Birthday Reading

Deck: Hanson-Roberts
Question: Birthday reading, also anything to do with her marriage.

Spread: The birthday spread is in the shape of a cake with a candle on top, and is designed to help you evaluate the year that is passing, look at where you are right now, and see what new energies, challenges, and gifts the new year is bringing you.  The card meanings are shown below.

Card 1:  Past influences that are ending or passing out of your life
Card 2:  Accomplishments of the past year to reflect on
Card 3:  Issues, tasks, or goals carried forward from last year into the coming year
Card 4:  Where you are right now
Card 5:  New influences that will be coming into your life in the near future
Card 6:  Challenges you may face in the coming year
Card 7:  Goals that you can achieve in the coming year
Card 8:  The overall focus or outlook for the coming year
Card 9:  Your birthday gift - a blessing you will receive during the year 

Reading

Overall observations – all three of the cards relating to last year are reversed, as is your present situation card. In addition, you have two major trumps coming up reversed in the near future (and yes, the cards were very well shuffled!).  However, after that there are three upright cards that indicate a very strong potential for new beginnings and personal awakening. My overall sense is of a difficult two years that resolves into a reinvention of yourself and a new direction in your life. You may look back on this period and think, it was hard to get through but worth the end result.

Card 1:  Past influences – The Hanged Man, reversed. The Hanged Man reversed represents a period when we feel we are sacrificing a lot and getting nothing in return. You may have felt like things were at an absolute standstill, with no movement or resolution.  Your own goals and dreams are put on hold because of external realities or internal issues.  This is an energy that is passing out of your life, a period you have been in recently (perhaps for a long time). Things are going to start happening now, a lot of big changes are coming.  This period of suspension was a catalyst for this coming year.

Card 2:  Accomplishments – Queen of Cups, reversed. The Queen of Cups represents someone who is doing a lot of soul-searching, delving deep within herself and thinking about her emotional state. The fact that this card is reversed suggests to me that this has been going on in your subconscious, and you may or may not be aware of it.  In a sense, it goes with the reversed Hanged Man. While externally you may have been feeling stymied or frustrated, subconsciously there has been some work going on relating to what you really want out of life and your relationships with other people. Since this appears in the accomplishments position, this suggests that this work is mostly done now, and you may find it surfacing into your conscious mind and decisions more and more. Listen to your inner voice and intuition, because it's been through a period of adjustment and emotional exploration.

Card 3:  Unfinished business – Knight of Pentacles, reversed. This suggests there are practical matters in your life that have been left undone over the past year, mundane things having to do with home upkeep, money matters, business relationships, and moving forward in your career.  There may be a good reason for this – other things were simply more important, and sometimes when there are subconscious processes of change occurring, it becomes more difficult to take care of these practical matters, because they are just not as important as the other things that are going on.  Judging by the year coming up, some of these things may become moot anyway, as it seems there are a lot of big issues and changes to be dealt with.  So get these things done as you can, but don't worry about them too much, as the internal changes you are going through are really more important.

Card 4:  The present – Five of Cups, reversed. The Five of Cups is a card of regret and bitterness.  A person sits brooding on cups that are spilled, these represent things like lost opportunities, relationships that have gone wrong, quarrels with family members, a feeling of disappointment about your direction in life, and other things you may wish had turned out differently. Behind this person sit two more golden cups on a ledge, indicating that all is not lost and there are blessings still in your life that you could choose to turn around and focus on, leaving behind the disappointments that you feel. The reversal indicates a feeling of being trapped in this brooding, of holding on too tightly to the might-have-beens, and not being able to focus on the positive.  Again, the reversal could also indicate buried feelings of regret, that you are not allowing to surface and therefore they never get dealt with and brought to closure.  Five is also the number of change, and indicates an emotional destabilization that is intended to create change in how you approach your life.

Card 5:  New influences – The Devil, reversed. A reversed Devil appears when we are feeling trapped – such as by unhealthy or codependent relationships, by financial debt, by unproductive careers, by unhealthy lifestyles or addictions, or by consumerism and materialism.  This is the card of bondage, but bondage to which we have willingly submitted through our own previous choices and actions.  The appearance of the Devil here indicates a growing awareness of being in this state, perhaps along with another person. Whatever the Devil represents, it is harder to release oneself from this state than it was to get into it in the first place, because you feel chained in various ways.  However, these chains are loose and can be slipped off, although the reversal indicates that you may find this very hard to do. Nevertheless, it appears that one of the keys to getting through the next year successfully is examining your life, figuring out where it feels like you are in bondage, and giving yourself the encouragement and motivation you need to free yourself from this state.

Card 6:  Challenges – Justice, reversed. The biggest challenge in doing this will be dealing with issues of injustice. You may feel that the situation is unfair or that in order to free yourself from this situation, you have to give up an unreasonable amount, while another person gets away with things he or she shouldn't.  The key here is to take responsibility for your own situation, realize that you are here through your own past choices, and therefore, whatever it takes to get out of the situation is "just" according to universal principals of karma and justice. Each person bears the burden of their own actions, and for those that don't seem to be doing it now, the universe will catch up with them later.  Holding grudges and bitterness inside has no value for you personally, and only serves to bind you to the past and negativity.  Justice's eyes are wide open, and she counsels you to look at your situation objectively and clearly, openly and honestly, use the scales of Justice to weigh the alternatives, and the sword of Justice to cut away whatever no longer belongs in your life.  In this way you can escape from the Devil and free yourself for the personal transformation that is coming.

Card 7:  Goals – Page of Rods. The next two cards are both Pages, and both upright. Here is shown the potential of this coming year, and what you can achieve if you deal with the Devil and Justice, as well as the Five of Cups, in a positive and proactive way.  The Page of Rods is like a younger you – an Aries with a fresh outlook on life, a new style, and enthusiasm for the future. This represents your inner self which has never lost sight of your original hopes and dreams for your life.  There is a chance for you to re-create yourself this year and become this hopeful, exuberant person, with a new lease on life.  The Page is a messenger of good news, which comes from within. This Page is a good communicator, and this suggests you will find new ways to communicate with others about who you really are and what you want from life. Rods is the suit of self, of will, and of career, so these are all areas in which you may feel positive renewal.

Card 8: Overall outlook – Page of Cups. Here is another Page, representing the overall focus of the coming year.  I think of the Page of Cups as your inner child.  This card represents renewal of your emotional and creative self, a part of you that it may be difficult for you to normally be in touch with, since emotional energies are usually the most difficult for fire signs. This is another card of messages, and the fish jumping out of the cup is a message from your subconscious that new things are coming. The wave breaking over her head is a sign of emotional turbulence that will sweep through and bring changes.  This child looks at these things with wonder and surprise, and perhaps a bit of trepidation.  All in all, you have many adult issues to work through, indicated by the Devil and Justice – but the end result is a renewal of both your inner and outward selves, represented by the two Pages here.

Card 9: Birthday gift – Ace of Rods. And finally, your gift :-).  The Ace of Rods – the ultimate renewal of self. Along with two Pages, this card indicates that this year you can give yourself the gift of self – creating yourself in your own image, in a way that is much more true to your original and inner vision of yourself and your life. The suit of Rods represents your inner fire, your intuitive self, and the actions you take in life, your career aspirations, and what you create around you.  As the suit of Fire, it is also associated with Aries and new beginnings. The Rod in this card is flowering with new potential, as rays of sunlight stream out from behind a stormy sky. This suggests rebirth from difficult times, into a new and more beautiful and creative form.  Aces are the cards of new potential, the seeds of things to come.  So while you may not completely remake your life this year, the Ace shows that the issues can be addressed, the difficult transitional work completed, and the stage set for a new start.

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Wheel of Change tarot cards © 1997 Alexandra Genetti