Twelve Houses - an exercise

Le Stelle on her blog made a wonderful example of how to use the Twelve Houses spread, otherwise known as Astrological Wheel. She made the example on an imaginary client. This made me instantly want to make a similar exercise :) As my guinea pig I used a character from a story I wrote - I know mostly everything about him :D His name is Vri.

So this is my exercise done according to Le Stelle's:

1st House, Aries, Fire: psychic condition of the querent. XVIII The Moon

2nd House, Taurus, Earth: money, earthly goods. King of Cups

3rd House, Gemini, Air: people close to us (more distant relatives, friends), but not the family that lived with the querent. 5 of Pentacles

4th House, Cancer, Water: emotions, closest family. King of Wands

5th House, Leo, Fire: children and small pleasures in querent's life. IV The Emperor

6th House, Virgo, Earth: working place and environment. 7 of Wands

7th House, Libra, Air: relationships, atmosphere at home, partner of the querent. 9 of Swords

8th House, Scorpio, Water: things hidden, secrets, sexuality. 10 of Pentacles

9th House, Sagittarius, Fire: learning, exploring, traveling. Queen of Wands

10th House, Capricorn, Earth: career, social status. VI The Lovers

11th House, Aquarius, Air: people more distant to the querent, exchanging of thoughts. 3 of Wands

12th House, Pisces, Water: what the querent doesn't expect. 2 of Swords

Card in the middle: a summing up card. 3 of Swords

Le Stelle advises to read a card with cards next to it and the card on the opposite side of the Wheel.

1. The Moon, 2/Swords, King/Cups, 9/Swords.

Vri is in a very bad psychological condition. He just came back home and realised that a lot of things changed and his loved one doesn't feel the same about him, because he selfishly left her for so long. He now understands (King/Cups) he was delusional (The Moon), that he hurt her deeply (9/Swords) and she's not so likely to forgive him easily (2/Swords).

2. King/Cups, The Moon, 5/Pentacles, 10/Pentacles.

He doesn't eve think about money. He can loose everything (5/Pents), he can be wealthy (10/Pents) for he brought marvelous things from his travels, but he thinks more about emotions now (King/Cups, The Moon).

3. 5/Pents, King/Cups, King/Wands, Queen/Wands.

The triangle is very well shown here: a crisis (5/Pents) between him (King/Cups), his love (Queen/Wands) and her lawful husband (King/Wands).

4. King/Wands, 5/Pents, The Emperor, The Lovers.

He would like to regain his position (King/Wands) with his love, the queen (The Lovers), but her husband's position (The Emperor) is stronger than ever.

5. The Emperor, King/Wands, 7/Wands, 3/Wands.

Well, he just learned about a new child in his love's life and he also tries to be a father to his own son (The Emperor). He wants to fight for that (7/Wands) with his rival (King/Wands) and he'll do whatever he can (3/Wands).

6. 7/Wands, The Emperor, 9/Swords, 2/Swords.

Courtiers don't exactly know how to welcome him back at court (2/Swords), but they can see that he's not the queen's favourite anymore (7/Wands), the king (The Emperor) is stronger, so they allow themselves to be a bit nasty to him (9/Swords), especially in words.

7. 9/Swords, 7/Wands, 10/Pents, The Moon.

That's bad... There's grief and grudge (9/Swords), chaos (7/Wands) and distrust (The Moon), but the only light in that dark tunnel is 10/Pents: she didn't give up being family with him completely.

8. 10/Pents, 9/Swords, Queen/Wands, King/Cups.

He secretly wants a real home (10/Pents), but instead of that he keeps hurting (9/Swords) her (Queen/Wands) and well, he loves her in his own, weird way (King/Cups).

9. Queen/Wands, 10/Pents, The Lovers, 5/Pents.

He traveled selfishly, not thinking about other people (Queen/Pents), but that is going to stop (the Queen stumps on an Sagittarius' arrow), because from now on he's to create a more stable relationship (10/Pents) and she will probably forgive him in the end (The Lovers). 5/Pents added here looks like overcoming the crisis.

10. The Lovers, Queen/Wands, 3/Wands, King/Wands.

And he regains his position! (King/Wands, 3/Wands) thanks to the queen (Queen/Wands) loving him (The Lovers).

11. 3/Wands, The Lovers, 2/Swords, The Emperor.

The courtiers may not like him (2/Swords), but they can see that things changed (3/Wands) and it's time to respect him again, because of the influence he has on the queen (The Lovers, The Emperor).

12. 2/Swords, 3/Wands, The Moon, 7/Wands.

He doesn't expect that his not easily gained balance (2/Swords) will soon fall apart (7/Wands), it won't stay the same (3/Wands), because the destiny feared by his queen is approaching (The Moon).

Sum-up card: 3/Swords.

Vri caused a lot of havoc and pain, but that situation will change. His love will forgive him... but there won't be any happiness forever.

This was interesting! And fits the story so well! The next step you can make is to look at the triangles created by the elements (Fire as career, Earth as money and physical health, Swords as intellectual sphere and Cups for feelings), but I think I've quite exhausted the topic here, so I'll stop now :)

Three Kings' Eve - Part IV

APRIL: XX Judgement, X Wheel of Fortune, 6 of Wands

The Queen will receive some news, that will give her new energy (Judgement) and will cause a change in her life (Wheel of Fortune). She will find new goals and new strength to try and achieve those goals (6/Wands).

Painting or knitting?

I learned how to knit when I was a kid. My grandma is a very talented person and knitting is her great love. She taught me how to knit, but after that I didn't knit much. I made some scarves, but never anything more complicated in shape. Recently my interest came back and I really got into knitting - with You Tube and many free patterns on the net it is easier than ever before.

I got so caught up, that I stopped painting. My last watercolour was painted in November... So I asked the cards, is it right? What is best for me now? Painting or knitting? If I feel like knitting now, should I try and paint something? It's not easy after a few months break...

I pulled 5 cards:

1. Painting. XX The Judgement

2. (at the bottom) Why? XVII The Star

3. Knitting. 7 of Wands

4. (at the bottom) Why? 10 of Coins

5. (in the middle) Advice. 7 of Coins

I think that the advice from the cards is not to worry and wait until I naturally go back to painting (7/Coins). That is because painting will come back to my life, like dead people from the graves (Judegement) and that is because I like it a lot and can achieve a lot on that field. I will probably get a bit tired of knitting (7/Wands), because I'll overdo it (10/Coins). But anyway I shouldn't rush things - it will all change naturally.

Three Kings' Eve - Part III

MARCH: VII The Chariot, King of Cups, 8 of Coins

In March The Queen will be able to show her good sides and succeed in her tasks (The Chariot), but not without hard work (8/Coins) and being considerate (Kings/Swords).

Wonderful three cards

Recently I really started to appreciate the simplicity and usefulness of the three cards spread. Apart from a one card reading, it's the simplest you can get, and yet this spread is often so helpful. Of course, you can use very complicated spreads for deeper meditation, but you can also include three card spreads in those larger ones.

I used The Star spread a lot, because it's so versatile, but I often had a feeling I do not grasp something. With three cards spread, a story appears. Cards start to "talk" to each other, to correspond. And just recently I started to understand them better. It's been around year and a half since I started learning tarot. It seems I needed this year and a half to reach the next step - to intuitively grasp the meaning of the set of cards. As a smaller segment of a larger entity, three cards are a great start.

Three Kings' Eve - Part II

FEBRUARY: I The Magician, 2 of Swords, Page of Swords

February will give The Queen an opportunity to use her skills (The Magician), but she won't be sure (2/Swords) if she is skilled enough for the tasks that are before her (Page/Swords).

Three Kings' Eve - part I

For some reasons I don't pull cards for myself too much lately, so my blog is a bit abandoned. But I read cards for K., who gave me her kind permission to write about it here. She only asked to be called The Queen on this blog :) In fact, I think the nickname "Queen of Cups" fits her best.

I read in one of Hajo Banzhaf's books about "Three Kings' Eve" custom. "Three Kings" is another name for Epiphany holiday and it commemorates three Magi paying homage to infant Jesus. The custom says that you can foresee what happens to you in the upcoming year, if you pull one card on each day - starting with Christmas. The last card will be pulled on Three Kings' Eve. One day represents one month of the new year. In Poland many people (especially highlanders) write down weather on each day of that period - it's supposed to give them the idea of weather in each month.

So every day starting with Christmas, I pulled cards for The Queen, but instead of one card I decided on three - to make a story out of it.

Yes, this gorgeous Kat Black's deck is a Christmas present from me to myself...

JANUARY: 10 of Coins, 0 The Fool, 3 of Cups.

I believe that January will start with some activities that will bring her long-waited money. It will probably be connected to her teaching skills (the woman with the book on 10/Coins). January will also bring new things (The Fool), which is as well, because she's just went abroad to study for three weeks. It's an opportunity to meet new people and gain new contacts - maybe she'll meet people with whom she can later do some projects together?