s what I’m feeling. The shift into Taurus season. And I welcome it!
If you saw my last message, you already know that last week was kind of hot garbage for me. Even more stuff went wrong after I wrote that, but I won’t go into the gory details except one thing which may be relevant to you: my email stopped working! I think it was related to the issues with my sites going down as they both go through my server.
So many of you emailed me really lovely and thoughtful replies last week. I spent a few hours replying to them all and the next day…I got bouncebacks for every. single. email. So if you messaged me, know that your words were received and appreciated and I apologize that the internet ate my replies.
THE GOOD NEWS: my website is back up! AND my emails are working again. Fingers crossed I’m out of the tech-issues woods for a good long while now.
Anyway: Taurus season is here, and I am grateful. Taurus season is actually one of my favorite times for witchery. Yesterday I sat outside, soaking up the vibes and working through ‘Tarot For Yourself’ by Mary K Greer. Tomorrow I will harvest nettle and experiment with cooking and eating it for the first time (so far I’ve only used it to make tea). During Taurus season, I crave touching the earth, connecting with long-standing traditions, communicating with plants, inhaling flowers, moving slowly but consistently.
We are creatures with bodies that evolved to sense and experience the natural world that sustains us. This is home. We co-create with the natural world. That’s what magic is. We are no more or less important than the trees and the dandelions and the wind.
But at the same time, what everyone keeps saying about this phase of our reality is that it is UNCERTAIN. Being in uncertainty can seem paradoxical with being in Taurus vibes. Taurus is not known for enjoying change, let alone uncertainty.
Here’s a tweet I saw yesterday that hit me like WOAH.
So how can we feel into this paradox of Taurus season? Maybe by finding comfort in traditions without clinging to them. By continuing steadily on the path we have chosen while accepting that we may have to take an unexpected turn at any moment. By tending to an inner sense of worth and enoughness that does not hinge on any external circumstances.
Last night I did a Celtic Cross spread for myself, asking what I need to know as I navigate this Taurus season. It was kind of a mind blowing reading, to be honest. I hadn’t used the Celtic Cross in a while and forgot how much I really do love that spread. It’s a classic for a reason! However, there was one thing that threw me off in the reading, which was the final card. I got the Five of Pentacles reversed.
Not too long ago, I did a reading for the collective and talked about how it’s been a very Five of Pentacles time for us lately. Even so, it’s not a card I really welcomed seeing in my Celtic Cross, especially in the final position. This position is traditionally read as “outcome.” I use a modified Celtic Cross as usually read this position as “closing messages” which feels less prediction-y to me.
The rest of the reading had clicked into place right away, but I had to really sit with this last card. Eventually, I remembered something I read a long time ago about this card which has stuck with me: sometimes the Five of Pentacles comes up when you’re too focused on the material plane and neglect the spiritual plane.
Then today, I referenced the book ‘Understanding the Birth Chart’ by Kevin Burk to read up on Taurus, and there was a bit of synchronicity in there that connected to my reading last night and helped me make even more sense of that Five of Pentacles, and how it might relate to Taurus energy specifically:
“When Taurus becomes too attached to the physical, it begins to identify with the material plane, rather than with its true self. Taurus’ sense of self-esteem and self-worth becomes dependent on its appearance. It becomes obsessed with the accumulation of things in an effort to build up its sense of self-worth and to protect itself, and the pursuit is entirely pointless, because nothing on the physical plane is lasting. Taurus must learn that its true worth, its true identity, has nothing to do with physical trappings.”
So! Trying to bring this all together: that was the closing message from my own spread, and it’s the message I’ve been trying to share with you here today: we are capable of living in paradox, and learning from the experience. Uncertainty is okay, because certainty was never real. Stay grounded in the material plane, but honor the spiritual plane. Hold steady, make magic consistently, and even if the turns knock you side ways know that you’ll eventually find your way back to center.
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Foundational Tarot, a free video course!
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.
Dusting off the Wild Unknown
Today is one of those days where I really feel like the Universe is testing me. I have had to bust out several of my most effective spiritual practices just to keep myself from having a mini-breakdown! I am sure you can relate, because the stress level of the world in general has amped itself right the fuck up lately.
But, as I told my husband this afternoon, I am determined to stay as centered, calm, present and MAGICAL as I can. Not today, SATAN.
Here’s why I’ve been so stressed today: my website (carriemallon.com) and the deck’s website (thespacioustarot.com) were both taken offline by my hosting company. They gave me no warning, and I had to talk to five (5) different tech support people before I finally got to someone who SORT OF helped me understand the problem.
Soooo, the bad news is, it was a stressful day and as I’m writing this the sites are still down. But the good news is, it’s starting to seem like maybe/hopefully between myself, tech support and my husband (who is much more technology-literate than I am) this is something we can resolve.
Another bit of good news: this reminded me that people do, in fact, use my website. I’ve gotten lots of emails/DMs on Instagram from people notifying me the site was down and telling me they use my posts on the Wild Unknown deck daily. Which is pretty neat to think! Let’s all put out good vibes for the site to be restored as soon as possible.
Even before my relatively minor in the grand scheme of things tech woes, I’d been finding it necessary to re-devote myself to the spiritual practices that are the most powerful for me. This is why we practice. This is why we do self-care. This is why work magic. Because these things give us a way to return to our power, and presence, and reverence when everything seems sideways.
Last night on my Instagram stories, I mentioned that GRATITUDE has been one of my major touchstones lately. Gratitude is a spiritual practice. People talk about it enough that it starts to sound trite, but my friends, trite it is not.
Here’s the type of gratitude I’m not about: the type of gratitude that is forced, that is non-specific, that is about bypassing real issues and “just being positive.”
Here’s the type of gratitude I AM ABOUT: the type that is deep, specific, and viscerally felt. Gratitude like this isn’t about forced positivity, but it is about challenging your ego’s tendency to focus on complaining about dumb shit instead of really noticing the magic and beauty everywhere. Gratitude can coexist with a desire for change. Gratitude can coexist with acknowledging what is wrong or painful.
Instead of bypassing the tough stuff, gratitude gives you an anchor into something deeper, something primal and mystical, a force that keeps you afloat amidst the tough stuff. Gratitude is about noticing all of the tiny miracles that surround you in each moment and amplifying them. Because it’s true what they say: what you focus on expands.
So! The Wild Unknown tarot. As I mentioned earlier, my posts about this deck are definitely what gets the most traffic on my website. And hopefully they will be restored soon. But in the mean time, in case you don’t already know, I do have a PDF on offer which contains the text from all of these posts. You can click HERE to download the file via Dropbox – just make sure to save it to your own device.
Oddly enough, despite these posts being one of the things I’m “known” for, I actually don’t use this deck too much myself lately. It happens. Some decks stick with you for a lifetime, some come along and teach you what they need to teach you and that’s that. I try not to force it. If I feel called to work with a deck, it comes out to play. If I don’t, it stays on the shelf. And the Wild Unknown has been on the shelf for a while.
In short, the messages I get from this deck had always been sort of aloof and to the point, but for a long time that was something I admired about the deck. It cuts to the chase. It’s mystical, but very practical in the way it gives messages. It has a sort of Queen of Swords vibe as a whole. Know that I’m speaking here only of *my* relationship to the deck, the vibes I get from it. It could very well be different for you, we all have our individual connections to our decks.
But at some point it just started to feel like the deck was being cold and snarky with me, so…it has stayed on the shelf for some time.
But heck. Today’s been *A Day* and I feel like I can handle anything, so I took the deck off the shelf. I’ll pull a couple cards to offer a message for myself + anyone who reads this. If we get a cold and snarky message, we can handle it, right?
It’s a Hermited time for many of us, as it is necessary to remain apart from other people as much as possible due to the pandemic. The Hermit is typically a welcomed card, but I think it’s important to acknowledge that it can, in fact, be a challenging card. Confronting your own thoughts, being away from distractions and really LISTENING to your inner workings is not always easy! But it IS always rewarding.
Coupled with Strength, we have a reminder that we can do this. If we allow this time to be illuminating, it can be. There’s a sense of patience with both of these cards, as well. The Hermit knows that inner wisdom only has to lead you to the next right step. You are not asked to solve complex problems overnight, on your own. You are only asked: what next? No matter how small that step may seem, it is vital. The lamp leads you forward, but it only illuminates one step of darkness at a time.
Alongside the message of patience, Strength also reminds us to reconnect with our DEVOTION. We need to be absolutely resolved to stay on our path, to find the way to be gentle with ourselves and others while also insisting that we show up fully, as the lion is in the sun rays. And with that Hermit energy, we need to know the difference between going within and hiding. It is not a time to hide. Make space for sanctuary and retreat, but stay in the light. Face forward. You can do this. We can do this.
~~~
Okay, my people. Thank you for being present with this message today. Take care and stay in your magic.
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Foundational Tarot, a free video course!
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 Tower, synchronicities, Who Am I (a spread to try)
This has become my greeting for everyone I talk to lately: I hope you’re doing as well as possible with the current circumstances.
Last week I did an Instagram live and talked a lot about the Tower. It’s a card I’ve been thinking about a lot lately and it’s come up a few times in my recent daily draws. It certainly does feel like we’re in a Tower moment, collectively.
And I don’t have to tell you that being in the energy of the Tower isn’t exactly fun. It’s jarring, and scary, and chaotic.
I also talked about how I’ve been finding inspiration from Martha Beck lately. In her book Finding Your Way in a Wild New World she outlines four ‘squares’ we go through when dramatic change happens. Right now, we’re in square one. That’s the part when, well, shit is basically falling apart and you’re like WTF.
But here’s a weird fact about me: The Tower is one of my favorite tarot cards. Because as much as it represents breakdowns, it also represents breakthroughs. As Martha Beck says:
“This is a time when familiar things are crumbling—but as they do, rigidity gives way to fluidity, and inspired new ways of living can emerge.
There are many things we can’t control. However, we can make conscious choices that will move us from fear to courage, from despair to creativity. We can reimagine this moment as an unprecedented opportunity to bring positive change to our world.”
By the way – these quotes are from a free masterclass Martha hosted a couple of weeks ago which you can watch by registering for her email list here if this sounds interesting. I’m not an affiliate, just passing along something that resonated with me.
In my last post I mentioned that it feels important for me to be even more devoted to my witchiness lately. One of the most reliable ways to connect to your witchiness is to notice synchronicities. Meaningful coincidences. And I’ve noticed a few of them in the past week.
First, the synchronicity between Martha Beck’s words I quoted above, and the fact that I keep seeing and thinking about the Tower.
Another synchronicity: in the masterclass, Martha talked about a tsunami as a metaphor for dramatic change. Then, this week, I started reading Little Universes, a brand new YA novel by a client + friend Heather Demetrios. The story centers around two sisters whose lives are upheaved when their parents die in…a tsunami.
Heather’s book is officially out today (I was lucky to receive an advanced copy!) and of course, she didn’t know that a global pandemic would be creating chaos when her book came out, but… it’s kind of the perfect book to be reading right now, which is yet another synchronicity. Because although the circumstances are different, the characters are navigating drastic and sweeping change.
One more big synchronicity: I haven’t gotten to this part in the book yet, but Heather told me that somewhere in her novel there’s a reference to something that reminds her of the Hanged One card from my deck, the Spacious Tarot.
Heather was so kind as to share a tarot spread she created, and I’m going to share it with you, too. She uses this spread to get to know her characters, but she’s also used it for herself. The spread was inspired by Rumi’s quote: “you are not a drop in the ocean, but the ocean in a drop.” It’s called ‘Who Am I’ and it’s shaped like a wave.
Perhaps you’d like to give this spread a go?
The synchronicities just keep coming, because I feel like I really need this spread right now. Just as the outer world is changing, I feel like I’m changing as well. As within, so without. I thought about doing the spread for myself and sharing it here, but I think this is actually one I will do privately, for now. I have a feeling it’s going to bring up some stuff I might not be ready to share publicly yet!
If you have thoughts on the spread or anything else I’ve shared today, come chat with me in the comments.
And if you’re looking for something to read that’s both a distraction from our current reality, while also being strangely resonant with reality; and that blends themes of mysticism and science and sisterhood and loss and self-discovery, definitely check out Little Universes.
Sign up for email updates and get
Foundational Tarot, a free video course!
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.
Carrie Mallon
Header art from The Spacious Tarot illustrated by Annie Ruygt
All site content © Carrie Mallon LLC 2014-2019
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