Here in Summer 2021 I do feel the tension easing. After a challenging few weeks of deciding to reclassify the company, I took a 5-day solo camping trip in the Adirondacks (See: NY - Eighth Lake) to rediscover myself as an individual again. One night, I read my Tarot.

I am still new to reading Tarot, so I try to work simply. I have three steps:

Divide the cards into the Major Arcana and the Minor Arcana
The Readee shuffles the Major deck while the Reader shuffles the Minor deck
Draw a card from the Major for each narrative part of the reading, draw a card from the Minor for each decisive part of the reading

I set up a comfortable, magical space for the reading; I don’t use it for anything else, and I prohibit the killing of bugs or any other violence. I use a set of magical talismens gifted by Finch: Abalone, Black Salt (never placed on plantable ground), White Sage, Palo Santo, and Sweetgrass. I only consider cards always right-side-up, never upside-down.

During my Eighth Lake reading, I indentified with many features in the cards as I read them, and the pattern here is a new one. Looking back on it a week later alongside our diagrams from three years ago, I noticed a correspondence to the fourth quarter of the Cyborg Cycle (See: 2018 - 02 - Magic Circle I; 2019 - 12 - Magic Circle II; 2021 - 07 - Magic Circle III).

The first card I drew was Major Arcana - XVI the Tower
This represents to me the twinned elements of my self falling from the tower of seed funding

The second card I drew was Minor Arcana - II of Cups
This represents to me replenishing the interior and exterior aspects of my identity

~

The third card I drew was Major Arcana - Justice
This represents to me my Zodiac sign, Libra, balancing these two aspects

The fourth card I drew was Minor Arcana - Knight of Swords
This represents to me my beloved and our pet

The fifth card I drew was Minor Arcana - Four of Swords
This represents to me the structured editing of the information I’ve been given

~

The sixth card I drew was Major Arcana - VII the Chariot
This represents to me my reflective drive to the woods

The seventh card I drew was Minor Arcana - Two of Swords
This represents to me the structured, twinned editing of the information I’ve encountered

The eighth card I drew was Minor Arcana - Three of Swords
This represents to me the generative-and-critical restructuring of my gathered information

The ninth card I drew was Minor Arcana - Nine of Pentacles
This represents to me the act of creating a newly beautiful and generative order

~

This reading was a good way to bring clarity to my next steps. There are so many symbols I identify with here — the twinned elements in particular. I love things in pairs (See: 2020 - 07 - Animal Crossing), and when I opened my matchbox there we conjoined matches, which I used to light my candles.

Tarot Practice