Cult of Tarot Forum

Sorry to be so late this month asking my question. A close friend whom I have known for many years has invited me to help him with a large creative project that could involve several months of concentrated, challenging mental work. Part of me feels very excited and flattered, and I know I would learn a lot. The other part of me is not sure I have the talent or discipline to be useful to him. I really don't want to let him down either way. My question is whether I should be brave and accept his invitation or chicken out an keep things safely and comfortably as they are.

I apologize for not having this done. The weekend got away from me. I will post this afternoon or after work. I already know your answer because I often don’t need cards to do what I doBUT with that said, I will post the answer using cards later. I’m also going to pm you.

Victoria

Hey There Friend!

Thank you for allowing me the privilege of being a part of your journey by providing this reading on this question. I will delete the next couple of sentences but wanted to say that the reading is not complete until I sign my name. So if you see a pic without an interp, this is because I uploaded the pic from my iPhone and am typing from my computer. I love to over-complicate things...kidding of course...or am I?

I began this reading at precisely 7:17 p.m. Although I did not do this intentionally. Spirit told me this was relevant. I thought, "How so?" and then realized it was in the cards! The Chariot and the Star. I want to illustrate their essential functions or effect as I felt led to do so.


A chariot (or car) is a vehicle that can potentially take you somewhere. A car without gas will not move (just as a star without gas will not produce light). A chariot, even when fitted with the best horses, will not progress in an orderly fashion without a charioteer. Who can look into a night sky full of stars and not feel a swell of inspiration? A bright star can light a dark night in a way that brings comfort. (I am going to let you geek out on all the possibilities inherent in those statements. I have a strong sense that you are in possession of a powerful imagination).

Therefore, in my mind, the very essence of your question, it's nature, is that you are embarking on a journey that will continually inspire you and bring you comfort. The journey may be allegorical or physical and I feel that, in any scenario, it will be a journey that feeds you spiritually and offer tremendous personal growth. All there is to do is decide to take that first step...

I know this first bit is a wee bit off of the Marseilles path but I had to render it, nonetheless. Now…onto the rest!

You said, “A close friend whom I have known for many years has invited me to help him with a large creative project that could involve several months of concentrated, challenging mental work. Part of me feels very excited and flattered, and I know I would learn a lot. The other part of me is not sure I have the talent or discipline to be useful to him. I really don't want to let him down either way. My question is whether I should be brave and accept his invitation or chicken out an keep things safely and comfortably as they are.” I immediately felt a resounding “Yes, yes, yes!" to the idea of accepting your close friends’ wonderful invitation. But let’s see what the cards say, shall we?
Although I did use the whole deck, the cards drawn were triumphs. From left to right, we have II LA PAPESSE, XXI LE MONDE, and VI LAMOVREVX. My immediate sense of these cards is that this is all about choice…which you already know. It would be comfortable for you to stay to yourself, stick with your comfort zone and not entertain this project…but it would not make you happy. What I feel we are reading here is how to go about participating in this project once you agree. Okay, okay, so I am making some pretty sweeping assumptions. Perhaps we can say that if you don’t feel like you can do these things, you can tell your friend no.

The book, carefully held in the hands of the Papesse, is open. We can safely assume that this is her holy book, and that her intent is not to hide its contents. In the same way that she interacts with her sacred book, share openly with your friend. Bring to the light of day your fears about lacking the talent or discipline to see it through as well as your fear of disappointing him. (He will actually be more disappointed if you say no because he is convinced that you are the one for the job). You are going to discover that he selected you because he believes you have exactly what it takes to bring his project to life and that he is willing to work with you to figure out the best style of work for you both to make it happen. As you are close friends, he may already know that you are struggling with these fears. I see a spark in La Papesse eyes and I feel like this is both his response to his initial idea and your response to the invite to be a part of the project. I also think that the Papesse is representative of the way you have kept your own gifts “under wraps.” You know that many abilities are present within you but perhaps you have allowed fear to hold you back which brings us to our next card…and another part of your solution…

The World…you have the chance to give yourself the world. Like the woman in Le Monde, get naked. Bring everything you’ve got front and center. Allow yourself to be authentic. Allow yourself to hold nothing back from the amazing and perfect vision you have of all that could go right with this project. I am not suggesting that you get delusional or otherwise lost in the land of make-believe. The lady of the world is dancing but she is doing so within a circumference or boundary. I take this to indicate that you guys will need to have very clear ground rules with a very specific intent for the project. You will need to consistently work with that intent in mind. It is easy to add a dozen ideas to an original plan which, though good, can end up causing us to wander off track. I believe the cards are suggesting that you dance as wildly as you like…bring it all to the table…but do so within the boundaries you both have determined. The world we live in has all the resources we need to accomplish what needs to be done. In the same way, the two of you will discover all that is needed to bring this plan to fruition.

Now we arrive at our last card, the Lover. I am accustomed to TdM decks with this card “facing” the other way and the central man looking to the left…to the past. The Papesse may well have been looking to the past and I would guess that it is your past which gave rise to some of the concerns you now feel. With that said, I think our central fellow in this card, looking to the right, is making a choice for the future. In this image we see three people happily chatting together. One of the women wears flowers n her hair, the other wears what appear to be laurel leaves. I think these could be representative of beauty and accomplishment. You are in the position to make a choice that will create more of each of these things in your life. A cherub flies nearby and ready to zap you with enthusiasm for every aspect of the project. The communication between the three people would indicate that collaboration and continual communication will be necessary to complete the project successfully. Keep it positive and open. In my own view, this card is about choice. The choice you make is about much more than a project. It is about showing yourself what you are made of.

So step back for a moment and decide if you want to do this and all it entails. Don’t try to figure out if you’re ready for all of this. People are rarely ready to step outside their comfort zone. Simply…do you want to. If that is a yes, then dive in my friend.

As with any reading, take it with a grain of salt. If it doesn’t ring true, then don’t follow through. Let me know if you have any questions and thanks again for your patience.

Victoria

Thanks so much for the reading. How lovely that you used the Houdouin Millenium Tarot. The colors on that deck are beautiful, and there is a feeling of almost clinical precision to the images that makes me feel as though I am wearing special contact lenses or something. I'm looking forward to the English translation of the companion book that is supposed to be coming out later this year sometime. The skeleton on the Death card in that deck is also "backwards" like the Chariot card you drew for the reading. I wonder how Houdouin is going to explain his decision. You make a very good point with the World card that my friend and I need to set some boundaries and ground-rules before we start. Friends generally have so much trust that they regard this as an unnecessary formality - like a marriage pre-nup - but vagueness can lead to disastrous misunderstandings later. I'd certainly like to think that I have been keeping my talents "under wraps" like the Papesse - and I suppose my friend must agree with you to some extent or he wouldn't have asked me. The man on the Lovers card is receiving a lot of flattering attention. Am I dithering so that my friend has to keep persuading me? Do I like the attention? That's got to make me feel good and maybe give me the courage to dance uninhibitedly like the World woman - the Papesse finally letting her hair down. I have also been dithering nervously about writing to EE for lessons. Seems like a theme in my life. It's such a help in a tarot reading to actually SEE a situation in front of you in the cards rather than it being a mess of half-formed feelings and ideas going around in a circle in your head. I will let you know what I decide. I have a couple of weeks to make up my mind. At the moment I feel like being brave. Thanks again, Victoria. I don't know about you, but I had a terrible struggle getting my reading done this month - the cards just didn't want to co-operate - but we both did it! Kudos all round. Hope to talk to you again soon.

I know what I forgot to say. Charlie Brown's "House of the Guiding Star" spread was designed to give us practice at putting together a reading based on a simple three card narrative line - a technique borrowed from Lenormand, I think. It's quite different from the way I'm used to using the TdM. So moving from left to right the three card sentence might read, "Modesty (Papesse) laid bare (World) is delay (Lovers)". I usually like to look closely at the details of each card when I do a reading but this narrative line technique allows you the freedom to draw attention any factor on each card, no matter how trivial or broad. There's so much freedom it's a little disorientating at first. But it seems to be a nice way of loosening up a reading, and getting away from habitual reactions to the cards. I think that often the weirder or more paradoxical the sentence is the better, as long as it's more or less convincing according to the visual details on the cards, and pops into your mind while you are considering the question. It's almost a way of tricking your mind into free-associating. The Chariot and Star combo that you started with might turn out to mean something like, who knows, "My horses need a drink." Not a particularly inspiring example but it might have something to say about the question I asked. In fact our mind is designed to establish some kind of connection. The mind exists in order to make sense of disparate packets of information, no matter how disconnected they seem to be. Actually, now I think of it, that's how the tarot itself works, isn't it?, but with images rather than words. Maybe the 3 card sentence says about my relationship with my friend: "Our emails (Papesse) dance around (World) the main point (Lovers - I'm thinking of cupid's arrow.)" No, I'm clutching at straws but you get the idea. Sorry if all this is familiar to you already. I'm thinking out loud. Have a great week.
Tom

I have no issue with thinking aloud although I sometimes startle folks when I put it into practice. Cartomantoc likes can be pretty interesting. To be honest, I can get stick on the gestures and glances for way too long. On the other end of my extreme tarot temperament is the ability to keep it was too simple “Take your horses for a moonlit stroll,” lots of simple sentences apply.

I have a good time by trying to piece together Marseille style draws through a number of lenses. I enjoy approaching many things from different angles.

Enrique is a pretty decent dude. I know you will not regret contacting him as it is my opinion that he treats his students with great respect and care. Each day that I send a draw, he returns a response. And when I think I’ve completely botched it, he replies with encouragement and shows me that I was spot on. I think he is willing to get as transparent as you are. It is well worth your time to write.

I’ve rather struggled to get around to anything this month, even a job app I was sending off. Turns out they open it for another week on the day I turned it in.

All in all,I suppose we ultimately do what we need to do the way we need to do it. So life works out as it is meant to.

Cheers,

Victoria

BreathingSince72 wrote: ↑31 Mar 2019, 02:38 All in all,I suppose we ultimately do what we need to do the way we need to do it. So life works out as it is meant to.