Aries May 20 – Victor or Vanquished?

Hello Aries, and welcome back to TenPaths Tarot. Spirit gave you a lot of cards today, so let’s dive right in.

The first card is the oracle card. And it sets the tone, the theme, for this reading. And it is Prosperity.

And here we have a woman. She is about to give birth, and she is thinking about all the potential of this child. Now she can imagine the dark side; how bad things could happen to this child. “I have to protect it. I have to cling on to it.” Or she can imagine the great future of this child. In either case, projecting too far ahead probably isn’t that helpful, because it’s going to be a long road. And things will happen on that road that were totally unexpected.

Whether this woman realizes it or not, someone is listening to her and watching her actions. She is being a guide to others. Whether she realizes it or not, the path she chooses will have consequences for others as well as for herself.

And so let’s look at the bottom set of cards, first. And let me lay those out for you. And so we’re going to start reading from the right and go toward the left. So the first card will be where the octopus is. This is your recent past.

And the first card we have is the Five of Mirrors. Now, mirrors represents love and compassion. Five represents instability. This is someone seeking to be like this goddess of love; this goddess of wisdom. And on that path, she also wants to use that potential internal growth to build a firm structure for her life; something that will allow her life to grow.

The wren is examining two nests, both of which show a possible dream fulfilled. And she has a worm in her bill. She just needs to give it to one of these directions.

And the hoped-for outcome is the Ten of Stones, which is great abundance, contentment, joy, and happiness. So these three cards, when I was shuffling, came out together. So this shows the direction we want. We want to grow our own love and compassion; use that to create a better life.

And so as we move in that direction, we become The Hermit. We may have thoughts we’re not telling others. We may have ideas circling in our head. We may be looking towards spiritual messages to increase that feeling of love and connection to the universe within us.

I think it’s also interesting that The Hermit card is also labeled as the Storyteller, because the stories we tell ourselves are greatly influence the outcomes of our lives. Let’s say you have a big obstacle, and that obstacle was so exhausting, and we just say, “Ugh! That totally wiped me out. That just ruined my life. I’m done. I’m so defeated. Nothing good can happen to me again.” What do you think is likely to happen?

Or we could look at that obstacle as, “I am the conqueror! I can go out and accomplish anything. If I overcame that I can overcome anything!” And which stories do you think are the most successful over all?

Which ones you want to listen to? Let’s say you read a book or you watch a movie. Do you want to watch the one about the person who said, “Yep, I’m dying. I give up.” Or do you want to watch the one that said, “Oh! I was at my lowest, but I overcame it. I did what was necessary, and I am the victor.” And who do you think will be more successful going forward? So much depends on those stories.

So where have we been in our recent past with those stories? Maybe we’re trying to make them too idealistic. What we want is what The Artiste wants. We want the perfect tale. We want the landscape with no telephone poles or no piece of garbage rolling through it. Nothing that might disquiet us– not even a bare patch in the grass. Nothing. I don’t even see a weed in her painting. So that may be the other extreme– just blocking ourselves from the fact that we are going to encounter obstacles as a living thing on this planet earth, with so many variables coming at us all of the time, and our poor little bodies needing so much in order to maintain themselves.

It’s unrealistic to look for that ideal. That ideal may be one of the biggest battles we face—the refusal to accept that bit of instability in our lives. And sometimes it can be a big instability.

So let’s look at your current energy. Some may be looking at that inability to get that ideal as a defeat. We have the Five of Swords here, and this person is completely defeated by a power out of his control, or that he feels controls him. And when I say he, it can be he or she. Tarot knows no gender.

So they’re feeling totally defeated to the point that they get themselves into this total state of panic with the Two of Swords. But look, her wrists are bound in front of her. She could lift up that blindfold and see what she confronts is actually a passing storm. Now there is someone coming to her rescue. Again, him/her, doesn’t matter. No gender in Tarot. But this other person, maybe they will come to their rescue and save them when they don’t need to be saved. They just need to lift the blindfold. Or that other person could represent the stronger part of themselves—that victor coming forth to say, “We’ve got it. We’ve got it all together; under control.”

And so there is a message that Spirit is sending loud and clear here, and it really is emphasized in the next cards. Three came out together. Let’s look at the first two that were attached to each other. We have the Seven of Cups. This is a potential. This is what we can be going toward. Seven is a little unstable; not as stable as an eight. But look at the joy in this young man’s face. He is learning lessons. He is thinking about what those lessons might mean; how they might spring him forward into a better course of action. He is seeing the potential.

Now out with this card came the Four of Swords. Four is stability. And we don’t want to be stable in this energy. We are stuck in this energy (some pun intended). This four of sword’s energy–he feels tied down to the table like he can’t escape. So there we have two directions we could go.

And along with that Four of Swords, the Nine of Swords also jumped out. So if we choose to stay stuck in fear, this Nine of Swords is the result. We will just be in an unending spiral of negativity; of seeing the potential worst outcome for everything. How do you think we are going to respond? We’re probably going to go back to that energy of feeling tied down.

So when I saw these two cards come out together, I asked Spirit, “Well, what happens if they follow this Seven of Cups energy? And how will that make a difference? You showed us what will happen with the Four of Swords energy.

And so I asked for one more card. Spirit gave the Nine of Pentacles. So if we choose this direction, look at the prosperity that follows. Because this stately person has not let obstacles defeat him. He has taken the lessons from each one and moved forward with them.

I also think it’s interesting that the two outcomes are stacked one atop another, and we have equally weighted nines. This again shows a clear either/or. You can choose one direction or the other.

And Spirit is saying loud and clear that it is not in control of this direction. You are in control of this direction. If this is the energy that you find yourselves in, then it is up to you to take actions to move in the right direction. Say to yourself, “How can I start looking at these obstacles as lessons or challenges and overcome them?” And every time you overcome a challenge, you feel more confident. And you grow, and grow, and grow toward that Nine of Pentacles.

And if you’re in a completely defeated state– And I’ve been there. I think most people who have lived very long have experienced that feeling of total defeat, where they don’t even want to get up in the morning and everything seems impossible. Well, then take a step in the right direction. You can’t run till you take a few steps. So you can just gradually get in the rhythm of taking those steps.

And what are some possible steps? Maybe see a counselor. If you can’t afford a counselor, read a book, There’s tons of self help books out there, and many written by very qualified people. Maybe there is that goal that you wanted to pursue. Well, you’re spending so much time focusing on this pain, on this wound, that you’re not taking any steps toward that one goal. Just starting on that will give your mind a new thing to focus on. And before long your focus intensifies and intensifies. And that problem, it seems farther and farther away as you move ahead.

And so now we’re back at the oracle card showing potential prosperity. And which mother do you think will be more successful? The one that’s always envisioning the bleakest outcome for their child, or the one that says, “I’m going to let it grow and prosper and help it where I can.”

The choice is yours Aries. And I know that you’re strong. You’re the ram! You can break through obstacles.

Spirit said this message was for someone under the sign of Aries. And I hope if you are that someone, that you found this message.

That is all we have for you today. My name is Everett. It was good to be here with you, and I hope to see you again soon.

Bye for now.

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