"For me, somehow it feels like end times, trying to get everything done before… what?” 🧐

... a darker than usual wisdom tarot reading in search of answers...

Hi Substack 👋🏼

The title quote came from a personal correspondence (in April 2007) with the brilliant Cilla Conway, a fabulous artist, and designer of amazing Tarot and Oracle cards. We were discussing our tendency in life to race through everything, when she asked the following questions, which have haunted me for eighteen years…

“… but I just wonder, do we get addicted to being that busy? And also, where does it stop? For me, somehow it feels like end times, trying to get everything done before… what?”

Let’s look at that again…

‘before… what?‘

Cilla’s amazing questions prompted me to write about them previously (and quite differently, in a long-archived Wordpress post - first published on April 13, 2014 - called, I’ve been thinking about Heraclitus… I’ll return to Heraclitus soon!). Even after deep reflection, I was unable to articulate the answers I needed… 🤔

I have printed out these questions, in a large font, and still puzzle over them regularly, hoping that one day I’ll find some answers that make sense to me… so today, it finally occurred to me that I could ask Tarot for some insights (no idea why I didn’t realise this before 🤦🏽)… here they are…

If you partake… you may need a stiff drink… 🥃

Let’s Tarot…

Position 1 - What drives us to be constantly busy? ~ Five of Shields (Pentacles)

Gebo Rune: always be giving to others

Two Vikings got caught in a winter storm without shelter. Trees are barren, and the ground is hard. Five broken shields appear haphazardly strewn over a tree from an old battle. Two appear in a tree, broken and pierced with arrows. Three are on the ground, also split and shattered. Jaymi Elford.¹

This card tells me that busyness is driven by the perception that everything is broken, or not good enough, needing fixing, or improving, or maximising in some way. Those shields won’t self-repair, and would provide very little protection in battle, as their previous owners no doubt discovered. These Vikings will also need to find food, shelter and a way back to their comrades…

I grew up with the regular admonition that however good something might be, ‘there’s always room for improvement.’ As I was reflecting on this for this reading, this landed in my inbox…

… society’s constant message, that we must do more, own more, and be more in order to be complete. That our happiness is out there somewhere, just beyond reach. Ian Tucker.²

Busyness is the endless, urgent search for that ‘somewhere’; self-improving, and driving, until we almost arrive; because we are all in daily receipt of society’s constant messages to earn more money, be more generous, more spiritual, more considerate, more… well… better… so that we can… what? ❓❓❓

The Rune, Gebo, associated with this card, meaning ‘giving’, carries the corollary advice that is is important to judge how much we give, rather than risk creating a dependency, or experiencing resentment from those who feel it isn’t enough.

Giving is good, right? Yes, it is… passing on ownership of something to someone in need, feels great, does good, and vacates more space for us to own something else, if we work hard enough… creating further giving opportunities… until we find ourselves one day like two wintered Vikings with nothing further to offer.

What can we take from this in terms of our overall question?

The addiction ‘to being that busy’ seems to me to be driven by the belief that ‘enough’ is just around the corner, and as long as we are focussed on giving everything we have to achieve that destination, we can settle into the rhythm of human doing, rather than human being. But… when doing is no longer possible, what is left? 🤔

This card is the disruption (5) of our material (Shield) world. These Vikings didn’t start their journey wounded, cold and hungry (… and hopefully won’t end it that way either!). They appear to have taken on too much, perhaps given too much, and now face the freezing consequences of having been over-extended.

Question ~ How can busy giving ensure success in a world of constant change?

Position 2 - What is the final destination of busyness? ~ Three of Swords …

Dagaz Rune: understand the cycles appearing in your life

Two warriors stand on a scorched battlefield. The victor stands tall. An axe appears in their hand, a large shield in the other. They swing it up to pass judgement on the warrior kneeling below. The warrior wears a plate mail set of armour. The swords pierce through the chain mail of the armour, sending streams of blood down to the earth. The knight holds on to a spear with a tattered red emblem… [and]… points down at the rune glowing red in front of them. Jaymi Elford.

In a busy world promoting constant improvement the day will come when, spent, for whatever reason, we’ll face that axe. For my mother, a super-fast and accurate typist, seven years before retirement she saw that computers promised a new working future she simply lacked the energy/spirit to engage with.

This card shows me that having striven to improve our situations, there will eventually be someone/something bigger and brighter standing over our exhausted body with a sharper axe… until their turn comes to kneel, as it surely will… because this is life’s natural, immutable and irreversible cycle.

Everything comes to an end, so… everything changes.

The Rune, Dagaz, associated with this card, indicates major transformational changes for the better. Changes over which we have no control. The axe improves on the sword, the computer on the typewriter, and it is this inevitable cycle of change that ultimately renders obsolete what has gone before.

What can we take from this in terms of our overall question?

The final destination of busyness, ‘where it stops’, is ultimately submission to change, when adapting is no longer within our power, or capabilities. This is the clear sign that our busyness has arrived at its final destination and… Valhalla awaits those who lost the battle bravely 🤺

This card is the expansion (3) of our intellectual (Swords) world. The kneeling Viking is pierced by, and bleeding from, the Swords of progress, and must submit to the Axe of a new world. This submission is inevitable, busy (or not!) all of us will one-day lose our battles against continual, implacable change.

Question ~ How does busily racing towards the final destination help us?

Position 3 - How do we recognise end times? ~ Five of Swords …

Eer Rune: overcome memories or the past that burden you

An elderly Anglo-Saxon warrior walks away from a burning building… Four swords hang on their back. One more has been tucked under their arm. They hear the sounds of the Viking villagers cry and scream… Upright: … an imbalanced battle, a haunting past, hostility from others… Jaymi Elford.

The Viking village farmers, descendants of the impressive conquerors, are now the vanquished. Their world set to flames by the Anglo-Saxon conqueror walking away (reminiscent of the finality of the Three of Swords above). In Eer, Rune of the grave we see the complete, and hard change shown here. End times…

This card paints the picture of whole-scale irrevocable change. The foregrounded Anglo-Saxon has not only raised the backgrounded village to the ground, he also carries the resources the villagers would have needed in order to resist. They run around busily, and ineffectively, failing to reverse what is burnt.

The land on which the village was built remains, but is irrevocably changed… leading me back to Heraclitus…

No man ever steps in the same river twice, for it’s not the same river and he’s not the same man. Heraclitus.³

Neither the villagers, nor the village are the same, but the ‘land’ remains. Eer teaches us that end times are moments during perpetual change where endings always deliver new beginnings. Personal end times suggest cessation and the void, but the river(land) remains, waiting for new steppers into its flowing water.

What can we take from this in terms of our overall question?

End times are the recognition that the hard changes we are facing represent the fundamental truth that what was can no longer be, and accept that running busily around trying to reverse that position is futile. The land remains, but the new order will consign to history what has gone before.

This card is the disruption (5) of our intellectual (Swords) world. Everything we knew is undergoing change and revision and will never be the same again. It is the disruption before the final resolution of this second numerological triad at 6 which is often imaged as moving on and leaving the present behind.

What was clearly understood is now no longer; today the river is different, and so are we.

Question ~ What does ‘final’ look like in a world of constant change?

Position 4 - …what? ~ Nine of Horns (Cups)…

Sowelo Rune: do your best no matter the circumstances

Viking warriors sit at fancy tables in a hall. Two of them take deep swigs from their drinking horns. A third warrior sits in the background with their horn in hand. A Valkyrie⁴ holds six more horns full of mead. They make their way through the drinking hall of Valhalla⁵ to assist the rest of the warriors chosen by Odin to serve at his side on the day Ragnarök⁶ happens. Jaymi Elford.

Our last moments sealed on the battlefield, by those who have succeeded us, earned us the warrior’s right to join Odin in Valhalla. Busyness is now eating, drinking and taking pleasure knowing that our contribution is made, until the final(?🤔) battle, when we will be pressed into Odin’s service at Ragnorök.

We now understand that everything we busily learned, and gave, during our earthly lives supported serial transformations through each of our end times, as we recognise, and celebrate them inValhalla, our celestial workday-end public house, where we meet with friends and raise a horn to the relief from busy.

At this point, we can’t know what the next change looks like, it is still beyond the horizon of the 10 of Horns, but we can be sure that the ‘… what? ‘ is a respite, our reward for actively living through, and realising, that everything changes, and accepting that this simple fact is a universal truth.

The Rune, Sowelo, featured on this card, is associated with the energy of the sun, and represents our lifeforce, it is the Rune of Victory. There is also a karmic quality associated with this Rune, where deeds are rewarded in kind…

… so… assuming Valhalla awaits us all… busy, or not… then how is our ‘… what? ‘ really dependent on our busyness? 🤔

What can we take from this in terms of our overall question?

We are trying to get everything done before we get to Valhalla in order to earn our right to stand beside Odin at Ragnarök. But, if we are really heading there anyway, how does busyness help us? If we live in a world of constant change, which our departure won’t alter, why do we feel we have to complete everything?

This card is the near fulfilment (9) of our emotional (Horns) journey. We have journeyed through material trials, intellectual reinventions to arrive at an emotional contentment. We can relax following a job well done, a life well-lived, where the ‘… what?’ is the precursor to our next unknown journey.

Question ~ How will a lifetime of busyness guarantee us a place in Valhalla?

Arithmancy and elementals…

The numerology for this spread is…

5+3+5+9 = 22

Twenty-two is a master number, the number of the master builder, also the number of major arcana cards in a typical tarot deck. For me, this number links to 0·The Fool, a card representing endings of one cycle and the beginnings of another, firmly echoing the key transformational themes in this reading.

My intuition tells me that this number doesn’t appear coincidentally. It is meant to remind us there are no major arcana cards in this spread (which is odd given the depth of the question 🧐)… but then… why would cards designed to guide human growth have any influence on a pre-determined universal reality, characterised by perpetual change over which we have no agency? 🤔

Master number 22 is a higher octave of 4, associated with structure and represented in the majors by IV·The Emperor. I sense an argument here is that even allowing for individual free will, this is still only available within our clearly structured, and immutable macro reality… the sun rises, the sun sets, etc.

The elemental energy begins in the material world with Earth energy (5 of Shields), moving up through the world of thought, Air (3 & 5 of Swords); then onwards to emotional Water energy (9 of Horns), leaving me to speculate that the next element in this reverse run would be Fire, indicating a return to Divine Spirit… on the day following Ragnarök… Ace of Wands anyone? 🃑

Conclusions…

Reality has no need of advice from the major arcana, it continues to do what it it has done effectively for millennia. It is us who need advice, to help make the most of our time here, or maybe seek further insight into the universal rules. Or… perhaps… seek major arcana self-development guidance to ‘up our busyness’… but from which card? 🤔 Can’t think… Do you know? Please advise/discuss below… I’d love your thoughts on this… 🙏🏼

If the rules of reality can’t be changed, can we celebrate them instead? How about this notion…

Do rules mostly/always have to be considered negatively restrictive, or are they sometimes simply a non-negotiable (like breathing) non-judgemental part of our life experience? I guess this depends on the vividness of our anarchistic spirit 😀… rules bad! 👎🏽freedom good! 💪🏽

If, for a moment though, we simply accept the need for barriers (e.g. where would we be without skin?) we can also understand that they offer us a robust framework within which to perform busily. I have always felt that a framework offers a great display case for innovation. So… rules good! freedom within! 👍🏼😊

If we are constantly, busily pushing beyond the present to achieve ‘… what?’ how does busyness help? Is it about smashing commercial targets? Is it about living well, within the constraints of our minds, bodies, spirits and reality? Are they mutually exclusive? Without some form of push will we simply grind to a halt?

No.

Because… everything changes… it’s the rules…

18 years on, I still don’t have satisfactory answers to Cilla’s questions above, but this reading has mind-bent me towards a substantially shifted perspective, and firm belief, that busyness is our choice, because the rules don’t require it, whilst end times always preface new beginnings in a perpetually changing river…

May the flow be with you! 🌊

I welcome your thoughts on the above, and how this reading resonates (or not!) for you... please feel free to comment below (I am very open to respectful disagreement and discussion!) and share this free post if you feel it might interest others, thanks... 😊

Love, light, and laughter... always,

tarotbyphil 🕯️

1. Runic Tarot guidebook.

2. This quote is from a recent mailing from Your Simple Path author, Ian Tucker. If you haven’t already discovered his work, I can highly recommend it, Ian teaches “…simple tools for a better life.”

3. Brainy Quotes webpage.

4. Wikipedia entry explaining Valkyrie.

5. Study.com entry explaining Valhalla.

6. Wikipedia entry explaining Ragnarök.