Hanging in the moment.

The Hanged Man (12)



Some cards are easier to explain than others, some resonate more in a Western, fast paced culture. The Hanged Man is not a card that New Yorkers necessarily want to find, but it is a card they often need. In the hanging moment, in the stillness and suspension, answers become clear. Solutions to problems are found.



The Hanged Man is about insight. Suddenly the pattern will emerge, and you will something truly, clearly. But there was a reason you weren’t seeing clearly before, and sometimes clarity can hurt. Sometimes a really clear insight means there is no going back. I like the alien abduction card as a visual metaphor, because once you know something so extreme, you can never be the same...

Which Cards do I use

Someone recently asked me to mention on my blog which cards I use. I use the standard Rider Waite pack, in every reading, it is one of the most popular packs in the Tarot World and many other packs use it as a starting point for their own images.



The second pack I occassionally use, but always have on me, is far less well known, and is based on Fairy Tales. The Inner Child cards are colorful and delightful, but also full of more familiar images than the tarot. I get a lot of good insight from them.

If you are starting to learn tarot, I would recommend the Rider Waite, as they are the most popular, before bridging out.

Justice is blind...

Justice (11)

Justice is about fairness. The catch cry of ‘it’s not fair’ resonates with us all, and the wise parents response of ‘life isn’t always fair’ comes back. But Justice is about an objective balance which may not seem fair to us anyway, because it is about consequences - you can’t smoke and party without paying with your health, you can’t focus solely on career and ignore your family - all your actions will have consequences. Justice is not about punishment, it’s about adjustment. It not about the law, it’s about natural consequences. And it’s not about compassion, it’s about results.


And, of course, not all of us want to meet the fair and rational results of our actions. Often life has given us special treatment, because of our looks or charm or luck. Justice won’t give us that, and that’s when absolute fairness can feel implacable.



I like the Inner child version of Justice, with King Midas, because it shows two things – be careful what you wish for and a fair and scrupulous consequence can be a painful thing indeed.

Turning the Wheel

The Wheel of Fortune, the 11th card in this Tarot Journey.



Sometimes you just get lucky - you spin the wheel and the right number appears. This is a card of luck - almost always good luck – you are going to get what you want, something unexpected and good is coming your way.



I like the Alice in Wonderland round about, which gives you the giddy feel that good luck can bring.



However the reason I liked the spider web image, which is more sinister than other images out there, is because this is a kind of karmic good luck. So if you have done good, good luck is coming. But if you have done bad, then it’s karmic payoff time… So be kind when you break up, because Karma is a tough love goddess…

Going it alone

The Hermit is a very clear card - it means a time for turning inwards, for introspection and quiet solitude. But the hermit portrayed is not sitting on his lonesome, looking for enlightenment. Instead he is out with his lamp, gathering information, analyzing, actively contemplating. The Hermit is about searching for knowledge, being on a quest for enlightenment. Once when a woman asked me if her new relationship was going to work, and the Hermit card came up, We both looked at each other and said, ‘No.’ Sometimes we need to answer questions within before we can reconnect with others.



I really like the inner child variation on the hermit – here we have a Snow White having collapsed after the queen gives her the poisoned apple. One thing the inner child card talks about it wise discrimination. Don’t bite every apple that’s offered. Don’t live in fear, but do think about who is offering you things and why. If a queen is out to get you, then don’t pretend she isn’t. This version encourages you to be more discriminating in your choice of friends and business associates. Give yourself time to think before you act.

Strong in the way that counts

What is the difference between the chariot and strength? This has a more feminine energy, despite being such a masculine word. It also talks about control, but has compassion and stability, kindness and moderation as being part of it.



The chariot is all about wresting control, harnessing energy, driving force. Strength on the other hand has more to do with inner strength, self discipline, a softer, slower, and more persevering approach. The Strength card often portrays a Woman and a Lion: the Lion representing our instinctive animal nature or id, and the Woman our 'higher' or elevated self. It is a parable that physical strength alone is not enough and spiritual or mental strength is often enough to conquer the wild animal.



The inner child cards show us Beauty and the Beast, two kinds of strength that have to merge to find their true face. She has to see beyond the surface, he has to learn humility (in the beginning, he is cursed to be a beast because he is so arrogant, a superficial strength, but with no compassion or grace.)

Driving in a new direction

This is what happens when a tarot reader (or this tarot reader!) tries to stay systematic. All the time I have a small voice nagging at the back of my head saying, it’s time to write more about chariot, it’s time to write about the chariot, but instead, the minor court cards are hold all my interest. The precise difference between a page of cups and a page of wands, the nuances that each implies, the interesting places they are falling in my readings… where was I? Oh, I know where, not writing about the Chariot!

And then recently, for the first time ever, I had not one, not two but three cancellations in one week. So I do what I call a quick draw, and pull out one card, just to tell me what’s going on, and what do I get? The Chariot. And I look at it dumbfounded.



Well that’s what the chariot is, pulling disparate interests together. Chariots remind me of old movies like Ben Hur, with one strong rider, pitting his/her will and moving the horses the way s/he wants them to go. I want to give interesting tarot readings, but if I let the marketing down, the readings won’t come. So I have to harness both energies – the actual work, and then getting the message out there, so the work can happen. And that’s what I love about tarot – how easily it lets these epiphanies happen.

So on to a more generalized reading of the Chariot.

We have 4 pieces – 2 animals, one chariot and one rider, and we want them all to move in the same direction. There are 100 things that can distract us – a small rock in the wheel can make everything bumpier and harder to manage, let alone managing the livestock!

What do we need? Control. Any situation has different wants needs and circumstances and we need to bring them all together under your control.

How do we do this? Confidence, skill and motivation.

This card can signify that things were stagnant and you need to find that inspiration or motivation to get them moving again. Or that things are pulling in different directions, and if you want them to go the way you need, you are going to have to flex some muscles (physical or emotional) to get them on the right path.



The inner child cards have an interesting spin on the Chariot, giving us instead Peter Pan’s boat. The boat, like the Chariot, has different people wanting it to go in different directions. Some of those directions are malevolent – like the evil Captain Hooks desires. But with energy and commitment, and some sneaky skills and luck (never underestimate the value of luck) you can win the day. Sometimes you need to get the group on your side (in the traditional cards it appears to all rest on one solid individual, but in this version it’s clearly everyone lending their fragile and particular skills to get what the group needs) but harnessing everyone’s energy and then leading it, will get you want you want.