Gabby Turner Tarot & Astrology

The Fool

The Fool represents a feeling of openness to newness: new people, new experiences, new cultures, new ways of doing things.  With no preconveived notions about how to live, love or be happy, the person exemplifying the traits of the Fool ventures into the world with an open heart and an open mind. 

The Fool reversed can represent intolerance or an unwillingness to try anything new.  It could also represent foolish risk, or entering into new situations without necessary precaution.

The Magician

The Magician has everything he needs to do or create whatever it is he wishes.  He has all the resources and skills he requires to accomplish the task at hand.  He is intelligent, emotionally aware, resourceful, and energetic.  Nothing can stop him!  If the Magician comes up in your reading, he is telling you to go for the gold.

The Magician reversed can indicate not taking advantage of the opportunities you have to achieve what you want in life.  

The High Priestess

The High Priestess holds the answers to the mysteries of life.  She knows, and knows it intuitively.  Unlike the Hierophant, the High Priestess does not rely on scripture or dogma.  She taps into the universal knowledge within her to find her answers.  If the High Priestess shows up in your reading, she is telling you to pay attenton to your intuition and to your spiritual well-being.

The High Priestess reversed can indicate a refusal to acknowledge what you already know to be true.  Perhaps you have a gut feeling that your co-worker is out to get you, or that the boy next door is in love with you, but for whatever reason you refuse to accept your intuitive knowing without logical reasoning to back it up.  Trust your instincts!

The Empress

The Empress is my favorite card in the deck!  So much so that I have actually named my bicycle after her!  The empress is universally appealling... she is beautiful, charismatic, sensual, charming, and she is the eternal mother (mother of all creation, artistic, floral, faunal, etc.).  If the Empress turns up in your reading, be assured the universe is providing for you.  She can also represent the ideal lover! The "woman of your dreams," if you will.

The Empress reversed can indicated blocked creativity, a feeling that nobody/nothing is there to provide for you, or overindulgence in sensual pleasure.

The Emperor

The Emperor isn't quite the charmer that the Empress is, but he's a pretty solid guy, and like it or not, he is necessary.  He represents order, stability, and structure.  He brings about restriction and limitation.  Follow the rules, he says!  Although it might seem like the Emperor in a reading indicates someone/something really wants to rain on your parade, a brush with the Emperor just means that whatever you're trying to accomplish will be more solid and stable due to the hard work you put into it.

The Emperor reversed could indicate someone making orders or rules just for the sake of making them, tyranny, or a lack of necessary discipline.

The Hierophant

The Hierophant is the pope, the preacher, the reverend, the imam... the Hierophant represents that person who knows moral law because he/she has studied it, unlike the High Priestess who looks to the spiritual knowledge within herself.  If the Hierophant comes up in your reading on how to be a better mother, perhaps you need to read a parenting guide or consult a parenting "expert," whomever that may be.  Look for the teacher or text that can help you along your path.

The Hierophant reversed can represent an unecessary reliance on the moral teachings of others, or a feeling that someone is trying to make you conform to their own strict standards of behavior. 

The Lovers

Everybody's favorite card, am I right?  Let's be honest, if you've ever consulted the tarot  you have probably asked about...Loooove.  The Lovers card in your reading can indicate a significant love or platonic relationship, or it can indicate the need to make good choices. 

Traditionally the Lovers card has shown a man trying to decide between two women.  Patriarchal, yes, but the meaning has carried on.  Other cards show Adam and Eve in the garden of eden... another symbolic indication that we must make our choices carefully (whether they be "blonde or brunette" or "law school or grad school?").

The Lovers card reversed can mean that you are in danger of making the wrong choices.

The Chariot

With the Chariot card comes opportunity.  "Take the reigns!" this card implies.  Whether you want to admit it or not, deep down you've probably already chosen the road you want to follow.  The Chariot card indicates that all systems are go, but also cautions you to plan every move as you accelerate.  Be watchful, balanced, and aware.  Grab this opportunity, sure, but don't be reckless or you could spoil a good thing!

The Chariot reversed indicates either you have been reckless, and now your efforts have failed, or that they're about to fail if you don't get back into control of things.  It can also just indicate a failure to take the opportunity that was handed to you to begin with.

Strength

A card of physical prowess, no doubt?  This card simply confirms that you are one hard body, right?  Well, no, not really although the body does factor in here.  This card indicates our mental and emotional capacity to overcome our more carnal, animalistic natures.  So we'd love to just pounce on the cute delivery guy or claw out the eyes of that nosy neighbor ogling him from across the hall, but we won't do either of those things.  Why?  Because we're strong!  In Freudian terms, we have learned to control our Ids.  The Strength card can also indicate your ability to overcome adversity outside of yourself as well as within yourself: i.e., not putting up with the class bully any longer.

The Strength card reversed can indicate a lack of self-control, or an inability to recognize your strength to overcome all odds.

The Hermit

The Hermit embodies our need to be alone, because it is only in being alone that we can fully know ourselves and our needs.  Unlike the High Priestess and the Hierophant, which are cards about higher-knowing, the Hermit indicates a striving toward self-realization.  If the Hermit card shows up in your reading, take some time for yourself.  Think about what it is you need, where you're going, and who you are and want to be.

The Hermit reversed can indicate spending altogether too much time in seclusion, for altlhough we do need time to ourselves, we also need to relate to other people.  The Hermit reversed can also indicate your refusal to try to know yourself.

The Wheel of Fortune

Vanna White may not be in your near future, but the game show of the same name can help you to understand the meaning of the Wheel of Fortune card in your reading.  Like on the game show, sometimes life is great and the money (or the love, the success, the friendship, etc.) is rolling in.  Other times, we land on Bankrupt and everything we had seems suddenly and irrevocably lost.  The good news is, it isn't.  Life is cyclical, and the bad times are just as necessary for us as the good.  It sounds cheesy, but we would never be able to recognise how well we have it when we're on top of the world if we were never dashed to the bottom.  The Wheel of Fortune reminds you of this, although an upright reading usually means things are good, or on the way up.

The Wheel of Fortune reversed means things are either not looking good now, or the future is bleak.

Justice

Justice is the seeker of truth, balance, and harmony.  This card upright often comes to me to indicate "yes" in a yes-or-no type reading.  The Justice card indicates a balanced and harmonious decision or situation.  Everything is as it should be.

The Justice card reversed means things are out of balance, we are expecting to get more than we've given, we are being untruthful to ourselves, or simply, that the answer to our question is "No." 

The Hanged Man

Oh, the great martyr!  Who knows why this man has hung himself up by his feet, but you can see in the imagery that spiritual awareness is rushing to his head.  Which is a good thing!  The Hanged Man indicates the need to make sacrifices for the higher good.  A period of waiting and a need for patience are also often indicated by this card.   

The Hanged Man reversed can indicate foolish martyrdom (sacrifice without any goal being accomplished), an unwillingness to make sacrifices that are necessary, or sometimes even intoxication.

Death

The Death card isn't really as bad as it might seem.  More often than not, the death card does not indicate actual, physical death.  Instead, it indicates that we will be going through a period of time in which parts of our lives will have to be purged in order to make way for new growth.  The life and death cycle of the Death card often indicates painful change, but necessary change nonetheless.  After the pain is over, our lives will be better because of the endings we have experienced.

Because the Death card is also associated with the astrological sign of Scorpio, it often comes to me in readings as well to indicate the emotional intensity, focus, and obsession typical of Scorpio. 

The Death card reversed indicates an unwillingness to undergo necessary change and transformation.

Temperance

Just a dab'll do it!  This is the message of the Temperance card.  Eat too much and you'll have a stomachache.  Drink too much and you're destined to do something you'll regret.  Worry too much and you'll give yourself ulvers.  The Temperance card indicates a need for moderation.  While not the most fun card in the deck, we all know that sometimes too much is too much.  

Oddly, the Temperance card can also indicate a very strong bond or meld between two people.  This is because the card has long been associated with Alchemy.   Notice the angel combining the liquid from the two cups?  One foot on land and one in the water?  Temperance can indicate two people who have been able to come together to unify as one.

The Devil

Where the Temperance card wants to reign us in, the Devil card implishly pushes us forward to take part in all the earthy pleasures and delights of the world.   The Devil card tells us that sometimes it's okay to pursue our passions, that sometimes it's even good for us!  Of course, at the same time, an appearance of the Devil card can indicate that we've indulged too much, creating a life of addiction, co-dependency, and an unwillingness to put down the bottle, the fork, the jerk we've been dating, or whatever it is that just isn't good for us anymore.

The Devil reversed can indicate repression, or a lack of willingness to "get down and dirty" once in awhile.

The Tower

The Tower is a card of immense, immediate, unexpected change.  Unlike the change indicated by the Death card, which can be slow and painful, the Tower card is the sudden impactful change that we can't even begin to comprehend until it's over... and then we're left to sift through the rubble.

If you've ever experienced a natural disaster, massive lay-offs, or revolution, you've experienced the Tower card.  Sometimes the Tower brings about the change you've been waiting to see for a long time.  More often than not, the Tower brings disruption.  On a smaller scale, the Tower card can indicate sudden arguments.  Regardless, we must deal with the consequences.

The Star

The Star is all about love, harmony, inter-galactic inter-connectedness.  True friendship and spiritual love all fall under the realm of the Star card.  This is the kind of love that makes us act for the greater good, not for our personal good, although we will personally benefit from doing so.