Your Week in Tarot: February 1-7, 2016

We’re a month into 2016 (can you believe how fast it went by?), and I’ve found, based on my own experience and in my work as a coach, that this is the time when we can use a boost in keeping those intentions we set and resolutions we made at the top of the year.

Archangels Michael, Raphael, and Gabriel.

With that in mind, the deck assisting me for this week’s reading is one of my favorites, the Archangel Power Tarot Cards by Doreen Virtue, Radleigh Valentine, and Jeff Bedrick (published by Hay House). As I’ve said in this space before, I’ve heard Radleigh call this deck “the angelic life coach deck,” so I thought I’d turn to these coaches for a bit of inspiration about the week ahead.

As always, with these weekly general readings, I take the deck in hand, shuffling the cards, and asking this question: “What do we need to know about the possibilities for the week ahead?”

This week’s video reveals the cards for our reading:

If you prefer to read the post, here it is:

After shuffling the deck and pulling the three cards for this reading, I turn the remainder of the deck over to look at the card at the bottom, which I consider the foundation for the week.

The card is Page of Raphael.

The Pages in Tarot can represent a learning stage of development. Each one has a different quality, and this particular Page is about learning through our feelings and intuition, through our emotional relationships and spiritual experiences. These may be new experiences, as the card, in part, reads, “A new emotional situation!”

This Page is what I call the Highly Sensitive Person (HSP). This can mean two things: a high degree of emotional sensitivity and high degree of intuitive sensitivity. In the metaphysical world, many intuitives and psychics are also called “sensitives.” This can be the Page of Raphael, as the card also reads, “Great intuitive insights.”

This week, we’re being asked to consider our level of sensitivity as we approach people and situations this week. We’re also being asked to start listening to our intuition by checking in with our “first impressions,” which are usually our intuitive impulses. This week, we may need to consider how certain people and situations make us feel, about the “vibes” we get—and, as intuitive teacher Sonia Choquette says, “Trust our vibes.”

Moving now to the three cards I pulled: the first for the beginning of the week; the second for the middle of the week; and the last to round out the rest of the week.

For the beginning of the week, we have 9 of Raphael, and it asks you to consider the things you hope and wish for.

Traditionally, the 9 of Raphael (which is the suit of Cups) is known as the “wish card.” Tradition has held that if you have a wish, and this card appears in your reading, it means that your wish will come true.

So, along with “wish fulfillment,” 9 of Raphael can represent being happy, satisfied, content, and “fulfilled” with life.

Unlike a genie (the genie on the card) who can instantly grant a wish, though, an emotionally satisfying life takes time and effort to both create and maintain. 9 of Raphael focuses on the end result, as the 9 is a number of attainment.

So, at the beginning of the week, consider the things you hope and wish for. How can you take on the role of being your own best genie–and making the magic happen in your life? What would it take (effort) for those hopes and wishes to come true? Are you willing to put the time and effort in to make those wishes come true? Will having those wishes fulfilled really bring you the happiness you think they will?

Remember this old adage: Be careful what you wish for—because you just might get it.

Moving to the card for the middle of the week, we have 10 of Raphael.

If your life were a story (and I have a little secret for you: it is!), 10 of Raphael would be that last sentence written in most fairy tales (and on the card): “And they lived happily ever after.”

When 10 of Raphael blesses you with its presence, your happy ending may be on the horizon.

10 of Raphael centers on life’s emotional rewards. This is known as “the marriage and family card,” and, as such, is more about the people in our lives, those that we have chosen to form bonds and create relationships with. Some we are born into—but most we choose.

This card is also about community. Being a card that indicates spiritual growth, this could be a nod to your spiritual community, the people who have played either an active or passive role in your spiritual development.

If you’re the esoteric or metaphysical type, this card is known as the “soul family” card. From this perspective, you understand that there is a bond—a sort of contract–you have agreed upon with your birth family to learn certain lessons designed for your own soul’s growth.

Looking at things in this way, what lessons have you learned (Page of Raphael being a learning stage of development, remember) from the members of your family of origin? My own growth came from looking at the challenging relationship with my mother from this perspective, and played a major part in my spiritual growth and direction.

So, in the middle of the week, 10 of Raphael asks you to look beyond the material things you have—or think you need to have to make your life better (those things hoped and wished for with 9 of Raphael). 10 of Raphael, instead, asks you to look at the ways life makes you feel satisfaction and a sense of peace.

I also want to offer an alternate possibility. All the cards in Tarot have a positive side, as well as a challenging side. With 10 of Raphael, there is the possibility of feeling a sense of emotional overwhelm, as the 10 can sometimes represent being overwhelmed and overburdened (I’m hearing Kylie Minogue, a popular singer in the UK, singing her song “Too Much of a Good Thing” in my head).

So, if you find yourself feeling “in over your head” in the middle of the week, call on the angels (the rainbow on the card can symbolize the angels), especially Archangel Raphael (who has appeared in all the cards in the reading so far), to assist you in moving through that sense of overwhelm–because, the 10 is also a number of transition and moving to another stage or level—a higher one.

For the end of the week, we have another Raphael card (!)—Queen of Raphael. I’ve been reading a long time, and this kind of thing—where all the cards in a reading are from the same suit—rarely happens. Archangel Raphael wants to make his presence known!

This also highlights the possibility of a very emotionally-charged week.

Also, the message about intuition is being reinforced by Queen of Raphael (known as the Queen of Cups), as the card, in part, reads, “Trustworthy psychic information.”
Our Queen is in her natural element (immersed in water), as she has an open book on her lap. This Queen, has taken her intuitive development seen in Page of Raphael, and is now an accomplished “reader” in her own right.

Queen of Raphael excels in all things metaphysical. She may be clairvoyant (seeing mental pictures and images), a psychic, a Tarot-card reader (a-hem!) or an astrologer. No matter the tool or modality, when the combo of Page of Raphael and Queen of Raphael emerges, we’re being encouraged to develop the intuitive qualities within us.

Queen of Raphael, as an approach, is asking us to consider that our spiritual path is flowing through all areas of our lives. Are we going with—or against—that flow?

In another vein, Queen of Raphael, for me, is associated with the astrological sign Cancer, the sign of home and family. How fitting this card would follow 10 of Raphael, the marriage and family card. This pairing reinforces the possibility that emotional issues involving family may come to the surface this week. If that becomes the case, Queen of Raphael is offering you to consider approaching things with a sense of understanding and empathy.

And remember to call upon Archangel Raphael for assistance, if need be. Our angels are just a thought and prayer (“Help me, Angels!” is a great one) away.

To round out this reading, I’ll take the numbers on all the cards, reducing them to a number between 1-22, seeing what Major Arcana card will be the Lesson card for the week.

Adding 9 + 10 + 13 (Queens, for me, are valued at 13), we have a total of 32. Since there are 22 Major Arcana cards, I’m adding 3 + 2, giving me a new total of 5.

The 5th Major Arcana card is Divine Guidance.

Divine Guidance is asking us to consider how our daily lives are really our spiritual teachers. 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 Archangel Sandalphon (the angel associated with prayers, and for me, faith) standing in what appears to be a church or temple. The image evokes so many things: customs, rituals, ceremonies, and traditions come to mind. As a learning stage of development (referring back to Page of Raphael), Divine Guidance can also 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.

Divine Guidance can also suggest going with convention and maintaining the status quo–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?

Divine Guidance asks you to consider these questions: 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?

Divine Guidance can also be a card of family, reinforcing the possibility of family-related issues this week, suggested by 10 of Raphael and Queen of Raphael.

In the vein of working with our intuition this week, there may be an intuitive reading this working on developing his or her skill. If that is you, then Divine Guidance can suggest a few things to consider.

First, this is the card of formal and higher learning. With regard to your intuitive development, you might consider seeking out a teacher or teachers, and to learn some time-honored traditions when it comes to developing your skill.

Archangel Sandalphon is the angel associated with music. In the symbolic sense, I see music as the indication of being a channel, which means being able to receive messages from Spirit and then pass those messages on to the people who need to hear them. Music also can symbolize a raised vibrational frequency, and operates the same way prayer does (which connects both assignments given to Archangel Sandalphon). When a channel is in communication with Spirit, he or she has to be able to raise his or her vibrational frequency to pick up—receive—those messages.

And since I’m on a track with music, the appearance of Divine Guidance can indicate the spiritual ability of clairaudience. Clairaudience, which means clear hearing, is the ability to perceive sounds or words from outside sources in the spirit world. Psychics who are clairaudient hear voices, sounds or music that aren’t audible to the normal ear. They receive these messages mentally or within their ears.

Psychics, intuitives, and “sensitives” all have a dominant or primary mode of receiving information. If you find that yours is clairaudience, you’re being asked to further develop this skill.

As confirmation, I considered that Page of Raphael is also a news and message card. At the end of a reading, I typically go back and ask the Page that appears what the news or message might be, and pull a card from the deck as the answer.

I did so here. And I wound up having to pull two: Page of Gabriel and 3 of Ariel.

Page of Gabriel is also a news and message card, which is why I had to pull the second. But, it can also be a card of validation, a form of getting a “thumbs up.” This Page, more than the others in the deck, is the one you broadcasts messages, and is really considered a messenger. Also, notice this is from the suit of Gabriel, the chief messenger angel.

3 of Ariel is a card that can mean mastering one’s skill and building a reputation with that skill. If Divine Guidance represents formal, higher learning, 3 of Ariel is getting a certificate or diploma from that learning institution. It can also mean—and I kid you not—working with your guides and angels.

Going with the imagery of the master craftsman gazing and listening to the open music box on 3 of Ariel, I’ll end this week’s reading on that high note.

Wishing you a Tarot-tastic week,

 

 

 

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