The tarot card I pulled today was The Knight of Swords. This card provokes us to consider activities we want to do, travel, being out and about, getting things accomplished. I feel lately that I just don't have the time or energy to do all the things. I am feeling tired, a little lost, somewhat fed up. I am trying to connect with what brings me joy, my passion. The Knight points to a need for silence and space to deepen our understanding. Clear cut answers are revealed when we focus our minds in meditation. The oracle card for today is Mystic Mermaid. She reminds us to pamper ourselves with a heavy dose of self-love. I think it's been difficult for me to remember to look after myself with the most basic things like a healthy diet and good sleep. I am having to remind myself to drink water and stop doomscrolling on my phone. 

The key word for the astrological sign of Sagittarius is "independence". Sagittarius is the sign of the philosopher and the explorer. The main challenge for Sagittarius however is emotional intelligence. Sagittarius struggles to connect on an emotional level with others, to be emotionally intimate with others as well as their own heart. For this reason, the energy of Sagittarius can seem aloof or distant, always on the move and never wanting to settle down, abrupt and often tactless. The strength of Sagittarius is a fearless drive to explore and to treat life as a great adventure.  The tarot card that I pulled for this full moon was The Hermit. Here we see the independent nature of Sagittarius as they embark upon their spiritual journey. A fearless adventurer, the solitary mystic holds a fiery lamp to light the way. What this tells me is that the full moon in Sagittarius is an important time to travel inward and reconnect with the fire therein. Spend some time alone,...

On New Years Eve I drew a card from the Enchanted Oracle. The card I got was not what I was expecting! This is what "Tattered Dreams" has to say: "Something that you believed in and counted on has unraveled. A belief has ceased to be true for you anymore. A person has proven false. An outcome has fallen far short of the expectation. Whatever has happened, it has had reverberating effects in your world. It is as if the foundation has been shaken and everything on it has fallen. It is unspeakably distressing, but it has happened nonetheless. It is fortunate, though, that the wheels that create dreams do keep spinning in spite of tragedies. And the same energy that may destroy something can also provide the energy to rebuild. And in the midst of tattered dreams, there is always a butterfly that will give you hope, if only you can see it." This could not be more true!!! On New Years Day, my flat was burgled. I was unfortunate enough to be home when it happened. ...

The original purpose of tarot cards was for playing games, the first basic rules appearing in the manuscript of Martiano da Tortona before 1425, and the next from the year 1637. The game of tarot has many cultural variations. Divination using playing cards is in evidence as early as 1540 in a book entitled The Oracles of Francesco Marcolino da Forlì which allows a simple method of divination, though the cards are used only to select a random oracle and have no meaning in themselves. Manuscripts from 1735 ( The Square of Sevens ) and 1750 ( Pratesi Cartomancer ) document rudimentary divinatory meanings for the cards of the tarot as well as a system for laying out the cards. Giacomo Casanova wrote in his diary that in 1765 his Russian mistress frequently used a deck of playing cards for divination. The name "tarot" may come from the River Taro in northern Italy, near Parma. The Val di Taro was of strategic importance during the Middle Ages, as it was traversed by th...

Tarot of Marseilles This card shows a central figure that we might describe as Mother Nature, surrounded by symbols for the Cardinal Directions. These four quarters also represent the four suits of the Minor Arcana which are to follow. The World card is a reflection upon the third card, The Empress. This is the final card in the Major Arcana, and therefore represents the "big picture" of the cosmos as a unified being. "The number 21 is the number of destruction or rather of universal termination, because, as 2 is separated from 1, it is necessary that it has a means of to unite there if it wants it. This number shows at the same time the command of the production of things and their end, as well in the spiritual one as in the corporal one." Claude of Saint-Martin The destruction here is of illusion, of egocentricism. When the illusion is shattered, we wake up to the stunning reality of the universe.  "21, the highest possible number of 3 in the cor...

      Tarot of Marseilles With the number twenty, we are reminded again of duality, of good and evil, light and dark, saved and damned, life and death, beginning and end. There are many mythologies around the world which speak of an End Times, during which the world will be destroyed, to make way for a new beginning. According to Hinduism, we are currently in the Age of Kali, the last of the four stages the world goes through. The Mahabharata says that this Age of Kali is defined by several factors: Rulers are unreasonable, they levy taxes unfairly. Rulers no longer see it as their duty to promote spirituality, or to protect their subjects. People are migrating, relying on grain as the staple food source. People openly display animosity towards each other. People have thoughts of murder with no justification and see nothing wrong with it. People sexually abuse each other, and rape is socially acceptable. People are addicted to intoxicating drinks and drugs....

Sun, glorious sun! It is that magnetic force which our whole world revolves around. In this card, the idea of magnetism is illustrated by two people drawn toward each other. The sun is our source of heat and light, it radiates energy toward us. Within the human body, the centre of gravity is somewhere near the navel, or in the diaphragm if we lift our arms. This is where a collection of nerves called the Solar Plexus is located. This nerve plexus is often associated with the Manipura chakra, seated below the diaphragm, behind the navel. Manipura is thought to radiate energy, or vital power, throughout the body. The Solar Plexus, also known as the Surya chakra, is thought to absorb and assimilate energy from Manipura. In the Tarot card you can see one person is gesturing toward the centre of the other person, indicating the "place of resplendence." Surya Namaskar, or "Sun Salutation" is a well known Hindu mode of worship. A sequence of yogic postures are assum...

The moon is a mirror, reflecting the light of the sun back to Earth during the night. This is why it represents the reflective quality of our dreams, which play out the worries and problems of our day through the language of mythic symbols. What is a myth, but a collective dream? Why do we dream? Nobody is sure, but there are several theories. Some say it is a way for us to process and store our memories. We tell ourselves a story of what has happened, we create the legend of our lives. Memories are very malleable, it has been scientifically shown that memories can be planted into one's mind, and people are easily fooled into believing they saw something they didn't. In our ever day lives, the brain has a tendency to fill in the gaps of perception, making presumptions based on past experiences. We suppose that something should be a certain way, and so our brains tell us it is so. It is difficult to know how accurate our perceptions of the world are, and whether we are seein...

Tarot of Marseilles This card shows a woman pouring liquid both onto dry land and into the water. Eight stars shine above her, symbolising the fact that seventeen can also be seen as 1+7=8. The number eight can also be seen as an infinity symbol, and the stars were believed to be made of an everlasting substance. The eighth Tarot card is Justice, associated with duty, good conduct, virtue, and consequence. Seventeen was an unlucky number for Italians, and it was also considered unlucky by Pythagoreans, who called this number "the Barrier". According to the Seeress of Prevorst, seventeen symbolises the participation in two worlds, celestial and terrestrial. Henry Blanquart agrees that it "represents the junction between the material world and the spiritual world". According to Jâbir Ibn Hayyân, alchimist and Sufi, the number seventeen represents the balance of each thing. The Greeks called this number "antiphraxis" meaning "interposition" bec...

The 15th century Tarot of Marseilles La Maison Dieu "The House of God" depicts a burning tower being struck by lightning or fire from the sky, its top section dislodged. Two men are depicted in mid-fall, against a field of multicolored balls. This card is popularly known as The Tower, but has also been called The Thunderbolt. In the 17th century tarot of Jacques Viéville, the card depicts a tree being struck by lightning. In the 17th century Tarot of Paris, the image shown is of the Devil beating his drums, before what appears to be the mouth of Hell. In ecclesiastical terms , a House of God is a church, temple, or chapel, any building where congregations gather for prayer. Thunder and lightning is used in the Bible to symbolise God's voice. God was said to appear to Moses in the form of fire, thunder, lightning and cloud. Psalm 18 reads: "From his temple he heard my voice; my cry came to his ears. The earth trembled and quaked, the ...

Tarot of Marseilles Here we have a Medieval depiction of the devil, with antlers, long ears, several faces on his body, and bat wings. Before him, two smaller figures with antlers, long ears, and long tails, are tied down. What could this mean? The numbers fifteen could be thought of as 1+5=6. In which case there is a strong link to the sixth card, The Lovers. Indeed we see a similar scene. Both cards feature a couple facing each other, with an influential figure above them. The Lovers are brought together by Cupid's arrow, inflaming their hearts with adoration for one another. The Devil however represents the animalistic lust of carnal desire. The couple are bound by ropes around the neck, representing their servitude. When you live a life in servitude to your materialistic desires, you experience suffering, because no matter how much you feed your desires, you will always want more. You become enslaved by your desire for more. Quite literally, the couple are experiencing a...

Tarot of Marseilles Temperance is habitual moderation in the indulgence of a natural appetite or passion. It means being able to control oneself, and not letting onself get swept up in the moment or lead astray by fickle passions. The card shows an angel carefully pouring water from one jug to another. Water is a substance which can be difficult to contain, it leaks and it splashes and it runs away. This is a good metaphor for our emotions, which can overwhelm us at times. We break into tears, we stress out, we boil over, and we simmer with anger. The Angel of Temperance is able to contain the running water of emotion and prevent it from spilling. Water is also something we use to cool off. A cold shower or a glass of water can help us when we are feeling hot and bothered. This card is about recognising those instances when our emotions are getting the better of us and we need to calm down. In Hinduism, the concept of dama means discipline. Five types of self-restraint are taugh...

Tarot of Marseilles Thirteen, that dreaded number, is considered unlucky by many, but why? The number is associated with the moon in all cultures, because there are approximately 12.4 lunations per solar year. This means that there are always twelve lunations in a year, from which we derive our twelve months, but there is one lunation which straddles the old year and the new year. Thirteen therefore represents an inbetween time. In the Anglo-Saxon calendar, the number of full moons was counted from winter solstice to winter solstice. Most of the time there would be twelve full moon but sometimes there would be thirteen. If there were thirteen then an extra month of the year was inserted at the time of the summer solstice, making the summer a whole month longer than usual. The Summerland is a concept of an afterlife paradise where good souls live inbetween incarnations. This concept was devised in the 19th century by a Spiritualist called Andrew Jackson Davis. The concept of a Summ...

Tarot of Marseilles Twelve are the apostles of Jesus, including the traitor Judas. According to the Gospel of Matthew, Judas commited suicide by hanging himself, and so the image of a hanged man was associated with traitors. The image for the twelth Tarot card is a hanged man, known as "pittura infamante" the defaming portrait. Such portraits were painted in order to shame a known criminal. Often the portraits were life size frescoes, displayed in public spaces, and accompanied by a written label to "name and shame" the criminal. To depict someone hanging upside down was considered particularly humiliating. These images were effective in punishing noblemen for their bad debt, bankruptcy, fraud, forgery, etc. What this image says is that someone of high standing and wealth has fallen from grace, their ego has taken a beating. The lesson this card teaches is that an over-inflated ego will be turned on its head. The height of pride will become the lowest of the lo...

The Tarot of Marseilles Historically, the eleventh Tarot card was called "force" or "fortitude". Fortitude meant moderation in attitudes toward pain and danger, with neither being avoided at all costs, nor actively wanted. The image shows a woman holding open the mouth of a beast. Clearly there is danger here, but she straddles the beast and appears to take great care in what she needs to do. This means having the courage to do what needs to be done, without acting recklessly. We might also call this card "prudence", stressing self-discipline and careful consideration of one's actions. The number eleven is associated with the zodiac, because out of the twelve zodiac"signs" there is always one hidden behind the sun, leaving eleven visible. The eleventh sign of the zodiac is Aquarius, which the ancient Babylonians associated with the god Ea, also known as Enki. He is the master craftsman of the universe who bestows the " Arts of ...

Tarot of Marseilles The wheel of fortune is ever turning. Past, present and future are all on the wheel, and as the wheel turns, the present becomes the past and the future becomes the present. We can't freeze time, we can't stop the wheel from turning. It seems like history repeats itself, and we go round and round in circles. How does the number ten relate to this card? Humans have ten fingers to count, so ten represents a full set. A shape with ten sides is called a decagon, which almost resembles a circle or a wheel. In Pythagoreanism, the number ten played an important role and was symbolized by the tetractys, or tetrad. It's a triangular figure consisting of ten points arranged in four rows: one, two, three, and four points in each row. It represents the order of the Universe, comprised of four elements. It's also associated with the ten sephirot of Kabbalah. The sephirot are ten ways in which the Supreme Being or Higher Power is known to us. The number ten...

Tarot of Marseilles The number nine is revered in Hinduism and considered a complete, perfected and divine number because it represents the end of a cycle in the decimal system, which originated from the Indian subcontinent as early as 3000 BCE. In Buddhism, Gautama Buddha was believed to have nine virtues, 1. Accomplished Buddhahood, 2. Perfectly Self-Awakened, 3. Wise Conduct, 4. Well-spoken, 5. Understanding the Universe, 6. Skilled Trainer of the Untrained, 7. Universal Teacher, 8. Blessed with Enlightenment, 9. Fully Liberated. In Christianity, a Hermit is a type of monk who lives in solitude, to achieve something like Buddahood. According to the Eleusinian Mysteries, nine is the number of spheres through whish consciousness passes on its way to rebirth. In Islamic cosmology the Universe is made from nine spheres—the traditional eight of Ptolemy , plus a ninth added by the Arab astronomer Thābit ibn Qurrah to explain the precession of the equinoxes . In Norse mythology, ...

 La Justice: Tarot de Marseille The eighth card of the Tarot is traditionally the Justice card, althoug modern decks swap Justice with the eleventh card, Strength. Personally I see the number eight clearly in the Justice card. Turned on its side, it resembles the scales with which the evidence is weighed. A figure of eight turned on its side is also known as an infinity symbol. The justice served is the after-effect of karma, called vipaka in Pāli. Vipaka means "the appropriate result" or in other words "justice". This card speaks of the natural consequences of your actions. The number eight is associated with the cube, which has eight corners. Eight is associated with infinity because it was believed that beyond the seven planetary spheres, an infinite eighth realm existed. According to Babylonian mythology, the eighth realm is the starry home of the gods. Eight is therefore associated with heaven or paradise. Eight is also the number of superspace , the...

The Pythagoreans considered the number seven "worthy of veneration". It was associated with the seven celestial spheres of Sun, Moon, Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter, and Saturn. There are four cardinal directions, plus an up and a down, which equal six directions. The seventh direction is inward. Eastern philosophers teach that the body has seven chakras, also known as "wheels". The spectrum of visible light is typically divided into seven colours. There are seven notes in a musical scale. There are seven days in a week. Seven represents the outside influences in our lives, such as the planets, chakras, colours, and sounds. To me, the Chariot card represents the driving forces which influence us in our decision making. The charioteer is the Will, pulling on the reigns of life in order to travel in the direction which we feel drawn to. It represents the drive to find one's purpose in life. This card is about seeking guidance, as well as feeling guided or pulle...

This adorable card shows a bare-bottomed Cupid eclipsing the sun as he prepares to shoot an arrow at a couple who have come before a witness to make their vow of marriage. By a wonderful conjunction of mathematical coincidences, the number six is both the sum (1 + 2 + 3) and the product (1 × 2 × 3) of the first three numbers. It is therefore considered “perfect.” This card represents the "perfection" produced by the union of two halves. The perfection of the number six is told of in the Bible, as it takes God six days to perfect his creation before he takes one last day to rest. This story is of course derived from Chaldean and Sumerian mythology. Six was considered the number of completion, harmony, love, creativity, and the physical senses. Psychic perception is sometimes called the "sixth sense". Psychic simply means "of the mind" as "psyche" is Greek for "consciousness". There is a classic tale where Psyche personified falls in...