Although, as of this writing, the question of the hour continues to be whether or not Joe Biden will stay in the race, the energy around that issue is too unsettled for me to do an accurate reading on that. The reasons for the unsettledness, for the record, are twofold, I think. One is the media’s bloodlust for fanning unsettledness’ flame. The other is the Democratic Party’s perennial tendency towards public self-flogging, and often, self-cannibalization. As I am sure is the case for you, I look forward to all this dust settling. I intend to vote Blue, regardless of this scrum’s outcome, because the alternative is unfathomable.
Nevertheless, fathoming the alternative is something we must do. Next on that agenda is next week’s Republican National Convention. I kind of feel as though it is sullying my beloved cards to pull on this topic, but the deck and I are taking one for the team in the interests of public inquiry. Here are the cards:
Starting with the top horizontal line, we have:
Anchor / Young Woman / Birds / Rider / Bouquet.
I chose the Birds as the focus card for this reading, as it is the card for meetings, conversations, discussions of all types. This entire line delineates the essence of the reading, which here indicates that the goal (aside from making official who their candidate will be) is to nail down (Anchor) messaging (Rider) that compliance will be required of the party faithful (Anchor / Young Woman) and that the party is well-intentioned, will rule with a velvet glove, and that everything proposed (Project 2025) is meant for the good of us all (Anchor / Bouquet.) This is, of course, bullshit, but it is the takeaway they will want the attendees to carry home in their swag bags.
Next, let’s move to the left, and look at the vertical line that begins with Anchor. The cards are:
Anchor / Young Man / Ring / Scythe
This line always represents background information, something we already know, the past, if you prefer that word. Here, the message is that the party’s intention for this conference is to make the party and its platform appear stable (Anchor), forward-thinking (Young Man ), something they are committed to (Ring), and written in stone, fully decided upon (Scythe.) The Anchor mirrors the Scythe, and though it would appear that the one is cut by the other, recall that a Scythe is a farming instrument that gathers as easily as it cuts. This convention is a gathering in of the “faithful,” a circling (Ring) of the wagons around 45 and Project 2025 as the party’s raison d’etre. Ewww.
The next line is more of what both we and they already know:
Young Woman / Ship / Tree / Child
The message could not be more stark: This party’s platform is about moving women of childbearing years (Young Woman / Ship) back to an earlier era, where their singular approved role will be bearers of progeny for the party (Tree / Child.) The party’s great fear, of course, is the ‘browning of America,’ and declining white birth rates as well as INCEL frustration at not being able to fornicate on demand would be ameliorated by several Project 2025 platform policies. I’ll wait while we all throw up in our mouths a little bit.
If we’re done with that, we are on to the center line:
Birds / Clouds / Whip / Fox
Whatever cards appear in the center of this spread make clear what is really going on. These cards tell us that the Convention (Birds) is meant to obfuscate (Clouds) the issues, such that platform planks are made to seem less draconian (Whip) than they really are. In fact, this is smoke and mirrors, meant to deceive (Fox.) Of course, with the conman-in-chief up there as the standard bearer, could there be any doubt? By the way, 45 is as much a dupe of the party as any of its members are. All he cares about are ratings, crowd size, and staying out of jail. He is both incapable of and disinclined to read the fine print. Project 2025 masterminds are well aware of that as they hand him the pen and point to just what dotted lines they want him to sign.
The fourth vertical line gives us some information about the convention’s aftermath:
Rider / Sun / Star / Garden
The message of this line is a succinct one: The takeaway (Rider) from the convention for everyone who attends and watches at home will be clear (Sun). The future (Star ) mapped out by the Project 2025 authors and the public writ large (Garden) is obvious. The intention is impossible for anyone to misconstrue or ignore. You know what Maya Angelou’s advice is: “When someone shows you who they are, believe them the first time.”
The fifth vertical line gives us some further guidance and support:
Bouquet / Tower / Crossroads / Scales
It really is a gift (Bouquet) to all of us to know the party of 45’s game plan. (Tower) represents government itself. The (Crossroads) remind us that we are truly at an inflection point, and have clear choices as to what kind of nation we want to become. (Scales) is the card I added to the Lenormand system. It is the card for cost/benefit analysis. Notice that, although there are coins on one side of the Scale and daisies on the other, the Scale is evenly balanced. This is a card that encourages us to look at what we value, and why, and to make choices based on that clear-eyed assessment. (Tower) and (Crossroads) mirror each other: the choices we make (Crossroads) will define our government (Tower) for all the world to see. We have always admired the words in the preamble to the US Constitution that speak to the idea of “a more perfect union.” The implication is that we are not perfect now any more than we were at our founding, but we aspire to be better, always. This gift (Bouquet) of hopeful optimism is ENSHRINED in our most precious document. The Scales ask us what we will decide to most value: money, the control of which is foundational to our system as it is now? Or will we choose to value the ideals upheld in the Constitution in more than the lip service way we have done to date? Inflection point indeed.
November 5 is coming. Tick Tok.
Finally, we move to the three cards off to the side, which serve as a postscript to the reading:
Lily / Key / Coffin
Normally, I love the (Lily). This time, not so much. If you are just learning about cards and how to read them well, let me suggest that, textbook meanings are important and foundational. But so is intuition and flow. I feel into the flow every time I read the cards, but never more so than now with (Lily). While it can be the card for peace and maturity and ease, is it not the case that an excess of anything can be….too much? This is the case here. This (Lily) represents old ways, played out ways, ragged, tattered ways of thinking and of being (talking to you, RNC, oh, ye clarion callers of a bygone era.) Whatever card follows the (Key), which denotes the door we can choose to enter or not, provides us with the response the rest of us must have to this attempt to lurch us back to some primitive, knuckle-dragging time the RNC would describe as their halcyon days. Not that the RNC crowd would know that SAT word, but still….
(Coffin) is the card that follows (Key.) Sometimes, a coffin is just a coffin. It is exactly that here. We need to bury the Red with a sea of Blue. Again, the alternative is unfathomable.
Amen and Ase
I know the energy is super flaky right now. Hoping something smooths out soon so we can get a clear read.
Thank you, Erika. I thoroughly look forward to your Wednesday offerings!