Tuesday, November 04, 2008

Tarot Reading The Election

Thanks once again to Sasha Graeme at Tarot Girl for the images.

I started reading Tarot in 1994, and experimented quite frequently. One of the first spreads I did involved the potential future of the presidency of Bill Clinton. When I read it, I decided I messed up the reading, and was projecting the rumors of Clinton's alleged sexual infidelities onto the reading for his presidency. There was no way, I reasoned, that a President of the United States would ever get in so much trouble over a sexual indiscretion.

Now here we are fourteen years later, and I'm figuring, well, if I can do that good for an entire presidency, surely I can do all right for just the result of an election that takes place over the course of-hopefully-one day.

The first card is Obama, the second McCain, the third is the outcome of the election.
Unfortunately, Obama's card, the Six of Pentacles, is not showing up here, probably because it is a different format of image. Suffice it to say the Six of Pentacles foretells a man who is generously offering assistance to those in need. He has many takers, those who are in dire straights. This fits Obama's campaign promise to restore economic prosperity by a number of spending initiatives financed by increased taxes on the "wealthiest Americans", while promising tax cuts to the "Middle Class" and to businesses that create jobs in America while promising to end them to those who ship jobs overseas.

His rise in the polls in fact are predicated on the dire situation in the financial markets and its overall affect on the US and the global economy. It almost seems as if the situation came at just the right time to assure his ascension. His card was upright, which indicates that he presents himself, or tries to, in a positive manner.

As for McCain, his card, as stated earlier, is The Moon, which I drew in the reversed state.



This shows us McCain's one possible and probably lone path to success in this election. He has to successfully paint Obama's program as socialism, or at the very least, bordering on socialism. The tightening of the recent polls would suggest he has enjoyed some limited success at this tactic. His pointing out some of Obama's more unsavory associations has also helped him in this regard.

However, this holds its own dangers for McCain's campaign. For one, he has not managed to successfully remove himself from the shadow of George W. Bush, nor has he delineated enough of his own positive image. He has tried to do so, but unfortunately, a great many of the things he has said are themselves socialistic in the minds of some, which tends to negate his criticisms of Obama. He is hurt, in fact, by the very thing that once helped him with some voters. His tendency to "reach across the aisle to get things done for the American people" makes his own base somewhat suspicious of him. At the same time, independents are wary of his past support for some of the, to them, more objectionable aspects of the Bush presidency.

Therefore, McCain is between a rock and a hard place. He is damned if he does and damned if he doesn't, and there is little middle ground available to him. One might well say, in fact, that the "middle ground" is precisely why he is in the mess he is in. The fact that he so openly supported the bail-out has proven to be a major irritant to many of his supporters. In fact, in the mind of many, McCain is a perfect image of the problem with America, and they see him as part and parcel with the economic woes affecting our nation. The Moon describes a period of fear and uncertainty, and that certainly describes the current state of the economy. That I drew this card for McCain in the reversed state means his election is dependent on whether he can assure voters that he is the right hand to guide the ship of state through the current economic storms as well as those that might come, as much as it is on whether he can successfully paint Obama in a negative light.

How then will it turn out? The answer is in the final card, the Three of Pentacles, which I also drew in the reversed state.



This by no means identifies the winner of the election, it simply points out the overriding force that will decide the election one way or another. More than likely, the Three of Pentacles does seem to suggest an Obama win, though this is by no means definite. There are reasons this would come about, both negative and positive. Some people, and some organizations especially, would hope to gain by an Obama presidency as far as entitlements, while others simply hope he can repair the damage to the economy and thus protect their jobs, improve their health care options, protect their retirement, their children's education, etc. In other words, if Obama wins, it will be on the strength of his economic proposals, and he will definitely be expected to deliver.

On the other hand, a McCain victory, which is by no means ruled out of the question here, would indicate that McCain's charges of socialism and the threat of higher taxes and the resultant further deteriorating effect of this on the economy might bear fruit in the final analysis.

It all boils down to the economy.

12 comments:

(((Thought Criminal))) said...

Well, I don't put stock in Tarot like I once did, but, if I were reading this...

You're right about the economy being a factor. You don't go into a spread with two pentacle suit cards AND the Moon and not see a worry about money.

The Moon card, being major arcana, represents likely the most important card in your spread.

Traditionally, the Moon card represents a sort of numinous fear, not so much a spiritual fear as a primal intuitive force. It's not a bad card, not a good card. But, there is no spark of creativity without the Moon, you pagans probably like to draw down some of that primal moon power, and you know what happens when such power isn't managed properly.

Reversals of cards never meant anything to me, especially reading for someone sitting across from me and facing the other direction. What's a reversed Moon but an upright Five of Cups, really? (Yes, I know there's more to it, but...)

But... if Obama is the six of Pentacles (philanthropy) and your outcome is a reversed 3 of pentacles (opposite of distinguished merit = mediocrity) I gotta say the reversal of the Moon also influences why the outcome card is reversed.

Our next President will have power, without charisma.

President McCain. I hope you got used to saying it. ;)

SecondComingOfBast said...

That's a really good point about The Moon being the strongest card as the only major arcana in the spread. I should have pointed that out. What it suggests is that the outcome of the election actually hinges on McCain. He can win, depending on how much of an impact he makes in the minds of voters with his warnings of the negative aspects of Obama's economic policies.

Or, it could also be saying that, if McCain loses, its a matter of McCain defeating himself.

Anonymous said...

Good reading. I am voting for Obama because I am in favor of health care reform, so the card you drew for him and your interpretation of it is what I want to see. (Medical bills are the number one cause of bankruptcy in this country).

I predict Obama will wiln. ;-)

SecondComingOfBast said...

The best way to reform health care in America is to stop taxing pharmaceutical and insurance companies, but set standards for them to meet. That would take care of at least half of the problem.

I might do a state-by-state reading here in a few, but only the battle-ground states.

Anonymous said...

That sounds like a reward.

SecondComingOfBast said...

"That sounds like a reward."

Do you feel like you're being rewarded when you pay a doctor bill and a large part of it is their tax bill they've chucked your way?

Shadowhawk said...

We will lower there Taxes when they lower there prescription costs. My mother after her cancer surgery contracted MRSA.Since my mother was unable to afford adequate insurance, she ended up on medicaid.. She has told me that she feels bad about being on the program..If she would have paid CASH for her script of 28 days worth of pills it would have cost $2.800 dollars.. no pill is worth 2.800 dollars. Im glad it was available to her of course.. But when you are GREEDY and charge such high amounts for medicines u say tax the hell out of the company doing it. Its not like the KILLER ..Vioxx hasnt made the industry rich.. It was pulled from the market THEN reinstated, just to make the fda look like GOOD GUYS.. not to us the People .. but the drug companies whose asses FDA kisses daily.PLUS.. all this advertisement for these meds drive prices up..I dont need to see it on tv.. its up to my Doctor to inform me.Medicines can be priced affordably , drug companies can profit.. Insurance can be Fairly applied.. But does the industry care.. They want to make money.. they could give a shit less about us..

SecondComingOfBast said...

Yeah, but what I'm saying is those high prices are in part due to taxes. For example, if you was to raise taxes on pharmaceutical companies by say ten percent, then guess what's going to go up ten percent? That's right, the price of pharmaceuticals are going to go up ten percent. The drug companies aren't paying a dime of taxes-you are paying it for them.

Some large corporations actually want their taxes raised, as incredible as that sounds. Why? Because they know they can take the hit and pass it on to you, while some of their smaller competitors are just driven out of business through a combination of the higher taxes and the regulations.

It just comes down to a choice. Do you want to pay less for pharmaceuticals and insurance, or are you willing to pay higher prices just to have the pleasure of sticking it to the "evil" corporations?

If the latter, then you just need to realize, the joke is on you, and either way it goes, the big companies are laughing all the way to the bank at your expense.

Anonymous said...

They wouldn't lower prices if they weren't taxed. They would just pocket the profits. You haven't had much experience with insurance companies, have you?

SecondComingOfBast said...

Yeah, they would lower prices if they weren't taxed. If they refused, they could be prosecuted for price gouging or similar unfair business practices. Consumers have rights too, you know, and they can be enforced. But consumer rights don't extend to forcing companies to lower prices to the extent they can't make a profit. If you force them to lower their prices without giving them a corresponding tax break, they'll just make the money up some other way. They'll cut employees, they'll move off-shore, etc.

If you eliminate all taxes on them, they have no excuse not to lower their prices. And really, why would they not want to lower prices? It would only make good business sense. If they didn't, their competitors would.

That's true of pharmaceutical companies, and its equally true of insurance providers. That's two of the largest areas of problem insofar as high prices go.

(((Thought Criminal))) said...

Just to cover all bets, the Moon card reversed as McCain's card could also be a reflection that a McCain presidency isn't as scary as Obama makes it out to be (i.e. the Moon card, not reversed)

The 3 of Pentacles reversed could mean an Obama victory, but there will be no honeymoon.

Another guess would be that since I don't dabble with Tarot cards anymore, I can't read 'em right.

Who knows.

SecondComingOfBast said...

Well, it looks like Obama wins. I'm guessing the Three of Pentacles would have a lot to do with all of the pay-offs, payola, graft, and corruption that's about to come in the wake of his victory. The Moon means that we're about to find out just how right McCain was.