Transitions ~ A Birthday Tarot Reading

Today’s cards indicate a transition is occurring, apropos in that today is my husband’s sixty-fifth birthday, so it was interesting that I drew three cards informing that process in some way. I always draw tarot cards on our birthdays to either wrap up the year before or to look at influences for the year ahead. I love my Haindl deck because it includes information from the I Ching as well as runes on the Major Arcana cards, increasing the depth of the readings in which they’re used.

Death, the 8 of Cups, and The Sun comprise my husband’s birthday reading which resonates an overall numerology of four or structure and foundational issues. Sixty-five is certainly a transitional birthday. It’s a time when people typically consider retirement and suffer through endless Medicare advertisements on the television. And as if that’s not enough, the advertisements have also been appearing in our mailbox for weeks now. We no sooner got through with the midterm election nonsense and the Medicare information began arriving.

The Death card begins today’s reading representing transition and rebirth. It doesn’t matter which deck this card is from, they’re all beautiful and each one describes the process of transition from one state to another. In this case, we see a skeletal arm reaching up from the water, a mystical scythe in its grip. A peacock, representing the soul, appears resolute, its eye depicting elements in balance, ready for new experiences. A card of Scorpio, Haindl also includes Berkano in the upper right-hand corner reinforcing the influence of rebirth and continuity while we see the ferryman guiding the boat on the water to our next destination. Death has both a numerology of thirteen, which I consider a Master Witch number and typically do not reduce, and four when properly reduced suggesting alignment with the reading’s overall numerology of the structure or foundation of our lives.

Failure is the title of the 8 of Cups in the Haindl deck. We see eight golden chalices in disarray suggesting chaotic emotions. The hexagram or gua from the I Ching in the upper right-hand corner of the card represents Decrease or a transition to more limited resources. Although my husband and I have been retired for several years, it’s been a transition for both of us, and now at sixty-five, my husband is beginning to feel that transition even more. It’s not a failure that he feels, but a lack of cohesion that working at a daily job provides. The serpent-like creature at the water’s edge signifies the shedding of outmoded ideas but doesn’t signify the end of life. The message of the 8 of Cups is that although transition may be difficult, at some point, we need to meet that challenge by letting go of beliefs and behaviors which no longer serve us in a positive manner, particularly when we’re challenged by limited resources.

The Sun shines its brilliant light to end the reading, its spirals reflecting the limitless nature of existence. A red rose rises to meet the Sun’s emanating rays suggesting vitality left to embrace and beauty yet to behold. As my husband transitions into his Sagehood, there is more left to experience, more left to create. Gebo appears in the top right-hand corner suggesting balanced energy exchange with others along with allowing the simplicity of life to take hold.

This is a really nice reading for my husband today. We actually retired a few years ago, but it’s been a constant transition since to feel as if we still exist in the world. When you go from working to not working at all, it can be a little disconcerting and I think my husband has experienced that feeling more intensely than I have. Men are about work. Without that work, their sense of meaning and self-worth can take a beating.

The nice part about this tarot reading is that we see a progression from the initial retirement to understanding the need to transition into a new idea of self perhaps, with the final indication of new experiences on the horizon. Retirement is difficult in this country. We don’t always have a 401K or other retirement income to draw from so the idea of limited resources resonates with most people at our age and my husband and I are no different. But we have our home, property, and endless garden space and as crafty as the both of us are, we’ll do fine.

Today, on Jerry’s birthday, the sun is shining and although the roses have gone dormant for winter, the promise of spring is around the corner. He’s learning to make raspberry wine and several bottles are percolating in the bathroom (it’s warmer in there). He’s moving on to blackberry wine next. We grow both raspberries and blackberries so he thought he’d start with them and move on to dandelion next summer.

In May, we’ll celebrate forty years of marriage. I briefly looked up one day from reading something, saw him, and went back to what I was doing, thinking, that’s the guy I’m going to marry. Then, I thought I had better go introduce myself to him. Which I did. A year or so later, we were married. It was inevitable. And forever.

Happy birthday, Jerry! I love you to the Moon and beyond!