Tarot reading: Celtic cross

Tonight I did Celtic Cross spreads for myself and both my roommates! I think they went well.

My question for this spread was about the time until I go to Ireland, which I've bookmarked for sort of winter hibernation, to stay home and do all sorts of productive things and not spend money or party too much. Which is why I am not at Arisia now.

1. The cover card: Major Arcana VIII, Strength. Strength in her upright position represents Moral Force, with keywords that include "Self-confidence. Inner strength," "Ability to overcome problems through willpower," and "Self-discipline." As a situation card, it advises that "You will need to rely on inner strenght, patience, and gentleness to solve your problems" and that "Your position is strong." It suggests that "You can channel your animal passions constructivey to achieve good health and success."  This is, indeed, the question I was asking, basically: If I'll have the self-discipline to hold myself to doing all the things I've decided to use this time to do. This is going to be tough since I have a pretty long laundry list of things I want to do during this time.

2. The crossing card: Major Arcana VII, The Chariot. The Chariot represents "Progress through balancing opposing forces." I think this is a warning against nerd single-mindedness; some of this pops up later in the reading, but overall I think it's telling me that the key to achieving what I want to achieve is to keep things balanced and not get too wrapped up just one thing and burning out. Key words for this card include "Clear purpose. Determination," which is good, as is "Self-assertion. Willpower," "Self-control" and "Victory resulting for personal effort." All that is very much Yes, good, I can do this. The other keywords that jump out at me are "Steering a middle course," "Balancing conflicting emotions" and "Triumph over obstacles," which is a bit tricker. (There is also "A new car," which, yes, I will indeed have a new car through this time period. It is shiny.)

Put together, the situation at hand seems to indicate that I can do what I've set myself to do if I can keep myself and all my various I-wannas in balance. WHICH IS HARD. Makes me think of my New Year's reading, about priorities.

3. The beneath card: Six of Swords, The "Leaving Your Troubles Behind" card, in its upright position it represents "Brighter days ahead." This card means pretty much exactly what it says on the tin. 2015 was a bit of a shitshow but I think I've gotten most of the shit out of the picture, so this all makes sense in this position as the "backstory card."

4. The behind card: Five of Swords, Empty Victory. In its upright position, this represents "One-upmanship. Negative energy," and its placement in the spread indicates that this is passing out of influence, which is good. It advises me that I may need to "swallow your pride and accept your limitations before you can proceed." Le sigh. There is some other stuff also about putting energy into things that do not make one happy, and I hope this means I'm ceasing to do that.

5. The crown card: Ace of Swords, The Power of Intellect. In its upright position it represents "A sense of power" or more classically "Strength in adversity." As a crown card, it shows potential. As the root card for the element of air, it seems to show potential regarding intellectual enterprises, and "suggests the beginning of a promising venture that develops out of adversity." Which intellectual enterprise will it be? I have committed myself to too many of them.

6. The before card: King of Cups, Wise Counsel, in his upright position representing Compassion. Among other things, this card can represent a person, most likely one's father or a father figure. As a situation card, it can indicate a situation in which compassion and empathy are required; it can also indicate that one's father may figure prominently in upcoming events. I'm going to guess the father-related stuff is most likely, since we are still in the middle of trip planning and the timeline in my question is bookended by our Ireland trip.

It interests me that in my elemental system for reading court cards, the King of Cups is an air card as well as a water card, which makes the circle part of my cross all air cards. However, this card also transitions us into the run of cups that fills up most of the pillar.

7. The Self card: Ten of Cups, Joy, representing "Harmony in personal relationships" in its upright position. Essentially seems to be pointing out that I am feeling pretty good with the people in my life! Which is true; I got rid of all the shitty ones last year (or in some cases, they got rid of me, but whatever). It is a very positive card and contrasts fairly sharply with the previous cards which are all about intellectual pursuits; clearly the support of my friends and family has some sort of role to play in my other endeavors.

8. The House card: the Knight of Cups, "New Relationships," a card of earth and water, but going the other direction from my Queen of Pentacles signifier card. This card may represent people who are concerned with material or financial matters but come at it from an emotional and intuitive standpoint. The card may also represent eithe "Romance" or "Artistic talent," because those are totally the same thing, thanks so much, card. Since this card is supposed to represent one's surroundings or the opinions of other people, it seems to mean either that I am surrounded by "Idealists. Dreamers. Refined, artistic, intuitive people"--which is pretty cool--or just that other people are having Opinions about either my artistic talent or my love life, which, if its the second, they can feel free to keep to themselves.

Alternate reading: The card represents my current obsession with the Hamilton musical and the obligatory accompanying Historically Inaccurate Crush on the Major General. *fills house with Hamiltunes, again*

9. The hopes, fears, and expectations card: Nine of Cups, The Wish Card. In its upright position, the Nine of Cups represents "Desires fulfilled," and its key words include "Enjoyment. Contentment. Pleasure" and "Happiness. Plenty." The card "promises material benefits and physical luxury," which, y'know, yes, I would definitely hope for all that! While a straight reading of this card seems a bit on the pointlessly obvious side--obviously I hope that whatever the outcome is, I'll be happy with it--I think its showing up in this spread is basically a sort of warning, a reminder to step back and remind myself why I made the goals that I made and to consider whether accomplishing these goals will actually make me happy. As a nerdy-type person with occasional cases of intense-ness, it's not impossible for me to get so self-competitive about doing something that I forget why I wanted to to do it in the first place.

10. The final outcome card: Three of Swords, Heartache, representing "Necessary cutting. A bleeding heart." WHAT NO. This showed up in my New Year spread as well, with its theme of changes and prioritization, and I think here it's saying that I'm either currently on track to "have something to mourn or cry about" or I else I am on track to cut out something in my life that has to go but that will hurt. I'm not sure which. I think it does still somehow tie into my last spread and is indicating that things may be out of balance or at risk of getting out of balance, which is a bit disheartening but probably a good word of warning.

And things were going so well until this card, too.

Overall I think this spread is reasonably positive, indicating that I do have the strength and will to do what I set out to do, but warning me to take a good close look at what it is that I'm dedicating myself to doing at any particular point.

Anyway, I just booked a hotel room in Ennis and now I'm off for brunch.