Hyperallergic’s tarotscope series is a combination of tarot with astrology, a reading for the collective readership combined with cards for the major astrological signs, grouped by their elemental associations.
The equinox arrives this fall just on the heels of a lunar eclipse in Pisces and a solar eclipse in October. In the southern hemisphere, we enter the spring season; in the northern hemisphere, we enter the fall. Leaves change color, flowers bloom, and around the world, the fire season continues.
This season’s tarotscope is read using the Mixed Signals Tarot, designed by artist M Eilo. These readings were drawn during a mild Brooklyn morning hours before the lunar eclipse, in this ninth month of the Strength Year (in the tarot system) and eighth month of the Dragon Year (in the East Asian lunar system).
A preponderance of Major Arcana, or archetypal forces shaping our realities, suggests big and transformative energies in the collective air. Be gentle with yourselves and drink plenty of water — the coming months will bring even more surprises in the winds.
And we start with an inquiry: What do artists need to know as we enter this time of eclipses, both literal and metaphorical?
Collective Tarot Reading
Cultivation: Learner of Wands (aka Page of Wands)
Release: The Hanged (aka The Hanged Man)
These two cards encompass the collective context with a card from the Major Arcana and a court card from the Minor Arcana, representing daily affairs.
The Hanged, also known as the Hanged Man in the popular Rider-Waite-Smith (RWS) deck, arrives in the position of Release, or an invitation to let go. The name of this card is often misunderstood: this person does not hang from the neck, but rather from the feet, often intentionally seeing the world from an upside-down perspective.
The Hanged appears during a period when the world seems to be upside-down, when we are asked to see things differently. The past few months have been marked by sudden reversals and changes, of unexpected events and expectations unmet. Like a yoga inversion, we now shift our perspective.
Now it’s time to let go and embrace the Learner of Wands, sitting in the position of Cultivation. The Learner, also known as the Page in the RWS deck, is embracing a beginner’s mind enabled by the insights of the past few months. The Wands represent the qi, the spark of life, the raison d’etre that guides our being as artists. Perhaps there is a small voice in your creative practice to which you are just now paying attention. Maybe you’ve already begun the journey of a new practice.
Today’s reading sits in the space of dualities as you’re invited to let go of the tensions and confusions of the past season without running away from them. They have planted a seed in your creative practice that you are called to cultivate.
So now the question is the Method. The Method position completes this three-card spread, and it’s custom to your elementary signs. An additional card is drawn for each element to elaborate on its particular solution. Read for the elements calling to you now, whether associated with your sun, rising, or moon sign, or simply one that speaks to you at this moment in your life.
Fire (Aries, Leo, Sagittarius)
Method: The High Priest (aka the Hierophant)
The fire of the summer may have pushed you into a spiritual practice, however that may be defined. M Eilo’s illustration depicts this Major Arcana card, also known as the Hierophant in the RWS deck, as attuned with the planets. And just as the High Priest seeks planetary guidance, you may find wisdom and benefit from higher powers — whether spiritual, celestial, or earthbound — to guide you through this Learner of Wands phase in your life.
Consider the sources of wisdom that guide you — whether they feel supportive in your new creative directions, or if you might need additional guidance in the coming season.
Earth (Taurus, Virgo, Capricorn)
Method: The Emperor
When I see this card, I always wonder: does it suggest the need for more structure and order in one’s practice, or a need to break from it? In a collective reading, this card feels like an invitation to examine that earthly structure you so cherish in your life. How is it supporting your creative practice and how might the structure be hindering it? During these next few months, it would be wise to test the foundations of the world you’ve built and ask yourself: Will these walls allow new vines to grow, or will they keep out the new energy I need in my life?
Air (Gemini, Libra, Aquarius)
Method: The Eight of Swords
The hand laid flat by the pencils suggests stasis and rest. This season, the card seems to say that it may be worth making space for pause rather than immediately springing into action. Consider the tools around you and how you might best utilize them. But as an Air sign, you may already be accustomed to thinking through your options, to the point of inaction. Be mindful of the perspective you bring to your decision making such that you can move forward prudently, while ensuring that you continue to move forward.
Water (Cancer, Scorpio, Pisces)
Method: Justice
The illustration couldn’t be more clear: whatever chains you’ve felt containing you in your emotional world, it’s time to break them. In tarot, the bonds that hold us almost never stick; instead they indicate when and where the growth can happen. In this case, the deep well of emotions is a guide to where an injustice has occurred and how you might move forward into a space of remedy. In the next three months, think carefully on how Justice emerges in your life. You have greater power than you know.
