Present Path Tarot
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Life as Tarot Suits
Today, I want to share with you a theory I have around phases of life. I find that witnessing myself through the lens of tarot has helped me gain perspectives on the patterns we collectively experience.
The major arcana is about the overarching messages we face in our individual hero’s journey. It’s about the more grand archetypes.
The minor arcana speak to the myriad of essential building blocks that make up our day-to-day living.
When I look back on my nearly half a century, I can see how each decade of life typically aligns with one of the four elements present in the minor arcana.
Read this theory with a casual view and a light heart. This is not a metric that we all follow exactly.
Consider instead which phases of your own life you can relate to with your own experiences.
0 – 10: We are born emotional beings. We come out crying and feeling, empathically sensing the world around us.
This makes the first decade the Cups phase of life, marked by the element of water.
We are inherently creative, using our imaginations during playtime and in our gangly first artistic attempts.
People around us hopefully nurture us with the tools to manage the swells and tidal waves of our heartfelt interactions with the world.
11 – 19: Soon after we enter our 2nd decade, our brains begin to develop the ability to think of our own concepts. Learning and school become central and grades begin to matter.
This intellectual and philosophical era of our teens is the Swords arena of Air.
Books become filled with concepts and eloquence on a whole new level. Our brains morph and form into a new system with new beliefs. We often rail against our parents ideas.
We often do dumb stuff and learn learn learn. Hopefully someone teaches us how to communicate kindly.
20 – 29: Once our 20’s hit, it’s time to light up our desires and chase passions. We move past the dreamy wondering and into the possibility of activating our power.
This movement outward is all about the Suit of Firey Wands.
We turn our learning into energy output. We try on new jobs or careers that might include the tests of degrees. We ask what our burning desires are and chasing sparkly attractions.
We are horny, or at least curious about approaching sex. Our bodies are capable in a way we may not fully appreciate until we are in our late 30’s.
We are often inspired to travel away from home or explore our new levels of independence with zest.
30 – 39: The whoosh of Saturn Return starts at 28 and slides us into our more grounded 30’s when we ground into home and hearth and organize our long-term plans more clearly.
We begin to stabilize into our foundations of Pentacles Earth.
Money matters more now, and we are hopefully on a slow but steady trajectory toward our career and economy. If we have little bundles of pentacle babies, we sort out how to provide them with food and shelter and security.
We realize that we have to eat healthy and slow down sometimes to take care of this physical form we are in. We manage stuff.
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That’s the first 4 decades from one point of view. Obviously, all 56 minor cards have moments in each decade. We each contain multitudes from the beginning.
I have found my 40’s to be a mix of the four. I regularly have to remember lessons from each of those eras.
One day, I need to manage emotions and hold this sensitive heart, who can be a flustering kid sometimes. Hopefully, I remember how creative expression helps her feel better.
Then the joy of play comes through and I go dancing and exploring new things with wands fervor.
I have learned that strength training helps with my aging pentacle body that needs more rest to recoup after the fire exertions.
I am always juggling to balance the earth. Slow down, plan ahead, build a healthy routine… I have maintenance scheduled for the car and the house and the body and the career and the money. It’s a lot of scales, and they sure do tip.
My swords self keeps researching how to balance life better and remain open and curious.
Today, she wonders what might shift if we nurtured each phase like good adults do with tender kids?
What if we taught meditation to teens as their brains form?
What if we inspired young people to travel abroad in their first moments of independence?
What if we created networks of support to help people in their 30’s get stable?
What if we lavished perimenopausal women with day-long adoration sessions? And andropausal men can get together and do whatever they need to do to feel nourished?
Consider writing your own story of which era’s of your life you can see most influenced by each of the 4 elements.
If you crave some guidance from the arcana for the phase you are in, sign up for a personal tarot reading with me. I am back from my journey abroad and my schedule is open again for in-person and online readings.
Learn to relish the wisdom of all your ages during an intuition coaching session.
If these archetypes interest you, come learn more in a tarot reading lesson with me.
Share your era with a friend when you come in together for a Tarot Together session.
Add zest to an event when you hire a tarot or palm reader from Portlandia Fortune Tellers.
Hope you have a great weekend pondering on the many phases within you and your life story.
You Contain Multitudes,
Jenna Lynne Roberts