Cards I Don't Love to See in Love Readings (Part 2)

Here we go again! In my last post I discussed the Hierophant energy in love readings, and how it definitely makes me cautious. Today I thought I'd talk about the trusty 3 of Pentacles! What's wrong with this card, you ask? Nothing, really, it's a perfectly nice card…. in a career reading this is a great sign of project expansion, teamwork, appreciation, and indicates that the groundwork for a plan has been successfully lain - now it's time to keep on building!  When applied to a love situation, it would seem that a similar vibe would be true: love requires the focus and attention of the couple; the foundation of the relationship is set, and it's time to move forward toward mutual goals - or hey - maybe the couple even works together!

DruidCraft Tarot
Philip and Stephanie Carr-Gomm
Will Worthington

Yeah….but no. I'm not hating on this card, or denying the fact that in some cases it can refer to positive and uplifting teamwork in a relationship. I'm simply saying that in many cases I've experienced the 3 of Pentacles as a gentle warning that there's a third "something" involved in the relationship. This doesn't necessarily have to represent a third person, but it does represent some issue that puts pressure on the development of the couple. This could be an issue of jealousy, important responsibilities that could detract from time spent together, or it could simply mean that how well a couple's puzzle pieces fit together has yet to be determined. Perhaps one person is very interested in taking things to the next level, while the other is still trying to keep things a little more "open" for the time being. So while it's not at all a "bad" card, it always makes me hesitate and take a very careful look at the message that the rest of the reading is giving off. It usually indicates the need for increased dialogue about what each person wants from the union.

A final note: I work with reversals, and in these "Cards I Don't Love to See" posts I am referring to upright cards. I will have to write a separate post about the intricacies of those feisty reversals-vs.-uprights in the future :)

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Cards I Don't Love to See in Love Readings (Part 1)

I've had a higher-than-usual number of romance readings in the past week, and it's had me thinking about lovely, and not-so-lovely cards for love. There are a lot of cards in a Tarot deck, and all offer a range of challenging-to-pleasant meanings (some admittedly much more/less pleasant than others!). There are cards that tend to provoke visceral, negative reactions in us at first sight - the Tower, 10 of Swords, 3 of Swords, to name a few. And then there are some cards that seem fairly positive at first glance, but which I often find hold difficult energy when they pop up in a love reading. There are several cards that fall into this category, but in this post I'm only going to cover one: the Hierophant.

The Hierophant

Golden Tarot/Kat Black
US Games

This is a card that many associate with "marriage," and it's fair to say that that can be one of its meanings. This is a card I feel represents teaching and learning, structured beliefs, grounded and ancestral spirituality, and group-related activity. This might seem promising as an outcome card in a love reading where the querent wants to know if a relationship will reconcile, or develop into something significant, and in certain cases it may well suggest such a positive possibility. However in most cases I've found the Hierophant to be something a bit less promising. In some instances it has shown up as a rather rigid person who is so focused on traditional roles and/or community pressure that he/she either proves to be a difficult partner, or simply isn't willing to pursue a deeper relationship with the querent. In other cases it's appeared in readings where the querent was involved, or considering involvement, with a married person. In this context it usually indicated that the married-person-in-question would remain loyal to his/her marriage when all was said and done, leading to the demise of the querent's relationship. So while it might be tempting to see the Hierophant and think "marriage, making it official," etc., it pays to be very careful with this card, and to take into very close account the other cards in the spread, and the overall feel that the reading is giving off.

..to be continued…!

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