Zombie Cat’s Summer Shamble

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With the Apollo 11 50th anniversary this past weekend, and Lightsail 2’s successful sail deployment yesterday (congratulations Lightsail team and Planetary Society!) all the science in the air woke Zombie Cat from his summer snooze.

Z.C. is awake, shambling around TaoCraft and wanting to do a few Tarot readings in his usual just-for-fun prediction style. To get a FREE yes-or-no Tarot reading answered in the blog (redacted for privacy) just submit your question with the form below or the one on the special offers page.

The heat and humidity makes Zombie Cat really cranky, so any questions that don’t follow the rules go right in the “nope” bin.

Offer ends August 31, 2019

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REpeat not RETROpeat

A few days ago, we looked at the question of why cards sometimes turn up repeatedly in readings, regardless of whether you are getting readings or giving them. As I was uploading the post, I could almost hear a chorus of “It’s Mercury Retrograde” coming from social media as a hot take explanation of why life lessons are hard to learn; why messages aren’t being heard well and why cards have repeating lately.

I disagree. Understanding and enacting an important life lesson often takes much longer than any given Mercury retrograde. It takes more than a Mercury year. It can take multiple Earth years. Any retrograde of any planet in any solar system is no more than a trick of forced perspective. It is the relative movement of a very close planet compared to very distant stars. It is a little like those photos where it looks like someone is holding up the leaning tower of Pisa or holding the setting sun in the palm of their hand. As the animation above shows us, shift your point of view, and POOF! no retrograde. Only normal cycles of planets – and of nature – remain.

I have seen, however, a connection between repeating Tarot cards and one particular planet’s orbit. It isn’t Mercury; It’s Earth. The Wheel card in particular speaks to these cycles. When the Wheel shows up, think about natural cycles that may be moving through your life. There is also a subtext of adaptation. We must move with the wheel of time and natural cycles, or be crushed beneath it. This is a good example of a difficult life lesson that takes time to learn, don’t you think?

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Seasons of the year are an obvious natural cycle. Over time, I’ve seen several cards cluster around summer and winter. They seem to capture the essence of the season. I often see cards like the 9 of cups, the 4 of wands or the 3 of cups turn up frequently around the Winter holidays. It fits Those holidays are akin to the cards with celebrations, traditions, family foundations and social connections all at top of mind that time of year.

Summer cards are a bit more subtle.

We think of summer as an active time, and it is. Yet it needs balance. In the winter, we balance the seasonal cold with warm things: woolly clothes, fires in fireplaces, spices, warm drinks, candles, lights. Summer needs balanced with cool drinks, sitting in the shade, loose cool clothing, going barefoot. Again, there are cards that hint at this seasonal balance, with quiet introspective cards like the 4 of swords, 3 of wands, 5 of cups or The Hermit. Admittedly, I’ve seen this pattern emerge more as a reader than as an individual. It think of it as being part of the entrainment phnomenon we talked about last time. Cards may repeat in a party (or in a season) as a resonance with the time and place (or time of year.)

If a card keeps turning up time and again, yes, it is significance. Yes, that repetition in and of itself is a message.  If a card keeps repeating, it could be for multiple different reasons. As always, it is usltimately up to your feeling and your intuition to decide which reason best fits..or if it is something else entirely. It might be:

  • an important message or lesson you are misunderstanding, failing to hear, or failing to enact
  • a significator, a stand-in for you in the reading to show how Tarot and spiritual growth in general fits in with you as individual and with your self-image of the time.
  • a validation, a signal from spirit the card’s message is important, real, authentically for you
  • resonating with places you go …. parties and so on
  • resonating  with the season of the year

 

Today’s Tarot: Knight of Pentacles (22 July 2019)

It’s a day to roll up your sleeves and get the real world work done. The emphasis is on the practical. Give intellectual and spiritual efforts a rest, and pay attention to the rare gift of this physical existance.

Today’s Tarot: The Fool / Taroko por hodiau: La Malsagulo

Yep. The Fool. Again. Drew this on July 13, but didn’t post it here until now so I could do the Esperanto translation. If you follow me on Instagram, the fool turned up there as a throwback post on July 10 and it has been a part of a couple of private client readings lately, too. I’m taking it as a hint to revive the “why does this card keep turning up” Q&A.

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Somber isn’t the same as spiritual. All emotions are part of life. Happiness is as sacred as any other emotion.

Malgaja ne estas la sama kiel spirita. Cxiuj emocioj estas pardo de vivo. Felicxo estas kiel sankta kiel iu alia emocio.

Q & A: Why do I keep getting the same card(s) all the time?

Every now and then, a client will either comment that they get a particular card “all the time” or they will ask why a particular card turns up in their readings a lot. All applause to them for paying attention to that detail. If something in a reading catches your attention and feels significant, then it is significant. You are always doing the right thing to follow those feelings and try to understand the message the repeat is trying to highlight.

Repeating cards are one of those things that capture your attention. The next step is the harder part; How do you know what that significance may be?

The most important, most common and most widely known reason is the repeat card carries a message or lesson that we just are not hearing. Messages will indeed repeat until we perceive, understand and enact them. In that case, repeating cards are like a hand on your elbow guiding and nudging you in the right direction until you get to the right place for the next lesson (and maybe the next repeating card) to begin.

Over the years I’ve noticed a couple of other things that could contribute to a card putting in frequent appearances.

A repeating card might serve as validation or act as a general signal over and above the card’s individual meaning. One particular card can act as a  special “attention all personnel” announcement. Whenever that particular card turns up, it might be a general  signal that the reading has extra importance.  A particular card may keep showing up in order to reassure you that this is a real-deal message for you. For example, when I was first learning Tarot, the Empress would turn up frequently when I was on the right path, doing the right thing to bring this new aspect of myself into  the world. In this instance, repeating cards are happy and reassuring. Repeating cards are not always a “hey bone head listen up already!” message. Sometimes it is “yes, this is for real” or “yup, THAT is the right direction” messages.

For a professional reader it can be more statistics than message; Doing lots of readings means pulling lots of cards. There are only 78 cards and some of them are going to repeat. Repeating cards due to volume is a good problem for a professional reader to have.

There is a thing – I’ve heard it called “entrainment.” I see it all the time at parties. As the party goes on, the tired folks feel a little more energized and the stressed people feel a little more relaxed. Everyone starts to resonate with the vibe of the group, the place, or the occasion. When that happens, one or two cards will emerge as the repeaters, turning up in a large percentage of the evening’s readings. I’ll often mention it when those repeaters turn up, in case guests are comparing notes later. I’ll point out how the shuffles, all the possible layout positions, the different types of messages all combine to give each person a totally unique message, even if everyone and their uncle is getting, lets say, the 3 of cups.

Repeating cards are multitaskers. The Fool popping up lately is a combination of things. It might be the volume phenomenon, because I’ve been doing draws here, for the youtube channel, clients, a party. Still, it hasn’t been THAT busy. The Fool card keeps coming up, in different settings, with different decks. I think I’ve finally figured out what message was trying to get through. It didn’t sink until today, but I’m going to another unrelated blog after this to enact it. Repeats can signal more than one message at a time The other hint was for this very post.

A repeating card can also be a personal “significator.” Do you see aspects of yourself in the card? Do you feel like it could be a symbol of you? It may turn up frequently to symbolize you and your relationship to the reading rather than its typical stand-alone meaning.

If a card keeps turning up time and again ask yourself:

  • Is there something I am missing? What am I missing the card keeps coming back to try and tell me?
  • Does this card resonate with me or my spirit guides? Could this simply be a hint that the reading is particularly important or a reassurance the message is truly spirit-given?
  • Is it just from the party / place/ situation where the reading is happening?
  • Am I getting too many readings too close together. Do I need to take this answer and wait, give thing give things time to evolve?
  • Is the same card carrying more than one message? I am I keeping the separated correctly?
  • Is this card a lot like me? Could it be a stand in for me and showing my part in things rather than giving a whole separate message?

When you see a card showing up time and again, don’t worry, be patient. The extra bonus meaning will become clear in time.