Tarot Spreads: Interpreting the "Hopes and Fears" position (position 9 in Celtic Cross Spread)

 

As I begin to write today, a phrase comes to my thoughts and so I will share it.  It was a statement made during a popular TV show that I happen to love and binge watch occasionally:

Ambitious but rubbish!

~Richard Hammond Top Gear- Britain

And that...in a nutshell, explains my feelings about position 9 in the Celtic Cross Spread.

Thanks for coming to my opinion-piece.  (I will see myself out.)

Lol...No way you could get away that easily!  You will sit down and listen to every damn word I have to say! (If you heard Adam Sandler from The Wedding Singer just now, congratulations for not being offended!), and thanks for having some fun with me today.

I asked my boss Jeremy if I could use some comp time today to come in late...because when I get the urge to write, it is ALWAYS in the morning.  And in the morning, as I nurse my multiple cups of coffee, I am truly creative and very wise.  All I can say is that You're Welcome!  Also...you should have heard the Rock singing that (in your head as you read it).  Yes, he was Mauie in the Disney animated classic Moana.  Also, little known fact (amongst my readers anyway), the song was written by Lin Manuel Miranda.  Lin is an imaginative writer and performer who I have grown to completely adore.  I will surely write more about him in time.  Today I want to talk about Tarot.

TAROT IS A GAME OF CARDS

Tarot is a card game- a card system, by which intuitives and psychics and mediums and claivoyants and others of this genre, predict the future.  There are traditionally 10-tarot cards turned to complete the spread.  The part that most people do not understand is that only 3 cards in this spread are indicative of the future.  The rest tell a story-  your story.  Whomever you allow to read these cards for you and interpret them, will use a combination of traditional card meanings, along with their own view of what the cards are "saying to them".  I put that in quotations because within the wording, there are more questions coming to your mind, such as, "what does that mean exactly"?  The answer is not straight-forward enough to capture in a sentence or two.  Let's assume for the sake of this article, that you have chosen a Card-Reader whom you trust, and who knows what they are doing and can make accurate predictions based on whatever criteria determines one's capacity to do so.

So, what's in the cards?  This is a deep question.  Are we asking what is in the actual 3-dimensional card deck and all the individual cards themselves that we can physically touch and see?  Or are we asking what information is embedded intellectually within the art and language of the card deck itself in its 3-dimensional existence?  Or are we asking what the art means?  What the numbers mean?  What the symbols of Cups, Pentacles, Wands and Swords mean? In some cases, you may just be asking what your Tarot Card Reader themselves might mean when they give you certain bits of information.  It is a combination of all of these things and much, much more, I assure you.

WHO CAN READ AND INTERPRET TAROT CARDS

Anyone.

(drop mic, leave stage...thanks for coming to my opinion piece, I will see myself out)

Ok...so to be more clear, the cards are just cards, right?  

Who can Play Go Fish?  Anyone.  Who can play Uno?  Anyone.  Once you learn the rules, you can play any game.  Poker is a card game.  But do you believe that ANYONE can sit in a high stakes Poker game and confidently play and win?  I can feel your heads shaking, "no", so I will assume we all agree that this is a silly thing to assume.  Anyone can understand how the Tarot System works.  Anyone can turn over 10-cards in a Celtic Cross formation and interpret a message from these cards for any other person.  

I could leave it right there.  But I think we all know the difference between a person with real skills in a thing, any thing...and a person who lacks them.  For example- I work in Administration and one aspect of that is Customer Service/Customer experience.  Many people work in Customer service, right?  But of all of those working in Customer service, how many truly make a connection and serve from a place of generosity, kindness and compassion?  How many truly desire the best outcome for their customer?  How many give their own energy freely during the interaction to assure they have completed the transaction so that the other comes out as the winner?  I don't need you to answer.  I already know.  NOT A LOT OF THEM.  This will be what separates the wheat from chaff...the digestible from the waste.

Many will try to read the cards, and few will succeed.  It is this way in all things.  Those who do not succeed, or stick with it, have simply lost interest or felt no connection to the activity and hence, they found no usefulness in it.  If they themselves have found no usefulness in the process, then they would not believe it would be useful to you.  But those who have indeed found healing from the use of Tarot Cards...those my darling...those are the ones.

Think for a moment about systems of healing that you believe are truly beneficial to improvements in health.  Some that may come to mind are Weight Loss programs, vitamins and other courses of medicines such as Antibiotics to fight infections.  You may have thought about surgeries...there are so many that fit the question as a suitable answer.  Now ask yourself about the areas of life that allow healing for your whole life (hol life...as in holistic)...think of it that way.  Now we start thinking of activities like Yoga, meditation, accupuncture, Chinese Herbals, Naturopathy in medicine...there are so many.

Where does Tarot fall into this idea of systems of healing?

Only you can know the answer to that.  I have my answer.  You must find your own answer.  Many people have laughed at me when I use Astrology to glean information that helps me understand people better both individually and within groups.  For me, it is NO DIFFERENT WHATSOEVER from a Chess-Player familiarizing himself/herself with the tried and true movements of opponents and observing patterns with them as an individual player, group player or within the whole umbrella of chess champions.  It is no different from being a very good detective who can piece together patterns based primarily in observation of human behavior.  It is no different.  But do Tarot Card Readers have a value?  Only you can decide that.

CELTIC CROSS SPREAD

I am a Tarot card reader.  I have been reading Tarot since 2008/2009 when I was presented my first deck.  It was the very traditional Rider-Waite.  It was new, never used.  My cousin just literally showed up at my house one day and she gifted them to me and said these just seemed like your "kind of thing".  She knew me quite well...she knew me to be spiritual but not mainstream.  She knew me to be wise but not confident about being wise.  She may not have known it, but I was on the precipice of a huge shift.  She did not know that her whole purpose in my life was to get to know me well enough, have access to me well enough...that she would just one day drive across town for no other reason than to hand me those cards, inspiring me to try them.

I ignored those cards for quite a while.  I will confess it- I was afraid to touch them.  Maybe you have been inside a Catholic Church before...and you may have noticed there is a stage upon which the Priest will stand.  For me, this is a SACRED PART OF THE CHURCH, and no one else ought to be there unless the priest has directed them to approach.  If I were in a church right now...and I have no reason for reverence, bear in mind...I would NEVER step upon that stage area until directed by the priest.  Do you feel that way?  Ask yourself why or why not.  Dwell upon the answer.

I felt reverence for the cards.

If you choose a reader, choose one who feels reverence for the cards.  I determine this by asking to touch their cards and then observe their reactions.  It does not matter what they answer- only their reaction matters.  You must watch closely.  

So let's finally move into what we came here for, shall we?  How to interpret card position number 9 in the Celtic Cross.  This position is known as "Hopes and Fears".  I have always from day one in doing this spread, thought it was odd that we are not taught to pull 2 cards instead of one.  How can 1 card tell you both a hope and a fear, which are clearly different things?  For this reason, I have always, will always- pull 2 cards.  So my Celtic Cross Spread begins with 11-cards instead of 10 cards.

Today, as I write this, it is 11-11-2022.  Today is the exactment of the 11-11 portal, the sign of the Eternal Twins, the Twin Flames.  This is a Sacred day in my culture of spirituality. Today I will be a fool not to pull a spread and share it with anyone who cares to listen.  We shall see...

When trying to interpret these two cards, you must consider the rest of the spread in its entirety.  The Hope/Fear position is next to last.  Why?  Why is it there?  I tell you this in full sincerity, it is rubbish!  It is ambitious, I agree.  But rubbish all the same.  A card reader will work harder to explain this position than any other, I assure you.  If they are worth their weight in salt, this will be the position that hurts them every time.  This is the psychology of your querent.  This is where you as a card reader have to tell the querent what they feel and you have to frame it in terms of what they want for themselves but are afraid to ask for. 

Take the cards out of the thought for a moment and plug it into something else.  Let's say you supervise people at your day job.  Maybe you run a busy retail store.  Joe is an employee that you are mentoring to advance into assistant Manager (say you are Manager).  Let's say that part of the employee review process involves you telling Joe what you see as his hopes and his fears.  This would be similar to strengths and weaknesses in that there will be polarized concepts.  Perhaps you see his hope to rise to management, but also his fears that his frequent tardiness will cost him the position.  How do you talk about it?  You obviously want what is best for Joe.  You have to remain neutral.  What words would you use to talk about this?

Let's use some Tarot Cards to explain it to Joe.  He has a drive for advancement but is slacking in self-control to get to work on time.  He is not a King in Tarot.  A king is fully grown and accomplished.  A queen is the same...A Knight though.  A knight is not quite arrived at his destination yet.  There are 4 knights.  One of the four is NOT in motion.  He sits.  He is idle.  Joe is this Knight.  That is what he is.  He is idle in his goals because there is fear...fear of what, we do not know.  But his hope is to get to the next level.  That level could be that of a king...or it could be a feeling of needing to move- such as a Chariot.  The cards help us understand the underlying motivational feelings, thoughts and conditions.

SUMMARY

My method for reading the Celtic Cross Spread includes pulling an additional card at position 9 before my Final Outcome card.  This means I use 11-cards instead of 10, a magical portal opens from the universe because I have summoned the magick of 11 :-)

and from there, I paint a picture of the polar opposites before I reach my final conclusion (card 11)...and that my dears would be an entirely separate blog article.  Those final 3 cards (ahhh the power of 3), have their own significance and are a mini-story within the whole story.

I would love to hear your comments.  Share them if you like.  Warm 11-11 wishes this Samhain season.  Be Blessed.

~Lilac