With the beginning of May we arrive at the house, the table, the 4 walls of the 4 of coins. I associate the fours in general with all things square, stable and sturdy. In this case, it being the 4 of coins, the suit of money, means, and ends, I think about banks, business ventures taking shape, investments in order, money in the bank, savings. A city even, if I stretch my mind and see the grid of a city exemplified in the squareness of the coins.
In this specific card from The Spanish Tarot published by Fournier, there is a shield reflecting back a beautiful landscape. This puts me in mind of protection, guarding what one has established so far. There is an elegant squaring with the sprouting leaves surrounding the shield, all is bright, green, and fruitful. Also, the flowers pointing in both opposite directions, north and south, indicate a sense of continuation and passage, growth and movement is underway. This is a card of general good standing.
The Spanish Tarot published by Heraclio Fournier, Spain.
Moving directly into the hot summer months over here, already the year is approaching it’s halfway point, and I start reflecting on the things that have taken shape so far, the plans that have been bolstered with foundation, and the plans that have been left on the wayside. What ideas have seen fruition for you this year? What projects have you laid foundations for?
Recently, I briefly shared that I had created a spread for Ostara. In retrospect I should have given more detail about the spread itself. This is me rectifying that.
Believe it or not, I created this spread with a pack of Aleister Crowley’s Thoth deck, a spanish edition of the deck I had lying around but never used. About a month or two ago I picked it up and decided to take a closer look at the cards. What I found left me breathless. What Lady Frieda Harris painted along with Aleister Crowley’s input, is incomparable. I’d wager saying that very few contemporary illustrated decks (close to none) compare to the power, scope, and beauty of the Thoth deck. Consequently, as I was shuffling the pack a week ago an idea for a spread struck me. I am not big on positional readings, as I feel they are confining, relegating the cards to enclosed and stifling positions, and neither do I read cards individually. Following this inspired train of thought while thinking of the season at hand here in the Pacific Northwest, I came up with this Ostara spread.
The Spanish Tarot published by Heraclio Fournier, Spain.
It is very simple in its approach. I envisioned a somewhat circular, although you wouldn’t know it by looking at this picture, layout where the cards speak of the surrounding stations in relation to the center, the self. The top two are the tangible, everyday aspects that rule our daily lives, the home and work environment. The bottom two stations speak of movement and transitions, imminent changes and underlying stasis, what needs to be cleared away. This speaks of “spring cleaning” if you will. The center is exactly that, the self and all that this contains at the moment. In the end, all these stations interact with one another and by consequence with the center, divulging a clear portrait as to the state of things pertaining to the person’s life.
Here is an example reading:
Sharing and kindness within the home creates a fertile environment for growth, namely, a time to lavish and spend on loved ones, spreading the love around with a good dose of socializing. This in turn nurtures your work as a new opportunity promising a raise is made concrete. The looming changes are in the guise of work, and along with the new opportunity comes a partnership that engages your enthusiasm. A new work friendship unfolds. Now arriving at stasis, Ostara reminds you to let go of petty past heartbreaks over ventures that didn’t go past the threshold into success. Alluding perhaps to the need for constancy in order to achieve the success dreamed of. Entering the self, you encounter a you that is on a firm and growing foundation with a partner. You are happy and feeling the flow of contentment this season. Overall, this reading clearly emanates warmth, fitting as the weather gets warmer. And the central themes are about following your passion and letting that grow into an occupation that allows you to blossom. There is a promise of money on the horizon as the work solidifies. Meanwhile, the home and self are enveloped in a haze of lovely vibes that spill outwards, you are loved and you feel it.
The *you is fictional in this reading, as this is a brief example of the spread in action.
Here is a picture of the reading.
Voltige Playing Cards by Henri de Saint Julien & Jacques Denain distributed by The D&D Playing Card Co.
As you can see the warmth is latent in the cards, this is a season for nurturing, growing and pursuing those goals that have been on the backburner.
I created this spread out of a desire to want to delve into the season as it expresses itself in the individual’s life. And the benefit is that no question is necessary for this spread. I rarely read the cards without a question in mind, as card reading is essentially about answering queries, but here the question is inherent, how am I (the querent) this season in these stations of my life?
Feel more than free to try this spread and see how it works. Also, I do offer this spread in my shop. If you would like a reading with me click on the shop link or on the Etsy banner.
I hope the readers that stumbled upon my previous post about the 3 of coins and spring found it delightful and useful, here it is if you would like to read it. Right here and now, I want to share a few things that are developing.
I started this site as a way for me to open up about myself, a way to force an articulation of my inner thoughts, a dialectic between myself and whomever found any of my words relevant. Since that humble beginning, much has transpired. I have grown in my connection to the tarot, taken classes with the wonderfully precise Camelia Elias, moved to the far-away Pacific Northwest, learned to detach more effectively from constructs (both cultural and self-made). I have also deepened my magical journey, the journey of enchantment. I realize now I have come full circle the deeper I go, as mentioned a few weeks ago, while improving in constancy the work in the realms of the unseen. In other words, I have effectively gotten braver as I have stepped into unfathomable waters. I like where this folk catholic journey is taking me. I appreciate and feel a connection to the permutations of catholicism within the everyday magical approaches of the past. It gives me a sense of connection to my ancestors, while also allowing me to see the varying vectors of magic that evolved from the interaction of the everyday folk and the formal structure of the catholic framework.
I stumbled, through a variety of ways, first by way of “reading the cards like the devil,” and then via Runesoup, onto Jose Leitao’s grimoric The Book of Saint Cyprian: The Sorcerer’s Treasure. Added a link for those curious. I have been reading it slowly, taking my time, while also aware that once I am done I will start reading it again. The depths hidden within this book are profound. It unlocked the floodgates, and I find myself reading more consistently. Both in search for the strings of connected magic, the framework underneath all that is seen, and also as a way of formulating and composing my own myths and mythic structure. Mythopoeia. This, in and of itself, is an ongoing never-ending quest. Aside from Leitao’s powerhouse of a book, I want to add a few more books I have recently read or am reading, Gordon White’s Pieces of Eight and Starships, while Stephen Flower’s books on Runes and Runology are always on hand and close. Lastly, I am re-reading Samuel T. Coleridge’s poetry, with John Milton on the wait-list as the followup. So many roots and byways have opened with the beginning of this year, initiated by virtue of taking the journey and the creation serious, even when it is sometimes overwhelming because I want to devour it all. In the midst, I am reminded to constantly pace myself as I am also of flesh and bone.
As all this percolates within and without, I find myself considering the role of knowledge, the meaning of wisdom in my life. Even though I am always reading, I have become tacitly aware that true ancestral wisdom, that which stems from the deep tide of civilization spanning back unfathomable centuries, is inherent. It is something we carry unconsciously, that is unlocked when we take the time to truly consider reality, unreality, progression, destruction, the stars, birth, life, living, humanity. It is something we glean in our inner realms, like a small iridescent rock that is accidentally unearthed from the deep dark earth. I find myself thinking about this small iridescent rock, wanting to draw it nearer, to know it, and to see it clearer. Knowing that true magic, that which lies in the unconscious, is universal.
As I mark my one year anniversary, I am thankful for all the spirits and forces and gods and goddesses that have enriched my life, passed by, destroyed, helped, guided, taunted, looked on, and overall changed me and my surroundings in some way. And I am thankful to you, the reader, that for whatever reason, stops by this small space on the internet to read my words. Thank you.
While the road continues, I hope to create narratives that are pertinent, precise, and poetic, slinging the cards as always.
The Fortune Teller by Jehan-Georges Vibert, Private Collection. Public Domain.
A small well kept garden with little baby buds flowering, peaking out of the earth, ready to greet the sun. Stretching their leaves gracefully and slowly as the sun begins to nurture their skin, and the rains feed them, spurring their growth. It is a slow process that of resurrection.
The Spanish Tarot published by Heraclio Fournier, Spain.
This is what I see in the 3 of coins, the slow process of growth and accumulation, a preparation for more. There is a promise here of fruition, of a glorious flower, a bower, a bough, a promise of beauty and splendor ahead. It is not something that is achieved quickly, but is instead gained through the slow sprouting of leaves, of receiving energy and nourishment from the heavens, of learning to grow gracefully and organically, not forced, and of maintaining the vision of the yield that is to come. The 3 of coins is about the blooming promise. With the 3 coins we get the investment of the 2 coins, along with the slow growth of the one coin shooting upward; from the contract to the emanation, an upwards movement.
As April slowly rolls by, the trees already coming back to life, flowers sprouting, daisies, daffodils, tulips, what is growing in your life? What is opening up and peaking its head out of the earth? This being Easter, I think of the symbolic and mystical meaning of illumination, resurrection, and transformation. What is being transformed? What is emanating forward and upward? Consequently, what can be done to bring upward and forward movement in our lives?
The Spanish Tarot published by Heraclio Fournier, Spain.
I haven’t done this in a while but I devised, spontaneously, an Easter spread. One which looks into all the aspects churning in our lives at the moment, the growth, the emanation and the stagnation. Seen through the lens of fives stations, or ‘houses.’ There is no question necessary for this spread, just shuffle and lay down the cards. As always, the cards interact and speak with each other, so you will see interactions between stations, and in macro, a whole picture will reveal itself when seen in its totality.
Ostara Tarot Spread
The Spanish Tarot published by Heraclio Fournier, Spain.
The Home looks at exactly that, the home. Things pertaining to close family life, the state of your home life, what to take note or be made aware of.
Work & Resources is all about the career, finances, your resources. By extension, it looks into your work environment, and your management or mismanagement of resources.
Changes highlight movements and changes on the horizon, transitions underway. How things are progressing, whether slowly, quickly, smooth, or rough, etc.
Stasis looks at what needs to be cleared away this spring and you are not addressing. This house is all about spurring you onward towards growth and movement, to get the cogs turning.
The Self is where you are at the moment, your body, your health, and your spirit. Consequently, how does this ‘house’ interact with the whole sphere around it?
As you read each ‘house’, you will start to see the cards interact with one another, reaching out, revealing intersections and interactions you might have been oblivious to. Go ahead and feel free to give this spread a try and let me know what you think.
Natalia Lee 