Monday, January 6, 2025
Waxing Moon
Uranus, Jupiter, Mars Retrograde
Last week was definitely a challenge, and I’m ready for a new week!
This month, we are using the Rackham Tarot, with art by the illustrator Arthur Rackham, and text by Lunea Weatherstone. The deck is available from Lo Scarabeo here. If you would like to learn more about Arthur Rackham’s life and work, you can do so here.
This deck was a gift from a friend a little over a year ago. I use it primarily for dreamwork, so it will be interesting to see how it works in community readings for the month. The suit in this deck is marked with a symbol in the center bottom, and the number on top. The Major Arcana cards have their number on the top and the bottom. It can take a bit of concentration to get used to it.
If you’re new to the weekly readings, this is a spread of mine, that I’ve developed over months. It’s read from left to right, 5 cards. Any card that needs more interpretation can be built into further, above and below, with either more tarot cards, another tarot deck, or an oracle deck.
These interpretations are mine, based on my experience, intuition and responses to the artwork. You may have a different experience. This is an overview of the week as it stands now; every decision we make from the moment of the reading can change the outcome. If there’s something in the reading that worries you, you have the information ahead of time so that you can plan, make better choices, or handle it differently than predicted for a better outcome. Tarot sets out possibilities, which you change through your choices and actions.
Left to right, the positions are as follows:
1. The Collective Energy of the Week
2. The Week’s Challenge
3. The Week’s Opportunity
4. The Week’s Stretch
5. The Week’s Comfort
The Collective Energy of the Week – 10 Pentacles
After a rather rocky few weeks, having a 10 of Pentacles as our collective energy is an excellent start to the year. It’s about enjoying the tangibles with family and community, as the figures in the illustration do. It’s about welcoming others in and expanding your circle.
The Week’s Challenge – 6 of Wands
This is a card of success and moving in the right direction. Why would that be a challenge? We can sabotage ourselves if we doubt ourselves. We also sometimes have trouble accepting praise from others. In some other decks, it depicts a victory ride with the rider wearing a laurel wreath, and urges one to accept success. This illustration shows two older figures encouraging the young rider to keep going. (If the card had a different number on it, the illustration itself could be interpreted as them asking her for a ride, but the choice of placement must be taken into account along with the art itself. This is one of the cards that, in this deck, can be a little trickier to interpret than in some other decks).
The Week’s Opportunity – Strength
The woman in the illustration walks companionably with the lion. They are confident in their goals. This week, we will have the opportunity to move truthfully and confidently toward what we want. Don’t get caught up in false modesty, or feel you need to run yourself down or you’ll sound arrogant. Trust in your own worth.
The Week’s Stretch – 5 of Wands
Our figure is up a tree with wolves on the ground below, snapping at her. This is about survival skills. Lunea Weatherstone’s interpretation for this card reads, “if you can’t outrun them, outsmart them” which is sound advice. This ties into the need for strength. Somewhere this week, you will come across someone or, likely, several someones, who do not have your best interests at heart. In fact, they may be actively trying to cause you harm. Rely on your strength and your survival skills, and, reaching back farther, to the knowledge you are moving in the right direction and to the first card, of expanding community, to outsmart them. You are not who they define you; you are who you define yourself.
The Week’s Comfort – 2 of Pentacles
Stay centered. Keep your balance between emotions and tangibles, the physical and the spiritual. The figure in the illustration plays pan pipes. Listen to some music! Stick to your meditation practice, your journal writing, whatever keeps you centered. This will help you when the 5 of Wands challenges you.
Overall, the week is about moving in the right direction, and being around others, even though some of them do not wish you well. Take it in stride, and be smart, not reactive. You’re moving in the right direction.
Do you get a different interpretation from these cards? Have you worked with this deck? What’s your experience? I’d love to hear about it in the comments.