CARD OF THE WEEKEND: January 14-15, 2023

 

The Hanging Cat

Tarot for Cats

by Regen Dennis with art by Kipling West

 

January 14-15, 2023: Well, at least illustrator Kipling West did not turn this "Hanging Cat" head down like Tarot's traditional Hanged Man!

Author Regen Dennis seems to think West's tuxedo cat has voluntarily submitted to its human's grasp. But anyone who has ever lived with a cat--and especially a tuxedo cat--knows holding a cat that way will only lead to furious hisses and wriggles. Kitty will soon jump free and, since West's scene is clearly outdoors, scoot off in hot pursuit of the nearest sparrow.

The usual Hanged Man's upended suspension offers a radically different way to look at things, sometimes completely out of this world. West's hanging cat might have a temporarily heightened level from which to view its surroundings, but this position will be uncomfortable, unacceptable, and brief. The cat did not choose it. And, for cats, choice is everything.

So, here are a couple of different ways to view and work with this weekend's card:

Consider the way I normally interpret The Hanged Man. This card comes as advice to take time out and perform an unusual, even extreme, action or practice that would help you explore a question or issue from a quite new, potentially transformative angle. How might this insightful breakthrough help you resolve your concern or situation?

Or...you can be a tuxedo cat. Don't let someone force you into a view or position that you do not choose. You're perfectly capable of leaping to your own perch from which to observe and understand things. You have a right to autonomy over your own body, mind, and spirit, and that right is worth fighting for.

******

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CARDS OF THE WEEKEND: May 28-29, 2022

 

Queen of Cups and Five of Cups

Revelations Tarot

by Zach Wong

May 28-29, 2022: As you can see from the sample images above, Zach Wong's Revelations Tarot (reviewed here might prove interesting for folks who regularly enjoy the option of reading cards that come up reversed. In the reverse of the Revelations cards, Wong gives us an entirely different central figure with whom to commune and consult. 

For example, at the center of his Hanged Man card, you'll find two Hanged Men, very different in sartorial color scheme and positions of the arms, cleverly interlocked by their legs. It's one of the most intriguing depictions of this archetype that I've seen:

The Hanged Man

Revelations Tarot

by Zach Wong

Given that Tarot's classic Hanged Man, himself, is flipped upside down, the implications can be fascinating when this Major Arcana card comes up reversed. And now, here's Wong's card--already providing us with a separate figure in its reversal. Exactly which world are we inhabiting at any given moment?

Whew! Heady stuff.

Anyway, the Hanged One might be another story for another day. This weekend, we're concentrating on two of Wong's Cups cards--Queen of Cups and Five of Cups.

I'm particularly drawn to the idea that, throughout the deck, Wong's figures may be one and the same being, external and internal, conscious and subconscious, and the like. This gives me a lot of stories I can tell. Or perhaps, how can we see one as the companion and ally of the other? They need not be positive-negative and antagonistic to each other.

For this weekend, the realm of Water is key. So, focus on emotions, sensitivity, close relationships, and/or creativity. The intuitive, empathic, insightful Queen brings profound, 360°, multi-dimensional knowledge of the element of Water and all it symbolizes. You want to go to her with any questions or needs in these areas.

The Five of Cups, as you will remember from the classic Rider-Waite-Colman imagery, represents disappointment, regret, and grief at loss but with a note of hope for the future (the two goblets that, out of view of the mourning figure, remain upright). So, take a look at Wong's card. When it's upright, you'll notice that three goblets have fallen out of the figure's control. The card's remaining two goblets are firmly in the grasp of the reverse figure's hands.

This weekend will allow time to be in your feelings--or attend to the joy or development or healing of a relationship or a creative project. That time spent will be an essential part of a longer process but should be respected even if, at the moment, it appears to be a small investment. It's important.

What you might not be able to see, at this time, the Queen of Cups can see. (Note the gem at the Third Eye chakra of each of the Queen figures.) She asks you to release what must be released and contribute what you can to a future she has already envisioned.

****** 

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******

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CARD OF THE DAY: November 22, 2021

 

The Hanged Man

from The Mary-el Tarot

by Marie White

 

November 22, 2021: For all of these Cards of the Day (or Weekend), I've been stepping aside and allowing Spirit to decide which deck we'll be working with. This practice sometimes reconnects me to decks I might not have reached for in a very long while.

Today's deck is artist Marie White's stunning Mary-el Tarot. I definitely welcome this chance to dive into the intense realm--the abyss--of Mary-el. We might spend a few more days here.

Here's why I'm not surprised that Mary-el's The Hanged Man was today's draw:

A few days ago, I watched part of an online conference in which members of DreamSeed Collective spoke about their work-in-progress: the photographic DreamSeed Oracle, which will feature a range of racial and gender diversity. They showed a few examples of their photographs, and my attention was strongly drawn to their renaming of Tarot's traditional Hanged Man as Suspension--a change meant to avoid the negative ancestral connotation of hanging for Black Americans.

Posting in the session's YouTube chat, I thanked the collective--Blaise Sparda, Malanya Graham, and Maliika Nia-Imani--for this innovative change and promised to use the name Suspension in my own practice going forward. And, sure enough, as I shuffled the Mary-el for today's card, The Hanged Man--I mean, Suspension--turned up!

The ancestors are always saying, one way or another, "We're watching. We hear you."

Here are a few more Mary-el cards for you to enjoy:

 

 

Today, Suspension asks you to pause to sacrifice--to suspend--your way of perception, thought, knowing, and decision-making based on habit, popular belief, and just plain "this is the way it has always been" or "this is what everyone else is saying/thinking; I'd better get on board." 

Suspension turns you upside down for the moment, making your intellect quietly secondary to your body and/or your body quietly secondary to the disembodied. You journey out of the known into the unknown, away from familiar paths and onto the road less traveled. And when you come back, you return with new and profound perspectives, knowledge, and ideas.

If you have felt stuck in your thinking or progress, or if you are clinging to notions simply because everyone else feels they are the One True Answer, ask yourself if it might be time to strike out for a deeper dive or a higher vantage point with a less-constricted view.

Suspension offers that necessary time out of time.

This is a good moment for me to inform you that my relationship with Spirit and Tarot leads me to understandings that, at many times, might be different from what a deck's creator had in mind. Generally speaking, I sidestep a lot of systems. And that's okay. I have taught and coached Tarot and oracle reading in that way--that you build your own relationship with the images, learning how they will work with you, rather than accepting the deck author's concepts unless, as it might happen, these concepts, systems, and techniques also work for you.

A turnabout/walkabout with Suspension in any deck is certainly one courageous way in which you can begin to build a knowing and fruitful relationship that will be unlike any other.