For October, I asked the cards: In what way are we needed now? *
The Seven of Swords in the Edgar Allan Poe Tarot is represented by Poe’s essay, “Maelzel’s Chess Player,” which described how Johann Maelzel fooled people for years with an automaton called The Turk that challenged the general public to games of chess and won almost every time.
Poe believed this to be a hoax and he was right about that, but he was wrong about how Maelzel did it. Poe thought there was a small man hiding within The Turk, but actually, he was hiding inside the Turk’s table and moving around using rollers. The master chess player was William Schlumberger and he was able to control the Turk’s arm using magnets.
Like Poe encountering Maelzel’s automaton, the Seven of Swords warns us that deceit, theft, and trickery are at play this month.
Are you betraying others? Are others betraying you? Are you betraying yourself?
Theft can come in many forms: physical, mental, emotional. Consider your life and how the people and activities in it provide you with energy, drain you of it, or some combination of the two.
If you find that you are being drained, make changes in respectful and healthy ways. Don’t sink to the level of the deceitful puppet master. Find honest ways to realign yourself and your life so that you’re able to conserve your energy and reach your goals.
October is the perfect time to slow your roll, go inward, and lift the veil that may have been clouding your vision.
A willingness to see the truth of the matter, and act upon it, is what is needed now.
Cards: Seven of Swords
Deck: Edgar Allan Poe Tarot by Rose Wright and Eugene Smith
Journaling prompts for the month:
- I feel fooled by…
- When I lift the veil…
- The truth is…
ps. If this touchstone has sparked your interest in tarot cards, join me and my friend Anja Schüler-Renner on October 24, 2021 for a 🎃 special Halloween-themed Tarot Writing Prompts! 🎃 It’s a fun, relaxing, and magical way to tap into your intuition and creativity, journal with a group of like-minded folks, and get to know yourself better. Come join us! 👻 REGISTER HERE
* Thanks to Clare O’Sullivan, fellow teacher from the Radical Creativity Retreat, for the inspiration for this month’s question.
Peg Cheng is the author of Rebel Millionaire, a guide for how to retire as a millionaire even if you make a modest income, and The Contenders, a novel that asks, can enemies become friends? She is also the proud owner of Plaid Frog Press with her husband Marcus Donner. Born in Southern California to Taiwanese parents, Peg currently lives in Seattle, Washington.
This page contains affiliate links. If you make a purchase using any of these links, I will earn a commission at no cost to you, and you’ll be helping me to keep writing and creating. Thank you!