Technically, this post is synchronicity because Jung considered divination to fall under it. I don’t know if he was thinking specifically about the tarot when he made that decision, but since he wrote the intro to Wilhelm’s edition to the I Ching, an ancient Chinese divination system, I don’t think he’s turning in his grave about this post!
Curious about the top kill procedure that BP is planning to use today to stop the gushing geyser in the gulf, I found two interest sites – here, where Jacques Cousteu’s grandson take a dive into the muck – and this explanation from CNN.
Please click both links before you read on. Once I watched the CNN video, I decided to do a tarot reading on it. I don’t ordinarily like to do this kind of thing because my emotional investment in the outcome may influence the cards I select. This is why it’s so difficult to read for yourself or for people you love. But oh well, I did it. My question was: Will the top kill procedure work?
This spread is called the ladle spread and is from the book I co-authored with Phyllis Vega, Power Tarot. The position meanings are, from the left: 1) the issue 2) hidden potential 3) what’s emerging 4) what’s visible 5) what you pull out; 6) resolution
1) So let’s start with the issue. The 10 of wands. A burden. Well, that’s a no-brainer. This burden is so huge that it’s costing BP zillions. So the issue card fits.
2) Hidden potential, The Hermit: Okay, if it doesn’t work, then BP becomes Diogenes, searching the world for a truth- i.e., WHAT MAY WORK.
3) What’s emerging: The Star. This card is right up there with the wish card, the 9 of cups. The solution looks good, positive, amazing. Careers are saved. The environment is salvaged. It looks as if it stops the leak. (Then again, this could be my desire my speaking, that’s what’s tricky here) It may stop the leak long enough so that planetary healing begins.
4) Ace of Wands. What’s visible. What’s visible is that most of the damage isn’t visible. It looks like a walk in the park, a new beginning, hopeful. But is it?
5) 2 cups. I love this card. In this position, what you scoop out, the most important card in the spread. 2 cups, to me, is about unions, marriage, coming together. This is positive, folks. It looks like it’s the solution.
6) 8 pentacles. Resolution. They (BP, the engineers working on this) are novices at this solution stuff, grappling in the dark, it unsettles me. I would prefer to see something a lot more uplifting here. Since this card left me so uneasy, I drew another card to open up the 8 of pentacles. It was The Fool. I’d post it, but my BlackBerry took an awful, washed out photo.
The Fool is the beginning of the tarot, card zero, the new journey. Usually, to me, it’s a positive card, indicative of a new journey, new horizons (no pun intended) though somewhat naive, innocent. Everyone breathes a collective sigh of relief.
But the fact that the photo was washed out bothers me. I think the BP solutions works – for awhile. Maybe it buys us some time to do cleanup, to tend to the wildlife, the marshes, the beaches, the damage. But then it’s a washout. I hope I’m wrong about that last part. I hope other people have greater, more positive insights that reassure us the gulf won’t end up as a dead sea, that we’ll get a second chance.
