Negative Cards: Ugly Is Only Skin-Deep
AUTHOR’S NOTE: Nothing causes more panic for neophyte diviners than the presence of obviously negative cards in their tarot readings. The 3 of Swords? Yikes! The 9 or 10 of Swords? Shoot me now! The 5 of Cups? Waaaaah! The Tower? Death? Arrrgh! Granted that these are only knee-jerk reactions caused by the imagery, they can be difficult or impossible to dislodge from the consciousness once seen. Given the understandable angst produced by their appearance (and in the Thoth deck, their titles: “Sorrow, Ruin and Cruelty, oh my!”), it can be tempting to bow one’s head and wait for the ax to fall.
But there are other ways to process what seems to be looming disaster. We might turn the old platitude on its head and say with some justification “Ugly is only skin deep.” I’ve come across a handful of innovative ways to make this cognitive leap. We can agree with Sallie Nichols in her discussion of the Hanged Man and ask ourselves “Why am I worthy of this opportunity?” Although it’s a harder sell, we could go along with Alejandro Jodorowsky when the Tower emerges and exclaim “What shall I celebrate today?” We could also take the more rational, sober approach of James Wanless and conclude that “There are no bad cards, only opportunities.” (Full disclosure: I’ve touched on all of these in previous essays.)
It is common in modern tarot culture, with its focus on empowerment, to downplay the “dark side” by stating rather primly “Cards are neither good nor bad, they are all a mixture of both and which aspect dominates in a reading depends on the context of the question.” This sounds a bit too much like “Pollyanna” for my taste, and I concur with Mary Greer that it isn’t entirely accurate: in my opinion a troubling card may be trying to communicate something about the querent’s stance in the matter that they won’t recognize any other way, and we as readers should begin our interpretation with that in mind. It can be damnably difficult to sift out the negative undertones from a positive card or the positive from the negative “on demand,” and in the first case I tend to rely on reversal to rub my nose in it. (Once again, I’ve covered this elsewhere so I won’t repeat myself.) My point is that we may be trying to find an elusive equilibrium in a card that is trying to steer us away from it, and we should pay attention rather than imposing our own ethical values on it.
A related subject is how we can convey the message encoded in a less-agreeable card to the client in a way that doesn’t cause an emotional meltdown. The skewed aphorism of the title seems to offer insight into the best approach. Without being too nonchalant about it, we can advise looking beneath the surface of an apparently dismal forecast to see what if any promise of a “silver lining” lies there. In my own experience there is always something constructive that can be said in any situation, so negative cards don’t faze me for more than the few seconds it takes to form a professional opinion about their true significance in the matter (while subsequently pursuing the querent’s concurrence with that outlook).
Originally published at http://parsifalswheeldivination.wordpress.com on April 6, 2024.
