The cards are on the table. Read what each card of your love tarot spread reveals — from your present moment to the future of your relationship.
Your relationship is moving towards balance, with a clear tendency towards harmony between the two of you. If you have been at odds, Justice announces a reconciliation.
This is a positive card, and in divination its meaning is balance and harmony. It usually represents success in legal matters: victory, a methodical person, precision, a managerial role, people connected with civil or criminal law, the law itself.
This card can be summed up in one phrase: "the end of the world as you know it."
The most likely outcome is something fairly negative: an accident, the death of a family member, losing your job, a painful break-up.
At best, the Tower warns of the abrupt end of something that perhaps was not serving you well. It could be the end of a stormy love affair, or an illness that forces surgery. Sometimes the final outcome turns out to be positive — even very positive — but as a rule this is a sudden, unwanted change.
It can also point to a sudden burst of energy. The figure of the Tower has sexual connotations and may refer to the explosion that comes with orgasm.
The Emperor symbolises the desire to control everything around you, and his appearance in a reading usually warns you that you will need to accept that some things cannot be controlled, and others would gain nothing from being controlled.
As with every tarot card, several meanings are possible. If the Empress is the feminine principle, the Emperor is the masculine one. Most people relate to this card in the same way they relate to their own father.
Becoming somebody, coming to know things, becoming capable — that is what gives a person authority. Hold on to your inner balance and your inexhaustible richness, and draw only what is necessary from it, both spiritually and materially. Spiritually, aim for higher goals. Mentally, build a logical, practical set of plans. Physically, act on your objectives and your plans. And emotionally, use courage to motivate yourself and achieve what you set out to do.
If the High Priestess is a somewhat cool and inward-looking woman, the Empress is energetic and strong. She is associated with that explosion of vitality that comes with adolescence, when you discover your sexual power and your place in the world.
As a woman she is a partner, not a mother or a companion. She can sometimes seem cold, but only because her role as Queen demands an exemplary bearing. Inside, she is a hot-blooded woman of overflowing vitality.
Being so active and vital, she can represent just that: you are at a moment in your life that calls for decisive, energetic action.
This is a deeply feminine card, though in Jodorowsky's Tarot de Marseille he highlights her masculine attributes — the Adam's apple, for instance: within the greatest femininity there is something masculine, and vice versa. Yin and Yang.
When it comes to pregnancy, this is the card that offers the greatest certainty of success. She is a fertile woman who gives life.
The Empress also speaks of a sociable person, with many friends, always arranging to meet up with one person or another. Everyone can rely on her.
The Hermit's meaning is clear and allows for few variations.
On one level, there is his journey towards knowledge and into the depths of the self. It is worth opening a period of reflection, which may be preceded or accompanied by a degree of withdrawal from others — necessary in order to reach enlightenment.
It can point to a crisis you need to plunge into fully and face your problems head-on. The Hermit shows you the way: reflection, patience, and humility.
In romantic relationships it can announce a period of solitude — perhaps because some time apart is needed, or because this is a phase of life when you need to be able to keep going without relying on others.
It can also point to selfish attitudes, to living with your back turned to those around you.
As a person, he usually represents an older man — typically an elderly one. He may be a teacher who passes his wisdom on to you. Or a father who shows too little affection.
Death is a card of transformation. A definitive break with the past takes place, and a new beginning opens before you.
That change can be traumatic if you resist it, as it was for the king in the Rider-Waite image. Or it can be a change that is, in some way, desired or accepted, like the bishop in that same scene.
There is no doubt that Death can signal the passing of someone or a serious illness. It need not be your own; more often it will refer to someone in your immediate circle.
Moving to a new city, leaving a job to start a completely different one, ending a relationship that was hurting you — these are the typical situations in which Death may appear.
The Wheel of Fortune warns of important changes on the horizon. When they come, your situation may resemble that of any of the creatures clinging to the wheel: you may come out ahead and rise, you may be worse off and fall, or you may stay exactly where you are.
Change is coming. You need to be prepared, and, depending on your situation, weigh up whether you can only hope to hold your ground — or whether this is perhaps the great opportunity you have always longed for. The Wheel is going to turn, and what matters is knowing how to recognise that opportunity.
In many cases it can refer to an event you feel destined for — for example, an experience you have lived through many times in dreams and towards which you sense your life is heading. The Wheel indicates that moment is on its way.
In the same vein, you might find a partner who feels like "the one" — someone of remarkable compatibility. It is that feeling, more than the compatibility itself, that the Wheel of Fortune is announcing.
It can also mean a stroke of luck — a lottery win.