This is the first year I didn’t draw a Trump Card straight away on my birthday.

(Previous birthday readings here: https://caelanhuntress.com/tag/tarot/)

During years past, I have always set aside some time for introspection and journaling on my birthday. For the past six years, I have draw a card from the Thoth Tarot Deck, and used the symbolism in the card to meditate upon what the coming year will mean for me.

Every time, for the past 6 years, I drew one of the 22 Trump Cards from the deck.

This year was different. I drew 3 cards until I reached a Trump, but all the cards matter to me intuitively, so I’ve arranged them together in a drawing known as The Blind Spot. I like the symmetry of all these cards with one another, and I like their interpretation upon my life and trajectory this year.

I’ll give an overview of The Blind Spot reading below, and then interpret each of these cards symbolically as I understand them. But first, I need to give thanks for where I’m sitting this birthday morning.

My New Office

caelan-office-2017Until yesterday, the team of digital creatives that I roll with were working next door. On the Winter Solstice we packed up and moved all of our offices and desks and books and shelves next door, in the same building, and I only unpacked yesterday. This morning is a Saturday, so there is nobody here, and I fully incarnated in my new working space by setting up a coffee station.

This morning I stopped at the organic grocery store on the way into my new office, and treated myself to an expensive porcelain coffee brewer. My preferred brewing style while working is single cup brewing, and I’ve been using a cheap plastic filter holder instead of this nice porcelain one I’ve been eyeing for months. It’s the kind I’ve always wanted but never justified to myself because it was pricey.

Today I bought one, and set up my coffee brewing station in my new office. It turns out this was the real impediment to me feeling comfortable working here instead of from my home office over the past two weeks. I need a steady supply of coffee while I work, and coffee wasn’t set up here until today, on my birthday, with my nice new porcelain brewer.

My desk is unpacked, my books are on the shelves, and it finally feels like my space.

The Blind Spot Tarot Drawing

This 4-card drawing uses a 2×2 grid. From left to right, cards 1 and 2 go on top, and 3 and 4 on the bottom. It’s a simple spread, and each position has an overlapping set of meanings.

Card 1 – This is what you see, and what everyone else sees, about you.

Card 2 – This is what other people see about you, but you do not see about yourself.

Card 3 – This is what you know about yourself, but others do not see about you.

Card 4 – This is the Blind Spot. This is what you don’t see, and others don’t see, but it has an unseen influence on the question at hand.

Card 1

Knight of Wands

Card 2

4 of Disks – Power

Card 3

3 of Wands – Virtue

Card 4

XI of Trumps – Lust

tarot-drawing-caelan-bday-2017

Birthday Tarot Spread Interpretation

In some ways, I see the Lust card as my Trump for the Year. This card represents passion, the very fire that incites creation. This is a card of creative energy in all its aspects, both its perils and its glories, as it leads the way to a transcendent experience.

Seeing it in The Blind Spot gives me a framework within which I can see it from a totally new perspective.

The Knight of Wands is a card that represents me this year; and its something that everyone else sees about me, too. This is a card of controlled and directed power. The leadership, enthusiasm, and ambition within this card is a perfect representation of my position in my career. I spent much of last year in the shadows, pivoting my brand, aligning myself into a direction that could sustain a clear and powerful launch into success. I’m ready to build my fortune, I’ve gained valuable and useful skills, and I know lots of amazing people. I just had to situate myself on the launch pad in the right direction, and this year, like this card, I rear up on my powerful vehicle and I launch.

The second card is what others see about me, that I don’t see about myself. The influence of a card in this position is still present upon my life, but it’s something I don’t see. I find it interesting that the 4 of Disks is here, since I generally see myself as a strong and powerful person physically (even if I’m not in a training season, like now). So my best guess is this is a level of power, fortitude, or resources that others know I have, but I don’t know it myself. I am guessing, anyway, but I don’t know, because I can’t see it. (Any ideas? Leave a comment below.)

The third card is Virtue, the 3 of Wands. I know what this is. And I don’t want to tell you. But since you’re reading along, I need to trust you enough to at least tell you what my stories are, even if I don’t want to give you details. So, I’ll say this much: There is a source of my need to pursue habits of excellence, and there are reasons why I find arete so important. This comes from things that have happened in my past, but these are powerful stories that I am not yet ready to tell. My scars are my hidden core, and someday I may share them with you, but not yet.

“Out of suffering have emerged the strongest souls; the most massive characters are seared with scars.” – Kahlil Gibran

The Blind Spot is Lust itself. This card can represent the primal forces of creation, the sacredly profane, or the taming of base desires on a path to enlightenment. The powers in this card are some of the greatest in all the cosmos, and I feel them in this next year as currents that I can manipulate and navigate, if I am in alignment with the other cards in this drawing. Knowing these greater powers are moving around me this year, I will not seek to create my own forces or forge my own path; instead, like a fish in a river, I will find those currents that move swiftest in the direction I want to go, and I will ride those currents on their journey to the infinite sea.

This is a year of powerful movement for me, and this tarot reading is my celestial map.