My client sat across from me, torn between two futures stretching out in opposite directions. Both were viable; both had costs.
“I’ve made the list of pros and cons,” she explained, “but I still can’t decide.”
I listened carefully, nodding as she described her dilemma. The choice was genuinely a tough call. As I began to shuffle my tarot deck, I suggested a spread I call The Scales of Destiny. It’s designed to reveal not only what each option offers, but also what it asks us to relinquish—and what outcomes each path may lead to.
A Client's Dilemma and the Cards' Answer
The problem was this. My client was an author of genre fiction. This was a side-gig for her, but, like many authors, there was a strong financial motive. She was writing in a genre with terrific potential – if you read in that genre you might well know her pen name – but a lot of her recent ideas were not suitable for the audience she’d cultivated. She didn’t lack for winning ideas in her established genre, but she was itching to niche out and explore plots, develop characters and express ideas that resisted being shoehorned into the constraints of the category in which she’d made her name. The question she wanted me to put to the cards was about whether she was better to stay in her lane and continue to develop stories she could successfully market in her genre under her present pen name, or branch out.
Question: Should my client focus on her present pen name and genre, or should she explore other sub-genres with under different pen-names. Left represents sticking with her established name. Right represents expanding and exploring.
The cards came back with a very clear answer.
A Choice of Outcomes: Ace of Cups vs the Two of Swords
You can read about the Scales of Destiny spread on the page of Chariot’s Gate dedicated to the spreads I use. The main idea is that for each option, there are cards representing the benefits of that choice, its drawbacks, and the potential outcome (as well as a very important clarifier). In this case, the difference between the likely outcomes could not be more stark.
Heartfelt Expression and a Cup Overflowing
On the side that represents staying in her lane, the cards gave her the Ace of Cups. The energy of this card is beautifully pure. It suggests emotional renewal, heartfelt expression, and authentic connection with readers. If she pours all her efforts into her pen name, her ideas deepen and her writing takes on a greater resonance. This is the ‘heart overflowing,’ an outcome that accomplishes genuine creative fulfillment.
It’s hard to ask for a much better card than an Ace of Cups. In my tradition of tarot reading, Aces are thought of as being ‘yes’ cards and the suit of the ace speaks to what kind of yes it is. The suit of Cups speaks about emotions, so this suggests an outcome which is consistent with feelings of fulfillment and happiness.
Dueling Swords, Obstacles and a Blindfold
On the other side, the card the represents the outcome was the Two of Swords. This card speaks of indecision, stalemate and a lack of clarity. It is telling my client that too many identities may freeze her creatively. She will remain at a perpetual crossroads where no single voice is given the chance to gather any real power. She can do the work, but it won’t build momentum.
If this were a Left and Right spread with only two cards, the direction the universe cheering for her could not be more obvious. She should stick with her known name and pour all her energies into that.
The Price of Success vs the Cost of Freedom
The benefits of focusing on one stream may not become apparent right away. The Seven of Pentacles tells her that steady cultivation will yield slow growth and an eventual harvest. This is the “tend your garden” card that demands patience, but reminds us that rewards follow consistency. In her case, this will take the form of an audience that matures alongside of her, cumulative creative credibility, and strength in her brand. It’s a patient path but a stable one.
The main drawback, as evidenced by The Lovers, is that she’ll sometimes feel trapped by her own brand. In a way, a brand is a creative marriage of sorts, which can mean both joy and limitation. This card suggests she may struggle with fidelity to the tone she has established.
The Seven of Pentacles is the “tend your garden” card that demands patience,but reminds us that rewards follow consistency.
Conversely, while branching out will allow her to write more intuitively and explore deeper, more personal aspects of her creative impulse (as suggested by The Moon), it can also lead to fragmentation of her creative energies. The Four of Pentacles poorly aspected (which is here, right under the 2 of Swords) means holding too tightly, and fear of loss, and spread quite possibly spreading herself too thin. Rather than nurturing one deep current, she’d spread her creative force out over dozens of tributaries.
Clarifiers
On the bright side, the Queen of Wands as clarifier on the ‘multiple pen names’ side tells her she would still bring the same charisma and authenticity she invests in all her work. In fact, these projects might be more authentic because she’d be freed of she shackles of rigid reader expectations. Even if the books never sold as well as she hoped, these projects would be worthy on their own merits.
However, the Three of Cups as clarifier for the ‘stay with your brand’ option suggests that this is the path that leads her toward raising a glass to own her success. Along with the Seven of Pentacles, this card tells her she is building something that is not only organic, but joyful in a way worth celebrating.
Message from the Tarot: A Clear but Difficult Choice
What’s amazing to me is how well the cards in this spread reflect her true situation. Side one feels like a garden growing slowly but bearing real fruit, while side two feels like a dreamscape of shifting moons and scattered energy. The universe’s verdict seems to favor depth over dispersion and love over illusion.
My client understood how staying with her brand, against many of her creative instincts, would allow her to deepen her writing, expand her emotional range, and let her characters hold everything that feels true. The cards strongly hint that if she commits to her current path, the wellspring (the Ace of Cups) will keep replenishing itself.
And this, as the title suggests, is how tarot can clarify the situation by reflecting the nexus between reality and possibility back to us in symbolic language. The cards cannot make her decision for her, nor can they force her to stick to what she has chosen, or deviate from it. Either way, that’s up to her. What the cards do is clarify, reflect, and provide a key for interpretation. And that is powerful.