The Page of Swords and Holiday Truths
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Welcome to the Yule Tarot Blog Hop 2014. For this turn of the Wheel, or wrangler, Arwen, has asked us all to perform the same spread with the deck of our choice, and share our results.
The spread Arwen designed is about the gift-giving nature of the winter festival season, regardless of the holiday or holidays you celebrate.
Each blog hop participant (there are twenty-four of us this time around) will perform the same spread, and share their results here, for the blog hop. You can try the spread, too!
The Joy of Gifting
- What gift would you give the world if you could?
- What gift would you want from the world?
- What gift have you gotten that has brought you joy?
- What gift have you given that has brought you joy?
- What is one last thing you would like to share about this season
I’m using Ciro Marchetti’s Gilded Royale Tarot for this reading.
When doing this sort of reading, two things can happen. One possibility is that every card will make sense, and the reading will be immediately accurate and understandable. The other possibility is the cards drawn won’t easily fit the question. What do you do when the Three of Swords comes up to describe a gift you’ve given that brought you joy, for instance? When these things happen, the cards aren’t wrong, they just require you to dig a little deeper to understand their message.
Happily, my reading is of the first variety. The five cards I received fit the questions so amazingly it is hard to believe they came up at random.
The gift I would give the world if I could is the Knight of Cups. Yes, I want to give every person on the planet the ability to know love, to feel loved, to be empowered by love and to understand the nature of love. That, indeed, would be my gift to the world.
The gift I would want from the world is a gift I have already received. That is the Three of Pentacles, the ability to work at my chosen craft, along with the skill and tools to do it well and receive recognition for my work. My desire for the future is to keep receiving this gift for as long as I breathe!
The Nine of Cups is the traditional “Wish Card”, and appears to describe a gift I have gotten that has brought me joy. To me, this does not describe a particular tangible gift as much as it describes my general satisfaction and gratitude for the many, many blessings in my life. I will say, though, that one Yule I wished for a guitar. That guitar has brought me years of joy!
The gift I have given that brought me joy is the Knight of Wands. Outside of traditional holiday giving, the gift I give most regularly is the teaching of tarot. I hope that the Knight of Wands indicates that I am able to inspire other tarotists, and to nurture their passion. This brings me a great deal of joy.
The final card is meant to describe one last thing I would like to share about the season. The card I received is the Page of Swords. To me, the Page of Swords is the messenger of the truth. What truth would I like to share about this season?
The Page of Swords can refer to a smart child. Christmas is, in many ways, a children’s holiday. I don’t like that we celebrate this holiday by lying to children. The spirit of Santa, the energy of Santa, holiday miracles – these are all real, true things. Why do we have to darken them with a lie, when the myth and the truth of the holiday spirit would certainly suffice?
My children wrote letters to Santa, received gifts from Santa, and baked cookies for Santa. Never did they think Santa was a real person, and never did that make Yule any less special to them. As soon as they were old enough, they got to be Santa, too. We had wonderful holidays, and I never had to lie to them.
When I perform a tarot spread, I always like to look at the trends present in the cards. You will notice there are no Major Arcana cards. That doesn’t surprise me. As much as I like the holidays, now my kids are grown, the season is not as big a deal as it once was. Frankly, that’s a relief. I am happy to keep my holidays Minor Arcana style.
Of the five cards, three of them are young Court cards, two Knights and a Page. That really reminds me of my own precious childhood memories of the holidays. I’m pleased we were able to give our own kids some great holiday memories, too.
I think, too, the greatest gift of the holidays is spending time with friends and family, the people around us. It doesn’t surprise me that three of the five holiday cards are “people” cards.
Now let’s see how the other bloggers’ holiday readings went. If you are working backwards, visit Machelle Earley and wish her a happy holiday. Or, follow along to visit Arwen's blog, and see how her reading unfolded.
Happy holidays, and thanks for stopping by. We’ll see you at the next turn of the Wheel, for another Tarot Blog Hop!