"Life's but a walking shadow, a poor player
Who struts and frets his hour upon the stage
And then is heard no more."
Macbeth
Good morning everyone! How was the past week for everyone? Do any Accountability and Boundaries spreads this past week? If you did let us know how they went!
This past week accountability and boundaries were both huge themes for me. In asking for guidance around these queries, I had been pulling a lot of tarot that reminded me to take faith in my core self but also to gently turn my awareness to the fact that change (even though discomforting at times) was needed for transformation. I could choose to dig my heels in or I could choose to sink in. The cards were dealt, but how I chose to play them was always my choice.
As this lesson was sinking, settling, and integrating, a new tarot deck traveled into my life by way of Colorado Springs, CO. It was discovered on a trip that rang true with the harsh lesson that our only agency is often in our reactions and responses. The Phatasmagoric Theater Tarot, which is a bit more predestined in conceptualization than my safe space of The Collective Tarot, was gifted to me at a time when the limits of my individual power under the directorship of life was becoming glaringly clear. I couldn't control the set, the audience, or the other actors. When I felt like something was going wrong, a line was recited incorrectly, or someone walked the wrong way on the stage I had the choice to attempt to stall the entire production or go with the flow. I could stand mid stage and demand that everyone do it again until they got it (in my opinion) right, that they did it the way we agreed to do it in rehearsal! Alternately, I could be flexible and adjust to my fellow actors. I could be mindful of the scene that was playing out in the present and find the most authentic expression of my character in that singular moment. After all, whether or not it was going the way I wanted it to, the show must go on!
I have to be honest, I wasn't really ready for a new tarot deck. The Collective Tarot was such a good fit. I didn't have to translate and it always offered an affirming and positive interpretation. The images were familiar and comforting and the narratives were more spot on than metaphorical. The Collective Tarot was filled with the language of consent so I didn't have to be super accountable for the way I held my boundaries around how tarot was supposed to function in my life.
On the other hand, The Phatasmagoric Theater Tarot, is, perhaps purposefully, unfamiliar. The images are of the fantastical and somehow dark in their brightness and lightness. While cheery, they also feel to me a bit unsettling. They seem to play in the places near the edge of our consciousness and sanity. The places of dreams. The places where we have less control.
Sitting with the discomforting reflection of Graham Cameron's art seemed to be just the lesson that my tarot pulls had been trying to teach me as of late. So I'll turn to them now to see how I should understand this particular production of my current life process. What do I need to be aware of in my short hour of strutting and fretting?
"Mastering skills is only achieved through self-discipline and determination. William is a great abstract painter standing by his most recent canvas. Because of his talent and dedication, William has many admirers knocking on his door.
Divinatory Meaning: The Eight of Coins represents the mastering of skills and becoming a specialist.
Reversed Meaning: Wasting talent, empty ambitions."
The Phantasmagoric Theater Tarot
In brief candle light,
Traci
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Traci {She|Her|Hers|They|Them|Theirs} is a yoga teacher, therapist and amateur tarot enthusiast! They try to believe in the power of their inner Magician, stay inspired by the Fool’s spirit, understand struggle through the lens of The Tower/Disaster and always stay reminded that, “The Star Awaits…”
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