Relationship Tarot Reading Example for Little Old Me
My favorite way to try out a new spread is to do a reading with the spread for myself. Below you will find an example reading of my latest special on The Willow Path Tarot: the love reading. Doing readings for myself is one of the best perks of running a tarot business. I get to give myself lots of free advice and guidance! You can try out this tarot spread on your own or order one done by me here! (Pssst, I also have an amazing spread for all the sassy single people out there!) The Heart of the Relationship: Mother of Swords reversed
The Mother of Swords is described in the Wild Unknown as "experienced and all-seeing". Basically, she is one level-headed, rational, kick-ass Queen of the Mind. In this relationship reading, I see her as representing both myself, and my finance, Kristen, as a pair. We are not all-knowing, we don't have everything figured out, this isn't all well-traveled relationship territory for us. We are still experimenting and experiencing. We are still growing and seeing what happens as a couple. We are still on that journey toward the Mother of Swords' level of sureness and calm understanding that years and years of a being with someone in a relationship brings. Yes, we've been together for about 3 years now, and we are engaged, but we are not in a place where we could offer sage advice to budding couples, or look back and say "Remember when we were young and just getting to know each other?" Sigh. There are a lot of things that we do know about each other, but there is so much yet to learn, so many experiences that will add to our ability to see and understanding each other and our relationship. Also, this card reversed made me think that we are not the most logical of pairs. What brings us together isn't totally rational. We don't sit around and think our relationship makes sense because of A, B, and C. Often what draws lovers to one another isn't surface level stuff, but rather the intuitive sense of emotion that makes love so obvious to those experiencing it. The Mother of Swords reversed reminds me that the heart of our relationship isn't found along the level of the mind, but much more profoundly on the level of our hearts.
What Is the Relationship Weakness: VI of Wands
The VI of Wands points out that I feel one of my weaknesses in my relationship is my ability, or rather inability, to withstand public recognition. Kristen's whole being in life demands to be seen and acknowledged. She's an Aries with a Leo moon! She is a musician who wants to be on stage every night, entertaining the masses and being adored for it. I like to be on the sidelines, watching happily from a dark corner, part of the crowd but by no means the center of attention. Kristen is such an extroverted person, that perhaps the weakness of our relationship revolves around different way of expressing our passions in public. When someone hears I'm a tarot reader I just say "Yep!" In contrast, if someone asks Kristen about her music, she is whipping out a guitar and a business card instantaneously. Another idea this card gave me with that maybe we need to sell ourselves as a power couple a little bit more. Maybe we should be putting ourselves out there as a couple, and asking people to appreciate and recognize how cool we are. It is really hurting me to write this! What if, instead our weakness is actually delusions of grandeur, that we have the best love, the best relationship, and people should be looking up to us? Ha, I certainly don't feel that way, but I often ask myself: is everyone this happy in their relationships? Am I so good at living positively in the now that I have manifested exactly what I always wanted? And also, couldn't we achieve so much more together if we had one unified goal instead of our separate goals?
What Is the Relationship Strength: The Chariot
Oh dear, this kinda confirms my last point about the VI of Wands and needing to work more ambitiously together as a couple. The Chariot is all about power, determination, assertiveness, basically: getting shit DID and letting people KNOW. I love this card from The Wild Unknown tarot as well- a horse! Kristen's spirit animal is a horse, and currently we are caring for 5 horses on a farm in North Carolina. This is emblematic of our commitment to doing what we love. We want to spend time with animals, so we find some that need love for a couple of weeks. We want to see the whole country, so we figure out how to make money and live in a van. This adventure that we live together is so driven. We power along in our van, Chariot style, ready to ask for what we want, knowing that we deserve it. And don't even talk about giving up or quitting! I think it's super interesting here that the VI of Wands and The Chariot, both representing triumph and victory came up as our relationship weakness as well as our relationship strength. So often the things that make us strong, are also the things that tear us apart. If we are both such passionate and ambitious people, and we cannot align our goals, we will soon drift far apart and fast, as our roads quickly diverge. I don't believe that is what the future holds for us, given my personal feelings, and the energy of this tarot reading. We have the strength to combine our life purposes and move forward with self-confidence, determination and drive. The Chariot is an archetype, it's the theme of our relationship, and can far outweigh the pull back worry of the minor arcana, everyday of the VI of Wands. I should look for more ways that we can work together, each of us using our own unique gifts, especially introversion versus extroversion, inner power versus outer power expression.
How to Deepen the Relationship: Father of Wands
If I'm to go along with along with the theme that this reading seems to be taking, I say the Father of Wands is here to tell Kristen and I to go into business together. The Father of Wands is a visionary and a self-assured entrepreneur. If I want to deepen my relationship, I could work with Kristen on more creative projects. We both currently support each other's businesses, but perhaps there is more we could be doing. We have a travel blog website called CatvsOwl, that we both agree has a lot of potential but also ends up on the back burner every time. There are so many other jobs to do before sitting down to write a blog post about our vandwelling, travel life, that it isn't much of a travel blog. Yet? Or perhaps there is some other creative collaboration that we could cooperate on. We have far off dreams to open a bar/bookstore called The Librewery (steal the name and DIE!). But that is not for now, it is for someday, so just something to keep in mind! The Father of Wands is a fiery, passionate person who has so many ideas that are well-put into action. Unfortunately, all the responsibility doesn't suit this personality very much. Although the Father of Wands is capable and responsible, he would rather be off starting something new, being creative, and following his inspiration. Perhaps Kristen and I could switch off being the creative and wild one in the relationship, and the one who is responsible and practical. That way we both get to follow the sparkle of our suns now and again without being weighed down with too much reality. Which leads me to my last card....
Shining Guidance for the Relationship: Father of Pentacles
The Father of Pentacles is the pragmatic, responsible, and hardworking provider. If Kristen is going to be deep in songwriting mode, I will have to be in the role of practical caregiver, making sure we have money to pay the bills and healthy food on the table. Then when I want to run off and create my own tarot deck, she can be sure to cook me dinner and clean the bathroom. I like how we have two Father cards here, which correspond to the Kings in other tarot decks. The Kings are the socially responsible ones, the ones in command of their kingdoms, and in control of their destinies and lives. I like thinking that Kristen and I have that power within us. We are able to operate in our patriarchal, masculine energy dominant world. We can take care of each other and our lives. This authority is not exclusive to men, we all hold it for ourselves. We don't have to be followers or subjects. Our relationship can be regal and colorful like the buck in the Wild Unknown Father of Pentacles card. The physical world, represented by the pentacles, is full of magic and wonder for us. Together we can enjoy all this physical reality has to offer us.
Wow, this reading was all kinds of fun! I didn't expect these cards to show up at all, but you never know what the tarot will reveal to you at a given time. The issues and themes this reading brought up are not ones I had thought much about, but they make a lot of sense to me, and really open me up to new possibilities. I love The Wild Unknown deck, every time I use it I feel intrigued, inspired, and magical.
Feel free to use this spread to do a relationship reading for yourself! I also have one for all the single lovers out there. Let me know how it goes in the comments below if you try it out!