I wrote about my friend, Graham Gudgin, in a post about a month ago. He gave a very thoughtful interview about what it is like living in the United States as a British expatriate.
In one question, we discussed his tarot card readings. Shortly after that interview, I had him do a tarot reading for me and in today’s blog, I’m going to share it with you.
According to his tarot website, http://foucault.tarot.googlepages.com/, Graham follows the Marseilles tradition of reading tarot. In the Marseilles tradition, the meanings of the cards are not as pre-defined as in some other methods of tarot reading. Specific cards can have different meanings, depending on their circumstances, such as where cards fall when they are dealt, or the questions asked of the tarot reader. Additionally, the Marseilles tradition is very visual. The meanings (within the context of the reading) are based on the pictures upon the cards.
Graham does not claim to be psychic and says his readings deal with where people are right now and how that might have a bearing on their future.
Graham does not charge a set fee to do a reading. You email your question to foucault.tarot@gmail.com, he does the reading, sends you a reply, and you pay him what you think is appropriate within your means. It’s really simple!
Graham believes tarot works best when he is asked specific questions, so I formulated my question and sent him an email.
Here is my original question:
“I would like to start a side business using an acre or two of my land. I’ve been thinking about possibly propagating all kinds of plants to sell OR growing berries (blueberries, blackberries, raspberries). I can’t seem to develop either idea and am wondering if you may be able to tell me which one might be best to pursue? Or, if I should look at a side career using my other talents in speaking/writing field?”
Graham helped me rephrase my question to this, “What would be the best path for Cindy to pursue in order to earn a secondary income?”
Here is his reading:
Graham drew the following cards: LEMPEREUR, LE FOU, LA MAISON DIEU
He said, “In LEMPEREUR (The Emperor) we see a man looking rather pleased with himself. He has placed his shield on the ground, so he obviously feels safe and secure, and he’s busy looking at his reflection in the scepter he’s carrying. He looks like the Lord of his domain! He’s so busy looking at himself, that he’s unable to see…
LE FOU (The Fool), in which we see a man eagerly and confidently striding ahead. He looks like he doesn’t have a care in the world, but look closer! He seems to be in a rather exposed state, and a creature with sharp looking claws looks about to take advantage! Still The Fool strides on, towards impending danger.
The impending danger is depicted in LA MAISON DIEU (The House of God). We see a tower that is in the process of being destroyed. Two people have fallen from the tower amid an explosion of colored disks that look a lot like money to these eyes!”
Graham then goes on to say this about me. “You’re a confident person, comfortable in your own skin. At the moment, you’re feeling pretty safe and secure (The Emperor). I think the danger is in supposing that a secondary income can almost be earning itself, as you sit and watch it.
I sense that making a large investment in anything, especially financially, could be very risky in your situation right now (The Fool). It may seem easy and safe, but I think that would be a very dangerous assumption to make. I could see you exposing yourself to unnecessary risk.
While you feel financially secure, making a financial investment risks a very strong chance of losing that investment, causing possible hardship (The House of God). This is clearly saying to me that the best path to take would be one where you invest more of yourself, rather than your money.”
And now, my interpretation of Graham’s interpretation.
What Graham could not have known is that there was a time in my past where my decisions were based on getting more money. Those of you that have known me for a while may well remember that when Brian and I devoted ourselves to the collection of more money, we began to destroy each other.
The impending danger, as Graham called it, of LA MAISON DIEU, showed Brian and I falling from our tower amidst all the money. That was surely us!
I am LEMPEREUR right now, confident and secure once again. But, how easily I could become LE FOU, by thinking more about money than of the more important things in my life, such as family, friends, health, integrity.
LA MAISON DIEU would be my future again if I pursue this path!
Right now, my plate is so very full. At times, I cannot do all I set out to do. So,okay, maybe now is not the time to pursue a secondary income.
Maybe, what I should do is over the course of the next several years, add a few more berry bushes to my yard and see how they do. Keep my investment small, manageable. These things are my hobbies, not necessarily a source of income. The pursuit of the money, should never come into play for me. I get it!
Yes! This reading couldn’t have been more spot on for me. What do you think?
Personally, I do carrot readings. It’s similar to tarot readings, but at the end you eat the evidence. And it’s well known that carrots improve your foresight.
Ha, ha, ha! Clever!
Cindy, I’m one of these strange people http://gwyddoniad.org ~~
And yes – when you’re emotionally attached, you only see what you want to see in the cards, not what you need to see. So if I’m involved, I find someone else and ask them to throw for me.
However, when I read for someone or ask someone to read for me, I do so on little information. When someone queries me, I ask, “What kind of reading would you like?” and work from there – I won’t allow anyone to tell me specifics about anything. So I basically throw blind. When I query someone to read for me, I tell them, “Could you do a general/specific throw for me?” And we sort out the details afterward.
A Tarot reading would be fun! Of course I guess I should be careful what I ask for. I’ll have to think of a good question…..Hmmm……
I think that you could have come to this conclusion yourself. However you feel justified when others agree with you.
Care, Yes, I think I may have come to this conclusion myself, although, more than likely, after I spent quite a few dollars buying berry bushes and then having your dad tear up the back yard to install them for me.
Sometimes, it is good to get a “third party” to look at your situation to help you focus on what is important to you!
I think, just like going to a psychoanalyst, the information revealed in a tarot reading is often something you know already. Of course, sometimes the person being read for (the “official” term is “querent”) is in denial about it.
I’d love to read for you, Carrie. You know where to find me, and now you know exactly what to expect.
Thanks, Graham! I’ve been thinking of some good questions. Coincidently I work for three psychiatrists and three psychoanalysist. It is very interesting work!
Nice post, Cindy! You’ve been very fair, you’ve included pretty much everything I told you, and I really appreciate the addition of your analysis of my interpretation. It can sometimes be a little depressing giving someone a reading and getting no feedback. Sometimes, what I do can be like hearing one side of a telephone conversation – it’s easy to interpret the conversation incorrectly. It’s nice to hear your side.
While I love that you’ve included the beautiful images from the Jean Noblet Marseille tarot deck that I use exclusively, I wanted to point out one little subtlety to your readers. when I deal the (usually 3) cards I use in a reading, I deal them in a straight line, one after the other. Rather than simply giving the reading for the first card, then a reading for the second card, etc., I also look at the images on the cards relative to each other. I see the cards almost like a movie storyboard – those sets of sketches they use to plan out a film.
In the narration of the cards in the first part of my reading, you’ll see that I talk about how The Emperor is so busy looking at his reflection in his scepter, that he can’t see what’s about to happen in the next scene. I also describe The Fool striding towards the disaster that The Tower depicts. If The Fool was marching off in the opposite direction, the reading would be completely different!
I also like to point out that I do not believe our fates are completely set out in stone. When I do a reading, it captures a snapshot in time, and I describe a possible future based on this snapshot. That way, you can choose whether you like the outcome that’s depicted, and you have a chance to change that.
The hardest part of the whole process is to switch off the highly-logical side of my brain, and work purely using the images on the cards and my intuitive side. That’s one reason I don’t like to read for people I know well – it’s too easy to be swayed by personal views and prejudices.
Graham, I knew I could count on you to fill in the rest of the blanks for my readers! And, if it hasn’t been clear to you, please know that I am very happy about my reading! It was perfect!
It can sometimes be a little depressing giving someone a reading and getting no feedback
Oh I agree. This is why I don’t offer to read for people that often, even when they ask. Now Cindy here, since she obviously gives excellent feedback, I’d give exception for. 😉
I deal them in a straight line, one after the other. Rather than simply giving the reading for the first card, then a reading for the second card, etc., I also look at the images on the cards relative to each other. I see the cards almost like a movie storyboard – those sets of sketches they use to plan out a film.
Same here.
That’s one reason I don’t like to read for people I know well – it’s too easy to be swayed by personal views and prejudices.
That’s why I don’t like reading for myself if I’m needing an insight to something that I’m emotionally tied to.
Mari, I knew you could help people find lost things, but did not know you could read tarot cards, too!
I like the last part of your comment about it being difficult to read for yourself. I would think you would keep trying to see what you wanted to see! Makes sense!
Mari’s spot on! I forgot to mention that I don’t read for myself. For the same reason as I don’t like to read for people I know well.
It’s great to meet you “properly” too, Mari – I’ve followed you on Twitter for a while, but never really chatted with you. There are too many “readers” who stick with LWB (Tarot-terminology: LWB=Little White Book – the little leaflet with “definitions” that come with most tarot card decks) “meanings” and never really look at the cards themselves. It’s refreshing to find a kindred spirit!
Nice to meet you, too!
The Rider-Waite cards/graphics/meanings never did anything for me.