The Strength card is one of the most graceful and beautiful cards in the deck in my opinion.

Strength represents the ability to overcome through calm patience, persistence, and confidence in oneself.

Look to your instincts and natural reactions to guide you through whatever lies ahead.

Strength represents a careful control over personal and environmental aspects.

This card is mostly positive but when reversed it could indicate self-doubt or an unhealthy reliance on external opinions.

Another possibility is that you have been listening to your instinctual reactions too much without any control/self-discipline.

Moving to the Hermit.

The Hermit card is what it sounds like: isolation.

The Hermit indicates that it is a time for introspection and self-care, which often means isolation.

The broad nature of this card particularly means that it is affected by others in the spread.

If the Five of Wands is in your spread with the Hermit, it could mean that you are isolating yourself by being overly confrontational.

Paired with the Lovers, look to spend alone time with your significant other.

When paired with the Star, you are on the right track and need to trust your path.

Can you find the balance between solitude and loneliness?

When reversed, the Hermit could be telling you that you really need to take time by yourself,

or that your time of solitude is over, and you need to move forward.

While the Hermit feels like a calm comfort, Justice is cold and to the point.

This card acts quite literally Lady Justice.

When Justice appears in your readings, it means that there are decisions that need to be made.

This card urges you to look for truth and be a fair judge of a situation.

When thinking about this card as a the querent themselves or someone in the querent’s life,

this card represents a person who can see through any B.S. to true intentions.

Beware the brutal aspect of the truth.

When reversed, Justice indicates dishonesty or that things are not what they seem in your situation.

Is someone lying to you, or are you lying to yourself?

For a change of pace, next is the Wheel of Fortune.

There is a quote from a TV show that I used to watch that perfectly encompasses this card:

“Life can’t ever be all good or all bad. Eventually, things have to come back to the middle.”

There’s a reason people say life is a rollercoaster, and this card tells you to just ride it.

Control what you can control, let go of what you can’t.

Which sometimes feels like a lot.

This card can speak to new beginnings or the cycles of life, but it also deals with luck.

When reversed, a possible interpretation is that your luck has run out, and things just aren’t going your way.

Maybe certain external forces are affecting your path.

This is certainly a card for externalities, but just remember,

everything passes, either enjoy it while it lasts or persevere until it gets better.

No one can resist time.

Last week, we went over the High Priestess.

This week, it’s time to introduce you to the male counterpart of the High Priestess, the Hierophant.

Just like the High Priestess, the Hierophant deals with the intersection of the conscious and the unconscious worlds.

What makes the Hierophant different is that he represents institutions or the hierarchy and traditions that can accompany them.

Think of him as being focused on sharing knowledge with an institution.

For this reason, he is often associated with higher learning and leadership. I have also seen him show up with religions as well.

When he shows up in your reading, it often means that you should continue, or start to be a part of some type of structure or system such as school, church, community, or maybe fitness.

Be careful when he appears with the Hermit, your work in an organization might be too isolating.

His reversed indicates that there is a need to question those that are running the show, or to take another look at how you place in an organization.

Is it time to let an organization go, or should you be playing a deeper role within its hierarchy?

Look to the other cards in the spread to tell you how to interpret the card.

Next to the Lovers.

In relationship readings, everyone loves the Lovers! But don’t get so caught up in the face value of the card that you lose its complexities.

This card represents attraction, connection, and yes, love.

But different types of love depending on the where the card is in the spread and what cards surround it.

They could represent the love of a parent, platonic love, or the influence of soulmates. Often this card indicates marriage, commitment, or fundamental friendships.

Another aspect of this card is that of decisions or change. Choosing the right path for yourself is emphasized by the Lovers.

In order to find the right path, look plainly at your true desires and embrace them.

Which leads to the Lovers reversed.

I once did a reading for a close friend who was in a funk and just not happy with how things were going.

When the Lovers reversed appeared, I was confused because he was not in a relationship and did not plan to be.

Turns out, he was struggling with his sexuality while living in a deeply religious household (the Hierophant was also in the reading).

The Lovers reversed indicates inner conflict or imbalance. A kind of guilt or disharmony with yourself. Just remember, it is human to love.

And loving yourself, easiest thing in the world, right?

In another reading, the Lovers reversed could also indicate a lack of mutual feelings, or people not being on the same page in a relationship.

Is there dishonesty or an interloper messing with your balance?

Now for the Chariot.

The Chariot is a card of ambition and self-discipline.

It speaks of struggles that are then overcome through work to achieve victory.

Whenever I look at this card, I picture classic Greek chariot racing in a large amphitheater. The Greek athletes worked through incredible feats of strength but enjoyed tremendous amounts of glory in their victory.

This card encourages passion and intellect to succeed in your trials and is most potent when in the future position.

When in the future position, the Chariot urges you to keep fighting in your struggles and your success will be guaranteed in the future.

That being said, when reversed the Chariot warns of being too focused.

Do you have tunnel vision, or are you sacrificing too much for a short-term victory?

Success might ask you to give up more than is healthy, really assess how far you are willing to go for your ambitions.

The Chariot and the Magician are a dangerous pair but are still full of a lot of potential.

You don’t necessarily have to quit your drive, but just be aware of the price that victory comes with.

Alright, we are starting back up with The High Priestess.

The High Priestess speaks to the unconscious.

She is the guardian to the realm of dreams, intuition, and the more mystical aspects of the spirit.

Basically, trust your gut but more elegant.

She is also a strong symbol of the feminine energy.

When she appears in a reading, your feminine side holds the answers to success.

When paired with cup cards, it is especially true that you need to focus on the emotions and connections around you, rather than the intellectual components.

There is also an element of change within this card.

Allow her guidance to increase your intuition and creative powers.

When reversed, The High Priestess warns of disconnect between you and your inner voice.

Be careful of relying too much on external feedback.

When paired with The Hermit, or another isolation card, take some me time to really reassess your issues by yourself.

Similar to The High Priestess, The Empress is also a very feminine card.

Her femininity is more maternal than the priestess, often spoken as “the fertility of the mind and body.”

When she appears, this is a time for new ideas, and that people will be attracted to you (not necessarily sexually/romantically, but just generally).

Speaking of fertility, she has a very homely, maternal, comforting aspect to her.

With cup cards especially, she speaks of settling down in relationships.

Marriage?

Babies?

All in her wheelhouse.

She encourages connection but be careful of her power in you.

Her reversed aspect cautions against giving too much of yourself away.

Are you the therapist friend?

Are you using your feminine energy to care for others, when you yourself need to care for your feminine energy?

Her reversed could also indicate an imbalance.

That you or someone you know is acting with too much masculine energy and the feminine is being suppressed.

This card has also been known to appear reversed when someone is having fertility issues or has a strained relationship with children.

The Emperor is the other half of the coin to The Empress.

He represents masculinity and the power of the mind over feelings.

He represents someone strong in authority, life experiences, and knowledge.

The classic patriarchal picture of the protector and the provider.

Think of him as an older sibling, father, or brother.

When he appears, trust the facts and the data in front of you.

Whenever I do a reading for myself, he often appears as someone else in my life.

I know to follow the person who has more experience and try to contribute my own experience to the situation.

When reversed, beware of a domineering personality.

Is someone abusing their power? Or acting like a tyrant?

Now don’t necessarily throw all logic and authority to the wind but look for more balance.

Look for structure calmly to try and flip this card back to the positive.