As usual, I read this week’s archetype and Tarot and go into contemplation on it for a few days. I’ve been reflecting on recklessness and the shadow side of the gambler, because it could be said that Jesus was a shadow gambler, and the Buddha, too, and anyone who looks like they’re teetering on the edge of what is ‘sane’ on behalf of a ‘call’. That this is so has stirred me with wonder: What distinguishes the reckless destructive from the reckless prophetic? Is prophetic not destructive in some way? I suppose where I have arrived (for now) on this contemplation is that love is the soul attitude, the affinity for being, which distinguishes the essence of what may seem a destructive (gamble) from a prophetic (gamble). But this is a rudimentary beginning on what will surely linger in contemplation. Always with gratitude to your insightful interpretations of these two cards pulled, Jenna.
Oh, my friend, I have so missed your contemplations!❤️❤️❤️ I will sit with this question of reckless destructive and reckless prophetic. And then what comes to mind immediately is that I'm not sure all prophecies have been based in love, or at least in the way we'd see it. I'm thinking of Elijah (with whom I've had a crazy relationship that we should discuss one day) whose prophecies weren't exactly loving to my way of thinking and definitely caused destruction. Maybe taking a chance on love always holds at least an edge of destruction. Lots for me to think about there! Thank you so much for sharing your amazing thoughts here!
I'm an Aries sun/mercury/venus, identify as an Enneagram 7. I've got a lot of Gambler energy in me! One of my favorite phrases is "Well, why can't we just *try* it?" when I see problems in institutions and systems. Let's take a risk. Let's fly!
I asked myself "Where am I holding tightly to the idea that I am right?".
I'm onboarding my son into public HS after several years of homeschooling and Waldorf. And my daughter is starting at a new-to-her Waldorf middle school. In both instances I'm trying to figure out how to help the teachers and staff understand them, so they can get the support that I think my children need. Believe me, I am holding *all* the sword-thoughts about what everyone else should do in this situation :).
As I navigate all of these emails and communications I'm going to bring forward that Gambler momentum around trying, and I'm going to hold awareness that I might be holding a lot of sword-thoughts about what's best for my kids, alongside the understanding that the tarot wisdom is pointing me toward not always having or doing it in the way I think is best.
Sending you big love and blessings, Jenna! 🙏❤️ Oh my gosh, I don't know that there is a greater risk for our inner Gamblers to face than what is best for our children. Laying down our swords of certainty and trusting the the world with them takes unimaginable courage. I love that you are holding the awareness of it all during this time! That makes you a superhero in my book. 🤗 You also helped me see that maybe I have more inner Gambler energy than I'd thought because I also often say things like, "Well, let's find out." (for better or worse, lol)
Wonderful combo and take here Jenna! Which is an interesting thing for me to say since I find the 5ofS as a challenging card to receive. It you take the light side of the Gambler with the 5ofS, it is a beautiful invitation to take a chance on new perspectives. To risk putting down the tight barriers of the mind and humbly reach down into the body and listen from there. What is my intuition picking up? What is life trying to tell me? Yes to all you said here! I am concerned though about the shadow Gambler and the 5ofS... Here the Gambler feels like an enabler to the 5ofS. An addiction to power and control at the expense of others. With the shadow Gambler, it puts the 5ofS on steroids! Oh dear!!! Dare I say it...patriarchy! I believe I will stay with the light side of the Gambler!
Oooh, yeah, scary! 😬 The shadow Gambler with the Five of Swords does feel like one who gets a thrill from having power over another, from another's loss. Not even so much that they experience winning, but rather the thrill is in defeating something/one else. You are so right here...feels like patriarchy (and all that goes with it like capitalism, etc). I want us all to stay with the light side of the Gambler! And, again, this brings me back to the Bully from last time. I think that when we know our own power, when we truly feel empowered from within, we don't need to defeat others to be okay. Thank you, as always, for your amazing insights my friend! ❤️
Beautiful Jenna! Ahh to be wrong and to admit it is both humbling, powerful and such a healing in and off itself. To risk saying "I'm wrong." To risk saying "I'm sorry." To risk saying "I love you" To risk is to live, when we risk with our heart.
So beautiful, Sam, thank you! 💖💖💖 Wow. "To risk is to live, when we risk with our heart." I absolutely love that! Saying I'm wrong, I'm sorry, I love you...all of those make us so vulnerable while at the same time guiding us to give up our tight-fisted need to control, surrendering (in love) to life itself.
The antagonist causing the reaction. This is the measure of victory coupled with personal loss. It is definitely Karmic and I could see why you have an insight to the Gambler...the risk taker against the odds. It is quite a sad situation if humiliation is involved, those who lose the fight and also the self then losing 'friends'. Rarely are the consequences of actions taken into concern when addiction begins the downward spiral of repetition. One doesn't need to read reversals of card when there are enough images already that suffice.
Hi Dwina! 🤗 Thank you so much for these insights! You've led me to contemplate the notion of victory coupled with personal loss. When I think of that in terms of this pairing of the Gambler and Five of Swords, I feel something arising along the lines of holding a willingness to give up long-held beliefs for the benefit of the greater good. And that would definitely come with some inherent risks, a gamble indeed. Thanks again for your wisdom and thoughts here, much for me to think about!
Strangely enough, in the Minor Arcana, the only card that had Victory without a loser and without Karma is the 6 of Wands. In the Majors, probably two cards could hold that place: the Chariot... (very much a Channelling and remote viewing card) In my Vedic Tarot I call it the Charioteer, and the other major is Judgement, (Dharamraj), Destroyer of Sorrow, being without Karma, the double light before enlightenment of the World.*** Curious about your thoughts on these.
I LOVE this idea of victory without a loser! It seems like inherent in the idea of victory--of winning--is the defeat of something/one else. But, as you've shown me here, that doesn't HAVE to be the case. This, again, speaks to power dynamics. When we feel empowered enough that we don't seek power over another, then victory can be about things like crossing thresholds or what I've come to call being in harmonic tension. Not "I won and so you lose" or also "I'm right so you must be wrong." There's actually no requirement that we have to make another (person or idea or anything) wrong in order for us to be victorious and as you've so beautifully laid out, we can see exactly that in the 6 of wands. ❤️
I so agree, Gabriel! If we could all learn to pause in thoughts/words/actions and to take a moment and ask ourselves "what if I'm wrong?" a lot of strife might be avoided. Even just to lean in to our certainty with curiosity instead would be a game changer.
Your interpretation of the interplay between these two cards is excellent Jenna, thank you. My mind was swimming along in one direction (I was relating the Gambler to my sugar eating addiction and not accepting the consequences of it the way I need to be) and you changed gears. The direction you took this reading fits perfectly and I will hold it front of mind.
Thank you so much, Donna! 🤗💖 I, too, am often surprised by the images that end up coming through with these pairs. As I'm writing up the archetype/tarot parts, I'll have something in mind for how they're going to go together, but when I actually get that part, nope, something entirely unexpected comes through. Spirit loves to keep us on our toes! Lol.
As usual, I read this week’s archetype and Tarot and go into contemplation on it for a few days. I’ve been reflecting on recklessness and the shadow side of the gambler, because it could be said that Jesus was a shadow gambler, and the Buddha, too, and anyone who looks like they’re teetering on the edge of what is ‘sane’ on behalf of a ‘call’. That this is so has stirred me with wonder: What distinguishes the reckless destructive from the reckless prophetic? Is prophetic not destructive in some way? I suppose where I have arrived (for now) on this contemplation is that love is the soul attitude, the affinity for being, which distinguishes the essence of what may seem a destructive (gamble) from a prophetic (gamble). But this is a rudimentary beginning on what will surely linger in contemplation. Always with gratitude to your insightful interpretations of these two cards pulled, Jenna.
Oh, my friend, I have so missed your contemplations!❤️❤️❤️ I will sit with this question of reckless destructive and reckless prophetic. And then what comes to mind immediately is that I'm not sure all prophecies have been based in love, or at least in the way we'd see it. I'm thinking of Elijah (with whom I've had a crazy relationship that we should discuss one day) whose prophecies weren't exactly loving to my way of thinking and definitely caused destruction. Maybe taking a chance on love always holds at least an edge of destruction. Lots for me to think about there! Thank you so much for sharing your amazing thoughts here!
I'm an Aries sun/mercury/venus, identify as an Enneagram 7. I've got a lot of Gambler energy in me! One of my favorite phrases is "Well, why can't we just *try* it?" when I see problems in institutions and systems. Let's take a risk. Let's fly!
I asked myself "Where am I holding tightly to the idea that I am right?".
I'm onboarding my son into public HS after several years of homeschooling and Waldorf. And my daughter is starting at a new-to-her Waldorf middle school. In both instances I'm trying to figure out how to help the teachers and staff understand them, so they can get the support that I think my children need. Believe me, I am holding *all* the sword-thoughts about what everyone else should do in this situation :).
As I navigate all of these emails and communications I'm going to bring forward that Gambler momentum around trying, and I'm going to hold awareness that I might be holding a lot of sword-thoughts about what's best for my kids, alongside the understanding that the tarot wisdom is pointing me toward not always having or doing it in the way I think is best.
Sending you big love and blessings, Jenna! 🙏❤️ Oh my gosh, I don't know that there is a greater risk for our inner Gamblers to face than what is best for our children. Laying down our swords of certainty and trusting the the world with them takes unimaginable courage. I love that you are holding the awareness of it all during this time! That makes you a superhero in my book. 🤗 You also helped me see that maybe I have more inner Gambler energy than I'd thought because I also often say things like, "Well, let's find out." (for better or worse, lol)
Wonderful combo and take here Jenna! Which is an interesting thing for me to say since I find the 5ofS as a challenging card to receive. It you take the light side of the Gambler with the 5ofS, it is a beautiful invitation to take a chance on new perspectives. To risk putting down the tight barriers of the mind and humbly reach down into the body and listen from there. What is my intuition picking up? What is life trying to tell me? Yes to all you said here! I am concerned though about the shadow Gambler and the 5ofS... Here the Gambler feels like an enabler to the 5ofS. An addiction to power and control at the expense of others. With the shadow Gambler, it puts the 5ofS on steroids! Oh dear!!! Dare I say it...patriarchy! I believe I will stay with the light side of the Gambler!
Oooh, yeah, scary! 😬 The shadow Gambler with the Five of Swords does feel like one who gets a thrill from having power over another, from another's loss. Not even so much that they experience winning, but rather the thrill is in defeating something/one else. You are so right here...feels like patriarchy (and all that goes with it like capitalism, etc). I want us all to stay with the light side of the Gambler! And, again, this brings me back to the Bully from last time. I think that when we know our own power, when we truly feel empowered from within, we don't need to defeat others to be okay. Thank you, as always, for your amazing insights my friend! ❤️
Beautiful Jenna! Ahh to be wrong and to admit it is both humbling, powerful and such a healing in and off itself. To risk saying "I'm wrong." To risk saying "I'm sorry." To risk saying "I love you" To risk is to live, when we risk with our heart.
Thank you dear one. xxx
So beautiful, Sam, thank you! 💖💖💖 Wow. "To risk is to live, when we risk with our heart." I absolutely love that! Saying I'm wrong, I'm sorry, I love you...all of those make us so vulnerable while at the same time guiding us to give up our tight-fisted need to control, surrendering (in love) to life itself.
The antagonist causing the reaction. This is the measure of victory coupled with personal loss. It is definitely Karmic and I could see why you have an insight to the Gambler...the risk taker against the odds. It is quite a sad situation if humiliation is involved, those who lose the fight and also the self then losing 'friends'. Rarely are the consequences of actions taken into concern when addiction begins the downward spiral of repetition. One doesn't need to read reversals of card when there are enough images already that suffice.
Hi Dwina! 🤗 Thank you so much for these insights! You've led me to contemplate the notion of victory coupled with personal loss. When I think of that in terms of this pairing of the Gambler and Five of Swords, I feel something arising along the lines of holding a willingness to give up long-held beliefs for the benefit of the greater good. And that would definitely come with some inherent risks, a gamble indeed. Thanks again for your wisdom and thoughts here, much for me to think about!
Strangely enough, in the Minor Arcana, the only card that had Victory without a loser and without Karma is the 6 of Wands. In the Majors, probably two cards could hold that place: the Chariot... (very much a Channelling and remote viewing card) In my Vedic Tarot I call it the Charioteer, and the other major is Judgement, (Dharamraj), Destroyer of Sorrow, being without Karma, the double light before enlightenment of the World.*** Curious about your thoughts on these.
I LOVE this idea of victory without a loser! It seems like inherent in the idea of victory--of winning--is the defeat of something/one else. But, as you've shown me here, that doesn't HAVE to be the case. This, again, speaks to power dynamics. When we feel empowered enough that we don't seek power over another, then victory can be about things like crossing thresholds or what I've come to call being in harmonic tension. Not "I won and so you lose" or also "I'm right so you must be wrong." There's actually no requirement that we have to make another (person or idea or anything) wrong in order for us to be victorious and as you've so beautifully laid out, we can see exactly that in the 6 of wands. ❤️
“In all these cases, how would it feel to open a little space for the possibility of being wrong? Can we let ourselves take that chance?”
How much would the world be improved if people would only take that advice on all sides!
I so agree, Gabriel! If we could all learn to pause in thoughts/words/actions and to take a moment and ask ourselves "what if I'm wrong?" a lot of strife might be avoided. Even just to lean in to our certainty with curiosity instead would be a game changer.
Your interpretation of the interplay between these two cards is excellent Jenna, thank you. My mind was swimming along in one direction (I was relating the Gambler to my sugar eating addiction and not accepting the consequences of it the way I need to be) and you changed gears. The direction you took this reading fits perfectly and I will hold it front of mind.
Thank you so much, Donna! 🤗💖 I, too, am often surprised by the images that end up coming through with these pairs. As I'm writing up the archetype/tarot parts, I'll have something in mind for how they're going to go together, but when I actually get that part, nope, something entirely unexpected comes through. Spirit loves to keep us on our toes! Lol.
It's a beautiful channel!