21 Ways To Read A Tarot Card -- Step THREE

SatuGustafson

Reading your postings. Wow. It's amazing what depth there is in the cards and what emotions different people attach to the same card. For example the High Priestess. For me it has mainly positive connotations, so I'm inclined to see more the positive aspects. I have found a picture of the card in the Savage Tarot and I can relate to your description and interpretation, Bumpy_Boo.

The card is very intense and makes it easier to see the shadowy aspects of the High Priestess. Makes me think it could be a deck that is very well suited for shadow work.

I also like how poopsie and Minnie switch the perspective between different "people" in their cards.

I think this is a great exercise. I'm looking forward to taking the other 17 Steps.
 

pacificwaters

Step 3: Queen of Pentacles (RWS)

3.1.1 The Queen to me seems to be in a mood of deep thinking right now. She is deeply contemplating over something. Pensive mood I guess would be a correct word here. However it is also worth noting that there is everything in abundance here. Even then she is thinking deeply! The wooden throne of the Queen also speaks about some rigidity. Yellow color in the background is a hint that there is sunshine around, so all would be well soon enough….! The Queen has a coin/pentacle in hand. Is she thinking about something material??

3.1.2 I am seated on a wooden throne which has intricate carvings. There is everything in abundance around. Despite this abundance and richness I feel stuck in rigidity. There is a pentacle in my hand and I feel compelled to concentrate on what it is indicating. As I said there is a vast abundance around me, rivers flow by, there are mountains in the background, but I cant look at all this stuff around. Somehow I feel like just concentrating on this pentacle in my hand. There is a flowering creeper that is growing around me. As a female I should have been taken in by the beauty of the flowers but nope, I have to concentrate on this pentacle. Why?? There is this red bunny by my side in the flowering shrubs that are near but I am even oblivious to his presence. There is sunshine aplenty but still I am not looking at it. I know there is hope all around but what is it about the pentacle that is making me concentrate on it only???

3.1.3 Well yes, based on this card I do have a situation that is actually in motion as of now. More than 13 months ago, I and my wife had a very small tiff that’s so common in married life. She “did” something which catapulted this tiff into something very very big. Something like Mt. Everest from a molehill. Ever since then my life has absolutely changed – newer and newer blows every once in a wile on the personal front. For the last 13 months she is at her maternal place with my kid who is just 2 years. I have missed seeing him grow up, but she and her parents don’t realize how it is making me feel. I have tried all possible attempts at bringing her back, but she comes up with newer and newer excuses to postpone her home-coming. The abundance in the card – well just 2 years back I bought an apartment for us, so we could have our “own home”. I think I have “everything” (talking in terms of basic amenities for a married life) that is needed for a happy family life, but this very aspect of my wife and kid not being with me, is what the Queen is so intently thinking over. So much so that I am now even considering going the legal route..! This card relates so much for me..
 

Lady Indigo

STEP THREE: The Hermit, Sun and Moon Tarot

1) The cave the woman is standing in seems to stretch out a great deal in either direction. There's a sense of grandeur and mystery in the Hindi words written on the wall, as if they've been carved there a long time. The elderly woman is standing relaxed and comfortably, but confident. She seems very solitary against all that space, and like the symbols she carries are heavy but handled with care. She feels like a wise woman or a kind of spiritual leader, and also something of a timekeeper. There's the expectation that she'll hold a great deal of knowledge that the viewer of the card does not have access to, but she keeps it very internal.

2) I am standing in my cave, where I study and guard the sacred words that I have studied for many years. I am comfortable and at home here; my feet are bare because I know these floors and feel at home in connection with earth and stone. I am unkempt and unconcerned with appearance; the things I wear are for comfort, any accessories or things I carry are tools of my station. I have lived many years and have recorded a great deal of things into my memory. It is dry and bare around me, peaceful but lonely. I once found the words behind me intimidating, but I'm able to regard them with more ease now.

3) I chose the Hermit out of the three cards I drew because if I recall correctly, it's my Life Path card (and Tarot For Yourself is what I'll be reading next), but I feel very different from her in this card. She's very old and learned, I'm young and do have knowledge but am challenged in feeling confident in that knowledge. However, as a great teacher, the Hermit once had to be a great student. I feel like I'm perpetually learning and trying to find the path that feels "right" to dedicate to - which can be a crutch in some ways as well, but it continues to spark something in me. I'm also very peaceful when I'm alone, reading and writing and soaking up information, and feel at my most natural with few people around.
 

eurydicesdreams

Step Three: V The Hierophant, Hanson-Roberts Tarot

3.1.1) The red background emphasizes the 2 pillars that loom ominously over the back of the man who is the central figure of the card. The jagged carvings on the stone are mysterious and not a little creepy, but the man is unintimidated. He has all of the power - or so he thinks. Does the power come from the stone? Could it be taken away? His hand is raised in benediction over the heads of the two kneeling (cowering??) boys (I'm assuming) before him. It's like they're begging for mercy as well as guidance. Maybe he is protecting them from the stones. He is the only thing between them and the stones, and the wooden divider keeps them separate from him.

3.1.2) I am the Hierophant, high priest of the standing stones of power that loom over me, their carvings mysterious and not a little creepy to the uninitiated - that is, to everyone but a select few, including me. This knowledge and power no longer intimidates me as it one did, as it now does my two acolytes, novice initiates to the priesthood. I give them my blessing almost carelessly, without even glancing at them, but my grip on the staff, the symbol of my power, is consciously strong.

3.1.3) I guess this emotional reading would fit with my attitude towards the church I grew up in - that the head priest there had too strong an interest in maintaining a grip on his power over the congregation, but didn't care enough about the people who made up the congregation.
 

rubikscubefreak

21 Ways - Step Three

6/Swords, Tarot of the Silicon Dawn

3:1.1) The girl on the card is looking ponderously down at the science experiment before her. She seems to be pondering what to do next. She hasn't quite decided how she's going to tackle this experiment, but she's willing to do whatever it takes to get it done.

3:1.2) I am leaning over my workbench, looking at the experiment in front of me: a sword hooked up to a car battery. I wonder, what should I do next? Maybe I could do this, or perhaps it would be better to do that? I still haven't decided, but once I do decide what direction to go in, I am going to put all my effort into completing it.

3:1.3) I am currently unemployed, and a few days ago I sat down and really looked at my resume. It seemed unfinished, unpolished. There were definitely several directions I could have gone to make it better. I ended up deciding to just start over, with a completely new template. Some of the old information could be transferred over, but I had to put a lot of effort into the new one to get it to look right. I think it looks a lot better now!
 

cwilkerson883

Step 3-- Morgan-Greer-- The Tower

The card looks, angry, depressed, desperate, fearful, and just chaotic. There is so much going wrong in this card that it evokes a lot of strong negetive emotions.

There are two sillouettes falling from the tower. They remind me of lovers. Like they couldn't stand to leave one of them behind so the went toghether. The phrase "come hell or highwater" screams from this card. Clearly in the tower hell and highwater are both there.

I wrote before about The Tower being a damned if you do or damned if you don't sort of card. For me I have been in situations that evoke this emotion. My mother suffers from mental illness. She has days where she is confrontational and combative. You can't say anything right and she will take offense or cry no matter what you do. (Bi Polar) In her mind everything and everyone is against her and she is constantly a victim. You are in the wrong no matter if you engage in conversation and indulge her or if you walk away and tell her that now is not a good time to discuss this.

I feel like the tower with her because if I stay I am screwed and will be burned and if I jump I am still screwed because I would get hurt or killed in both choices.

Sorry if this was way too personal or if this is too heavy a reply
 

squeakmo9

For cwilkerson883 and The Tower...

Hello! It's not often that I pass by through here but I found your description of the Tower very insightful, if not heartbreaking. You have a unique and intense perspective of this card, one that I have never known or seen. Thank you for sharing your take, and I hope you find strength and some healing as I did in doing these exercises. This is a safe place for sharing anything pertaining to the personal and "heavy", so just let whatever wants to come out-out!
Enjoy the journey cwilkerson883, glad you're here.
:)
 

fractalgranny

21 ways - step 3 - crow's magick: page of cups

1 - the reptile’s emotion is unbridled enthusiasm, full of energy. for some reason, i also feel called to comment on the cup’s emotion. it feels steady, serene, quietly watchful, as if it were the reptile “puppy’s” guardian, standing in the background, ready to step in should the reptile/page go overboard.

2 – reptile/puppy/page: oh, this is so exciting! so much to do and see and smell here! the whole universe is my oyster!

cup: this is just the way it’s supposed to be. i feel grounded as i stand here. i enjoy watching my excited little page. sometimes i’m a little worried but he needs to make his own mistakes. still, i always want to be ready to help in case something really untoward happens.

3 – i definitely have had times for both. i am generally very enthusiastic, although it’s probably not so much puppy enthusiasm, more a deliberately youthful enthusiasm informed by years of life experience. as a mother and grandmother, i have had many times when i’ve watched my loved ones leap out into the world. especially one of my daughters still has me very much in this stance of looking at/out for her as she does what she does in the world, always tinged with just a tad of nervousness and at the ready to pour out motherly support.
 

Hemera

Step THREE- Tarot of Vampyres, The Empress

1) Describe the emotions and feelings on the card for the character(s) involved and the environment they are within.
The Vampyre Empress is sad. She feels she has been around for many decades and she has seen it all many times. She is sad for human and animal life that has to end and she is sad that for hers that will never end.
The Apple is impatient to ripen and annoyed about the insect sitting on her and shading the apple from the rays of the sun
The Bumble Bee is confused. There is a heavy oriental flowery scent around the apples but there are no flowers in sight. It is wondering where the scent is coming from and is beginning to eye the Vampyre Empress speculatively.

2) Repeat this step but put your description in the "first person.
"The Empress: I´m feeling a bit blue. I´m the Vampyre Empress and when I was younger –much much younger- I would have been terribly excited about this lovely gown and the jewelry and the upcoming ball. But now I´m not sure about anything anymore. The blood I just drank did not give me as much energy as I would have expected and right now I feel I´d just like to withdraw from the world. I´d like to change into my wolf form and run deep into the forest.
The Apple: All the other apples keep talking about ripening as if that would be the most important thing in the world. But no, not me. I want to become the next apple tree. That insect sitting on me is a bit annoying. I hope it will soon vanish and stop shading me from the sunlight.
The Bee: I´m puzzled. This apple is not ripe and this flowery scent can´t be coming from it. And there are no flowers in sight. I wonder if that woman below is the source of this scent? I have encountered some humans who smell of flowers but get surprisingly annoyed when I fly near them to investigate.

3) Relate a personal and real-life situation which involved similar feelings and qualities which you have just described.
In Real Life: I think I am feeling a bit like the Empress. I´m tired and I feel a lack of energy. I´m feeling my cronehood clearly these days. I guess this is partly just seasonal; it is midwinter up here in the north and days are short and the dark nights are long. Come spring this will change, as it always does. But I can relate to that feeling of ´ having been there and done that´ and just wanting to withdraw from everything now. I´d love to change into my wolf form as well. I think this is probably what they call existential Angst/depression; something that just is part of being alive. Something you just have to learn to carry with as much dignity as possible because there is nothing that can be done about it.
 

fractalgranny

I´d like to change into my wolf form and run deep into the forest.

this is so intriguing! i want to meditate on that, on the shape shifting ... thank you for the inspiration!