By Sarah Taylor
With The Fool (from the New Year reading last Thursday) comes a time of adjustment, seen in Justice — another of the 22 major arcana cards, which describe the larger themes of Soul-based evolution. The writing on the card fits with The Fool well:
“completion,” “find one’s own light,” “fertility,” “wise leader,” “Balance.”
Justice, Eight of Disks, Princess of Cups from the Röhrig Tarot deck, created by Carl-W. Röhrig. Click on the image for a larger version.
When you step out on your own, along your own path, creating it with every step that you take, you are, in essence, ‘finding your own light’. This light has come through a period of reckoning with outer and inner forces that have sought to redress what was out of integrity. It is a period of course correction — an auspicious card of self-empowerment and working with a greater order of things to assist you on your way forward.
Notice the blindfolded figure of Justice. The wisdom that she offers is one of inner equilibrium. It is not a card so much of doing-ness as of being-ness. Her left hand supports her right arm as she holds the scales of karma; and, in turn, her left hand is supported by the light-sabre that it rests on.
No fighting — no projecting conflict outside. The time for that particular engagement has passed. You now work with what is — it is the foundation for where you find yourself in the present.
Disks have come up frequently of late. The ‘densest’ of all of the suited cards in the tarot deck, Disks refer to what is tangible, manifest, physical. They are behind everything that you can see, feel, hear, smell, and taste. They refer to what accompanies you, whether material goods, financial assets, and relationships of every kind.
Here, in the central card which marks current experience, there is the unfolding and enlivening of something that is both beautiful and fragile because it is in its initial stages of growth. Look at the tree that makes up the centrepiece to the picture on the Eight of Disks. It is both organic and otherworldly. Its branches are like the fine skeletons that you find when you come upon the underlying structure of a leaf. Except here, this structure is having life breathed into it by the fiery trunk of the tree that feeds it. It is being fed by light — and this light is the energy of creativity that underpins all life (‘light’ coming from the first suit in the deck, the origin of all the others: Wands, being fire, the initiating force of living matter).
“Creativity,” “Flow,” “Expansion.”
Each of these concepts takes physical shape with care, attention, nurturing, and feeding with energy that is drawn from a source that both sustains and is itself sustainable. It is drawn from Self — from the dedication to your art, which has its roots in a deep and abiding connection to your core. It relies on nothing and no-one outside itself, and yet, when it blooms, it has the ability to connect and reconnect you to your world. Collectively, yet as individuals, you can build a shared vision and bring it into form. What it asks for are patience, a light touch, and yet perseverance that is as robust as it is graceful (grace-full).
The result is a place where you are able to soar, while held by something that connects you. A paradox in motion, you become both open to what life brings you and bound to what you are constructing in a way that not only allows for your ability to soar, but actually assists it. Without what anchors you, you will not be able to let go into a heart-based experience that might also feel new to you.
That is because what you are working towards now is a rebirth of sorts. There is a part of you that longs to break free and sing its birdsong. That relies on the Eight of Disks that has as its genesis a period of adjustment. You may be able to see this adjustment more clearly, now that you are moving away from it and creating the kind of distance that offers perspective.
So if this reading is about anything, it is this: don’t rush ahead. Let the groundwork happen. It is worth devoting yourself to it. Give it time; give yourself time; give others time. Let it come to life at the pace it needs. Some of the process is in your hands, and much of it is not. You are one among others. There is an intricacy — a beauty — that holds its own wisdom and knows what to do.
Astrology/Elemental correspondences: Justice (Libra), Eight of Disks (Sun in Virgo), Princess of Cups (the earthy aspect of water)
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.
Thank you so very much for another amazing reading, dear Sarah, and for your truly precious advice. “There is an intricacy — a beauty — that holds its own wisdom and knows what to do.” Really need to bear these words in mind. Thank you.
“Don’t rush ahead.” Ahhhhh, such pure wisdom. It’s somewhat apparent I want to fly to flourishing before that which needs to be sustained! Sometimes it’s tricky reigning in that Jupiter horse, giving the yeast it’s time to rise of it’s own accord. I’m going to enjoy the effect of Saturn in Sag. I’ve been finding much better peace with this lately using the mantra “Just allow it to unfold, just be”. It immediately brings me back to the present, the core, and what a truly beautiful Now it surely is.
Still loving your flow Sarah. Thank you.
I looked at the larger version of the cards before reading the post, and what struck me is that both of the female figures in the outer cards are (or appear to be) “blind” in some sense: the woman in Justice is blindfolded; the Princess of Cups appears to me to have just dived backwards, as one might into a pool from a high platform. In either case — exercising “blind justice” or leaping into an emotionally open heart-space — it’s essential to begin from a solid foundation: a foundation of ethics in the first case and a foundation of inner/emotional integrity and self-knowledge in the second. (or to be more literal, if we’re talking about a backwards dive off a platform, lots of practice and trust in one’s body memory.)
in both cases, that foundation has a sense of “prudence”: the prudence of making incremental adjustments, of letting one’s inner compass be one’s guide unbiased by external persuasions; the prudence of trusting that if you have the desire to open up and make the leap, you must also possess the ability to do so. central to both experiences is the need of a solid connection to the ground on which to balance, or from which to push off and expand outward…
Sarah, I am just blown away by the intimate and delicate details you have layed out here. I am as anxious as a racehorse to get going, but I can understand the groundwork that must be done first and the patience and time needed for everything to fall into the proper perspective needed, for everyone’s peace and happiness. Thank you
Thank you, all — and beautifully put, Amanda!