What's the best option

When people come to me with an important choice,  I like to know nothing more than the label - Plan A or Plan B.  That way,  my own biases don't come into play. 

So a woman in her late twenties comes to me with two work opportunities and and I say,  let's shuffle and think about Plan A.

She draws  4 wands / King of Swords / 8 of pentacles. 

And then we look at Plan B

7 pentacles reversed / hanged man / 7 of swords. 

Knowing nothing about either options, it's clear that Plan A is the better option - it's more stable,  it has a smart organized male energy and it gives career vibes.

Plan B was more hanging in the wind and betrayal. 

Turns out Plan A was moving to Canada and take a position there and Plan B involved staying the more familiar New Jersey.  She was scared of the big change of moving countries,  but she too could clearly see it was the better option.  Sometimes fears hold us back,  but with a little reassurance,  we can burst forward. 

Confirmation Bias

Confirmation bias is such a slippery thing.  It's when you pay more attention,  notice and remember things which hold to your world view,  and find it harder to look at,  analyse or accept things which contradict your world view.  Basically you don't believe what you see,  but rather see what you believe.

In these turbulent times,  especially with algorithm derived news,  its very easy to find a bubble which just confirms what you already suspected.  Don't like X,  all your social media feeds to support that view.   Like X,  well, here is some commentary you will agree with. 

Which is why we have to be doubly sure that we are really listening when someone gives us information.  Don't just remember what felt true,  remember the doubts,  and see what truths they were holding.  But also,  be very careful what you are listening to,  because the world is in a strange liminal place right now,  and truth can feel hard to grasp. 

Amazing cards by Lise Abbadie 

Lots of 7’s

In case you’ve just dropped into the blog, earlier I went through each individual card (you can look them up by typing the card name in the top left hand corner next to the B - or just starting at the very beginning of the blog and wandering through) Now that I’ve gone through the suits, I am going through the numbers. What does it mean if you draw lots of sevens in your reading?


Seven links with the Chariot in the Major Arcana, a card of will power and drive.


Seven is a powerful number in our lives, forever linked with the seven days of the week and the famous phrase ‘on the seventh day God rested’ – meaning seven is a natural number of stopping and thinking, work and evaluation, introspection and contemplation.


In tarot, the 7 of pentacles is literally thinking about the fruits of your labor, the 7 of cups is having too much choice, not knowing what to think, the 7 of swords is betrayal, someone stealing your capacity to think, and the 7 of wands is the struggle to find your voice, to defend your thoughts to the world. If you draw many 7’s in a reading, the cards are telling you to stop, watch your choices, think very clearly about the matters at hand.



I can't always credit the images, I don't always know where they came from but when I do know, I always try to acknowledge the artist.
The image of the Chariot is by Joe Bandel
The beautiful cloud photo was taken by Angela Craggs
And the lovely last image is by Michael Devine
I don't know where the first image came from, if you do, please let me know...

Seven of Swords

These are the difficult cards in the tarot – not difficult to read, their meaning is clear, but difficult to bear. Here, someone is sneaking in and stealing swords. However, two swords remain, you are not defenseless and possibly you didn’t really need all 7 of those swords, so perhaps with hindsight, you can see that it wasn’t all bad. But in the moment, you feel the searing heat of loss but worse than loss, the sense that that things were purposefully/maliciously taken from you. You will feel betrayed or deceived.

Of course, you may be the one stealing the swords. You may think it’s just office politics, or how things are done, but you may need to look at your own actions – are you betraying someone? Are you acting in bad faith/taking things that you shouldn’t? Sneaking off? Shirking responsibility?

The Inner Child cards read this quite differently… there you are, trapped into being the good one, staying indoors, doing your work, looking longingly at the world outside. Lots of people relate to that image really strongly.