Psychological Parallels in Tarot: The Mechanics of Redirection
AUTHOR’S NOTE: First a disclosure. After studying and working with the tarot cards for over five decades, I’m convinced that they aren’t ideal for psychological profiling and character analysis (or, put less academically, what someone else “thinks or feels”), in which capacity they are too much like “mind-reading-with-props.” That’s why I use natal astrology for those purposes and focus my tarot efforts on action-and-event-oriented circumstances (aka “fortune-telling”). But I can’t deny that every card reading, whether for myself or others, has a psychic aspect that is largely subconscious or unconscious. Here I’m exploring the mechanics behind why the tarot so often answers questions we didn’t intentionally ask.
In this spread I’m using Elemental Dignities to determine whether a querent’s “inner awareness” is suitably aligned with “outer reality” such that there is a likelihood of receiving a valid answer that addresses both external circumstances and the seeker’s subjective bias, either to confirm or refute it. If there is agreement, the situation will follow the track laid out by the cards unless the querent consciously intervenes, but if there is elemental misalignment, the predicted outcome could be difficult to achieve because the seeker is not really “on-board” with it (which may be a good thing if the outlook is dire). I should also mention that in either case we might get an answer to a question we didn’t pose due to “subconscious induction” (or, if you prefer, “subliminal infusion of intent”) during the shuffle.
Begin by having the sitter concentrate while shuffling the deck, then deal eight cards into two rows of four, one to convey objective reality in the matter and the other to reflect the seeker’s subjective perception. (See the graphic below.) Do this any way you choose: off the top of the deck or via another distribution method; in random order; with or without reversals; etc. I split the shuffled deck into four sub-packs representing (from left-to-right) Fire, Water, Air and Earth; then I drew a card from the top of each sub-pack (again from left-to-right), going through twice for an eight-card pull.
Here is an example reading to illustrate my point:
The “Fire” column shows that, with the upright 6 of Wands, the querent is certain that his intentions are honorable and will bring him the rewards he deserves, but the Devil tells a different story, suggesting that he is deceiving himself when his aspirations are morally dubious or even disreputable (and its reversal makes this doubly obvious to everyone but himself). Another view is that he’s a lecherous but frustrated “old guy” (Devil reversed) who mistakenly believes that he still “has what it takes” (6 of Wands).
In the “Water” column, the 8 of Wands reversed suggests that he realizes he must back off and “cool his jets,” particularly since in this scenario the Lovers could be read as an emotionally-charged liaison that intuition is telling him could be inevitable. (That Devil would like nothing better.)
The Knight of Wands in the “Air” column insists that “all systems are go” and all he has to do is “step up to the plate and take a swing.” On the other hand, the 3 of Cups (the classic “love triangle” card) proclaims that he must consider the impact of his actions on all those involved, and its reversal implies that he would really like to look the other way and get on with satisfying his desires.
The 3 of Wands reversed in the “Earth” column indicates that he wants to continue on his journey in a way that won’t attract attention (particularly after the Devil reversed, the Lovers and the 3 of Cups reversed exposed his unprincipled motives), while the King of Wands is telling him not to worry too much about it since he will prevail in his mundane pursuits. (I can almost hear Glenn Frey singing in the background “There’s gonna be a heartache tonight, I know.”
All of the psychological cards are fiery Wands, clearly describing him as ego-driven. The only card that is elementally uncomfortable in its position is the 8 of Wands reversed in the “Water” column, showing that he must proceed with caution, if at all, because he doesn’t want to overreach and incite backlash. The elemental alignment of the cards in the “Situational” row is unremarkable since all of the dignities are “neutral and supportive” (a category that I call “complementary opposites” because one provides what the other lacks). The two “Fire-and-Earth” combos (Devil/Fire and King of Wands/Earth) seem the most compelling to me.
The elemental comparison between the two rows yielded one “friendly” combination (the Lovers and the 8 of Wands, implying that “the fix is in” if he doesn’t trip over his own feet) and one “unfriendly” pair (the Knight of Wands and the 3 of Cups), but there were no persistent trends either way. I would say that the rational implications of his domineering attitude (Knight of Wands cowing the 3 of Cups) overshadow the purely emotional considerations of the 8 of Wands and the Lovers, with Aspiration and Application “flying under the radar.” In short, he could be creating a mental\emotional mess (for someone if not himself) by playing to his egotistical ambitions and physical appetites. This is not a very flattering portrait of a self-serving personality in an opportunistic setting.
Originally published at http://parsifalswheeldivination.wordpress.com on July 9, 2024.
