Once upon a time there was a fertility festival called The Lupercalia. Men in wolf masks ran about the streets of Rome, and in honour of the fertility god Lupercus and in memory of the she-wolf who suckled Romulus and Remus, would symbolically thrash (lightly touching) any women they met of child-bearing age. Any woman not wanting to be fertile had better stay indoors. But some would deliberately loiter in the streets, hoping to encounter the wolf men.
Later Christianity claimed the festival, originally held on February 15th, renaming it in memory of poor Valentine, a physician who was cruelly beheaded in Rome after doing many a good turn to other people, including the daughter of his jailer, whom he apparently cured of blindness.
The violent death of a well-disposed person on religious grounds. What could be less romantic?
Given the long rumbling tensions, and in the wake of recent further air incursions by China into Taiwanese air space, what does the Tarot and what does cartomancy with playing cards detect in respect of the likeliness of an attempted land invasion by China of Taiwan, 2023, 2024 and 2025?
#Tarot China. Invasion of #Taiwan 2023, 2024, 2025? CARDS The Hanged Man, Ace Swords REV, 6 Cups. Air ‘threat’-Fighter jets, yes. Likelihood of attempted land invasion LOW. Pres Xi doesn’t NEED to. Other finance/tech strategies already highly effective+Covid/economy/US/Ukraine.
Card One: The Hanging Man
The Hanged Man steps back, hangs back, takes time to think, weighs the cost. President Xi may personally yearn to make a decisive move, but deduces it is not a logical move at this time, and perhaps, while desirable, the cost may outweigh any future benefits, and is it even necessary?
Astrologically The Hanging Man or Hanged Man depending on the deck corresponds with the planet Neptune, watery, fathomless-lacking boundaries. It deals in dreams. The planetary rulers of the water sign Pisces are fiery Mars, its traditional ruler, but Neptune is its modern ruler. Where is the limit of our domain?
The Hanging Man does not indicate readiness for action. But should hostilities commence in the Strait of Taiwan in 2023, then a couple of timings to watch out could be during Pisces. Another window to watch could be during the transit of Mars in Cancer.
This starts right at the end of Pisces season, 25 March 2023-20 May 2023. Why might this be significant in real life events? Mars in Cancer symbolically translates as Mars/initiation/war/action) in Cancer/sea/early summer.
This may also refer to events in the Black Sea. ‘Fire at Sea.’
Card 2: The Ace of Swords reversed
The Ace of Swords is a card of decision, decisive action- or attack. This is an air suit card suitable to describe aircraft or aerial invasion or bombardment. It is also a card of stress, strife and issues to do with authority and control, as well as Information technology.
Drawn reversed, as it has been here, it appears to be reflecting the fact that President Xi has a lot on his plate at this time. Not least covid, civil unrest and Putin’s invasion of Ukraine which seems to be more of a nuisance for Xi than a green light to make any further moves on Taiwan.
In addition, while Europe has not so far put on a measured, carefully calibrated, costly but still, not particularly impressive show of unity or strength in supporting Ukraine against Putin’s total war- neither has the US- President Xi-despite his extensive intelligence networks- seems unsure as to the likely strength of military response from the US should China escalate aggression against Taiwan. Has the US really not got more Patriot missile systems to spare for Ukraine? Or is it doling them out sparingly, measured just sufficiently so as to prevent a Russian takeover in Ukraine, forcing Putin to expend evermore resources, while keeping its powder dry with a weather eye on China?
The Ace Swords, drawn in the central position, clearly reflects the stakes, and is confirming the issue under discussion. If we wre looking at the Ace Swords in the third, future position, the Tarot would be flagging up a possible yes answer, especially if it had been drawn upright.
Card 3: The Six of Cups
This is generally a peaceable card, but it does suggest that President Xi looks at Taiwan with a kind of nostalgia. That he genuinely believes it is a part of China, and is an asset that should come within China’s direct control. But he does not need to take this risk. China is consolidating its sphere of influence hegemony through ‘soft strategies,’ makings itself ‘local’ pretty much everywhere. Quietly. Barely noticed. The number 6 is a number of health, service, community and heritage.
This card of childhood seems to reflect an awareness of the youngest generation. China seems to be planning for a future in which there are fewer ‘young people.’
The population of China has more than doubled since the 1950s. The country was the first in the world to hit one billion people in 1980.
However, in 1979, in an attempt to control the burgeoning population, the infamous one-child policy was introduced, putting controls on how many children Chinese citizens could have.
While the government eventually recognized the negative implications of this policy, it appeared to be too little, too late. The two-child policy was introduced in 2016, but it has not yet reversed the current slowdown in population growth.
Nonetheless. The population of China currently stands c 1.44 billion, more than the populations of the US, Canada, South America, Europe, Australia, New Zealand-and then some. And population growth is slowing in these other regions. Read more HERE
The Six of Cups is usually anything but a warlike card. It has all the ease of a long summer afternoon.
However, it may be worth noting, the beautiful Six of Cups corresponds with the elemental quality of fixed water, and with the second decan of Scorpio 2-11 November. Mighty Scorpio, ruled by Mars and Pluto. The major cards that correlate with this minor card are The Sun and Death. The lower the sun, the longer the shadow, however golden the sunset.
This Sun card connection prompts me to observe that China, in watching Taiwan, does not forget its history with Japan. The United Kingdom, this day, has signed an historic Defence agreement with Japan, also a former ruler in Taiwan.
The playing cards below represent three spreads -three ‘Lines of Five’. The reader is asking, what is the likelihood of China invading Taiwan in 2023, 2024 and 2025?
The reader notes the overall balance of the red suits/black suit cards, then notes the order of the cards, paying particular attention to the central card and the final/prediction card, and then considers the individual card meanings.
A dominance of red suit cards generally indicate a yes answer. A dominance of black suit cards generally indicates a no answer. Why is that? How does that work? Well, it works on self-programming. The reader establishes the ‘code’, telling ourselves that this is the drill, these are the meanings, this is how we’re doing it. With time and practice-or even right away, this instruction to the self starts to function as an inner algorithm.
Row 1 -2023
5 Diamonds/7 Clubs/8 Clubs/ Jack Clubs/ 6 Spades
China’s current priority, as it is being shown here is Business. The economy. This is shown by the central card,the 8 of Clubs. It’s doing well and will only do better in the near future, despite the problems of covid. Why does it seem to get better in 2023? The 98 of Clubs is followed by the Jack of Clubs. NEW business. The 6 Spades signifies progress, recovery fro covid, economic recovery, and boosts in tech and space tech later in 2023. The 6 Spades correlates with the last decan of Aquarius. China has plenty else to be getting on with.
There are 2 King cards in this row. Do they represent Xi himself? The King of Business and Government is looking back at the 9 Diamond of 2023 with a degree of satisfaction. He has chalked up some economic success despite the challenges of covid. But then he hits a rock. Maybe it is a personal health issue. The 8 Spades can mean a hospital. Or maybe it is the public health bill in the aftermath of covid and now it is coming home to roost. Unless, God forbid, it is yet another covid lock-down in 2024.
The final card in the row, the 7 Spades, signifies temptation,frustration,surveillance, and sometimes espionage.
The 7 Spades is also the card that talks about diplomacy and national security. China may find during 2024 that there is a push back from other countries, who have become increasingly anxious that they have allowed China to invest too great a stake in their own national infrastructure.
2 red suit (yes) cards, 3 black suit (no) cards. Likelihood of Taiwan invasion detected as unlikely but possible. That 7 Spades could be provocative. Twitchy.
The first card on this row, the 8 Diamonds denotes power, and a greater economic and social stability. China is rising. But will it be the same China we know right now? The central card, the 3 Spades denotes separation, loss, departure, sometimes death, suggesting that China may see a new leader before the end of 2025.
The second card, the 2 Clubs says it can unify business with Taiwan and in time, this will become a form of mutual governance.
This is the row with the most red suit cards. 3 red suit (yes) cards 2 black suit (no) cards. Likelihood of invasion of Taiwan detected as not highly likely, but somewhat more likely than in either 2023 or 2024.
What cards would most clearly indicate an outright military conflict? I am looking at the central card and also the last card on each of these 3 rows, to see the Ace Spades, Ace Wands, 2 Spades, 10 Spades or even The Joker drawn in either of these positions. None of these have appeared. The closes we’ve come is with the 3 Spades drawn in 2025.
None of which is to say there will be no invasion of Taiwan now or ever. But the signs are not there, indicative that China is ready or prepared to mount such an effort, and nor may it feel the need to, based on the way it sees the wheel turning. And what is its actual military capacity, actually, at this time? Even if it not averse to being seen to flex its muscles in a public invasion of Taiwan’s airspace.
Tarot card: Temperance: Timing, Moderation, Education, Solstice, Healing of Chiron
Public Domain: Rider-Waite
The Astronomy
Source :Wiki
Sagittarius, the zodiac sign inspired by the constellation of Sagittarius, from the Latin meaning Archer, was recorded in the 2nd century by the Greek astronomer Ptolemy.
The constellation of Sagittarius is near the centre of our galaxy, the spiral Milky Way, mainly visible in the southern hemisphere June-November. In the Northern hemisphere the constellation is low on the horizon from August to October.
Sagittarius has a nickname, ‘The Teapot’ on account of its vaguely teapot-shaped star pattern, or asterism.
Cartomancy is fortune-telling or divination using a deck of cards. Forms of cartomancy appeared soon after playing cards were first introduced into Europe in the 14th century. Practitioners of cartomancy are generally known as cartomancers, card readers, or simply readers. Wikipedia
A couple of people on Twitter had asked me to look at this contest for the new PM. Asking me to:
‘Please look at BJ’.
‘What do you see re PM?’
‘Will it go to the members?’
‘Will it be a General election?’
‘What about Graham Brady?’
Events have moved so fast, and I have been away this week, so that I have been posting quick fire readings over on there, and now, with the outcome expected to be announced shortly, am collating and reviewing them here.
I had better declare that I personally, have mixed feelings about this current situation, but am neither strongly pro nor strongly anti the idea of Rishi Sunak as PM though this recent making and unmaking of ‘kings’ does seem to have been conducted as a pretty mean and dirty business. But. That’s politics.
#Cartomancy J Hunt doesn’t seem to be aiming at job of PM as seen through this lens. There’s a new ‘team of 3’, 3 Diamonds/3 Spades/3 Hearts drawn (Who’s the No 3?) JH shown here as King Diamonds (money ‘king’) looking at 6 Diamonds ‘Get this runaway horse back under control.’
I still haven’t figured out the message of the ‘team of 3’. but sure enough, Jeremy Hunt did not enter the contest to be PM.
UPDATE Jeremy Hunt has today, 25 Oct, been reappointed as Chancellor of the Exchequer. I find this interesting in light of other things suggested by the cards, discussed further down the page.
#Cartomancy#Tarot is not about prediction as such but takes left field soundings on a given situation. eg Penny Mordaunt for PM? Line of 5 Ace Diamonds (New PM) 8 Hearts (=Pisces native) 6 Spades/10 Spades/Jack Spades She is sharp but 3/5 Dominance of Spades reads as prob no.
At the time of writing Penny Mordaunt is still in the running but with only 26 nominations. She is hoping that it will go to a member’s vote, and seems confident that if the Conservative party members are given a say, they will choose her over the favourite, Rishi Sunak.
This may be true, while looking highly unlikely. But this is to disregard the fate of Liz Truss who was basically, hounded out of post for a pro-inward investment fiscal policy which the parliamentary party then seized on, contrary to their own traditional fiscal ethos, invoking envy politics as the stick to beat her with, and most effectively.
Liz Truss’s prospects for survival as PM were already widely in doubt back in September. I was shown, rightly or wrongly, that her policy would have started to come good December-March 2023. The Ten of Pentacles showed major inward investment coming into the UK from overseas after the first quarter 2023 or even before. This was some new investment (and I recommend following Jefferson for this kind of news)
But I also ‘saw’ that Liz Truss was being watched by a ‘King of Diamonds’ – this, I think, must have been Jeremy Hunt, who would later be replacing Kwasi Kwarteng, and Rishi, quietly watching and waiting, having become almost invisible after losing the previous contest.
Sometimes one card will be doing two jobs, or saying two different things at the same time.
I had previously forecast here in another recent blog that Liz Truss would win that first contest with Rishi Sunak. I had drawn the Eight of Cups for Rishi, a card which shows someone walking away, off to new pastures.
Clearly, although that forecast was correct in terms of the immediate outcome, that he lost to Liz Truss, he did not wander far at all, but only went to sit in the barn the other side of the pasture, looking out with binoculars, and talking on walkie-talkies to ‘his’ people, dressed as farm workers and passing ramblers.
Plan A didn’t work.
Time for Plan B.
The Rider Waite Smith Tarot
Rishi stayed out of sight, staying clean and out of trouble. But his team were on it.
On a purely personal level, I was not especially pro-Truss. Why not? Lack of stature. But she never had a chance. The choice of Liz Truss was the party members revenge for Rishi’s alleged part in the coup against the elected PM.
The cards reflected what we could all see, that Liz Truss was already in deep trouble by October 3
#Tarot snapshot. Liz Truss today (for those interested in Tarot. This does not represent AN OPINION) Six Swords Reversed. Meaning, progress, exploration, moving on, steering a new course, unknown waters. Drawn Reversed, not in charge, progress halted or delayed, Gilded Tarot
#Tarot Attitude of G Brady re Liz Truss? The Death card. He wants to get her out soonest. Dates c. 23 Oct-22 Nov. Why? King Coins RX. Fiscal. She’s not Rishi (who is also a Taurus subject) GB acting as ‘kingmaker’ but card reversed-ought not be. Beyond the remit/right/paygrade.
#Cartomancy reading of conditions. Gen election before Xmas? Presented as 3/5. New leadership before Xmas? 2 ACES=STRONG poss Oct/Nov. LT hoping to turn corner (+outlast 31 Dec deadline 2 apply rejoin EU) Ace H, 7 D, Queen Clubs=Capricorn dates 21 Dec+ Ace Diamonds (election?)
Whether Liz Truss and Kwasi Kwarteng’s policy would have delivered well for the UK given sufficient time for even half a chance, we can throw rotten potatoes all we like. We can only hypothesize. The markets rule the roost and we shall never know.
Penny Mordaunt will suffer a similar fate should she somehow break through on a members vote, though this is looking highly unlikely, and the cards indicated some days ago, that the new PM would not be Penny Mordaunt.
We will know very shortly if she gets the MP nominations sufficient for a members vote or if the cards showed me correctly on 21 October. (this written here 24 Oct 13:48)
UPDATE
14:00 Penny Mordaunt has withdrawn
This, despite the fact that the astrology at this time is favourable to her- Jupiter, planet of opportunity is returning to her natal sign of Pisces. She may yet be offered another senior role in Rishi’s new government.
Rishi Sunak and Boris Johnson
I drew this spread yesterday afternoon 23 October around 4 PM in response to questions directed to me on Twitter
These were cards drawn 4 h ago Top row, 5 cards=RS Bottom row, 5 cards= BJ. Extra 3 cards pulled for each for clarification. I asked, show any Ace for next PM. Drew Ace Hearts indicated RS. Joker on RS top row- this isn’t the end of the political road or of high office for BJ.
Cards for BJ stronger than 2 days ago but not ‘trumping’- overtaking cards for RS who draws Ace Hearts.
First I looked for Spades cards. Spades can be read as trouble or else as a ‘no’ answer, while discounting the fact that as a Gemini native, Boris Johnson may be personally represented as the air sign King of Spades, when the card is to be read as an entirely neutral personal significator.
Rishi is a Taurus subject, born 12 May 1980. He is a third decan Taurus therefore, famously suave and smooth of tongue. But co-ruled by Saturn, the most ambitious of the Taurus decans. His court card is The King of Clubs, but in his role as a ‘money man’ and former Chancellor of the Exchequer he is also a King of Diamonds.
Spades would help me eliminate one or the other. Neither of them drew Spades cards.
I looked next for Diamonds cards, positive and fast moving. Diamonds indicate a yes answer. Well, Rishi drew one, Boris drew three, including the Ace of Diamonds in his recent past- reflecting the fact that he was already previously PM. summer
It was a bit like looking for spikes on a graph. But these two graph lines were not sufficiently, acutely or tonally differentiated from one another apart from The Joker reversed. More about that in a minute.
Next I looked at the outcome cards.
Boris drew a card of new business, the Jack of Clubs. OK. Well, this is a good, solid action card, and the Jacks describe something new, young or small. Or else they may detect an offer. But the scale of this card was not indicative of anything so monumental as a re-selection to be Prime Minister. I’d have needed to see the Ace or the Ten.
Rishi drew the 3 of Diamonds. Well, that was hardly monumental either but…The THREE. Aha? I think back to that ‘team of three’ message I drew when looking at Jeremy Hunt as Chancellor.
So that’s it. Jeremy Hunt is a Scorpio in Scorpio season, just as we are heading to the eclipse in Scorpio 25 Oct. Steamy Mars energy. Scorpio is secretive, subtle. It can make an excellent spy or detective. He was acting as one of a team of three people working behind the scenes, steering towards this new outcome while at the same time serving as Chancellor for Liz Truss.
(And just confirmed, he is now reappointed as Chancellor for Rishi Sunak. Very smooth and to quote a key word from Rishi’s inaugural speech, how very ‘stable’.)
This is pure speculation of course. This is only cartomancy. But three out of five cards were threes, and that’s rather like the cards shouting, ‘look at this!’
There was something active in process back there. A three sided relationship between Liz Truss, Jeremy Hunt and Rishi Sunak. How pragmatic of the clearly very clever Mr Hunt. Was this his way of stopping that ‘runaway horse’ of the Six of Diamonds?
A not -quite love triangle.
When the UK economy shows signs of recovery, which it will, and always would have done, likely after Christmas- late March 2023 (and nothing is easier than to spook the markets, as we’ve all just witnessed) it will be attributed in retrospect to the ousting of Liz Truss, and to Rishi’s selection as Prime Minister.
Which is not to say that Rishi Sunak won’t make a good Prime Minister. He has high energy and I think is hardworking and well meaning, essentially benevolent. I personally like that about him. But when I looked at that prospect for him …then the Spades cards turned up.
Rishi has lots of Spades cards on his future timeline as PM. Here’s the thing. Spades is clever. Very. But can be narrow. Specialist. Is Rishi more than a clever operator and technocrat? He needs to be broader than that, more of a generalist, or else know how deploy the top talent, which is not to kept on a choke chain. These are dangerous times, not for any fault in Rishi Sunak and just because a card reader has drawn Spades cards, does not mean he may not do very well.
The technocrat thing is a concern, however, as flagged up through the lens of the cards, and there is today a perception, and a fear in some sections of the electorate that ‘the suits,’ ‘the money men’ are now promoted beyond their remit, and will now be running the whole show in plain sight.
Britain’s destiny is a matter that goes way deeper than the cold winds of the global economy. We need visionary leadership. We need a wise, humane but utterly resolute Home Secretary in defending our territorial integrity, and a courageous, supple and visionary Foreign Secretary, for all our sakes.
UPDATE Suella Braverman has just been reappointed as Home Secretary. James Cleverlyhas been reappointed Foreign Secretary. This from Ukraine.
I had a call with my UK counterpart@JamesCleverly who has just been re-appointed to the new government of Prime Minister Rishi Sunak. Governments may change, but the support of our UK friends will remain unwavering for as long as it is needed for Ukraine to win
Back to the cards for the contest.
There was one big clue that Boris was at a disadvantage/would not proceed to a members vote. This was the appearance of The Joker, drawn upside down on Rishi’s line of cards. Why? Because Boris was the antagonist and Rishi perceived him as a threat to his chances until almost the last minute.
Time and again since 2016, I have drawn Boris as The Joker. But for all the buffoon jokes and for all his mistakes, make no mistake. Whatever the appearance of the Joker, this is a serious card. THE card of destiny. The only other card in the deck that can match the spirit, the particular genius and power of The Joker is the Ace of Spades with the Ace of Clubs the closest runner-up.
The Joker, drawn reversed on Rishi’s line was THE clue that the new PM would not be Boris. But I needed one more sign to feel sure about what I thought. I decided to pull more cards.
The cards are drawn blind and totally at random. Or so it appears. But this activity works on self-programming. One must trust that the mind will immediately start working on the question deep down, way below our level of awareness, and will then direct the reader to correctly select the necessary cards, triggered by unconscious physical signals from the central nervous system so that we choose this card but not that card but with no rationale, no conscious explanation of knowing why we do so.
I told myself, ‘show me a new Ace card for whichever one will be the new Prime Minister.’
On the third extra card, I drew an Ace for Rishi Sunak, the Ace of Hearts but no new Ace for Boris Johnson, while his existing Ace of Diamonds was behind him. I concluded from this that Boris would withdraw. It seems that he decided probably wisely, that it would serve no purpose to win the member’s vote if he could not also command substantially more than half of his own MP’s.
Why withdrawal rather than a defeat? The cards of defeat were missing. There was no 2 Spades, 3 Spades, 9 Spades, 10 Spades-and no Ace of Spades.
Boris Johnson chose to keep his powder dry. Perhaps to run again some other day.
By yesterday afternoon Penny Mordaunt had already been left behind in this contest. Where does it say so in the cards?
See that first card on Rishi’s row, the top row, the beautiful Queen of Hearts? That is Penny Mordaunt, a Pisces queen. Follow her gaze. Where is she looking?
Into the past or into empty space.
UPDATE
And now, even as I was writing this up, here we have it, 2:00 PM and the formal announcement. Rishi Sunak is our new PM in the UK.
The sacred chalice is passed.
Over to you, Mr Sunak. Many congratulations and good luck steering this most venerable ship Britannia away from the storms which are battering her, charting a course into brave new waters.
The lonely estate of high office, so hard to perform, so easy for others to criticize.
“It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs, who comes short again and again, because there is no effort without error and shortcoming; but who does actually strive to do the deeds; who knows great enthusiasms, the great devotions; who spends himself in a worthy cause; who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement, and who at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who neither know victory nor defeat.”
No-one knows the answer to this question. I certainly don’t. But what does the Tarot have to say about it? I have looked at the same question in another very recent post, where I used ordinary playing cards. We seemed to be seeing a Russian regrouping with big bumps in the road Oct and Nov and again before Christmas, a new offensive in January, and something big happening in March, and then again by Gemini time, late May-late June.
Last night I asked again, this time working with Tarot, asking, “in what month or year will there be a truce, ceasefire or permanent cessation of military action in Ukraine?”
I drew a single card. This was The Hanged Man- yet another outing for a card which has been jumping out of the deck since the invasion 24 February.
The Hanged Man stands for a waiting game, a state of limbo, an inability to make a decision. Or it can signify a sacrifice for a higher purpose, surrender, letting go, breaking a pattern, metamorphosis, suspension in time, meditation, changing one’s perspective, transcendence.
The Knight of Cups also corresponds with Pisces and The Hanged Man. He is the warrior who is a bringer of peace. He is the bearer of the Grail, of the loving cup or the healing chalice, who may be seen as Siegfried, or as one of the Knights of the Round Table, Lancelot, Galahad or Percival.
He rides along the shoreline, the knight of the liminal spaces.
From The Golden Tarot
Traditionally, the image is associated with a punishment once meted out to traitors in Italy, who were hung upside down by one ankle. Another interpretation is that this ties in with the story of the Norse god Odin. He hung upside down on Yggdrasil, the giant ash tree in exchange for the knowledge of the runes and they came to him in a vision on the ninth day without food or drink. One imagines he also had a mighty headache by that point. But the Tarot has its artistic roots in the courts of northern Italy during the Renaissance.
From the Tarot Illuminati, artist Erik C Dunne
Turn this card the other way up. Does he remind you of someone? Who does he look like? OK. He is not a dead ringer for Zelensky but let’s be reasonable- the Tarot is doing its best.
Tarot is not astrology and I am not an astrologer. However, there is a lot of astrology embedded in the Tarot, and clients have often asked the reader to have a stab at timings, with interesting feedback in respect of results.
In astrology The Hanged Man signifies Pisces, and the dates of Pisces in 2022 were 19 February to 20 March. This card was an apposite reflection of a recent event that had already happened since the invasion happened 24 February
This is what Tarot does- it detects, reflects and projects. Just treat this as a curiosity. I had not predicted the invasion of Ukraine, except that in a general 12 card reading done in December 2021 the Tarot had alerted me to a issue or problem attached to energy supplies from Russia, specifically NordStream 2.
I had also commented in an article published on Ask Astrology in January, that I had misgivings about 2022 on account of a general theme to do with the blurring or crossing of boundaries and borders. This again was connected with the Hanged Man. Its traditional ruler in astrology is Jupiter but its modern ruler is Neptune. Either way, 2022 was promising to be a year of deep waters and seismic events, metaphorically as well as physically. Jupiter goes large. Neptune goes deep.
“John Flamsteed FRS (19 August 1646 – 31 December 1719)[a] was an English astronomer and the first Astronomer Royal. His main achievements were the preparation of a 3,000-star catalogue, Catalogus Britannicus, and a star atlas called Atlas Coelestis, both published posthumously“-Wiki
According to Western/ Tropical astrology, Jupiter is currently retrograde in Pisces and goes direct again 28-29 October-20 December 2022
According to Eastern/Vedic astrology Jupiter will remain in Pisces until 23 April 2023.
Based purely on the appearance of The Hanged Man, we have a range of possibilities here, suggesting that the war in Ukraine will end when:
-Mr Zelensky agrees to make a sacrifice, Hanged Man style, and decides to relinquish the Donbas to Russia. Mr Putin would claim this as a win, and use it as his way out of an increasingly untenable situation, though he or a successor of his same ilk could be back again in time, for another bite of land.
There is no reason why Zelensky should agree to such a thing, since Russia has broken international law and then gone on to commit war crimes. But if the population of the Donbas genuinely were more than 50% pro Russian separatists, might Zelensky decide that Ukraine would do better without them in the long run, given the state of affairs since 2014. Mr Putin after all, *only* wants to protect the 25 million Russians now living outside Russia’s borders in Ukraine and all across the Baltic.
Without Ukraine’s agreement to recognize referendum results held under the current conditions of duress, Putin will be forever fighting to hold on to the Donbas, and that’s no substantive win.
But it’s not a win for anyone else either, and won’t be unless the West can dig itself out of the hole it has got itself into, and continue to say no to cheap Russian gas this winter. If not, this whole thing simmers indefinitely or escalates next spring.
-or the war may end when Jupiter goes direct in Pisces, Tropical astrology style, 29 October-20 December. This seems highly improbable. Putin will want to squeeze the situation as hard as he can over the winter, praying the energy crisis will really bite down on the current levels of western support for Ukraine and leave her naked unto her foe.
-or the war may end during Pisces season, 20 February- 20 March. Saturn enters Pisces March 7, 2023 until May 24, 2025. Saturn is big on the status quo, on law and order, and it is big on boundaries and borders. The aftermath of this war will bring a long period of turbulence in its wake.
-or the war may end c late April 2023, according to the status of Jupiter in Pisces in Vedic astrology.
There’s a feeling of events moving in stages, pointing towards something more conclusive or definitive March/April 2023. Tarot seems to be seeing a ceasefire slightly earlier than was indicated in my earlier cartomancy reading, though not hugely so.
But supposing the fighting stops right now, the political backwash runs high until 2025/2026. There will also be the small matter of reconstruction.
Something to watch for that is happening sooner, is an eclipse in Scorpio 8 November. Eclipses do not signify immediate changes, but historically they announce profound changes. Mr Putin is a Libra sun sign subject with Scorpio rising, and conjunct his sun is the fixed star Algorab, the wing of The constellation of the Crow, merciless and rapacious.
It doesn’t feel as though it bodes at all well for him personally. But Putin is choosing to wage a total war, so that any victory here, whether for Russia or Ukraine is a pyrrhic one.
The west is clearly not blameless either in all this, but it likely doesn’t bode too well for Scorpio subject Mr Biden either, in the US mid term elections 8 November.
What a year, this Chinese year of the Black Water Tiger
-Time is the substance from which I am made. Time is a river which carries me along, but I am the river; it is a tiger that devours me, but I am the tiger; it is a fire that consumes me, but I am the fire.
Let’s take a look through the lens of my lovely of deck of playing cards, printed pre World War 2 or quite a bit earlier, gifted me by my papa, Peter, who got them from his papa, Alexander, a Scot with family ties to Sutherland.
Cards or no cards it seems self-evident the war will end in stages.
-When Russia ceases military aggression. This is Putin’s decision to make.
-When Ukraine desists its counteroffensive. This is the Ukrainian government’s decision to make.
-When an end to the war is mutually declared.
-Russia is now definitely on the back foot but is far from done in terms of its horrific continuing damage potential
The cards below were drawn last night and posted on Twitter earlier today.
When will military aggression end? Not for some months yet. Note 5/10 slow Spades cards. Putin down but not yet out, shown as Libra/Queen Spades, looking to pull a Joker out of the pack but Xi (King Diamonds) is distancing, so is Modi. October/Scorpio-Aquarius key -5 Spades. #Ukraine
The reader pays attention to the balance of suits in the spreads. The suits have their own speed and timings associated with them, as well as astrological correspondences potentially linking them with zodiac signs, decans and just possibly, specific date ranges.
Diamonds indicate hours-days. Diamonds are the speediest but also most unstable and volatile suit. The King of Diamonds, when read in terms of timing is a ‘King of Earth’-astrologically this means Taurus, late April-late May. The Six of Diamonds when read in terms of timing is Leo-August.
Clubs indicate days-weeks. We have no club cards.
Hearts indicate weeks-months. We have here the Eight and Ten of Hearts, both of which relate in terms of astrological timing with Pisces-late February-late March.
Spades indicate months-years. We have here The Queen of Spades, representing Libra season, late October. This central card is also representing Putin himself, as a Libra subject (with Scorpio rising).
Putin is shown here looking back in time at Pisces (8 Cups) The King of Diamonds that he is looking at may be representing President Xi (money man.) Putin had signed a No limits agreement with Xi only 20 days before the invasion. Did Xi know in advance of Putin’s plan to invade Ukraine? Did Putin feel that Xi had given him a ‘nod’ however subtle, based on the idea that this would be accomplished as easily as was the annexation of Crimea in 2014, when the West barely said ‘boo’?
Why might China nod, or at least not try and dissuade him upfront,had he given Xi that opportunity ? The Donbas has lithium fields.
“Geologists call it the Ukrainian shield. That land in the middle which starts from the northern border with Belarus up to the shores of the Azov Sea, in the south of Donbass. According to the studies of the Ukrainian geological service, in the ancient rocks of this shield are hidden lithium deposits with great potential. Findings that have been identified mainly around the area of Mariupol, the port city of Donbass torn apart by Russian bombing.
“This may not be the main reason for the invasion, but undoubtedly Ukraine’s mineral wealth is one of the reasons why this country is so important to Russia,” said Rod Schoonover, former director of the Environment and Natural Resources Section of the U.S. National Intelligence Council.” SOURCE
The Eight of Spades says Putin must withdraw and regroup. This card also means ill health and hospitals. This may mean ill health for Putin himself. Likely, he will also target further hospitals in Ukraine in retaliation for recent defeats, responding to a military defeat with an attack on civilian infrastructure as he has previously done.
The Nine of Spades speaks of sleepless nights. And murdered babies in bombed maternity hospitals- and the rest. This card is traditionally associated with insomnia,grief, worry, and miscarriages or other deaths of children.
But Putin himself is certainly feeling the pressure.The Ten of Spades, aligned with The Joker is speaking of the shock of his recent setbacks in Kharkiv and Kherson.
The Eight, Nine and Ten of Spades, when taken all together, speak of continuing Russian aggression but also setbacks for Putin during Gemini season, 2023.
These are the cards of Gemini in astrology, the Eight is Decal 1, the Nine is Decan 2 and the Ten is Decan 3
The final card is the 5 of Spades, sitting in the spread as a kind of a hinge. The meaning of this card is chagrin, mortification, cruelty and vengeance. This is Putin’s own undoing, though Stalin and Mao got away with a lot more in their time. But the astrological correlation here is Aquarius season, starting in approximately 5 months from this time of writing.
Five out of these ten cards are Spades, suggesting we are looking at several more months at least. The worst scenario card here would be the Ten of Spades, suggesting ten years. But it doesn’t look that way although the legacy will certainly produce enduring consequences.
World War 2 had a staggered ending, ending in Europe 8 May 1945, but ending later in the Far East in Japan, September 1945.
Something of this kind seems likely. The Spades are considerably mitigated by the other cards- although the aftermath of this devastating war will undoubtedly persist for decades to come. Another 5-8 months seems not unlikely, based on these cards. While not ruling out other possibilities.
What seems likely is that unless there is a ceasefire before Christmas- and what incentive does Putin have to consider this- he will be regrouping over the winter to escalate hostilities again in the early spring, hoping that Biden will do the minimum, and that the impending energy supply challenges of this coming winter will wear down and divide Europe, and drastically weaken the support for Ukraine.
He will be praying like hell that we are all as soft, selfish and short-sighted as he thinks we are. So while something interesting does seem to be happening well before Christmas, and as if the events of the last two weeks have not changed the picture already, such that he has now lost critical momentum, Putin seems bound to want to roll that dice of winter, playing that ace card of the NordStream 2.
Meanwhile Zelensky’s card is The Hanged Man reversed. I have drawn it time and again since late February. Gracious me if it doesn’t even actually look like him.
The Tarot Illuminati
This is the Tarot’s way of showing that Zelensky will never surrender. Nor will he be captured. Nor martyred in death, but only in life. Nor will he want to come to the negotiating table. Astrologically, this card is Pisces.
Putin is now a war criminal, casting proud Russia in the role of a rogue state, and both Xi and Modi are increasingly unhappy about it.
Russia has stamina. Russia was never a coward. The West now can’t allow Russia to wipe out Ukraine, or it will be the rest of us next, and that could mean another world war. Ukraine is suffering horribly, but Putin has hung an albatross around his own neck. He is dealing now with the Nightmare life- in- death- and now those cards are dealt.
“Is that a Death? and are there two? Is Death that Woman’s mate?
Her lips were red, her looks were free, Her locks were yellow as gold: Her skin was as white as leprosy, The Nightmare Life-in-Death was she, Who thicks man’s blood with cold.”
– The Rime of the Ancient Mariner
Artist Mervyn Peake
Astrologers note that Jupiter will go direct again in deep water Pisces 24 November 2022. This will be at the end of Scorpio time, and seems the earliest time when an unexpected element (The Joker) may come into play, brokering a cessation.
Key dates/timings to watch purely according to these cards are:
Scorpio 2022 -late Oct-late November
Aquarius 2023-late January-late February
Pisces 2023-late February-late March
Gemini 2023-late May-late June
Some astrologers suggest Putin is not just down, but out by the end of March 2023. I could see this, based on The Hanged Man and the Ten of Cups of the last decan of Pisces 11-20 March.
Putin can’t be seen to lose. But now, he can only win by the dereliction of the US UK and European members of NATO. And unless he then has the resources to hold Ukraine under total subjugation indefinitely, the win would be worthless.
It’s looking like war at varying levels of intensity, for at least another 5 months, unless Jupiter in Pisces magics something up when it goes direct again in late November.
If Putin wins, it’s a Nightmare Life- in -Death for the Baltic, and basically all of Europe including the UK.
But win or lose, and he is probably going to lose, either way for Putin himself, it’s now a poisoned chalice, a Nightmare Life-In-Death.
Photo by u0410u043bu0435u0441u044c u0423u0441u0446u0456u043du0430u045e on Pexels.com
A great national figure, much respected and beloved, not only in her own homeland, but across the world, is carried aloft in the gloom and rain, companioned at every stage by her daughter, carefully borne stage by stage and step by step to the place of her final rest.
While elsewhere …
We can all see what’s on the news. Putin’s invasion of Ukraine has taken a pasting in recent days. Some astrologers are saying the writing is on the wall for him. I don’t disagree but it seems to me, he’s not down and out, he’s not done yet.
A Tarot reader doesn’t know anything others don’t know. It’s not omniscience, nor a ‘spiritual’ thing, whatever that actually means. It’s divination…learning a symbolic language for talking with our ancient mind. I look in the mirror of the Tarot to find out what I feel or think about something at an unconscious or subconscious level, that is all, in a way we were never taught in school.
Tweeted earlier this afternoon 13 September
The Question: what is Putin going to do next? Using The Illuminati Tarot deck.
#Tarot#Putin watch. Purely speculative. The Moon, Danger, uncertainty, 5 Swords defeat mortification. Taking no prisoners (never was.) 3 Cups NB Reversed, kicking cats, shoring up support behind scenes, China skittish. What next? 2 Pentacles. Regroup, double down on land bridge.
He will double down because although Ukrainian victory seems a long way off and far from certain, it is now crossing his mind that they might actually take back the Crimea.
Meantime the Five of Swords is full of spite.
This from The Daily Beast
“Brutal realizations have been raining upon the Kremlin’s top propagandists—and when it rains, it pours. The same pundits who used to threaten NATO countries with nuclear strikes are begrudgingly acknowledging that Russia’s Armed Forces have suffered a series of humiliating setbacks in Ukraine.
Appearing on Russia’s NTV show The Meeting Place on Monday, policy analyst Viktor Olevich surmised: “Unfortunately, the situation is difficult. Can we say that the Russian forces moved closer to meeting the goals and carrying out the tasks set by the president at the beginning of the special operation—or did they get further away? Obviously, we’re now further away.”
Our Queen Elizabeth has died at a good old age. She has been taken away in Virgo season under the watch of the stars of The Virgin, under the planets of Neptune and Jupiter. She, a queen of fixed Earth, a Taurus sun sign subject born 21 April, has been gathered up in harvest time and given back into the keeping of the mutable Earth of Demeter.
Now Elizabeth becomes a different kind of star in the firmament, a chapter between chapters, linking her father George and her son Charles, in a story and in a chain 1000 years long, broken only by the years of the Protectorate 1653-1959, forging the dramatic, complex and sometimes violent history of kingship in these islands.
George never expected or wanted to be king. Elizabeth did not ask or expect to be Queen, or to become Queen so soon and so young. Charles? Now he must change his life, and do it late in life, to assume that added weight of kingship.
Lady Colin Campbell tells us that the Queen died at 14:37 PM on Thursday 8 September.
The State Funeral will be in Westminster Abbey 14 September at 11 AM but then she will be taken to Windsor to lie in the Chapel there.
Elizabeth was crowned Queen of the United Kingdom of England, Scotland,Wales and Northern Ireland and was the Head of The Commonwealth, her unique world legacy after the end of Empire. No other former Empire has created its equivalent.
Much has been made over the years of the Queen’s German blood. But she died in Balmoral, in her beloved Scotland, and was descended on her mother’s side from the beautiful and tragic Lady Glamis, Janet Douglas Lyon.
Lady Glamis was judicially murdered, burned at the stake in Edinburgh Castle in 1537 on charges of treason and witchcraft, cooked up by James v for reasons of personal hatred of her brother, the king’s former regent, Archibald Douglas.
Balmoral 1800-1900 Unknown Author Public Domain
I was watching the live television as the Queen’s body was being driven from Balmoral down to Edinburgh, where it will lie in state tomorrow in Holyrood House.
It brought back personal memories too, of happy times up in Scotland when my own children were small and I was still physically mobile, and eager to show them some of the beautiful places I had been taken by my own parents.
There was something immensely poignant at the sight of the coffin, draped in its red and golden yellow flag, the Royal Standard, leaving the place of Queen Elizabeth’s last happiness. The ghosts there were powerful for her, and now she will be leaving her own ghost.
Princess ‘Lilibet’ 1929
We know Balmoral was a place of many happy memories for the Queen. Being there reminded her, she said, of her childhood, playing in the garden at her mother’s home in Glamis, where the sun always seemed to shine. This is the human experience encapsulated in the The Six of Cups, old family times, old friends, says in the sun. Simpler times, and the timeless moments when we were small and the world seemed full of marvellous mysteries. Well, it was.
The Six of Cups: The Gilded Tarot: By Kind Permission of Ciro Marchetti
But as for happiness:-
“Happiness we can only find in ourselves, it is a waste of time to seek for it from others, few have any to spare. Sorrow we have to bear alone as best we can, it is not fair to try to shift it on others, be they men or women. We have to fight our own battles and strike as hard as we can, born fighters as we are.” -Axel Munthe, The Story of San Michele
Harvest Moon in Pisces
Harvest Moon by Samuel Palmer 1835
The Harvest moon 9 September was brilliant in the zodiac sign of Pisces, the sign of visions, ghosts and dreams, in the Twelfth House of Unknown Destinies.
Pisces is associated in the Tarot with- well, The Moon card.
From The Legacy of The Divine Tarot
This card talks about the cycles of Nature, the power of the wild and the wild creatures, fertility, contagion, danger, high tides, a hunter’s moon. Hear the barking of the dogs and the howling of the wolves.
We are experiencing a Twelfth House event. This is something more than the death of an old lady, however grand, at a good age. It is also the death of something in her people, a link to the past and Britain as it was after World War 11.
As an omen for the Accession of Charles, it is a benign, potentially visionary Full Moon. His vision may outstrip his means or freedom to execute. But at least he has vision.
In The Season of Virgo
The Queen Elizabeth has died in the second decan of Virgo, associated in the Tarot with the Nine of Pentacles, ‘The Lord and Lady of Material Gain’.
This card describes a life that has every appearance of luxury but it has come at great hidden cost. There has been untold personal sacrifice behind the scenes. Personal wishes denied. What has here been sacrificed has been a normal personal freedom, symbolized in the Tarot by the falcon sitting on the lady’s wrist.
The ‘Gilded cage?’ Balmoral was this bird’s escape.
From the Rider-Smith-Waite
Many of us had been inwardly preparing for this news, while hoping that the Queen would get to celebrate her Platinum Jubilee. Hoping that her last months, now that she was living this strange new life without Philip, her husband, ally, friend and companion of 73 years, would not be too greatly darkened by two particular family troubles involving scandals and rifts.
Tarot Predictions December 2021
It is not OK to issue predictions of death. And once upon a time, and for reasons of state security, it was an act of treason, punishable by death, to issue a prediction concerning the death of a monarch.
However I had been expecting we would lose the Queen this year, 2022, based partly on feeling and observation. Many of us will have felt the same. The feelng was also based on what I had seen in the Tarot, and I dropped a broad hint, based on a Tarot reading written up in mid December 2021, which was later published at AskAstrology.com
The cards had indicated it would happen anytime between July 2022 and the end of the year. This was based on the appearance of the Three of Swords drawn against the position I had allocated to the month of July/zodiac sign/House of Leo. The Three of Swords is severance. Leo is the sign of Royalty and also corresponds with high summer-late summer. So this was not quite right, though it was close in respect of the actual timing.
I was working with The Gilded Tarot, and as you’ll probably notice, this deck is pretty well used but I had felt drawn to use it on this occasion.
Extract from the article published December 2021:
Leo:5th House (July-August 2022)
Heartland, creativity, passion, romance, royalty, children
Tarot card~ 3 Swords Reversed
The Gilded Tarot
This is always a challenging card, but is one of those cards that are actually better news, being drawn reversed or upside down. The Three of Swords is about grief, loss, bereavement, arguments, Drawn in the Fifth House, it suggests that tensions between certain countries may ease. On a personal level, we are coming to terms with a family loss, or quarrels may be settling down.
Loss, sadness or disappointment. No-one escapes these experiences. How we deal with them determines whether we learn something new, and grow bigger and stronger, or whether take things personally, and see ourselves as victims and dwell on our grievances, thereby adding to the damage.
Leo is the zodiac House of royalty. There could be national mourning in 2022 for a much loved figurehead.
Public Domain
Other Comments, December 2021
This was a very general reading for the year ahead in 2022, using just 12 cards, in which I was looking for the tone and feel of the coming year 2022, looking out for anything that jumped out as a recurring theme or a spike.
I saw a turbulent year in general in 2022. I sensed deepest waters, seismic levels of trouble. It looked and felt like Moby Dick.
‘Canst thou draw forth Leviathan with a hook?’ -Book of Job
I did not like it. It looked both Neptunian and Plutonian. It still feels like that and I still don’t like it. America too, is in a strange place. But it will start to feel different March- May 2023, and not just because we have come through winter.
I did not, back in December 2021, see the invasion of Ukraine by Russia in 2022. I may do divination but I am not Nostradamus. I commented on risks of invasion, but I was mainly thinking of the Strait of Taiwan. I mentioned a possible breaching of boundaries in February 2022 as signified by The Hanged Man. This card is ruled by Neptune in Pisces and it shows a lack of boundaries. So it was this card, The Hanged Man, that was the clue to Russia’s invasion.
I further commented on likely problems to do with energy and specifically NordStream2.
Like many other people I am anxious about Ukraine, especially with winter coming. But I remain reasonably sure, as I have been since the invasion, that Putin will not succeed in annexing Ukraine. If he does manage it, we will be on a clear road to a pan-European conflagration and another World War.
But the Tarot has consistently shown me a nemesis for Putin, in the shape of the Ten of Swords. Failure. Ruin. A possible Night of The Long Knives.
Illuminati Tarot
Ukraine is right now fighting a fierce counter-offensive in Kherson and Kharkiv. There is much hopeful talk on social media tonight that Putin’s demise is well nigh imminent, people mightily encouraged by events such as this footage of a fleeing Russian tank in Kharkiv Oblast.
Putin is taking a pasting. Municipal councillors in 18 municipal districts in Russia are calling for his resignation,and putting their signatures to it. The Ten of Swords could be coming over the horizon now. But theirs is no longer a functioning democracy. What kind of leader would they get next?
However, for now, Putin is sure to push back hard, says the Four of Swords followed by The Eight of Wands. If the counteroffensive should falter, not for lack of will, but for lack of support, and Putin hangs on and launches back, then we hit winter and then, should Europe bail on Ukraine, then for all the courage of the Ukrainians, Russia COULD still get Ukraine under its hammer. Confronted with certain failure, Putin could decide to try and send us all to Kingdom Come if only to spite everyone. He’s not mad. But he is shameless, and he dare not, and cannot be seen to lose at home, which makes him exceedingly dangerous. And Biden is not strong.
It still looks most likely that it is Putin who will fail, and Lukashenko with him, but I don’t expect it’s going to happen quite yet. Some astrologers however, suggest his collapse is imminent.
The dates that correlate with the cards do not necessarily match up with the card meanings. President Putin is in trouble. But if he gets through this patch, then the Ten of Swords may be seeing that he will be in heap big trouble by or before late Gemini time, 2023, 11- 20 June.
For now, although the Ukrainians are giving the Russians a richly deserved kicking, while unearthing new horrors all the while, Putin is still looking confident that he knows who he is dealing with. That ‘we’ softies, we self-indulgent pampered degenerates in Europe are the real antagonist, and that we won’t take the pain required to defeat him. That we’re soft, that we’ll fold, and leave Ukraine naked unto his vengeance, and he has shown himself utterly bestial. ‘All’ he has to do is take a financial hit himself, and keep turning off the gas taps.
The Pisces Full Moon said that we are living in a Twelfth House moment. A Destiny moment. It clearly is.
The ghosts in these lands are louder than usual right now, and not just in these lands, while we reckon with our memories, ancestral, shared, and deeply personal.
“We know that we are going to die, in fact it is the only thing we know of what is in store for us. All the rest is mere guesswork, and most of the time we guess wrong. Like children in the trackless forest we grope our way through our lives in blissful ignorance of what is going to happen to us from one day to another, what hardships we may have to face, what more or less thrilling adventures we may encounter before the great adventure, the most thrilling of all, the Adventure of Death.”
Painting Andrea Camassei 1635, Museo del Prado
True Tarot Tales 