The Sevens – Rising to the Challenge

7 of Wands – Galaxy Collision
A collision of galaxies is like a car crash in slow motion. Over hundreds of millions of years two galaxies draw out long streams of stars and cosmic dust from each other, causing many new stars to be born. The collision is productive but both galaxies are irredeemably altered by the process. Likewise, the 7 of Wands indicates that you have crashed into someone or something, and its stopping you from getting where you want to go. This is a serious fight, unlike the playful conflict of the 5 of Wands. The energy of the sevens demands you stretch yourself to the utmost to embrace change, and in Wands this takes its most direct form. You have a battle on your hands, but this is a challenge which you must meet with everything you’ve got.

7 of Cups – Red Giant
A red giant looks very colourful and impressive but actually it’s a dying star. The dramatic clouds of red dust hide a collapsing core that has run out of fuel. Its size is an illusion, and illusion is at the heart of the 7 of Cups. Here the battle is to distinguish between what is and isn’t real; this is the card of dreams and imagination. Our creative minds can conjure many visions and possibilities. Some of these visions are beautiful and inspiring, some are born of fear. The challenge of the 7 of Cups is to tell which of our visions is true, and which false.

7 of Swords – Radioactivity
Certain kinds of atomic nuclei are inherently unstable. They may spontaneously and unpredictably release particles, and these particles are what we know as radioactivity. All radioactive particles are potentially dangerous, but some are more harmful than others. The weakest type of radioactivity, alpha particles, can be blocked by a sheet of paper, whereas gamma radiation can only be stopped by lead.
Radiation is invisible and pernicious. We cannot detect it without proper measuring equipment. In the same way, the 7 of Swords describes a situation where unknown, indirect or underhand forces are at work. This seven uses a subtle approach to battle, in contrast to the straightforward charging-in of Wands. The 7 of Swords is at best the clever strategist, at worst the sneak, con-man or deceiver. This seven can often have a negative connotation, but it reminds us that an open, direct approach does not always serve us best. Sometimes we need to calculate, to play our cards close to our chest and take a less obvious approach to getting what we want.

7 of Pentacles – Quarks
Quarks are fundamental particles that make up the protons and neutrons in an atomic nucleus. They come in six varieties, but only two are stable – the up and down quarks. The other four – charmed and strange, top and bottom – quickly decay into the two lighter varieties.
Quarks are the building blocks of our world. Without them there would be no atoms and therefore no matter and no universe! The 7 of Pentacles symbolises a situation where we have gathered all that we need to build our future. Often showing a gathered harvest, it reminds us that we have an abundance of resources and options, more than we’ll ever need. The battling energy of the sevens is grounded in the 7 of Pentacles. We have already won – or the means for doing so is at our fingertips – and this card encourages us to count our blessings.

Quantum Tarot Artist Interviewed in ATA Quarterly

Quantum Tarot artist Chris Butler is interviewed in the latest American Tarot Association Quarterly journal. In a detailed interview with Melanie Harris, Chris explains how the Quantum Tarot was created digitally using images from the Hubble Telescope . Chris outlines the evolution of the deck, describes how we worked together on the images and details the long journey to publication.

Chris also talks about how he got started as an artist and illustrator, and latterly his development as a tarot and oracle deck creator. He discusses his latest decks, the Son Tarot and the Technoracle, an updating of the Lenormand cards.

Melanie asks Chris a question I would never have anticipated: What's the coolest thing about the Quantum Tarot? I'm not sure how I would have answered that. I'd probably mutter something about the Hubble images, the silver-gilt edging or the luscious packaging (superficial, moi?). You'll have to read the full article to find out what Chris said!

If you're a member of the ATA, you can read the interview here. If you're not a member, it's well worth joining. Online membership costs only $25 a year and includes lots of tarot-related perks (honestly I'm not on a commission!).


Recommending a Blog: Astrological Musings
If you're interested in astrology, do check out Lynn Hayes's Astrological Musings blog. I've been keen on astrology since I was eighteen - even longer than I've been interested in tarot! I really enjoy how Lynn applies astrology to current events, including of course the US Elections that have us all mesmerised at the moment, and (not unrelated to this) a fascinating series on the current Saturn/Uranus Opposition. I don't normally recommend blogs, but this one is thoughtful, well-written and has kept me consistently engaged.


Order the Quantum Tarot from Amazon.com
Order the Quantum Tarot from Amazon.co.uk

The Sixes – Harmony and Balance

6 of Wands – Star
Stars evolve from clouds of dust and gas that condense until nuclear fusion ignites them at the core. Once the fusion process is stable, the star will continue to shine for billions of years.
The birth of a star is a long process that leads to an apparently sudden success – the star begins to shine. The 6 of Wands symbolises this moment of standing out, but it also reminds us of the long period of work and dedication that has gone into our success. The 6 of Wands reminds us to enjoy our victories. Although the moment of glory may pass, the success is lasting as it leaves in its wake increased confidence and self-belief.

6 of Cups – Gravitational lens/Distant galaxies
Galaxies that are very far away – millions of light years – can appear closer through a phenomena known as gravitational lensing. Large clusters of galaxies create huge gravitational fields which deflect the light from even more distant galaxies around them, rather like a glass lens. This has the effect of magnifying these very distant galaxies that would otherwise be too far away to see.
The 6 of Cups is the card of nostalgia, of looking back with affection and longing. This is often a positive and happy process, but like a gravitational lens our view of the past can be distorted, making it seem better than it actually was. This card shows the way to make peace with the past by getting in touch with the happy child in ourselves. This is beneficial and therapeutic as long as we don’t become lost in romanticised dreams of our youth, or fall prey to escapism as a way of avoiding the present.

6 of Swords – Fermions and bosons
Fermions and bosons are two groups of particles that have different types of spin. Spin is a concept in quantum mechanics that describes a particular kind of momentum – the particles are not physically spinning. The particles that make up an atom are all fermions, while force carrier particles like the photon are bosons. No two fermions can exist in the same state in the same place at the same time – but two bosons can.
The 6 of Swords describes a parallel situation in life where we really cannot exist in the same place at the same time as someone – or something – else. This is the card of moving on to pastures new, leaving something behind for the sake of our own inner peace. Here the sixes’ sense of harmony comes from forward movement. Unlike the 6 of Cups, which is backward-looking, this six finds peace in moving towards the future.

6 of Pentacles – Hadrons, baryons and mesons
Hadrons, baryons and mesons are different combinations of quarks. Hadrons are the composite particles that make up atomic nuclei. Baryons are the two varieties of hadron found in the nucleus of an atom – protons and neutrons. Mesons are a combination of quark and antimatter quark and are very unstable.
Composite particles of quarks are the foundation of all the matter in the universe. Like quarks, we do not exist singly but in different groups and formations known as families, societies, cultures. We depend on others and others depend on us. In the 6 of Pentacles, the six’s energy of harmony is manifested in the material world as giving and receiving. This is the card of the philanthropist, but also of the person in need. Balance is maintained by those who have more than enough being willing to pass on the wealth, and by those who need more being open to receive. Inner harmony comes from being able to balance our giving and receiving – for we all do both in one way or another.

The UK Tarot Conference - Report

On Saturday 18th October, I attended the UK Tarot Conference in London and a great day was had by all. I presented a short workshop. attempting to apply quantum theory to tarot reading. Yes really! I proposed that two different ways of reading - intuitive and in the moment versus traditional and knowledge-based - could be approached as a paradox. I asked the audience to go to the extreme of each reading method and then try to find links between them, thus embracing the paradox. It was an attempt to make conscious what most of us do automatically as readers - combining our response to a card in the present moment with our fund of past experience and knowledge of the tarot.

It was also very interesting to hear the other speakers, including Rachel Pollack talking about rescuing the tarot from psychology. What did she meant by this? Well, in the last couple of decades we have moved away from traditional fortune-telling or esoteric methods towards interpreting cards as representing psychological states. Nothing wrong with that, but Rachel made the point that a purely psychological approach limits the tarot to a here-and-now how-I'm-feeling focus, and some of the other wonderful archetypal, mythological and even ritualistic aspects of reading can be lost.

She was keen to reintroduce some of these elements into our reading, and that's exactly what we did. One of the most fun things in the whole day was an exercise she did with us to invent a tarot-reading persona, complete with name, outfit and personal history. We could be as wild, extreme or cliched as we wanted, and sure enough there were lots of Madame Arcanas with gypsy headscarves! It was very liberating and, although it was a bit of fun, also very revealing. My own persona revealed herself to be Doctor Atomic, Natural Philosopher, Stargazer and Alchemist, Poet of the Universal Word. Who knew?

Later in the day, I gave a short interview to MySpirit Radio , and I'll be posting a link to it here as soon as it's available. I believe there will soon be some photographs on the Tarot Conference site too, so I'll link to them asap.

Once more, many thanks to Kim Arnold for organising such a wonderful day.

Order Quantum Tarot from Amazon.com
Order Quantum Tarot from Amazon.co.uk

Choose your Quantum Card of the Week for w/c 26th October

It's that time again - another selection of Quantum Tarot cards offered up for a weekly pick. Let me know which one takes your fancy or seems to chime in with what's going on for you right now. The Hierophant features Isaac Newton, who was really the founder of modern physics and so deserves his place as the upholder of scientific orthodoxy in this tarot. Coincidentally, there are two 8's in this selection; the 8 of Cups shows particles escaping from an atomic nucleus - what we commonly know as nuclear decay - and the 8 of Pentacles shows the formation of a spiral galaxy. The Empress represents the strong nuclear force, which binds together particles in the atomic nucleus, and the 10 of Wands depicts a neutron star, a very small but dense and bright stellar remnant. The Queen of Swords represents the familiar W-shaped constellation Cassiopeia.

I'm very fond of the Quantum Queen of Swords, but I'm going to go for the 8 of Pentacles, as it's come up for me a few times in readings recently. It's very appropriate, as I'm hard at work planning a new writing project and the ideas are flowing just like the pentacles in this card. This is my favourite stage of a project, when the whole thing really starts to come to life and take shape, but before the hard slog of actual writing really starts to take its toll!

You might like to know that the Quantum Empress features tarot artist Emily Carding, whose innovative new deck the Transparent Tarot, will be published at the end of October.

Don't forget, it's not too late to register for the UK Tarot Conference which takes place this Saturday, 18th October in London. I'll be there, presenting a workshop on applying quantum theory to tarot reading (yes really!).

Order Quantum Tarot from Amazon.com
Order Quantum Tarot from Amazon.co.uk

The Fives – Creative Conflict

5 of Wands – Particle annihilations
When matter and antimatter particles collide, both are destroyed, but all is not lost. The energy released is transformed into new and different particles. This process is an elegant metaphor for the battling but playful energy of the 5 of Wands. In creative clashes, a great amount of energy is released and this is fertile ground for new ideas or breakthroughs. Though the conflict may be high-voltage, it always retains a certain lightness. This is a card of rising to the challenges of life, riding the waves like a surfer. It encourages us to use our abilities to the utmost to keep moving forward.

5 of Cups – Particle decay
Particles do not actually decay in the sense of physically falling apart. They are simply changed into other, lighter particles through the effects of the weak force. This process is irrevocable – the particle can never return to its original form. In the suit of Cups, the combative energy of the fives is experienced as a distressing sense of loss. In any conflict there tends to be a winner and a loser and the 5 of Cups focuses is on what is lost. There is a tendency to forget about what has been gained – or transformed. When a particle decays, it has gone forever. This 5 is about recognising and acknowledging the finality of loss, but it also gently reminds us what has been gained.

5 of Swords – White Dwarf
A star dies when it has used up its supply of hydrogen fuel. In the case of medium-sized stars like our sun, the outer layers are thrown off and the core collapses into a tiny, bright, planet-sized object known as a white dwarf. Compared to a full-sized star, a white dwarf seems puny and insignificant. The 5 of Swords expresses the fives’ energy of combat through this kind of comparison. There is always a winner and a loser with the 5 of Swords, for this is victory at someone else’s expense. This is the card of the bully and his (or her) victim. The fives’ energy of battle takes its most negative form, with the emphasis on winner-takes-all overriding any sense of fairness or morality.

5 of Pentacles – Leptons
There are six varieties of lepton. The commonest is the electron, one of the fundamental particles within an atom. Another two varieties of lepton, the muon and tau, are unstable and quickly decay into other particles. The remaining three, all varieties of neutrino, are very stable but almost massless (see the 4 of Swords). Neutrinos float freely around the universe, but electrons tend to be bound into atomic nuclei. This contrast between freedom and limitation expresses the fives’ energy of conflict in Pentacles. Here the battle is against physical reality itself. This is often experienced as a sense of lack or scarcity – traditional decks often show beggars in the snow. We may be able to imagine infinity and abundance, but material reality has limits. This card symbolises the struggles we endure when our infinite spirits collide with the very finite nature of the physical body and the everyday world.

A Reading with the Quantum Tarot

I recently guest-blogged over at Tarot by Arwen about the development of the Quantum Tarot. As part of the fun we decided to hold a competition for a free reading with the Quantum. The winner was Garnet, and she's kindly allowed me to post her reading here.

Garnet wanted a general spread, so I decided to try out a spread called This Life's Spotlight, recently posted on Peridot's Blog (Arwen has also road-tested this spread). It's a simple but deep spread - great for both focussing the attention and seeing the big picture.

This Life’s Spotlight Spread

1. What I’ve arrived in this life to initiate (Main Intention).
2. What I’ve arrived in this life to feel (Main Experience).
3. What I’ve arrived in this life to learn (Main Lesson).
4. What I’ve arrived in this life to attain (Main Achievement).


Reading for Garnet with the Quantum Tarot

1. What I’ve arrived in this life to initiate (Main Intention).
5 of Pentacles

It seems that you need a bit of hardship to bring out the best in you. In your early life, you may have felt keenly that you’ve been shut out of things in some way, and may have experienced hard times financially and/or emotionally. But something in you thrives on experiences of restriction – it really fires you into action. On some level, you require limitation to broaden your understanding of who you are and why you’re here. As you mature, I suspect that you’ll be less prone to attracting dramatic experiences of loss or hardship and more inclined to appreciate what you have and count your blessings. Seeing others less fortunate than yourself may also drive you to act – you’ve been there and done that and you know how it feels. This empowers you to respond to others’ misfortune with active compassion.

2. What I’ve arrived in this life to feel (Main Experience).
XIV Temperance

Finding balance in your emotional life is going to be crucial. I suspect you may have “been through the fire” emotionally in your youth – or seen it around you in your family and loved ones. This may have given you an aversion to melodrama, to the heart ruling the head, but you’re also learning to respect your (and others’) emotions. You might be someone who’s very good at toughing it out, but now it’s time for you to soften a bit. For you, head and heart must act together. You might attract friends or partners that act out one end of the head-heart dynamic, challenging you to bring out whichever side in you is more underdeveloped. Finding balance externally in your relationships will help you find inner balance too.

3. What I’ve arrived in this life to learn (Main Lesson).
7 of Cups

It’s OK to dream! You probably have a vivid imagination and are full of ideas, but find putting them into action not so easy. You might react in one of two ways; either dismissing all your dreams as nonsense and not acting on any of them, or trying to act on too many of them all at once and setting yourself up to fail. The challenge with the 7 of Cups is knowing which dreams have the power to cross the “reality threshold” and make it into the material world. This is something that comes with experience, and learning how to make your dreams a reality is a major life task for you. With that 5 of Pents, you won’t have it all handed to you on a plate, so you’ll need to choose your dreams wisely. But you will need to choose at least one to follow, or you’ll end up angry and frustrated. Don’t be too hard on yourself if you feel that you’ve failed to live your dreams, for learning to both respect and discriminate among them is a lifelong lesson for you. My feeling is that a dream diary and/or journal is absolutely essential!

4. What I’ve arrived in this life to attain (Main Achievement).

VII Chariot
You have a real need for a sense of forward momentum in your life – you want to get stuff done. You’re a positive person who wants to make a practical difference in the world, but it may often feel like a struggle against both internal and external forces. However, you’re prepared to stand your ground and fight. Bringing disparate energies (or people) together is a real talent of yours and you’re very good at keeping things on track. But you need to be careful of riding roughshod over people’s (or your own) feelings for a perceived greater good. You may be so fixed on your destination, your deadline or aim that you can be quite ruthless about using any means to get there. This is a strength, but remember to bring in Temperance here and be conscious that the process is at least as important as the outcome. Don’t get too narrow in your focus and always keep the bigger picture in mind. There’s another goal beyond the most immediate one – and then another, and another. And sometimes the real goal is quite different from the one you think!

The Quantum Tarot was published last month by Kunati.

The Fours – Stability or Stagnation?

4 of Wands – Electroweak unified force
Electroweak theory unifies two different forces in the universe – the weak nuclear force and the electromagnetic force. Often showing a wedding, the 4 of Wands represents a similar kind of unification on a human scale. It represents success on the level of joint human endeavour. Many aspects of our selves or our situation have been brought together and are working in harmony. The stabilising energy of the four is at its best in Wands, grounding the fiery, forward-looking energy of the suit to create something real and lasting.

4 of Cups – Extra particles
All particles in an atomic nucleus are made up of quarks and leptons. There are six varieties of quark and six types of lepton, but atoms contain only three out of these twelve particles – two kinds of quark and one variety of lepton. The other quarks and leptons are unstable and decay rapidly into these three essential particles. What is the point of all those other extra particles? No-one knows. A similar sense of puzzlement, pointlessness and frustration is characteristic of the 4 of Cups. It’s possible to have too much of a good thing; in Cups the heavy energy of the four slows the flow of energy necessary to get the best out of this emotional suit. The result is boredom and stagnation. The 4 of Cups alerts us that we have become too passive and have forgotten to appreciate the many ways in which we are blessed.

4 of Swords – Neutrinos
Neutrinos are particles with little mass and no electrical charge that rarely interact with other particles. In fact, they pass through the Earth all the time without doing anything! The un-reactive, laid-back neutrino characterises the restful quality of the 4 of Swords. Here, the stable energy of the four has a quieting effect upon the mental energy of Swords. This is a time for reflection and recuperation. Time alone spent in quiet contemplation and meditation will be beneficial, but this is not a recommendation to slump down in front of daytime TV!

4 of Pentacles – Elliptical Galaxy
Elliptical galaxies are very old galaxies that contain a lot of dying stars. No new stars are being created as most of the fuel needed for star birth has been used up. Things are slowly grinding to a halt. The 4 of Pentacles inflects this winding-down of energy as a stubborn holding-on to the status quo. The fixed energy of the four becomes a little too fixed in the earthy suit of Pentacles. A refusal to move forward and embrace change is characteristic of this card, with the resulting fear of scarcity and sense of stagnation.

Quantum Tarot at the UK Tarot Conference

In just over two weeks' time, I'll be presenting a workshop at this year's UK Tarot Conference on Saturday 18th October 2008.

The conference takes place at the Thistle Hotel in London and boasts a very exciting line-up, including Rachel Pollack, Jane Lyle and Jane Struthers, astrologer with Bella Magazine.

Rachel is also offering a special masterclass the night before the conference. Unfortunately this is sold out, but there's still time to book a place for Saturday.

I'm really looking forward to being in such exalted company and I'm sure it'll be a fascinating day. In my workshop I'll be attempting to apply the principles of quantum theory to reading the tarot - should be fun!

Oh, and in case all that doesn't tempt you, this year the conference is sponsored by Llewellyn and I'm sure there'll be a wonderful goodie bag of freebies for all delegates...

The Quantum Tarot is published this month by Kunati.