This week’s Media Review was Tarot Elements: Five Readings to Reset Your Life by Melissa Cynova. The book outlines five different readings (along with a few bonus spreads) to work through the blocks in each area of your life, inspired by the elements of the Pentacle: Earth, Air, Fire, Water, and Spirit.
According to Cynova, Air has to do with boredom in some manner.
Most of the readings that I do regarding air/mind land in four distinct areas:
1. I am bored.
2. I hate my job
3. I love my job, but I hat the energy in my workplace.
4. I have a passion, but I can’t leave my job to pursue it.Whether we’re talking about your job or about your intellectualal pursuits outside of work, the same can be said for both: you have to feel alive. You have to feel as if you matter and that your work is valued.
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The Air Spread
Cynova’s spread for the element of Air, regarding bordom and interllectual pursuits is shaped aroun d the elemental triangle: upward-facing and with a horizontal line through it.
The first card at the top of the triangle corresponds is the positon of ‘What can you hold on to,’ while the following three cards in the middle row of the triangle consider ‘what’s holding you back,’ and the final three cards making the base of the triangle show ‘what’s pulling you through.’
Accordning to Cynova’s example readings, you read each card individually, rather than as combined meanings. In other words, you would read each card in the middle or base row individually, rather than reading three of them as one meaning in each row.
Veronica’s Reading
Veronica was kind enough to let me use her reading regarding the element of Air. In life, in general, she’s bored. She has a day job and she has a creative passion that she goes after outside of work. She’s had some success, but it’s not enough to hold her attention, or make her feel like the work she’s putting into it is worth what she’s getting out of it.
Similarly, she feels her day job doesn’t value her, and that she’s simply a body there going through the movements, but doesn’t really know what her options are, as the jobs in her area are pretty few.
She’s restless and simply bored, so I suggested using this spread.
Card 1: What You can Hold on to: 7 of Wands (reversed)
Immediately the position became it’s opposite: what is she holding on to that she needs to let go. The 7 of Wands is about holding your ground and fighting for your position. But the reverse of it, especially in this position says that maybe she should be letting go of this position rather than fighting for it. Thus, I asked her what it is that she’s fighting for: her day job, or success in her passion?
I wanted her to really think about this. I wanted her to spend some time thinking that if right now she had to make the decision to let one go, which would it be? That would give her the answer as to what to pursue.
Of course, I didn’t tell her that she should quit her day job, especially without another gig lined up. However, I wanted her to discover which is worth her fighting for, or which she’s fighting for that isn’t worth her efforts.
Cards 2, 3, and 4: What’s Getting in Your Way
What’s Getting in Your Way: 4 of Wands
The 4 of Wands is a card of celebration. However, the Wands have to do with passions. What seems to be happening to me is that Veronica is celebrating small victories in her projects, and basking in the glow of these victories, leaving the project unfinished. Nothing is going forward from there. She discovers a new creative project and moves onto that before completing the last project.
This shows that she has the ability to do well at her creative passions, but she doesn’t have any follow-through. She’s happy to get that first level of achievement, but doesn’t move from there.
What’s Getting in Your Way: Empress
The Empress is a reminder to nurture ourselves. When she shows up, she is telling us that there is something we’re neglecting, and that we won’t grow as a result. This negligence is what’s also holding Veronica back. This could very well be related to her day job, especially if she’s not feeling appreciated. She needs to work hard to make sure she practices that self-care in order to act as her highest and best self.
What’s Getting in Your Way: 8 of Cups
Again, similar to the message of the 4 of Wands, Veronica is lacking the staying power. When she gets to a point where her cups are being filled, that is, when she is feeling fulfilled by her projects, she walks away from them. While the 8 of Cups is a card in which the subject walks away onto something better, I really feel this is the thought of something better, rather than the actuality of it.
If she wants to feel that spark of excitement, and to find herself fully fulfilled, she needs to stick through with a project until the end of it.
Cards 5, 6, and 7: What Pulls You Through
What Pulls You Through: Magician
The Magician is a card of action. Veronica has the ability to see things and start the ball rolling, and this is a strength. So many people never get their ideas put into action. This initial spark of energy just needs to carry on. She needs to find a way to fuel or nurture this aspect of her.
What Pulls You Through: Tower
The Tower is a card of swift changes, the kinds that knock you off your feet. While they’re generally as a result of not quite building a sturdy enough foundation, the Tarot has a different application in this position to Veronica. She’s adaptable. When her Tower falls, she doesn’t hesitate to rebuild. This ability to take shake-ups with a stride is what will help pull her through her boredom.
What Pulls You Through: 6 of Pentacles
The most important thing is that she has a support network. No matter what she does, no matter where her projects do or don’t take her, no matter where her day job does or doesn’t take her, she always has the support of those around her. The 6 of Pentacles is about giving and receiving. She’s a generous person, and always willing to lend a hand to anyone, or help them however she can. She needs to remember that when it comes time to ask for support, it’s there for her. All she needs to do is ask.
Summary
Veronica needs to evaluate what she’s holding onto that she needs to let go of. Where is the misdirection of her energy? This is part of the self-care of the Empress: evaluating what she needs or doesn’t need to see what is worth her time and energy. As a result, the energy saved can help her move beyond the small victories of a passion-project, can help her refrain from abandoning said project, and see it through to the end. Her adaptability, action and surrounding support is what’s going to get her to see that spark of excitement again.
I wanted to add my own version of reading this spread as well. As I generally do in my 9-Card reading, or my 3-Card readings, I see the middle card as the central focus and key message in a spread. In this reading, it’s the Empress that fills that roll. And thus, I think that what Veronica really needs to keep in mind is her own self-care habits so that she doesn’t get burnt out at work or with her projects. She needs to really focus on evaluating what means more to her—a pay check where she feels unappreciated, or expressing herself. From there, she needs to find solutions of how she can cope with her day job, or how she can make time for what really lights her fire.
