Job A or Job B?

A client who I’ve seen before came to ask me about 2 job opportunities.  I said don’t tell me anything about either job, just really think clearly about Job A and then Job B. And the cards did what we all like best – they gave astoundingly clear results.  For Job A he ended with the 10 of swords and for Job B he ended with the world.  Just by looking at the cards,  anyone can see which job to take!

And then he told me the jobs – Job A was working at a startup for virtually no money, very high risk, no safety net and Job B was a solid corporate job in a creative field, with full benefits and 401K.  

I laughed and said thank goodness I didn’t know so it didn’t sound like I was deliberately steering him to the more conservative/safer option.  We laughed but he acknowledged that he didn’t have a safety net, there was no family money to fall back on, and the risks of Job A failing and then he being left with nothing were too real.  He was so glad that the cards supported him taking the option he really wanted but had been fearful that it was too limiting.  He left the reading determined to take Job B.

I like to know as little as possible at the beginning, but once the cards are drawn, the more I know the better I can interpret them. 

The Seven of Cups

I look at this card and think of it as a New York phenomenon – too much choice, too many options, too many possibilities. The answer is, as my wise mother used to say, you can have anything you want my darling, but you can’t have everything. People who want everything at once, get stymied or depressed when it doesn’t all come to fruition, and it can’t. People fantasize about having all the choices, but when that happens, you become aware that it’s some of the choices may not pan out, some choices will definitely be better than others and it becomes hard to find solid ground.

The Inner child has a totally different interpretation, and I actually read it like a completely different card. Instead of being dazzled and confused by choice, we see a mermaid, sitting and meditating, making every cup glow with inner wisdom and joy. She’s a card I love to see (and have seen it crossing the 4 of cups lately, and that’s such a good contrast, from fantasy to true meditation) Through meditation you can see the true value of something, and then choice is easy, you chose what is important to you let the rest fall away.

and this beautiful quilt by Joyce Hartley shows the female version of the rider waite choices.

Love shows us the way

The tarot cards are on a journey, each balancing or playing off the one before it. If the Hierophant was group rules and beliefs, the lovers are personal beliefs and commitments – it doesn’t get much more intimate than lovers!

People generally like getting this card, which I have found comes up in many more readings than other cards. Well, love, relationships, intimacy, it’s a core desire and one which brings many people to tarot readings, so it’s not surprising that it comes up often.

Also it’s an image and card that most people can interpret for themselves. The woman who recently separated from her husband gets the Lovers card upside down in her reading – you don’t need to be an exceptional Tarot reader to figure out what that meant…



Inner child card series represents the Lovers as Hansel and Gretel in the woods – and I like that image - sometimes when we fall in love, we feel so young and vulnerable, like we're lost in the woods. The card warns that there will be genuine obstacles in the way, that love can have weakness (the father who allows himself to be convinced to let the children go) as well as strength (the siblings who see each other through) and greed - shiny things (or candy) can distract us and lead us astray. But love, the intangible, can guide us and lead us to safety.


Love is also about choice – you chose one person to love, you give up all those other fish in the sea. The above image isn't a Tarot card, but I liked it because it shows that to chose Love, sometimes you have to turn your back on other options.

Sometimes the choice is not about a lover per se, but a very important aspect of your life – one girl got the Lovers card when she wanted to know if she should go to a better college far away or a less established one closer to her family. She saw it and immediately said, which one will I find my true love at? But I said, in this case it’s not about Love, it’s about choice. You are about to make a profound choice, the selection of which will bring certain options into your life and eliminate others. We hate that idea, that options are closing/leaving, but that is one of the aspects of love – I chose You, so I can’t have anyone else…