PCO: Look at the cards!

Sometimes, the answer is not in the individual meanings of the cards, but rather in the entire "look" of a spread. A friend of mine asked me to see in the cards whether she could be pregnant. She has an IUD and there has been no problems with it, as far as she knows... However, she felt a little bit paranoid and so asked me for a reading.

As soon as I looked at the cards, I got a very strong impression that she is not pregnant.

Lets ignore the card meanings and look at the general image given by the cards. The 7♦ in the Head position makes me think – laugh if you want – of the phallus and the sperm, going in to reach their fertilising goal. However, its path is being interrupted by the only black card in the spread, the 7♣. Note that both 7s are pointed at each other, like in a fight. Had both been facing the same direction, my interpretation would have been very different.

The 7♣ is the Sword of Enchantment, which is shaped, coincidentally, like T. Also, it's in the Throat position, which speaks of how the different parts of a situation are connected. In my mind, it represents the IUD, "blocking" the path of the 7♦, thus impeding the connection/conception. The 7♣ also speaks of an "unseen force" which acts in apparent magical ways – a fitting description for an IUD!

What about the lower cards? The 4♦ in the Torso position could point to pregnancy, specially since it's a card that speaks of unplanned circumstances. But Diamonds by itself does not feel like a very "fertile" suit for me... in a more positive spread, I'd expect at least one Heart card, preferably combined with a Spade. Looking at the way the pips are positioned in the 4♦, I see a tunnel, a pathway... the one that is being blocked by the 7♣. 

Last, but not least, we have the A♦ in the Foot position. Aces stand for new beginnings so this is another one that could be pointing to a more positive response. In this case, though, I see the A♦ representing the "raw" potential for procreation - the egg cell. One of the cool things about Ignita is that inside its diamond-shaped pip, there's the small foetus-like silhouette, speaking of its live-giving potential. However, it's still being guarded by the Dragon, waiting for the proper moment to manifest itself.

Alright, but aren't Clubs and Diamonds compatible suits? Couldn't the 7♦ and 7♣ be "working" together, thus making the pregnancy a likely event? Yes – like I said, had both Swords been pointing downwards, towards the A♦, I'd think there's a greater chance the conception has happened. But this spread clearly gives me the image of two powers which are going in opposite directions, creating a stalemate.

Also, the 4♦ in the Torso position does not strike me as a particularly fertile card. For me, it says that the womb is too "unstable" right now to hold a pregnancy. Let us not forget that the IUD – be it a copper coil or a hormonal one – makes the uterus uninhabitable for the sperm. I'd say the 4♦ in this position represents that.

Of course, I am still waiting for further developments to know whether my reading was accurate or not. Nevertheless, it's interesting to see how the cards communicate beyond their individual messages. More than recalling memorised meanings, one has to look at the cards as a whole to see what picture they are painting together.

The Playing Card Oracles © Ana Cortez & C.J. Freeman

PCO: In hindsight

I know it's not really fair to post a reading and its interpretation after things have happened, with the benefit of hindsight. I actually did this reading last Monday (November 1st), and had planned to post it right away. But life happened, and I ended up not having the time.

The thing is that the reading kind of manifested itself just a couple of hours after I did it. I honestly did not expect to get a visible response so soon!

My question was related to my internship which, having officially started a couple of months ago, was feeling rather stagnated. I asked the oracles what could be happening to hinder the progress so much, drew four cards using the Playing Card Oracles' present spread and also two witches runes.

At first, the reading did not make much sense. The J♣ (Lancelot) in the head position didn't help much, as it's a card that still confuses me a bit. The 10♦ (Tendra) combined with the 8♠ spoke, to me, of a situation that is demanding a lot and really sucking the energy of the involved people. The 9♦ reinforced the idea of a decrease of energy, usually spent on helping others.

The runes I drew were the Woman + Star. The Star is a particularly positive rune, but in this context – and specially because the J♣ was the top card – it spoke to me of a strong idealism. So, there was the important influence of a woman who was trying very hard to achieve a certain ideal.

Putting the pieces together, I got the idea that our situation was stagnated because those we should be working with – which, by the way, is an all-female team – were really terribly busy with something that was consuming them. I did consider both the J♣ and the 10♦ could represent the people involved, but because Lancelot still befuddles me (I'll have to dedicate a post to him someday) I wasn't sure.

Turns out the situation was pretty much what the cards said. During the last month, the team had been facing a critical situation with one of the students they were trying to help: a 30-something woman with a Tendra-ish personality (at least judging from what they told me). The team leader – a very idealistic woman – got heavily emotionally involved, and was exhausted trying to solve the problem. They were, thus, unable to properly communicate with us, and that's why everything seemed stagnated on our side.

In a sense, this situation helped us to be able to tell them that, as Psychology interns, we are supposed to help them with such problems. They don't have to "spare us", quite the contrary, they should share so we can handle it together and help each other cope. This positive result showed up in the Geomancy: Carcer + Amissio = Fortuna Major. From a situation that generated limitations and losses, arises a chance of creating something better.

Like I said, in hindsight everything looks very clear. Still, this spread reminded me that I need to trust the cards. When I first did the reading, I felt kinda lost and even felt tempted to shuffle the deck again and draw new cards. I'm glad I didn't.

For he is the fire inside my heart

My Beltane celebration was a couple of days late, but still it was a time of great creativity for me. I've made yet another set of Witches Runes – my wooden set is nice to carry around, but I had been missing the "weight" of actual stones to work with – and a miniature Maypole (or should it be called a "November-Pole"?), to symbolise the colours and fertility of the season. I drank wine, danced and thanked the Mother and the Father for all wonderful things They have granted me: health, family, prosperity, love.

Love.

For the longest time, I did not know how to receive love. I idealised passion, and thought that any relationship that wasn't constantly "burning" was dead. I did not know that Love was a fire that could be both stoked into a great bonfire, and muffled into a warm glow, according to the necessity of those involved. It's a dance. It waxes and wanes, it ebbs and flows, it has moments of great proximity and wider distance... and all that is fine. This is the way of nature. 

No creature in nature is, for instance, passionate all the time. Even the flowering of trees depends on the season in which they rest and save energy. Animals procreate during spring and summer, so that their offspring will be mature enough to face the coming autumn and winter. We too go through all four seasons in our bodies, souls and hearts.

My boyfriend L. has been my greatest teacher in this aspect. He has taught me a love that is both peaceful and passionate, with moments of stillness and distance, and moments of movements and deep connection. All respecting each other's rhythm, based on trust and openness. 

When I first started seeing him, I had been for a long time either single or involved in very toxic relationships, that were more about power games than about love. I was very defensive. I lashed out and attacked him, because I was used to being wounded. I did not believe we would go far, because I was used to relationships crumbling as soon as I got comfortable. I confess that I tested the strength of his decision to stay with me, even my bad days, because I was used to only being wanted when I was a "good girl". 

But he stayed. Unlike me, he wasn't as broken and as distrustful of relationships. He tamed the scared animal inside my heart with the gentlest of touches, and the warmest of loves.

This Beltane, I dedicated my thoughts to him. To the man who chose to love me, and whose love I chose to deserve. And, in response, I see my love for him growing steadily, day by day. I know the world will test us and our bond. Our choices will test us, the passing of the time will test us, the natural decline of all things will test us... That said, I do hope that we continue to grow together, tending our fire in loving, wise and friendly ways for as long as our connection is meant to last.