The Queen of (Tea) Cups

Exploring the Tarot court with the Tarot of the Silicon Dawn

King of Cups.

This guy. I struggled to click with him when I first started reading tarot, and thought he looked quite cold and aloof in the Rider Waite Smith deck (which was my first deck):

That guy does not look like a barrel of laughs.

The bit I found tricky was marrying the inward quality of the Cups suit with the King’s outward energy. I kept having this problem as I explored more decks. The Shadowscapes representation made a bit more sense to me; he looks very wise, calm and patient, but I was still struggling to hold the inward/outward pull in my mind when I looked at these decks:

As soon as I saw the TSD’s King of Cups, though, it all clicked. He’s a deep-sea navigator. Let’s unpack that for a moment. The outward, action-focused energy of the Kings sizzles in this card unlike many other decks I’ve seen. He looks straight at you, as if instructing you, whilst adjusting the submarine’s controls by touch. He’s got a lot going on (he’s the Captain after all), but he still has time to give you advice.

The energy of Cups marries with this image really well. He knows his sub inside-out, not even having to look at the controls as he adjusts them. I can imagine that being this deep under the ocean and with a whole sub of people to look after, you need to know the waters, their depths and shallows, their currents. And you always need to be ready to act.

For me, this is the King of Cups I will always hold as the King of Cups. When I look at this card, I see clearly what mastering your emotional depths and using your intuition looks like. I feel compelled by the Captain’s steady stare to act on my feelings. And the deep ocean doesn’t hold so much fear any more.

Trying to sort out my muddle of a life with some nice, solid grid spreads. 

I threw together a simple spread for thinking about the future of a relationship when things seem a bit iffy. It’s a 3x3 grid.

The first row is you, alone - this could be your strengths as a person, or how you imagine you’d fare without your SO

The second row is them, alone - similarly, their strengths as an individual, or how you’d imagine they’d fare without you.

August 21, 2014

Today’s card is the Mother of Swords. Unlike the welcoming drawings on the Mothers from the other suits, the Mother of Swords looks like a tough, no-bullshit type of mom. She peers out of the card suspiciously as if she can see through your pretenses and excuses. Her Sword also sits vertically rather than horizontally, emphasizing the point of the blade and the potential for danger.

The Mother of Swords is a woman with a sharp wit and a keen sense of right and wrong built upon objective analysis of the world around her. She doesn’t let emotion stand in the way of her ambitions and can seem cold or aloof. This isn’t to say that she doesn’t care, she just favors the head over the heart.

I think I’m very much like this card when someone is spouting bullshit. I’m kind of imagining the Mother of Swords is like, ‘I see your bullshit. I’m just gonna sit here seeing your bullshit. You know you’re bullshit.’ And the Father of Swords is like, ‘THAT’S IT I’M GONNA SCHOOL YOU’

its amazing the things i found without looking. i was looking for some figure/hand drawing reference and came across the most random stuff.

like these beautiful cards from the Southside Tea Room in Brisbane.

The Southside Tea Room is a well known venue located in Brisbane, Australia. Southside Tea Room teamed up with local letterpress printer Little Peach Co. and engaged twenty two local, national and international artists to collectively put their unique stamp onto a deck of tarot cards. They must have given the artists a clear idea of what they expected, as unlike many other such collective tarots, this one has a degree of coherence. You can buy it from their Etsy shop. 

link / source

1. The Situation: Ten of Pentacles

2. The Challenge: Justice

3. Action Advice: Eight of Wants

I was confused about “The Situation” so I re-shuffled the deck and drew a clarifying card: Queen of Pentacles. I must say when this deck wants me know something it will make sure I get it.

I’m Jane.

Never would have thought I’d be into tarot if you asked me several months ago, but have been hooked since Beth started the Fool’s Journey column over on Autostraddle. I’ve been learning/reading/studying tarot for about 3 months.

Daily Draw

Death

I’ve shared thoughts on Death before. On change. On acceptance. On transformation. I look at this card, this version, and I see four people faced with Death, with change, with possible transformation. And they all respond differently.

I also see the towers and gate from The Moon far in the background. Death and change are only one step along the journey towards transformation. We have to take the hand of Death in order to grow.

I pulled this card asking what I needed to think about today, what I needed to be aware of. And either my cards have been incredibly literal these past few days, or I’m getting better at perceiving immediate messages. With Ferguson, the death of Michael Brown ignited a massive outcry for change. And we need to respond openly. We need to accept that the power systems in place in this country are dangerous and powerful, and killing people. Death here is not just change on the individual level: it’s societal. Look at the Pope here. Look at the children. Look at the people succumbing vs surviving. We are all affected. We all must change.

Death comes to to us all.

Thanks to the tips some folks gave me for reading tarot, I was able to spend a bit of cash to help out the protesters and residents of Ferguson. 

One of my friends has been working with a group every night since the protests started, and last night they began collecting this stuff and other first aid items so they could serve as roving first aid teams.

Nine of Wands