Five-card spread for Saturday

[bloodygranuaile]

Guh, I do love the Raven's Prophecy deck.

For once, I think the story this spread tells is pretty straightforward, although I'm not 100% sure what specifically the Tower is referring to, and that should usually be the easiest thing to figure out.

But the Tower is in the Past section of the spread, representing some sort of chaos or destruction or major change or instability, which could refer to any number of things. Considering the rest of the spread, it may represent my financial situation somehow, or just the material aspects of my life in general. Whatever it was specifically, there is certainly no shortage of candidates for ways in which my life, financial, and employment situations have been change-filled and chaotic over the past, oh, however long you want to look for, really.

The Present card is the Knight of Coins, the root of the Earth element. It's the "Slow, Steady Progress" card according to Louis, and Stiefvater gives the keywords "Dutiful, Methodical, Cautious, Hard-Working." The shovel represents the duty and workmanship required to get through a situation with dogged, hands-on (or butt-in-chair, depending on the field) labor. In Louis' book, the card suggests that the querent asked about financial or employment-related matters. It stands for industriousness, diligence, determination, etc., and promises that new sources of prosperity or income may be forthcoming. Diligent, hard work pays off, and a friend may help you out or you may render services to someone else. Coming immediately after the Tower card, it seems to indicate that things have stabilized since whatever incident the Tower represents, and that attempts to create order out of the Tower's period of chaos are seeing themselves pay off. I am, indeed, in slightly better financial shape now than I was a month ago, at least, so that's a possibility--I've picked up a few freelance assignments and some extra time off in which to do them, and tomorrow I've got plans to look at some jewelry with Lyndsay and see if I can get rid of it profitably.

The hidden influences card is The World, the very last card in the story cycle told by the Major Arcana, which is pretty cool because the Tower is basically the low point right in the middle of the story--at number 16, clustered in close to other Darkest Moment type cards like Death (13) and The Devil (15)--so this kind of suggests that I'm at the happy ending of this story arc without realizing it. Hopefully the story arc in question is the perpetually unstable career-hopping mid-twenties one, and I'm entering into a more established one. But it could honestly refer to any number of things, probably, especially since the card's placement indicates that whatever it is, I haven't been paying sufficient attention to it! It's overall a pretty positive card, though, which fits in with some other readings with very positive cards in that spot, indicating that I'm probably quite often insufficiently aware of how well things are going for me. This is very likely.

The advice card--or, in this case, the warning card--is the Four of Cups, "Discontent." The Discontent card indicates that the querent is feeling somehow stagnant or dissatisfied, and may be feeling like they're treading water and be in search of new stimulation. Louis says the card advises the querent to slow their roll and think stuff over before doing anything rash (my words, but that's the gist of it). Stiefvater says this card represents "Apathy. Waste. Taking for granted. Self-absorption" and says that it warns that relationships are not being sufficiently tended to, so that relationships that appear fine on the surface are less fine underneath. Honestly, Louis' warning that this card says you "might not be aware of the good around you" mirrors pretty well the placement of the World card in the "hidden" section. So far, all four cards together seem to indicate that I'm in a stable enough place materially that I could stand to take my focus a bit off of hustlin' for cash and a bit more toward maintaining my friendships. The need to put more work into maintaining my relationships is another thing that has come up more than once recently.

The final outcome card--the one for if I heed the advice--is the Ten of Cups, "Joy," which is basically a follow-up to the Nine of Cups, and represents "deep happiness with the relationships in your life" and everything working together in perfect balance, according to Stiefvater. This is illustrated by a big ol' happy raven family. This is similar to last weekend's reading, so I feel like I'm on roughly the same path, if I can follow the advice I keep getting.

Anyway, I've got plenty to keep me busy this Labor Day weekend--some of it social, some of it work, some of it arguably both--but going into the fall I think I need to make more of an effort to reconnect with some friends I haven't seen in a while.