Here is a thread you can post a card you might want some further clarification on. Or perhaps some insight you got in a card. Or share a spread you got and would like some help in finding further meaning for.
Since my Sapien deck has not yet arrived, Iâll use the Rider-Waite image as a reference in our discussion.
Sure, this image sure does give the impression of imprisonment and that can be one of the interpretations for this card.
But notice something interesing about this image. The lady is not actually imprisoned. Sure, sheâs blindfolded and her arms are bound. But her feet are free. And the Swords are behind (and one to the side of) her. Furthermore, there is no guard guarding her.
If she chooses to, she can make her way forward. In fact, sheâs got a clear path in front of her, even if she canât see it.
The image also begs the question: how did the lady come to be there? If you look closely, you might see the village, behind the Swords, high on the hill in the distance. Has the lady wandered away from home and into a strange land? However she came to be there, the Swords are inhibiting her return.
tl;dr: So, sure, your message could be an âimprisonmentâ of some sort. Or it could be a message that the limitations you might encounter today donât have to stop you. (In fact, they might not be as limiting as they might seem.)
You can make progress, particularly if you proceed carefully and thoughtfully. And that the direction thatâs âbestâ for you is your way forward, further into the new âstrange land,â that returning to what was past (or familiar) is not ideal for you. (Have you burnt some bridges in that regard?)
BTW, something for you to chew on: Is the lady âimprisonedâ? Or are the Swords protecting her?
7 Likes
I think these 2 posts could help this thread!
4 Likes
TEMPERANCE
Temperance has always been a favorite card of mine. The image for me was always the RWS version with, ostensibly, the Archangel Michael. The card of Temperance (XIV) falls between Death (XIII) on the one hand and the Devil (XV) on the other. This told me that, not just when the card arose but also in the grand order of things, I was safe because Saint Michael was tempering the waters between the two, thus keeping me safe. So despite what other things Temperance represents, whenever it shows up it tells me that above all else, find your center (âget a gripâ) because in so doing (and even without), Iâm protected.
Given this affinity with St. Michael, you can imagine my delight when I discovered the petit homage Captain embedded in the Temperance card of the Corpus Spiritus deck. At first glance, one sees a beautiful angel pouring water from one chalice to a second, That second chalice, by the way, looks to be the Holy Grail chalice (an archetype available to work with for sure).
If you look at the RWS card, mid-lower left of the angel, youâll see a great, sparkling, golden crown which is meant to be symbolic of Archangel Michaelâs mastery over water and earth. The Corpus Spiritus deck also shows this crown (if you look in the background, just beyond the angel) hovering over what also looks like a mountain. Closer inspection reveals what appears to be the likely the outline of Mont St Michel in France. For comparison, Iâve included a link to Dreamseedsâ âThe Sword of Saint Michaelâ video below which features Mont St. Michel prominently. However, only Captain can say for sure.
Rider-Waite Smith
Thereâs so much more that could be discussed in just this one card but the last point Iâd like to make is a question. Itâs a genuine question I have, something thatâs caught my eye which feels significant but whose meaning currently escapes me. Iâm hoping that others here can help me puzzle it out.
Itâs in the way that the angel is pouring. Itâs unusual in two ways. First of all, the more mainstream depictions of the direction of the pour is (from the angels point of view) left to right, back & forth with the left most chalice raised. But our angel, pours not only with the right chalice raised, but sheâs pouring towards herself. Nowhere except in the Visconti-Sforza deck do I see a right to left orientation and no where have I seen a pour to self. The implications feel hugeâŚbut I canât quite grasp the words.
If anyone has any thoughts, on this or other aspects of the Temperance card, Iâd be happy to read them.
And, if youâve read this far, thank you for your indulgence.
Marseilles
Visconti-Sforza
6 Likes
Eight of Swords
We can see all 8 swords. There are none behind her. The only thing that is preventing movement on her part is the fact she appears to be blindfolded. Maybe itâs a dream. Maybe she is only as blind as she believes she is. Seeming reality as prison. Buying into a belief that may or may not have truth as its core.
The number 8 is associated with infinity and integration. What is she integrating, or what can she integrate regardless of the seeming barrier? Perhaps since she is blindfolded she doesnât even know the swords are there. In that case, perhaps itâs something she doesnât want to see that is making her believe she is âstuckâ. Inner sight, second sight, desire to be free of whatever is clouding the horizon.
Her city (if it is even hers) is behind her and at a higher level. Civilization, home, family, the âknownâ is behind her. Perhaps it signifies the past, and yet she has not ventured to step out of where she is now to the âfutureâ now. Maybe the swords signify that she doesnât want to go back where she was before. Perhaps she put the swords there to make sure she doesnât go back to living in the past. Perhaps if she removes the blindfold she will be tempted to return to where she was. Perhaps she is resting on a new path, taking a sabbatical to prepare for the new life. The water at her feet might be a symbol of new life and a spiritual baptism or awakening.
7 Likes
I just drew a card before bed while wondering about food for thought for sleep and tomorrow and I got an upright Five of Pentacles. All the sites Iâve seen are saying thatâs really not good. The picture is showing poor and hungry children.
(Itâs especially not good since Iâve got some NFTs dropping soon.)
2 Likes
Cards, in general, are best read in context.
Fives âŚhalfway between 1 and 9 indicate a transition, a turning point. Cards one to four indicate material matters while 6 to 9 speak of spiritual matters.
As a side note, itâs unfortunate that the fives get painted in this way. That goes way back to a misunderstanding with the ChurchâŚbut Iâll save you all that.
Pull another card to see in which direction the cards are indicating events will turn. Depending on what you get, you may indeed want to pull back.
5 Likes
This is so true!
How are you setting up your context before your draw? IOW, that could be a whole opportunity for empowerment that you might be throwing away.
For example, if you were to simply shuffle and pick a card with little focus or intent, then you will have a card that could apply to anything, because you havenât set any context. At worst case, without a context selected for your card, you can place yourself in a position where youâre hunting around, âIs the âwarningâ of the 5 of Pentacles meant for this situation or that subject of my lifeâŚ?â And as you try your card on for size in all the various situations and subjects of your life, you erode your self-empowerment as you try and shoehorn your cardâs warning onto all the topics of your life. If youâre a LOA fan and youâre doing that sort of shoehorning,
then youâre doing a sort of negative visualization for yourself. Thatâs not good, right?
So, the first thing I would suggest as you play with your cards is for you to set your context, and to set a context which empowers you. âWhat should I know about tomorrow?â is a less empowering for you because thereâs a potential for defensiveness and vulnerability baked into that question, you see?
âI want to learn about my new cards. [Look at that intention, amiright? Itâs something thatâs under your power {your learning} and itâs something that you want.] What card can I most comfortably learn about using the events of tomorrow? [Weâre still talking about the learning you want to do and you donât have to bring in any of that guardedness or vulnerability with this focus, you see?]â can be a much more empowering context for you (provided you donât borrow my words and really mean something else when you say them, you know?).
People give away so much of their power with things like Tarot cards. âShould I date Steve?â, a typical question, right? Well, that question gives away all the askerâs power. It puts the cards into the driverâs seat and thatâs not so good for personal development.
But we can massage that question, to get more information about the Steve situation so that we can make our own powerful decisions. âIf I were to date Steve, how would that affect my health [or finances or social life orâŚ] over the next 6 months?â Now, thatâs a different kind of question there, isnât it? Now, we can ask a series of those types of questions, with us dating Steve or not, gather a bunch of intelligence and use our intelligence to guide our decision -making process, much how generals have planned victories since the dawn of âman .â
I think the 5 of Pentacles provides the best backdrop for this conversation Iâm having with you because, yes, those folks in your card are âleft out in the cold.â However, the [R-W] card shows us a solution thatâs there for those folks. Thereâs a warm, well-lit church right there that could provide sanctuary for them and they in the perfect place to take advantage of that solution.
Most of the cards show us the solution thatâs there for us. We have to look for it. And I would encourage you to look into the cards youâve drawn for yourself to find the solutions that they are offering you. (Otherwise, you will turn your cards into tormentors, rather than the helpful friends and guides you had wanted them to be.)
And then when you do get a ânegativeâ card from which you can see no solution, set a new intention and draw another, clarifying card like I had recommended in the Beginnerâs Journey thread.
7 Likes
Lovely contemplations, Rose! (I hope youâre having fun with your explorations.)
Nice.
When I read this, I received a thought that her blindfold was limiting her knowledge of her situation. So, maybe this card could also ask the question, âHow does my lack of full knowledge or awareness limit my understanding of my situation?â After all, as you are saying, itâs her limitations which are distorting her view of her situation, where weâwithout her blindfold share able to see more about her situation than she can.
Nice. And doesnât âintegratingâ have a different meaning from âimprisonmentâ? I mean, we can look at her situation and have our own reactions and conclusions to it. But, as youâre pointing out, we donât truly know whatâs going on for her. We might have our reactions (âOh, noze! Sheâs in a terrible place!â) but her reaction might be a very different âHuh, Iâm in this situation where the âonlyâ thing for me to do right now is to go inside and contemplate and integrate.â And, in this go-go physical world.of action and doing, doesnât that happen to so many of us, where it takes something as dramatic as being backed into a corner of swords before we will do something as helpful as contemplate and integrate?
Yes, I had that thought, too. Maybe that city isnât hers but âthe enemyâsâ? Which prompted my âprotectingâ question.
So, she put the blindfold on herself, to help her? Interesting!
Very nice.
Iâve always looked at that water as an indicator that the storm has come and gone, because thatâs how the ground looks to me after a storm has passed.
Fun discussions!
2 Likes
This is interesting. There is so much to be said for tuning into how the card mirrors our particular situation while reaching deeply into everything that is going on. These cards are not mirroring a static world. They are dynamic and fluid and work with the subconscious. Throw out limitation and embrace possibility. Of course our interpretation of the 8 of Swords would initially be based on our own short-sightedness (blindness). Continuing to delve into it, looking at it again and differently has shown more to me. I am guessing that all of the cards will continue to reveal more layers as we are given eyes to see, and feelings to explore. Thanks for your comments. They help by causing me to look again and to go deeper. Awesome process. 
No doubt if I go back and read what I wrote again it will be applicable to something going on with me now.
5 Likes
Particularly apt insight for the 8 of Swords!
So, might the 8 of Swords be a message for the reader? âWhere are your blindfolds interfering with your ability to see the actual picture/situation?â
And youâre right (Godblessit! Anyone else been fighting with the forumâs editor these past few days? Sigh) Youâre right. We all have blindfolds and, like the lady, we canât really help but bring them with us wherever we go. Thatâs why I post in the cryptic ways that I do, to get people to think about their blindfolds and to decide if they want to keep them or not.
1 Like
Yeah, perfect.
2 Likes
Hereâs a good one. Any takers?
The question concerned how to let go of something within that causes me to procrastinate, running away from letting go even when I know the energy isnât real.
The cards were RWS, all upright
1st Card = the Fool (Where am I now?)
2nd Card = 6 of Swords (What can be done?)
3rd Card = Page of Cups (Outcome)
I want to work through the 6 of Swords like I did with the 8 of Swords. That process was very enlightening and lightening.
5 Likes
A boat, a person steering, a cloaked figure and what appears to be a child. 6 swords clustered in 2 groups - 2 to the left and 4 ahead. Water a little choppy to the right and smooth to the left and ahead. Traditional RWS says cloaked figure is a woman, so I will go with that. She has a vibe of sadness and remorse. The ferry guy seems neutral but he is steering, so it appears that the timing of reaching the destination is up to him. He mirrors her gravitas, perhaps? Her head is bowed, so she is not acknowledging the swords, the âfactsâ as seen in 3D. The work seems to be to let go of the seeming situation, the âstoryâ that she is holding onto. As long as her head is bowed she will not allow herself to feel the feelings and let them go. The bowed head signifies how much she is buying into 3D, thinking that the feelings, the situation, the whatever happened is her, constitutes her identity. Maybe she knows that, maybe she doesnât, but somehow the pain of what has happened appears so real that letting go doesnât even seem to be an option. I believe the ferry guy (maybe heâs a fae) is holding space for her, maybe a friend and maybe she is not even aware. Maybe he is a guardian angel or spirit guide. The left hand is the receiving hand, and the left side water is calm. The choppiness of the right side water can be looked away from. The calm water can be the meditation. The weight of the âangelâ is a comfort. His presence is a comfort. His job is portraying the identity of one who is not attached to 3D. He moves them through the water of misfortune and regret without allowing those energies to be entertained by him. She is blessed really. She has support and a divine movement is occurring that propels her from where she was to the calm future of being identified with beingness, the spirit moving upon the water.
Whoa, forgot the child. The innocence, the immaculate, blank canvas. The beginning without identity.
Also didnât mention the port ahead on the left shows that there is a time and place where the emotional water journey ends in peace.
3 Likes
2 requests and 2 questions for you:
- Give it a shot for yourself. (You canât get it wrong, as youâve already found out in your other discussions.)
- Give us some (little bit) of a context. Without the context, we can go crazy and these cards will yield different meanings for (say) a work situation vs. a love situation vs. a personal situation.
- Were all these cards upright?
- Are there any other people we should consider in our replies?
Remember, the quality of your answers is determined by the quality of your questions. 
ETA: Are you using the R-W cards? Or your C.S. deck (which might have different images)?
2 Likes
I was messing around with an online set, so the cards were RWS, all upright. The question concerned how to let go of something within that causes me to procrastinate, running away from letting go even when I know the energy isnât real. Still I feel fear and energetically run from it. Not all the time, as I do release on it, but I wanted to know where I am now in regard to it (card 1), what I need to do (card 2) and the outcome (card 3). Card 1, The Fool, tells me Iâm in a good place to approach this = unlimited and open consciousness. The outcome, Page of Cups, tells me that the freedom I desire was there all along.
1 Like
I am going to check out the Corpus Spiritus Deck next, now that Iâve worked through this one. I will check back to see if Iâve learned anything new.
1 Like
I see you added to your post. Good for you!
Thatâs fine. Iâm not an absolutist. Itâs just that, from your comments on the 8 of Swords, Iâm learning that there are significant (to me) differences between the two decks. So, Iâd like to talk apples to apples with you (at least at the beginning). I donât want to mix you up. (Not that I think thatâd be likely with you. )
I donât know about you but, to me, the R-W 6 of Swords image really captures the feeling of this Where I Am Now. What do you think?
You are in a good place to approach this (although I didnât need the cards to know that ). But do these cards give you an idea of how you might approach this? (Iâll let that percolate for a moment before I come back to that.) And, yes, the Page of Cups outcome is a good one for you.
The 6 of Swords is one of âthoseâ cards whose images tend to grab us. (The R-W Swords tend to do that for many of us.) As I said, I think the image of this card accurately reflects what youâve told us about this situation; it accurately reflects your Where You Are Now with this situation.
As I read your interpretation, my first thought was âdonât be so hard on the woman; sheâs been through a lot,â which could be one reason why her head is bowed. Other reasons could be that her head is bowed because she is feeling her feelings and those feelings are powerful to her (and thatâs all right); or that sheâs huddled to protect the child; or that stealth, cleverness and/or precision are required (these are Swords weâre talking about).
If this were a private consultation (where we could talk more freely), I would (gently) probe into this situation. Iâll ask some questions here but you donât need to answer them. Does this situation involve someone other than you? A child? (Thereâs child energy in each of these cards.) Or something from your past? If itâs something that youâve learned from your past that youâre kind of repeating in your Now, which female adult in your past did you learn it from?
Swords are mental. They deal with thoughts and decisions and ideas. So, based on the scant information I have, I would say that the 6 of Swords indicates the decision to move away from the âsomethingâ youâre talking about and I would remind you that even that decision is movement, progress forward. You might not see the progress because your head is âbowed.â IOW, you (like the woman) might be looking where the progress is not. (Sheâs looking down which will distort her view of the progress that they are making.)
The woman and child are being ferried, so their progress is slow. But they are making progress. And they (as you said) are safe. Itâs like those Swords which look scary (and right in her faceâfor realz? ) but their boat is afloat (which you wouldnât expect with swords positioned like that).
You said something very interesting in your interpretations: ââŚeven when I know the energy isnât real.â Youâve struck at the very essence of Swordsâtheyâre about thinking and knowing. But hereâs the thing: a lot of times we talk about how âwe know,â when the âtruthâ that we Know [Iâm going to play games with capitalization here] is something very different. Often we pay a sort of lip-service about âknowingâ something that weâve heard or read somewhere when our life experiences have taught us to Know something else instead. You know, a sort of intellectual (Swords) âknowingâ and that sort of knowing can be weak and pale.
Without knowing (see what I did there? ) more about the situation, I would tell you that youâre going to have to bridge your beliefs from what you truly (in your right now experience) believe (that part of you that wants to run away) to your desired knowing intellectually that the energy isnât real. Thereâs healing that needs to be done here.
The Fool gives you the path. Some could say that The Fool is telling you to just take the leap and I wouldnât necessarily argue that advice. The Fool does give you other options. The Fool isnât bogged down in intellect. (Heck, heâs about to step off a cliff, amIright?) Thatâs because (to me) The Fool is focused up and is the embodiment of the Higher Truth of the Higher Self. Heâs about to step off that cliff because he Knows that âthe worst caseâ scenario (that heâs going to die? Pshaw! Spirit cannot die) is just a thought (Swords) that scares us.
The trick is working our way into the Knowing of The Fool. For âmere mortals,â that might require meditations and therapy and the like but we have clearing fields and healing fields and ascension/alignment fields as well the exercises of this forum to work our ways into the Knowing of our Higher Self (The Fool) so that we can take his first step with the same carefree enthusiasm The Fools shows us. (No Swords before him, amIright? 
)
[ETA: The more I think about it, the more Iâm convincing myself that The Fool is indicating some inner child work to be done now. In a lot of ways, The Fool is the ultimate inner child, yes?]
Page of Cups, yes, freedom, but also a deeper, friendlier relationship with your emotions. Emotions become your friend and you have learned some greater mastery over them. Look at how extensive the water is in the 6 of Swords and look how itâs contained and controlled (too strong a word) in the Page of Cups. With this greater mastery, you are likely to have improved psychic abilities as well.
Whoa, way more than I thought Iâd say here, too.
2 Likes
Whoa - thank you for the detailed answer. A lot to digest. I will get back to you.
The what and how in the exploration of the âcauseâ needs clarification. Inner child for sure. Empath child with intellectual parents hiding immature emotions, also for sure. There seems to have been an âeventâ that I donât have a clue about though - or maybe it was more than one that got compartmentalized. The blocking swords may hold more info. Whenever there is a big ball of stuff to be unraveled I panic (hence why I have had private meltdowns in community groups when there is too much info and I just canât take any more in). I surround myself with stuff but panic when I try to organize it. Yet, I am a good organizer of information. Go figure. Perhaps I just power through with intellect and ignore the child who really canât handle it. Right now, as far as I can see, this is the crux of the matter. Thereâs where I will start. I will pull some cards about that bit and get back. Iâm learning a lot, and itâs fun! I appreciate your feedback, @WellBeing.
1 Like
FWIW, the Six of Swords is suggesting to me, âpoetryâ, of all things. 
Perhaps you will make progress if you work things out using poetry? 
4 Likes