August Tarot Reading with Amanda Brough
The Lionsgate Portal is open and peaks on 8th August, which is also the New Moon in Leo. In numerology 8 represents infinity, wholeness, balance, hard work, achievement and success, which means that the 8th day of the 8th month is an incredibly powerful time for healing, manifestation and illumination of our path ahead. August's Tarot reading reflects these themes and offers us guidance on not only what we need to know, but also what we need to do and how we need to do it.
If you're not familiar with Tarot it's an ancient form of divination using 56 cards, known as the Minor Arcana, representing our day to day lives through the suits of Wands (fire, our spiritual life, growth, inspiration and creativity), Cups (water, our emotions, dreams and subconscious mind), Swords (air, our thoughts, intellect, truth and conflict) and Pentacles (earth, our self-worth, resources, physical wellbeing and material/financial security) plus a further 22 cards, the Major Arcana that represent life changes, turning points, and the karmic lessons our soul needs to learn on it's journey to wholeness. It's illuminating, insightful and confronting. Yet despite it's reputation for doom-mongering and occultism it is, in some circles, believed to be the purest form of therapy because with regular and intentional use it helps us to better understand ourselves, identify unconscious behaviour patterns and see things from a different perspective.
My process of picking cards is to ground and centre, connect to Source and meditate on who or what I'm reading for. After shuffling and setting the intention serving the highest and greatest good of the bhuti collective I randomly picked the following cards from the deck:
King of Pentacles
Kings represent mastery, power, authority, security, status, and the balanced presence of the Jungian concepts of Anima (yin, passivity and the feminine principle) and Anumis (yang, action, the masculine principle). In the suit of Pentacles the King is surrounded by symbols of material prosperity that he's accumulated through hard work and diligence. It's a card of manifestation of one's goals, success and achievement but also a deep connection to the abundance and graciousness of Mother Earth. As well as the lavish surroundings and large gold coin and Sceptre he holds in his hands, his robe is covered in grapes on the vine (to represent not only the fruits of his labour but also to remind him to enjoy the sweetness of the life he's created), the earth beneath him is carpeted in flowers and behind him stands a tree in bloom.
The King of Pentacles is the main card of our reading, our 'what do I need to know' card - it's telling us to use August and the Lionsgate Portal to manifest our goals, bring our dream job into reality, create security and financial abundance but warns us of the need to be grounded, present and grateful, to nourish our physical bodies and spend time in nature appreciating the simpler things in life lest we become prideful, greedy and thankless.
The Magician
Our 'what do I need to do' card is number 1 in the Major Arcana. Preceded by The Fool at number 0, representing the beginning of a great journey, The Magician is taking the first steps to realising his power to channel his higher consciousness and spiritual energy to bring his dreams into reality - his right hand, symbolic of masculine, yang, active energy points to Father Sky and holds a double ended baton, channeling pure spirit down into the material realms, and his left, feminine, yin and points down to Mother Earth so he can fully realise his gifts and potential in the physical world. Above his head is an infinity symbol, a number 8 flipped on it's side while in front of him is a wand, pentacle, sword and cup, both showing us that he has everything he needs at his disposal to be the creator and generator of his own destiny. The Magician is our Animus and like the King of Pentacles is surrounded by flowers to signify his connection to his own creative energy and that of the natural world around him.
He invites us to trust our inner power, our connection to source, our ability to be magnetic and attract the right people, situations and opportunities into our lives for our growth and the fulfillment of our innate and infinite potential.
The High Priestess
Following directly on from The Magician, our final card is number 2 in the Major Arcana. The High Priestess is the Magician's female counterpart, the Anima, and embodies deep inner wisdom, intuition, the mysteries of life and our subconscious. This card is closely linked to the Moon - from the Waxing, Waning and Full Moons on her crown to the Crescent Moon at her feet she is guided by the lunar qualities of introspection, withdrawing into stillness to hear the quiet whispers of the soul and reflection, so that what lies beneath our conscious mind can become known. Behind her is a curtain covered in Pomegranates, the fruit that was said to be eaten by Persephone that guaranteed her return to the underworld for 6 months of each year, and in this instance symbolises the sacred, arcane and hidden knowledge of the Tarot and our subconscious mind. Note how the three cards are now linked - the King has flowers and fruit, the supporting cards of the The Magician with his flowers and the High Priestess with her fruit bring 3 seemingly random cards and the messages contained within them into relationship!
The High Priestess is the culmination of the reading and underpins the messages of the other 2 cards - it's the 'how do I do it' - how do I trust my inner power and connection to source, how do I bring my goals and dreams, how do I create, generate and manifest my heart's desires. Her advice is simple, be quiet, be still, listen to the profound inner wisdom that's already inside you and will never lead you astray, open your heart and mind to the mystery and flow of life - for our potential to be realised (King of Pentacles) we must first discover the depths of our knowing and bring darkness into light (The High Priestess) and embrace the infinite power within us (The Magician).
Be gentle with yourselves in the coming days as we enter the darkness of the New Moon in Leo and the transformational power of the Lionsgate Portal. I'd love to hear if the reading resonates with you and also your experience of the energies of the coming few days - please do drop me a line and let me know how're getting on!
With love,
Amanda Brough
bhuti Centre Manager
