Yesterday in my sample Celtic Cross spread, I asked “What are the influences surrounding my love life” and I got a really dismal response that basically said people think I’m horrible and I’m only reaping what I have sown and that I’ll forever be alone if I keep on this path.
So I did the obvious thing: I asked how I can change these influences. This was the reading I got in response:
Before I discuss any cards, I think it’s important to note that the entire horizontal bar of the Circle/Cross is all sevens. Seven is associated with the Chariot and a dispassionate search for truth, and a prominence of sevens in a reading suggests a period of learning, and inner growth. It’s a reminder, then, to focus on spiritual growth rather than materialistic ambitions: something very key to this particular question.
The heart of the matter in changing the influences on my love life is the reversed Ten of Pentacles, which means family problems and financial loss: two things that are inextricably tied together in my life. It can also mean worries about an elder–and I worry a lot about my mother and how she’ll live post divorce (she has almost no income and no retirement plans: family consensus is that she will live with me once I am settled). I’ve got to work through all of this in order to have any real change.
The challenge within this healing is the Seven of Pentacles, which indicates that I’ll feel like this will be a huge waste of time–but that this feeling is an illusion. There’s a plateau here, but effort will eventually pay off in big ways.
The root cause for wanting to change is–SO EERILY APPROPRIATE–the Lovers. This is a card that is the best of relationships: so healthily balanced. The pair support and complete each other perfectly. This is what I ultimately want from this path to change.
My recent past card is the reversed Seven of Swords, which means developing an appreciation. Most negatively it can mean laziness and chickening out–which are both definitely aspects of my present and past. I’m too lazy to pursue relationships, and when opportunity presents, I chicken out. It also means acknowledging a wrong and apologizing. I think this means a self-apology in my case: appreciating the fact that my past strategies were poor and that I embrace a new path of learning.
A conscious goal and possible outcome of this path is the Three of Cups, which is a card of joy. It’s the “eat, drink, and be merry” card. It can mean uniting with others and satisfaction of initial completion. It can mean hospitality and the freedom from want It can also mean conception, pregnancy, and marriage. Above all, it means healing and renewed health. Yes, yes, and yes! All of these would definitely be the consciously sought for outcomes.
The immediate future influences are the Seven of Wands which indicates a struggle to stay on top–to be “king of the hill”. It indicates that I’ll struggle not to slip back into my old ways, but that I’ll find the inner strength to persevere. Don’t give up the struggle!
All the cards in the Staff are reversed, which makes me groan. At first glance, all I see are no-no-no! But, of course, reversals are more subtle than this.
How I see myself undergoing this change is reversed Temperance, which is basically rampant immoderation and overdoing it. I don’t think this necessarily indicates that I will be feckless and fickle and ruled by my lusts…just that it will feel that way since I’ve been repressing them for so long.
The positive angle of that interpretation is reinforced by my environmental card: the reversed Eight of Swords. This means that others will see the removal of obstructions and breaking free–empowerment. I’ll be able to confront my anxieties, and all around me will see the emergence of a new self. (Halleluiah!)
My hopes and fears card is the reversed Four of Pentacles, which I like to think of as the miser card. This is a bit of a tricky one as traditionally the upright is associated with healthy conservatism. The Robin Wood deck, though, emphasizes the miserly aspects in the upright card–just look at how desperately unhappy his face is! Reversed then, I think that this means the greed so prominent in my first reading is now the fears of my attempt to change those influences, but that my hope is to change them to a healthy conservatism and to bring a balance to what is, actually, a health sense of self-preservation indicated by the reversal.
The ultimate outcome of the reading is reversed Justice, which is dismaying. I don’t see this as a full negation of Justice but rather an indication that the restoration of a balance in my love life is probably going to be a longer time in coming than what I would like it to be (which connects back to the inner core)…but that balance is in the works if I can see it all through.
Three Hundred and Sixty-Six 
Excellent post. Thank you for sharing this reading.