Mythic Tarot: Fools rush in... when they don't take heed!

This is the last semester of my BA in Psychology and I am currently working on my undergraduate thesis. My supervisor is a very nice teacher, with whom I have worked before, and because of that I figured things would run smoothly… but they haven't. At least not so far.

I don't want to change my supervisor, because I like him (and because it's going to be a pain in the neck to do so at this point), but if he doesn't start engaging more with me and my project, I may have to. So I turned to the cards to get an idea of what my options are. For that I used the Mythic Tarot.

1. What should I expect if I do seek a new supervisor? ~ Ace of Pentacles
Not a bad card at all, and it's comforting because it tells me that it's still possible to find another supervisor, if I choose to. Because it's an Ace, it points to new beginnings and potentials in terms of practical work, but it also hints that a new supervisor would mean having to 'start over' at some level.

While the Ace of Pentacles is definitely a good card for work, it does lose some of its power when compared to the next two cards, which are Major Arcana. My interpretation is that while I can definitely find someone else to supervise my project, the work itself will have 'minor' results. Not bad, but maybe not as potent as it could be.

2. What should I expect if I stay with the same supervisor? ~ Death
Uh-oh. At first, I was tempted to interpret it as a sign that I should, indeed, leave my current supervisor. But then I remembered my question was not what should I do, but what should I expect if I stay. And Death is the big severance card which… isn't very conducive to a lasting relationship. Upon meditating on this card, I got the idea that remaining with my current supervisor will require me to drastically change how I have been doing things so far.

Liz Green, the author, says that "we go naked into the underworld, for we cannot bring with us our previous patterns and attitudes which have provided us with security". So if I am to remain working with my supervisor, I will have to change the way I do things and be honest to him about what I expect.

Last but not least, I feel Death is telling me that working together on my project will change our relationship. We always got along well, and I confess there was a time I idealised him a lot (sometimes still do). Perhaps this experience will be the 'death' of my idealisation and my projections.

3. An advice to help decide ~ Temperance
This one is quite clear: don't rush in. Temperance tells me that I gain nothing by hurrying this decision only to pacify my anxious mind. It also prompts me to come up with in which to bring balance to the situation as it is right now. Is there anything I can do that does not involve extreme measures? Is my frustration making me get ahead of myself? Am I trying to run away from the conflict instead of biting the bullet and letting my current supervisor know that I am unhappy with how we have done things so far?

Questions, questions. All very much worth thinking about.

After this reading, I decided that I will take the matters to my current supervisor, let him know what is bothering me and see how it goes from there. If he can still meet me halfway after listening to some criticism, then there is a big chance we can keep working together. If not… well, I'll cross that bridge when/if I get there.

Mythic Tarot [Brazilian Edition] copyright © Madras Editora, Liz Greene, Juliet Sharman-Burke & Tricia Newell

New Moon Reading: Healing the divide

This reading was done for the latest New Moon Ceremony, the monthly meeting hosted by Ana Cortez. And wow... what a reading!

By the way, I'm finally the proud owner of a Doors of Somlipith set, which I took forever to buy due to the price (our currency here is quite devalued against US Dollars, making everything from abroad cost about 5x as much), and this was my very first time using this deck for an actual reading. Of course, the DOS is an updated version of the good ol' Alchemy Edition, which I have been using for years, so the cards were nonetheless very familiar. The book has a lot of new material though, which I will eventually write about.

Anyway, on to the reading itself. The first thing that got my undivided attention was the fact this spread looks... divided. Half of it all red, and half of it is all black. This, combined with the top card, the 7♥ (Sword of Healing), gave me my first hint: the coming cycle will be all about healing a division.

I found it fascinating, the way the sword of the 7♥ is pointing downwards, towards the rest of the reading. Had the card been upside down, with the sword pointing upwards, it would look like the 9♦ (Gawain) was wielding it. But instead, we get this picture of the Sword of Healing going against Gawain's sword… as if it wants to duel the 9♦!

The 9♦ is a very heroic card that can symbolise a helper or a protector. So we must look behind it to see what exactly it is protecting in this situation. That takes us to the darker half of the reading, where we have the 2♠ and the 9♠ – Medusa and Dracula, respectively. 

Going back to my first impression – the healing of a division –, I feel like this reading is pointing to a situation in which some heavy things have been kept buried under a very heroic and active façade. Someone is trying to remain very strong, very stoic, even though on the inside all sorts of paralysing conflicts (2♠) and life-draining obsessions (9♠) are festering. And since this reading is mine, that someone is probably me.

This reading says that there's no other way – Gawain must be struck by the Sword of Healing so that it can reach the darker part, the one that, if left unchecked, can actually become ill. The 7♥ is going to rain on Gawain's parade, but it must do so in order to soften the hard earth building up within.

A reading with two 9s also points irremediably to an ending, which is confirmed by the Geomantic Judge of this spread, Cauda Draconis. The means we have been using so far to deal with our issues are no longer cutting it. In the 9s, the energy of the suit tends to become rigid and extreme, so we have the 9♦ (representing a peak of energy or performance that will soon dwindle, because no fire burns forever) and the 9♠ (a dead form that takes up the space and the energy or living things, impeding renewal). Gawain must go, and so does Dracula, and the only way to get rid of them is by facing the 2♠ – the fear of losing both the (tiring) mask that protects (9♦) and the (unhealthy) attachments that support (9♠).

In short, the coming cycle will be a moment to heal divided parts within ourselves. For that to be possible, we will have to accept becoming vulnerable, less heroic and, possibly, less protective or our own darkness. We must acknowledge the fear and the anger that keep us paralysed, as well as our own attachment to certain dead-end fantasies, all which contribute to devitalization of our inner life. And this will involve cutting through the mask that keeps such things hidden and letting the sunlight (and the rain) in.

The Doors of Somlipith © Ana Cortez & C.J. Freeman