the way

This is an awesomely positive draw of cards, and extremely easy to interpret.

The six of clubs is the sign of the way shower, sometimes called "the John the Baptist card." It's directly above and corresponds with the 9 spades below it.

She (the line below) came to me needing and strongly desiring an end to the pain, sadness, and bad habits of her old life. The 9 is "finis" for old habits and attitudes, and even before arriving on Puget Sound she discovered me and my simple (but not always easy) routines, an hour of daily exercise plus a dietary overhaul. I'm not a prophet, but I know this commonsense program I use to combat Parkinson's disease is suitable for any purpose, and that unless a person has Faustian ambitions, following this plan will give most anyone what he or she wants.

The wandering fool is on the move again. I drew this card several months running in 2010 and '11, at a time when I felt rootless, like a person in perpetual transit. And here we are again, having left the northwest and looking to settle in Arizona, where the living and breathing are easy. Emphysema makes living on Puget Sound, with its constantly high humidity, too difficult. I love that area, but will have to be satisfied with an annual visit from now on, and Kit prefers the year round warmth and snowless desert to any climate she's experienced except Hawaii's. So Arizona it is.

The wanderer is paired with five spades, whose meaning is simply "big changes in the little things we do every day of our lives." This is the natural consequence of walking through the door pictured on the 9 that precedes it.

The hermit is on the right, and signifies the outcome if things keep going as they are now. He's a wise old man, nearing the end as the sand in his hourglass inevitably follows gravity, and in fact this card was originally called "the old man" ("lo vecchio") or "the hunchback" (Il Gobbo). I'm indeed old, and although  my back is straight, am physically compromised in other ways.

The final card in the draw is the most straightforward of all the trumps. "Love" was its original name, but the insertion of a third person in the image and the change of title to "the lovers," first occurred in the early Marseilles decks an  unfortunate mutation, which has led to hopelessly scrambled and hypercomplex interpretations. In its pristine simplicity, this image predicts the most desirable outcome we might imagine, as Cupid draws back his bow and love infuses every aspect of our intertwined lives.

Altogether, her line is rich in spades, the suit of work and health, and dominated by love's sunshine. There are three suited cards in this draw, two trumps, and "Il Matto," who is neither fish nor fowl, the only card with no suit, no number, and not a trump.

#30   

Click on the image for a larger and better view. Photo: Kit Wood. Tarot card ©2001, 2013 by Dave B., a.k.a. Catboxer.