Hello again, and welcome back to TenPaths Tarot. Today we have a reading about mother/daughter, father/son, mother/son, father/daughter–familial relations. This is about how our words of prophecy affect those around us. It’s about our communication. And this reading affects most people in one way or another. And so I’m just going to start and we’ll see where it takes us.
We start out with Judgment. And right away we see a young woman. And on either side of her is her mother and her grandmother. And I can almost hear the older women talking about how things are and what has happened to them in the past. And they’re both trying to make each other understand, the mother and the grandmother, where they’re coming from. And the young woman is hearing this and thinking, “How this doesn’t apply to me? I see what I want.”
The older women don’t want to let the younger one out of their grasp. The girl must hold onto a uniting string. The connection can’t be broken, or at least that’s what the youth is being told.
But the girl doesn’t see how their life applies to her. And in some ways it will, and in some ways it won’t. Because we’re all born into whichever generation we’re born into, and each generation has different norms and different societal rules.
And so we have this little drama going on. And the mother thinks it’s very important for her to communicate her experiences in front of her daughter, so that her daughter will know how scary the world is. But is that the message we want to send?
Because the next card is the Two of Swords. And we see what appears to be the same young woman. And she holds a sword to either side of her, and they both point in different directions. The girl is afraid to think for herself, so she just covers her eyes and looks at the ground. Maybe she even feels that thinking for herself is not permitted. And so this leaves her feeling frozen.
And then what happens? She breaks away from this. She becomes an adult, and she does it through her own force of will, because she was in a family that always stressed, “I’m raising children. ” But the goal was to raise an adult. This doesn’t mean we have to put our children in unusually harsh circumstances or situations to teach them what the world is really like. But it does mean that we have to expect them, at some point, to feel independent–to develop their own thoughts and act upon those beliefs.
And in the next card, the Queen of Swords, this person has become an adult. Now she feels very capable of thinking for herself. But she looks alone and a bit embittered. And I’m wondering if she felt a need just to break away from family because she wanted to be treated as an equal; maybe a less experienced equal, but an equal nonetheless, who is entitled to their own life and, even more importantly, their own opinion and outlook on things. And so there is some indication here (not for everyone, but for some) of cutting away those ties in an effort to grow.
So next we have The Magician. And now this person believes they are capable of making their own dreams come true, or they want to try anyway.
So now we’re moving into current energy. And in breaking away, we feel a freedom that we haven’t felt before. And this could cause some tension, because when I look back at the oracle cards, they do not look like they equal freedom. Not at all. But with the Nine of Wands, there’s joy in learning to be independent and in discovering that we can do things on our own terms.
In the next card, the youth becomes the Queen of Pentacles. So things are growing for her. She is making her life what she wants. She is becoming an adult. But then something happens, and this reading doesn’t say what. There’s a shake-up. Something happens to make this person venturing out in life question themselves. They find themselves on shaky ground and, and then they remember all of those words that were spoken that made them feel incapable; that made them feel tied to the past; that made them feel tied to parent or grandparent. And all of those words that made them feel incompetent are now coming back on them.
And then we have the Four of Cups. The number four equals stability. But we don’t want to be in this kind of energy. This is not a good energy to remain in. And so do we have to stay in that energy?
I’m receiving a message here that, for many people, all of those harsh words were unintended. They were unintended slights and never expected to have such magnitude. The message coming in is, “I thought you were so much stronger than I was; that unless I was “overbearing,” that you would not listen to a single word I said. I saw the strength in you. I knew you would do better than me. I knew you would move away from me. And I said those words, to delay your going away, because I knew it would happen and it was just too much for me to bear.”
But now, all those words that that parent, grandparent, or guardian said makes the younger person flounder. As soon as there’s a mistake–as soon as there’s a glitch in life—the words come rushing back. Every word that was ever spoken to cause doubt, to cause fear, rushes back. And the younger person is asking, “Can I ever get out of this? I guess I was a failure. I guess all of those words were right. That prophecy–those words that were communicated to me–were right.”
Spirit is saying you can get out of this loop. The next card is The World. There are unlimited possibilities for you to explore. But it’s really up to you to manage this.
You know, as old as I am, those words that were spoken still hurt. Those words will always hurt, whether they were intentional or not. It’s really up to me to put import or not upon what was said, which is often easier said than done. I had good parents, too; so it’s not like they intentionally belittled me (most of the time). But still, there were words that were said–and sometimes fear was purposefully put into me to protect me from the world… From The World; this beautiful thing!
And so I’m sure this has happened with other people, and I’m sure a lot of parents do this and most of the time it is unintentional. Some of it may be from that “I’m raising a child mentality.” Perhaps we should say, “I am going to raise a capable adult who can think for themselves and decide things for themselves–and do things not to make me proud, but to make themselves proud.” That might lead to constructive development.
Now, if you were the one that had these things said to you, you may have stepped away from familial relationships for a time. The cards show that there may have been a break in one or more relationships.
I’m receiving another message: “Remember to say that we want to be talked to (as a son or daughter) the way you, Mom or Dad, would have liked to have been talked to when you were young. Can you remember how it was? Can you think of me now as an adult who you can bounce ideas off of; who you can make occasional constructive observations to, but not be hurt if I choose another way?”
Certainly, as adults, we would not go to a stranger and tell them how to start living their life. (I guess a few people might, but it’s unlikely they’d be well received.) In some ways, that child who has been raised–that “child”–is a stranger now. We will never know everything that is in their heart; everything they want to do; all of the minor and major obstacles they have faced. In a way, they are strangers. And so we have to treat them with the same courtesy as a stranger.
And the same goes for children with their parents. Treat them with the same courtesy, at least, that you would a stranger.
But yes, you are an adult. You are independent. You are one of God’s many millions of independent entities here on earth. And that’s not going to change. No matter what those words were, that’s not going to change.
And so that is the entire message for today. I hope it helped someone, and I hope to see you again tomorrow. Bye for now.
TenPaths Tarot 