This month’s Tarot Circle is from Michelle, one of the Tarot readers on the My Tarot Club Free Tarot Readings page. She presents a Tarot reading that she did for a client (with permission, of course!) about moving house.
As with all Tarot Circle posts, I’ll provide my initial thoughts and then I’ll hand it over to you, the reader, to share your own insights about the Tarot reading in the Comments section below.
Remember there’s no right or wrong and you don’t have to be an experienced Tarot reader to comment.
The Question
Michelle’s client, Jennifer (not her real name) asked, “What is standing in my way to finding a better place to live than the apartment I have been in since 1991?”
She added some background, too. “I can afford to buy a place or to rent something a little nicer, if I use some of the money I would put into buying. But I have not done either. I have looked at condos and houses for over three years and keep getting hung up on whether it will be noisy to live there and whether I want to live in that location. I think these are excuses and there is something else blocking me. Can Tarot help to clarify what is going on?”
The Tarot Reading
Michelle used a simple 3-card spread and her Gaian Tarot cards to answer Jennifer’s question.
- Current issue – Justice
- What is blocking you – Guardian of Air (Queen of Swords)
- Advice for the best outcome – Gardener Reversed (Empress Reversed)
Our Shared Interpretation
Let’s unpack Michelle’s Tarot reading, looking at both Michelle’s and my interpretation of the cards.
Current issue – Justice
Michelle: My first inclination when I see this card is “why do you feel that you need to move?”. If I were to guess, you are perfectly satisfied where you are and perhaps think you should move only because you think OTHERS think you should move. Something might have even happened so that this place brings you a comfort that you just aren’t ready to part with. Perhaps your child’s last Christmas at home was in this apartment… or something like that. Maybe it isn’t a great apartment, but it has done well for you even in its “not so greatness.” The card doesn’t say this, but my inner voice is making me feel like it’s similar to graduating high school to go to college… there’s a whole new life that is frightening because of the unknown… here you are comfortable and balanced. The woods in the background, however, make me wonder if there are times that you don’t see the forest for the trees…
Brigit: I think of the Justice card as a balancing act or weighing up options. Jennifer has been weighing up her options for quite a while now and is perhaps struggling to know exactly which option is better. She has been thinking about the move for several years – a sign that perhaps no option is better or worse than the other.
I really love that Michelle has gone with what her inner voice is sharing with her. This is so important in a Tarot reading, and even if it diverges from the more traditional meanings of the cards, it is often much more powerful.
What is blocking you – Guardian of Air (Queen of Swords)
Michelle: I get the feeling that there is someone pushing you to make a move… it feels like a mother figure (the wise old owl) who is harping on you. I’m going to go out on a ledge and I mean no offense, so please understand that I’m just following my intuition here… it seems like perhaps your mother is deceased but you still hear her voice expecting more of you… pushing you to “do better”. When you are able to ignore these thoughts, you are at peace.. but when this small voice is pressuring you, it’s almost as if you get defiant. Why is this woman seated in the snow with no shoes and no real protection from the ice? That speaks of defiance to me.
Brigit: Again, Michelle is working closely with her intuition here and taking a ‘risk’ with sharing a specific insight. But she does so with grace and ease. And in fact, when Jennifer responded with her feedback, she confirmed that her mother had indeed passed and left her a significant inheritance which may have been motivating Jennifer to ‘upgrade’ her home. Her mother was also highly critical (often associated with this card) and this continued to be within Jennifer’s consciousness. So, well done Michelle for having the confidence to put it out there, without knowing how it might land.
I might add to Michelle’s insights to say that Jennifer is indeed quite defiant in wanting to stay put. It doesn’t really matter if she has all of the luxuries that she knows she could afford – she’s happy where she is. That said, this card appears as what is blocking her, so her defiance and desire to stay put may be what is getting in the way of her being able to see new opportunities elsewhere.
Advice for the best outcome – Gardener Reversed (Empress Reversed)
Michelle: I’m starting to sound like a broken record here, but this card is again about a mother figure. Because it is reversed, however, it confirms to me that you need to let this go. I just noticed that there is a hand mirror next to the woman…. in it, you can just barely see the pregnant belly, and that is the only reflection you see in the mirror. The woman is holding a single flower. The advice for best outcome is to remember that you are a reflection of your mother, but… I don’t really know how to put this into words to express what I want to say… a mother loves that her child is part of her, nurtured by her body, she is the sole provider for that child and so she loves that child so much.. no one can understand the love of a mother until they experience it. But as hard as it is, a mother recognizes that the child will eventually make a way for themselves… and it is also the mother’s purpose to help the child do this. It’s not easy… but it’s natural for mothers to expect more for their children.. sometimes it’s difficult to let them make their own way. You are a mature woman, who has made a beautiful way for yourself.. and I know that your mother would be very proud of you (I know this because I am a mother). When you are able to let go of your mothers expectations for you, and make your expectations your own… when you are able to make a decision on moving… or not… because it is what YOU want rather than what others would expect of you, then your search will be over.
Brigit: Beauty will come from within, not outside. For me, reversed cards often indicate that the energy or the essence of a particular card has been brought inwards. The Gardener shows a beautiful pregnant woman surrounded by the season’s harvest. Her beauty is reflect in what is inside of her, not what is around her. So I feel this is similar to the home environment. Jennifer might not actually want a bigger and better home to live in. She’s happy where she is.
Michelle has done a wonderful job picking up on the mother aspect, too, and this certainly connected well with the client.
Summary
Overall, I would say that the indecision from Jennifer about whether to move or not is a result of being happy where she is. It might not be the most luxurious home or a reflection of her wealth, but it’s what she is happy with and that’s what matters most. Just because she has the financial resources, doesn’t mean she has to upgrade her home. There are plenty of other ways to be a good custodian of money.
And from Michelle’s perspective, she has picked up a lot of energy around the mother-daughter relationship which landed well with the client.
What’s Your Read?
Over to you! How would you interpret these cards and the spread overall? What would be your advice to Jennifer?
Post your response in the comments below. Use this as an opportunity to hone your Tarot reading skills or to get your opinion out there!
(Images used with permission from the artist, Joanna Powell Colbert.)
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{ 20 comments… read them below or add one }
I feel what’s blocking her is her belief that she is blocked. There is a need for her to go within and get in touch with what her heart and soul truly want and then feel and visualize it. She has the power to create. Perhaps her creativity is blocked in other areas and that is frustrating to her.
This is a lovely and very insightful reading. I would also recommend the client to stay put. The baby will be born in due time – she will see her perfect home and know it at once. The fact that the Justice card appears in the first position means that she is using her head when it comes to such an important decision – nothing wrong with that.
Justice
I first thought is that any move she makes has to be right for her. It has to feel right. Michelle has her list of criteria that will make any move make sense to her. Unless she can find what she wants to make it a “balanced” move she has turned away from it. I get the feeling that she is on the right track in avoiding a change just for that purpose. When the right opportunity comes along she will know it.
Guardian of Air
I see the client as the Queen of Swords. One who is very logical . It must make sense to her in that the pros of moving must outweigh the cons. Any move will not be 100% perfect — there are always trade-offs to be made. The client is being very astute in making sure that any move will create more harmony in her life. What I see blocking her is her own good sense of knowing intuitively and logically that any move should be for a purpose that will create more joy and happiness in her life.
Empress Reversed
The Empress is all about growth, peace and love. The f act that it is reversed is suggesting to me that growth, peace, love, harmony in her life will not necessarily grow if she feels pressured into making a move. She needs to take her time. Let the time feel right. Let the new premises feel right. Any other reason for moving may actually hinder spirit.
Warm regards
Timpug — I luv my pug and his name is Tim
I loved the wondrous insight and applaud the reader for utilizing her intuitive skills, and especially for her loving sensitivity as she presented what clearly is something very deep. What touched me (overall in this reading) is that it also illuminated my own participation as a woman in life cycles for many years.
There really isn’t a space to describe the push-pull, hold on-let go cycle that is intrinsic in this girl/woman “assignment”! Couple this with a life-time of being a daughter pushing and pulling on her birth mother’s energy (whether alive or passed over) creates complexity for every woman living now. Western culture has us hurrying to “fix” or “beautify” quickly. I suspect the ways we have expressed this are up BIG TIME for evolutionary change; perhaps this is what the querant senses, as do we all. And each of us truly holds a portion of this energetic; we are the ones creating new awareness, openness and unity consciousness as we act from our own heart space while acknowledging all that has gone before, truthfully yet with no judgment.
This takes time and self love Amazingly beneficial today’s reading, for it indicates a lovely safe zone to explore nuance and meaning to all who “sit at the quilt” and patch a PIECE on it…
for truly the internal peace is what I felt at the end of the reading. Being patient with life unfolding as well as examining whose energies we are really feeling is important to this process.
Thanks to all who provided this expanded view for me!
Michelle was right about her mother. she had to look in side her self and see what will make her happy. Not her mother good reading.
In answer to Jennifer’s question with that spread:
Justice: In the past position = Jennifer does not see the need to move from her present location. She justifies the not moving from her current home with her emotions. Justice in the past position deals with her emotions. She is looking for a reason to move or a reason to justify her moving. She has not found that reason to make a move.
The Queen of Swords: In the current position- There is a decision to be made and a commitment to follow through with the decision. The decision has not been made with the action of the commitment to follow through. The Queen in the card indicates that the actions of moving is a reality and not a dream, but there is a lack of commitment to the action of the decisions being made.
The Empress Reversed: In the position of the future=This move will not occur as long as the situation remains as it is right now. A change must be made in the emotions and commitment of Jennifer before this move will happen.
I agree with others about what has been said. This deck is so different it’s throwing me off a little, but I love the simplicity of this spread the way the reader used the cards. Here are a few more things I would point out.
Justice My first thought was does she feel she deserves a new place? Is it possible the client thinks she deserves to be just where she is? Perhaps she moved into the place as a young woman intending to move out when she married or started a family and never did? Maybe since she’s still by herself, she doesn’t feel needs a new place especially a bigger place if it’s just her? On the other maybe she loves her life the way it is or at least thinks it’s good enough as it is. She seeing a lot of places and comparing them to each other and her own place, but the pros and cons balance out and none of the places outshines any of the other places including her own place.
Queen of Swords/Guardian of Air
I think it’s amazing/good Michelle picked up a motherly energy. I would see it as the client herself. She is using her head and not her heart which may be a good thing. However she’s missing the emotional connection to any of the potential new homes. She keeps looking at new houses however, because she also undervalues the emotional connection to her current place. The same way the Guardian shuts out the cold, the client shuts out all emotion that would lead her to making a decision.
Empress/The Gardner
Now I definitely see the mother energy in the reading. For me an issue with mother figure is often at play with empress reversed. However, I think part of the problem is the client on some level agrees with mother’s criticisms of her lifestyle or worries her mother was right. Home is often seen as safe place, a haven and place of nurturing, relaxation, rest, and comfort where we put our feet up. If the someone has experienced problems at home, they may come to see the home a place that is not restful but intense. (For example, a person experiencing criticism might feel jumpy and on-edge even at home.)
My best advice is to come to terms with an mixed emotions she’s feeling. I also agree with those who she needs to focus on what she needs not her mother’s expectations, and give it time.
My intuition also says part of her search for a home is search for family, friends, connection, and community. The gardner is pregnant and experiencing family. The client to me comes as someone who lives alone, although I could be wrong. Since all of this started when her mother died, in a way she probably felt less tethered and some loss of family and home. (A sign at Hallmark reads “Home is where your mother is”.) My advice is to reach out to her friends and community.
Sorry this is long! I’m an amateur reader doing my best.
it is interesting that more or less everyone is getting to the same conclusions.. when I did interpretation it came to me like that, short version….justice- be honest with yourself what you really need,- what is blocking- swords queen-do not overthink situation, don’t look for excuses is not working for you, change approach, -empress revers -solution is within you, you have abundance of inner wealth to get to positive outcome- to stay or to move…give some more time-gestation-
I am 56 and have moved so much in my life, leaving me with nothing. I now work in a place in SA called Pinetown. People here do not move. They stay in the same house, same job and same marriage their whole lives. They are the happiest people in the world!
I look at the Justice Card, and I feel the client feels she has to Justify staying in her current residence. I feel there is guilt surrounding her relationship with the Queen of Swords who is strongly saying “You could do better, look for another house”, when the client really doesn’t want or need to move. The upside down Empress suggests that the client isn’t using her resources to create abundance, and maybe an investment property might be the answer.
I agree with your approach-hugs
Thank you all so much for your kind words. I did indeed step out on a limb and put all of my eggs in my one basket, so to speak, but the feeling of a maternal influence was just so strong in this read. The client is very appreciative of the comments as well.
In your current situation, you seek to find the perfect balance in your home life. You weigh your options before you can firmly decide your choice. What is hindering you is the constant need of analyzing every small detail in a perfectionist manner. This approach can make you overlook the things of house that can bring new and wonderful opportunities for your home life rather than always meeting up to your expectations. There is a difference between things that we want from things that we need. My advice is to go after a house you feel you can connect to, intuitively. A house that makes a powerful connection to you, heart to heart. Try to not just focus on the luxury of a house on the outside. Figuratively or metaphorically, truly observe on what matters in the inside soul of a house.
She was very comfortable with her current situation and do not wish to move. The decision is very depending on herself. Her inner was struggling. It she really happy if move?
Empress reversed indicates that time is not currently ripe to make the move.Your intellect (Queen Of Swords) is directing you towards delaying the decision.Justice card is signifying balancing of energies.So overall i feel the time for move has come.You will eventually get what you get,and what would be good for you.But you have to be patient as of now.Let this first flush of action initiation pass through.Wait …,and things will work out.All the best.
~Aasheesh
Maybe I have a slightly different read on this just to throw into the pot as food for thought…
Because the Empress is the only reversed card, I would strongly interpret it as the source of the blockage. Because the reading was specifically about what is “standing in her way” I would immediately zero in on any reversed cards as a signal of what is blocked in the situation.
The Empress Reversed indicates to me a blocked sense of worth and self-value/artistry and aesthetics, perhaps denying oneself luxuries, or thinking that moving to another home is decadent or too luxurious. With Justice also in the spread, I think she’s weighing things up with her head and trying to decide based on what she thinks is fair and just and right and proper. But with Empress reversed I’d say that this approach is leaving out her desire for beauty and decadence and luxury and abundance. I personally think it is possible that deep down she would love something more beautiful and comfortable and luxurious and up-market, but she’s having a lot of trouble justifying it. It might run contrary to her values or a sense within her that she doesn’t need more luxury or more space or a more beautiful house or whatever, because it’s a bit too decadent. and not really sensible and just.
I would probably recommend the client look deep within herself at any conflict or ambivalence she might feel about giving herself more space or beauty or luxury, and whether she has trouble justifying it or feeling worthy of it. I intuitively sense that she might not be allowing herself to value more aesthetic considerations and that maybe she’s been too practical and logical and is blocking her desire for more beauty or luxuries. The Empress reversed needs to get upright again IMO, and perhaps she needs to accept her desire for abundance and perhaps for a home that is more reflective of her aesthetic sense. I think she might be valuing practicality and sensible choices over beauty, which is perfectly fine if it’s a conscious choice, but if she feels blocked then I suspect she might not be fully embracing the Empresses desire for things to be beautiful and abundant and sensual….like plush new carpets and new furniture and a big garden or things that might seem decadent and unnecessary but bring a great sense of joy and beauty into one’s daily life.
Just another possibility…
Update from the client:
I had a breakthrough this weekend in understanding my feelings regarding a house. It is worded a bit differently from what the readers are saying on Brigit’s site, but this is my understanding. It came from a friend who has lived in the same rented home with his wife for twenty years. He has been bombarded with suggestions from friends to buy, but has always resisted because, as he says, he might want to leave. He says, and this is something he has worked out for himself, that people are either nomads or builders. The builders maintain the oasis in the desert and the nomads in the caravanserai trade between the oases. They each need each other but their lifestyles and values are different.
Builders put down roots, buy homes, lavish attention on them, beautify them, landscape their yards, grow their own organic vegetables. Nomads move frequently, and when they do stay for a time, they don’t pay much attention to the home other than as roof over their head. They may even let the place run down through neglect because they are too busy doing other things,like traveling. This is me. I am a nomad. I have lived and worked in many different countries and sites. This current apartment I have lived in longest, but I have thought constantly of moving. All my friends are builders! When I said to a builder friend that I might downsize to smaller apartment, she commented that I had the least amount of stuff of anyone she knows. None of my friends can understand the way I live or my hesitation to buy.
This all matches so well what you and the many readers who commented on your reading are saying. My feeling of confusion has been coming from other people’s ideas of what I should do with that money, not mine. My late mother’s every-present voice, my builder friends and family – I am the only nomad in my family – although interestingly ex-husband was also a nomad!
I feel so free now. I may still buy, but it will be as place to return to after my trips. A pied-a-terre to leave my stuff in, not a place to tie me down. If I buy, it will have to be cash. It will have to be cheap to buy and maintain.
I thought of posting these realizations after the comments on Brigit’s site, but I though it might be best to maintain my anonymity. Feel free to pass this feedback on if you think it would be helpful to the readers who contributed.
With this combination I have a clearer idea of what is being asked about. His feelings; so this appears to be a romantic question. The tarot Sun reversed is a card of renewed bliss and contentment. It usually means that the person it is referring to has had emotionally hard times in the past, but they have now recovered and learnt to love and be happy again. This person will not have forgotten the past, but they do not dwell on it.
Thanks for the share sincerely hope this is not too intrusive, may help newcomers.
The overall tone of this spread jumps out as cold because of the swords combined with the empress (the personification of love in the upright) is reversed, so there’s a lack of expression of love here.
1. current issue – justice appears when we are using our intellect to make thoughtful and carefully considered decisions hence it’s presence, key words are calm and balance so this is the first clue to the sitters mental state. We can deduct she is very carefully considering her options around this house move and around motherhood (empress). Justice read as a person represents someone who must make a decision and also indicates the sitter is likely to be an intellectual person because of the qualities of the people that justice represents. The attributes of the justice card are filtering through all aspects of the querents life hence this is the energy she is operating through currently and would be apparent in her. If we get to know how the justice card affects our own life, what state of mind we are when it shows and what’s going on around us we can tap in to the feeling of it through the the imagery of the card when drawn by a sitter, we can step into the querents shoes but even once we are able to do this we will still be seeing through our own eyes not theirs, we’ll be in their position but from our own perspective through our own eyes and for this reason maybe as readers we can’t offer advice just an objective opinion at best, what’s right for us in that situation and what’s right for them may be two very different things and that’s at best it’s unlikely we’re seeing things absolutely spot on through the cards in the first place.
2. what is blocking you – queen swords read as a person indicates a solitary, intellegent person so this is an aspect of the sitter, someone who is at home in her intellect is career minded values her freedom and is strongly head over heart. If we meld the energies of the 1st 2 cards a picture is building of our querent, all surrounding cards affect the card in focus the closer the position the stronger the influence but that’s not to say we need learn complicated placements and combinations, just need to be familiar with the energy and qualities of the individual cards. Back to the picture two intellectual cards out of three there’s an imbalance in the overall view the sitter may be spending far too much time in her head, job and intellect (swords) at the expense of other aspects of her life namely emotional (empress) because it’s reversed. It also reads in relation to the question, the qualites of the queen apparent in the sitter is the root cause of the problem, swords struggle with emotions coupled with the effect of the empress rev there may be sexual and emotional tensions or emotional instability, she may be supressing her feelings using her intellect. These feelings are tied in to motherhood and her strained relationship with her own mother when she was alive.
3. Advice for the best outcome – Empress reversed reveals an imbalance in the sitters life linked to motherhood, sensuality, sexuality, beautiful surroundings, material comfort etc, if we reverse the energy of the card it points to excessive materialism but low material comfort so this is her current surroundings. It also points to these thought patterns and emotional responses being passed down from her mother so it’s down to the sitter to gain the self awareness to halt the pattern before it passes down another generation. It seems likely she had a rather cold upbringing where feelings weren’t expressed and tactile affection were not displayed. In relation to the question the placement suggests by correcting the energy of the empress (expressing her through a creative pursuit homemaking, lovemaking, etc) these problems could be resolved. We see a lack of action and a lack of passion so there’s nothing going on in her romantic life and there’s a lack of zest for life. In the empress reversed we see foolish satisfaction with the present so the sitter may be feeling in a rut and lacking the drive (wands) to do anything about it because she doesn’t have a clear focus on what it is she truly wants. She may benefit from delving into her feelings related to sexual,phsical love, motherhood and the webbed associations with her own mother. Clarification and expression of wishes coming from the heart can only help the situation, once those things are definatively clear following through becomes effortless because we create the opportunities by law of attraction, what the sitter is attracting to her currently is a direct reflection of her mindset mainfesting in physical terms, once she changes her mind she’ll change her enviroment.
The lack of expression of love mentioned at the beginning is a very different thing to being an unloving person though this is how the querent may be percieving herself currently. The presence of the empress indicates a warm loving person who is supressing that energy but in the process of learning how to give birth to these emotions.
Godbless x
Love Michelle’s interpretation of the cards..