Turbatus Somnus* — A Sleep-Cycle Disruption Spread

*Disturbed sleep (I know very little Latin, blame Google Translate)

AUTHOR’S NOTE: It’s common to ask the tarot “How will my day go?” Here I’m asking “How will my night go?”

Insomnia is a subject I haven’t tackled before in a tarot spread. I have a mild form of it and the cause is seldom somatic in nature but rather mental hyperactivity. So I figured the cards might be able to shed light on when and why that is most likely to occur. In the worst cases, I would expect to see many Swords/Air or Wands/Fire cards in the reading. I’m also making a minor nod toward the contribution of dreams to this condition.

Although I have little trouble going to sleep initially, I’m one of those people who often wake up in the middle of the night for no apparent reason (other than “nature calls”) and have trouble getting back to sleep until I can quiet my mind. I decided to create a spread to give me some insight into this situation. I’m also going to use it as a window into the general nature of any dreams I may encounter in each of two cycles: before sleep interruption and after. My personal experience has been that post-interruption episodes are usually “anxiety dreams” that depict some kind of threatening environment, resulting in my sudden and irreversible reawakening (to a great sense of relief, I might add).

Originally published at http://parsifalswheeldivination.wordpress.com on December 10, 2023.