I did a reading last month. I didn’t even look at it a second time after laying the cards down, let alone actually try to suss out any nuance. Pretty much the same story the month before.
This month’s reading, then, is exceptionally lacking in temporal context. As usual, I’ve used the Twelve Houses spread with my custom addition of the central portion of the Celtic Cross to the center.
1st – Self, Viewpoint – 6 Disks “Success”
It looks as if, in general terms at least, the next month is going to be good for me. Even when things are going awry, I’m going to succeed in putting a good face on it all. The contrast, however, between this House and the Third is worth noting.
2nd – Finances, Income – communication – 3 Wands “Virtue”
A generally positive card in this House is welcome news, given how fucking broke I am this semester. That it is “virtue”, though, rather than some other card offers a warning: I must not give in to the temptation to cook the books. As a TA, much of what I do is not directly supervised. It would be very easy for me to pad my hours. Virtue.
3rd – Daily Experiences – immediate influences – 7 Swords “Futility”
The contrast, as I said, between my daily experiences and my larger outlook is striking. It is also, however, not much of a surprise. My course load is exactly as much as I can handle, if not a little bit more. “Futility” is the only word for the way that’s felt so far, and I have every reason to believe that will continue for the next month, if not the rest of the semester.
4th – Home-place – family, land, roots – 3 Cups “Abundance”
Good forecast in respect to my home and family. Good to know.
5th – Fun / Pleasure – children, hobbies, lovers – Ace of Swords
The Ace of Swords, I feel safe suggesting, is not the first card to come to anyone’s mind when they think of a good time. I think that this arrangement is a suggestion that, overwhelmingly, what fun I do have will be directly related to my studies and the new ideas and connections they inspire.
6th – Work – illness, duty, routine – III the Empress
This is particularly interesting, because I’ve seen the Empress recently. There are a couple grant opportunities for me to apply for—one token and the other long term—and I really ought to have started on them already. So I went ahead and did a nested reading on this, because it could be useful.
Unfortunately, it did not really clarify matters. I tend to think of the Empress as a very earthy card, but the only Pentacles which show up is the 3 at the bottom of the deck.
7th – Partnership – associations, spouse – XIII Death
And … we get to the first troublesome card. My love life is adequately complicated. I don’t need it to be hit by a death-and-rebirth cycle right now. So I did another nested reading to try to figure out what this is going to be about. Actually, this is technically the first nested reading I did. Because this shit is important.
I’m really not sure that this clarifies the issue at all, except that the Ace of Cups and the Fool strongly suggest that this is nothing to do with my current partners, but with something new altogether.
8th – Taboo / Crisis – sex, death, taxes, loans – XII the Hanged Man
The Hanged Man is an interesting card to see in the 8th house, for he is both a crisis and its solution. The tendency I have observed with this card, depending upon one’s general outlook on life, is to see in one of three distinct ways: as a trial and ordeal through which one suffers but emerges victorious and powerful; as simple self-sacrifice and suffering; or, as a change in perspective.
The 8th House is sometimes about other people’s money. As a full time college student with no fucking money, loans are an omnipresent part of my life, and my first impluse is to look for problems there. But there’s a rhythm to these things in the semester, and if I were going to have any further trouble in that arena … well, I probably would have heard about it already. And tax time isn’t for a while now, which leads me to suspect that—while I ought to keep an eye on that arena—this is probably not about that. And if it is, it’s a bout my perspective on things not the materiality.
Which means I’m going to probably have to look to the arenas of sex, death, and other taboos or crises for the meaning of this card.
9th – Higher Perception – journey, movement – 2 Wands “Dominion”
Since the odds of me physically going anywhere in the next 28 days are virtually nill, it’s fairly safe for me to assume that the “journey” here is metaphysical. As such, the 2 of Wands bodes well for my now months-long struggle to resume my visionary practice: “…courage, eagerness to take risks, willpower, becoming spontaneously inflamed about something.”(1)
10th – Recognition – career, ambition, status – 4 Cups “Luxury”
I’m not going to be crowned the golden child this month, but things are going to go well and my work is going to be given the recognition it’s due. I’m cool with that.
11th – Friendships – groups, social activities – I the Magus
I’m currently using the edition of the Thoth deck with the two alternate Magus cards. I leave them all in, and as you can see above it’s the running golden Magus that’s appeared in this reading. I haven’t actually seen him come out before, and I’m still not certain of his nuances.
The Magus is an interesting card in the 11th House. One thinks of the Magus as a singular card: the adept standing in his temple, juggling the powers of the cosmos; he is wise and powerful, knowledgeable and skillful, but he is alone. Friendship and community, conversely, are cooperative endeavors wherein the heavy-handed idiosyncrasy of the Magus.
12th – Secrets & Fears – hopes, ambitions – XV the Devil
My life this semester is founded on and bound in discipline. My time must be managed carefully, dozens of deadlines juggled artfully. I chafe under this constant pressure.
I want to fuck shit up. Get drunk. Smoke weed. Have sex. Set things on fire and dance in the glow. Not necessarily in that order.
+1/6 – Current Position – Knight of Disks
For this coming lunar month, I am cultivating: nurturing my meager resources in the hopes that they will grow. I’ve been working. I’ve been doing money magic. I’m going to do more of both.
+2/6 Current Influences – Queen of Cups
My emotional life is going to color everything this month. My intuition will be my guide. My earthy, airy, stable, and placid Knight of Disks is going to be caught up in the current of the watery part of water.
+3/6 What Crowns It – 8 Disks “Prudence”
+4/6 The Root of It – Ace of Disks
I’m not sure it’s even possible to talk about these to cards, placed thusly, separately … so I’m not even going to try. It’s all about resources this month, I guess: the finding and the nurturing of them. It’s all about the Earth in a tidy little column of the Ace rising through the Knight to be crowned with the 8. Anyone who has any fucking idea what that means is welcome to share their thoughts with me.
+5/6 Going Out – 10 Cups “Satiety”
Given how little emotional Satiety I’ve had since the last Dark Moon, I’m a little curious what this is about.
+6/6 Coming In – 3 Swords “Sorrow”
And…. bad news on the horizon. Particularly given the Death card in my 7th House, I thought that this warranted another nested reading.
There are Major Arcana all over the place here, including the Wheel of Fortune and the Tower in very central positions. Something is going to get fuckered this month, and I have no idea what it is. The Tower tells me that I might not until it’s too late. I really don’t like that “pack up and go home” 10W there at the end.
1 – Banzhaf, Hajo & Brigitte Theler. Keywords fo r the Crowley Tarot p.117