Donnaleigh's Tarot

The world stands precariously on edge on Valentine's Day as we scrutinize our romantic situations, either the ones we have or the ones we wish we had.

Wishing. Wanting. Dreaming.  Comparing. Looking outward.

Looking for outer growth rather than inner growth. Tormenting ourselves.

I asked Tarot about what the words "Soul Mate" mean to the world, what a "soul mate" is, and what the words bring to us as a world in general on Valentine's Day.

This is the spread received using Kat Black's stunning Golden Tarot:

There are 4 colums, each vertical column with a meaning:

1. The column on the left represents the "Situation" of the world as a general whole on Valentine's Day
2. The 2nd column represents the world's "Challenge" on Valentine's Day.
3. The 3rd column is Tarot's "Advice" to the world on Valentine's Day.
4. The 4th column is "Outcome of the World as a Whole" if we observed Tarot's advice.
   

And let's dive into Tarot to see what wisdoms lie there for us on this day of love.

SITUATION:  5 of Cups , 8 of Wands, 7 of Wands.

In a nutshell, these three cards together can mean "Pessimism over what one has, and wanting fast answers and even perpetual infatuation, due to the competition of social pressure."

The 5 of Cups is about crying over spilled milk. He traditionally looks at 3 spilled cups, with great despair over what he has or what he has done. While staring, staring, staring (perseverating) over those tipped cups, longing for them to be standing again, he fails to notice that right at his feet are two perfectly standing cups. They were there all along, but he chooses to dwell on "what isn't." This is self-imposed suffering and inner disappointment. Because he looks away from the standing cups, it is also refusing to see something that can bring us great joy and emotional fulfillment.

In this particular card, there is someone looking right over his shoulder, appearing to console him. Is this representative of a friend saying, "Oh, it's not so bad, your "true love" is out there somewhere"? Could it be a present lover who is currently loving you but you're dreaming of what is better, bigger, more magical, more perfect? Could it be the rest of the world saying to us as a culture, "Oh, you just haven't found your 'soul mate' yet."  Wondering yet what a Soul Mate is? See my prior blog on that HERE.

The 8 of Wands is all about the race. Fast love. Infatuation. Zipping through something at a lightening pace. Rapid tries, again and again and again with those 8 Wands zipping by. Notice how they all look alike? The same thing repeated again and again. These wands work hard to hit a goal, find their mark, reach an outcome but doing it fast. It's letting go of the arrow from the bow and seeing where it lands...in seconds. And then repeating that. It can be "falling in love with love" because fast love is infatuation, and we are seeking the perpetual (over and over) feeling of infatuation. But when love matures, do we seek the fire of new infatuation yet again? Elsewhere? We live in a fast society that demands instant gratification. And for a price, we can purchase just about anything we want or need. Except genuine love. Even the richest in the world struggle with it, and even worry that they are only being loved for their money.

The 7 of Wands suggests there are competitive thoughts, people, actions, energies around us. What messages does our community send us about what "perfection" is, the perfect puzzle piece fit, the absence of arguments and bills and never having to pick up someone's socks off the floor again?

But in the 7 of Wands, the truth is that he is on higher ground, and he *can* stave off those thoughts of competition and what is better. He can take a stand and assert a great truth that would stymie the competition and give himself great peace instead of constant inner dis-ease.

Going from the 8 of Wands backwards to the 7, we are taking a reverse-step rather than progressing. Truly, we hold ourselves back.

CHALLENGE: Queen of Cups Reversed, Knight of Cups reversed

Two emotional cards (cups) reversed, just like the spilled cups we saw above in the 5 of Cups. Tipped over.

In a nutshell, these two cards cojoined can mean "Losing self love over the loss of an echanting outside outside love."

The Queen of Cups upright is about nurturing, caring, and loving. She is the great and loving mother, and there are times when we need to mother our own bodies/minds/spirits as we walk on our journey. But reversed, she is tipped over and in the ever-outward search, she loses her sense of "I am" and no longer feels "this is good." She may wallow in self-pity and find herself dreaming, fantasizing, or even losing feelings over who she is or what she has. Is she in love with the thought of wanting to be in love and it has turned her life upside-down? What would happen if we turned her back over, upright, and turned the outward search of love to an inward search of love?

The Knight of Cups, had he been upright, is the great lover who approaches us on a white horse to sweep us away. Reversed, he takes on quite a twist to that theme. He becomes "the lover that never was," or the "lover I could have had and lost," or "the perfect one who could have brought me flowers and romantic get-aways, but never did/does." It becomes the love that "isn't." And because the Knight of Cups does speak to our own inner dreams, our inner love, and feelings about romance, reversed we begin to see something that never lives up to our dreams, something that impacts how we feel about ourselves and how we love, and ill feelings about our own romantic experiences in general.

Hmmmm.  Valentine's Day. The day of Love? There seems to be a reverse-theme here.

So let's look at the counsel tarot gives that will bring us to the Highest Good and greatest development.

ADVICE: Two of Wands Reversed, 9 of Coins

A most interesting pair of cards to arrive as advice. In a nutshell, the two together may mean, "Stop looking outward for your ship to come  in; look where you are already and seek inner fulfillment and self-sustenance."  Note, in these two cards, there is not a second person present. As a matter of fact, if you look at the entire spread, the only card with two people is the 5 of Cups card, which shows someone appeasing us over our inner sadness and we are simply ignoring the second person who comes in. Interesting dynamics.

The 2 of Wands reversed is not about looking outward for this Great Love on Valentine's Day. It is an inner peek, a deep look within at where we already are instead of waiting for that external item (ship to come in).  It is an inner look rather than an outer walk. Inner journeying, and creative ways of seeing what we are and what ships we bring to ourselves through our own spark/energy/creativity/passions (wands).

The 9 of Pentacles shows a self-sufficient, independent woman who has made it on her own. This card suggests self-actualization through love of what one has, what we are, and using practical (pentacle) thinking as to what makes us whole as a single unity. Only by doing this will we be complete, as another person cannot complete us,  The bird she holds is small in comparison to her, so the fulfillment another can bring is likewise small in comparison to what we can bring to ourselves. We can love another, and feel joy, but unless we love ourselves and create a sense of who we are as an independent entity, we will continue to search for "completion" by outside means, even when the bird (or relationship) is with us. Look at the abundance around you and what you have and can create. And you will create a magnetic presence for those who meet you because you will radiate joy like the sun reflects off of 9 of those pentacles (and 9 is a number of completion and fulfillment).

So what would happen if we did follow the advise of tarot?

LIKELY OUTCOME: Page of Swords reversed, 9 of Wands reversed

Again, wise counsel is received. The summary of these two cards could easily be, "Cutting away hurtful and immature thoughts and shifting from  feeling "wounded" to feeling enabled." We would tear down those obstacles, damaging thoughts, and create something without saying "that one's broken."

The Page is the youngest of the court cards, the great student of life. Being of swords, he is the way we think. Turning this immature page over shows a lesson learned, a shifting of thoughts, a turning and growth. It is the start of seeing something through new eyes, and perhaps he can morph into the more mature court card characters as he cuts away what has been damaging him and keeping him in an immature state. Reversed, this student may be telling us there is a lesson we have been missing, and like the Hanged Man, we suddently see a form of enlightenment through the stasis of our upside-down perspective.

The 9 of Wands is the card of "battle scars." Of having been hurt and feeling damaged and carrying those wounds with us. Reversed, this may be asking us to take off the bandage and stop looking at the wounds (or going back to our first card down: "Stop looking at things like spilled milk"). Looking at the more positive, the two upright cups we saw in the first card down in this spread brings a bridge to this last card that says, "remove your armor, risk loving, but most of all, risk loving yourself." The damaging things we say to ourselves about outer completion through another may be an unrealistic view to self-actualization.

This spread does not speak of primping or changing ourselves for another. It speaks of changing ourselves for ourselves. What can you change about the way you feel about your own self-love,and what can you do to fulfill your own dreams so that you find your own "inner soul mate" that walks with you every day?

Here's wishing you a journey of self-love, self growth, and inner magnetism that even you can't resist.

Warm wishes of self-love to you on Valentine's Day,

Donnaleigh

www.Donnaleigh.net

Hear my tarot podcast at www.TarotTribe.com