A lot of people say you can’t use tarot cards to accurately predict time (ie. when something will happen). I tend to agree with this, given the usual “the future is not set in stone” tarot mantra and the fact that I use the cards more to uncover patterns and search for meaning in the present than I do for fortune-telling.
That said, I got some surprising hints a few days ago–without even asking. I found this amusing, so I thought I’d share.
The reading was about my thesis (though I didn’t really have a question). I was reaching the end of my rope in terms of accomplishing everything according to schedule, and none of my writing was as good as I wanted it to be. In a desperate early-morning lightbulb moment, I wondered if extending my thesis through the summer would be my best option, even though it was something I had wanted to avoid.
The first card, the 3 of Pentacles, had been on the bottom of the deck and caught my eye. I see a lot of myself in the 3 of Pentacles, hammering away at my thesis, trying to maintain my creative spirit while still adhering to deadlines.
The second card drawn was the 3 of Swords, which surprised me at first, until a random word popped into my head, and I realized I was recalling it from my first tarot studies ten years ago: “curveball.” I was not expecting these consequences, and was suddenly faced with more than I could handle – and consequently, a difficult choice.
The third card drawn was the 3 of Wands – a man waiting for his ambitions to pay off – looking for results in the distance.
See the pattern yet?
At this point it occurred to me that I had drawn (from a well-shuffled deck, of course), three cards of the same number.
Next, the Tower. A lot of people hate seeing the Tower card. But for me this was indicating upheaval, a sudden change of plans, a surprising twist of events (which, frankly, is a little exciting). Although I was bummed at the idea of such a setback as having to extend my thesis deadline, the prospect of such an opportunity was kind of a nice upheaval – time to rebuild, I’d say, which is the upside of the Tower.
And there you have it: the 3 of Cups. A break from the trials of daily life with friends, a time of celebration and relaxation. When I saw this card, all I could think about were all those nights I declined going out to the bars because I simply had too much writing to do. Now I’ll finally have time to refresh and enjoy myself.
Lastly, the Wheel of Fortune made an appearance. A pretty strong indication that events were moving quickly and it would take a lot of work and heart to keep up – a large part of the reason I’m in this mess. Also, this could be interpreted as a hint that my luck would be changing – and considering things weren’t going so well, I had high hopes.
** Long story short, I extended my thesis through the summer, and I feel a lot more at ease. But the thing I love most about this reading is the 3s – because it’s pretty rare to get that many of the same number in a reading. When I lined them all up and stared at them, I couldn’t help but think of them in terms of time: 3 months. And three additional work months would have me graduating at the end of August, instead of May. So I took that as a strong sign that I could use the extra time, and made plans that very morning to graduate in August – and I’m so glad I did.
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Card images from the Morgan Greer Tarot.
