Hello There!

It’s been a minute since I’ve written. It feels like it’s time to say hello again. I’m currently sitting at my computer with multiple tabs open, vacillating between doing actual work, job hunting and now writing. Of the three, this is by far the most fun and satisfying. If only I could turn this into my full-time job! (I know lots of people have successfully done that on Substack, but I don’t think I’m anywhere close to that point). So, for now, this is a lovely outlet from the stressors of everyday life.

The theme of this week seems to be career pivots. I had the pleasure of reading for one of my best friends and her husband who is looking to make a career change. Let’s call him R.

R is incredibly smart, witty, self-deprecating and a self-proclaimed non-believer. I told him that he should definitely make all his life decisions based on my tarot reading (I kid). Actually, I don’t feel like it was a very good reading at all. I struggled with this one. I chose a three-card career spread:

3-Card Spread: Clarity + Choice + Action

• Card 1: What’s blocking me or keeping me stuck?

• Card 2: What opportunity or path is opening up for me?

• Card 3: What action should I take next?

The cards completely threw me and I questioned whether I put them in the wrong order. One jumped out as I was shuffling and I felt like it made sense to put it in the Card 1 slot. However, it was The Magician. This is where I realize how much I’m still learning because I couldn’t make sense of it. Here is a snippet from Biddy tarot about The Magician:

“As a master manifestor, The Magician brings you the tools, resources and energy you need to make your dreams come true. Seriously, everything you need right now is at your fingertips.”

How is a card about using your resourcefulness a blockage card? Should I have placed this card that jumped out in a different position? Ultimately, I determined that perhaps the question he needed to ask himself was whether he was clear on his goals since that is part of manifesting for The Magician. The other cards weren’t particularly clear either….

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The Cards:

The second card in this spread was about the only one that made sense to me: The Eight of Pentacles. R is debating learning a new trade or staying the course in his current field of tech. The Eight of Pentacles seemed to be pointing toward learning a new trade or skill. However, it was followed by the Five of Swords, with keywords such as “upheaval, conflict, loss and defeat,” according to The Tarot Companion. (Although, it just occurred to me that when I was doing this reading, I read the description for the Five of Disks which represents financial loss and hardship - not much better than the Five of Swords. Sorry, R, I made this reading extra confusing!).

Now that I’m looking at this spread with fresh eyes…as I type this…I’m realizing that it actually makes more sense than I originally thought.

Here’s my revised interpretation:

The Magician is suggesting that R needs to get focused about what he wants because he has the skills and resources. The Eight of Pentacles might point to him learning a new skill or trade, which is exactly what he’s considering. Finally, the Five of Swords represents his fight - and defeat - against a system and path that is not working for him. I thought I had lost my touch and ability to interpret the story. Apparently, I just needed to step away for perspective.

Perhaps that’s the angle I need to approach my own career change. I’ve been agonizing over it for months. Maybe I need to put it down for a while and come back with fresh eyes.

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Card of the Week (for You!):

Just to throw one more thing into my ADHD world, I have The Golden Girls on the TV in the background (along with a million tabs open on my computer). It felt apropos as I pulled a card of the week from The Golden Girls deck.

This week’s card shows Sophia carrying a sack that looks as if it’s a heavy burden. She looks weighed down and exhausted, as she hunches over to carry on. This card is so spot on personally, but also, I imagine, for the collective. It is telling us all that we are carrying too much and we’re overloaded. That sounds about right, given the current state of the world.

From a personal standpoint, this particular excerpt resonated strongly for me:

This card can show up in a reading to reveal that you may need to look for less demanding work, but you feel too drained by your present job to spend time searching. This puts you in a catch-22: The situation can’t change until you pull back from current responsibilities and invest what energy you possess into changing your circumstances.

This is, quite literally, exactly where I am at the moment. I’ve been desperate to find a new job before summer hits. I have so much travel lined up and I don’t think I can handle it. I have exhausted every corner of the internet, my network and every resource in between to find a new career path, to no avail.

The good news for this card and for all of us? It’s a reminder to lighten our loads by prioritizing what matters most. “There’s a real need here for delegation and support from others,” suggests The Tarot Companion. Now might be a good time to reflect on what is necessary and what you can walk away from - and ask for help when you need it.