Archeon Tarot: What a Nightmare!

I have been feeling disconnected from reading tarot for myself over the past couple of weeks, but today I wanted to get back into my groove. The only deck that called out to me was the Archeon Tarot, which has the gothic-esque atmospheric mood that suits my disconnect at the moment. We're having a glorious thunderstorm today, and I feel beautifully Archeon-like today, in a good way. I love the rain, and when the thunder booms and rolls strong and long, it feels as though the sound is coming from within my core. I feel a strong connection to rain and thunder, so today my spirit is happy. As for my cards, not so much.

Today as I was shuffling, The Hanged Man fell out. I set it aside and continued shuffling. The Hanged Man in this deck is harsh. You really can't sugar coat the message in this card. You can't put that positive spin on it, saying that it's about patience, a different perspective, or even a happy sacrifice. The person who was hanging in this card has been dead for a long time. It's not a message that bodes well, from my point of view.

The cards I turned over were also eerily ominous. And it was quite striking how similar they were in imagery, with the pattern of 9-10 vertical parallel lines running throughout all three cards. When I turned over the second card, I made that connection, and when I turned over the third card I was shocked at the consistency of the pattern.

The man in the Nine of Wands seems to be resigned to his fiery fate. He looks heavenward and stands still among the flames. He makes no attempt at escape, which reminded me of the Hanged Man. The fire from the Nine of Wands travels on into the Ten of Wands. And it's not a happy ending. The Ten of Wands, like the Hanged Man, is another one that demands seriousness. The lighthearted interpretation of "lightening your load", or the encouragement of "you're almost there" doesn't really apply here. It looks like a dead end to me. The ones who have passed the line before have ended up dead, with the skulls on the wands to prove it. Again, I think of the deathly surrender of the Hanged Man. This is what faces the man in the Nine of Wands, and he knows it's inevitable, so he's not fighting it.

The Nine of Swords looks like the women he has left behind. Maybe a lover and a sister? His sacrifice, (maybe a noble one, to save them?), has left them in mourning. One woman comforts another, and though she may also feel somewhat distraught, her dark wings and calm demeanor indicate that she is more at peace with the situation. The tips of the swords below them are descending from the top of the card, just overhead. It's a nightmare from which they cannot escape.

WTF? What does all this doom and gloom have to do with my day? I don't know. I briefly wondered if the cards were describing what will happen next in the book I'm currently reading, as I am obsessed with my novels right now. (I'm reading the Twilight series, which may also explain my happily gothic mood right now.) I can only say that I hope this is the case. Because there's nothing in today's cards that I would like to see play out in my real life today.

Oh, oh, oh! Wow! Looking back at the cards, I wonder if they are illustrating my daughter's nightmare last night. She came to me in the middle of the night, cuddling up to me, telling me that she had a nightmare. In the morning, she told me what it was about. In her dream, I had foreseen a flood coming, and she knew it meant our family was going to die. At one point in her dream, she said "Gravity was pulling me upside down. My legs were floating up" ... putting her in the exact inverted position of the Hanged Man!! The Nine of Wands is the inevitable surrender to the deadly flood coming, and the Ten of Wands was the tragic outcome. The Nine of Swords often indicates a nightmare... which ties it all together quite neatly. And there are even two females in the card, which would be me comforting my daughter. Amazing.

Although I feel terrible that my daughter had to endure such a frightening nightmare, I'm glad to have figured out that the cards are referring to something that has already passed, and not something that is to come. (Unless my daughter's dream was precognitive... which I won't even give the benefit of consideration.) I do wonder though, whether her nightmare came first, or the thunderstorm.

(Note: I have trimmed my Archeon deck of its borders, so the images I feature this week will reflect that.)

Deck: Archeon Tarot (by Timothy Lantz, published by US Games Systems, Inc.)

~ Kiki
Tarot Dame

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