Exploring the Coronavirus with a 10-Card Reading – Part 6

Tarot cards are excellent tools for insight and revelation.  As a professional reader, I work with clients on a weekly basis, doing readings to help them navigate life.  With so much happening regarding the outbreak of COVID-19, I thought it would be helpful to do a tarot or oracle reading about COVID-19 for the Ask Astrology readership.

This is the sixth reading; Ask Astrology published the first one on March 9, 2020.

The Question, the Method, and the Spread

The question I keep asking is, “what do the visitors to Ask Astrology need to know about the COVID-19 coronavirus?”  I have over 75 decks in my tarot and oracle card collection and I chose to use the Oracle of the Radiant Sun by Caroline Smith and John Astrop.   

When I do a reading for a client, I ask them questions for each card draw.  For this reading, I decided to select 10 cards.  The layout I chose was the traditional Celtic Cross, shown below:

Source: Wikimedia

Question 1: What Does the Readership Need to Know Right Now

The card selected is Mars in Pisces, Escape

From the book that comes with the deck: “Mars in Pisces is very rarely a fighting aspect and more often than not, eventually, when all other options fail, leads one to escape from a situation by any means available.”  It is very hard to accept that the world, our nations, our communities, and our individual lives are just experiencing the beginning phase of this pandemic.  In a world used to constant movement forward and around, the sudden and abrupt halt and disruption of worldly activities is difficult.  That the situation is persisting is even more difficult.  Hence, on some level, we all want to escape.

• Exploring the Coronavirus with a 10-Card Reading – Part 5

Question 2: What is the Challenge We Need to be Aware of?

The card selected is Jupiter in Cancer, Speculation

From the book that comes with the deck: “When this card is drawn during a reading, it encourages the questioner to look to his or her family for support and even financial help with regard to the question asked.”  We are all in this together, in a truly global and individual sense, more so each day as the virus spreads deeper and deeper into each nation.  We will continue to be challenged to be more sympathetic and caring, not only to those who are closest to us but eventually to all of humanity (Jupiter’s influence).

Question 3: What is Obvious?

The card selected is Mars in Aquarius, Rebellion

From the book with the deck: “Turn the current thinking on its head and approach it from a different angle – a drastic change of thought is needed.”  Every institution, government, and society is getting tested by the pandemic; and many of them are failing spectacularly, which means opportunities for truly new ways of thinking abound.  Can we embrace them?  More and more we will find we need to “rebel” against the old systems and old ways of thinking.

• Exploring the Coronavirus with a 10-Card Reading – Part 4

Question 4: What is Hidden?

The card selected is Venus in Aries, Lust

From the book that comes with the deck: “When this card is drawn, it indicates a need to assert oneself – and yet to do this with the utmost warmth and charm.”  Lust is our hedonistic desire to experience pleasure regardless of consequences.  As the hidden energy, we know that our mortality is ever more present in the current pandemic, which could lead us to want to experience lustful actions to feel more alive in a persistent pandemic situation.

Question 5: What Do We Need to Know from the Past to Help Us in the Present?

The card selected is Mars in Libra, Choice

From the book with the cards: “When this card appears, it always indicates a difficult choice to be made.”  We have had difficult choices in the past; how did we handle them?  What did we learn that can help us with difficult choices in the present?  This card can also represent a time in the very recent past when we had more choices than we do now.  And, choices are dwindling and may be limited for some time to come.

• Exploring the Coronavirus with a 10-Card Reading – Part 3

Question 6: What Do We Need to Know for Guidance Going Forward?

The card selected is Venus in Pisces, Submission

From the book with the deck: “Often when this card is drawn, it indicates a social shyness that leads to isolation and romantic frustration.”  More broadly, this card shows that if the bird were to turn around, he or she would see the cage is open.  However, the bird may know the cage provides some form of protection as well as a limitation, and so chooses to remain in the cage for safety’s sake.  The card suggests that accepting limitations may be the best course of action, even with the cage door open – voluntary mask-wearing, self-quarantining, and social distancing as future limiting behaviors that will help you survive the pandemic.

Question 7: What is Purpose of this Virus, Spiritually Speaking?

The card selected is Venus in Leo, Affair

From the book that comes with the cards: “In a reading, this card shows that a new stimulus to creative endeavors will enter the life of the questioner.”  More generally, it represents the purpose of connecting with others in an intimate and significant way.  We need each other and we need to lean on each other for support.  There is also an opportunity in difficult times, to change old bad habits and adopt new healthier ones.  There is a chance to deepen our relationships and understanding of what it means to be human when faced with a global tragedy.  We should all become more aware of those around us and build healthier relationships at this time.

• Exploring the Coronavirus with a 10-Card Reading – Part 2

Question 8: How Do we Fulfill the Purpose Positively?

The card selected is Jupiter in Libra, Negotiation

From the book with the cards: “In a reading, the Negotiation card indicates that the time has come to make a decision and that there is a need to consider the pros and cons of a situation to make sure that the answer is acceptable to both parties.”  We desperately need to find common ground, not more divisive positions.  Unity will prevail where division cannot.  But what are the common ideas and needs that we, as humans, in a global health crisis, share beyond politics and personal ego?

Question 9: What are our Hopes and Fears?

The card selected is Mercury in Leo, Drama

From the book with the deck: “… it indicates pride … and it can concern pushing those involved to even greater efforts.”  Our hope is some form of a heroic solution that helps us find ways to keep healthy and save our economy.  This crisis gives us a chance to show the best of our character.  Our fear is how this crisis will bring out the worst in people – pettiness, greed, narcissism, and tribalism.  We choose to make more drama from the crisis rather than use the drama of the crisis to make a better world.

• Exploring the Coronavirus with a 10-Card Reading – Part 1

Question 10: What is an Action to Consider Taking at this Time?

The card selected is Saturn in Leo, Generosity

From the book with the deck: “When Saturn in Leo is drawn, the subject of the reading has much creative joy to share; if this is offered with no strings attached, the chances of a successful outcome are assured.”  PPP loan forgiveness, stimulus checks, needed unemployment benefits make sense during the intensifying period of the pandemic, which is still increasing.  These measures may not be so much about gain, as about keeping the peace and keeping society together. Stinginess in the face of economic despair is a recipe for unrest and violence.