Tarot Reading For The Collective ~ June © 2011 Sarah Barry

Posted by sarahthepsychic on June 8, 2011 · Leave a Comment

Strength pulls us close, hugging us tightly, whispering urgently to remind us of our most powerful lessons to date. She can see the Devil approaching and wants to impart as much knowledge as possible. She knows that soon the Devilish archetype will catch up with us, causing us to forget some of our still-fragile wisdom.

Sounds rather frightening doesn’t it (or romantic, depending on how brainwashed we’ve been by ‘Devil’ imagery in society): a strange embrace by a woman with a lion (the traditional depiction of Strength) before a shadowy figure referring to himself as the Devil takes us for a moonlit stroll.

Anyone who has seen me for a face-to-face reading and got the Devil card at some point has likely heard me say, “Don’t worry about that Devil by the way”. And I don’t say that merely as a way of keeping it all friendly and positive. The Devil is a seemingly fierce archetype that can load us up with self-doubt and push us to breaking point. However, once we’ve realised the Devil is just another part of our own psyche (along with the ‘nicer’ sounding cards), we can close our eyes and breathe again – this time with more awareness of our true nature, and all our soft as well as sharp pointy bits.

With the Devil in tow we have the opportunity to own up to personal responsibilities. We have the chance to realise that we can’t afford to waste a single moment rolling in delusional thinking. But roll we will, because we are an unenlightened lot, just trying our best. As long as we keep trying I guess.

After the Devil comes the 5 of Swords, testing our resolve and asking the pertinent question “Can we really trust ourselves and look after ourselves and do what benefits us and our fellow humans most?”

So this is our baseline this month: move away from Strength, hang out with the Devil instead and chat with the 5 of Swords. “Surely there are more pleasant archetypal combinations” I hear you say, and yes, you’re right, there are. But now we just have to deal with it. Then go have a cuppa tea and a dunking biscuit with the Queen of Cups. (Sigh of relief, anyone?)

The Queen will encourage us to seek out empathy from those we know and trust, and if there is a lacking in the love and trust department, we can always just self-empathise. At the end of the day this is a far more useful skill to have, so that we know what to do when – for whatever reason – our usual sounding boards just aren’t available. That does happen, and it’s great when it does as then we have a chance to see how strong and versatile we really are.

The Knight of Swords is feeling a bit more reflective this month. Usually depicted in a rather gung-ho fashion, he has decided that we all need a bit of TLC after that mind-bending beginning to June. Instead of enlisting himself as chief leader of rushing in headlong, he now shows himself to be facilitating a point in our consciousness where we drop our impatience for a few moments. In the huge space that is revealed when we are not striving for something, there is room for some truly heartfelt and straightforward conversations to take place.

With The World following close behind we have a good chance of doing something practical with the gutsy revelations that our time with the Knight of Swords reveals. Arriving at the end of the Major Arcana (“big secrets”) in the tarot deck, The World symbolizes so much more than a coming-of-age. It speaks of the end of a very long path, where we spun around and around trying to figure out where we are truly meant to be.

Even if we find ourselves at The World this time still feeling a bit unclear about our future steps, at least there is the blossoming realisation that it is our journey, and therefore we are the best ones to sort it out. Teaching us about autonomy and then interdependence, The World is a friend to us as we step through this month of wonders and surprises.

The tarot deck used for this reading:

‘Crystal Tarot’ by Elisabetta Trevisan (a recent acquisition to my ever-growing collection)