Tarot reading on going for black belt

[pegkerr]

When I learned about the karate scholarship last week, I did a tarot reading. The results were certainly in line with my good news:

I did the Setting A Goal Spread: What do I need to know about going for black belt? I used my Jane Austen tarot deck and decided before doing the spread that I would ignore reversals.

1. My goal (going for the black belt): The Sun. This took me by surprise, until I read up on it a little. This is about openness and joy. Karate has definitely brought me joy, so this feels right. The book that accompanies this deck says, "If you have been considering trying something new, taking a chance, this card suggests that all systems are go. There is a literal sense of joy and triumph when you receive this card in a reading."

2. What qualities of mine will help me reach my goal? Temperance. Integration of the separate into the whole, bringing into balance. Gaining mastery in karate does involve balance, literally--it is something that you gradually gain more and more as you progress, so that you can stand on one leg and kick without falling over. You have to take all the various things that the senseis are trying to convey and integrate them all. You must remember what to do with all the parts of your body, your hands and elbows and knees and shoulders and feet, everything all together into doing the movement more and more precisely, with better and better balance. It also means integrating things like intensity, quick thinking (how do you move, split second fast, to defend yourself if your opponent does this? How do you counter? How do you get away?), flexibility, discipline, etc.

3. What shortcomings will stop me from reaching my goal? Justice. This was puzzling at first. Oddly enough, it is a balance card, too. So how can Temperance/balance be a strength and Justice/balance be a weakness? I started thinking about how I have deferred my own karate studies for so long in favor of my daughters. I have bent over backwards, literally, to make it possible for them to continue (cleaning the dojo, etc.) while ignoring my own wish to study. I thought it was my job as a parent to defer my own needs for my children. My book suggests the Justice card is about black and white as opposed to gray. So if this is a weakness, it is about thinking that either my daughters can study OR I can study. Having this card at this point in the reading suggests that this is an error--or at least the generous scholarship available to me at this point makes this moot. I should let go of my conviction that it must be either me OR the girls. It really can be me AND the girls studying karate now.

4. How can I reach my goal? Nine of Wands. This card is perfect! I have thought about going for black belt before, but felt that a) I couldn't do it because I can't afford it or b) I couldn't do it because it is physically too difficult (I'm a 47 year old woman with some ligament problems in my hips). The last two months of study has shown me that I really do love karate and I've really been thinking that gee, I might actually be able to do this. Sensei has told me that I have more natural talent than some other people he has seen earn their black belts. The Nine of Wands is the "Fortune Favors the Brave" card. My book suggests, "When this card appears in a reading, you may be feeling your situation is desperate [as I felt desperately sad when I thought I would have to quit karate again because Delia was resuming]. Despite appearances, however, you can triumph if you dare to act with the courage of your own convictions. You cannot allow yourself to be cowed. This card suggests that you are feeling fearful, but the fear is larger than the situation warrants...Play to your strengths and override your awareness of your weaknesses. This might be a time to use some creative visualization. Imagine the situation in your mind until you can see yourself as the victor [as I have been doing for the past two months as I have actually began thinking that I can actually do this, I can actually earn a black belt]--and then take the plunge."

This reading definitely suggests "Go for it!"

Comments are welcome, esp. about the Temperance~Strength/Justice~Weakness dichotomy. Thanks.

Comments

[ckd]

I think you're right that this is one of those "embrace the power of and" situations. The scholarship coming along does make it moot, but I think it also gives you a chance for some new perspective on the situation. Your reading of the Justice card as a binary/duality that you can now reject lets you see what may have been a blind spot for you in the past, and may give you some help in avoiding being trapped by it in the future.

[splagxna.livejournal.com]

on balance: i read a lot of you struggling with the demands that come from being a working mother, and from my perspective, you put yourself last a lot of the time [your family comes before your work comes before you]. if you feel this is accurate, you might think about why you don't make yourself more of a priority - guilt? obligation? do you feel you don't deserve it? ...i think of this particularly since the scholarship has come up - that is the only reason it seems you are able to pursue this. i would love to see you say that you are going to pursue it, make it/you a priority, even if that funding should disappear.

[dichroic.livejournal.com]

I think of this particularly because I just read Emerald House Rising .... which is all about not putting everyone else's wishes first all the time. Funny, that.

[pegkerr.livejournal.com]

It's a lesson I have to keep learning over and over again.

[dichroic.livejournal.com]

Funny, it's a lesson I *never* thought I needed... but it was during a bit of an argument the very night I finished the book that I learned that maybe I do.

Whee!

[alfreda89.livejournal.com]

Happy spoon dance!

[bohemianspirit.livejournal.com]

The one thing that strikes me is the relationship of the Sun card to the cards that precede it, how it literally is like the Sun breaking through clouds after the storm (Tower), or like the Sun rising after the labyrinthine inner journey of passage through the night (Moon), the bright manifestation of the hope and healing held by the Star.

If any of that makes sense to you. ;-) It just seems to fit with the journey, as reflected in your journal in recent months, that has brought you to this place.

PS - Do take time to look at the icon. Not related to tarot, but... Hoot.