Tarot Spread: Into a Dark Night
Rather than focus just on interpreting Swords cards, I thought I would continue to develop spreads based on minor arcana, starting with those that can provide some trouble. Last time I looked at the 6 of Swords because I and others I talk with kept pulling it during Aquarius season. Now that we’re in Pisces, a similar card has been raising its head, the 8 of Cups.
In the system of tarot that pairs the pips of the minor arcana (the 2s–10s) to astrological decans (10º segments of the zodiacal wheel), the 6 of Swords is mid-Aquarius and the 8 of Cups is early Pisces. There is more to what decans are, such as the planets that influence them (6 of Swords is Mercury in Aquarius and 8 of Cups is Saturn in Pisces), but the sign and time of that month-long period are the most relevant details here.
There are a number of times when you might want to better understand a card, and that’s the purpose of these spreads. Sometimes you just want to learn more about a card, no context needed. These spreads will provide multifaceted details about a given card. You may also find the time of year confusing and want to explore the minor arcanum tied to that time of year. Or you could flip things around and learn about the card during that related time of year. But most often, these kinds of spreads will help when you draw a card that seems to make no sense in the reading or when you don’t want it to mean what you think it means. The latter category is usually the easiest to interpret because so often it’s the thing you don’t want to face that’s coming to the surface. The former, however, is a bit trickery. And in either case, you can dig into the meaning by reading into the card itself.
For example, you may conduct a reading where you ask about what it is that you’re best at, and you see the 8 of Cups. If you’re using a Smith-Waite deck (or offshoot), you may see the card as one of abandonment and think, The thing I’m best at is running away? If you confirm the card with the 5 of Pentacles, you may realize that there’s an aspect of resilience and a survival instinct that you’ve under-appreciated.
The 8 of Cups can be a card of starting a difficult journey. I’ve heard people call it the card of the Dark Night of the Soul. For a minor arcanum, that’s a huge amount of pressure. Sure, you can see it as abandoning a previous path and starting a new one or starting a difficult journey, but it’s not an arbitrary journey. There’s a lot of stability and experience built into the card as an 8 (double 4), even if the card often refers to a test of that stability! You could be starting off into the darkness and you could be about to walk into the storm, but there’s a reason for it. Let’s figure out what is driving you to that decision.
As a side note, this spread can also of course be used on its own for anyone wanting to look into an upcoming journey, literal or metaphorical.
The Donation: What must I leave behind in order to move ahead?
The Memorial: What positive memories will help nourish me as I leave the past behind?
Flowing Waters: How can I set healthy boundaries to ease this passage?
Moon Above: What will show me the way forward when I feel hopeless? (a sensory cue exercise)
The Mountains: What is the immediate obstacle that I must overcome?
Lingering Chill: For what long-term challenges must I prepare?
Cloak and Staff: What tools do I have at my disposal to weather the trials ahead? (two cards)
See my blog post “Sensory Cues and Intuition” for more on sensory cue exercises.
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