2024 Presidential Election: A Political Showdown Reading
AUTHOR’S NOTE: Now that Kamala Harris has been confirmed as the Democratic nominee for US President, I figured it’s time to do my usual “Enemy at the Gates” political showdown reading to see what the tarot has to say about a probable winner. (See the link to the spread at the end of this essay.)
As in the past, I chose the Chariot (Triumph) from a second deck as the “Opportunity” card (basically the “prize” for winning). Since Harris is “riding the wave” of Joe Biden’s departure, I placed her in the top row of the spread with Trump in the bottom row. This placement really makes no difference to the reading, it just provides a rationale for “who goes where.” I used the Radiant RWS for the “Opportunity” card (as well as for one of the three “quintessence” cards) and the Albano-Waite Tarot for the main reading (both are copyright of US Games Systems Inc, Stamford, CT). Most of the positions are self-explanatory, reflecting the strengths and weaknesses of each candidate; their respective “edge” in the contest; the contribution of their allies; their chances of winning; and the final decision. This turned out to be a fascinating analysis
In the “Strength” column, Harris has the Hermit. In an election that is essentially a “popularity contest,” trying to understand the introverted Hermit as a “strength” is a head-scratcher (and she has been shirking the media). All I can think of is that she stands apart as a black female candidate in a white-male-dominated field, which gives her cachet with a certain demographic. If she wins, she will be a “way-shower” for future female aspirants to the office. For the time being she must campaign on her own merits and, despite compelling evidence to the contrary, the Hermit suggests that she is up to the challenge (assuming that it doesn’t simply mean that she will successfully fend off sentiments within her own party that could serve to isolate her).
Trump has the 7 of Cups reversed, which is equally confounding. When upright, this card suggests a fractured public image that hardly qualifies as “strong;” however, its reversal could mean that Trump will be able to evade most of the damaging scrutiny. He’s not “Teflon Ron” Reagan, to whom nothing negative would stick, but he might be able to distance himself from his past “just enough.” Still, I give Harris a “+1” advantage in this comparison.
In the “Weakness” column, Harris received the 10 of Cups reversed, which makes me think that average middle-and-lower-class American families are nervous about the prospects of four more years of Liberal fiscal policy, causing them to have doubts about her plans for the economy that could adversely affect their lifestyle. The assurances of Justice following may not be enough to convince them otherwise. Trump came up with the driven 8 of Wands, which suggests that his history as a reckless “loose cannon” who opens his mouth before he engages his brain could continue to haunt him. However, his personal weakness is less critical to the future well-being of the public, so I award Trump “+1” for momentum in this match-up (even if the energy might be misdirected or diffused as shown by the 7 of Swords next up in his row).
In the “Edge” column, the advantage for Harris is Justice (the card of “receiving one’s just desserts”); she was pretty much a nonentity as Vice President (not uncommon for those in the VP role), so she has little reputation of her own to “run up the flagpole” as evidence of political prowess. She can’t really stand on her record because she has none to speak of, so this card implies that she will have to cadge some credit from Biden’s “legacy.” Trump got the 7 of Swords, another card of sidestepping criticism, as his “edge;” it suggests canny maneuvering. There is more than a whiff of shady dealing about this card, so I’m giving “+1” to the “borrowed glory” of Harris even though she hardly deserves it any more than her opponent; now I’ll wait for the Democrats’ perennially-rumored “October surprise” to see if Trump sinks or swims.
In the “Allies’ Strength” column, the Page of Cups for Harris clearly denotes that she has a younger, more passionate constituency in her corner, while Trump’s Queen of Cups indicates a more mature (and possibly female) population of “MAGA” diehards. I believe that Trump’s supporters may carry him past Harris in this department, so I’m giving him a “+1” score.
The “Chance to Win” quintessence column is where it really gets interesting. My standard practice for calculating the “quint” card is to subtract the value of any reversed cards from the total, which offers the twin benefits of enabling the Fool as the numerical synthesis (something normal reduction can’t do without renumbering the Fool as 22) and potentially generating a reversed “quint” (which is important to me as one who uses reversals). I also count the unnumbered court cards as “11 through 14.” For Harris, the sum was 9+[-10]+11+11=21, the World. Trump’s total was [-7]+8+7+13=21, the World. In other words, the “Chance to Win” column displays a “dead heat” with no clear winner. This one looks like a nail-biter that will go down to the wire; therefore, I gave the trade-off a “null” score.
Up to this point, the “raw” scores for both candidates were the same: “+2” for Harris and “+2” for Trump with one tie. The “Decision” card (the “Grand Quint” roll-up of the two sub-quint cards) is intended to be the tie-breaker. The idea is to see which of the two series of cards it is most sympathetic toward. The sum was 21+21=3+3=6, the Lovers. (By “casting out nines,” it could also be 42–9=33; 33–9=24; 24–9=15, the Devil, the “numerological counterpart” of the Lovers.) Personally, I can’t see the electorate being truly enamored of either candidate, but as an Air card (corresponding to Gemini), the Lovers aligns most closely with the two “Edge” cards, Justice (relating to Libra) for Harris and the 7 of Swords (relating to Aquarius) for Trump, with a favorable nod to the elementally-friendly 8 of Wands. (It’s worth noting that neither one is especially favored by the Chariot’s Cancer, which is zodiacally uncomfortable with both Libra and Aquarius although it is slightly less ill-disposed toward the latter. The fingerprints of the Moon are all over the Chariot and the 7 of Swords (Moon in Aquarius), creating a little synergy that fuels Trump’s dodgy mystique, while Justice vibrates to Venus and Saturn, a rule-based emphasis symbolic of Harris’s previous legal career.)
The consonance of two elementally-aligned Major Arcana nudges me toward awarding the “+2” score to Harris, making her the successful candidate. If we instead take the Devil (Capricorn) as the “Grand Quint,” it cozies up to the Hermit (Virgo), again giving Harris “+2” in the scoring and also the win. But I believe these considerations are secondary to the testimony of the two sub-quints, so I would be hesitant to make a prediction based solely on their evidence when the general election looks like a toss-up. Perhaps the “Grand Quint” reflects the bias of the Electoral College, which doesn’t have to conform to the popular vote. It is ultimately their choice (signified here by the Lovers or the Devil) that counts, and all signs from that quarter point to Harris at this moment in time.
Hmm. Douglas Adams wrote in The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy that 42 is “The Answer to Life, the Universe and Everything.” What do you think, the Lovers or the Devil? As a lifelong critic of all things sociopolitical, I know which one I would pick. Here’s another literary trope: maybe Frank R. Stockton’s “Lady” has checked out and the “Tiger” is behind both doors. (You can probably tell I don’t respect either candidate.) As is often said, with money, power and prestige driving the show there are usually no good choices in American politics at the national level. The rest of us are just hanging on by our fingernails.
https://parsifalswheeldivination.wordpress.com/2017/08/06/enemy-at-the-gates-vulnerability-spread/
Originally published at http://parsifalswheeldivination.wordpress.com on August 21, 2024.
