h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Wasn't that the first card Titania pulled as well?

What you describe suggests the following to me: the Querent (you) is benefitting from the water of understanding (water falling onto the plant) and by means of the same water you share an understanding of the world (the other stream of water goes back to the earth).

Or, your daughter is the plant and the water streams both to her and to the future generations.

I notice that my interpretations are far more general than those of other people here; when I want a specific answer to a question, I tend to pick up the coins and throw I Ching. For me, Tarot gives deeper, hence more general "messages."

Another lovely card, just thinking about it gives me a positive buzz.

But pouring the water away also indicates a need to make sure that things don't slip through your fingers, be it time, money, patience, for example.

I have downloaded Tarot Info 1.0 from Palmgear.com, it is based on the Rider-Waite cards. I don't agree with most of the interpretations, but it was freeware so will keep it for a while and see if I find it much use.

I wanted something handy on my Palm as I have it with me more than the cards and as a quick aide-de-memoire it may prove useful. Most of the downloads seem to be games or pseudo readings.

You know, those two pictures in the article about Candi's mother's partner (posting no.1001 in the Atelier) makes me wonder what a tarot deck designed by him would have looked like...

http://www.wigtown-booktown.co.uk/fullarticle.asp?articleID=53

Exactly what I thought, T!

Cassie settled herself down for a nap in my tarot card box. Well..... she managed to get a couple of paws in it and squashed the rest!

http://uk.f1.pg.photos.yahoo.com/ph/caerwynnuk/lst?.dir=/My+Photos

That's interesting, T - I think he would have found that an satisfying project - he was heavily into symbolism in his painting. I thought there were more of his paintings online but they seem to have gone

Well, if you do manage to locate them Candi, it'd be interesting to have a look at some more of his stuff

Caer, that looks like one very self-conscious kitty - would Cassie possibly be short for Cassandra?

I had that same thought about the art evoking tarot cards.

I think that is the first photo I've seen of Cassie. She is very self-possessed. But then again, what cat isn't?

Her owner looks very self-possessed, too. I ~looove~ that hat!

It's amazing what a couple of glasses of can do

As for Cassie, she just loves having her photo taken.

I didn't name her, T. We 'adopted' her from the RSPCA, a year ago now and that was the name her previous owners had given her. But it is generally short for Cassandra. She is now 3½ years old and still thinks she is a kitten.

Well, I just thought that Cassie looks a bit reproachful, as if to say 'Hey! If you want to know about the future, why not ask *me* instead of these silly cards?!'

...which would somehow fit with this description of the Greek goddess Cassandra: the Trojan seeress who uttered true prophecies, but lacking the power of persuasion, was never believed

http://homepage.mac.com/cparada/GML/Cassandra.html

That is really rather interesting. The statue of Cassandra looks a bit and so can Cassie, she will be purring away quite happily, enjoying a stroke then her tail will swish a couple of times, the purring stops and she will lash out with a paw, or make to bite you! Reading the biog, Cassandra comes across as rather stroppy too!

Also I'm sure Cassie is psychic, she knows when someone is coming to front door well before they are anywhere near the door, but I suppose that could be just really good hearing. But if I think about feeding her, or tidying her toys away, she appears from wherever she is kipping within in seconds!

T, I did have a look at the spread you did the other day, but I got very little from them, the minor arcana in my pack are just boring and I find them hard to read. Also my mood the last few days hasn't been right somehow.

I did a four card spread for H using the whole deck and it was all minor arcana cards as well and I don't think I was any help at all

I do hope the Gold Tarot cards get dispatched by Amazon soon.

I found the instructions for a Celtic Cross so I gave it a whirl. The numbering system wasn't the same as Lil's example in her journal but I've translated it to avoid confusion .


1. The Devil (significator)
2. The Emporer (crossing card)
3. 8 of Wands (the face of the matter)
4. 3 of Swords (the base of the matter)
5. 8 of Cups (departing influences)
6. Wheel of Fortune (approaching influences)
7. Ace of Swords (how matters stand)
8. 7 of Swords (how the world sees the matter at hand)
9. 4 of Wands (hopes and fears)
10. Prince of Swords (how the matter works out)

Did you ask a particular question of the cards, Amy?

I found an online tarot course that contains general information, descriptions of each of the cards, several common spreads and even significant card pairs. You might find it helpful, Caer.

http://www.learntarot.com/top.htm

Not really, Witty. I was just sitting there doing my usual low-level fretting about health, work, my PhD and family.

The four suits correspond to elements:
cups = water (emotions, feelings, the limbic brain, habits)
pentacles = earth (material things, resources, health)
wands = fire (enterprises, action, volition)
swords = air (ideas, organisations, principles, laws)

So an initial survey of a spread should tell you what areas of your life the cards relate to, especially if there's a preponderance. You're heavy on the swords in this reading.

I think that ALL the suits share some aspect of your health, holistically speaking, but the swords and cups speak to your mental health, to psychology and emotion respectively.

To have the Emperor, the card of the patriarch, crossing the Devil (being bound by the material plane), well, that doesn't need much interpretation! The patriarch has crossed the material plane and left it behind. The three of swords is the sorriest card; it means loss. In the mythic tarot, that's Agamemnon dead in his bath.

Eight cups is also a difficult card, and in my deck it shows Psyche descending to Hades in order to fulfill an impossible task set by Aphrodite, mother of the man she loved and lost. The mood is fatalism.

But the Wheel of Fortune says, thus your loss and pain now, something different later as the wheel turns.

The Eight of Wands is struggle to achieve a goal, having to work through a storm.

*takes a break for tea and for others to contribute*

The three of swords keeps cropping up. It is a very depressing card . In my set of cards it has three people standing in the background - they are dressed in dark clothes as if at a funeral - looking at three swords stabbed downwards into a rose.

On the other hand, alongside it we have the Ace of Swords. which seems much more promising. A seed of strength? ideas?

Perhaps in the losses I have experienced recently - more complex than just the death of my grandfather - I'll find something new.

My guidebook says the three of swords spells out heartbreak due to failure of a romance or an ideal. It also says there is no way to avoid confronting this situation and you should not blame yourself. New possibilities await, but you must go through this to get there, you cannot go around.

My minor arcana cards don't have any helpful imagery, either, Caer. I would prefer to let the imagery help me interpret them, but I have no choice but to rely on the book and online sources for now. Of course, I have you all, too.

The Aces stand for an energy burst of some kind, and with the Ace of Swords it's the life of the mind. *thinks of John Goodman in Barton Fink and has terrible trouble looking serious for a few moments*

In the 7th position, it means that all that's happened hereto has brought you to a position of questioning old beliefs.

Kind of like it is in astrology -- there is no such thing as a card or a planet or a rune or hexagram that is unequivocably bad. A trey card represents movement out of a conflict or duality that was depicted in the deuce, so even though there is unavoidable sorrow, it at least represents a resolution of a difficult/painful situation.