Valentine’s Day? We Sort of Get There in the End.

Ok, I lied. I may post a reading more often than once a week. I couldn’t seem to wait.

And, it’s Valentine’s Day. How’s that going?

On the face of it, let’s call this reading … sword-y. If you read my last post you’ll know that the sword cards tend to mean ‘up in your head.’ So, if you’re feeling sword-y, read on.

Where we are right now:

Until I sat down to write this, I was CERTAIN the first card (from the Pagan Otherworlds Tarot by the artist collective Uusi) was the 3 of Swords.

Three of Swords means loss, or the disintegration of what we ‘thought we had.’ That’s right, I said to myself dramatically as I pulled the rest of the cards. I was so sure disappointment was at the heart of EVERYTHING, cycling back again, that I completely missed the fourth sword (on the ground below).

Where I am right now, and perhaps where you are too—if you are connecting with this sentiment—is NOT the 3 of Swords and you are likely mistaking things and blowing them out of proportion.

The 4 of Swords gives a very different message:

You are just drained. Listen to yourself, and rest.

Unapologetically do whatever you feel will rejuvenate you. If you need to, stay home (alone?) (and maybe unplug?), and it’s okay. That’s just where we are. However unusual for a ‘romantic’ spread, at least we’ve sidestepped all-out heartbreak.

The two queens beneath the 4 of Swords give us a little more info.

Just to explain how I do these tarot spreads …

They are basically three-card spreads moving from left to right.

Loosely, these are the three positions:

1. How things feel at the moment

2. The obstacle or challenge

3. Helpful advice or guidance

If more than one card comes out, I let it. Thus, there are four cards across the top of the main spread, see?

The 4 of Swords, as discussed, is ‘how things feel at the moment.’ The High Priestess and The Emperor take care of the ‘obstacle/challenge’ position (more juice on them later, of course). And the basic advice here is The Fool (also, more soon).

Then I clarify the first set of cards with a second row of cards, using a different tarot deck. In this reading these are from The Dreaming Way Tarot by Rome Choi and, again, if a few extra pop out, np. These cards flesh out the message of the first row.

I pull a few oracle cards at the end, in a third row, for fun and further advice.

So the queens beneath the 4 of Swords, then?

In this day or two (or more, if need be) of rest and reset (perhaps in order to get a better perspective?), two queens lie beneath this feeling.

Queen of Swords and Queen of Pentacles.

In tarot, queens have reached a level of fidelity in the art of compassion and generosity, and they have the strong inward focus of self-knowledge. If we had to nutshell the four queens—and this is an oversimplified nutshell but I think it explains what I’m getting at here—it would be something like this:

Queen of Swords = Nerd

Queen of Pentacles = Mother

Queen of Wands = Popular Girl

Queen of Cups = Lover

For me, for as long as I’ve been alive, I’ve identified with these two particular ladies, the Queen of Swords and the Queen of Pentacles, more significantly, in some frankenstein-ian mix of mostly ‘nerd’ and ‘mother.’

Of course, we all carry some mix of sword, pentacle, wand, and cup energy, but up until now I’ve felt most comfortable in realms where my mind was valued (swords) and my daughter’s needs needed meeting (pentacles). No problem!

The firey, creative extroversion of the wands and the amorphous, boundary-less affection of the cups have been more risky for me.

What I’m contemplaing this Valentine’s Day, for sure, are the parts I know are missing; the queens (and their energies) who aren’t there.

Where is the fun anyway? Does it even exist? (wands)

And romance? I’m not too proud to admit—it gets a whole lot trickier 23 years into a relationship. (cups)

My daugher is grown now and lives overseas! So that Queen of Swords needs to stop looking back and put on a red dress and get on with taking her nerdy ideas into the next realm. There is a ridiculous amount of looking back in this V-Day reading—so let’s get on with addressing that.

The Obstacle / Challenge

In the centre of the spread sit The High Priestess and The Emperor. Look at these two presiding over things.

These are the energies lurking about (or in direct conflict) that are necessary but are making things feel difficult.

These two characters could be suggesting that my intuitive/witchy self (the one who believes in synchonicity and tarot cards) is butting up against my more conventional, structured self.

That is 200% possible :)

Or, that I may need to work my magic within the confines of the established order of things.

Yes, I hear you.

Or that these two figures could be MUCH more literal—if we decide that The High Priestess is me and The Emperor is my partner. In that case, we are two rather different (yet both powerful) figures and we both seem to command our own way (or the highway). True, true, true.

My way is mysterious, radical, and I would rather explore the unknown realms. While The Emperor is confining and overly controlled (but he does make the big overwhelming world more comprehensible sometimes.)

Regardless, it feels like relationship issues are driving the show these days. And, yes, I’m using the word ‘issues’ because some intractable sh** seems to be bubbling to the surface.

Going deeper, look at these poor misfits beneath them.

The tarot doesn’t clock gender (another interestingly open-ended attribute of its practice), and when we look at our clarifying cards—the Knight of Wands and the 8 of Swords—I have the sinking suspicion that these days, in my relationship, I’m the one giving off the energy of the Knight of Wands figure here. Revving to GO, with inspired action, with anything (look, I’ve started a tarot blog) in the pursuit of adventure, and I do seem to have endless ideas these days (although this figure also tends not to be everyone’s cup of tea).

Maybe you feel like this in your relationship too, a bit like the odd (and even unlikeable) one, who doesn’t want to keep the status quo anymore.

The knights are always on horseback in tarot and this means that movement is def happening, and it may get a little messy.

But look, too, how the knight is looking back at those two queens with whom I’ve always identified, steadfast and true, and how I love them for that. Perhaps we’re leaving them behind in some sense—for me, it’s my firmly-held identities as smart and competent and the good mother; for you, think about the ways you find value with your brain and by nurturing those around you. If you can relate to this, then I’m here to encourage you. It’s time to be a little odd, to rock the boat, and so be it. And can we talk about this red and white checkered jumpsuit? This knight is definitely putting it out there.

And the 8 of Swords energy is complicating The Emperor’s day to day.

8 of Swords is a bit of a prison of the mind. The kind of restriction that feels blind. What do I do next? Who knows?

Jessica Dore writes in Tarot for Change, that the 8 of Swords can mean behaviour that AVOIDS anything that brushes up against our thornier core beliefs. Yes, ok. And now looking at the cards for the ‘obstacle/challenge’ as a whole, my feelings likely have less to do with my husband and more to do with my own inner conflict (don’t they always?).

The High Priestess + The Emperor + Knight of Wands + 8 of Swords.

What a hopped up combination, and I have to say I’m feeling ALL OF IT, my weird woo-woo trying to share air with the established rules, then throw in a lotta passion and a lotta fear.

And maybe you feel some version of this too, and we would all love some advice now, thanks.

I like the advice.

It doesn’t sugarcoat things but it does give us something to grab onto.

In the past, when things have gotten very sword-y (I’m thinking of issues I’ve had with my parents, which seem impossible to untangle) the advice position, invariably, gives me The Fool.

Begin again.

The zero card, at the very inception of the hero’s journey, this is the big bang, and the Buddhist concept of ‘child’s mind.’ It is an attitude where preconceived notions do not and cannot exist. It is innocence, the great egg of potential. It is trust, with a truly open mind, and spontaneity.

Click your heels together, turn toward your future, and foolishly leap. See how The Fool is the only figure here looking toward the future?

The Knight of Cups may recommend that this leap may be in the classic, romantic sense. Ok, this is unexpected. But maybe things are about to get interesting. Don’t rule it out.

And the repetition of a figure on horseback, looking back at the past again, no less (so many figures in this reading are looking backward, it’s notable) and a blindfolded figure again too here, the 2 of Swords. Hmmmm.

The horses carry us forward certainly. We cannot stop this movement forward (and I recall The Wheel of Fortune in the last reading). Change is here, even though we cannot seem to let go of the way things used to be, and what we thought we had. The way ahead is still rather blind though too—for now.

So a curious read. The contemplative energy at the top, and permission to take a break from the blind movement forward pinning things underneath. We may even be smack in the middle of our crossroads. And so what if we are dragging our feet a little? It’s okay.

Two of Swords also advocates for ‘third-place’ solutions. Not this, not that, but something else—and you probably just don’t know what that solution is yet.

Two roads diverge. Which one do you take?

But what might happen if you get off that road altogether, or climb a tree instead?

These last messages don’t need explanation.

Have patience. Honour your sensitivity. Watch and wait.

I’ve been getting The Bobcat and Blackthorn a lot lately. This card alludes to an independent journey and a difficult one at that. Patience is required. No decisive ‘all or nothing’ actions. Not right now.

It may also be helpful to remember that your sensitivity is not shameful. It’s a strength, and the world needs your tender heart (more now than ever).

For now, step back and be willing to just observe. It will all ramp back up again, certainly, and perhaps the blindfold will come off and we’ll see what may be possible. Maybe even by next week’s reading.

Last Thoughts

Something interesting to note about the movement that wants so badly to gain momentum, if we’d just stop looking back, back, back. These knights in the spread inhabit the opposite energy of those earlier queens! We are moving from matters of the intellect and security into the fire of creative energy and wait for it … love.

Without any sort of mastery yet, but it’s brewing—with a partner or with an endeavour.

There is something in the wind.

Resources:

Baron-Reid, Collette. The Spirit Animal Pocket Oracle. Penguin Random House, Canada. 2023.

Choi, Rom. Dreaming Way Tarot. US Games Systems Inc. 2012.

Dore, Jessica. Tarot for Change. Using the Cards for Self-Care, Acceptance, and Growth. Penguin Random House, Canada. 2021.

Roux, Jessica. Woodland Wardens. Andrews McMeel Publishing, 2022.

Frost, Asha. The Animal Elders Oracle. Penguin Random House, Canada. 2024.

Uusi. Pagan Otherworlds Tarot. Uusi.