I am feeling a bit muddled in my personal life, so I decided to do a draw to understand where I am and what I need to hear right now.
I used the Trickster's Journey tarot deck by Jia Sung. This is a beautiful deck that draws from Journey to the West, a sixteenth century Chinese literary classic. It is part comedy, part critique of authority, part religious allegory, and part fantastical retelling of a real life Tang-dynasty monk who becomes The Monkey King, a folk hero and trickster. This deck renames The Fool (0) to The Trickster. The deck is beautifully risographed with carefully chosen water-color like graphics.
I drew 5 of Cups Upright, 7 of Cups Reversed, and The Hermit Reversed.
In this deck, Cups are associated with the Black Tortoise of the North, one of the guardians of the four cardinal directions in Chinese constellations. Broadly, cups are associated with water, emotions and relationships, illusion and disconnect, healing and cleansing, and fluidity.
The numerology is 5 (change / instability), 7 (reflection / assessment), and 9 (attainment / fulfillment) although I'm not yet versed in how to incorporate major arcana numerology. 5+7 = 12 which reduces to 3, coming together. 5+7+9 = 19 which reduces to 1, which means new beginnings.
The discomforted look at the axolotl as it gazes at the cups jumps out to me. I think it speaks to a current state of discomfort I am in--I can't say this enough though. I find discomfort to be important and to be a point for growth. The 5 of Cups cautions against focusing on past hurts, instead of seeing and embracing what we still have. The card encourages forgiveness for yourself and others in order to move forward. As someone who struggles with guilt and with ruminating this feels appropriate.
The 7 of Cups upright often speaks to distraction and illusion. There may be tension between what is possible and what is a flight of fancy. It can be advice to discern between these. In this reversed orientation, it urges you to do a reality check. This feels harsh and possibly accurate. I think that I actually spend too much time thinking through every single reality--in which case, perhaps the reality check is to spend less time scenarioing.
This card reversed also speaks to feeling purposeless and distracted, which I think I've been struggling with finding my way recently.
This is an interesting card for me to draw, as I'm one of the most social people I know. The Hermit Reversed typically advises against over-isolating because of how it leads to an inward spiral and distortion of reality. Perhaps this ties well to 7, in that I need a reality check on my spiraling (which I do do, just not in isolation always).
It also indicates loneliness and withdrawal. I need to think on that
Overall, I find this reading to be interesting but not revolutionary. It lines up with and affirms my existing thoughts--I am right now spending time in contemplation, somewhat hermit like on my scale, but the tough lesson I've learned is to do less of that overthinking. It also indicates that I'm listless and distracted in general--which feels true.
