A one in 78 chance

You should know by now that I am more interested in and convinced by a scientific and down to earth explanation of things than I am by the creation of some kind of spiritual, feel-good, meaning-making story.

I am especially sceptical of those encouraging sayings like ‘Everything works out for the best’ or ‘it’s meant’ or ‘it’s a lesson that will ultimately benefit me’ or any of that kind of nonsense.

I don’t believe that things happen so as to teach us how to be better or progress or become enlightened.

I am happy with coincidences being just that: coincidences.

Yes, sure, we humans like to see patterns in things. And there are patterns – like Fibonacci numbers, for example. But we have a tendency to see patterns where there are none.

All that said, I decided to pull out one card from my new crow tarot set and I got the Knight of Wands (as shown on the photo for this blog post). The book suggested I look carefully at the card to see what it ‘said’ to me. I looked and thought, ‘A person out on a journey and feeling pretty happy about it.’ As I had chosen this card on the night of the Full Snow Moon, the full moon seemed to be auspicious, and I saw the light as making the way clear for the traveler.

Here is what the book says about that card.

A little less positive about the moon, maybe, but so far so good.

I thought, well, maybe this is a positive card considering the work I am doing on my extended culture essay.

The next night, I decided to pull out another card. I shuffled the pack, cut it and turned over… Yes, you guessed it, the Knight of Wands.

A one in 78 chance. It was just a coincidence. I wish I really believed it was not and could feel that the universe supported my efforts.

But, wait a minute… maybe it’s telling me I’m over-confident, cocky and reckless? Just as well I don’t believe in all this malarkey.

So, I did the same thing again the next night. And what did I get? No, not the Knight of Wands - but the card right next to it in the Minor Arcana - the Page of Wands.

Perhaps I 'have' to accept the positive interpretation... Although the reference to thorns does make me consider all the work I did last week on the hawthorn trees. Maybe the cards are telling me to focus on the Wildlife Trust rather than the ethics??!!!

That was my next question, the following night. And I got... the Seven of Pentacles??

Which... seems to contradict everything about all that excitement... and tells me to... study. Oh well.

If you can make sense of all this, let me know.