Tarot reading: NCT Mark and Haechan’s (possible) summer 2017 fight
Okay, doing another reading on a conflict. Unlike my previous reading on Hyunjin and Han, the fight here is more hypothetical. I don’t think Mark and Haechan have ever really talked about it, but their group members have talked about them arguing loudly during this time period. Also, every time this mysterious summer fight comes up on places like reddit, it lives rent free in my head for an hour or two. So it was time to to do this for my own curiosity, hahaha.
Disclaimer: This tarot reading is for entertainment purposes only. All speculation comes from my interpretation only.
Root cause of the conflict: Two of Wands, The Hermit
Clarifier card: Ten of Cups (Reversed)
Was there an instigating incident?: Two of Swords, Justice (Reversed)
How Mark saw the situation: Ten of Wands (Reversed), Six of Cups
How Haechan saw the situation: Ace of Cups (Reversed), The Magician (Reversed)
What Mark didn't understand about Haechan: Three of Pentacles, Ace of Pentacles
What Haechan didn't understand about Mark: Judgement, Two of Pentacles
How did the conflict evolve?: Five of Cups (Reversed), Emperor (Reversed)
Clarifier card: Three of Wands (Reversed)
Oh, the drama of it all!
There are a lot of pentacles and wands here, AKA the minor arcana suits associated with money and emotions, respectively. That can be a very combative combination, even if you tend to expand your view of Pentacles to encompass intangible resources (i.e. time, networking connections, amount of energy, etc.) as well as finances. Likewise, there are a lot of major arcana cards here. This indicates to me that the summer fight was a fairly big deal.
First and foremost, the cards seem to be indicating that this is almost entirely due to roommate squabbles. Sometimes two roommates can both be entirely good people. They can get along in every other realm of life. But it turns into a disaster when you throw them in a room together for months or years. I really feel like that’s what happened here. Once the shine of debuting wore off, it was really starting to sink in how busy and difficult things would be for them for years on end. Likewise, being around the same people day in and day out was really starting to wear on them at this point. After hours spent in a rehearsal room, both of them kind of wanted to scream when they came back to their dorm room and saw each other. Little annoying habits began to grate on each other far more than if they were roommates who went to separate jobs. And it just continued escalating.
There wasn’t any particular instigating incident. If anything, for the longest time they put off any sort of argument that might have allowed them to clear the air. Instead, they avoided each other as much as possible. Both of them noticed that they were being ignored and took it deeply personally, even though they were both doing the same thing. They also would shit talk each other to other group members. And, of course, all the gossip made its way back to each other. The tension grew and grew until arguments started sparking.
All that being said, they also brought different things into this conflict.
Mark had a lot of responsibility at the time and it was really wearing him down. His frustrations with work were largely legitimate, but he also had a bit of a martyr complex that Haechan found annoying. In particular, Mark was struggling with Dream’s upbeat concept when mostly he was just super tired. It sapped all his energy and he had no room left to be cheerful when he got back to the dorm. Haechan was also aware of this and was sympathetic about it. Maybe even felt a bit of misplaced guilt (after all, he wasn’t exactly deciding their schedules!) and guilt can make a person lash out. This probably led to some incredibly over the top fights over who had more to do.
Meanwhile Haechan was also tired, but unlike Mark thought he wasn’t doing enough. The pressures and scrutiny that came with fame were getting to him, but he felt like he couldn’t confide in Mark about any of it because he knew Mark was also very busy. And, again, this gave him some guilt that he tended to displace because no one likes feeling guilty. He was also probably prone to compliment fishing during this era because, again, his self-esteem was pretty low. Mark wouldn’t play along and this also caused some hurt feelings.
The way they avoided each other was pretty visible and lasted for a couple of months. For a while it exacerbated things, but eventually they cooled down and were able to look at the situation more rationally. They both admitted to their faults and made up. However, they’re definitely two people who aren’t meant to live together. Eventually they admitted that, took steps to live elsewhere, and it actually improved things between them in a measurable way. The experience taught them both how to approach conflict and how to not approach conflict.
Tarot reading: Stray Kids Hyunjin and Han’s conflict during pre-debut days
I want to take a break from reading individuals for a bit. And so I’m turning to a reading about a former conflict. When I first became interested in Stray Kids last year, I ended up reading up on random trivia about the group. I was amused by Hyunjin and Han’s accounts of all the discord between them in the pre-debut days. I ended up doing a tarot reading on it to see what all the source of that conflict was, as well as how their relationship has clearly evolved since then.
Disclaimer: This tarot reading is for entertainment purposes only. All speculation comes from my interpretation only.
Root cause of the conflict: Page of Pentacles, The Devil (Reversed)
How Hyunjin saw the situation: Four of Cups (Reversed), High Priestess
How Han saw the situation: Queen of Wands, Three of Pentacles (Reversed)
What Hyunjin didn’t understand about Han: Six of Wands, The World
What Han didn’t understand about Hyunjin: Temperance (Reversed), King of Pentacles (Reversed)
How did the situation evolve?: The Moon, Two of Swords
Clarifier cards: The Hierophant, Ace of Swords
Sometimes people go through a rough patch because they’re too different. Sometimes they go through a rough patch because they’re soo similar. I’d say Hyunjin and Han’s pre-debut conflict was driven more by the latter. This is kind of funny to me given that they have opposite sun signs (Pisces and Virgo.)
Uncertainty about success in career appears to be the root cause of the conflict. They had a strong desire to succeed in their chosen career, but were also prone to focusing on all the negative qualities associated with the entertainment industry. I pulled cards for both of them that spoke to disillusionment and bitterness during this time in their life. They both wanted to make damn sure all the struggle and sacrifice eventually paid off in the end. This only got worse as they got closer and closer to debut being a likelihood. Rather than this being reassuring, it only made them more frantic in some ways. They were still a part of JYP’s trainees, after all, and they could see some of their fellow trainees coming and going all the time. Sometimes even really impressive trainees they were sure would make it. This is just not an atmosphere that’s great at nurturing friendships.
It didn’t help matters that they both took somewhat similar tactics to protect their hearts during this time period. Both of them are sensitive people and they tried to hold themselves back in various ways. There was a lot of negativity that they didn’t want to absorb more than they already were. Hyunjin could be especially reticent. Meanwhile Han would sometimes disguise his fear/reticence by acting determined or outgoing, even if (especially if?) he was actually feeling discouraged, tired, and frustrated.
The problem with putting on a mask in order to guard yourself ... people will sometimes take the mask at face value. That definitely happened here, mostly because they were both exhausted. For a while they were prone to taking the most uncharitable views of one another. Hyunjin assumed Han was egotistical and overly proud of his own skills. Han assumed that Hyunjin was in this career path just for the fame and wasn’t serious about any of this.
For a while they avoided each other as much as possible, but they knew that this was only a temporary situation. After a lot of inner work, they both realized they were each projecting their own fears onto one another. Once they both realized they were not enemies, it was fairly easy for a new and genuine friendship to take root. In the end, their similarities that divided them actually brought them together. They’re both keenly ambitious and creative, and they’re both talented at manifesting what they want. Putting them in of a group only heightened this. They had discordant energies as when competing, but the structure of a group allowed them to harness those energies to the same end. As a result this is a very creative, contented partnership.
When I thought about doing this series, I knew I had to do a reading on Red Velvet. I’m a big fan of many of their songs, and I’m also deeply curious about what their future might look like. I think I might have done this too early - RBW announcing the state of half of Mamaoo’s contract negotiations startled me! - because pretty much all of these readings indicate things are still very much up in the air. But I’m posting my results all the same.
Note: This does get into Irene’s attitude scandal, if re-hashing that is not your cup of tea!
Disclaimer: This tarot reading is for entertainment purposes only. All speculation comes from my interpretation only.
Irene:
Current energy: Temperance (Reversed)
Clarifier card: High Priestess
What's working in their favor: Four of Cups
What's working against them: King of Swords
Due to her attitude scandal, Irene’s bargaining power with SM disappeared pretty much over night and she’s well aware of it. SM hasn’t minced words with her about this issue, either. They’ve made it clear to her that she’s going to be on the backburner for a while. The company - like any kpop company, really - is all about the bottom line, and they’re worried about Irene effecting it.
Prior to all this, Irene could have re-signed with SM or signed up with another company with terms that were very favorable to herself. Now this is less likely. It’s possible that some less than scrupulous companies have reached out to her with deals that sound very favorable to her. But, to Irene, it’s fairly obvious they’re trying to get her why she’s down, and signing up with them would likely leave her in a worse state. It also appears that she’s somewhat on board with SM’s decision to keep her hidden for a while, and is turning down some CF deals that are more legitimate. While these deals would have brought in some immediate cash flow, it would also have the effect of reminding the public about her scandal again.
Otherwise, Irene is (for lack of a better term) reflecting on her actions. I think I might need to sit down and do a more in-depth reading on the attitude scandal in order to get a better sense of what was going on there, because right now the cards are being a little opaque with me about her feelings and motivations. Suffice to say being taken to account definitely shook Irene and she wants to avoid anything like this in the future. All I can say is that her future is pretty uncertain and she and SM are both weighing how to proceed.
Seulgi:
Current energy: The Magician
What's working in their favor: Ten of Wands (Reversed)
What's working against them: Three of Swords (Reversed)
Seulgi’s current situation is, in some ways, the polar opposite to Irene’s. And it’s worth noting I pulled the Magician for her and the High Priestess for Irene (two cards that complement each other.) She came out of Irene’s gapjil scandal with more social capital in a way. There was a lot of talk about how no one in the industry had anything bad to say about Seulgi, and SM definitely took notice of that.
Currently the company is likely treating her as a kind of interim leader of Red Velvet while Irene is being sidelined. They also very much want to keep Seulgi and she’s aware of that and trying to strike while the iron so that she can do more projects while she’s still under contract. She also very much wants to lead Red Velvet over the finish line so that they have at least one or two more comebacks that are well-received.
All that being said, Seulgi’s struggling with her current situation a lot. Red Velvet had a really difficult year in 2020, and she’s exhausted by it all. As she nears the end of her contract, she’s wondering what she has to show for it all. As a result, she’s approaching contract negotiations in a depleted and wary state.
Wendy:
Current energy: Judgement
Clarifier Card: Five of Swords (Reversed)
What's working in their favor: Three of Pentacles
What's working against them: Knight of Wands
Wendy has gone through quite an emotional journey, if these cards are anything to go by.
For a long time she held a lot of resentment towards SBS for their extremely dangerous negligence (and, seriously, who could blame her?) For a while, her recovery was fueled by a desire to get revenge by living well. After a while, though, this was no longer a sustainable modus operandi. It’s not that she forgave them, necessarily. Instead, it appears as though she fell in love with singing and performing again. She really feels as though music is her purpose in life and this conviction is fueling her her current motivations.
In addition, she also feels very supported by the people in her life. Moreover, though, she actually believes in herself very strongly. She’s heading into the contract negotiations period in a very confident mindset. I think she will ask for more solo work from SM and they will be inclined to grant it since she’s another Red Velvet member with a lot of good will from the public at the moment.
Joy:
Current energy: Four of Pentacles (Reversed)
What's working in their favor: Two of Cups (Reversed)
What's working against them: Strength
This will be shorter than the others, because the cards were extremely clear: When it comes to the contract negotiation period, Joy is going to be almost entirely focused on money.
Simply put, Joy feels like she’s owed a raise or, at the very least, even more promotion and opportunities. She has a strong sense of self-worth in this regard and believes SM should compensate her more fairly for all her work. It also appears as though the last year or so has made it very clear to Joy how precarious an idol’s job really is. As a result she wants to budget and save in order weather any other scandals that might come there way.
She’s also entering into these negotiations from a somewhat adversarial mindset. It appears as though she thinks SM management is full of drama and fails at communication. As a result, she doesn’t really trust them to have her best interests at heart. She always feels out of sync with them.
It also appears as though Joy is right to be wary and on guard. SM is not inclined to listened to her demands.
Yeri:
Current energy: Seven of Wands
What's working in their favor: Four of Wands
What's working against them: Seven of Cups
Note: I’m not actually sure if Yeri’s contract runs out this year or not, since she debuted in 2015. I assume hers actually runs out next year, but I’m reading for her anyway since the fates of all the other members will naturally effect her.
It’s also worth noting that Yeri has two “seven” cards. All the seven cards in the minor arcana suits indicate complications and shakeups.
And it appears as though Yeri was definitely a bit taken aback by aespa’s debut. While I’m sure all the members of Red Velvet saw it as another reminder that their initial contract was about to end, the cards seem to indicate that Yeri was the one who took it most personally. It has less to do with aespa in particular, and more to do with the nature of the industry in general. For her, her years with Red Velvet practically went by in the blink of an eye, and she wasn’t prepared to be a senior girl group to a debuting girl group so soon. It’s honestly kind of scared her on an almost existential level.
This might be because - unlike Wendy’s reading - Yeri isn’t sure what her purpose in life is right now. She has dozens of different ideas on what she wants to pursue but hasn’t stuck to any of them. She wants to be seen as creative and interesting and take risks, but also wants to be seen as vital and reliable. As a result, her headspace is a bit scattered and she can’t decide on how best to advocate for herself.
She really loves her friends, though. Sometimes people write off Yeri as a social-climber, but the cards are indicating she’s actually just as social butterfly. Like Wendy she’s feeling very supported by the people she’s met along the way.
Disclaimer: This tarot reading is for entertainment purposes only. All speculation comes from my interpretation only.
Energy around the person: Four of Wands
Events in the past influencing current energy: Five of Pentacles
Clarifier Card: Ten of Wands (Reversed)
Near future (through January 2021): Two of Swords
Clarifier card: King of Cups
What is this person focusing on?: The Sun
Subconscious influences on this person?: Four of Cups
Full disclosure, I recently read for Bang Chan and Felix a few weeks and expected to see more of the same. This was true with my Bang Chan reading from last night, but not with the Felix reading. Last time I read for him I saw a lot of inner turmoil, but my reading today indicates he might be turning a corner! Or, at the very least, is enjoying some calm before the storm.
The cards definitely indicated that he was in a difficult state recently, mostly because he was too afraid to confide or ask for help regarding frustrations with work matters. It appears as though he might have reached out recently, though, because the cards indicate that state is receding a bit. Like pretty much all my Stray Kids readings, he was also preoccupied with financial viability of his group.
Right now though, he seems to be in a pretty good state of mind. I think the end of the year shows allowed for this. They allow him to bask in good feelings about the things his group has achieved over the past year. In addition, they have been very creative with their end of the year stages, which means every time they perform lately they’re met with a round of pleased reactions from fans/newcomers. This is probably different from the music show grind where things are a bit more static. My last reading for Felix indicated that he was feeling like he didn’t contribute enough to the creativity of his group, and I suspect doing the same performance over and over probably didn’t help! Therefore, I think these cards are indicating that he’s been enjoying the break in routine.
There are probably some challenges for Felix on the horizon, however. He’s going to have to make a difficult decision in the future related to creative matters. He’ll be called to decide between his head and his heart on something in this realm.
Right now he’s focusing on being a bright beacon for others. Like Hyunjin he’s fully aware of his unique appeal, and he wants to use it draw attention to himself as well as enrich the lives of others. Subconsciously, though, he’s more restrained than you might think based on his idol persona. Right now he’s being flooded with opportunities but he’s not sure which ones he’s feeling (if any of them.) He’s trying to take some time to focus on what’s important to him.
Eventually I want to do a reading for all of Stray Kids and what Kingdom might do for them as a group. But I’ll be honest, I still struggle with doing group readings. It’s probably best to do some readings for the individual members first. And if I do that, I might as well start with the leader! Breaking in this tumblr with a fairly standard five card spread.
Disclaimer: This tarot reading is for entertainment purposes only. All speculation comes from my interpretation only.
Energy around the person: Nine of Cups Reversed
Events in the past influencing current energy: Ten of Swords
Clarifier card: Nine of Pentacles
Near future (through January 2021): Five of Pentacles
What is this person focusing on? The Star (Reversed)
Subconscious influences on this person?: The Devil (Reversed)
To me, this combination of cards indicates Bang Chan may be going through a great deal of turmoil and self-doubt related to his goals and place within the industry.
When the calendar year turns over, it’s common for a lot of people to look at their accomplishments from the previous year and grow melancholy at a perceived lack of success. It’s possible Bang Chan is going through this exact phenomenon, particularly with December in the industry often having music shows that highlight everything that happened in the last twelve months. Throughout this spread there’s a strong yearning for validation and a desire to appear impressive. It’s possible he’s also conflating self-worth with external validation. i.e. sales numbers, awards, reviews, etc. This is can be a vicious cycle because external validation is often unpredictable and even fickle!
There’s also an indication that past upheavals have been weighing on him. Given that Stray Kids have had some tumultuous events in their past, I drew a clarifier card on this aspect. I was surprised to find that the card I got indicated that this strong sense of disappointment mostly resides in himself. Stray Kids has a great deal of say in their music and image and, as leader, he feels that much more responsible. This means that perceived failures also weigh incredibly heavy on him. As a result, he might be overworking in order to compensate and plan for an even better future for himself and the group.
There is a light at the end of the tunnel, though. Subconsciously, Bang Chang may be getting a bit sick of this vicious cycle. These upcoming four weeks might involve a “dark night of the soul” for him as he re-assess his relationship to his work and comes up with a standard of success that relies less on external validation. Despite the pain I see in this reading, I get an oddly optimistic feeling from this combination of cards overall.
Disclaimer: This tarot reading is for entertainment purposes only. All speculation comes from my interpretation only.
Energy around the person: The Hanged Man (Reversed)
Events in the past influencing current energy: King of Pentacles (Reversed)
Clarifier card: Shape-shifter (Oracle card)
Near future (through January 2021): High Priestess (Reversed)
What is this person focusing on?: Ace of Swords (Reversed)
Subconscious influences on this person?: King of Wands
Stray cards: Knight of Cups, Ten of Cups (Reversed)
Quick side note! Tarot readings can have a life of their own and sometimes a card or two will pop out when you think you’ve put the final card down. This happened with Han. I decided to call them “stray cards” for the purposes of this blog. Because why not be cutesy like that? I also required a clarifier card for this one. The cards just had a lot to say about Han this time.
Anyway, we’re right back in the realm of workaholism and concern over one’s job. It’s interesting to me that this has been a theme for so many of these Stray Kids readings, and yet all of them give off a different vibe.
Han appears to be actively resisting the need to slow down, take a breather, and connect with his intuition. Like Changbin there’s a sense of being incredibly frustrated by the way COVID has impacted his ability to promote his work to crowds of people. He seems to be coping by pouring the energy he might have spent on concerts into other projects.
He’s also acutely aware of how difficult it is to make it in the entertainment industry and feels the specter of failure breathing down his neck at every moment. This is another thing he’s trying to drown out with hard work. The problem with this is he’s also drowning out his inner voice.
There’s also indicators that he’s recovering from someone’s negative influence. I had to pull a clarifier card here, but it said more of the same. Said person was “shape-shifter.” While they were able to adapt, it also led to them being two-faced. I won’t speculate on whether this is a work relationship or a personal relationship, but either way it was a difficult time. It’s in the past, though.
In general, he’s also struggling with some personal relationships. He wants to be close to others, but often the closer he gets to someone the more wary he becomes.
While not the leader of Stray Kids, he’s quite focused on helping nurture talent in others. He has a natural eye for aesthetic and beauty and bringing that out of himself and others.
It sounds like he’s going through a rough patch, but he’s likely to finally slow down and listen to his intuition, soon. If manages to do this he will have a major breakthrough with his creativity!
Gotta be honest, the date 2021 doesn’t look real to me yet! Anyway, let’s see what’s up with Hyunjin.
Disclaimer: This tarot reading is for entertainment purposes only. All speculation comes from my interpretation only.
Energy around the person: The High Priestess
Events in the past influencing current energy: The Moon (Reversed)
Clarifier card: Four of Swords (Reversed)
Near future (through January 2021): Six of Swords (Reversed)
What is this person focusing on?: Three of Swords (Reversed)
Subconscious influences on this person?: Nine of Cups
And now here we have Hyunjin as a combo break from the three older members! There are definitely some challenges, but there’s a joyous vibe running throughout this reading.
To put it succinctly, Hyunjin appears to be feeling himself in the recent past! After a period of stagnation and passivity, he managed to tap into his own intuition. He’s taken charge of how he presents himself to the public in a way he didn’t before. All the while he manages to maintain an aura of mysteriousness that just makes people even more curious. That’s very likely to be intentional.
After a period of pain and self-doubt, he somehow learned to let that repression and fear go for the most part. The result is that he’s on a path to recovery. It’s still a long way to go, but for the most part basking in the abundance life has to happen and generally couldn’t be happier with the results.
There are a few hints here that he might be holding back from reaching his whole potential... which is a little terrifying to contemplate, haha! Mostly he doesn’t want to mess up a good thing by reaching a little too far. Either way, the momentum here is strong and encouraging!
Disclaimer: This tarot reading is for entertainment purposes only. All speculation comes from my interpretation only.
Energy around the person: High Priestess
Events in the past influencing current energy: Nine of Swords
Near future (through January 2021): Two of Cups (Reversed)
What is this person focusing on?: Death (Reversed)
Clarifier card: Eight of Pentacles
Subconscious influences on this person?: Page of Cups
(Time for a reminder that the Death card doesn’t really signify actual death. It tends to symbolize the end of something, and what that is usually depends on the cards around it in multiple-card spreads like this.)
So. Not to link my recent reading for Hyunjin again, but I thought it was fascinating I pulled the High Priestess for the both of these two. In the exact same part of the spread, to boot! This is a major arcana card indicating intuition, sacred knowledge, the subconscious, and mysteries. While it seems as though Hyunjin is in touch with this side of himself after a bit of struggle, IN is still trying to find his way. This is not a knock on IN, by the way. Life is always in flux and we’re always learning lessons and growing from them. This appears to be a stage of growing pains for IN.
The spread seems to indicate this is something of a difficult period for IN. Fears and worries are much more prominent and harder to shake off. There are attempts to shake these feelings off, but these worries seem to come from a primal place. He’s stressing over things that matter deeply to him and, consequently, it’s much harder to quiet any negative self-talk that might be happening.
This will probably continue for a little longer into the future due to Kingdom. Competitive reality shows are designed to bring out competition and worries in their contestants and - having been on one before - IN is well aware of this. He knows that this is a good opportunity, but he’s not looking forward to the inevitable tension.
In fact, it’s possible that stressful memories of the past mean that it’s difficult to see hopes for the future. Kingdom will be challenging, but it’s not the Stray Kids competitive reality show. This won’t effect whether he has a chance to debut. Not to say that any potential fears aren’t valid. It’s just that muscle memory is a strong thing and humans are primed to want to avoid situations that seem like a repeat of something stressful from the past. His intuition is telling him that this is actually an opportunity for creative endeavors and to gain new fans, but right now he can’t fully internalize that idea.
Okay... usually I pull clarifier cards while in the middle of making the outline that turns into a post. However after finishing that last paragraph I decided to pull two more clarifier cards to see if IN’s inner tension will subside.
Clarifier cards: The Sun (Reversed), Six of Wands (Reversed)
And the answer appears to be “maybe?” It will require IN to get in touch with the parts he enjoys about creativity again, while also creating a personal definition of success that’s internal rather than external. Interestingly, this is also something Bang Chan would benefit from doing.
And with that I wrap up with my check-in on how Stray Kids have been doing recently.
