Meet the Cards: Nine of Water

What I See:

There’s a whispiness to her that makes me think of spirits wandering. I have a sense of her rising from the sea, breathing life into the Selkie myth. The colors bring to mind the ocean after a storm. Or maybe, the calm before the storm.

Seeing the light. With her arms open wide, whether spiritually or physically or emotionally, she is embracing fulfillment. The book says she’s standing in a sea cave but the edges are blurred enough she could be standing on the banks of a stream in a forest. I love the duality of that.

General Water element/Cups suit:

Please refer back to the Ace of Water

Light (upright) Reading:

All is well.

• Keywords: Happiness, Wishes Fulfilled, Sensual Pleasure, or Bliss.

Shadow (upside down or reverse) Reading:

Beware of shutting down your emotions.

• Keywords: Extravagance, Superficiality, Hedonism, or Addiction.

Plots:

With that shining light, perhaps a life after death story. How about a ghost story? Maybe a tale about a medium or tarot reader? There’s an otherworldly feel to the image so perhaps time-travel or aliens or shifters.

With her arms outstretched like that, perhaps she’s a shaman or some other spiritual guide. Maybe she’s on a vision quest?

How about a mythic helper who seems ordinary? (Perhaps refer back to The Writers Journey by Christopher Vogler for mythic archetypes.)

• Nine Themes: Self-mastery, Solitude, Wisdom, Experience, or Completion.

Typically, this card shows a barkeep/innkeeper leaning against a wall lined with cups. Perhaps your character is a bartender? Or maybe, you use a bartender to extract your character’s secrets.

Tarot for Writers by Corrine Kenner points out that the bartender could be looked at as a “low-rent High Priestess” — perhaps a story lurks there.

Characters:

Harmony with the Divine.

• Suit Archetype/Feudal Class: Clergy and Priestly class.

Additionally, look up one of the Water signs (Cancer, Scorpio, Pisces) for personality traits.

For more information on the Nines in general, please refer back to the Nine of Air.

Image: Gaian Tarot by Joanna Powell Colbert from Llewellyn Worldwide

Meet the Cards: Two of Fire

Generally, all Twos:

• Express balance, receptivity, and attraction of their suit, or element.
• Reflect the themes and wisdom of the Priestess.
• Symbolize polarity.
• Can represent Act Two, the confrontation, of your story; or a plot point such as the Catalyst, Inciting Incident, or the Call to Adventure; if you break Act Two down into two parts, this can represent Act Two-Part One, the response; or the increasing awareness step of your character’s arc; antithesis.
• Are a test of choice, the first test within the mini-dramas mentioned in the Numbers in Tarot post.
• For additional info on Twos check out Tarot Notes Take a Number series on Twos.

What I See:

We have gone from the one to the two, a couple, and awareness of another. Fire keywords like passionate, dramatic, and instinctual come to mind as I look at this card. I get a sense of yin and yang. Strengths balancing weaknesses. I think of Beltane Fires and dancers and building sexual attraction. This is a test of choice…will they or won’t they? Beltane also reminds me of fertility, we’ve left the darkest time of the year and it is time to celebrate life. Is it me or does the flame on that one torch look like a dancing devil?

General Fire element/Wands suit:

Please refer back to the Ace of Fire

Light (upright) Reading:

Attraction to a person, idea, or project has energized you.

• Keywords: Development, Achievement, Pride, and Collaboration.

Shadow (upside down or reverse) Reading:

You doubt the attraction or your ability to handle the resulting changes of the choice.

• Keywords: Agoraphobia, Overwhelmed, Disillusioned, and Abuse of Power.

Plots:

Traditionally, this cards depicts a man often holding a small globe in his hand. Stories focused on a nobleman or businessman, ‘master of all he surveys,’ comes to mind. Also, the man is usually standing above a bay giving mind to a fortress. Perhaps a story about a siege. How about a Helen of Troy retelling?

According to Tarot for Writers by Corrine Kenner the Two of Wands can also suggest the “‘sadness of Alexander amidst the grandeur of this world’s wealth.’ In antiquity, Alexander the Great reportedly was at a loss once he had no more worlds to conquer.” How about a ‘money isn’t everything’ tale?

Yet looking at this card, one of the four Celtic Fire Feasts come to mind. Perhaps lovers. Perhaps a  handfasting or a wedding. Or look at another culture, Native American Fire Ceremony where “[we] bring something to burn that we would like to rid from our past (in Full Moon) or a prayer request of something new (in New Moon), that will burn, turn to smoke, and release into the ethers.” Perhaps a vision quest. Maybe those crossed torches mean a challenge, a truce, a mixing of cultures/races? A funeral pyre?

• Two Themes: Balance, Attraction, Receptivity, Duality, Reflection, or Choice.

Characters:

“Will the fire warm you or burn you?”

• Suit Archetype/Feudal Class: Peasant or Servant Class.

The personality enneagram, a nine-pointed array of personality types, might also be a useful reference for character building.

All Twos are E2: Helper and/or Giver

• Self Image — I help
• Passion — Pride
• Virtue — Freedom
• Narcissistic Trap — Service
• Avoids — Needs
• Speaking Style — Flattering or Advising

E2 people are relationship oriented. They are concerned with what others think of them, image and prestige. They see themselves as being for others and often believe they know what’s best. They dislike being alone and may feel sad or inadequate.

Additionally, look up one of the Fire signs (Aries, Leo, Sagittarius) for personality traits.

Image: Gaian Tarot by Joanna Powell Colbert from Llewellyn Worldwide

Meet the Cards: The High Priestess

Or in this case just THE PRIESTESS is number two in the Major Arcana, standing for feminine duality. “Guard the mysteries! Constantly reveal them!”

• Symbolism: Intuition.
• Element: Water (see Tarot Elements)

What I See:

This is a peaceful card with its blues and greens. I sense the circle of life. It looks like the Priestess is sitting in a world within a world. — This is where my inner nerd comes out, LOL, this card reminds me of a Star Trek episode where Picard is trapped in a room, with a gate flashing different locations, on a planet about to explode. (I’m pretty sure Kirk found himself in a similar situation.) — I envision a woman meeting an earlier version of herself where the wiser woman warns her younger self of pitfalls ahead. I have an overall feeling, “it’s important to listen to dreams as long as one doesn’t get caught up in them.”

Light (upright) Reading:

Pay attention to dreams, as they may carry messages, and let intuition flow.

• Keywords: Intuition, Inner Wisdom, Esoteric Knowledge, and Insight.

Shadow (upside down or reverse) Reading:

Perhaps it is time to emerge from seclusion, reveal secrets, and be active in the world.

• Keywords: Secretive, Deceptive, Irrational, and Promiscuity.

Plots:

How about a time-travel story? Perhaps include a dream or vision into your plot.

The number two, its yin and yang, is perhaps telling you to explore concepts that come in pairs: male and female, heaven and earth, night and day, or good and evil. Two as the Roman numeral resembles a doorway — a gateway — perhaps a passage between worlds.

• Themes: Dreams, Secrets, Emotions, Spiritual Purpose, Privacy, Memory, Women’s Mysteries, or Solitude.

Characters:

The Priestess balances youth and wisdom while holding fast to the autonomy of both.

• Archetype: Anima (the unconscious female element of the male) — Vogler refers to this as the Shapeshifter, Virgin, Priestess, Witch, or Wise-Woman.

An archetype found frequently in dreams, myths, and stories is the Mentor [Wise-Woman], usually a positive figure who aids or trains the hero. ~The Writers Journey by Christopher Vogler

• Mythical Figures: Artemis, Hecate, Persephone, Sophia, and Isis Veiled.

The nine-point personality enneagram can also be useful for character building.

The High Priestess is E2: Helper and/or Giver

• Self Image — I help
• Passion — Pride
• Virtue — Freedom
• Narcissistic Trap — Service
• Avoids — Needs
• Speaking Style — Flattering or Advising

E2 people are relationship oriented. They are concerned with what others think of them, image and prestige. They see themselves as being for others and often believe they know what’s best. They dislike being alone and may feel sad or inadequate.

Additionally, look up one of the Water signs (Cancer, Scorpio, Pisces) for personality traits.

On a practical level, you can also identify with the High Priestess as a writer herself; she records her wisdom and observations in her secret book of life, and she guards and measures her words carefully. ~Tarot for Writers by Corrine Kenner

Image: Gaian Tarot by Joanna Powell Colbert from Llewellyn Worldwide