The Deck: Spolia Tarot
Just when we thought maybe things were chilling out.
This tarotscope falls in alignment with the full moon in Sagittarius , AND lunar eclipse, this Friday, June 5. We have the potent vibes of the full moon, along with the special energy of eclipses.
Eclipses upset the natural order of things. During a lunar eclipse, the shadow of the Earth falls across the face of the moon, bringing the unconscious to the surface. This can create sudden and abrupt change, be the end of a cycle that has run its course, and/or a mass shedding or release of things in our lives that just need to go already.
This full moon is square Mars, the planet of anger, aggression, and war. It is opposite Venus (currently in retrograde), which affects love and relationships. It is a cosmic interplay, if you will, of the most eternal of foes: love and hate.
It’s a common theme in pop culture, too. In the 1955 film “Night of the Hunter” (dir. Charles Laughton), a supremely sinister Robert Mitchum sports tattoos across the knuckles of each hand, one of which spells out “LOVE” as the other spells out “HATE.” Spike Lee’s 1989 film “Do the Right Thing” — even more timely and appropriate with the racial injustices perpetrated in front of our eyes — features knuckle rings bearing the same sentiments, on the hands of character Radio Raheem (Bill Nunn). He gives a nod to his knuckle rings in a speech where he preaches, “The story of life is this: static. One hand is always fighting the other hand…”
How many of you have felt as though a massive shift was about to occur, be it personally or collectively? I feel we’ve been teetering for a while on the brink of … something. Some change, some awakening, some collapse, or uprising. Or all the above.
Much like the love-hate dichotomy, this full moon-lunar eclipse brings with it a double whammy of super intense energy. Inspired by the upcoming celestial event, I designed this tarotscope to correspond to the key players in any eclipse: the moon, the earth, and the sun.
• The Moon, or, What is Being Obscured: Queen of Cups
• The Earth, or, What is Doing the Obscuring: Five of Swords
• The Sun, or, the Path to Illumination: Four of Coins
The Queen of Cups aligns with the moon almost as strongly as the Moon card itself. The suit of Cups, as you may recall from my previous tarotscope, is aligned with the element of water, which rules over emotions and relationships.
Queens in the tarot are also aligned with water and lunar energies. They are the nurturers, possessing tremendous emotional strength, maturity, and wisdom. They are the embodiment of all that is feminine, reflective, intuitive, emotional and divine.
We are bearing such tremendous emotional weight right now: the ongoing COVID crisis, the recent murders of Breonna Taylor and George Floyd (and the continual murder of Black Americans by police in general), the economic disparities that become more blatant by the day, the collective gaslighting of America by governmental “leadership.”
Once upon a time I was falling in love
But now I’m only falling apart
There’s nothing I can do
A total eclipse of the heart
Once upon a time there was light in my life
But now there’s only love in the dark
Nothing I can say
A total eclipse of the heart.*
As our emotional bodies continue to be ravaged on a daily basis, eventually these soft and vulnerable parts of ourselves retreat into the shadows. We shut ourselves down emotionally, as a mode of self-protection and self-preservation. We can only take so much. And right now it is TOO much.
So what is causing this collective eclipse of the heart? Corresponding to the element of Air, the suit of Swords is perhaps the harshest suit of the tarot. It rules over the mental realm, affecting how we communicate, what we think and believe, and how we express our Truth with a capital T.
In true Swords fashion, the Five of Swords is a bit sharp but truthful in its response: humans are really good at convincing ourselves that our feelings, thoughts and beliefs aren’t valid. We create narratives around why we are not worthy of what we need. And when we repeat these stories enough times, we start to believe them. They obscure what we truly feel and truly believe. And that eventually obscures who we truly are. We lose ourselves among the shadows.
Weaponizing our own emotions for fear of being vulnerable is one way of dealing with this. It may manifest as lashing out at others (or ourselves). We become defensive, confused, disillusioned. The Five of Swords, a genuinely obstructive energy, asks us to look long and hard at what’s happening in our own heads that we might not be seeing — or be willing to see.
In this time of distance, we strive for connection — both with ourselves and with others. But to truly connect, we must open ourselves up, expose our soft squishy insides, and trust ourselves to know when it is appropriate to fight, and when we must lay down our arms.
Once we’ve begun to reconcile the emotional realm with the mental realm, and the imbalances causing this obstruction have been brought to light, where do we go? The Four of Coins lets us know we must begin to build a strong foundation.
The suit of Coins (sometimes called Pentacles) is aligned with the element of Earth, ruling over the material realm and influencing such things as our homes, jobs, sense of security, and sense of self. So much in this sphere is now in disarray, due to the disruption that COVID hath wrought.
Is your sense of self tied to what you have, rather than who you are? Has your identity been thrown off balance by the shifts and changes so many folks have experienced due to the current economic upheaval?
For those of us in positions of privilege, we must strive to develop a strong sense of responsibility and accountability. Look for ways we can contribute to a stronger foundation than what exists right now. Be allies to those among us who don’t have this advantage. Offer protection, security, stability, and structure as we are able.
By the same token, we must not allow this privilege to become imbalanced. Too much stability can morph into toxic control. We must allow room for growth, shifts, and unexpected changes, because that is how life works. And when those unexpected changes occur — which they will — we’ll need to have a stronger foundation than ever, so the new house we’ve started to build doesn’t topple.
*“Total Eclipse of the Heart” written by Jim Steinman
