By Sarah Taylor

What’s the best way to deal with actually getting what you wish for, for a change?

This is the focal point of this week’s reading: being able to ask for what you want — whether to someone else, or as an inward prayer — and having a good chance of getting it.

Knight of Disks, Strength, Nine of Cups from The Röhrig Tarot deck, created by Carl-W. Röhrig. Click on the image for a larger version.

The first thing that came to me when I turned all three cards over was their beauty. Can you see it too?

The colours made my heart want to sing out loud: they are warm, light, and entirely in sync across the spread. Then, I looked at the composition of each of the cards, and they, too, are complementary. In fact, the correspondences between the Knight (King) of Disks and the Nine of Cups is, to quote my initial response, (and excuse the language of spontaneous wonder) “Fuckn AWESOME!” I don’t think I’ve been hit by the lyricism of a reading like this for a long time.

And this, too, is key to the reading. It’s the subtle, but significant, heads-up that lies behind the transcendent imagery.

Let’s explore the Knight of Disks and the Nine of Cups first. The Knight of Disks is described elementally as the fiery aspect of earth. He is the masculine ruler of the realm of all things material — the physical world. He is, in this deck, the “Healer”: the word inscribed on the golden circlet of his headdress, which stretches up and past the top of the card. The Knight is known for his groundedness. Look at his eyes, his gaze: centred, calm. It looks like he has reached a state where he is able to maintain the kind of inner equilibrium that enables him to get things done — to get down to the business of extending that equilibrium to others in order that they might heal.

The Knight is an active element of your psyche, whether you are aware of him or not, whether you choose to work with him consciously, or not.

But then there on the other side is the Nine of Cups. This is popularly known as the ‘wish card’. Could this idea be any better-illustrated than in this deck? I think not. And like the Knight, the Nine of Cups is active, too, whether you’re aware of it or not.

Both are active. Look how they’re working together: they are essentially mirroring each other while each staying true to their individual feel and meaning. The Knight’s beard is reflected in the feathered striations in the Nine; the Knight’s headdress — sand, coins, and keys — is duplicated in the hearts, cups, and tiles of the Nine; the “Ritter der Scheibe” to the Knight’s left becomes “Love, deep joy, happiness” in the Nine. The Knight’s face is a dream-like swirl that feels otherworldly in the Nine. Fantastical. So unlike the Knight who lives and walks very much on the firm ground of this world.

Here is the call for balance — but this balance is between two potential ideals rather than one that’s typically considered preferable and another that you would typically want to avoid.

It may seem, then, that you wouldn’t need to tread as carefully. Yet I think that would be an underestimation of the reading — and, paradoxically, the power of your position in all of this.

Think of it this way. You are in a position to get what you want. But is it really want you want? Is it really what you need? These are two questions worth asking. It may be that the magic at your disposal is just that: ‘disposable’. It may be that you are working with finite resources here; except, unlike the fairy tales, you may not even get three wishes. It could be that it is one wish, spoken from your gut, that is available to you.

If you slip over into the territory of the Nine, your flight of fancy could be as nourishing as candy-floss. If you stay wholly with the Knight of Disks, your conservatism may cause you to ask for only what you believe you deserve — which may not be very much.

This is walking the line between two extremes of staunch, staid pragmatism on one side, and frivolousness or delusion on the other. The Nine could have you asking for too much chocolate cake. So let the Knight of Disks ground you somewhat, so your wish serves you in a way that is enduring — and, yes, healing. (Just remember: not all medicine needs to taste bad.)

The result is the central card, Strength: the ability to experience the kind of freedom you may have thought was beyond you, while still having boundaries that enable you to explore that freedom without losing yourself, or having to give yourself up to ideals and demands that don’t serve you in the least.

Boundaries allow you to explore heretofore inaccessible lands.

Use that wish wisely. You have every right, and ability, to do so.

Astrology/Elemental correspondences: Knight of Disks (the fiery aspect of earth), Strength (Leo), Nine of Cups (Jupiter in Pisces)

If you want to experiment with tarot cards and don’t have any, we provide a free tarot spread generator using the Celtic Wings spread, which is based on the traditional Celtic Cross spread. This article explains how to use the spread.