🌀 past lives reading — hudson & connor 🌀
before i start, i want to make the same disclaimer i always make whenever i read about spirituality or past lives. this is a symbolic interpretation of the cards, not a factual statement about who someone objectively was in another lifetime. if something resonates with you, take it as a point for reflection rather than certainty.
i also have to say that this became one of the most internally coherent readings i've done in a very long time. rather than presenting separate stories, almost every section kept returning to the same symbolic themes from different perspectives. throughout the spread, i repeatedly found unfinished cycles, blocked movement, delayed decisions and endings that never seemed to reach their natural conclusion. after a while, i stopped looking at the cards individually and started paying attention to the pattern they were creating together.
because of that, i don't think this reading is fundamentally about two souls who didn't love each other enough. if anything, i think it suggests the opposite. the feelings themselves rarely appear to be the problem. instead, the cards repeatedly explore the difficulty of turning those feelings into a shared life before circumstances, responsibilities or timing began standing in the way. what struck me the most is that the heartbreak throughout the spread seems to happen around the relationship rather than within it. i see very little emotional hostility between these two archetypes; instead, i see interruption, hesitation and opportunities that never had the chance to fully unfold.
once i finished the reading and looked at all cards together, i realized that, despite being a past-life spread, this reading isn't actually centered on the past. it's centered on incompletion. the ace of pentacles introduces the possibility of building something lasting, the tower interrupts those foundations, the world reversed leaves the cycle unfinished, temperance reversed prevents integration, death struggles to fully transform, and several other cards continue repeating the same symbolic language. when tarot insists on the same message this consistently, i tend to trust the pattern more than any individual meaning.
ultimately, i don't think these cards tell the story of two souls trying to recreate a previous lifetime. symbolically, they tell the story of two souls who once left an important chapter unfinished and are now being offered another opportunity to respond differently to the same emotional lesson. whether that lesson is completed is something tarot cannot determine—free will always exists—but the spread suggests that the opportunity for healing, understanding and finally bringing that unfinished chapter to its natural conclusion is very much present.
overall karmic energy: ace of pentacles + the tower
i honestly wasn't expecting the ace of pentacles to open this reading, but the more i sat with it, the more perfect it became. people usually associate soul connections with cards like the two of cups or the lovers, yet the tarot chose one of the most grounded aces in the deck. i think that's incredibly meaningful because it immediately shifts the focus away from attraction and toward construction. unlike the ace of cups, which speaks about the birth of feelings, the ace of pentacles asks what those feelings can become. can they grow into a shared life? can they create stability? can they stand the test of time? because of that, my first impression wasn't that these souls simply crossed paths to learn a lesson. instead, this felt like a connection with genuine long-term potential—one that naturally wanted to become part of everyday life.
the tower completely changes how we understand that potential. while many people immediately associate it with disaster, i think that's only part of its symbolism. before the tower can collapse, something first has to be standing. in other words, i don't think these cards describe a relationship that almost happened. i think they describe one that had already begun building real foundations before something fundamentally disrupted its course. throughout the rest of the spread, the tarot rarely questions whether the connection itself was meaningful. instead, it keeps asking why those foundations were never allowed to fully develop.
what fascinated me most is how naturally these two cards speak to one another. the ace of pentacles represents slow, steady construction, while the tower represents sudden interruption. together, they create the image of something that genuinely had the potential to last but was cut short before it could fully become the life it was trying to build. that same pattern appears repeatedly throughout the reading—not a lack of love, but the interruption of the future that love was trying to create.
within the symbolic language of a past-life reading, i also think the tower represents experiences that remain emotionally unresolved long after they end. not every relationship leaves that kind of imprint, but some become defining moments that permanently shape how the soul experiences connection, loss and belonging. considering everything that follows, i think this spread is less interested in describing the romance itself and much more interested in exploring what happens when an important emotional cycle never reaches its natural conclusion.
is there one past life that influences this connection the most? queen of swords reversed
one of the things i find most interesting about larger past-life spreads is that they don't always point toward a single incarnation. sometimes the cards feel fragmented, almost as if different lifetimes are surfacing at the same time. you can usually tell because the symbolism constantly changes direction, introducing completely different themes, dynamics or lessons from one position to the next.
that isn't what happened here.
the queen of swords reversed actually made me feel like the spread wanted to narrow my focus rather than expand it. instead of showing multiple stories competing for attention, it felt as though nearly everything in this reading kept orbiting around one defining experience. i don't necessarily think that means these souls only crossed paths once before. rather, if we follow the symbolic narrative of the spread, it suggests that one particular chapter left such a profound impression that it continues echoing much more loudly than the others.
interestingly, the queen of swords reversed herself is a fascinating card to receive in this position because, when upright, she is one of the clearest voices in the entire deck. she cuts through confusion, separates emotion from fact and isn't afraid to face uncomfortable truths. reversed, however, that clarity becomes distorted. truth isn't necessarily absent, but it becomes much harder to access. there may be misunderstandings, conversations that never happened, conclusions that were reached too quickly or emotions that clouded people's ability to fully understand what was happening around them.
that immediately caught my attention because it mirrors the tower in a very subtle way. while the tower showed a structure collapsing before it could fully stabilize, the queen of swords reversed suggests that whatever happened afterward was never completely processed. symbolically, it almost feels as though the external story ended, but the internal story kept going. emotionally speaking, the ending never found the kind of closure that would allow both people to walk away with complete understanding.
as i continued through the spread, i kept coming back to this card because so many later positions seem to reinforce that same idea. there are repeated references to blocked communication, delayed movement, unfinished lessons and emotional cycles that remain suspended rather than resolved. the queen of swords reversed almost becomes the lens through which we understand everything else. instead of asking what happened?, she keeps asking what was never fully understood about what happened?
i also don't think it's accidental that the spread chooses a queen rather than a major arcana here. queens tend to represent internal processes. they absorb, reflect and understand the world from the inside out. because of that, this card doesn't feel like it's pointing toward historical facts. it feels much more psychological than historical. symbolically, it suggests that the greatest influence this lifetime left behind wasn't a specific event but an emotional pattern. perhaps the names, places and circumstances themselves are no longer important. what survived was the feeling of an unfinished conversation, an unfinished choice or an unfinished goodbye.
that's why i personally wouldn't read this position as an invitation to become obsessed with discovering exactly who they were or where they lived. i think the spread is much more interested in showing what remained unresolved within the souls themselves. in many spiritual traditions, that's ultimately what karma represents—not punishment, but unfinished learning. if something continues appearing lifetime after lifetime, it's usually because the emotional experience attached to it never reached its natural conclusion.
in that sense, the queen of swords reversed doesn't simply answer the question of whether one past life stands out above the others. she also quietly introduces one of the biggest themes of the entire reading: the idea that clarity was lost somewhere along the way. not because either person lacked intelligence or emotional depth, but because circumstances prevented them from seeing the full picture while they were living it. only much later—perhaps symbolically through another encounter—would there be another opportunity to understand what that experience was truly trying to teach.
who were they to each other?
this is probably the section that intrigued me the most because it immediately shifts the focus away from external circumstances and begins exploring the emotional architecture of the connection itself. rather than describing occupations, titles, or social positions, the cards seem far more interested in revealing how these two people naturally related to the world and, consequently, how they related to one another.
what struck me almost immediately is that neither of them appears through particularly impulsive archetypes. there are no knights rushing into action, no personalities driven entirely by instinct, and very little that suggests emotional chaos between them. instead, both figures carry a remarkable sense of maturity. however, they express that maturity in completely different ways, almost as if each soul had developed strengths that naturally complemented the other's weaknesses.
the king of pentacles reversed doesn't immediately make me think of someone greedy, controlling, or emotionally unavailable, even though those are traditional meanings. i always try to read court cards within the context of the entire spread, and nothing else here consistently supports that interpretation. instead, the surrounding cards repeatedly reinforce the tension between personal desire and external responsibility. because of that, i actually see this king as someone whose greatest strength eventually became his greatest burden.
the king of pentacles is naturally associated with stability, structure, and responsibility. he builds, protects, and provides. he carries the weight of other people's expectations with remarkable consistency. when reversed, however, those same qualities can become excessive. responsibility turns into obligation. stability turns into rigidity. protecting others slowly becomes sacrificing parts of oneself.
following the symbolic story these cards seem to tell, i wonder whether this figure spent a significant portion of that lifetime believing that duty had to come before happiness. not necessarily because he wanted that to be true, but because he genuinely believed it was the right thing to do. there is something deeply tragic about that possibility because the rest of the spread never suggests a lack of feeling. instead, it repeatedly points toward difficulty acting on those feelings once larger structures—family, society, expectations, or personal responsibilities—entered the picture.
what makes this even more interesting is the connection to the very first card of the reading: the ace of pentacles. symbolically, both belong to the same suit. the ace represents the possibility of building a lasting foundation, while the king represents someone whose identity revolves around creating exactly that kind of stability. it's almost as though the relationship itself wanted to become what the king naturally embodied. the irony, of course, is that he appears reversed, suggesting that the very qualities that should have supported the relationship also became part of what prevented it from fully unfolding.
in contrast, the high priestess introduces an entirely different energy. i've always found her to be one of the hardest cards to reduce to a few keywords because she isn't defined by what she does, but by what she understands. while the king naturally directs his attention toward the external world—what needs to be built, protected, or maintained—the high priestess lives almost entirely in the internal one. she observes before acting, listens before speaking, and often understands something long before she can explain it.
within the symbolic narrative of this spread, i don't necessarily see her as someone who had more power than the king or somehow "knew better." instead, i think she represents someone whose relationship with emotion was fundamentally different. where the king wrestles with practical realities and visible responsibilities, the high priestess seems remarkably comfortable sitting with uncertainty. she doesn't rush toward answers; she allows them to emerge.
that difference feels incredibly important because it immediately creates balance between the two archetypes. one is deeply connected to structure, while the other is deeply connected to intuition. one asks, "what needs to be done?" while the other asks, "what is actually true?" neither question is more valuable than the other, but they come from completely different places.
interestingly, the spread never places these two energies in opposition. if anything, they complement each other remarkably well. the king offers grounding, while the high priestess offers perspective. the king builds the visible foundation, while the high priestess understands the invisible one.
when i look at them together, i don't see two people pulling in opposite directions. i see two people who quietly expanded one another's world without even realizing it. symbolically, this feels like the kind of relationship where each person helped the other access parts of themselves that had not yet fully developed.
something else also caught my attention.
the high priestess is a card of silence, but silence is often misunderstood. people sometimes interpret it as emotional distance, yet i rarely experience the card that way in relationship readings. more often than not, she represents emotions that run so deep they become difficult to express through ordinary language. she feels first and speaks later—sometimes much later.
that becomes especially interesting once we reach the ending of this lifetime, where one person's response to the separation is represented by the hermit. those two archetypes naturally speak a similar language. both process life internally. both retreat when confronted with overwhelming emotional experiences. both search for meaning rather than immediate solutions.
because of that, i don't think the high priestess is emotionally detached within this story. if anything, she may be the person who intuitively understood the emotional significance of the connection first, even if she couldn't immediately change its circumstances.
another detail i found fascinating is that neither archetype appears immature. that's actually quite unusual. past-life readings often include pages or knights when describing the people themselves, suggesting souls that were still developing certain aspects of their character. here, however, we have a king and a major arcana. both carry considerable maturity. that makes me wonder whether the lesson wasn't about learning how to love in the first place. perhaps it was about learning what to do when love alone isn't enough to overcome the structures surrounding it.
that idea becomes even stronger once we look at the cards describing the relationship itself.
the page of swords immediately lightens the energy of the spread. after several heavy archetypes, curiosity, conversation, and intellectual connection suddenly enter the picture.
the page of swords is endlessly interested in understanding the person standing in front of him. he asks questions, notices details, and pays attention to things other people might overlook. symbolically, this can represent a relationship built not only on affection but also on genuine fascination. there is something incredibly youthful about wanting to understand how another person's mind works, how they see the world, and why they think the way they do.
because of that, i don't immediately see this relationship as one driven primarily by dramatic passion. i actually think it may have been sustained just as much by conversation, mutual admiration, and intellectual companionship as by romance itself. there is a strong feeling that these two people continued discovering one another over time instead of assuming they already knew everything there was to know.
however, the page also has limitations. he is still learning. he doesn't always possess the experience necessary to transform understanding into decisive action.
that's where the world reversed changes everything.
if i had to choose one card that quietly supports almost every other position in this spread, it would probably be this one. the world upright represents integration, fulfillment, and the natural conclusion of a long journey. nothing is missing anymore. the cycle has reached its intended ending.
reversed, however, the energy feels fundamentally different. the story stops before the final page. the lesson is interrupted before it can fully settle. there is a lingering feeling that something important remained unfinished—not because it lacked value, but because circumstances prevented it from reaching its natural conclusion.
what i love about this card is that it doesn't necessarily suggest failure. those two ideas are often confused. an unfinished story is not automatically a failed story. sometimes a story remains unfinished simply because time ran out before the final chapter could be written.
that's exactly what this combination makes me think of. the page of swords suggests a relationship that was still unfolding, still learning, still discovering itself. the world reversed suggests that this unfolding process was interrupted before it naturally matured.
once again, notice how the spread keeps returning to the same symbolic language. the ace of pentacles showed the beginning of something tangible. the tower interrupted its foundations. the queen of swords reversed suggested that the emotional understanding of what happened remained incomplete. now the world reversed reinforces that the relationship itself never truly reached its intended conclusion.
when three completely different positions begin pointing toward the same pattern, i tend to trust the pattern more than any isolated interpretation. symbolically, the tarot seems far less interested in describing how this connection began than in emphasizing that it never had the opportunity to become everything it was trying to become.
and, in many ways, i think that becomes the emotional thread holding this entire reading together.
the context of that lifetime
environment / historical setting — nine of pentacles
external circumstances — page of wands reversed
greatest challenge — four of cups reversed
one of the things i appreciate most about contextual positions in past-life readings is that they rarely describe a specific historical period. instead, they build the emotional landscape where the symbolic story unfolds, revealing the kind of world these people were navigating and the values that shaped their choices.
the nine of pentacles immediately creates an atmosphere of structure rather than survival. this doesn't feel like a lifetime defined by instability or hardship, but by a world with established expectations, routines and social order. while the card often represents independence and fulfillment, it can also describe environments where preserving stability, reputation and existing structures becomes incredibly important. within the symbolic narrative of this spread, it makes me wonder whether both people lived in a world where their paths were already expected to follow certain directions, making it difficult to step outside those expectations without significant consequences.
interestingly, this also reinforces the king of pentacles reversed. earlier, i interpreted him as someone whose sense of responsibility outweighed his personal desires, and the nine of pentacles almost explains why. if maintaining stability is one of the highest values of that environment, it's easy to understand how duty could eventually become more powerful than emotion. once again, the spread continues returning to the same symbolic foundation: building, preserving and protecting what already exists.
the page of wands reversed then shifts the focus from the environment itself to the ability—or inability—to move freely within it. rather than describing personality, i experience this card as the energy surrounding the relationship. every time movement wanted to happen, something seemed to interrupt it. every time a step forward became possible, another obstacle appeared. what fascinates me is that the tarot never clearly identifies what those obstacles were. instead of assigning blame, it keeps emphasizing the experience of limitation itself.
by this point, i also couldn't ignore how often the spread repeated reversed cards connected to movement: the world, the page of wands, the chariot, the hanged man, judgement and the eight of wands all seem to reinforce the same symbolic idea. movement wants to happen, but something repeatedly prevents it from unfolding naturally.
finally, the four of cups reversed identifies what may have been the greatest challenge of that lifetime. rather than emotional withdrawal, i experience this card as the moment someone finally recognizes the opportunity standing in front of them. symbolically, it's the awakening that comes after emotional numbness—the realization that something profoundly meaningful exists. the heartbreaking question, however, is what happens when that clarity arrives but circumstances still make action feel impossible.
to me, that's the emotional center of this section. the greatest obstacle wasn't failing to recognize the connection. it was recognizing it while simultaneously feeling unable to fully respond to it. throughout the spread, the cards repeatedly suggest that these two people found one another, understood the significance of what they shared and yet continued encountering circumstances that made fully living that connection incredibly difficult. that tension quietly prepares us for the next section, where the reading finally begins exploring what the relationship itself actually felt like while they were living it.
what was the relationship like?
what brought them together — four of swords reversed
the greatest conflict — three of swords + page of wands reversed
the dominant feeling — two of cups + three of cups reversed
what they never got to say or live — page of pentacles + the hanged man reversed
this is probably the section i spent the longest sitting with because, in many ways, everything before this point was simply preparing the ground for it. up until now, the spread has focused on context. we've looked at the environment, the symbolic roles these two people seemed to embody and the broader themes surrounding the connection. now, for the first time, the tarot begins describing what it actually felt like to be inside that relationship.
what immediately surprised me is that the cards don't begin with excitement or passion. they begin with awakening.
what brought them together
i honestly love this card here because it's much more subtle than people usually expect from relationship readings. the four of swords reversed isn't the beginning of love; it's the end of emotional sleep. symbolically, it often appears when something—or someone—interrupts a long period of stillness. there's a sense that life had been moving in the same direction for quite some time, almost automatically, until one encounter quietly changed the way everything was being experienced.
if i follow the symbolic story these cards are telling, i don't think these two people entered each other's lives to create chaos. they entered each other's lives to create awareness, and i think there's a beautiful difference between those two things. while the four of swords upright often represents rest, retreat and emotional distance from the outside world, reversed it suggests that isolation beginning to dissolve. someone starts feeling again, questioning routines that once felt unquestionable and looking at life from an entirely different perspective.
that's why i don't think this relationship was built solely on attraction. it feels like it was built on recognition—not necessarily in the spiritual sense people often talk about, but recognition of possibility. almost as if meeting one another expanded the horizon of what each person believed their life could become.
sometimes people enter our lives because they fit perfectly into the path we're already walking. other times, they make us realize there are paths we had never even considered before. this card reminds me much more of the second possibility.
it also continues a pattern we've been seeing since the beginning of the spread. the ace of pentacles introduced potential; the four of swords reversed feels like awakening to that potential. emotionally, this relationship doesn't seem to arrive like a storm. it arrives like someone quietly opening a window in a room that had been closed for years. and once that window has been opened, it's almost impossible to pretend the fresh air doesn't exist.
three of swords + page of wands reversed
i think this is one of the easiest positions to misread if we isolate the cards. the three of swords immediately makes people think of betrayal, heartbreak or emotional pain, but i don't think that's the full story here. the surrounding spread simply doesn't support the idea that the greatest conflict between these two people came from a lack of love or trust.
instead, the cards repeatedly point toward interruption, blocked movement, hesitation and external circumstances. because of that, i actually read the three of swords less as the cause of the conflict and more as its consequence. the pain feels very real, but it feels like the pain of not being able to fully live something rather than the pain of no longer loving someone.
the page of wands reversed reinforces that interpretation almost immediately. we first saw this card in the contextual section, where it seemed to describe blocked momentum within the environment itself. here, it almost suggests that those external limitations slowly became internal ones. what once looked like circumstances eventually became hesitation. what once looked like obstacles eventually became fear of acting.
i find that deeply human. sometimes we spend so long adapting ourselves to difficult circumstances that, even when opportunities appear, we hesitate because we've learned to expect resistance. symbolically, this combination makes me wonder whether both people reached moments where they genuinely wanted to move forward but no longer knew how—not because they lacked courage, but because they had spent too much time living inside structures that taught them caution.
it's almost as if the spread is asking one heartbreaking question: how long can someone postpone a decision before postponement becomes a decision in itself? to me, that's where the three of swords truly lives—not in cruelty or resentment, but in the quiet realization that time doesn't wait forever.
two of cups + three of cups reversed
this might honestly be my favorite combination in the entire spread because of how balanced it feels. the two of cups is one of the clearest cards of mutuality in tarot. it doesn't describe one-sided admiration, projection or idealization. it describes two people standing on equal emotional ground, with reciprocity, respect and a genuine willingness to meet one another halfway.
if i were only reading this card, i would probably describe the relationship as one built on partnership rather than intensity alone.
then the three of cups reversed appears.
i've seen this card interpreted in many different ways over the years, but within the symbolic language of this spread, i honestly don't think it's primarily talking about a third person. instead, it feels much more connected to the world surrounding the relationship.
the three of cups upright represents celebration, community and shared joy. reversed, those things become more complicated. the environment no longer feels entirely supportive. there may be expectations, social dynamics or outside influences that make openly living that happiness much harder than it should be.
what i find interesting is how perfectly this echoes the nine of pentacles. once again, the spread isn't placing the problem inside the relationship itself; it's placing the tension around it. emotionally, these two people seem remarkably balanced. what struggles to find balance is everything surrounding them.
that distinction remains incredibly consistent throughout the reading. the cards rarely suggest that these two people stopped choosing one another emotionally. instead, they repeatedly suggest that the world around them made those choices increasingly difficult to translate into everyday life.
what they never got to say or live
page of pentacles + the hanged man reversed
out of every position in this reading, this may have been the one that left the strongest emotional impression on me.
the page of pentacles quietly brings us back to the very first card of the spread. once again, we're in the suit of pentacles. once again, we're talking about beginnings that want to become something lasting.
the page doesn't dream about extraordinary things. he simply carries the willingness to learn, to build and to invest in something that could slowly grow into a stable future. symbolically, i almost picture him holding a seed—not a finished tree, just the possibility of one.
that's such a gentle image.
and perhaps that's exactly why the hanged man reversed feels so painful beside it.
upright, the hanged man represents surrender and the willingness to accept that transformation sometimes requires patience and a completely different perspective. reversed, however, someone knows change is necessary but cannot quite bring themselves to embrace it. they remain suspended between two realities, unable to return to the past yet equally unable to step fully into the future.
together, these cards create one of the most emotional moments in the spread. it doesn't feel as though they dreamed about impossible things. it feels as though they dreamed about ordinary things—a quiet future, built one step at a time. and yet even those simple hopes remain suspended, waiting for a moment that never fully arrives.
i think that's what makes this section so moving. not because it's dramatic, but because it's surprisingly ordinary. sometimes the deepest grief isn't losing something extraordinary. sometimes it's losing the chance to live an ordinary life with someone who made that ordinary life feel meaningful.
if there's one place where i feel the emotional heart of this entire reading lives, i think it's here.
how did that lifetime end?
the final event — temperance reversed
hudson's response — the chariot reversed + eight of cups reversed
connor's response — the hermit
if the previous section felt like the emotional heart of the reading, this one feels like the moment everything that had been quietly building beneath the surface finally reaches its breaking point. interestingly, though, the spread never becomes dramatic in the way many people might expect. there isn't a single card that clearly points toward betrayal, revenge or hostility between them. instead, the ending follows the exact symbolic language we've been seeing since the very beginning: imbalance, interruption and the inability to bring an important cycle to its natural conclusion. somehow, that quieter kind of ending makes it even more heartbreaking.
temperance is often reduced to the idea of balance, but i think it's actually much more concerned with integration. it represents the slow blending of different worlds into something new, where compromise, healing and harmony become possible. reversed, however, that integration never fully happens. something remains divided, and despite everyone's efforts, the pieces no longer fit together the way they once hoped they would.
if the tower represented the collapse of the larger structure surrounding the relationship, temperance reversed feels like the emotional aftermath of that collapse. it doesn't necessarily describe one explosive event, but rather the painful realization that caring alone is no longer enough to restore harmony. sometimes relationships don't end because love fades; they end because too much has happened around that love, making balance almost impossible to recover.
another detail i find meaningful is temperance's connection to timing. upright, it often suggests that things unfold when they're meant to. reversed, however, timing itself seems to become part of the problem. looking back at the rest of the spread, this feels remarkably consistent. over and over again, the cards ask whether recognition arrived at exactly the moment action became most difficult. temperance reversed almost feels like the confirmation that those timelines never managed to align.
the chariot reversed + eight of cups reversed
this combination stayed with me for a long time because it feels incredibly specific. the chariot usually represents direction, determination and the ability to move forward with confidence. reversed, however, certainty disappears. movement becomes hesitation, direction turns into confusion and forward momentum suddenly feels impossible.
the eight of cups reversed deepens that feeling even further. upright, this card represents the difficult but necessary decision to walk away. reversed, acceptance never fully arrives. emotionally, part of the person remains where the story ended, continuing to look back, wondering what could have been different.
what i find most interesting is that i don't think these cards simply describe someone struggling to let go of another person. they seem to describe someone struggling to make peace with the ending itself. sometimes grief isn't only about losing someone; it's about never fully understanding why things unfolded the way they did, or feeling that there was still something left to say, to try or to experience.
the chariot reversed suggests that life continued moving externally, while the eight of cups reversed suggests that emotionally, part of the journey remained behind. together, they also reinforce one of the strongest patterns in the entire reading. by this point we've already seen the world reversed, the page of wands reversed, the hanged man reversed, judgement reversed and later the eight of wands reversed. all of them seem to describe the same emotional experience: movement wanting to happen, but never reaching its natural conclusion.
the hermit immediately changes the emotional tone. where the previous cards describe someone struggling against the ending, the hermit turns inward. that's one of the reasons i loved seeing the high priestess earlier in the spread. symbolically, these two archetypes speak a very similar language. both process life through reflection, both seek understanding before action and both naturally retreat inward when faced with overwhelming emotional experiences.
the hermit doesn't suggest less pain. if anything, he simply experiences it differently. instead of trying to change what has happened, he slowly begins asking what can be learned from it. symbolically, i almost imagine these two responses existing side by side: one person continuing to wrestle with the ending itself, while the other gradually carries that ending inward until it eventually transforms into wisdom.
there's something deeply compassionate about the hermit. he doesn't run away from grief; he walks alongside it. the card doesn't promise immediate healing, only that healing becomes an internal process rather than an external struggle.
looking at the ending as a whole
when i step back and look at these three positions together, one thing becomes incredibly clear. the spread never portrays the ending as an emotional explosion between the two people themselves. instead, it feels like a gradual separation shaped by circumstances that eventually became impossible to reconcile.
that's important because it changes how we understand everything that comes afterward. if this relationship had ended through betrayal or resentment, i would expect the following section to look very different. instead, almost every card continues pointing toward incompletion rather than emotional destruction. the feelings don't seem to disappear; the opportunity does. the relationship doesn't lose its value; it loses the space where it could continue existing.
and i honestly think that's why the next section—what remained unfinished—becomes the spiritual center of the entire reading. symbolically, what follows isn't punishment. it's simply the emotional consequence of a story that never had the chance to reach its final chapter.
if i had to choose the section that symbolically explains why this entire spread exists, it would probably be this one. everything we've read so far has been leading here. the ace of pentacles introduced the possibility of building something lasting, the tower interrupted those foundations, the world reversed suggested that the cycle never reached its natural conclusion, temperance reversed showed that harmony could no longer be restored, and the chariot together with the eight of cups reversed described someone who never truly moved beyond the ending. now the spread finally asks the question that all of those cards have been quietly preparing us for: what exactly remained unresolved?
interestingly, the answer isn't love, the relationship itself or even the separation. instead, the cards seem to point toward something much deeper: transformation.
what remained unfinished?
the lesson that wasn't fully learned — death + eight of wands reversed
the emotional debt that remained — the hanged man reversed + eight of pentacles reversed
if i had to choose the section that symbolically explains why this entire spread exists, it would probably be this one. everything we've read so far has been leading here. the ace of pentacles introduced the possibility of building something lasting, the tower interrupted those foundations, the world reversed suggested that the cycle never reached its natural conclusion, temperance reversed showed that harmony could no longer be restored, and the chariot together with the eight of cups reversed described someone who never truly moved beyond the ending. now the spread finally asks the question that all of those cards have been quietly preparing us for: what exactly remained unresolved?
interestingly, the answer isn't love, the relationship itself or even the separation. instead, the cards seem to point toward something much deeper: transformation.
the lesson that wasn't fully learned
death + eight of wands reversed
death is often misunderstood because people instinctively associate it with endings. to me, however, it's one of the most compassionate cards in the deck because it reminds us that nothing can continue growing if nothing is ever allowed to change. death doesn't destroy life—it transforms it. it asks us to release identities, expectations and chapters that have already fulfilled their purpose so something new can emerge.
that's why i found it so significant that death appears immediately followed by the eight of wands reversed. symbolically, it's almost as if the ending happened, but the transformation that should have followed never fully unfolded. our circumstances can change, life can continue moving and yet some part of us can remain emotionally suspended inside the moment everything changed.
if i'm following the symbolic narrative correctly, i almost wonder whether this became the true karmic lesson. not learning how to love or how to sacrifice, but learning how to allow life to transform us instead of remaining attached to a version of reality that no longer exists.
the eight of wands reversed reinforces that beautifully because, beyond communication, this card is ultimately about flow. upright, momentum returns. energy circulates again. life begins moving forward. reversed, however, everything seems to stall. conversations remain unsaid, decisions remain postponed and emotions remain trapped inside.
throughout the spread, we've repeatedly encountered cards connected to blocked movement: the page of wands reversed, the world reversed, the chariot reversed and now the eight of wands reversed. together, they seem to describe one recurring emotional pattern. the lesson wasn't simply about accepting loss; it was about allowing life to continue flowing after that loss.
the emotional debt that remained
the hanged man reversed + eight of pentacles reversed
i actually think the phrase emotional debt sounds much harsher than what these cards are describing. when people hear the word karma, they often imagine punishment or something that one person owes another. yet tarot usually approaches karma much more gently. more often than not, it speaks about unfinished emotional experiences, interrupted growth and lessons that never had the opportunity to fully unfold.
that's exactly how this combination feels to me.
the hanged man upright willingly pauses because he understands that genuine transformation requires surrender and a different perspective. reversed, however, that surrender becomes incredibly difficult. instead of allowing a new perspective to emerge, someone remains attached to the old one, trying to understand an ending through the same lens that no longer allows growth.
beside it, the eight of pentacles reversed doesn't feel like a lack of effort. nothing else in the spread suggests indifference. instead, it feels as though the emotional work itself was interrupted before it could truly begin. healing requires time, honesty and space, and symbolically these cards make me wonder whether life simply moved on before either person had the opportunity to fully process what had happened.
rather than suggesting moral failure, these cards seem to describe unfinished inner work. not because the desire to heal wasn't there, but because the story ended before healing itself could naturally unfold.
looking at these cards together
what fascinates me most is how different this section feels from what people often expect when they hear the phrase karmic debt. there's no sense of revenge, punishment or one soul chasing another across lifetimes demanding repayment. instead, the atmosphere is surprisingly compassionate.
it's almost as though the cards are saying that the greatest unfinished business wasn't something either person intentionally caused. it was simply the emotional consequence of a life that changed direction before both people were ready.
that completely changes the meaning of karma for me. instead of becoming a punishment, it becomes an invitation—an invitation to respond differently when similar crossroads appear again, to finish the emotional work that circumstances once interrupted and to finally allow transformation where, symbolically, there had once only been resistance.
i also think that's why the next section feels so hopeful. once the spread finishes exploring everything that remained unresolved, it finally turns toward the present and asks a new question: if these souls were given another opportunity to meet, what would they immediately recognize, and what would this new encounter actually be trying to heal?
how does this influence the present lifetime?
what they immediately recognized — six of pentacles
the pattern that repeated — five of cups reversed
what came to be healed — judgement reversed
the potential for growth in this lifetime — ten of swords reversed + king of swords reversed
by the time i reached this section, i stopped looking at each card individually and went back to the spread as a whole. something became very clear: this reading never really asks whether these souls knew each other before. instead, it keeps asking a much more interesting question—what emotional pattern continued existing after one story ended?
i think that's an important distinction because tarot is often far more interested in emotional continuity than historical continuity. names, places and circumstances may change, but the lessons themselves continue evolving until they're finally understood from a different perspective. rather than recreating a previous lifetime, this section feels like it explores what happens when two people are given another opportunity to respond differently to the same emotional themes.
what they immediately recognized
i absolutely loved seeing this card here because it's probably not what most people would expect. rather than suggesting instant attraction or overwhelming recognition, the six of pentacles speaks about ease, balance and reciprocity. symbolically, i don't think it points toward conscious memories of another lifetime, but rather an immediate familiarity with the emotional rhythm between them.
some relationships feel complicated from the very beginning. every interaction feels uncertain and every conversation takes effort. the six of pentacles describes almost the opposite. it feels as though sharing trust, attention and emotional support comes naturally, almost as if both people instinctively know how to meet each other halfway.
i also find it meaningful that this card belongs to the suit of pentacles. the reading began with the ace of pentacles, later introduced the king and the page of pentacles, and now returns to the same suit once again. throughout the spread, earth has consistently represented the emotional foundation of this connection. symbolically, what feels familiar isn't simply affection—it's cooperation, stability and the feeling that life somehow becomes easier when both people are moving in the same direction.
the pattern that repeated
i found this position fascinating because i don't think the repeated pattern is loss itself. instead, i think it's the attempt to move beyond loss.
throughout the spread we've seen interrupted endings, delayed transformation and emotional cycles that never fully closed. the five of cups reversed feels like the first genuine attempt to break that pattern. symbolically, it's almost as though both souls are no longer asking "why did this happen?" but "what can we do differently now?"
that shift feels incredibly significant. the card doesn't suggest that healing is immediate or that old grief disappears overnight. there may still be moments where old fears return, but the overall direction has changed. instead of remaining emotionally trapped inside the ending, there is finally movement toward rebuilding. considering how often the spread has shown blocked movement, even this quiet step forward feels remarkably hopeful.
if i had to choose one card that summarizes the deeper spiritual purpose of the spread, it might actually be this one.
judgement is the card of awakening—not necessarily through dramatic revelations, but through finally recognizing something the soul has been trying to understand for a long time. reversed, however, that awakening is delayed. not because it isn't possible, but because fear, doubt or old conditioning make it difficult to fully trust what already feels true.
throughout the reading we've repeatedly seen this pattern. the page of wands hesitated. the chariot hesitated. the hanged man resisted necessary change. judgement reversed quietly gathers all of those themes together. symbolically, it asks whether the deepest healing isn't learning how to love, but learning how to trust what the soul already knows instead of waiting for perfect certainty before taking the next step.
ten of swords reversed + king of swords reversed
i'll admit this combination surprised me because, after such an emotionally heavy spread, i expected something softer. instead, the tarot returns to the mind—and i actually think that makes perfect sense.
the ten of swords reversed is one of my favorite cards for recovery. it doesn't erase the past or pretend the pain never happened, but it suggests that healing finally becomes possible. symbolically, it feels less like the ending of a relationship and more like the ending of a long cycle of carrying unresolved pain.
the king of swords reversed, on the other hand, doesn't feel like a person to me. it feels like a pattern of thinking. throughout the reading, we've seen responsibility represented through the king of pentacles. here, the king of swords reversed seems to represent rigid beliefs, overthinking or trying to solve deeply emotional experiences through logic alone.
together, these cards suggest that the greatest opportunity for growth in this lifetime may come from allowing vulnerability to lead where certainty cannot. not every important decision can be made entirely through reason, and sometimes clarity only arrives after we're willing to move forward despite uncertainty.
looking at this section as a whole, i don't think the spread promises that everything automatically becomes easy. instead, it suggests that genuine healing becomes possible once old emotional patterns and mental structures stop controlling every decision. for the first time since the reading began, the focus is no longer on what was interrupted, but on what still has the possibility of being transformed.
what the souls need to understand in order to complete this cycle — the moon
i honestly couldn't think of a more beautiful card to close this spread.
throughout the reading, the tarot repeatedly described interruption, unfinished cycles, blocked movement and emotional experiences that never reached their natural conclusion. because of that, i expected the final advice to be much more direct—perhaps the world, judgement upright or temperance upright finally restoring the balance that had been missing throughout the spread.
instead, it ends with the moon.
and the more i sat with that decision, the more perfect it became.
the moon doesn't offer certainty. it doesn't explain what happened or promise clear answers. instead, it invites us to keep walking despite uncertainty. that's an incredibly different lesson, especially after a spread where so many cards seemed to describe people waiting to fully understand their circumstances before allowing themselves to move forward.
throughout the reading, that pattern appeared again and again. the queen of swords reversed searched for clarity. the page of swords searched for answers. the hermit searched for meaning. judgement reversed suggested difficulty fully trusting the soul's call. symbolically, it often felt as though understanding needed to come before action.
the moon quietly challenges that idea.
it asks a simple but uncomfortable question: what if not every important decision can wait until absolute certainty arrives?
that's the lesson i keep coming back to.
the moon doesn't represent ignorance. it represents incomplete visibility. there's enough light to keep walking, but not enough to see the entire journey ahead. sometimes we only understand why a path mattered after we've already chosen to walk it. sometimes courage comes first, and understanding follows later.
i also think it's meaningful that this spread begins with earth and ends with water. the pentacles repeatedly emphasized stability, responsibility and building something tangible. the moon shifts the focus toward intuition, emotion and trust. symbolically, it almost feels as though the journey moves from trying to control the external world toward learning to trust the internal one.
earlier, we saw the king of pentacles struggling beneath the weight of responsibility, while the high priestess quietly trusted what couldn't yet be explained. in many ways, the moon seems to bring those two archetypes together. it suggests that healing may begin when external certainty no longer carries more authority than inner truth.
another aspect of the moon that i find especially beautiful is that it never asks us to eliminate fear. instead, it teaches us to keep walking alongside it. fear isn't presented as failure, and uncertainty isn't presented as weakness. both are simply part of being human. what matters is whether they quietly begin making our decisions for us.
if i connect this final card to judgement reversed, i almost feel as though the spread is offering one last invitation. symbolically, perhaps the lesson isn't becoming fearless. perhaps it's simply learning to stop waiting for fear to disappear before allowing ourselves to fully live. to me, that feels like the gentlest—and perhaps the most important—lesson of the entire reading.
so, whether they crossed paths once or many times before almost becomes secondary in this spread. what the cards seem to emphasize is that one particular story remained unfinished in a way the souls never fully integrated. throughout the rest of the spread, that same pattern keeps resurfacing through interrupted foundations, delayed endings, unspoken emotions and incomplete cycles. taken together, these cards suggest that the strongest influence from the past isn't the memory of who they once were, but the unresolved emotional lesson they carried forward. in many ways, that unfinished chapter feels less like the end of a story and more like the reason another chapter was always destined to begin.
