How to read Tarot Cards #20

When the dreaded 3 of Swords card actually presents an opportunity for deep healing.

So, sometime last week, I got the itch to pull some tarot cards for myself. I was of course super bummed out when I saw our TOTEM Tarot Deck’s Nemesis card (aka the Queen of Swords card) right on top of the dreaded 3 of Metals (aka the 3 of Swords) card. A bit further ahead in this same reading— in the position of “an element that comes into play”— was the dreaded Shadow card, our deck’s version of the more traditional Devil card:

All three of the cards referenced above-- from left to right-- Nemesis, Three of Swords, The Shadow-- and all from our TOTEM Tarot Deck!

Ugh.

Any seasoned tarot practitioner will tell you: this mixture of cards serves as a promise of some serious fuckery bubbling under the surface and just out of sight, with the potential for backstabbing, betrayal, unpleasant mask-off moments, love triangles, painful arguments, breakups, and possibly someone fixated on me, my business, or my family with nefarious, destructive intent.

Sounds fun, doesn’t it? Not. So. Much.

While still *kind of* in denial about this reading— and as my eyes scanned these cards within the larger spread— I decided to pull out a classic HARD COPE, and see what our TOTEM Flower Essence Deck had to say about the matter. I mean, it’s colorful and friendly and has happy flowers on it, right? Surely that’ll take the edge off?

The card I pulled? Holy Water, made of Sage! Of all of the 60+ cards in our herbal oracle deck, this is the one that screams, “The call is coming from inside the house! Time to clear! Be on guard! Stay vigilant!”

“Dammit,” I thought to myself, “surely this is just some kind of a glitch.”

So, I made a classic amateur mistake: I put the Holy Water card back in, reshuffled, and then pulled another Flower Essence card. I know, I know. Asking Spirit— or, in this case, a second deck— to “try again” is a terrible way to undertake divination, generating a whole bunch of noise and confusion and very little (if any) insight.

#notabestpractice

What was the second replacement card that I pulled from the TOTEM Flower Essence Deck, you might be wondering? Oh, just the Self-Defense card, featuring an image of beautiful, bitchy Red Yarrow. So, it was literally the same message, just said louder. The cards were screaming at me to shore up my defenses, energetic and otherwise— ultimately inferring there was an environmental threat in one form or another that I needed to prepare for:

The Holy Water (Sage) and Self-Defense (Yarrow) cards from our TOTEM Flower Essence Deck

So, I did what any seasoned professional would do…

Just kidding! I didn’t do what a professional would do at all.