#c:parvati

[parvatigaresh-blog]

“Brilliant. Just brilliant. Now what do we do? I’ve got no service here.”

[pablooortiz-blog]

“How about you calm down? Because this isn’t helping. At all.”

[saradoesrp]

underestimate & swim: queen of wands

“Harry, that is not how you lay out the tarot.”

She can’t help but stop, really. His spread, set out on the table in front of him, just screams ‘help me!’ Has he even read any of the techniques?

“Uh hey Parvati-what?”

In the blink of an eye, she’s next to him on the couch, studying the cards which are laid out. Even though the assignment was to use a complex spread, there are only five cards, admittedly arranged in a manner that makes it look like he’s attempted a Celtic Cross spread. Perhaps Harry doesn’t know the difference…? Clucking her tongue, she takes his work and puts the cards back in the deck, which she shuffles, despite his ardent protests. 

“Mandala or Zodiac?” she asks him, ignoring them, with one hand resting atop the deck lightly — “transferring” her “energy.”

“Huh?” oh yes, he’s an eloquent one.

“With spreads like this, it’s no wonder you’re always about to get trampled by a hippogriff or thrown from the Astronomy tower,” Parvati jokes, but continues more seriously: “Look, you’ve helped me with — you know, the DA and all, so let me help you with this. Who knows, it might come up on the OWL exam.”

Harry looks at her skeptically, but acquiesces with a sigh.

“Mandala, I guess?”

“Good choice,” she responds happily, and begins laying out nine cards until they form the correct shape. “The Mandala is my favourite, you know. I guess the best way to explain it is that…it tells you about your spiritual path. I mean, you can use it for specific issues and questions, but it’s really great for an open, general reading. That’s what I’m going to do now, yeah?”

He nods, and she can’t help noticing he looks…surprised, maybe? Parvati knows what he thinks of her. She can see it in the looks he gives her when she’s crestfallen about Firenze not coming back to teach Divination, and other times too. He thinks she’s full of shit and probably naive for believing in things like this. Sometimes, it makes her want to throttle him, but right now tries to focus just on him, not how he makes her feel, and on the cards.

“Card one, this one here in the middle, represents an overview of you. It’s got to be read against two, four, and six, though — your ambitions, achievements, and strengths— to give an accurate representation of what things actually are,” she says, pointing to each one as she goes. “Then, you read it against three, eight, and nine. They’re ideals and dreams, self-perception, and desires, and so what they do is assess potential. After that, it’s five and seven. They represent dependencies as well as faulty beliefs, and your faults and weaknesses respectively. So they work within the spread to point out problems and areas that might need work. You follow?” 

“Yes,” Harry replies, trying to sound decisive, but Parvati can tell he’s not so sure.

“I have it all written down somewhere, I can copy it if you get lost,” she tells him reassuringly. “This is only the bare bones —t he important part is interpreting the card meanings.”

To illustrate, she flips over card number one.  It surprises her, honestly, to see The Fool, standing on a precipice with the waves crashing, staring up at her. Parvati leans back and looks over at him curiously.

“What does this card tell you about yourself, Harry?” she asks, head tilted.

“New beginnings?” he answers, sounding confused as she is fascinated.

“That’s one meaning for it, yes, but in this context, I don’t think so — also, it’s reversed,” she muses. “What this tells me is that you, Harry Potter, have a pure heart.”

“I do?” this makes her laugh.

“In this spread, in this spot, this is you at the heart. The Fool…he represents this faith, this truth, that life is good. He reminds us to believe in ourselves and follow our hearts. He’s card zero, the beginning, poised between positive and negative and unaware of the hardships he’ll face when he ventures out into the world.”

“But he’s reversed,” Harry points out. “That’s not good, is it?”

“I think it means that part of you is blocked, restricted, or being denied, but we’ll have to look at the rest of the cards first — they might tell us why.”

Parvati turns them over one by one. Two is the judgement; three is the ten of cups ; four is the hanged man; five is the eight of swords; six is the ace of swords; seven being the nine of swords; eight is the ten of wands; and lastly, the world.

“Well, I can see why the Fool is reversed…” her voice trails off, feeling a strange sense of overwhelming sadness at what lies before her.

“Er, why?”

“Responsibility. Destiny.”

“Yeah, you mean Voldemort,” Harry contributes, harsh. “If you needed tarot cards to tell you that, I’m a bit worried for you.”

Parvati can’t tell if he’s joking with the last comment, of serious, or maybe a mix of both. Either way, the skeptical but bemused Harry Potter is nowhere to be seen.

“Ha, ha,” she deadpans. “Beyond that, you put a lot of pressure on yourself, and blame too. Guilt when things go wrong, but even when they don’t and for things that aren’t your fault.”

This time, he is silent — broody, really. So she continues:

“But you’re also strong, whether you mean to be or not. There’s fierce determination and righteousness, self-sacrifice, fortitude, and justice here in the Ace, judgement, and the hanged man — but he’s reversed, which says perhaps there’s a need to let go or release something. A lot of potential for power that’s not reflected in the cards that show actual representation.”

There’s something about her words that seem to make him uncomfortable, and even a little angry.

“This has been great — real eye opening, Parvati — but I’ve got other things to do, so-”

“You haven’t let me get to the good part,” she says simply, trying to meet his gaze with a steady one of her own. Her hand on his arm stops him from getting up; it’s gentle because she think of him a bit like a jumpy foal who needs coaxing. When Harry doesn’t leave, her hand then moves to point to and tap the last card.

“You have a lot of swords here, and major arcana, which makes sense. Scary things, big things, definitely,” her voice is lilting, attempting to soothe him. “But you know what? This card here, the World, is your desires. When I read it against your dreams and ideals, and the Fool, do you know what I see?”

“No,” he answers, and Harry stares at her with these big, unsure, impossibly green eyes. He probably doesn’t mean to, but she can see flickers of fear there. In this moment, he is not the boy she knows who tries so very hard to be ordinary, but he isn’t the hero, either. Instead, he’s just a fifteen year-old with a burden he doesn’t want that’s thrust upon him anyhow. Merlin, does she wish she could make it go away, but she can’t do that. All she can do is try and give him this:

“The Fool, the ten of cups, and the world are very different than the rest of these cards,” Parvati tells him, taking a deep breath. “In them, I see that pure heart, Harry. It wants nothing more than peace, joy, integration, fulfillment, and wholeness.That’s the adventure it really desires. And everything here ultimately points not towards the ace of swords, all the other swords, or things like glory, but someone whose path will lead them where they most long to be.”

What follows is a rare moment between the two of them, punctuated by silence and something else Parvati can’t put her finger on. Something deeper. She wants to tear herself away, but at the same time, she doesn’t. It is not up to her, though, because the spell is broken when a group of third years bursts into the common room. Poof goes the moment, gone like sleep rubbed from their eyes.

“Well, there you go,” abruptly, she changes the subject, patting his knee with finality before standing. “Glad to help.”

“Uh, yeah, thanks,” he adds, clearing his throat. Parvati takes a few steps towards the stairs to the girls’ dormitories, but stops and half-turns back toward him. He looks at her, curious and expectant.

“Oh, and Harry? …It’s not your job to make the flowers bloom, alright? So let yourself have the sun every once in awhile.”

Before he can say anything in response, she’s up the steps and out of sight. Parvati hopes, among other things, he understands her, and notices the card she leaves sitting face up next to the Mandala. Or at least that he has the brains to look it up.

THE QUEEN OF  WANDS:

attractive — wholehearted — energetic — cheerful — self-assured

The Queen of Wands sits on her throne, the back of which is adorned with lions and has no top. Her robes are golden, and she holds a sunflower in one hand and a staff in the other. A black cat sits at her feet, while there are both rocks and desert in the background. She takes the properties of the Wand Suit, associated with elemental fire, and combines it with the figure of the Queen, who embodies nurturing, feminine, inwardly-focused, and embracing energy. This combination results in a card which represents vivacious and warm personality, full of fiery passion put to the service of encouragement, assurement, attraction, esteem, and enthusiasm. She is strong, intense burning fire, with a deep sense and assuredness in herself and her abilities as she is.

In readings, the Queen of Wands asks you to think and feel as she does. For example: do you feel attractive? Do you believe in yourself? Are you full of energy? Can you shake off depression and self doubt? Can you embrace your life and all that it holds? She can also represent a man or woman who is like her, or an atmosphere of cheerful and confident enthusiasm. Regardless, the Queen of Wands tells you that her energy has meaning for you at this time. Let yourself be inspired by her, in whatever form she appears.