#divination fun time

[coaleyed]

Quick-and-dirty oracle reading for obiwankabrodie.

obiwankabrodie:

For me, oracle cards are really conversational, really loose. It came out as a plant-like spread that seemed appropriate for the whole seasonal thing. I look at this reading as a generalized sort of picture, so when we get into the multiplicity of branches, don’t look at them as choices, one path versus another. It’s all possible, it’s all real, so you’ve got to look at every part of it to see what Spring will be like for you.

Roots: Generally and essentially what the season will bring

53. Death. Release, change, but somewhat gently. Something ends when it’s supposed to do so. 

Stem: What set you up for it last season

8. The Singers of Courage. Fortitude and the development of certainty. The knowledge that there are things more important than fear. It would seem that you’ve learned something, about the world or about yourself, and that’s given you a bit of strength. With Death, I think it also involves you discarding something, be it a belief or a habit or whatever, that you’ve discovered to be pointless-- which is appropriate, because that sounds like a wintry thing to do.

First Branch: A possible path or event. 

43. Geeeeeooo the Slooow. (I shit you not, it’s spelled that way.) Patience in the extreme. Watching something unfold without worrying about what’s going to happen and when. You’ve got the opportunity to just relax and observe, to slow down for a bit without call for huge action.

Second Branch: A possible path or event.

61. G. Hobyah. Fear can fuck with you. This card not only warns of this, it also emphasizes the possibility that a person can learn to sort through paranoia and anxiety to find what’s really worth their caution. The trick is to not let it run the game.

A Broken Branch: A possible pitfall.

26. O! That Gnome. (The name of a sitcom that never really took off in the Faelands.) This card is meant to represent a trickster; chaos throwing a wrench into our plans just to show us how flimsy our expectations can be. It’s something to look out for, both in the sense of a pattern of order that can and maybe should break, and in the sense that the fuckupability of our lives is sometimes as dependent upon us as it is upon the people that mess with us. This gnome has eyes like one of my uncles, who was a smug motherfucker, so it makes me think that one of the hallmarks of this card is arrogance.

First leaf: What can be gained from the first branch.

35. The Faun. This and the next leaf card look a lot alike. I think it indicates that good things are likely to come from this season no matter how you slice it, if you take the lessons that are in front of you. The Faun itself shows an alignment with nature, and all the happygood energetic things that can come from it. Put this with the first branch card and it shows you that harmony can come from rest. It seems to give a nice, cliched little nudge to smell the roses, doesn’t it?

Second leaf: What can be gained from the second branch.

5. She of the Cruach. The book emphasizes the mother-goddess archetype of this card, and the “receptive, nurturing fertility” it heralds. That’s great and all, but it’s kind of reductive for me, so I don’t get much from that interpretation. I see this as more of a manifestation, a transmutation, or a becoming. The image on the card looks like it’s blooming, like it expresses the very moment of change and coming into being. Not what you were, not what you’ll be later, but the change itself. It would seem that the second branch gives you a chance to unblock things to make way for this.

 I’m almost grossed out by how happy and uplifting this reading is. I side-eyed the cards for a second there, wondering if I was pulling positivity out of my ass. But hackneyed or no, it looks like Spring is going to be a season of becoming, of letting go. Keep that perspective in mind if you can, and good things are likely to happen.

[coaleyed]

Can I have a reading pretty please??? I want to ask whether my ex and I are going to work on things now. We've started talking again after several months but I don't want to get my hopes up.

You’ve got it, friend!

The spread I used is one I’m working on that’s meant to look like a suspended lodestone, one of the earliest compasses. The first three cards represent the string, the situation you’re in and your connection to it. The next two are the back end of the lodestone, the bad parts of what’s going on. The last two cards comprise the answer, both the direction in which you’re heading and advice about it. Here we go!!

The String:

1. How things stand on the surface, what’s easiest to recognize and control.

Page of Cups: The contemplation of something new, and the exciting brink of when what’s imagined begins to become what’s possible. This is a pretty obvious one, given your question, isn’t it? :) This person has the potential to look new and different to you.

2. What exerts the greatest influence on this situation.

Six of Swords: This card not only presents the act of leaving a difficult or painful situation, but specifically expresses that help is needed or has been received. Maybe this difficult something is what got between you in the first place. It exerts pressure and has the potential to influence what will happen between the two of you. It seems clear that what you’re looking for won’t happen until either you or they get a leg up and begin to leave this situation behind.

3. The essential nature of the problem at hand; what you most need to know.

The Hanged Man: I love the Hanged Man. To me, he is a figure of such trust, patient in danger and discomfort because he knows that everything will be all right in the end. I believe this card is here to ask you to let go of the “what ifs,” to use an embarrassingly clunky phrase. Try not to worry about if you will get back together, if it will work out, if it’s going to be worth the effort. If you can let go of that consequence, you might be guided instead by the simple act of getting closer and repairing any damage that might have been caused in the past. Trust, if you can, that everything will be okay. You might start to see things differently and be surprised at what you learn.

The Lodestone, pointing backward:

4. Misdirection, something about which you might be wrong.

Ten of Pentacles: The suit of Pentacles deals with earthy elements of prosperity and everyday life, but I often find that the tens deliberately work a little deeper. While the wealth and excess indicated by this card certainly shows security, there’s also a narrowness to it that hints at emptiness, at superficiality. It may well be that there is a conception of this person, on the basic, social level, that is incorrect. But I think that it’s more likely that focusing on what’s owed, on judging and assessing, is what would lead you astray. 

5. A pitfall. Warns against something that might wreck things for you.

Eight of Wands: That this card speaks of swift, decisive movement means that you should avoid exactly that. It can be wonderful to let yourself be led by desire for its own sake, and there’s no shame in it. But this card appearing where it does indicates that, at this time, doing so would hold you back from what you both really need. The rest of this reading has been characterized by a slow unfolding, of learning and development on a really personal level. This fiery little card is out of place, and impulsiveness would be, too. 

The Lodestone, pointing forward:

6. True North. The eventual direction in which you’re headed as of now.

The Moon: This card seems to resonate with the Hanged Man, and heralds a blossoming. The stained-glass sun behind his head, makes me think that the chamber he’s in has opened up to reveal a safe, quiet place with the Moon overhead. I think that the two of you are headed toward a deeper understanding of one another. Respect your instincts, and try not to get in your own way. Recognize that this intuition is not the same as throwing yourself in without thought, nor is it allowing yourself to be guided by worry. Sometimes our fears and desires mix together and lead us into delusion. I think the Moon is here to let you know that this doesn’t have to happen, that a much better outcome is possible.

7. Advice. How to get where you’re going, or what to do with what you see now.

Seven of Pentacles: This card indicates a pause in work, a clear-headed contemplation of what’s happened and what to do next. Keeping your wits about you and understanding both your actions and those of your ex with as much objectivity as you can will be of great benefit to you. This card compels you to view your mistakes without shame, and let them teach you how to do better in the future.

I found this reading surprisingly positive and comforting. Yeah, it doesn’t say, “Oh, my sweet Westley, our love will explode into a thousand sunsets and twinkle-toed rainbows!”* But it also doesn’t forebode against certain horror and suffering. If what you’re doing right now is getting to know each other again, then I think you’re doing exactly what you need to. Communication and honest contemplation are going to help you a great deal. It looks like you have the potential to get a lot closer than you ever were before, especially if you can temper worry with understanding. The cards all seem to support each other, which is a sign of a really strong reading. 

I do hope this helps, dear greyface. Good luck!! I hope things turn out well for you.

*not a direct quote; not even really a sentence 

[coaleyed]

more thoughts on a reading....

oi veevalor: 

I like that he’s always a Knight and you’re always a Queen. Is there a particular suit that seems to consistently show up for either of you, or for the two of you in a paired reading? It would be intriguing to work out what elements the cards connect you to, objectively. I mean, I totally see you as a Cups/Water person, so it was pretty damn pleasant to see Cups in prominent places for you. 

Seeing a lot more Wands and Swords in the bits that pertain to him makes the Knight of Pentacles seem trickier to me, especially given what you’ve told me now, unless you look at it as a matter of counterbalance. The grounding effect of air and earth, you know? Aside from a reading of practicality, that certainly makes it less flat. I wasn’t satisfied that I had a handle on that card before. :)

Bluntness and rudeness... I can see how those would go hand in hand. The kind of person who can see right to the damn heart of you and call you on your shit, but who is occasionally thoughtless and cruel. I really think that questioning, challenging quality and its effects run through most of the top six cards. This is a person who could compel you to change by his very presence, even if it’s scary and potentially dangerous. I don’t think it’s controlling or consuming, and the Seven of Wands is how we know that. 

On a personal, non-divinatory note, the ability and willingness to fix errors in communication is everything. Maybe that lends a little bit more meaning to the Five of Wands, too-- harnessing conflict to the advantage of everyone involved. That’s a mildly irritating card, by the way, just because of how some Tarotists define it as having the meaning I just listed as its reversal. But that depends upon whether you see the cards as unilaterally positive when upright, which I think a lot of people do. I like the idea that there are positive and negative levels of meaning in both, and that a reversal can be a shift in the balance of meaning rather than an opposite.

Do you mean to say, when we talk about the Ten of Cups, that he’s simultaneously what you expect and completely unanticipated?

The Sun. Hm. I think it’s possible to be dark, radiant, and magnetic all at once. In fact, I can think of a couple of people exactly like that, and they were scary as shit. The kind of scary that sneaks up on you, and suddenly you’re enthralled and invested and oops now you have a lot to lose. Maybe about it’s about a level of intensity rather than brightness, ya know?

[coaleyed]

A very large reading for Veevalor

I left out this rose quartz and jasmine to help us out during this reading. It took an awful lot longer than I'd even realized as I was working, but there's so much in there that I think it's worthwhile.

Vee asked, "Why him? What is it about him exactly that is so desirable?"

And then a spread made itself.

Candelabra, to illuminate someone from within. To see something’s essential nature.

The Base: Knight of Pentacles, Queen of Cups reversed

How it stands: This is he, and this is you.

Knight of Pentacles: An industrious, steadfast figure; an incredibly practical adventurer. I get the sense that the person you know him to be on the surface might not be the whole of him.

Queen of Cups, reversed: Usually, when the Queen comes up like this when I’m reading, it’s in caution as much as a presentation of a situation. “Action without emotion” as a dangerous road, so to speak. The blockage and muddling of wisdom, the perversion that a person with deep understanding has been blinded. When it came up, I felt a little sick, like something was wrong. It could be the depth of how wrong it feels for you to be this confused and conflicted, if that’s how you’re feeling. It’s kinda how I felt when I saw it.

What connects you: Eight of Cups, and Five of Wands reversed.

Eight of Cups: The image on this one always strikes me as so painful. In the Steampunk Tarot, it looks like she’s closing her eyes against the sting of tears, sad, resolved. I don’t think it’s disillusionment or mistakes that she’s leaving. I think it’s more the sorrowful acknowledgment of what happens when you turn your face toward a new possibility-- the old one gets left behind. Not to say that this is what should or will happen. What lies behind might be perfect, and there’s nothing wrong with being content with that, but the thing is, looking at the card, we can’t see what she sees ahead. I think that represents the idea that embracing a new situation gives you the possibility to reconfigure what kind of person you want to be. You don’t just choose one and the other happens; you choose both.

Five of Wands, reversed: When it’s flipped, I see the conflict that got out of hand as people challenging each other, using competition and argument to their advantage. The danger in that, though, is that there’s every possibility that someone or everyone has a hidden, ulterior motive. Looking out for themselves instead of one another. I look back at the Eight of Cups, at how her face is turned up, almost in hope, and I think about how the pain of leaving and the freedom of newness are equal in that card. And in trying to determine which it’s more likely to be, twisting conflict into something good, or the failure of that attempt, I’m struck by the notion that this hypothetical situation is about choice. The propensity for this to turn out remarkably well and predictably poorly are both there; it’s what people make of it that matters.

Six cards for candles: What makes things bright

This threw me for a loop at first, because most of these cards came up reversed. I had to take some time and see if maybe I wasn’t just off my damn rocker, but I’m not and I didn’t make a mistake. I’m coming to believe that reversals aren’t as simple as opposites, and that they are less fixed than upright cards. I believe these ones indicate more than just qualities he lacks. They also show what he possesses in place of those qualities, and moreover, the very presence of mutable cards can show that this person is in the process of changing. 

The Moon, reversed: I think of the notion of the dark moon as a time of truth unhidden when I see this card. Perhaps it’s not as romantic, as ethereal, as the full moon, but it’s just as important. Simpler, somehow; a lack of mystery, but not to the detriment of character and charm. Is... is this a blunt person?

Ten of Wands, reversed: Release of burdens can mean a lot of things. Is it a person who fails at their responsibilities? Or the notion that burdens can be shared, that they might not, in themselves, be necessary? Because damn, that woman in the card is carrying a lot all by herself in the fog. It’s obviously not that she can’t manage it all on her own. But a card like this raises the question of whether or not that’s needed for anyone.

Queen of Swords, reversed: This totally doesn’t seem like a good thing at first, does it? But I don’t think it automatically points to the opposite of this beautiful epitome of intellect and communication: a person with a thick skull and no skill with words. I’ve read that when reversed, court cards in Swords indicate a tendency toward corruption and manipulation. But I don’t buy that quite so simply, especially not with the Queens, who are always such powerful, talented figures. If anyone could be a skilled maneuverer and be fully aware of their magnetism, it would be the Queen.

Seven of Wands, reversed: I think the meaning of this card depends upon whether you focus on the figure’s determination or her defensiveness. If it’s the determination, I’d say it’s characterized by questioning, a necessary shaking of foundation. If it’s defensiveness, then the person indicated is like a wolf, strong in who they are without needing to prove anything to anyone. Shit, man, looking at the rest of these cards, I think it’s both at once. 

Ten of Cups, reversed: Ah, the start of a happy home. This couple looks so refined. Everything about their bearing is perfect and appropriate. In the Steampunk Tarot, it looks like the comfort of convention is every bit as important as the home life itself. I get the feeling that this card coming up in a reversal indicates that a conventional, traditional-seeming relationship is not what would happen here. It seems like he’s someone who would challenge that. You probably know that this particular card’s placement often indicates romantic upheaval, but this deck seems determined to ask why that would be.

The Sun: How funny that I’d mentioned simplicity before this card came up. Joy and clarity, sure. When matched up with a person, though, I think it’s a lot deeper than that. I find myself completely mesmerized by the sun in the illustration. This is a completely different type of fire, a person whose energy is simultaneously radiant and magnetic. Think of the best Leo you’ve ever met, and that’s the sort of person I think of when I think of a person who is the sun.

And that is one intense fuckin’ card with which to end a reading. I’m gonna save any further analysis for later because good godsdamn I have written a lot and I’m so sorry to make you wait this long.

I really think that all of the other cards come down to that Eight of Cups. It felt like the hinge upon which the remainder rests. What is offered to you is the choice to be something different, and a person who encapsulates this. 

Tell me your reactions when you can, mkay? I’ll keep noodling as the night wears on.