Tarot Reading What is left for me to do?
Reading Performed 12/23/2022 at 1:11 PM
Click or scroll down for the meaning of each position and the interpretation of its card.
Querent
The querent is the card that this user felt represented them or their situation best.
The Empress
Card Meaning When Upright
Fruitfulness, action, initiative, length of days; the unknown, clandestine; also difficulty, doubt, ignorance.
Card Description
A stately seated figure, having rich clothing and royal appearance, a daughter of heaven and earth. Her circlet holds twelve stars gathered in a cluster. The symbol of Venus is on the shield, which rests near her. A field of corn is ripening in front of her, and beyond there is a waterfall. The scepter she bears is topped by the globe of this world.
Visual Layout
The Meanings of these Tarot Cards
This Covers You
This card gives the influence which is affecting the person or matter of inquiry generally, the atmosphere of it in which the other currents work.
The Hermit from the Vivid Waite Smith Tarot Deck
Card Meaning When Upright
Prudence, caution; also and especially treason, hypocrisy, mischief, corruption.
A. E. Waite's Secondary Meanings
The Hermit, as he is termed in common parlance, stands next on the list; he is also the Capuchin, and in more philosophical language the Sage. He is said to be in search of that Truth which is located far off in the sequence, and of justice which has preceded him on the way. But this is a card of attainment, as we shall see later, rather than a card of quest. It is said also that his lantern contains the Light of Occult Science and that his staff is a Magic Wand. These interpretations are comparable in every respect to the divinatory and fortune-telling meanings with which I shall have to deal in their turn. The diabolism of both is that they are true after their own manner, but that they miss all the high things to which the Greater Arcana should be allocated. It is as if a man who knows in his heart that all roads lead to the heights, and that God is at the great height of all, should choose the way of perdition or the way of folly as the path of his own attainment. Eliphas Levi has allocated this card to Prudence, but in so doing he has been actuated by the wish to fill a gap which would otherwise occur in the symbolism. The four cardinal virtues are necessary to an idealogical sequence like the Trumps Major, but they must not be taken only in that first sense which exists for the use and consolation of him who in these days of halfpenny journalism is called the man in the street. In their proper understanding they are the correlatives of the counsels of perfection when these have been similarly re-expressed, and they read as follows: (a) Transcendental justice, the counter-equilibrium of the scales, when they have been overweighted so that they dip heavily on the side of God. The corresponding counsel is to use loaded dice when you play for high stakes with Diabolus. The axiom is Aut Deus, aut nihil. (b) Divine Ecstacy, as a counterpoise to something called Temperance, the sign of which is, I believe, the extinction of lights in the tavern. The corresponding counsel is to drink only of new wine in the Kingdom of the Father, because God is all in all. The axiom is that man being a reasonable being must get intoxicated with God; the imputed case in point is Spinoza. (c) The state of Royal Fortitude, which is the state of a Tower of Ivory and a House of Gold, but it is God and not the man who has become Turris fortitudinis a facie inimici, and out of that House the enemy has been cast. The corresponding counsel is that a man must not spare himself even in the presence of death, but he must be certain that his sacrifice shall be-of any open course-the best that will ensure his end. The axiom is that the strength which is raised to such a degree that a man dares lose himself shall shew him how God is found, and as to such refuge--dare therefore and learn. (d) Prudence is the economy which follows the line of least resistance, that the soul may get back whence it came. It is a doctrine of divine parsimony and conservation of energy, because of the stress, the terror and the manifest impertinences of this life. The corresponding counsel is that true prudence is concerned with the one thing needful, and the axiom is: Waste not, want not. The conclusion of the whole matter is a business proposition founded on the law of exchange: You cannot help getting what you seek in respect of the things that are Divine: it is the law of supply and demand. I have mentioned these few matters at this point for two simple reasons: (a) because in proportion to the impartiality of the mind it seems sometimes more difficult to determine whether it is vice or vulgarity which lays waste the present world more piteously; (b) because in order to remedy the imperfections of the old notions it is highly needful, on occasion, to empty terms and phrases of their accepted significance, that they may receive a new and more adequate meaning.
Card Description
A star shines in the Hermit's lantern. This is a card of attainment, and to emphasize this idea the figure is seen holding up his beacon on a hill. The Hermit is not a wise man in search of truth and justice; nor is he particularly an example of experience. His beacon hints that "where I am, you also may be." (see John 14:3)
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This Crosses You
It shows the nature of the obstacles in the matter. If it is a favourable card, the opposing forces will not be serious, or it may indicate that something good in itself will not be productive of good in the particular connexion.
Wheel of Fortune from the Vivid Waite Smith Tarot Deck
Card Meaning When Upright
Destiny, fortune, success, advancement, luck, delight.
A. E. Waite's Secondary Meanings
The Wheel of Fortune. There is a current Manual of Cartomancy which has obtained a considerable vogue in England, and amidst a great scattermeal of curious things to no purpose has intersected a few serious subjects. In its last and largest edition it treats in one section of the Tarot; which--if I interpret the author rightly--it regards from beginning to end as the Wheel of Fortune, this expression being understood in my own sense. I have no objection to such an inclusive though conventional description; it obtains in all the worlds, and I wonder that it has not been adopted previously as the most appropriate name on the side of common fortune-telling. It is also the title of one of the Trumps Major--that indeed of our concern at the moment, as my sub-title shews. Of recent years this has suffered many fantastic presentations and one hypothetical reconstruction which is suggestive in its symbolism. The wheel has seven radii; in the eighteenth century the ascending and descending animals were really of nondescript character, one of them having a human head. At the summit was another monster with the body of an indeterminate beast, wings on shoulders and a crown on head. It carried two wands in its claws. These are replaced in the reconstruction by a Hermanubis rising with the wheel, a Sphinx couchant at the summit and a Typhon on the descending side. Here is another instance of an invention in support of a hypothesis; but if the latter be set aside the grouping is symbolically correct and can pass as such.
Card Description
The four Living Creatures of Ezekiel occupy the corners of the card. The symbols on the disc in the center stand for the perpetual motion of an ever-changing universe and for the flux of human life. The Sphinx is equilibrium within that state of change. The letters of Taro or Rota are inscribed on the wheel, interspersed with the Hebrew letters of the Divine Name—to show that Providence is implied through all existence. However, this is the Divine intention within, and the similar intention on the surface is represented by the four Living Creatures.
This Crowns You
It represents (a) the Querent €™s aim or ideal in the matter; (b) the best that can be achieved under the circumstances, but that which has not yet been made actual.
The Tower from the Vivid Waite Smith Tarot Deck
Card Meaning When Upright
Misery, distress, extreme poverty, adversity, disasters, disgrace, deception, ruin. It is a card in particular of unforeseen catastrophe.
A. E. Waite's Secondary Meanings
The Tower struck by Lightning. Its alternative titles are: Castle of Plutus, God's House and the Tower of Babel. In the last case, the figures falling therefrom are held to be Nimrod and his minister. It is assuredly a card of confusion, and the design corresponds, broadly speaking, to any of the designations except Maison Dieu, unless we are to understand that the House of God has been abandoned and the veil of the temple rent. It is a little surprising that the device has not so far been allocated to the destruction Of Solomon's Temple, when the lightning would symbolize the fire and sword with which that edifice was visited by the King of the Chaldees.
Card Description
A Tower struck by Lightning. It is definitely a card of confusion, and the design can correspond to any well-known catastrophe. It may also depict the House of God, abandoned, and the Veil of the Temple, rent.
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This is Beneath You
It shows the foundation or basis of the matter, that which has already passed into actuality and which the Significator has made his own.
Ace of Swords from the Vivid Waite Smith Tarot Deck
Card Meaning When Upright
Triumph, the excessive degree in everything, conquest. It is a card of great force, in love as well as in hatred. The crown may carry a much higher significance than usual in fortune-telling.
A. E. Waite's Secondary Meanings
Great prosperity or great misery.
Card Description
A hand extends from a cloud, grasping a sword, the point of which is encircled by a crown.
This is Behind You
It gives the influence that is just passed, or is now passing away.
Judgement from the Vivid Waite Smith Tarot Deck
Card Meaning When Upright
Change of position, renewal, the outcome.
A. E. Waite's Secondary Meanings
The Last judgment. I have spoken of this symbol already, the form of which is essentially invariable, even in the Etteilla set. An angel sounds his trumpet per sepulchra regionum, and the dead arise. It matters little that Etteilla omits the angel, or that Dr. Papus substitutes a ridiculous figure, which is, however, in consonance with the general motive of that Tarot set which accompanies his latest work. Before rejecting the transparent interpretation of the symbolism which is conveyed by the name of the card and by the picture which it presents to the eye, we should feel very sure of our ground. On the surface, at least, it is and can be only the resurrection of that triad--father, mother, child-whom we have met with already in the eighth card. M. Bourgeat hazards the suggestion that esoterically it is the symbol of evolution--of which it carries none of the signs. Others say that it signifies renewal, which is obvious enough; that it is the triad of human life; that it is the "generative force of the earth... and eternal life." Court de Gebelin makes himself impossible as usual, and points out that if the grave-stones were removed it could be accepted as a symbol of creation.
Card Description
A great angel is surrounded by clouds. He blows a trumpet with a banner displaying and a cross. Beneath, the dead are rising from their tombs—a woman on the right, a man on the left, and between them their child, whose back is turned. In the background are more dead who are restored. All the figures stand as one in the wonder, adoration, and ecstasy expressed by their postures. This card represents the accomplishment of the great work of transformation, in answer to the summons of the Celestial, heard and answered from within.
This is Before You
It shows the influence that is coming into action and will operate in the near future.
The Star from the Vivid Waite Smith Tarot Deck
Card Meaning When Upright
Loss, theft, deprivation, abandonment.
A. E. Waite's Secondary Meanings
The Star, Dog-Star, or Sirius, also called fantastically the Star of the Magi. Grouped about it are seven minor luminaries, and beneath it is a naked female figure, with her left knee upon the earth and her right foot upon the water. She is in the act of pouring fluids from two vessels. A bird is perched on a tree near her; for this a butterfly on a rose has been substituted in some later cards. So also the Star has been called that of Hope. This is one of the cards which Court de Gebelin describes as wholly Egyptian-that is to say, in his own reverie.
Card Description
A large, radiant star of eight points, surrounded by seven lesser stars—also of eight points. The female figure in the foreground is entirely naked. Her left knee is on the land and her right foot on the water. She pours the Water of Life from two great pitchers, irrigating sea and land. Behind her is rising ground, and on the right a shrub on which a bird perches. The figure expresses eternal youth and beauty. The star is l'etoile flamboyante, a symbol of Freemasonry. The figure communicates to the earth around her the substance of the heavens and the elements.
Your Self
Signifies the person or thing about which the question has been asked, and shows its position or attitude in the circumstances.
The Emperor from the Vivid Waite Smith Tarot Deck
Card Meaning When Upright
Stability, power, protection, realization; a great person; aid, reason, conviction; also authority and will.
A. E. Waite's Secondary Meanings
The Emperor, by imputation the spouse of the former. He is occasionally represented as wearing, in addition to his personal insignia, the stars or ribbons of some order of chivalry. I mention this to shew that the cards are a medley of old and new emblems. Those who insist upon the evidence of the one may deal, if they can, with the other. No effectual argument for the antiquity of a particular design can be drawn from the fact that it incorporates old material; but there is also none which can be based on sporadic novelties, the intervention of which may signify only the unintelligent hand of an editor or of a late draughtsman.
Card Description
He has a form of the Crux ansata (like an Ankh) for his scepter and a globe in his left hand. He is a crowned monarch—commanding, stately, seated on a throne. The arms of his throne have rams' heads on the front. He is execution and realization, the power of this world, clothed with the highest of its natural attributes. He is the virile power to which the Empress responds, and in this sense, he is the one who seeks to remove the Veil of Isis; yet she remains a virgin.
Your House
Your environment and the tendencies at work therein which have an effect on the matter €”for instance, your position in life, the influence of immediate friends, and so forth.
Knight of Pentacles from the Vivid Waite Smith Tarot Deck
Card Meaning When Upright
Utility, usability, interest, responsibility, decency—all on the surface.
A. E. Waite's Secondary Meanings
An useful man; useful discoveries.
Card Description
A knight rides a slow, heavy horse, similar in appearance to himself. He displays his symbol, but does not look at it.
Your Hopes and Fears
Page of Wands from the Vivid Waite Smith Tarot Deck
Card Meaning When Upright
Dark young man; a faithful man, a lover, a messenger, a postman. When beside a man, he will bear favorable testimony concerning him. A dangerous rival, if followed by the Page of Cups. He may signify news of family.
A. E. Waite's Secondary Meanings
Young man of family in search of young lady.
Card Description
A young man stands as if making a proclamation. He is unknown but faithful, and his tidings are strange.
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The Final Result
The culmination which is brought about by the influences shewn by the other cards that have been turned up in the divination.
The Devil from the Vivid Waite Smith Tarot Deck
Card Meaning When Upright
Ravage, violence, vehemence, extraordinary efforts, force, fatality; matters predestined but not necessarily evil.
A. E. Waite's Secondary Meanings
The Devil. In the eighteenth century this card seems to have been rather a symbol of merely animal impudicity. Except for a fantastic head-dress, the chief figure is entirely naked; it has bat-like wings, and the hands and feet are represented by the claws of a bird. In the right hand there is a sceptre terminating in a sign which has been thought to represent fire. The figure as a whole is not particularly evil; it has no tail, and the commentators who have said that the claws are those of a harpy have spoken at random. There is no better ground for the alternative suggestion that they are eagle's claws. Attached, by a cord depending from their collars, to the pedestal on which the figure is mounted, are two small demons, presumably male and female. These are tailed, but not winged. Since 1856 the influence of Eliphas Levi and his doctrine of occultism has changed the face of this card, and it now appears as a pseudo-Baphometic figure with the head of a goat and a great torch between the horns; it is seated instead of erect, and in place of the generative organs there is the Hermetic caduceus. In Le Tarot Divinatoire of Papus the small demons are replaced by naked human beings, male and female who are yoked only to each other. The author may be felicitated on this improved symbolism.
Card Description
The main figure is entirely naked; he has bat-like wings, and his feet have the claws of a bird. His right hand is upraised and extended, which is the reverse of the blessing given by the Hierophant. In his left hand there is a great flaming torch, inverted toward the earth. A reversed pentagram is on his forehead. There is a ring in front of the altar, from which two chains are attached to the necks of two figures, male and female. These are analogous to The Lovers, like Adam and Eve after the Fall. They represent the chains and fatality of the material life.