Seven of Bottles

Reading tarot for me is a way to meditate on an idea and a tool to help focus my thoughts. I have an amazing deck called "the collective tarot" that is made by a group of witchy artists in Portland Oregon. The deck was created by people who seem to see the world and think about things in similar ways to me. They've taken the traditional themes in tarot and adapted them to be queer, feminist, activist, artist focused. I love them so much! Anyways, the reading I did that day really helped me with the anger and resentment I was feeling. The spread I most often do is three cards representing the present, the best path, and the future. Sometime the cards that turn up make sense in this frame work and sometimes they seem to want to be interpreted in some other way. First I make my bed so that I have a comfortable smooth place to work, I light some candles and turn down the lights, I sit eyes closed and take a few deep breaths and try to get a clear, non-distracted question in my mind. I unwrap my deck, first the soft doeskin bag my friend max sent me, then a silk scarf that I lay out in front of me, next the ornate black and gold silk screened sleeve that encases the deck. I spread the cards out across the scarf, close my eyes and hover my hands over the spead sensing for the gentle pull of the cards that want to be chosen. That day I asked the cards for help deciding if I could be a donor for my Mom. The first card I pulled was the 10 of Feathers which show Icarus falling from the sky. It's about the fall, about feeling crazy, scared, depressed loosing control -shit! The next card is the the seven of bottles. It has an image of a person with an octopus on their head, blinding and confusing them. In every arm there is a bottle as if the octopus is offering many choices, but actually all the bottles are the same. I realized that this perfectly illustrated the situation with my mom. I was feeling like I had this huge decision to make but when it came down to it, my choices were to do what I could to help save my mom's life or not. Not really such a hard choice to make. The third card, representing the future was The Star. The Star is a good card - it is about hope, trusting your intuition and being supported and protected in the world.