A client came for a reading wanting to know if the physical pain she felt all over her body was entirely physical in origin, or whether there was a spiritual dimension. I need to be clear that the onset of pain occurred following a car accident and that the origin of her pain can be partially explained this way.
I also need to be clear that in no case should a person value the input of a tarot card reader over the expertise of relevant medical practitioners. However, since my client had received medical treatment, I saw no harm in proceeding, particularly when the symptoms she was presently suffering from were not entirely consistent with the symptoms she originally felt following the accident and the pain was far more persistent than should be expected based on the nature of the collision.
I decided to do use a Three Card Pyramid spread and I asked the following question:
Is the origin of my client’s pain mainly spiritual?
Manifestation of Spiritual Tension
The answer, in this case, was a yes.
Answer Card: Knight of Swords
Clarifier 1: Page of Wands
Clarifier 2: Two of Pentacles
Remember, in my Three Card Pyramid spread, the top card is the answer and the bottom two cards are general clarifiers, and the Knight of Swords is generally considered a ‘yes’ card. But, as usual, there is more to it than that, and the ‘more’ in this case relates to the context.
But more on that later. Right now, lets examine the cards themselves. The Knight of Swords is the character who charges ahead with great force and determination. He is dauntless and resolute, and maybe a bit rash like the Chariot can be when poorly aspected, but with lesser consequences. Why would this card, besides being a general ‘yes,’ point to spiritual pain? For that, we need to look at the cards below it.
The Page of Wands is a card that speaks of bold and beautiful ideas. But ideas are not actions. This page is not so much a doer as he is a dreamer, and the tension between his dreaming and the Knight of Swords’ hard-charging ways is very possibly manifesting itself in my client’s nervous system.
As if to give support to this hypothesis, along comes the Two of Pentacles. This is the card of indecision, of balancing energies, and undertainty. Don’t just look at the figure in the foreground and the two golden stars he juggles. Look at the ships on the rough sea, being tossed by powerful waves. The Two of Pentacles keeps balance, but not easily, and not without a price. And remember, pentacles represent manifestation in the real world. This card is telling me my client’s inner tension is expressing itself in her body.
A Bold New Path, Without Pain
My client told me that this resonated deeply with her, so in light of what we just learned, I decided to do another spread. This time I chose a Three Card Cascade spread. Remember that in the Three Card Cascade, the meaning of each card position is fully assignable. The card positions, and the cards I pulled, are as follows.
What should my client do to heal her pain? (Ace of Wands)
How effective will this be? (Death)
What is the likely outcome? (Seven of Cups)
This answer was even more revealing that the original question, and possibly somewhat surprising.
For the first question – what my client should do to heal her pain – the Ace of Wands tells me that healing will come about by trying something completely new and different. This does not mean going to a new doctor or trying a new kind of meditation (although both might help). This speaks to a complete overhaul of the way she engages with her goals and aspirations. Her pain is very clearly (in part) a reaction to the constant frustration of those goals, and the feeling that her aspirations have been put on the back burner. This card is telling her that she needs to make a clean start and begin working toward those goals.
Death of an Old Mental Paradigm
For the next question – how effective this approach will be – we got the Death card. I remember asking her what she thought this meant, and I was encouraged by how she regarded the Death card as positive. Her take was that if she truly committed to the path suggested by the Ace of Wands, she would ultimately be completely healed.
This is exactly what I think the Death card is trying to tell her her. Death is a very powerful and often misunderstood card that speaks of endings and new beginnings. Something has to be put to rest so that something else can grow in its place. The old, self-limiting paradigm that governs this woman’s relationship to her aspirations is what needs to be put to rest, and when it finally is, true healing can begin. And there will be nothing to impede that true healing.
Confusion and Self Doubt
But there’s a catch. This advice comes with a warning. Once that old paradigm finally dies, establishing a new one will prove to be sheer chaos. She’ll end up on a rollercoaster ride of wild emotions and mixed feelings. There may be a lot of self doubt and she might make decisions she later considers to be mistakes, possibly very costly ones.
Such is the influence of the Seven of Cups. This card is not quite the ‘dark night of the soul’ foretold by The Moon (which didn’t come up here), but it speaks of indecision, second-guessing oneself, lack of clarity, ambiguity, difficulty in navigating one’s own mind. Importantly, it also speaks of mixed blessings. Look closely at the cup with the wreath in it. That wreath (or laurel) represents victory. But on the cup is a skull, almost like a symbol of poison, suggesting that victory may come at a steep price. Also note the ghost wearing white. Is this a friendly ghost bearing wisdom from her ancestors? Or is it the malevolent spirit of one or more of the personages who instilled the defective paradigm under which she now labors?
My reading of this is that the new paradigm will release her from the tension that is the cause of her pain, but finding her footing in this new world will be daunting, and perhaps even dangerous on an emotional and spiritual level.
Steps Forward
I was pleased to hear that this all resonated deeply with my client. She felt a strong need to move forward with her bold plans, but also had to acknowledge the fragility of the new situation in which she would find herself once she gets in motion.
It may take time, but I think she’ll figure it out. This particular client is a deeply intuitive and spiritual woman, highly attuned to the gentle rhythms of nature, the great and unyielding cycles of the stars, and the imperceptible cadence of cosmic timing that resonates like a silent drum beat through the chaos of all our lives. The reading I did for her reminded me that while we each walk our own path, the universe has a way of nudging us into alignment when the time is right, and never before.