3 confusing cards in a love reading! Help!

Hi guys,

Ever since I met this guy I've had feelings for him, and trying to work out the depth of them (and how he feels towards me) has been an ongoing and constantly changing thing. Our relationship at the moment is purely sexual, although we work together and share friends it hasn't become more than that and I don't know whether that is what I want anymore right now.

I read my cards just now and though many of them made sense, I wanted to check a few with you all to get second opinions!

Near future: Temperance - I read this as me right now waiting and taking things slowly and in a measured way, nothing hasty... balancing work and these feelings in a sensible way.

Advice: 6 of wands- this is confusing. I feel like I have a victory in the sense that I've got what I wanted (without being too graphic what I wanted was to sleep with him, which I have done) but is it enough? It's not enough right now. As an advice card this confuses me- I'm not sure whether it means I should enjoy my victory and what it is telling me to do next.

Outcome: 9 of Cups- it's been a long time since I got any cups in a reading and certainly about this situation. I immediately felt positively from it, like I would feel fulfilled and satisfied with how things play out. But from researching a bit, a lot of people seem to read it as almost a hollow victory, or something that is still lacking. This has made me wonder if it is so positive after all, and from that, what should my next step be?

I'd love to know what you all think about all or just one of these cards. Thank you!

Hi Zarina

Advice - 6 of Wands. I would say to leave this as a game and nothing serious for the time being and consider it as preventing cobwebs, if you know what I mean. Yes, you've had your victory and slept with him, but you are starting to think more of it, perhaps expecting something more from him, which may not be a good thing because you work together.

I think you're right about Temperance. You need to put your head back on straight for the near future because you work with him - back to platonic and survey the scene for a while.

9 of Cups - have you had the Christmas party yet? Watch that one play out.

I would see all of these cards as promising a happy outcome for you. Although the 9 of cups for some reason doesn't mean this for me personally. I have had temperance represent a relationship where there is strong sexual harmony between people but also continual challenges. The blending of opposites is tricky and if those opposites include opposite values or expectations then you need to address these soon. I think that this card is suggesting that you pull yourself back, act in moderate ways for a time and gently assess who and what it is that you're mixing yourself with and that this will lead to your success in the six of wands. First be temperate.

Adopt a temperate attitude and balance between working and personal relations and you will have your wish by a clear victory. Your wish doesn't seem too defined atm.

I don't know what deck you're using but in the RWS and many others, the angel on the Temperance card has one foot on solid land and one in the water. If you think of that as Cups and Pentacles, then what you have is earth and water--emotions and basic bottom line stuff, like satisfaction of needs like food, sex, etc. You are that card, really. You wanted to sleep with him and you did, but your emotions have also been involved. It's difficult for women to totally keep emotions in check when having sex with someone, whether it's a one night stand or not.

The 6 of Wands is a card that shows a victorious man triumphantly returning from whatever he was doing elsewhere. This advice is "you succeeded at the goal you set---interacting with him sexually---but now that's not fulfilling the totality of what you want from this friends with benefits situation". I think this card is telling you that you should put it behind you now. You've achieved what you wanted and now it's time to move forward. Now you can either take steps to take it to the next level or else end the benefits and just be friends.

The Outcome position with the 9 of Cups is telling you that the outcome of this relationship is pretty one-sided. The guy on the card is sitting between us and the Cups behind him and he's smugly smiling. He's a man who is quite content with just sex and friendship. Easy peasy, right? So he's not going to change if nothing else changes.

As you say, 9 of Cups can mean wishes fulfilled in some instances, but it's also a card of winding down preparatory to ending. You've come to the point where this is no longer the way you want to proceed. Nothing will change, though, till you change the deal. As an outcome card, this tells us that he'll remain smugly satisfied unless something changes on your part. If you don't let him know you're not satisfied with the status quo, then he's not going to change.

Hi! Thank you all so much for your feedback. It all made so much sense!!

A few weeks have gone by and now things are definitely reflected in terms of the cards. We haven't spent much time together in or out of work for other various reasons, so when we have seen each other it's been very casual, friendly and platonic. I kind of took a step back from it, accepted what had happened might be a one off, and found a kind of contentment about it in the sense that I'd be cool if nothing happened again but wouldn't say no to it happening again either!

I've been away for the Christmas period so not seen him for 10 days which has really cleared my head about the whole thing (although I am looking forward to seeing him again...)

The main thing looking at it now is that I don't fully know what I want (now I've got my original wish) so I can't do much either way until I figure that out for myself. And right now the only way is to completely just stand back and go with the flow I think. I feel pretty content about doing that for now, though, so that's one thing