Tarot In-Depth: Fool Tarot Reading

From Pollack's Tarot Wisdom, the card positions in the spread:

1. How have I been a Fool in my life?
2. How has it helped me?
3. How has it hurt me?
4. Where in my life for I need to be more Foolish?
5. Where will the Fool not serve me?
6. Where do I find the Fool outside myself?
7. What gifts does it bring me?

There were no notes on the layout of the spread, so I determined a spread that made the most sense to me. Reading from left to right, rather than vertical, since I find those easier to work with on a practical level — I separated the Fool card out of the deck and set it to the side first, then laid out the cards in order, with (1) being the closest to the Fool card, then (2) and (4) being paired as positive aspects (above) and (3) and (5) being paired as negative or harmful aspects (below), coming back together again for (6) and (7).

I tried to read this layout somewhat intuitively, without reference to any books, in part to help me get better at doing in-the-moment readings, and in part because I want the Fool energy to be pervasive throughout and I didn't necessarily want to get bogged down with complex interpretations of the other cards.

My interpretation...

Where have I been a Fool in my life? Art/Temperance (XIV) — Seeking that point of balance, the blending or reconciliation of opposites, sometimes leading to paradox or contradiction — on the one hand, recognizing these paradoxes as internal aspects of myself, while on the other hand, working to manifest them in the world through mixing and mingling, working with the forces in tension in the world around me. This reflects the aspect of the Fool that is both active and passive, at the zero-point in the center of all things and also the active movement that moves on a journey through life. This card might also be suggesting that I see the Fool primarily through the lens of Temperance, this balancing of opposites.

How has it helped me? Eight of Cups — A certain amount of restlessness, leaving behind the carefully constructed and contained life to seek elsewhere, to return to the "source" so to speak. The activity and enthusiasm of the Fool has helped me to avoid stagnation, continuing to provoke my curiosity. There might be a certain sense of "divine dissatisfaction" here, with the Fool always ready to go off with only a small pack, leaving behind his old life to seek out a new one.

How has it hurt me? Eight of Pentacles — At the same time, this restless energy and tendency to always be seeking a new life might prevent me from settling down comfortably to do the steady, necessary work or to cultivate and enjoy the fruits of my labor. The Fool isn't exactly the type to "settle down and get a job."

The two eights that are paired here suggest a tension bound up in stability or stagnation — the tension of two that naturally gives rise to movement pulling against the stability of four that tends to ground things, pin them down. The Fool has helped me, on an emotional level, by nurturing my curiosity and keeping me engaged — and also perhaps letting me let go of old emotions or psychological states that no longer serve me (maybe in this way it might be "foolish" to forgive old hurts, for instance). On a material or physical level, though, the Fool's tendency to always look for something new might undermine my desire to establish myself, find some stability and bring my work to full fruition in the physical world.

Where in my life do I need to be more Foolish? The Magician (I) — My first instinct in interpreting this card is that it is "foolish" to believe in magic, let alone try to be a magician. This might be suggesting, then, that I could stand to be a little bit more trusting, innocent, enthusiastic and active in my approach to magical work (or any creative work of manifestation) — and that being more open will help me connect with and understand the elements of the world on a deeper level.

Where will the Fool not serve me? The High Priestess (II) — Inner wisdom and mystery, the initiation that comes from parting the veil between the worlds. I find this card difficult to interpret in this position. Perhaps to a certain extent this card suggests that the Fool's more negative or harmful tendency to undermine order and structure, and to turn everything to ash with irony and ridicule, might not serve me well in developing my inner wisdom and intuition. Maybe a tendency towards cynicism and mockery, brought to bear on the inner life, can jeopardize the process that leads to this internal initiation into the mysteries. (Or perhaps this card just indicates that the Fool is not much concerned with what the high priestess represents. The Fool does not "serve" the high priestess, and does not have anything much to do with her work, either through provoking curiosity or exposing chaos...?)

Where do I find the Fool outside myself? Wheel of Fortune (X) — The ever-turning wheel of chance and its unpredictability. Our inability to control "fate," or coincidence, and how it can sometimes seem arbitrary and ridiculous and chaotic. I find the Fool outside myself in the endless turning cycles that seem to lift up some and topple others, ensuring that nothing remains stagnant, everything is interconnected and cycles back in an on-going process. The chaos and unpredictability of the Fool is represented here, but also the energy and curiosity involved with discovering what is new and different about life. I also think it's interesting to have the wheel here by a gear, rather than a wheel of transportation (like a wagon wheel), since this echoes my thoughts on the Fool not only as the empty space in the center around which the wheel turns, but also the empty spaces between the gears that are always moving and turning, as these spaces allow the gears to turn and interlock with each other, they make the whole process possible.

What gifts does it bring me? Six of Swords — Curiosity and exploration, especially as related to the rational, inquisitive mind. The gift of the Fool (especially as it manifests outside myself, I think) is the impetus to always be exploring and discovering new things about the world as circumstances continually change and new possibilities are always arising. There's a sense of completion, on the one hand, but not necessarily of culmination that brings things to a close — instead, there's a glimpse of wholeness that is still part of an on-going process as the cycle continues. It's like a foot that touches the ground in the middle of a run, rather than two feet planted firmly as the person stands still: the next foot is already in the air again, moving forward to the next thing.

Other patterns: It's interesting that so many Major Arcana cards appear, especially in prominent positions. In cards (1), (6) and (7) there is the repeated imagery of the wheel or circle in one way or the other — the Wheel of Fortune being the most obvious, but also the spiraling yin-yang symbol of Temperance and the sword-spoked wheel in the Six of Swords. Interestingly, the symbol of the circle or wheel also appears in a more subtle way in cards (2) and (4), as the full moon above the ocean in the Eight of Cups, and the ouroboros encircling the occult designs and sigils etched into the starry night sky above the Magician. On the other hand, in the High Priestess, the moon is a crescent, an incomplete circle (I think a waxing crescent, just after sunset), which might give a hint as to why the Fool "will not serve" in this particular aspect — if the Fool is a figure of innocence that takes the world at face value, this might suggest that this energy will not serve in exploring what is hidden or shrouded in shadow, only partly illuminated or manifested. Maybe this is the aspect of the Fool's card, stepping off the cliff without taking into account what is unseen (the future, the potential danger).

New Tarot Decks: Sun and Moon, and Lo Scarabeo

Thanks to the crazy generosity of Jeff's mother, who got us Amazon gift cards for solstice, and inspired by Jeff's surprise gift, Barbara Moore's book, Tarot Spreads... I ordered two new decks, officially expanding my collection to include six tarot decks, three oracle decks (not counting the Druid Animal and Plants Oracle decks, one of which is technically mine, but I forget which one and I never use them anyway), and two "digital decks" on my iPad, both of which are also tarot decks.

I didn't realize I had so many! The one I use the most by far is Stephanie Pui-Mun Law's Shadowscape Tarot, but it was really helpful to use the Steampunk Tarot deck for my steampunk novel. That deck had originally been Jeff's, but it kind of adopted me, so I've liberated it from its cardboard box and given it its own beautiful bag. It struck me how useful it was to have multiple decks for different purposes, as the steampunk deck definitely has a different energy from the Shadowscape deck. I still use the Mystic Faerie Tarot for teaching, since its minor arcana cards are so useful in creating storylines in each suit (not that I'm doing as much teaching now that the kids aren't with us on weekends), and it's imagery is pretty appealing to the girls.

But all of the decks I owned up until today were based on the original Rider-Waite deck, my first deck, and I'd never really worked with either the Marseille deck or the Crowley/Thoth deck. Frankly, I was a bit intimidated by the Crowley/Thoth deck, in part because the only folks I'd ever known who were into Crowley were assholes (not like I knew all that many), and partly because I knew that he designed his deck to reflect his personal approach to occultism, which I'm just not that familiar with.

But I've been really enjoying tarot and wanting to push myself with it, so I decided to ease into it by getting the Lo Scarabeo Tarot (I'm not sure if this has another name, but it's their N-th Anniversary edition, sold as a "deluxe" edition with its own bag with a scarab beetle embroidered on it). This deck combines symbolism from all three of the traditional decks, Rider-Waite, Marseille and Thoth. I'm not sure if there's any rhyme or reason to how they managed to combined the symbolism, but I figured it might provide a good bridge between the traditions. Plus, it's not exactly a "pretty" deck, and sometimes I need a deck that's more neutral and more overtly symbolic (in an almost comic-book style) than the Shadowscape deck. So I'm pretty pleased with that deck, and it might become my new teaching deck, or I might even use it as a "public" deck if I ever get around to giving readings to other people.

The other deck I got, called the Sun and Moon Tarot, popped up randomly while I was searching for the Lo Scarabeo deck. It's also published by Lo Scarabeo, but the artwork is by Vanessa Decort. I think I read somewhere that she is also an illustrator for children's books, and you can definitely see that influence in her work. This deck is amazing! I find myself loving every single image. The deck has a very simple, almost folk-art kind of style (you can even see the texture of the canvas she was painting on, and among other stylistic choices, none of the figures have faces). This style really works for me, and I really connect with the deck. It's beautiful, but not in the ornate, watercolor way that Shadowscape is. Instead, it has a rich, textured kind of feel, with lots of use of primary colors, though they're somewhat muted. The images are also stylistically simple, which I find refreshing after using the Steampunk deck for a while, with its gritty realism. So I'm super psyched about this deck in particular! It might become my primary deck for a while...

But one thing about it is that it is heavily based on the Thoth tarot rather than the Rider-Waite. Some of the differences I've picked up on right away, but most of them (like including the Hebrew letters in the Major Arcana images, which relate to the Cabala Tree of Life, and associating the minor arcana with astrological correspondences) leave me feeling like I really need to familiarize myself the Thoth tradition created by Crowley.

I've already cleansed and consecrated the Sun and Moon deck this afternoon, and did an introductory "meet the new tarot deck" reading using a spread cobbled together from various suggestions I've seen others share online. Here's a (somewhat sloppy) diagram of the spread below:

And here's a quick shot of the spread itself from this afternoon:

Unfortunately, this deck doesn't come with a full book, only a tiny booklet with about a paragraph or so for each card. (I've gotten spoiled with Barbara Moore writing all these awesome books to go with every deck I happen to buy!) So I'm already feeling out of my depth with the unfamiliar Thoth symbolism, and I didn't get much help there. Just a brief interpretation, then, which I may need to come back to:

1. Art/Temperance (XIV) - The deck's defining characteristic is a balance of opposites: light and dark, stability and fluidity, yin and yang. Not much surprise there, since it is the Sun and Moon Tarot after all.

2. The Universe (XXI) - Not at all shy about letting me know that its strength as a deck is enlightenment itself; not just a Major Arcana card, but the culmination of the Major Arcana, the dancing god Shiva who is creator and destroyer, surrounded by the unlimited energetic fires of the universe, of divine inspiration and insight, and in the corners the symbols of the four elements/directions. Again, this card is about uniting opposites (creation and destruction, life and death, universe and self).

3. The Star (XVII) - An interesting card to draw to represent the deck's weakness. I initially interpret this as suggesting the deck might lean a bit too much towards the lighter, more hopeful and comforting side, eschewing the difficult aspects (since the Star is a card of hope and peace, especially the respite that comes after a darkness or tragedy like the Tower). However, when talking with Jeff about it, he suggested that perhaps the pairing of the Universe and the Star indicates that while this deck might be good for the study of "higher" spiritual work, it might be indicating that it will not be all that helpful at providing direction or guidance in the more mundane sense. This interpretation makes a lot of sense to me (and the very fact that I seem to be having trouble interpreting some of these cards might indicate that this meaning is on the right track).

4. King of Cups - Again, a card about balancing opposites: this time in the figure of the King of Cups, a masculine expression of feminine energy in a way that is natural and healthy. It's interesting that the King of Cups also made an appearance in my New Year's reading when using the Shadowscape deck, as the thing I needed to take forward with me into the new year.

5. Three of Swords (Sorrow) - The deck's minor arcana draw on Crowley's system pretty heavily, and this card seems to suggest to me not the tragic bloody sorrow of swords piercing a heart as depicted in other decks I've worked with, but more the sorrow of ideas or ideals that have started to drift into negativity. The booklet that came with the card notes that this card is associated with Saturn in Libra, which happens to be where my natal Saturn is, so that's interesting. I take this card to mean that this deck will help me deal with negative thinking and cynicism I've been noticing creeping up on me a lot lately.

6. Eight of Pentacles - As for how it will challenge me, it seems that this deck will provide the challenge of self-discipline and learning, working diligently towards a goal with an eye for detail and organization resulting in productivity. I'll be curious to see how this challenge plays out, but I can already guess it will have something to do with going back to my old studies of some of the more occult/ceremonial approaches to magic and divination and digging deeper into that again.

7. Seven of Cups - What a card to draw as the "final outcome"! The booklet notes that this card, titled "Debauch," suggests self-indulgence and addictive behavior along with fantasies and delusions, but also the opportunity to see through illusions about the self, to break through self-deceiving patterns and identify truly worthy goals. I certainly hope it's more of the latter than the former! Since the strength of this deck and its defining characteristic seem to me solidly on the side of balance, wisdom and divine harmony, I think it's a fairly safe bet. (But then, if the deck were leading me into self-delusion and fantasy, isn't that exactly what it would say?! ::insert dramatic orchestral sting::)


And on that note, I'm calling it a night.

New Year's Divination

Using the Halcyon Solstice spread, from Barbara Moore's book on tarot spreads. A quick note on the name and concept behind the spread, which may help to five some insight:

Halcyon: a mythical bird said by ancient writers to breed in a nest floating at sea at the winter solstice, charming the wind and waves into calm. From halcyon (n.), late 14c., from Latin halcyon, from Greek halkyon, variant (perhaps a misspelling) of alkyon "kingfisher," from hals "sea, salt" + kyon "conceiving," prp. of kyein "to conceive," lit. "to swell," from PIE root *keue- "to swell."

The Positions in the Spread:

(1) The fulcrum, the pivotal point, the present moment.

(2) What I need to leave behind.
(3) What I need to learn from.
(4) What I need to take forward.

(5) An opportunity to look for.
(6) A challenge to face.
(7) A message for the year.

The Reading:

(1) Six of Cups - Childhood innocence and playfulness, an openness to the world that is not hedged in by expectations about what is or is not possible or realistic. Welcoming seen and unseen companions, enacting "deep play" rituals that invite the opportunity for communion with Spirit, playing in the realm of the imagination and exploration.

I only discovered the meaning of "halcyon" after drawing all the cards, but I think the Six of Cups captures that sense of the idyllic calm of the ocean, the conception, the new beginning, the nest within which new life begins. An alternate meaning of the word "halcyon" is an idyllic time that was happy and peaceful, and the Six of Cups has also sometimes signified an idealized or romanticized past. In this case, however, I think the reenactment or ritual recreation of the halcyon days in the present moment is a good, healthy and helpful thing, a way of entering a contemplative state open to Spirit and the gods.

(2) Judgement (XX) - Weighing the past and judging previous actions, facing potentially harsh judgement, embracing the process of death, but coming out of it renewed, given a new life, hearing the call to a more fulfilling life connected with Spirit and the Song of the World, a card of transformation but, more so, a sense of destiny or calling.

I was surprised to draw this card in the place of "What I need to leave behind." In relation to the Six of Cups, perhaps it suggests that I need to approach the past with a more open attitude of childlike wonder and appreciation, rather than with the heavy hand of judgement and assessment which lends so much weight to everything. The message here seems to be, in some ways, to "lighten up."

(3) Three of Pentacles - Teamwork and community support which help to make great work possible. Working with others, combining your will and vision, you can accomplish many things, bringing works of strength and beauty and permanence into being. Also, allowing others to shine while you play a supporting role, and allowing others to support you when it's your turn to work or act creatively.

This card makes me think immediately of my working relationship with Jeff on the podcast, and the work that he and I have done together to create something we are both very proud of. The larger lesson that I need to learn might be that I can release my need to stand independently and accept a more supporting role in our marriage (financially speaking), or on the other hand, to accept and appreciate the supporting role that Jeff plays in being the primary breadwinner and set aside my ego-need to earn more money as a validation of my work. Again, as this relates to the Six of Cups, maybe there is some indication that "community" is more than just the other people in my life, and another lesson I need to learn is to recognize and accept the support and aid from the gods and from Spirit, rather than feeling like I need to go at it alone.

(4) King of Cups - A protector and nourisher, though his masculine energy expresses his emotional side in a more subtle and structured way. The seahorse, as the protector and main caregiver for its young, is both sinuous and fluid, and also spiny and tough, blending both the more watery/emotional aspects with the stability of structure and resistance.

This card has always strongly reminded me of Jeff and his personality, as a man who is very strong and hard-working, very family-oriented and loving towards his children, and also very empathetic and emotionally sensitive to those around him (sometimes almost too much). Of course, I will carry my relationship with him forward into the new year. On another level, this may represent some advice about how I can internalize and embody this archetype more myself, especially in relation to the Six of Cups — perhaps that structure and outer strength is necessary in order to protect the childlike innocence of imaginative engagement with Spirit in the present moment.

(2 - 4) Three Card Spread - All three of these cards have figures facing to the left, which suggests to a certain extent that the energies are flowing backwards into the past, but perhaps also into the areas of memory and the depths of history that go to shape the present and the future. The Angel of Judgement in Card 2 faces to the left, while the "souls" of the dead that rise up out of the poppies face to the right, looking up towards the Angel. In the King of Cups, this energy is somewhat reverse, with the King of Cups (arguably the more powerful and dominating figure in the card) still facing to the left, but looking upward at the seahorse, which faces to the right. To me, this suggests that the energy carried into the future is not necessarily the energy of overtly powerful or dominating figures, but of a smaller and more humble nature. In the Three of Pentacles, both figures are primarily facing away with their backs to the viewer, with the upper figure turning her face as if to look over her left shoulder, keeping with the main flow of the energy but not as directly as in the other two cards. The energy in the center card also seems to be a bit more vertical, with the carvings in the stones overlapping in circles that rise up the wall. To a certain extent, this seems to play Card 3 as the "fulcrum" within the context of these three cards, a center around which the other two are organized.

(5) Two of Cups - A partnership or relationship born of mutual love and attraction, the blending and intertwining of the different elements, of masculine and feminine. There is both union and a tension between opposites, but the tension is like the taut string that vibrates to create a clear-toned music. Love crowns the couple as their roots reach deep into the earth to seek stability.

My first response is to interpret this card as a promise of opportunity for deepening my relationship with Jeff, but this could very well be some other kind of merging or blending of opposites in a harmonious and balanced way within my life. Since my relationship with Jeff is happy and stable, it seems to me a bit unlikely that this is some new opportunity being presented on that front, and the low number of the card does seem to suggest that this will be a new or just beginning relationship. In general, I interpret it as advice to keep my eyes open for opportunities to balance and blend opposites in all aspects of my life, not just in personal relationships. Relating it back to the Six of Cups, this might mean balancing the past and the present without romanticizing either, or intertwining the mundane/realistic and the sacred/imaginative.

(6) Four of Cups - Self-absorption, losing yourself in reveries and daydreams, spending too much time looking inward and losing sight of the larger world around you. But also, to a certain extent (in this particular card/deck anyway), breaking away from the usual approach, separating oneself from the crowd in order to get a clearer view of what's going on, and the suggestion that this isolation can be taken too far and become a hindrance.

This future challenge to face is not all that unfamiliar to me, and this card has come up in a similar position on several other occasions. I take this card to be a gentle warning not to spend too much time in self-analysis, and in particular I think it applies to my time online and my relationship with others via the internet. (The Four of Cups might just be the perfect card to represent the internet — the stability and structure of the four brought to bear on the emotions — the internet, in many ways, is driven by instincts and emotions much more than the intellect or the physical body, and it provides a way to structure and share those emotions so that they have at least the appearance of permanence and the weight of some authority behind them. Yet it is also a place of self-absorption and illusions, where much of your interactions are your own reflections or projections overlaid onto the words or images of others.) In relation to the Six of Cups, I think it's interesting that in both cases you have the imaginative play of the emotions within vessels, but in the Si of Cups there is more fluidity and connection, as well as creative tension (3 X 2) than in the Four of Cups, which is much more stagnant, with energies working at cross-purposes to a certain extent (2 X 2).

(7) Knight of Pentacle - Energetic determination and unwavering loyalty and dedication to a particular goal, a certain single-mindedness that cannot be distracted by temptations along the way. The Knight is methodical and hard working, akin to the tortoise rather than the hare, but he rides the slow, persistent energies of the earth towards his goal, and he has the power and force of those laws of nature behind his actions.

This message to carry with me into the new year harkens back to the lesson to be learned from the previous year, both of them being from the suit of Pentacles (in contrast with the strong emphasis on Cups in the rest of the spread). It emphasizes hard work and dedication, persistence but also, perhaps most importantly, patience. As it relates to the Six of Cups, I see this as a much more practical frame of mind, grounded in the earth and in the mundane, which might help to balance out the tendency of the Six of Cups towards romanticization and naivety (and perhaps the Knight will also help me to avoid or overcome the challenge presented in the Four of Cups).

(5 - 7) Three Card Spread - In the three cards pertaining to the future year to come, the energies are much more meandering. The Four of Cups and the Knight of Pentacles face in opposite directions (the Four of Cups towards the left, the past, the realm of memory and emotional depths; the Knight towards the right, the future, the realm of action and manifestation). The Two of Cups, naturally, involves two figures who face towards each other, depicting energies that, while they face in opposite directions, work with each other instead of against each other. Within the layout, the Four of Cups, Card 6, being the center card of the three suggests that it acts as a block or obstacle to the energies expressing themselves in Card 5, the Two of Cups, with the Knight of Pentacles being the way to overcome and break through that block to release or realize the energies of Card 5. I notice the recurring motif of the carved mandala — in both Cards 5 and 6, it appears as a yin-yang symbol composed of two fish, but while in Card 5 it is the foundation upon which the union grows, in Card 6 it is in the background, ignored by the primary figure of the card. In Card 7, the mandala of the fish has been replaced by the pentacle itself, composed of an acorn at its center with five oak leaves swirling out to create the star. This ties back to the mandala as a foundation for growth (the acorn as the seed of the great oak tree), but also suggests that there may be many different ways that this seed expresses itself (the five oak leaves, rather than only the two fish).

The Spread as a Whole - Several things jump out at me about this spread. Firstly, the predominance of "feminine" energies, expressed in the water and earth elements, and almost a complete absence of "masculine" energies of fire and air. I'm not sure exactly what conclusion to draw from that, other than that I may need to focus on and work with these feminine aspects of myself and my life more, especially if I've been neglecting them somewhat. However, even with all of this feminine energy, the two court cards that appear in the spread both depict masculine figures (the King and the Knight), perhaps suggesting that I need to find a way to bring these more feminine internal qualities to bear on my more active, expressive "masculine" aspects as well, or explore the ways in which these can be combined and expressed in healthy ways. The other interesting thing to note is that there appears only one Major Arcana card in the spread, and it's in the position of something I need to "leave behind." This might suggest that the coming year will be a fairly quiet, simple and straightforward one, with few grand designs or great changes in store. Instead, it seems like this spread suggests a year of steady, dedicated work, especially with an emphasis on community and supportive relationships that will help to keep me grounded and draw me out of myself when I risk becoming too self-absorbed. At the center of this reading is the emphasis, in the Six of Cups, on recapturing or returning to a more innocent sense of wonder and imagination in which there is plenty of time for playful exploration (and this, too, might partly explain the absence of the intellectual suit of swords and the intensely active suit of wands).