Our Daily Spread for Feb. 25, 2011
Eight of Cups Knight of Swords, Queen of Cups, Nine of Swords
There are next to no business or romantic themes, so I have not labeled these.
She changes her mind, it wasn’t so awful after all. She is a changed woman, isn’t the sweet nervous lady anymore. She decides to leave her troubling situation in a flash. His worries are over, he meets the woman who understands him and turns his life around. She grieves the man who is gone, and the change that makes in her life. Suddenly he is gone from her life and she is very upset thinking about that. She grieves the unexpected change in her life. Her thinking changed; she isn’t sorry anymore. She changes her mind about him and is the hell outa that aggravatin’ place. She quits dreaming of her prince and gets back to what is troubling her. When her troubles are over, she is a changed woman. Her thinking changes with the exit of the man who upset her. Now that her insomnia is over, she can get on with a different direction in her life. He switches back and forth about leaving her, which gets on her nerves big time. She just quit worrying about it and is on to something else entirely. Mental anguish to her, his comings and goings. She decides not to be upset anymore and changes instantly. She changes her mind and decides not to be upset anymore. No more is she crying all night because her man dashed off. Her sleep being disrupted is a drastic change in her thinking. Well, obviously, the key card is the lady in the middle, the nice girl/good woman, the Queen of Cups who is thinking, and thinking about her man; and obviously someone left and there’s a huge change in her life, what with two cards that mean those things (Knight of Swords and Eight of Cups); and obviously, this is a source of aggravation, trouble and grief (Nine of Swords). However with two cards that mean change, some of the meanings are that she is getting over the grief quickly or that whatever or whoever leaves comes back. These are things an experienced Rider Waite Tarot reader immediately perceives just looking at this simple spread. Advice here is that changing your thinking is changing your life, and/or changing who you are. (By the way, this is a generality that would apply to men equally as women.) Advice is to ‘get over yourself’ and get on with it; to get over your grief and get on with it.
Meanings and Illustrations:
Knight of Swords: To reverse direction – to leave in a hurry and to come in a hurry – is what he is all about, along with just being in a hurry. Speeding, running away, that kind of thing. The illustration skillfully depicts the hurry: Even the clouds are moving fast. Queen of Cups: She is a softie, a dreamer, a romantic and usually simple soul who dreams of and thinks of her man. Water – a symbol of being emotional – surrounds her throne as she contemplates. Nine of Swords: Up nights crying, grief and insomnia, worry and aggravation. The illustration shows someone sitting up in bed, hands holding the head. Eight of Cups: The end of one direction, the beginning of another (similar to the Knight of Swords); to suddenly exit, to drop out. Disrupt. To drop out of ‘life’ and go on a quest. The illustration shows a forced change of direction in the traveler’s path: There is water and the banks of it are 90 degrees.
Puzzling about how the spiritual plane dominates practical (physical plane) affairs
Page of Cups High Priestess, Ace of Swords, Queen of Wands
So, which lady shall it be for him: The bookworm or the one who is actively engaged? She is a stay-at-home wife: Is that an achievement? Why was the bookkeeper made the manager? Why is the quiet woman so bossy now that she is his wife? Two women made a fool of him, didn’t they? How did his wife win without doing anything? She is totally into solitude; it would be ridiculous to be a wife. What kind of wife is she – an absolute lady. How can a woman who runs a household, runs a business, be so very contemplative? It’s one way or the other: to be single or to be a married woman. Her challenge as a wife is whether to be the passive lady. Can he make her his wife, when she is so ladylike? He feels silly. This quiet woman is the total boss of the household affairs. Puzzling about how the spiritual plane dominates practical physical plane affairs. How did she get to be the expert who knows all about running a household? He feels silly challenging mama in her house: She stays there. Why does she have to stay home? Who would have thought such a practical woman would be a spiritual master? He wonders how his wife dominates him when she is so quiet and ladylike. How did he get such a tyrant for a little woman? How can he make this woman be quiet? Once again, the story is obviously about a woman or two. The women contrast, in that the High Priestess is (1) passive, a ‘lady,’ which means staying quietly in the back seat, (2) knows all or is an expert in something probably scholarly and (3) is at home on the spiritual plane, is a spiritual adept. And, in contrast, the Queen of Wands is a hands-on day-to-day manager of mundane activities. Between the two females is the Ace of Swords, which means force, totally one way or the other, a challenge or achievement. Above the two females is the Page of Cups, who means ‘silly,’ ‘Why?’ or any other question form. The advice here contrasts mental activity with mundane activities of managing an enterprise (house or business) and asks whether one can excel at both. It contrasts a woman who is a scholar of some sort (and is her own person, single) with being a wife running a household, and again asks ‘How can it be?’ It also expresses a guy’s wonderment that the little lady he married now runs his affairs (a dude’s primal fear). The spread sort of suggests the contrast between a stay-at-home wife and a working wife, but not quite. “Why must she choose between being a wife and being her own master?” in other words.
Meanings and Illustrations:
High Priestess: The High Priestess has several layers of meanings, but the common one is about being a lady, a quiet woman, about knowing and being passive rather than doing and being active. (She is the opposite of the Magician, who is active without thinking.) With the focus on ‘knowing,’ she is also an expert or master, a scholar. This Rider Waite Tarot card also refers to the spiritual and/or mental plane, so it also means ‘spiritual master,’ which is what the High Priestess is in witchcraft. The illustration of this Rider Waite Tarot card is less obvious than most. The book in her lap, ‘Tora,’ suggests the scholarly theme. The initials, B and J, on the pillars refer to the Kaballah, hence to spirituality or being a spiritual master. The equal-armed cross is also about planes. Lots of other symbols as well, but this is enough. Ace of Swords: Win, challenge, achievement, all one way, to force, must, gotta, the hard way, dominate. The illustration shows the crown of victory atop a sword in hand. Queen of Wands: She is the one who runs the enterprise, be it house or business. ‘She runs a tight ship’ describes her. Very physical, very competent. Very physical-plane as contrasted to the High Priestess, who can be ethereal or ‘out there.’ Page of Cups: Huh? This is one of the ‘duh’ cards. It means ‘silly’ or ‘ridiculous.’ It means an idiot or confused/confusion. He is dressed funny and carries a fish in a cup.