Last year, during my tarot phase (which ended when I got diagnosed with keratoconus because, despite not really believing in a higher power, my grandmother’s voice lives in my head), I did Life Spread and Anchor for myself. It was roughly around this time and, though I don’t actually believe tarot can predict the future, it came up in my memories (I took a picture, for science) and got me curious about the “results”.
To that end, the spread was as follows:
Anchor:
- Base: The Tower (fun times, quite appropriate, really)
- Love: The Star
- Work: The Hermit
- Central Theme: Strength
- Immediate Future: Death (just what everyone wants in their future)
- Wishes: The Devil (lmao this just keeps getting better)
- Future: The Lovers
Life Spread:
- Personal Cards
- Key: 10 of Pentacles
- The Fool, Queen of Wands, The Moon
- Home Cards
- Key: The Magician
- Strength, 5 of Wands, Page of Cups
- Work Cards
- Key: 7 of Pentacles
- 7 of Cups, The Empress, 8 of Cups
- Love Cards
- Key: 4 of Pentacles
- Death, The Sun, 7 of Wands
- Future Cards
- Key: The Hanging Man
- King of Cups, 6 of Wands, Ace of Wands
- Key: 10 of Cups
So, I remember very little of what I “learnt” about tarot, but what immediately stands out to me here is that there are a lot of wands and cups–five of each–but no swords and the pentacles are all key cards. There are also two cards that would typically be interpreted as people–Queen of Wands and King of Cups–and the numbers are mostly on the mid to high end. Also, wow, that is a lot of Major Arcana. At least one in every single area, two (Magician and Hanging Man) as Key cards which kind of….set the tone for the other three cards. Based on this spread, the past year should have been full of major life events (which…yeah, it kinda was, and I have not been a fan).
Starting from the Base card in the Anchor, that’s The Tower, which represents a kind of seismic change. Everything you thought you knew gets obliterated and you have to start over. This was not a fun card to draw during a highly stressful time in my life lol.
Moving on over to the personal cards (which is what Josephine Ellershaw recommends in Easy Tarot Reading), we’ve got 10 of Pentacles, which suggests the cards below it be read in the tone of a successful, wealthy lineage. Legacy, if a single word can be used to sum up a tarot card. Cards are always read left to right, in a forward-moving progression. So that Fool card represents some sort of leap of faith leading to the Queen of Wands–a character who nurtures passion, desire, zeal, the Mother of Dragons in a metaphorical sense rather than a GRRM one. That character then leads into The Moon, a card of uncertainty and intuition. I tend to be inclined to read it as a card of mystery (though, really, that better belongs to The High Priestess) because it is a card I never did manage to get a handle on. Too esoteric.
I drew this spread with the intent of exploring the year that would come, therefore everything should have come to pass by now. With that in mind, I could interpret The Fool being the leap of faith I had to take in order to explore tarot at all, or the many attempts I’ve made over the past year to take each day as it comes and try to find my footing in situation that seems to be constantly shifting (usually for the worse). Alternately, it could be further into the future, depicting the last few weeks specifically, and refer to the leap of faith necessary to try ADHD medication again, resulting in the emergence of my inner Queen of Wands and learning to converse with my own intuition and inner self (something that I have actually been doing since starting Adderall). The 10 of Pentacles key card would then suggest this is all part of continuing the legacy. I think
Honestly, it all sounds too simple like that. We’re at the point of back-attribution though (as tarot always is), and I got rid of all my books, so I’m going to go with it. Cards predicted Adderall. Yup. Totally how that works.
It would make sense here to look at the Wishes and Central Theme cards, just because they don’t especially match up well with any other sections. The Devil in the Wishes position of the anchor is interesting. It tends to suggest vice, a sense of helplessness, possibly addiction. Not the sorts of things one tends to wish for. I suppose it could be interpreted as wanting an excuse to give into my worst indulgences, a desire to pretend I lack control over my own poor habits. Not a very flattering picture.
The Central Theme is Strength, a card about inner fortitude and courage. Unfortunately fitting for a year in which everything just seemed to keep coming.
Moving on to the Home section, The Magician suggests an overall tone of mastery and control, which does not really fit with the past year (two cancer diagnoses, a degenerative eye condition, partner with unknown health conditions that seem to be constantly deteriorating, etc), but let’s see what else is here.
Strength, yes, as mentioned, does suggest, well, inner strength. Courage, fortitude, kill ’em with kindness and whatnot. Leading into 5 of Wands, which I don’t totally remember, but I seem to recall would typically be read as a sort of “conflict and competition” card. Then Page of Cups which I seem to recall Ellershaw interpreting as incoming messages (which always trips me up because I feel like the imagery of Knights works better there, but here we are). Cups would mean an emotional or creative message. So inner strength leading to conflict leading to news that will be felt on an emotional level. Given the preceding card, probably not good news.
The mirroring of Strength here and in the Anchor suggests the need for strength was due to something in the home. Which, yes, I basically never leave the house so that would make sense. Ellershaw’s site says that Strength leading into 5 of Wands can suggest inner strength while heading into a time of petty conflict and need for diplomacy and resilience. Then Page of Cups would be a message felt on an emotional level arising from this period. The Magician key card would say I have the ability to master everything thrown at me, and the fact that the 5 of Wands is a minor arcana would mean a lot of lower-level problems rather than a major shakeup (in contrast to that asshole Tower hanging out there in the base).
Honestly, I feel this would make more sense in the “work” section because it would all fit very well with a Problem we had (and are still having) this time last year. I suppose it’s not my work though, so if I were inclined to make excuses that’d be the one I’d go with. Alternately, it could just be that the past year has been a lot of one thing after another, though I’d struggle to place the Page of Cups in that instance. If it were in personal, I’d say the keratoconus diagnosis which, while frightening at the time, can be treated and is somewhat within my control to the extent that I can wear contacts and stop rubbing my eyes. Don’t think I could say that about the cancer diagnosis though. Overall, kind of a bust on this section.
Moving over to the Work section, there’s a 7 of Pentacles Key card and The Hermit in the Anchor. 7 of Pentacles is typically a card of reaping what you sow, while the Hermit is about retreating to seek inner wisdom. 7 of Cups (two 7s in one section, cycle change?), The Empress (another earthy card), 8 of Cups, it’s all water and earth, emotion and pragmatism, creativity and practicality. 7 of Cups suggests an important decision–everything looks good, but you can only pick one–leading into the Empress, the ultimate mother, nurturing and growth. 8 of Cups follows, though, suggesting that whatever has been nurtured isn’t actually as fulfilling as expected. Essentially, something about work throughout the year would have involved walking away from a well-nurtured, but ultimately unfulfilling, something or other. Idea, goal, project, something.
I got nothing. In fairness, though, I don’t work XD I may have done the spread with the intention of this section relating to something else, but fuck if I know what it was at this point.
Heading on over to Love (why not), there’s 4 of Pentacles in the key card section, The Star in the anchor, then Death > The Sun > 7 of Wands for the bottom three. With two Major Arcana here–including Death, which also shows up in the Immediate Future position in the Anchor–you’d expect there to have been some fairly large moments over the past year re: my love life. Alas, I am dull and still with the same person I’ve been with for ages. Not even a hint of drama in my love life.
For funsies, though, 4 of Pentacles tends to be read as a bit…miserly. I think that’s unfair, anyone who’s ever been poor understands how hard it can be to spend when you’re used to scrimping, but it’s the typical interpretation. It can also refer to a strong desire for stability, potentially clinging a bit too tightly. It’s a financial card, so you could say it makes sense that it showed up in the Love section of my spread as my partner is the sole income earner and I do like being able to eat. The Star in the Anchor is a card of hope and healing which is rather nice. Somewhat true as well, the health issues K was dealing with this time last year are rather better. He has different ones now XD
Death, card of endings. Fun times. Followed by the Sun, which is generally a happy card, so potentially a positive transformation. But followed by 7 of Wands, a card of defensiveness. It’s not inherently a bad reading, it could, in the light of the Star, be interpreted as holding tight during a difficult time of transition that will end well if I remember to be assertive and hold my ground when needed. Which…ok, I could potentially see how that could be interpreted as having come true over the course of the past year.
Off to the future cards. In the Anchor we’ve got Death in the immediate future and The Lovers in the future-future (lol). Life Spread has The Hanging Man as the key card (oh fun), with King of Cups (who?) > 6 of Wands > Ace of Wands. King of Cups represents someone who’s mastered emotional stability, the affable uncle who does his best to avoid conflict but will listen to your relationship woes no matter what he’s doing or what time it is. I’ve got zero idea who this could be because it’s sure as hell not me XD Is Cancer a water sign? Could be K if so, I guess, but, uh, emotional resilience is not his forte 😅
Anyway, Death > endings, transformation. The Lovers > sometimes used to represent choices or meeting a soulmate (metaphorically, could well be the perfect job), Ellershaw tends to use it to refer specifically to romantic relationships. If already in a romantic relationship, then decisions that have to be made as a couple. Which, I mean, is basically all of the important ones unless you’d like to be divorced. The Hanging Man is another annoying one I wasn’t a fan of because it suggests willing sacrifice. Dude’s hanging upside down, giving himself a headache, of his own volition. He’s seeking a different perspective. Either way, as a key card it likely indicates that the overall section reading should be with the tone of a perspective shift.
That brings us back around to that mystery King of Cups leading into the 6 of Wands. 6 of Wands is generally a good card, a card of public celebration and achievement, sometimes of a message or messenger. No idea, but let’s go over to Ace of Wands to see if it makes sense. That’s a new beginning card, in this suit a beginning related to work, energy, or ideas.
Oh. So, if I really really wanted to, I could say that this “future” is quite far in the future. As in basically the whole fucking year forward. Thus, The Hanging Man would be my choosing to seek medication for my ADHD, which, yes, does inherently involve a perspective shift because I’m literally changing my brain chemistry. King of Cups would then be my prescribing psychiatrist (mastery of emotions) and the results of the Adderall certainly have involved a fair bit of celebration and feeling of achievement. Yes, in public, or at least as public as my very quiet life is likely to get. We then get to Ace of Wands for that new spark and all the possibilities open to me now.
Hm. Kind of obnoxiously fitting but also too easy. Not one of those cards referred to anything in the eleven months between reading and a year later? Sus.
Anyway, I’ve just now realised I’ve forgotten to include the Life Spread Key Card: 10 of Cups. 10 of Pentacles is the card for a financially secure family, 10 of Cups is for emotional wealth. It suggests that, overall, I should have been fairly well fulfilled in my relationships and emotions over the past year. Which…eh. I feel like 10/10 might be overstating it a bit, but I’m not exactly browsing Grindr either.
So. Personal? Maybe. Home? Not really? If you squint, I guess. Work? No fucking clue. Love? Meh. Perhaps. Future? I suppose. Overall…eh. It was a fun little exercise, I may try another just for the hell of it (perhaps not during High Holidays lmao), but I wouldn’t make any major decisions based on it. A lot of retrofitting, I don’t see how anyone could really take it seriously.
