A “Meaning of Life” Example Reading
AUTHOR’S NOTE: To demonstrate the “Meaning of Life” spread I posted yesterday, here is a fictional reading based on real-life circumstances. A 47-year-old New Hampshire man was living in his mother’s basement. She bought him a Playstation 5 for his birthday, but he jacked up the volume so high while playing that it annoyed her. They argued about it and he (allegedly) killed her. I can’t think of anyone who could have used a little “life-purpose” counseling more than this guy.
My imaginary subject is an under-achieving middle-aged-man who has been living in his parent’s basement for years with no strong incentive to leave his “comfort zone.” (I’m assuming that he could now be persuaded to try, and that they would cheer him on). As an unreformed Page he has become accustomed to dwelling in their shadow but he really must advance into a Knight if he is to pursue his own destiny. I chose the four Knights of the Anna K Tarot to represent his “Life-Goals” in the four developmental areas of the spread. For the “Means” and the “Results” positions and the “Higher Purpose” (quintessence) card I selected the 2022 version of the Lord of the Rings Tarot. As usual, I’ve applied the Thoth titles to the Minor Arcana.
In the area of “Egoic Growth” (which I’ve re-titled “Self-Respect” for the purpose of this reading), the Knight of Wands is a self-assured warrior who knows what he wants and how to get it. Temperance in the “Means” position is a card of “right action” and “consummate finesse;” it gives the Knight a lesson in tolerance and tact that he sorely needs. The King of Cups (which in this deck signifies the restored “Gandalf the White”) takes full advantage of the schooling of Temperance to arrive at a pinnacle of wisdom. The Emperor as the “quintessence” conveys supreme self-mastery. All of this appears to be on-track for success. But the rest of the reading is not so encouraging.
In the area of “Emotional Growth” (here called “Feeling”), the Knight of Cups is agreeable but prone to laziness. The 8 of Wands (Swiftness) in the “Means” position (which might be construed as a goad to get him moving) is quite interesting; it appears that the lower five staves are descending on the target but the upper three are moving away from it and ascending. The implication is that one parent is “on his case” but the other one is turning a blind eye. The upshot of this, as shown by the 8 of Cups (Indolence) in the “Results” position, is that he is likely to become surly and uncommunicative. The Tower as the “quintessence” could be the inevitable consequence of the mounting pressure. If this were an actual reading, I might warn the parents that they’re sitting on a powder keg.
The Knight of Swords as the “goal” card for “Intellectual Growth” (renamed “Thought”) is more than a little crafty and conniving; if he actually makes an effort to extricate himself, it will be strictly on his terms. The 3 of Cups (Abundance) in the “Means” position could indicate that he has some friends whom he can move in with, but it’s more likely to be showing that he is well-satisfied with his present lot and isn’t going anywhere (he might even invite a girlfriend or two to his “man-cave”). The 5 of Wands (Strife) in the “Results” position clearly identifies this as a bone of contention. In the “quintessence” card, the image of Samwise Gamgee as the Chariot with his wheelbarrow of produce tempts me to interpret it as the motivated man finally packing up his stuff and moving on with his life, but I think I would just read it as him laying in provisions in preparation for the siege that is to come. (The image in the 5 of Wands suggests erecting a barricade.) In a war of attrition, victory can be claimed through defense as well as offense.
In the “Material Growth” area (recast as “Sensation”), the Knight of Pentacles is set in his ways and will be slow to change; any progress will be plodding at best. There is no Earth at all in the pulled cards or the “quintessence” group, so his grip on reality may very well be shaky. The 10 of Cups in the “Means” position looks like “parental enabling” to me; it reveals that he has been indulged for so long that he has little enthusiasm for “upsetting the apple-cart.” He’s “all about family” but family is not so sure about him. The 9 of Swords (Cruelty) in the “Results” position can only mean that he will come to grief in some way. In this case, the Emperor as the “quintessence” could intimate that his parents will have had enough and will bring in “the Law” to have him legally evicted. Stranger things have happened in family confrontations.
Summary Judgment: If this slacker doesn’t explode first and do someone harm, or alternatively achieve the “escape velocity” of the ego-driven Emperor in the top row, he is likely to be slowly squeezed out of his well-feathered nest. But it will take some doing; his parents might well die before it gets that far and that would solve the problem, although there is nothing here to suggest it will happen unless he unloads on them from the Tower. It is, after all, the most volatile card in sight. On a brighter note, the “Self-Respect” row offers him the most traction as long as he applies himself with measured diligence and avoids becoming an insufferable narcissist in the process.
Originally published at http://parsifalswheeldivination.wordpress.com on July 2, 2024.
