Tarot Interpretations Are Difficult, Yo
- The Archivist
- Jan 30
- 14 min read
Seriously, respect for those who do readings for others professionally. Learning enough about their client to answer their client's question in a matter of, what, 10-15 minutes--that time might even be too generous; I don't know--all while piecing together the symbolism and meaning of not only each card individually but how they relate to the other cards within the spread that's used? Even if you believe that tarot readings are nothing but hoaxes, you gotta admit that it takes mad skill just to be able to read people the way they do and to be able to interpret the cards in relation to their client's circumstances.
"Yes, a story following Cael's journey as they wrestle with their own beliefs concerning fate set in a church about fate performed for their father who'd made certain decisions alongside their mother concerning Cael's 'fate' as told to them by Maryn, why, it's almost as though the performance is writing itself now." - Me again in last week's post
Oh, my dear sweet summer child, little did you know the rabbit hole you would follow.
The most depressing aspect of the creative process for me is a lack of output, in this case writing, and the days dedicated primarily to input: research. Yet the story's cohesion relies on the research. Such is the life of a creator.
Credit where credit is due, while I used an assortment of websites to try and glean a full understanding of the different interpretations for both of Cael's readings, Teach Me Tarot went the most in-depth, describing each card at length, especially The Emperor. It has been an invaluable resource for my research.
Spoilers ahead for Skies Over Aefala
Teyr'loch Delter Pach: The Breakdown Thus Far
Currently, the performance is separated into 3 major "acts" fleshed out with smaller arcs nestled within, but I already know that there will be another 1 or 2 added to that number by the time I'm finished. Any of these are still subject to change, since it hasn't been finalized yet, but I still enjoy going through the breakdown for the purpose of these blogs, because it provides a glimpse into my creative process.
I. The Introduction or Prologue
Originally, it was a dance between Cael and their sister as a way for Cael to calm their nerves, since they're well aware of how little time they've had to plan and none to practice. It's all taking place in real time for them, so they're understandably apprehensive. This was their time to connect with the shadows and center themselves, to realize that, 'It's okay if I mess up because that just further shows my father who I am.'
Unfortunately, I had to scrap the idea last week, because it didn't mesh with the theme of Fate. I'm also taking it as a sign that they're being careful with how much of their hand they show, because Nim, their sister, hasn't made an appearance elsewhere within the performance. Yet at least. Since this is taking place in a public space now, it could be that Cael wants to keep the knowledge secret that their shadow sister can take the form of an otter familiar.
So, instead, I changed the introduction to reflect the legend from their homeland, since that does tie into the theme of Fate:
Te'thuil: the full moon's name on the Shadow Plane
Kalduin: the name of the nightingale
Palktuk: a dis-honorary title given to those who have committed such heinous crimes they've been stripped of their name and status
Efiáltis: the name of the raven, directly translated as "Mother Nightmare"
Tar'thayal: the moon's name after it's been cracked
~♫~
There was a time our world was beautiful,
back before night shattered into shadow,
where flowers and vines cast their gentle light
and stars sequined the sky round Te'thuil.
O Te'thuil, giver of life,
delivered on the wings of Kalduin.
Forgive us, our betrayal
to the flash of Palktuk's knife.
That Palktuk began with good intentions
to save everyone from the final malady
known as death, or so that's what they said,
they'd end it across all dimensions.
Thus, they captured and caged our Kalduin.
Yes! It seemed that death had ceased.
No suffering, no pain in this new paradise,
so thought we all. Ne'er could we have foreseen
when the sky went dark.
Oh, the stars went dark.
O Te'thuil, giver of life,
delivered on the wings of Kalduin.
Forgive us, our betrayal
to the flash of Palktuk's knife.
O' Kalduin, filled with such despair,
thine glimmering silver feathers bleeding to gray.
Forgive us for this ruin
and the birth of Efiáltis.
Efiáltis consumed everyone's dreams,
turned them to beasts and devoured utopia.
Refugees fled to the few cities left,
but no barrier could silence her screams,
her haunting melodies.
The people, they cried for Kalduin's release,
but that Palktuk had spiraled into madness.
With blade imbued with the power to kill gods,
they thrust it deep into the heart of peace.
Kalduin slain.
Te'thuil dimmed.
Dimmed.
Dimmed.
Dimmed.
Gone.
Gone dark.
Cracks cleaved through the moon's exterior,
which fractured apart with one violent shockwave.
It rotates now like shards of jagged glass,
hanging above, a broken mirror.
O' Tar'thayal, thief of precious life,
gathered by the beasts of nightmare!
Thine radiance, oh so frail,
casts a dull and mirthless shine.
O' Efiál! 'Tis not us you seek,
'Tis that apostate, that Palktuk!
Spare us from this fell Hell!
It's their fault this land is bleak.
O' Te'thuil! Hear us and our plight,
our wish is to restore you to full.
O' Kalduin, shining nightingale,
spread thine wings and once more take flight!
There was a time our world was beautiful,
but night has since shattered into shadow.
No flowers nor vines cast their gentle light.
No stars sequin the sky 'round Tar'thayal.
It's dark 'round Tar'thayal.
It's dark here, Te'thuil.
Forgive us, Te'thuil.
~♫~
Throughout, Cael would use shadow puppetry and illusions to depict the legend. It gives outsiders insight to the superstitions that underlie Shadow Ezada's culture so they understand why Cael's shadow magic is seen as dangerous, and it sets the stage for both their father and his envoy for what sort of story they're going to be telling.
It immediately moves into a small scene of Cael asking an illusory Valen an assortment of questions about the legend and if they're "destined to become a monster like those in the story." These were the very questions they asked Valen shortly after they left the Shadow Plane. By the end of the scene, they have Valen promise that if for whatever reason they do become a monster, he'll end their existence. Valen reluctantly agrees but has Cael promise that they'll live the life they've always wanted now that their sense of self has been returned to them.
Cael promises, and an interlude shows portions of their life in Willowdale and Cael's at the College, up until Cael received the fateful letter about Valen's kidnapping, which leads into the next part:
II. My Interpretation of Efiál's Past, Present, and Future
Past: The IV of Cups
A time in your life when you were feeling apathetic or disconnected from the world around you; something happened that led to disillusionment, and you became withdrawn.
There were 2 points in Cael's life where this was true: 1) when they were growing up and 2) after their partner was kidnapped. Because of the Present and Future readings, I decided to focus on the latter. Their father already knew of their state growing up since he and their mother were the ones who okayed it. I want to focus on the present Cael (or Efiál as they were known at this time) , the one their father doesn't know.
Cael has vague recollections from this period of grief, but overall they spiraled into depression and then despair as nothing seemed to be going right.
The challenge for this aspect of the performance is displaying their grief without it becoming, "woe unto me." They don't see themselves as a victim; everything that has happened has shaped them into who they are now, and they've come to love who they are, a far cry from the self-loathing they felt during this time.
They couldn't have climbed out of that lightless hole without support, which is what leads us to the present:
Present: The III of Pentacles
A breakthrough with what you were struggling with before; experiencing a period of growth; you may be focused on completing long term goals through collaboration and teamwork, and your efforts are paying off through recognition and a growing reputation. Whereas before you may have felt like you were struggling alone, now others will offer you their support and back you in your endeavors.
Since this reading was done very early in the campaign, Cael was just coming out of those darkest months I mentioned earlier, and they were very much in the mindset of, "I need allies to take out my adversary."
The idea of using people to get what they wanted didn't last long however. It's just not in their nature. Instead, they focused on helping people out of a genuine desire to ease their suffering, and this in turn earned them allies. So, even though their intent was different, the results were the same.
The events I focused on to tell this part of the story technically took place a couple of weeks later when Hell attacked Shipton, but I feel like that particular arc encompasses everything that this card represents. I could have used the necromancer in Cullfield and the subsequent rebuilding of the town as the main story element, but that just doesn't have as much "oomph" to it. Shipton was the perfect culmination of teamwork between Efiál, Brod, and Flink as well as rallying the city together to fight the forces of Hell. Plus, the month we stayed afterward helped Efiál's efforts tremendously.
These two cards reflect what I mentioned last week about the performance writing itself. The next one, however, has given me quite a bit of trouble.
Future: The VII of Swords
Can be interpreted in a couple of different ways: it could be that whatever force you’re facing against holds all the swords & you’ll need to be more cunning to outfox them; if you steal the right sword without getting caught, you could even the playing field, or it could mean that there’s a fox in your midst preparing to betray you. The success you’re facing with your present could attract unwanted attention, so tread cautiously.
Now, the player who pulled the cards left after a couple of sessions, but the deck she used depicted a fox standing on a sword looking over its shoulder at something behind it. In the background, there are 6 other swords at the peak of a hill surrounded by stars.
It took me a while, but I eventually found that she was using the Golden Thread Tarot Deck, which is different than the standard deck, which depicts a thief holding 5 swords as he's running away, with 2 more swords plunged into the ground behind him. Both versions represent the 7 of swords, but the description for this card is imperative in the context of Cael's reading, because when this player left, another player joined in her stead. Without any prior knowledge of the reading, the new player created Flink, a kitsune thaumaturge. Kitsune, in the Pathfinder setting, are bipedal fox people that can change their appearance to also look human.
A fox. You can imagine how much I freaked out when this happened.
Given that Flink viewed all Occultish energies as evil at the time, his and Efiál's relationship was especially strained, which lasted and worsened up until Flink's departure from the group. It would be easy to interpret Flink as the one who betrayed Efiál with how certain events unfolded.
The snag is that Flink returned later on, a few day before this performance actually. Could it be that he still has a part to play in all of this? Perhaps he is paramount to Cael's ability to save Valen and tear Maryn out of power; he is the one who will find and acquire the "sword" that Cael needs, and unlike Cael, he's not beyond using underhanded methods to do so. (This is, of course, assuming the player doesn't retire him again for any reason.)
The symbolism was too perfect to not be referring to Flink, but simultaneously, it took me most of the week to determine how he fit into this portion of the story that seemed to focus mostly on Maryn and Valen.
I'm still trying to work out the details, but that hasn't stopped me from creating the skeleton for the rest of "Teyr'loch Deleter Pach."
III. Objection!
Between this and the next "act" I want to portray Cael's struggle with the concept of Fate and the warped belief that they'll someday become a monster. For much of the campaign they proclaimed that Fate doesn't exist, that it's used as a device to manipulate other people's futures. You can see where they acquired that belief, I'm sure.
Yet in Cullfield, they gave Flink a bullet in the event that they did someday turn, having him make the same promise as Valen all those years ago. They called it a contingency, but really, it was fear pulling them along.
I want to show that transition from fear to their own beliefs that Fate is the culmination of one's actions and the cascading consequences. It is during the performance itself where I'm hoping they'll come to realize that a reading into the future is like dipping one's toe in the middle of a lake. You can see the immediate ripples at the point of contact, but you can't see what's happening elsewhere beneath the surface of the water. Fate is not synonymous with Destiny.
Of course, I won't include that last bit if it feels forced, and I haven't the slightest how to expand this section yet, but the hope is that it will signal their maturity and eventual request for Jakhturim to do another reading for them.
IV. Cael's Past, Present, and Future
Jakhturim's reading was more difficult to parse, especially since I don't want redundant elements from the previous reading to overlap with this one. Trying to interpret it in the context of where it took place in the campaign has taken the other half of the week. It's a smattering of ideas I think might work that have been cobbled together in a tangled mess in desperate need of a good sweeping more than it is a cogent story.
What can I say? The creative process can get quite unruly.
I've done my best.
For the following cards, we used the more common cards in rotation, but for continuity's sake, I'll show off some more of the beautiful art from Golden Thread.
Past: The Reversed VII of Pentacles
Suggests that you may have been in view of the finish line for one or two of your major goals for quite some time, but you have been distracted and taking a circuitous path, leading to a lack of progress. The anxiety of these delays could weigh heavily on your future self; for now it may be time to reflect on your priorities and start acting on what is most important to you.
For quite a while we've been trying to reach Ezada, which is where Cael needs to go to start undermining Maryn's influence, buuuuuuut we keep getting dragged elsewhere. Cael broke the sky and is now trying to figure out how to solve that issue, we took a detour to Jakhturim's cloister--the setting for the performance!--which led to him running off to go confront his vampire ex-mistress in her demi-plane vampire castle, and that led to him becoming corrupted and us getting spirited off to the eastern continent from where Brod hails. Well, since Brod was still being hunted, we decided to go take care of that problem...and so we have yet to actually step foot in Ezada.
Yeeeaaaah. Distractions.
Currently, I'm balancing the idea of two main goals as the focus: saving Valen and helping with the Planar Phenomenon, both of which are extremely important to Cael, both of which are pulling them in opposite directions. What's the point of rescuing their partner if the world ends from the Planes converging? To unite the two ideas, Cael's goals for the Planar Phenomenon coincide with rescuing their partner: they need to get to Shadow Ezada. The barrier that protects Shadow Ezada could become imperative on the Material Plane, so they want to study it, and hey, while they're there, they may as well rescue their partner, yeah?
Present: The Emperor
A leader but also a fatherly figure; could mean you've gained the confidence to make & stand by your decisions, perhaps the benefit of taking that circuitous path and delaying the achievement of your personal goals; can also refer directly to your father or a fatherly type figure you respect greatly; there is no reason to be afraid of making contact with your father, and he is likely to stand by your side when you call upon his aid. One or both fatherly figures could have a strong impact on you & also be powerful allies in the days to come; both concepts of ‘father’ and ‘leader’ are powerful forces influencing your life right now. Set aside your doubts, stand firm in your beliefs, and learn to take the reins. You’ve been working hard to become who you are, so do not apologize to those who misunderstand you.
Boy, this card is meaty. There's more to unpack with its meaning than what I could ever portray within a performance, especially with how relevant a majority of it is. At the time of the reading, it illustrated Cael's present almost to a T, from their own growing confidence to the connection they'd just reestablished with their father to their professor's role in their life as a surrogate father and powerful ally.
All that to say, this portion of the performance is a mess. I have ideas, but they don't form a cohesive unit yet. So for now it remains the skeleton of a skeleton.
Future: Reversed Queen of Pentacles
Take heed to not become self-absorbed by the confidence gained from The Emperor; neglected goals from your past are likely going to come back around to haunt you; may become overly ambitious or obsessive in your endeavors; may become so caught up in trying to do everything you begin to neglect your own needs; take some time for yourself; you can’t pour from an empty cup.
And thus their future has become their present, which I didn't plan. It wasn't even until I really began researching for this performance that I learned the true meaning of the Reversed Queen of Pentacles, which we kinda had wrong the whole time. Oops.
They've been running themselves ragged going from one place to another trying to prepare people for the worst while also getting a cure for a disease out to a city that needs it and sneaking into said city to retrieve the pickaxe sold forever ago that may in fact be needed. I've noted down several ideas, but like the rest of this "act," I'll need to clean it up as I work out the details.
V. Denouement
Most times I work on a story, I develop the ending early on. I like having a goal to strive toward, but in this case, I have no idea how the performance is going to end. The only thread I have currently is that I want to weave in the idea of "wishes," and have Cael cast a spell that will create a perpetual flame that will never extinguish. This will be used as a beacon, they hope, for those seeking sanctuary in the church.
This serves another purpose, too. One of the traits for the spell is "Light." Cael became a Shadowcaster after separating their soul from Nim's, leaving a cavity in their own soul that the shadows filled. Because of this, Cael can no longer cast spells that have the "Light" trait, which they discover during the performance.
Yay for revelations!
Moving Forward
With most of the skeleton constructed, it's time to go back to the start and write the actual rough draft of the story, which will be told through a combination of shadow puppetry, memory sharing, and dance, with some play elements woven in as well. This will be how I decide what to scrap and change, and it wouldn't surprise me if yet another epiphany clocks me across the temple before I'm through.
Other Notable Accomplishments:
Maintaining workout routine, though I backed off this week on weight to give myself an active break
Couch to 5K: Restarted Week 1 Day 1 just to get moving again; pace was 5'27"/km
Wanting to meet or beat my old record for week 1: 4'38"/km
Been walking consistently again now that the ice has melted
Questions for Contemplation & Discussion:
Have you ever gotten a tarot reading done before? If so, do you remember what your spread was and whether or not the results felt pertinent to your situation?
What's the breakdown of your creative process? How do you get from point A to point B to C, etc... on a project, and is it the same for every project, or do you find that you switch it up depending?
This Week's Obligatory Cat Pic: Qiri
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