Our TarotBlogHop wrangler, Aisling, asked us, in part, “so we will use our Tarot cards to explore and explain the duality of our own natures. Who, indeed, is your “other Self”, your “Tanist”? How is it that you are, actually, of “two minds”?”
She gave us a very detailed set of steps. I have chosen to go off-book by taking only one part of her instructions for this post.
“These two cards, the light and darkness of your own Being, will work as a unit but represent two opposite views of the same situation. They both may be in the same suit or in two different suits, one may be major and one minor arcana, but if one were to receive both these cards in a reading, how would you represent the opposing energies thereof as they apply to your own personality and all the situations which life hands you?”
When I think about duality of being, my Piscean sun self swims effortlessly into the topic. I think we are all far more than merely two parts of one whole. For me, there are layers to the dark and layers to the light. I cannot, by my very nature, see myself as just dark and light. I am at my heart, a myriad.
That is to say, a multitude, a large/great number, a large/great quantity, scores, quantities, a mass, a host, droves, a horde. In a way, this correlates to my feelings about the Tarot. The seventy-eight cards are also myriad. Within one deck, you have countless ways to combine cards for scores of interpretations. When you expand your mind to encompass the fact that there are hundreds, if not thousands, of artistic interpretations of each of those seventy-eight cards? Yeah. Mind=blown.
How can I see only two sides of myself? I am not a fan of seeing shadow self as evil or wrong or even as needing to be incorporated into anything. For me, again that Piscean nature leaping in a great splashing arc, I see shadow self as whole and separate. I think I will call it my Submerged self while the other main self is Emerged. Submerged is no less important than emerged. And vice-versa on that. What I allow to be seen may be partially my submerged self. The fact is only I will ever know the true answer to that. Which points to my strong Scorpio moon influence. Secrets are part of my life. I know many secrets that aren’t mine but were given to me in confidence. So I keep them there in confidence.
If I only address Submerged Self and Emerged Self, I wonder what they would say. Could I be a bridge between those two pieces assuming they don’t actually communicate? It’s my belief that they do communicate–well and often. The society we live in has a norm of not addressing Submerged Self except as an enemy. What intelligent being would allow itself to be seen if it is only ever thought of as wrong?
To that end, I wanted to create a vehicle for communication between Submerged and Emerged Selves. Of course, that vehicle would be a Tarot spread. I thought I might use the Sun and the Moon for the Emerged and Submerged Selves but it didn’t work for me. Instead I have a list of questions. Then I follow that with my reading for myself using this spread.
Submerged-Emerged Selves Spread
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- What is the main message from Submerged Self?
- How can Emerged Self use this message best?
- What does Submerged Self need most from Emerged Self?
- What is the main message from Emerged Self?
- How can Submerged Self use this message best?
- What does Emerged Self need most from Submerged Self?
- How can Submerged Self and Emerged Self best work together?
What is the main message from Submerged Self? Main Message (Submerged) is the Teacher. Here is someone sitting with Coyote just behind them. They offer me a dandelion which most of us consider a weed. I must remember that Submerged self offers up seemingly useless parts of myself. But with a bit of exploration, I can learn all the uses of those unwanted-by-society parts.
How can Emerged Self use this message best? Take all the energy of worrying about what other people think and use it to swing my own personal fire. Be my own best self as the Explorer(Knight) of Fire is her best self.
What does Submerged Self need most from Emerged Self? Submerged Self needs Emerged Self to allow both halves to drive the Chariot (Canoe). Only by swimming together can we master our own true purpose.
What is the main message from Emerged Self? The Seven of Earth is the card of the gardener. The one who plants and tends and lets things grow. Here the plants of the Teacher are echoed as she puts saplings into the earth. Both selves are intent on growth and learning about the things we plant.
How can Submerged Self use this message best? Interesting to see the Child (Page) of Fire show up when the Knight of Fire showed up for the reverse question. Here I am told that Submerged Self could be more proactive, more curious about how things are. This is a card of energy and movement. Both sides have plants and energy.
What does Emerged Self need most from Submerged Self? Death floats in reminding me that to master myself (as with the Canoe), some parts of me must be laid to rest. Any parts that aren’t nourishing me. If I don’t flourish from the energy, then it must be let go. Death is change that is inevitable, inescapable, and unavoidable.
The final question is How can Submerged Self and Emerged Self best work together? The Elder (King) of Air with his Luna moth companion made me smile when they showed up. I see him as the Priest who does the work. He is sending his prayers (and those of others) up to the heavens. The Luna moth serves as the steed to carry those hopes. When I stand in myself as priestess, I am myriad.
This reading made sense to me. I realize that I used some shorthand here and there but this was a deeply personal reading.bI offer this spread for you to use. Please do not post it without my attribution: Spread by Arwen Lynch
And if you are doing #CampNaNoWriMo, check out my secret weapon.
This is such an interesting post & concept; I agree that with this topic it was really difficult to stay on the topic, I found that I looked at duality/non-duality which I found reflected in the start of your post and I always love your spreads.
Sometimes looking at something like this has to be done sideways. 😀
That sounds rather Cancerian! But I can see the dilemma for a Pisces – it’s all one, all merged together. I loved the way you handled it by looking at the submerged and emerged selves.
😀 I was just thinking of you yesterday. A book I’m listening too used the word “alembic”. 😀
“Within one deck, you have countless ways to combine cards for scores of interpretations.”
Well, strictly speaking, the total number of all possible permutations can be counted, but the final tally is absolutely stupefying. For example, there are 4.56617696982e+18 possible 10-card combinations from a 78 card deck, which is, uh… a lot.
Fun post, thanks for sharing.
Oh honey, lol. Did you really do the math? That’s awesome.
I appreciated the posts that went off book with this one! I like your approach to the topic, your interpretation of the cards, and your original spread. I love the idea of the submerged and emerged aspects of self.
Thanks, Joy. I felt a wee bit guilty for going off-book. 😀 But I think in the long run it was a better thing for me.
Interesting Tarot spread.