Discussion: What card? (Family Challenge)
This weekend my friend Joseph Martin is staying with me while he is involved with the Conscious Life Expo here in LA. After a bit of discussion about our family history, Joseph gave me the following quote that he had gotten from his spiritual mentors years ago. This quote is about the spiritual challenges that family life presents to us:
A parent’s job is to accept their children; a child’s job is to forgive their parents.
So my question here is, what Tarot card (or cards) does this quote remind you of?
I would love to hear your thoughts about this. Please post your comments here.
For me, this is a Ten of Cups quote. Forgiving, accepting, and integrating our experiences in our families of origin is the emotional work of a lifetime for many people. Ten is the culmination of every suit, and Cups is the suit of emotion. Depending on where this card appears in a spread and how someone interprets it, it could mean that you are being called to do more work on releasing and forgiving your family experiences-or it could mean that you have successfully completed this life task, and you are now more free to move on. There is also the familiar “perfect family” imagery in the RWS version of this card and many other decks. Some querents may see this imagery and lament the fact that their family didn’t “live up” to this picture of perfection. But that’s all it is-a picture. It’s what we do with that picture that counts. The Suit of Cups calls us into that emotional realm, and by the Ten of Cups, we are being called to fully integrate and even transcend our emotions about our individual life stories. It’s a very positive card, but not because external events conform themselves in such a way that we can live “happily ever after”! It’s positive because it shows us that we can do the emotional work we need to do in order to release, forgive, accept, and move on.
Lauren, thank you for your wonderful thoughts here.
I agree completely with this statement: “Forgiving, accepting, and integrating our experiences in our families of origin is the emotional work of a lifetime for many people.” Because of that, I too see the Ten of Cups as being perfect for this quote. As such, I like your observation that this card is about our need “to do more work on releasing and forgiving your family experiences.”
Bright Blessings,
James Ricklef
The Ten of Pentacles is what immediately came to mind. I always have questions about the Rider image . I always feel that there is some seperation between the couple and the elder and that perhaps the couple is discussing how to handle the information they want to convey to the elder.
He could be a parent, a grandparent or just an elder family member. I think ttere is a money issue here and it is a difficult and sensitive issue. I’ve never seen this image as a really happy family group.
Joan, Yes, the 10/Pents is also about family. I sometimes interpret it as the things we inherit (I think I read that long ago in Pollack’s 78 Degrees of Wisdom), and I can see this quote fitting well in that context.
Bright Blessings,
James Ricklef
Judgement. Forgiveness, acceptance, and change.
Judgment is a great card for this in its aspect of forgiveness.