A young woman sees me for a tarot reading. Her question is about her current relationship.
Being a reading about a love relationship, I choose the excellent and topical Victorian Romantic tarot. I shuffle the deck, except this time I spread the cards, face down, in front of her. I ask her to pick three cards, and leave them face down. Once she has done this, I turn the cards over, and this is what comes up:
Victorian Romantic Tarot from Baba Studio
And in one instant swoop, I know this will be a difficult reading. Anyone familiar with the cards can tell this from the combo above. I proceed with care.
I see the first card, the King of Cups, as describing her current partner. I describe the qualities of the King of Cups to her, although I don’t elaborate on the visual description of this card, since it shows a King enjoying a drink and I don’t see this as relevant in this instance.
Next, I move on to the Wheel of Fortune. Now this is a great example where this card does not bring fortune or great benefic changes – precisely because it is followed by the 3 of Swords which I will discuss shortly. Again, I keep to the core meaning of this card, which is that of a great change. One way or another, the relationship will face such a great change.
And then there is the 3 of Swords: in tarot, this is the card of heartbreak and pain. In this particular version of the card, we see a young woman in distress, possibly crying, while a man rides off in the background. I try to be as gentle as possible in describing this card and what it means, and my young querent has tears rolling down her face. To try and tell her that she is young and has many years ahead of her to find another love, is to downplay the power and genuine feelings of first love, and dismiss my client’s sorrow: this I won’t do.
When I finish, she tells me that her current boyfriend is looking to move with his family, as one of his parents recently obtained a job in a different part of the country (and Australia being as vast as it is, this is no small move – in essence it spells the end of the relationship). This, to me, is that Wheel of Fortune card at play. Because my querent is so young, making the move herself is not an option. So her boyfriend will move, and she will feel the pain of loss acutely – this is the 3 of Swords above.
While this was not an easy reading, and it was not a happy reading, I see it as a good reading: what I mean by that is, it is a very simple reading with 3 cards, that delivers the message so well and clearly. There is no guess work here, though such readings always challenge me as a reader to be compassionate and to carefully describe the cards with gentleness.
Until next time, Monica