Monday August 19th, 2024
- August 19, 2024

Tarot Seats at The Table of Understanding: August 19, 2024
Greetings to all you truth seekers and wisdom hunters. Today, we unearth a deeply resonating narrative through the Three of Swords, Judgement, and the Two of Cups.
The Three of Swords often speaks to us of heartbreak and sorrow. Traditional imagery of the card depicts three swords piercing a heart, a visual testament to emotional pain. Don’t let your heart be heavy though, as contrasts and hardships are but the strokes of the master artist working on the canvas of your life. Remember the words of the great Roman stoic philosopher Seneca:
“Difficulties strengthen the mind, as labor does the body.”
So, understand this pain as an opportunity. Journal your emotions, make your heart a fortress of understanding and brace for the personal growth it promises.
Our second seat at the table is the Judgement card. Often, this card speaks of awakening, inner calling, and rebirth. In most decks, we see an angel trumpeting a call for the once dead to rise and answer for their actions. However, remember that judgement is not merely an external force. In the spirit of Stoic philosophy, one must judge oneself before bestowing that right on others. As Marcus Aurelius once penned:
“Our life is what our thoughts make it.”
Consider then, today, what your inner call is. What are you waking up to? And more importantly, how are you judging your actions and thoughts? There’s profundity in self-evaluation.
Ah, the romantic and harmonious attunement of the Two of Cups graces us last. This card usually sings of unity, partnership, and connection. Twin figures toast each other, their cups filled with shared understanding, symbolically expressing mutuality. But do remember the wisdom that Stoicism imparts here:
“We are not bonsai trees,” Epictetus warned us, “we are part of a great and interconnected whole.”
Reflect and engage with the connections that truly nourish your spirit. Cultivate your bonds but remember, we are beings part of a beautifully vast cosmos interconnected in ways we may not even see.
Today’s narrative drawn from our three card spread speaks first of understanding and using our personal pain, then awakening to self-evaluation and closing on the importance of connections. From these, there is much to learn, and even more to apply in our lives.
Journal prompt: Reflect on a recent difficulty you’ve encountered. How did you judge your reaction and what steps did you take to resolve it? How have your relationships influenced or supported you during this time?