Let’s take a quick look at the Numerology of 2024. The key numbers of this year are 2, 0, 4 and 8. Why 8? This is the number we get when we add up the digits. You’ll notice we have a dominance of even numbers: 2, 4 and 8; all of them divisible by 2.
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This is all about creating or protecting our stability during a time of great shifts, but the 0 stand for the wild cards at work in our lives. Births and rebirths, literally or metaphorically. Zero is the most numinous number, or non-number. Originally invented as a placeholder, The Fool card in the Tarot stands for Wyrd or Destiny, and is the greatest mystery of all the cards in the deck.
The Major Arcana card representing the Number 8 is Strength. This card correlates with Leo, which like Aries, is also ruled by Mars. This card stands for health, strength and courage. This is both physical and moral strength, resilience and fortitude, the kind that says we don’t give up. The one who wins is the last one standing. “Tomorrow is another day.”
There are no easy answers. We will all be tested this coming year, guaranteed, and this will be collectively and personally. This is not a quiet cycle we are in, the whole world is feeling it, and we may not come out of this cosmic wash-cycle that began in 2019/2020 until February 2026 when Saturn quits Pisces for the final time in this current cycle of transits.
When I look at Ukraine’s President Zelenskyy, time and again I draw The Hanged Man reversed, signifying either significant Pisces timing and/or an unwanted compromise that is ultimately reached. This card of Pisces points out that Saturn moved into Pisces in March 2023 and does not finally move out of Pisces until February 2026. This does not mean the war can’t end sooner. The Hanged Man could indicate Pisces season 2025, possibly triggered by events around the time of the eclipse in Libra season 2024. As ever, only time will tell. The reader is always “looking in the glass darkly.”
I have been struck by the physical resemblance to Zelenskyy of this card from The Tarot Illuminati deck. This card below, I drew in a reading for Zelenskyy back in March 2022. I was looking to see if Russia would succeed in assassinating him, as we understood Russia was trying to do at that time, and the feeling was no. The cards showed he will come through all this, but emerge a very different man. Not defeated, not diminished but disappointed. Reading between the lines, Russia’s President Putin will get away with far more than justice says he rightfully should, although much less than he wants.
We are all desperate to see an end to the darkness of the wholesale horror we are witnessing in Ukraine and in Gaza. There could be crucial turning points in these and other conflicts (and also in personal matters) around 14 February, around the solar eclipse of 8 April, during Leo/Virgo season- July and August, and again, around the solar eclipse in Libra, 2 October (ruled by Venus, cards 2/3 Swords- diplomacy/severance) and again towards the end of the year in Sagittarius around Christmas Eve, 24 December 2024, though this last date could likewise prove very tricky.
My cards have not so far seen a second term of office for Donald Trump. I first looked at this in 2021, looking to see signs of a second term after the Capitol Riot.
But nor are they showing me a second term for Joe Biden. I will be looking more closely at this later, as will twenty gillion other readers and astrologers. Some Vedic astrologers do say it will be Trump.
May-June could prove the most productive and easygoing months this coming year when Jupiter moves from productive Taurus into agile arch-communicator Gemini.
The April solar eclipse in Aries suggests a window of opportunity, bold decisions finding ways forward, and at a personal level for any of us, but especially for the Aries native or those with Aries rising, brave new initiatives in prospect.
The tarot card of this eclipse at 19 degrees of Aries is the expansive, outgoing and far seeing Three of Wands.
The possible negative interpretation of this card is the clear and present danger and obvious potential in 2024 for an escalation of maritime aggression in any of these areas: the Black Sea, the Red Sea, the Straits of Hormuz, in the South China Sea or the Straits of Taiwan.
This is a twitchy year and the very end of the year may prove the trickiest time.
Image from The Legacy of The Divine Tarot.
First comes the vision, but planning, co-operation and timing is everything. We are equal to these challenges, and we can achieve more by approaching our most personal problems with an attitude of kindness and respect. The lady in the Strength card does not subdue the lion by killing it. This card references an old story, Una and the Lion from Edmund Spenser’s 16th-century poem The Faerie Queen. Una is the daughter of a king and queen who have been imprisoned by a dragon. Most unfortunate.
Una undertakes a quest to free her parents, but on her journey she encounters a lion. Rather than eating her, the lion is so captivated by Una’s innocence that he follows her instead, accompanying her as a protector, and in the painting by William Bell Scott, Una gently rests her fingers in the lion’s mane, as they make their way together through the autumnal wood.
But the lion is not going her to kill her, either. She calms its threat by holding her nerve, moving decisively but quietly, and using a carefully measured restraint with the lightest touch.
Image from The Gilded Tarot.
This is a year of gravitas. We are changing, and we are feeling that change. There is a sense of a greater self discipline, but also striking out in a new direction, expanding our lines of vision, enlarging our horizons as per the Three of Wands. We are starting new things or revisiting old things and re-imagining them anew.
These are just seeds or buds in 2024. We won’t see the results this year, but we are changing direction. The particular nature of this, and the life departments it will affect will depend on our own natal charts.
Jupiter is on our side in 2024, and he can be a big old bully. But Jupiter is also “the bringer of jollity.” People need to eat, but they also need beauty. They need laughter and they need other people. Jupiter keeps it large, and Jupiter in Gemini can be a big fat beautiful butterfly, the symbol of Psyche, the soul.
Airy, breezy, airy pollinator of renewal of the richness of the earth of Taurus, Jupiter enters Gemini 25 May 2024 and stays there until 9 June 2025. This can be all manner of good news, with April, May and June are the most promising months for communications, networking, teaching, publishing, business, study, travel and progress in the most general terms.
Jupiter in Gemini is endlessly curious and enquiring. Jupiter is however, in detriment in Gemini, meaning that Jupiter is opposite the sign of Sagittarius where it is exalted (most naturally at home.)
There could, in politics and geo-political conflicts, be a lot of dithering, delaying and fair- weathering.
But even so, Jupiter in Gemini may bring better things to the world, while the Aries Eclipse in April is an even bigger hitter this year. Big and brave. What brave new stories shall you be creating this coming year?
IMG Abstract: Sagittarius. Own image in watercolour and pen
We’re in the second decan for just a few more days, till the New Moon in Sag 12 December, represented in Tarot by the Nine of Wands.
The keywords here are vigilance and stamina. This figure, stalwart but injured, is resting, battle weary. The second decan Sagittarius native is quick of mind, good with their hands, adventurous, technically proficient, Sagittarius-Aries fire. More generally, this card says we would rather not go it alone. But we’ll do it if we have to. Oh yes. And we’re not done. Oh no. We’re still standing, and we are standing by. Sentinels. Watchmen. Ready. You won’t catch us with our guard down.
Neptune has gone direct in Pisces as of 6 December, having been retrograde since 30 June. We might have been having some mighty odd and vivid dreams just lately. In my own case, there has been a rather entertaining spate of dreams involving raccoons popping up in odd places, possibly reflecting symbolically tricky dealings to do with certain matters. The raccoon can warn against dealing with tricky people and those who aren’t dealing straight with us, wearing its little bandit mask. The raccoon has positive associations too, of course. The raccoon is agile, and endlessly resourceful.
But it’s curious where these things come from. And I wouldn’t mind but we don’t even have raccoons where I am (in the UK, North West W England) I can’t just put it down to watching nature programmes on the box either.
Things have been heavy going in recent months for almost anyone. Something has been weighing heavy on our minds for some time. Problems for which there can be no solutions as such. We’ve just had to do the best we can, maintaining a holding position, and trying meanwhile not to make matters worse.
The New Moon in Sagittarius 12 December suggests new possibilities, and a clearer way ahead. And don’t we all wish that for the whole wide world. Looking into my cards for 2024 there are no clear signs of a lasting resolution in the dreadful conflicts and events in Ukraine and in Gaza. Though there are windows of opportunity, and perhaps I will write more about that later.
But right here, right now, says this card is our individual power of action in our own, personal battles.
The New Moon on the 12 December is in 20 degrees of Sagittarius. We might get the strong urge to go somewhere new, learn something new, change our horizons, however vicariously. Even reading a book is a form of travel. Reading rolls up telepathy, mind reading, space travel and time travel all in one page. Each page a magic carpet.
There are so many sad events, and we might well ask ourselves, what use is philosophy? What use is poetry? (Or Tarot)
We are made that way. Words can lift us up. Why else do we conjure special words for births and weddings and funerals? Words are invocations. Words are comforters. They can help us readjust and regain our equilibrium when everything is dark. Words contain the magical power of Wyrd. We get the word weird from Wyrd, meaning mystery and destiny.
Word. Weird, Wyrd. They are all the same thing.
“I will lift mine eyes up to the hills from whence cometh my help.”
-Psalm 121
The higher we can go, the more bearable or at least, immediately manageable things are when the going is really tough. We don’t have to be religious to feel the truth of this.
“The best thing for being sad,” replied Merlin, beginning to puff and blow (on his pipe. “is to learn something. That’s the only thing that never fails.”
Halloween is designated the season of ghosts. Why is that? We can encounter a ghost any time of year.
But there is an especially potent natural reason for the ghostly season. Halloween or All Hallows Eve is celebrated 31 October each year, marking the cross- quarter of the year, half-way point between the autumn equinox in the northern hemisphere, and the winter solstice, which in 2023 will occur on Friday 22 December.
Halloween began as a pre-Christian Iron Age festival 2000 years ago among the various peoples of Britain and Northern Europe popularly known as the Celts.
In parts of Britain and the Republic of Ireland Halloween is still called Samhain (pronounced Sow-an, from Gaelic/Irish meaning ‘summer’s end.’)
This is a critical turning point of the year from an ancient survival point of view: food production, harvesting and storage as the days grow shorter, the nights longer, vegetation decays, temperatures drop – and more people get sick. We are now in the zodiac sign territory of Scorpio, and the Tarot card correlating with Scorpio is the Death card.
From Halloween in the Anglo-sphere to Alf-blot (Elf Blood) in Scandinavia, to The Day of the Dead in Spanish speaking countries, the period 31 October – 3 November is a festival marking the end of the harvest season.
Russia does not celebrate Halloween as such. It is not recognized by the Orthodox Church, though it has been gaining popularity among young people since the 1990’s.
In France, again, Halloween is not a traditional festival, though certain elements may be catching on nowadays, cultural imports in the twentieth century. But La Toussaint or All Saints Day, is a widely celebrated national holiday celebrated on the first of November.
Now we are preparing for the decay of vegetation, the coming darkness, the time of hibernation of many animals, and the hardships of winter. This is a natural time to be marking the remembrance of the Dead.
Do I believe in ghosts? I have had some deeply strange encounters, and met enough perfectly sensible people who have told me their stories, and had no reason to doubt their common sense, and the validity of their account.
What is a ghost? We have the dictionary definition:
“Now chiefly, an apparition of a dead person which is believed to appear or become manifest to the living, typically as a nebulous image and attempting to right a wrong done in life; this sense of the word is recorded from late Middle English.
The word is recorded from Old English (in form gāst) in the sense ‘spirit, soul’, and is of Germanic origin; the gh- spelling occurs first in Caxton, and was probably influenced by Flemish gheest”. – Source
But the question still remains, what is a ghost, really? Are they sentient? Do they know they are there? Do they have intent? Or are they some kind of an echo? Do they know who they are- or were? Do they know who we are? What do they want?
I recommend reading up about the Cambridge archaeologist and paranormal researcher Tom Lethbridge T.C. Lethbridge
The Moon card
The Tarot card that in a reading can suggest a vivid dream, a vision, a psychic or supernatural experience or even a ghost is The Moon card. And this Halloween, we have only just passed through a Full Moon lunar eclipse. Perhaps you have been experiencing unusually vivid dreams.
From The Gilded Tarot Royale, illustrator Ciro Marchetti
This time of year represents a ‘liminal’ space, a threshold – a doorway of some kind, an ‘in-between’ space between outside and inside, one room and another, or between summer and winter, night and dark, and therefore symbolically, between Life and Death.
Being half-awake or half-asleep is an ‘in-between’ state of mind or consciousness, when we are might have a powerful frightening or psychic dream experience or even experience sleep paralysis, traditionally known as a visit from The “Night Hag” aka The Mara, as portrayed in a famous painting in its several variants, The Nightmare by Henry Fuseli.
This is a not uncommon experience that can occur when the brain is in-between deep and lighter sleep stages. The person thinks they are awake when they are not. There is a strong sense of threat, a malevolent presence, and they cannot move a muscle to defend themselves. I have experienced it myself, very unpleasant. Read here for the scientific medical explanation.
The Death card bears the Rider of the Pale Horse who comes for one and all. But the white rose is a symbol of the sanctity of life, and is a promise of resurrection.
A True Ghost Story
Some years ago, my phone rang one Saturday night, about 8 PM, a lady calling from Preston, about ten miles away from where I live. She had found my number in the psychic pages of the online telephone directory, and she wanted a psychic medium.
Note. I have never advertised as a psychic medium, but there is no separate listing for Tarot readers who are frequently listed under that same heading, along with astrologers and clairvoyants.
This lady was calling to ask me to come over to her house. Right now, please! There was ‘something’ in the hallway and it was blocking the stairs. She, her partner and the children were huddled in the sitting room with the door shut, too terrified to leave the room.
I could not go in person, sadly. Nor do I advertise such a service. But there are others who do. I gave her the name and telephone number of a local lady who specialized in clearing ‘haunted houses,’ -I didn’t know her but she had positive reviews, and meantime I reached for my cards, asking the lady what exactly had happened?
Her youngest child had been upstairs, she told me, when an invisible lady started whispering in her ear. The child panicked. Then her siblings panicked. Then the mother panicked too, and so did her partner.
Now there was something outside the sitting room door; a cold spot, a moving shadow.
I asked, what had this invisible lady said to the little girl?
The caller said, the ghost told her youngest child, her hair was very pretty.
I was looking through my cards while we were talking. This figured. The cards confirmed a benign presence – or influence. A grandmother?
The cards also indicated the lady on the other end of the phone had been under a lot of strain. I asked about this, and she confirmed a prolonged period of acute financial and other worries. Her mother had died three years earlier, and she was still missing her, really quite badly. But, she said, the littlest child was too young to remember her grandmother. Why, the lady wondered, if the ghost was her mother, had her mother not talked to her, but instead to the child, she had never known in life?
It was because the little girl happened in that moment to be the one tuned in on the ‘right’ wavelength to receive such an incoming message. The little girl had ESP in other words, and was hyper sensitive to atmosphere. This was why she alone had heard it. If there was a ghost, if the grandmother was still around, then she was tuning in to the living, seeking to deliver comfort to the mother who was her child.
The little grand-daughter was the most receptive conduit.
First things first. The lady had called to ask for help. I had given her the number of a reputable medium but she needed support right now, and help to restore order in the household.
To do this she needed to assert herself and reclaim her territory, ‘psych it out’, and show the children it was safe to go anywhere in the house.
The living can talk to a ghost, or say boo, just as it can say boo to us.There was no nastiness in these cards. If there had been, then the living can use aggression too. And tell the presence to GET GONE.
This presence was not nasty. Or at least the original one was not. But it was not wanted. I suggested that she tell the family, ‘it’s all gone now’, open that sitting room door, put lots of lights on, go herself down that hallway, alone if need be, put the kettle on, serve up something for supper. Light, movement and noise will shatter such a spell, and fear is contagious and feeds upon itself.
I later heard directly from the medium whose number I had given the lady. The lady gave her my number. The medium and her team had gone to the lady’s house next day, taking with them an array of electronic equipment. The medium confirmed there was an old lady’s ghost in the house, that it was the grandmother, and that the mother’s state of stress had called the ghost forth. The ghost had behaved in character, affectionately, but since the child had been startled, and then the mother had reacted with fear, everyone became frightened, and the thing took on an unpleasant aspect. The medium said that now the mother was consciously aware of it, the house should stay quiet now.
No suggestion of judgement attaches to the lady’s handling of the situation by the way. None whatsoever. Fear was and is a natural reaction to such an inexplicable experience. But if it happened again, now that she had some kind of explanation, however questionable, and reassurance that it was not malevolent, she could choose a more controlled and matter of fact response, whilst not dismissing the child’s experience.
“The Mind has many corridors” – Emily Dickinson
Psychic author Cassandra Eason has written a book with advice for parents with psychic children available from a range of second hand book sellers online.
From my point of view, since I had never spoken with this lady medium myself before her visit to the house, but had simply provided contact details, I was interested that my tarot and this lady, this psychic medium, had detected virtually identical stories.
The power of the physical, the element of Earth, is the power of the living moment, here and now. We are exalted in the Earth. We take in air. We take up space.
From The Gilded Tarot
This time is ours. Our inheritance of Earth. Our ace card in otherworldly dealings, the Ace of Pentacles. A nice cup of tea? How about a biccie? Fed the cat. Take the dog a walk.
RIP Mam who wrote this poem (23 December 1939- 27 February 2023)
I saw my darling mother’s ghost just once, the day after she died in her own bedroom at home, released from hospital on end of life care. A movement caught my eye and there it was, a faint cloud, a movement on the turn of the stairs.
But she did not linger long. She was out and through “the valley” by the tenth day, and smiling up at hills the other side, clouds chasing sunlight across the tops. A child of the Pennines always. I reckon she has found her way to her own perfect heaven.
Life is for living. But Time is not linear. There is much wisdom in superstition, and we give thanks this All Souls season and every day, for the time we have shared with all those we have loved, who have gone on before us.
Scorpio is the season of Halloween, when the sap drops, the leaves fall. The year is dying in front of us. Scorpio in the Tarot is represented by the Death card, and this is the reason why.
Next stop, the winter solstice.
This autumn/fall’s eclipse season means the partial solar eclipse, New Moon in Scorpio 25 October 2022, and a lunar eclipse at the Full Moon in Taurus, 8 November 2022.
Eclipses have been viewed as omens or portents since ancient Mesopotamia, and doubtless, long before that.
They announce momentous changes, unfolding over the next two weeks-six months.
What could this eclipse season mean in terms of real life events over the next six months?
The Astronomy
Like the Full Moon, a New Moon happens at a particular point when the sun and moon have the same ecliptic longitude and this can be measured down to the exact second that it happens.
On the day of the New Moon we don’t see the moon. It is too close to the sun, rising and setting with the sun. The night sky is darker, making the New Moon an ideal time of the month to see other celestial objects more clearly.
A solar eclipse is seen when the Moon passes between Earth and the Sun, blocking Earth’s view of the Sun, totally or partially. This latest one 25 October blocked our view of the sun by about 25%.
A lunar eclipse is seen when the Moon moves into the Earth’s shadow. This can occur only when the Sun, Earth, and Moon are exactly or very closely aligned and the Earth is in between the other two, which only happens on the night of a full moon.
The Astrology
23 October we entered the zodiac sign Scorpio, named after the constellation of Scorpius with its alpha star, the Heart of the Scorpion, red Antares, the rival of Mars/Ares.
October’s New Moon on the 25th was also a partial solar eclipse in sun Scorpio.
In astrological terms, this signified the advent of an intense period, opening new doors and bringing fated changes into our lives.
This is not a time for making big decisions or taking risks with our wealth, health and personal relationships. This New Moon eclipse can come with a sting in its tail…taking that chance or forcing that situation, pushing that envelope might look OK right now…
The sting comes later.
Astrology advises us to be especially careful with financial, land and property dealings around the time of this eclipse, and for the following couple of weeks.
This Scorpio sun eclipse will be followed by a Taurus lunar eclipse. The two will work together in their effects- which will be to do with our security, finances, food and comfort in a deeply unsettled world where aspects of the past have been coming round again, including the ghosts of the world wars.
Eclipses announce turning points. Their effects are deep, not felt at once but over a longer period. This October, that means the next two weeks until the following lunar eclipse in Taurus 8 November, or over the next six months until the next solar eclipse in Aries, 20 April 2023.
But other planetary factors are also in play during the rest of October and November.
The Saturn-Uranus square
This is a big feature in astrology during the past two years and only becomes more influential throughout the rest of October and November into December. We’ve been living with Saturn square Uranus for nearly two years, with respite when the planets have separated due to retrogrades.
This big, difficult planetary square goes exact this month so will be at its most intense from now and through November, when the square starts to separate in December 2022. There will likely be a cooling off, then, however temporary, of the conflict in Ukraine.
The Saturn square Uranus influence is challenging, full of contradictions. On the one hand there is history, tradition, duty and order. On the other, there is innovation in technology, but also rebellion and chaos.
On a collective level, this means continuing tensions, disruption and instability on the world stage, on our streets and in our personal lives, continuing well into November at least. Human society in general is in a strange, disordered place, almost hysterical, like ants running about all over the place, not quite knowing what they’re meant to be doing.
This is something that has been observed to happen from time to time in human history, particularly during the first decades of a new millennium. It will start to pass off again. Some astrologers suggest in 2026. Others think sooner. But big changes are happening. The world is reordering its axes of power and influence in a new Aquarian high tech era. This is a time for resilience and robustness on the one hand, and circumspection on the other in counterbalance the shocking speed of change. I remember in 1990, telling students about this new ‘thing’ that was coming- the ‘Information Super Highway’. But we didn’t know what it looked like yet.
It was the Internet.
Mars stations retrograde in Gemini
Fiery action planet Mars has been transiting airy Gemini since 22 August but it goes retrograde 30 October.
This may turn up the heat in trade and communications including politics. This will affect the city of London which is ruled by Gemini.
A few short days ago it meant I was wondering, could Liz Truss survive as Prime Minister beyond this date?
As it turned out, Liz Truss could not survive as PM even until this date, with another three days still to go.
This eclipse season is going to be a bumpy ride. Fasten your seat-belt, avoid making life changing decisions, and especially avoid confrontation until the timing is more favourable after 8 November- and delay it longer if you can.
We also need to avoid gossip. Gemini is a chatterbox, but when it is in Mars retrograde, this isn’t friendly chatter and misunderstandings will easily arise. Things may not be what they seem. Switch off the television and social media if it all gets too much. Very likely, it will.
The Tarot
Author’s own image, The Legacy of the Divine Tarot, Ciro Marchetti
The Water Element
Three out of five cards are water element cards, Cups card, dominating the mood and feel for the period between now and mid-November. (The Hanged Man, King of Cups and Two of Cups drawn reversed.)
The court card designating Scorpio in particular is The King of Cups, though he will also stand for a Pisces or Cancer subject, usually male, though not necessarily.
From The Illuminati Tarot
Scorpio is a water sign and looks set to deliver according to its deep and secretive cosmic personality. The water element was the key theme in the predictions for 2022 in general as published here at Ask Astrology in January. 2022 has been a tsunami of challenges. These are mysterious, dangerous and unstable times for the whole world.
We also predicted a more than usually high risk of extreme flooding for 2022.
Sadly, the reality has meant catastrophic flooding in Pakistan, and also in Australia, in Victoria, New South Wales and Tasmania only six months after the disastrous east coast flooding in March and April.
The Hanged Man
In general terms this card represents a time of withdrawal, of solitude and introspection. It can be indicating that we are looking at a situation the wrong way round. Maybe we need to take another look and think again. Sometimes we realize that something isn’t working like it used to. It hasn’t been working for some time now but we don’t see a way to fix it. Perhaps it can’t be fixed. Then we can either accept it for what it is and make the best of it. Or we let it go. Surrender it. The Hanged Man is doing some deep thinking.
The reader has come to associate this tarot card with President Zelensky in particular when looking at world events. Astrologically The Hanged Man corresponds with the zodiac sign of Pisces. I am very concerned for him, though here comes better news to offset the bad news. Jupiter, the giant planet of opportunity is re-entering Pisces 28 October 2022, moving retrograde until it turns direct on 23 November 2022. It then goes direct, moving forward in Pisces until it heads into Aries on 20 December, 2022.
What does this mean in practical terms?
Jupiter is known as the Greater Benefic. Jupiter can be a bully, king of the gods, but it is happy in Pisces, even when retrograde.
President Zelenskyy is an Aquarius subject, an air sign king, and he has been well served by an ability to emotionally detach himself during critical decision making in moments of crisis. This does not mean he does not care. Far from it. But this is what has made him such an effective leader, but this detachment may fail him from time to time, when dealing with an adversary who is operating at a primeval level, caring nothing for the damage he entirely deliberately inflicts on non combatant civilians. This new Pisces season, may be something of a personal struggle for President Zelenskyy on this long haul.
President Biden is a Scorpio subject, with mid term elections falling on the lunar eclipse and a potential money nemesis in Taurus.
Putin has Scorpio rising. The implications of this, I do not find welcome, though the prospect of an eclipse now kicking in over the next six months would be a massive relief to a very great many people who just want to go home and live their lives.
This influence is bold and expansive, opening new doors. This is a powerfully positive aspect for growth and new opportunities in any area of life, especially if there was something that we started back in May 2022. It could finally start to move forward between now and Christmas.
The King of Cups
This court card is representing the zodiac sign of Scorpio itself, sitting centrally in the reading. This is a curious coincidence, given the focus of this reading which is the eclipse in Scorpio, but then again, that is just typical of the Tarot.
UPDATE 2/112022
Curiously, this card could stand for President Erdogan of Turkey. He is a Pisces subject, a water sign king. This figure is deep. He isn’t particularly talkative but he can be relied on for sound, calm advice.
In this instance, his personal intervention has helped restart grain shipments from Odesa which Russia had blockaded again, although Russia has still attacked a civilian cargo ship and killed two of its crew.
In a personal reading he will often represent a father, husband or mentor.
Additionally, the King of Cups followed by the watery Two of Cups reversed shows that Scorpio subject President Biden is in for a tough mid-term election 8 November and the Democrat Party may be weakened in Congress.
The Two of Cups
In Ukraine we had a temporary pause, de-escalation and standoff- (The Hanged Man) But only temporary.
What will be the final outcome? What seems likely is that Russia will escalate again, but end up with far less than Putin was aiming at he started this war. But that Hanged Man can’t discount the possibility that Russia may still end up getting more than simple justice says it should.
When? The Hanged Man suggests that there could be an end to the Russian attacks on its neighbour 2023- late February-late March, but this does not mean the end of the consequences, which will be politically long lasting and far reaching.
The Two of Pentacles could mean a ceasefire in late December. This card correlates with the first decan of the zodiac sign of Capricorn, approx 21 -31 December. This may be due simply to weather conditions rather than an attempt at resolution.
These are indisputably dangerous times, this second half of October month especially, although the cards have not shown a nuclear catastrophe.
resident Putin is subject to at least one rather significant check on his freedom of action in the shape of the newly reelected President Xi.
The Two of Cupsreversed
This card correlates with the first decan of the zodiac sign of Scorpio= the first ten days of Scorpio.
This card of diplomacy is drawn reversed, reflecting the fact that President Zelensky is not ready to engage in talks with Russia, though President Putin has recently made a few noises to the effect he might be open to talks via third party mediation.
The cards weakly signal a small range of possibilities as to when there will be a ceasefire, including just before Christmas 2022, decans 2 and 3 of Capricorn, then into Aquarius 2023 and Pisces into Aries, by or before March-April 2023.
But a whole new escalation of crisis seems likely meantime, and this could come any time during this eclipse window between now and 8 November, or then again, in late December.
For us personally, what can be achieved between now and mid- November? Deep changes are happening now, whether these are personal or professional. The Hanged Man and the King of Cups are visionary cards. This might not be the time to act on them.
But something is stirring, and when the time is right, big changes will be happening, some driven by circumstances beyond our personal control but others, definitely created by us.
So much for the water cards. New readers will often discuss the water cards in terms of how lovely they are, and healing, and sensitive, beautiful, ‘spiritual’ and emotional. And they can be. But great emotions will just as readily wreak great turmoil. There are floods. There are storms at sea. Sometimes tsunamis.
The fixed water sign that is the Scorpion of the zodiac is ruled by Mars and Antares. It doesn’t freeze. It may steam. It may gently simmer. But it may scald. It may boil.
This is fiery Mars energy. The Three of Wands is great news for global business or launching an enterprise, but the card has been drawn reversed. There could be snags or delays with exports, imports and deliveries, whether we are sending them or expecting to receive them. If we’re going off on foreign travels we had better treble check every single travel document and take out comprehensive insurance cover.
Any renewal of escalation in Russia’s aerial attacks against civilians in Ukraine would seem most likely to happen around this time, 23-30 October and the following few days, but this does not mean that it WILL happen.
Tarot shows the human weather conditions, but no reader can claim to see ‘the future.’
What the cards do is detect, reflect and project past, present and possible future events and the reasons for them, glimpsing hints of the most and least likely possibilities.
Two of Pentacles reversed.
This card is about juggling finances and options and is talking about the continuing global economic situation which seems likely to continue more volatile than usual until Christmas (Capricorn).
Personal Hints
The Hanged Man
This card requires us to recognize that we are not in control of some situations. There are times we just need to go with the flow. This is a time to watch, wait and reflect. This is not a time to push an issue. If in doubt, as always, it is probably wisest to do nothing.
The Two of Coins reversed
We probably need to take things a bit easier this month. We’re rushing about juggling time, energy and finances. We are spreading ourselves too thin, and need to reconsider our priorities. This also means looking for where there is money wastage e.g.; with standing orders and subscriptions we may have forgotten that we even had, looking for easy ways to reduce financial wastage and tighten the budget.
The King of Cups
This king is the court card associated with the zodiac sign of Scorpio but more generally stands for any mature man born under one of the water signs, Pisces Cancer or Scorpio. Maturity demands that we learn to exercise our best judgement and self-control even when feelings are running high. That’s the best policy this eclipse season- but there is plenty of scope for enjoyment with the King of Cups. When he represents a life partner or a potential new partner, he is deep, devoted- and passionate.
The Three of Wands reversed
This eclipse is not the time to launch-well, anything really. A work or business plan or project may require more planning and research before it’s ready to go, or there could be tensions within a small group or a team at this time.
Easy does it. When this card is drawn the right way up, it’s time to go for it. But right now, we need a bit of a rest. Scale back. Reschedule. Turn the volume down. Nothing constructive is likely to be achieved at this time by rushing.
The Two of Cups reversed
This card appears to be detecting the upcoming Venus in Scorpio transit, 23 October and it’s talking about relationships and money for the next six months. The Two of Cups is about love relationships and friendships. Scorpio is about passion. The card has been drawn reversed so things could go either way, or both ways. On the plus side, we could be in for a truly wonderful time with our loved one, or we could meet someone we are very attracted to. On the other hand, the intensity might be welcome or it might not.
Admirers can be obsessive when Venus is in Scorpio, whether we feel the same way or not. Beware unwanted admirers and be careful how much information you share with other people.
When it comes to existing relationships, the Two of Cups says Venus in Scorpio can bring power struggles and money concerns out into the open. How money is spent or invested is about to become an intense point of focus in partnerships where financial resources are shared.
Venus in Scorpio is powerful stuff. Allure, sexual desire, lust for power or wealth. Secrets.
This is looking like an especially profound and powerful eclipse season for us, Halloween 2022
The Fortune Teller by Albert Anker, Swiss painter, 1880, Wiki Commons
Cartomancy is the art of divination/psychic using ordinary playing cards. The cards- once we learn their associated meanings, it’s a language- help us access the psychic mind, which means the human equivalent of the hive mind. They reflect our unconscious thinking or the collective subconscious.
Yesterday I sat down to look at Ukraine, using this deck of beautiful rather old butterfly playing cards from the Fifties, gifted by my father, left to him by his own father; a keen card player socially, though he never used cards for divination that I am aware of.
The butterfly is a symbol of the soul, or the psyche. The root meaning of the Greek word ψυχή (psyche) was “life” or may have come from the verb ψύχω (psycho, “to breathe/blow”). Associated meanings: “spirit”, “soul”, “ghost”, “self” .The word “psychic” derives from this same root.
The reader (blindly and unconsciously) draws/selects the cards which most accurately detect what is on the readers mind and reflects it right back at them. The apparent randomness of this exercise is what makes it so peculiar- or downright psychic. The very first card out is an instantly recognizable mirror of the question that is on the reader’s mind while shuffling. Or it is not. The reader can’t just make this up.
The reader then pulls more cards to see what the cards may advise, project, foreshadow or predict in respect of that given situation. Sometimes what emerges is a comment or insight into an unfolding situation which may or may not turn out to be a prediction as events unfold. It can be hard for the reader to tell which.
We are witnessing the playing out of a tragic situation. Prediction outright is not appropriate here. If Putin withdraws, still, a horrible tragedy is still playing out. While there have been many times over the years in which I have pushed hard for a yes or no answer for a client, working to a brief on their behalf, this is not one of those situations. No client privacy, no direct feedback available, so many variables, no clean cut answers.
But still, glimpses may be read between the lines. Putin’s victory is far from assured. Like the Viet Cong in Vietnam, Ukraine doesn’t have to win. It has to not be defeated. But should Putin become desperate, it will only make him more dangerous. March this year is not only coming in like a lion, but seems likely to stay like a lion and not go out like a lamb.
Question One what is Mr Putin thinking in respect of the Ukraine situation, as of right now, today, 5 March 2022?
The first card out of the deck was the King of Diamonds. This is Mr Putin, actually very confident. The King of Diamonds means someone who in charge of business. “I have got this. I am on top of this.”
The second card out was the 10 Cups. Mr Putin is looking at it. The 10 Cups is a very happy card, none happier except for the Ace of Cups.
It means ‘Home sweet home’. 10 is the number of completion. I complete my home. Mr Putin genuinely feels that Ukraine is Russian. Ukraine ‘left home’.
The languages are NOT the same. The mutual history is very long and complicated. But Ukraine ran away, the naughty child. He has gone to fetch it back home again, together with all its natural resources. Is partition the best case scenario outcome? Or is it Odessa and then Transnistria and Moldova next?
In general terms of dates, this 10 Cups means Pisces, the final ten days of Pisces season which means 11-20 March. Obstacles notwithstanding, the cards show that as of yesterday, Mr P was confident that he will have, should have Kyiv surrounded, and in his control by 11 March-20 March.
Question 2: what most worries Mr Putin right now?
The King of Spades reflects the subject of the question, Putin himself. Notice how he appears to be looking right back at that confidently expectant money king, the King of Diamonds card.
King of Spades:-“A man of authority, ambition and power. Divorced or widowed, an older man, a leader, lawyer, judge, police officer, health specialist, man from a foreign country. He can be arrogant, opportunistic, deceptive, cold, calculating, shrewd, possessive, emotionally controlled, detached, a rival in business or love.” – David Arcuri, The Art of Cartomancy (link for those interested in learning more about cartomancy)
Mr Putin is a King of Spades in terms of his natal astrology; a Libra subject according to his given birth date 7 October 1952. Although it should be noted, Mr Zelensky is also a King of Swords; an Aquarian subject: 25 January 1978.
Rider-Waite-Smith Tarot
So what causes Mr P most anxiety just now? Mr Zelensky himself, clearly, plus The 9 Clubs + 2 Clubs + 9 Spades.
9 Clubs =long range business, long term planning + 2 Clubs, talks and cease fires + 9 Spades, grief, mourning, death. The 9 of Clubs drawn adjacent to the 9 of Spades in particular, suggests delays. He fears postponement and delays.
(A ceasefire is a 9 Clubs delay so far as Pres Putin is concerned. His soldiers must eat. Supply lines can be attacked. A ceasefire puts his forces on to the defensive.) See the 9 Wands?
Rider-Waite Tarot, artist Pamela Colman Smith
This card as you can see, this tarot equivalent of the 9 Clubs, also represents the courage and defiance of Ukraine.
In Tarot, the 9 Wands can also mean long range foreign intervention. It could therefore also mean a fear of long range missiles or satellites. How is that? The 9 Wands is the card of Sagittarius, the Archer.
And, just as Putin is using elite non- uniformed military groups to terrorize civilians without accountability, and though the UK government does not endorse this, UK and foreign volunteers are travelling to Ukraine to fight or otherwise support the Ukraine resistance on a private volunteer military basis. Here we have Mr Zelensky proactively deploying Aquarius in defense of Ukraine (collective IT/socia media/space technologies/ Elon Musk and Star Link).
The 9 of Spades (Gemini) may turn out to be talking about critical developments in late May that will be unwelcome to Mr Putin. It cannot come too soon so far as many of us are concerned, but that’s what is being shown here. In a previous reading I drew the 10 Swords for Mr Putin on his future timeline. That’s pretty close in time to the 9, both in Gemini, and first he must navigate Taurus the Bull (banks, sanctions, church condemnation, the state turned topsy-turvy, loss of faith of his own people, food security) The eclipse in Taurus Sat 30 April may prove instrumental?
Question 3: What do we see in respect of near future developments in Kyev?
Watching the news earlier today (6 March) It is expected that Kyiv will be surrounded in the next few days, at which point Russia will make “an offer” to the government of Ukraine.
We have drawn the Queen of Clubs and the 8 Spades.
A court card, a king or queen, will describe a real person. I don’t know who this Queen of Clubs might be in respect of Ukraine. I have previously drawn Mr Zelenky’s wife as a Queen of Swords. I will just have to watch that space. Drawn together with the 8 Spades, it could mean a woman is taken hostage or is taken to prison or to hospital.
Another possibility is that this card is detecting another aspect of key timing. The Queen of Clubs is Aries in astrology, 20 March -19 April. Aries is a cardinal sign. It initiates. It attacks with energy. An initiative gets bogged down by the 8 Spades. Or possibly Mr Putin may have reason to seek medical help at this time.
The 8 of Spades:-“Traditionally a card of disappointment, illness and physical restriction. A loss of balance, a lack of reciprocation, unrequited love, something one-sided and not mutually beneficial. Physical imbalance, health problem, mental imbalance, a doctor, a dentist, a psychiatrist, a wound, pain, an insult, feeling slighted or snubbed, hurt feelings, an emotional upset. Reassessing one’s goals, examining ones accomplishments, investigating or researching a question or problem, a medical exam, civil service exam, scholastic exam, forensic exam, police investigation“- David Arcuri, The Art of Cartomancy
The Tarot correlation with this card is the 8 Swords: entrapment, stress, restriction. I have also learned to associate the 8 Swords with difficulties to do with plumbing – drains, leaks, water supply. Dams too possibly, though the Moon is absent (flooding) One can also see the potential for hostages. as if the entire population has not already been taken hostage, and Mr Zelensky will have taken extra measures for the security of his own wife and children.
Legacy of the Divine Tarot
We understand Russia could already be hitting Ukraine much harder, but Putin does not want to pulverize the place. He will if that’s what it takes, but he would far rather harvest Ukraine for everything it has to offer, not least grain production sufficient to provide food security for 600 million people.
But should Russia achieve its objective of taking Ukraine in the next few days as widely expected, this card is not good news for Mr Putin, and this will be no surprise to anyone.
That number 8 is stable but not in a good way. If we were looking at an outright military success for Russia, there would need to be a number 1, 3 , 6, 10 Clubs or Diamonds, following that 9 Clubs.
Astrology Reading Cards
What astrology cards do we get?
Left: Near future for Kyiv? Aquarius. Rebellion, obstinacy, aided by social media/space tech. But I fear I also see grief, present and future; Mr Zelensky is mourning. That 9 Spades also applies to him in the near future. He already is mourning of course, but now is his time for action.
Right: Near future of Russian invasion? The Twelfth House. The House of Shadows, enemies, dreams, sorrow, joy of Saturn. Mr Putin’s motivation is profoundly emotional. Just supposing that he who sows the whirlwind shall reap the whirlwind, and just supposing that he will not be around to reap the whirlwind personally speaking, for Putin a lose-lose situation might be the same thing as a win-win situation. He will not be forgotten. This for him, is about personal legacy. Either he will reabsorb Ukraine into Russia, ‘home sweet home” (that 10 of Cups card.) Or he will “teach the west and all the world, once and for all, not to mess with Russia.”
If this is where he is coming from, Putin may not care too much about the cost. Since when did Lenin care, and he died a natural death but then who did Russia get next?
The cost, human and other is already high but, despite the attack at Zaporizhzhia, the largestnuclear plant in Europe, and though there is clear potential danger here, I have not seen that it will be nuclear war. Nor an accidental nuclear catastrophe.
Mr Putin has decided that talk is cheap. NATO is bound like Prometheus, tied up by its own rules, and Mr P is fine with playing dirty, and has decided he cannot rely on the neutrality of Ukraine -or Moldova either.
It is not wise to tell you enemy what you will NOT do, and this is what NATO, namely Stoltenberg has been doing. I don’t know where I read it, ‘the children of the dark are wiser than the children of the light’, but it’s true. To a point, that is, when they send themselves to hell in the handcart of their own design but leaving behind all their mess.
Astrologers have described this in terms of a cycle of events, a kind of perfect planetary storm, replaying some, but not all themes elements of 1939-1945 depending whose interpretations you are reading.
Looking back at readings done 2022, I did not see this coming. I just felt uneasy, and didn’t care one bit for this whole Jupiter in Pisces thing that some astrologers seemed to think was so wonderful. Fathomless depths, dissolving or absence of boundaries (for which we can now also read borders) And giant Jupiter. It made me think of tsunamis. It made me think of that ominous line from the Bible, the Book of Job, ‘canst thou draw forth Leviathan with a hook?’
Now I can see Mr Zelensky, sitting in Pisces (now) and shown as The Hanged Man, a sacrificial or Christ type figure. I remember the pang I felt, drawing the Three of Swords reversed in Leo, Regulus, heart of the royal lion. Sorrow to the lion hearts. Sorrow to the summer of 2022. Unless Pres P is dealt with by his own people- and it does look as though he will over reach or come a cropper, suffer a setback in the next 3 months, 9 and 10 Spades, the end of this crisis is not in sight that I can see. But of course, I have got things wrong before or fudged them, not hit them dead on. Any reader who says they haven’t is not to be trusted.
Once when I was very small, we went to the zoo, and apparently I said I couldn’t see the elephant and I was looking at it. But to me it was so big and I was so close, I couldn’t see its overall shape. Very funny really. But do we think an ant can see us just before we tread on it? No. It feels the vibration. It sees the shadow. I suppose I must have seen a wall of grey.
This is close and huge. The reader must therefore take the helicopter up very high. But to see clearly one has to be dispassionate, and preferably, not care at all, or just enough and no more. That’s the nature of the human mind in oracular mode when otherwise one could just weep.
To open up the oracular mind, that’s sometimes a hard thing. To see or sense but to have such little power to avert. The reader does not get to write the story, nor the ending and must tell the truth as they see it, but at the same time, like a doctor, do no harm.
But Putin may find that Taurus the Bull is his nemesis. Why? In a previous reading published here, the appearance of the Hierophant reversed sitting on the near future timeline. Money, banks, breaking faith. Secular ‘excommunication.’ Possibly Taurus timing too, late April -;ate May, and watching for the eclipse in Taurus Sat 30 April.
A lady was wondering how best to negotiate, or end a domestic difficulty. What did the Tarot show about what seemed likely to happen and when? What was the advice?
I drew The Hermit and The Queen of Cups.
The versions of The Hermit shown here are drawn from The Gilded Tarot, by kind permission of Ciro Marchetti, and The Golden Tarot by Kat Black, by kind permission of US Games Systems.
The Hermit shines a calm light. He is a path finder, representing calm and maturity, and he also represents a need for reflection, time out, a bit of peace and quiet.
This card also represents the zodiac sign of Virgo, and a date range of 23 August – 22 September.
I suggested therefore that late August looked like crunch time for the relationship, while the Queen of Cups – (this card is also from The Golden Tarot) suggests a happily married woman or a woman becoming a mother, and this, sitting in the future or outcome position, seemed to bode favourably for the prospects of a workable resolution, and restoration of harmony in the household.
I was then informed that a baby was due in late August.
So there we have it, the Hermit was literally, pronouncing upon dates for the Queen of Cups new arrival.
If I was a proper psychic, of course, I’d just have looked in my crystal ball and said so straight out. But there it is. I ain’t, I’ve got to use my Tarot, and then I need to think about it, and as for the headgear, forgeddit.
Actor sprog went to meet with a casting agency yesterday. Sprog has an agent already, and likes that agent very much but 12 months on, there has been nothing as yet; not one send-out, zip, de nada. and just not much sign of activity in general. She had decided to look about for somewhere perhaps more pro-active, had made enquiries and been invited to drop in at another agency, take along her acting CV and meet the creative director (male).
How would it go?
I drew the Ace Clubs, Jack of Spades, 2 Diamonds, Jack of Hearts and the Queen of Clubs. and read it left to right as a story board
Card 1 The basic issue or premise: Ace Clubs denotes a new work, new job, also, a cave or leaving a cave in the quest for new knowledge. It’s a fiery card, well suited to the entertainments industry. Think of a spark, or a ‘bat out of hell.’
Card 2 Jack of Spades, this is whom we are talking about; the sprog, and in Tarot the equivalent card would be the Page of Swords. The archetype is a good fit, and she is an air sign subject; Aquarius, which corresponds with the suits of Swords in Tarot, Spades in playing card reading, or as it is more formally termed; cartomancy.
Card 3 Hinge card: 2 Diamonds; well, this is promising firstly but not exclusively because it is a red and not a black card, sitting centrally, but the card itself denotes agreements, investments, suggesting she may receive an offer of representation with this new agency.
Card 4 Jack of Hearts. So what comes next? This card also signified the sprog, I felt; a sharp but comical, quirkily humorous creature in possession of – no use pretending otherwise, a somewhat mythical but edgy beauty, and this card also suggested some ease of rapport between her and the figure in the outcome position.
Card 5 Queen of Clubs, the outcome card.
Why not a king card, I wondered, based on the preceding communications?
Sprog arrived 15 minutes early to be bang on time, shutters were rolled up at 3 o clock prompt and she was received, not by the creative director who was away on holiday, she was told, but by a fellow director, a lady.
So that then, was why I had drawn the Queen of Clubs.
This card denotes an outward going woman; honest and extremely confident in dealings. No one tells her what to do, and this living embodiment of the queen said she could make no promises, offered the sprog a few pointers, tips and some constructive criticism, and concluded with an offer of representation.
The sprog liked this clubs queen very much but also has other enquiries outstanding, and I have no wish to interfere, prophecy can be vexatious and meddlesome whether it is eventually proved correct or not, so we will see.
3 black cards, 2 red, and a majority of black cards can be taken simply as a no answer, where a majority of red is taken as a yes, and the colour method is often accurate, but it just goes to show, in divination it’s a mistake to rely heavily on short cuts.
A client wanted the Tarot’s particular handle on a relationship breakdown which now threatened to become permanent. He thought he knew where he had gone wrong, but was he reading this right, and what were the prospects for mending the situation? Asking for a Tarot’s eye view of the problem the crux of the story read like this:
King Swords RX – this man has made a negatively perceived decision.
Seven of Pentacles – this woman wants a home, is ready to cultivate an orchard.
Nine of Pentacles Rx – this woman is a highly practical thinker, is queen of her own turf, and gives orders at work rather than takes them, but after more than three years together, not living together and without marriage or babies, she needs to see progress.
Both cards reflecting these very natural motives are earth suit cards; work, money, bricks and mortar, foundations, security, comfort, what and whom pays the piper.
Images by kind permission of Ciro Marchetti and are from The Gilded Tarot
The lady, in her early thirties, asked him to move into her home, which she owns, but this would mean a short distance relocation for the man who declined/deferred/ citing work and family concerns. There were other issues, too, based round mutual trust, but Tarot presented this word ‘home’ as the deal-breaker
Further cards: Page Cups, Ace Wands.
The lady has a job she likes and is good at, in hotel management, but the birth card, the page of cups, talks about the biological clock, asking, when is a good time to start a family? No such thing perhaps as a convenient time, but for the woman in particular there may be a fear of leaving it too late. After so much time together, this lady seemed to feel it was time to put up or shut up. He declined the invitation (challenge) to move things onward and upward so she had withdrawn, although with expressions of regret.
The Seven of Pentacles says she is reluctant to start all over again, however, so perhaps, and unless she meets someone extremely suitable for her in the near future, this card of harvesting a slow fruit may, just may, turn things in his favour if he wants to recover the situation and is willing and able to, but the Ace Wands – think, movement, relocation, speed, fire, (also conception) suggests he needs to take decisive action, and soon, to make that happen. To win the fair lady for keeps, he needs to ‘man up’, and fast.
However, people tend to do whatever comes most naturally; advice will often fall on fallow ground and this is why my Tarot does not offer advice, except in the form of answering the clients clearly stated question.
My client saw this as his predicament, and so it was, but he had unwittingly also created one for the lady, not seeing that her needs had changed while his had not. Many women seem to find themselves in just this same sort of predicament these days. That’s a whole other can of worms, but some choose the bird and afterwards they build a nest together. Some women nowadays build the nest themselves, then choose the bird to come and join them there or else they tire of waiting and looking and proceed to fill the nest, a queen alone.
True Tarot Tales 