Tarot Thrones | The Court Card Blog

Year: 2017

  • Tarot Trump

    Donald Trump
    The President
    The United States of America
    God help us all.

    So, inauguration day looms for my cousins over the water in the US of A and what an unsettling day it will be for my friends there.

    I say MY friends because the majority of my facebook pals across the pond are liberal in outlook, interested in the arts, passionate about equality and generally all-round good eggs.

    There will be Tarot readings a-plenty on The Donald’s future presidency, but I wanted to take a look at him in the arena of the Tarot’s court cards.

    What you want from your president is someone that knows how the game works and is a proficient player on the world’s stage.  We are looking for Kingly action, married to the nurturing strength of a Queen.

    The Presidency is no place for beginner Pages and unpredictable Knights.

    Yet that’s exactly what we’ve got.  As a President, I have to select the Page of Pentcles for Trump.  He has no training for this role at all.  No military background.  No history of service to anything other than the mighty dollar.

    He is going to be a hands-on beginner because running the world’s biggest super power is not like running a golf club.  And I’m sure that there are many staffers and civil servants who will be reaching for the headache tablets before this time next week when the man-baby realises that he cannot get things all his own way.

    And by the way – take a look at how he runs a golf club.  When he didn’t get his own way up here in Scotland, he cut off an elderly woman’s water supply.  In 2012.  It’s 2017 and she still hasn’t been reconnected.

    This bullying tactic must be a foible of one of the courts, but which one is most likely to strike out like this and use intimidation to get his own way? I feel that it might an unhealthy version of the Knight of Pentacles – to physically incapacitate someone’s comfort and home.

    All the nonsense about building a wall.  The best that I can say about that is that ok, he wants to strengthen America’s borders.  Having a safe and secure home is a Pentacle trait and if anyone is going to physically roll their sleeves up and build a wall, it would be a Pentacle.

    To build a metaphorical wall and emphasise the divide between Us and The Other, that’s truly a mind game and the Swords are the family for that.  I’m going to pick the Page of Swords, again in an unhealthy way. This Page is prone to tittle tattle and if anyone is going to sit at 3am and pout his way through twitter, it’s the Page of Swords, I think.

    There are so many areas of The Donald’s life that we could peer into and decide which court card best represents him in that particular field.  His attitude towards women… relationships ….. his capacity as a businessman … his showmanship.  Anyone want to take a punt and pick a court card to relate to his proclivities?

    And as an aside, dear American cousins, I drew the 7 of Wands from the Druidcraft Tarot for the outlook for his presidency.

    He will be defensive and imagine attacks where there are none.

    Perhaps that’s too negative a portrayal because I’m truly a bit Pollyanna and believe that people want to rise to become their best.  Even The Donald. Perhaps his presidency WILL protect you against future attacks …. but here’s hoping that he doesn’t cause any unwarranted trouble by leaping from the battlements first before he’s done his due diligence.

    I have a spare bedroom if anyone wants to relocate to the Scottish West Coast 🙂

  • Deviant Moon Tarot Book | Wordery | BARGAIN!

    I know – advertising – it’s the bane of the modern world, but I would be failing in my duties as a Tarot bestie if I neglected to tell you about the BARGAIN Deviant Moon Tarot book over on Wordery.

    There are also three versions of the deck over there too – so make sure that you get the one that you are after!

    One is BORDERLESS – £16.31
    One (by US Games) is the PREMIER EDITION – £19.51
    One (by Austin and Winfield) is the STANDARD EDITION – £16.73

    ‘Borderless’ is self-explanatory, but what is the difference between the Premier and Standard editions?  I’m not sure, but have asked Patrick for some info and will let you know asap.  If you know the difference, please chip in in the comments section and I’ll add to this post, 💗 Ermagard, blogger has got emojis!!! 😍

    The best thing of all is that Patrick’s ‘NORMOUS book for the Deviant Moon is available on Wordery too for £11 cheaper than the RRP at only £23.00!

    AND everything has free P&P  WORLDWIDE!!!!!

    Fablas, right?! Even better …..  any second item that you buy has 10% off if you use the code HAPPYREADING.

    You are WELCOME!

  • Spread| Next 7 Days

    I’m publishing this on a Sunday, the one day of the week where I do my very best to avoid being online.  Call it Digital Detox and a passing fad if you must, but for me it’s an integral part of getting organised for the coming week.

    Part of that organising is taking a look at what the next 7 days may be throwing my way:
    This spread requires you to separate your Majors, your Minors and your Courts into three bundles.

    Card 1 – to be drawn from the Court Arcana. Shuffle all the Courts. You are looking for the Court card whose energies will assist you in your everyday life for the next 7 days.  


    Card 2: – to be drawn from the Major Arcana. Shuffle the Majors. You are looking for the Major Arcana that gives the overall theme for your life for the next 7 days.

    Card 3: – to be drawn from the Minor Arcana. Shuffle your Minor Arcana. You are looking for the Minor Arcana that will show best how your Court Card energies will assist with the energies from the Major drawn for Card 2.

    (Spread from Tarot Kaizen book) 
    You might want to either place the court card somewhere where you will often see it or, if that’s not convenient, wear an item of jewellery or clothing that you have charged with the card’s influence.  That can be as complicated a ritual as you like, or as simple as saying – ‘every time I look at my wedding ring I will be reminded of the relationship focus of The Queen of Cups and act accordingly’.  
    Assuming that it was the Queen of Cups that you drew. 
    You get the idea 😀

    When you get to Card 3, try to figure out how your court card person might implement the Minor card’s energies.  Taking our example – How would the Queen of Cups work with, say,  Five Swords?  It might suggest,  for example, that in a situation where there are winners and losers, being mindful of the losers’ feelings might be helpful?  

  • Book Review | Notes From The Pagan Otherworld Tarot | Uusi Studios

    photo © uusi studio
     

    Towards the end of 2016, I backed the Kickstarter campaign by Uusi Studios to create the Pagan Otherworld Tarot.  The resulting deck is a delight to use – both in its imagery and card stock quality – and I reviewed it here.

    After the deck was created, Uusi announced that there would be an accompanying book* to buy from the Uusi store.


    Did I buy it?

    *waggles book at the reader*  Of course I did!

    So, what can I tell you about it….

    The book, written by the deck’s creators – Linnea Gits and Peter Dunham of Uusi Studios – is square, which is a cute detail, and measures 6″ x 6″. The pages are not numbered.  Now, much as I love you, I am not sitting counting the pages of a book.  *pauses to think* Or I could just be a smarty-pants and head on over to their website to see how many pages it has … and there you go, 210 pages.

    Inside, there is an introduction by Linnea and Peter and the remaining body of the book is divided into sections – The Seeker, The Majors, each of the suits, and finally the Luna cards.

    Each card image is presented in black and white on the left-hand page, with its explanation on the opposite page.  This arrangement makes referring to the book very convenient. The card explanations reveal the deck’s creators’ insights about the cards – often shining a light on the symbolism within the image.  The occasional card takes more than one page to outline and when you flip over to read the rest, you get an additional image – detail from the card.

    For 83 of the 84 cards (not The Seeker) there are also 3 key words provided. They are good representations of what the cards are about and won’t cause any fainting fits.  For example: The Sun – success, recommendation, manifestation.  However, not everything is entirely as expected, The Hanged Man, for example, whom I mostly associate with surrender and sacrifice is keyworded with: ‘outsider’, ‘misunderstandings’ and ‘enlightenment’.   Likewise, The Star has ‘prophecy’, ‘realisation’ and ‘harmony’.  Different, but not baffling! So another up-tick from me.

    Since we are all about the Courts here at Tarot Thrones, I have to say that I am pleased with the royal family entries.  Their strangely pagan, otherworldly garb is explained and their characters fleshed out.

    Here’s a snippet from the entry of the King of Wands: “His entire person is a compass point from which others may obtain their bearing – and like the lion at his feet, feel safe and allowed to be who they are.”

    This fits very much with my notion of the King of Wands – someone charismatic and attractive, around whom the world makes sense of itself 🙂

    The cards that I was most interested in reading about were the entries for the cards that are not found with any other decks – the Seeker and Luna cards.

    The Seeker’s entry is presented at the beginning of the book and I’m happy to see that he does indeed represent the querant.  Good guess on my part! I love decks that have got unique Significator cards – saves all the hassle of taking a precious card out of your deck (and thus negating its chances of coming up within the reading).  If you do too, take a look at Dame Fortune’s Tarot Wheel.

    The Luna cards are added towards the end of the book and explains how to interpret them.  For example:  The Waxing Crescent Moon’s keywords are:  ‘attraction’, ‘gathering’ and intentions.  Very nice!

    Here’s the $64million question: Do you NEED the book in order to read with the deck?

    No, you don’t.  BUT, if you want to get the very best out of a deck, I believe that it’s important to know what the deck’s creators envisaged when they designed the deck in the way that they have.   And this book does give you that insight.

    * Now in its second edition.