I hope you had a wonderful holiday weekend, enjoying all the freedoms in your life!
Now that the holiday weekend is over, and we’re entering a new week, it’s time for–you guessed it–a new weekly Tarot reading!
This week’s reading was conducted using the Tarot of the Lotus Circle by Marilyn Campbell.
Taking the deck and shuffling it, I pulled three cards: the first would be a card to show us what our Overall Experience of the week might be like; the second would be Guidance/Advice Tarot is offering us for our consideration, and as empowerment to move through the week; and the third card would show us a Possible Outcome of our efforts by the week’s end.
This week’s video reveals the cards for our reading:
If you prefer to read the post, here it is:
Our cards for this week are:
- Overall Experience: 7 of Coins
- Guidance/Advice: The Hierophant
- Possible Outcome: 5 of Cups
Your Week in Tarot: 7 of Coins, The Hierophant, and 5 of Cups, from the Tarot of the Lotus Circle by Marilyn Campbell.
When the card in the position of the Overall Experience for the week, the 7 of Coins, comes your way, its message is to take time and evaluate your life.
Our lady friend on the card is doing just that. She has a pad and pen and has made two columns, one a minus (-) side and the other a plus (+) side. I call such a list “the pros and cons,” and I make such a list when I’m in the process of evaluating a situation, or needing to make a decision of some sort. I have also encouraged my clients to undergo the process, either in our sessions together or in their time in-between.
She is doing what I refer to as a “personal inventory,” and she is taking stock of her life up to this current point in time. The 7 of Coins is asking you to consider doing the same this week for yourself. In this regard, the 7 of Coins is a card of personal growth and development.
Also, the 7 of Coins is a card that suggests reaping a harvest, that the hard work you’ve put into a situation is now starting to produce results. This is the Universal Law of Sowing and Reaping, which basically says that you only get out of any situation what you put into it.
So, when the 7 of Coins appears, consider taking a step back and ask yourself, “Am I getting what I want out of this (situation)?” If the answer is no, then ask yourself what energy have you been putting into it—because it’s that energy that has helped to produce the result you have. Because the proof, as they say, is in the pudding.
Just like the sower who plants the seed, and gets what he planted, it is the same for us. The seed is our intention. But we also have to take action. The land that the seed goes into has to not only be fertile, but it must be tilled, and the seed has to be nurtured (fed and watered) in order for the harvest (growth, result) to take place. With that, ask yourself, “What’s my intention here? What actions do I need to take that are in alignment with that intention?”
Also, keep this thought in mind: When we explore this idea of sowing and reaping, we can sometimes go into looking for the harvest immediately after the seed has been planted. There is a space of time in between that also has to be allowed for. True and lasting growth is never an overnight process.
So, as one of my favorite musical acts, the Pet Shop Boys, once sang, take a look around at the “fruits of your labors” in your life today and ask “Was it worth it?” If the answer is yes, then affirm what you have with gratitude. If the answer is no, then let this be the week you prepare the ground to receive the new seeds you’ll be planting.
The number 7 is a number of spiritual development, and the suit of Coins is about the things we value in our lives. Reading these aspects of the 7 of Coins can lead us to seeing the value in cultivating (keeping with the gardening theme of the card) our spiritual natures.
And this aspect of the card is a nice segue to our card in the position of Guidance/Advice, The Hierophant.
The Hierophant is asking us to consider how our daily lives are really our spiritual teachers. We can, at times, get so caught up in the idea–the belief–that our greatest spiritual teachers are outside of us, in the form of other people (and sometimes that is the case), but our greatest spiritual teacher is Life itself.
Life is always giving us the opportunity to examine–and re-examine–our beliefs, and to learn which of those beliefs are actually our own, and which have been taught to us from others.
In the image on the card, we see a baby being baptized. The image evokes so many things: customs, rituals, ceremonies, and traditions come to mind. A baptism is also a form of initiation, and in that sense, The Hierophant can indicate socialization. Keeping with the idea of beliefs, this card can indicate sharing a belief system with an institution or a group of like-minded individuals.
The Hierophant can also suggest going with convention and maintaining the status quo—but perhaps from a place of conformity and seeking some form of approval. Do you really believe what those around you believe—or are you just following the crowd?
So, this week, first consider how you might be like The Hierophant. What do you believe? What have you learned from your own life experiences? Who is your “crowd?” Are you socializing with people who resonate with your beliefs, and gaining (or seeking) their approval—or are you meeting with their disapproval?
Whose words and teachings are you following? Whose beliefs and experiences resonate with you—and why?
And rounding out our reading this week, in the position of a Possible Outcome, we find the 5 of Cups.
When the 5 of Cups drifts by you, its message is to let go of the people, things, and conditions that are no longer a part of your life as it is. You may be feeling disappointment connected to holding on to once was.
Our lady friend in the card sits before two broken cups on the floor of her kitchen. She cries over this loss. This scene can symbolize the disappointment we feel (Cups being the suit of feelings and emotions) when people, things, and circumstances go out of our of lives. There are some things we are not meant to have indefinitely, as much as we may want otherwise.
As we take inventory of our lives suggested by the 7 of Coins, and examine our beliefs about those certain people things, and circumstances as The Hierophant advises, then the 5 of Cups wants us to feel the sense of loss that naturally comes with change (the number 5 being repeated with this card and The Hierophant), which can be just like grief and mourning in some cases–but we are also urged not to stay and wallow in that state.
That can become experiences of regret, remorse, and possibly even guilt, which serve no purpose when we choose to remain in them rather than letting them be the life lessons they were intended (connecting to The Hierophant, which is also about higher learning).
The three remaining cups on the island countertop symbolize what our lady friend still has in her life, if only she would shift her focus (another interpretation of the 5); if she were to do that, she would see that all is not lost.
So, this week, during the evaluation of your life, allow the feelings of discomfort to come up when they do. Sit with them, be with them. But don’t wallow. Feel them, acknowledge them, and let them drift along. They will.
And that wraps up another weekly reading. I look forward to sharing this space here with you again next week!
Until then…have a Tarot-tastic week!
life of HIMM 