Tarot Spread for a Frustrating Day

My neighbor's car got broken into last night. I found out because a police officer knocked on my door and asked to see my video camera footage. It's extra terrible because the neighbor was parked just a few feet too far up the road, so the camera didn't catch anyone or anything. 

His unfortunate day reminded me of this Tarot spread I use when my day is just not behaving like a day is supposed to behave. 

Although my morning wasn't quite so bad as the neighbor's (knock wood) I did receive a frustrating email from my kids' school, and I'm kinda pissed about it. Without getting into too much personal detail, my child is going through some pandemic-related school nonsense, and as the school year draws to a close it's looking more and more like he won't be able to maintain a reasonable GPA. Although his SAT score was an impressive 1550 (which I will repeat to anyone for the rest of time because I'm just so damn proud of him) without the GPA he needs, he's probably not going to make it into his dream math/computer science post-secondary institution.

It's a bummer, but I digress. The school's email this morning was a frustrating reminder of that issue, and it has put me in a bad mood now. Time for a Tarot Spread for a Frustrating Day! Play along with me.

Card 1: What is Going On? 

• What's the situation? What's at the root of your frustration? What does the Universe have to tell you about your problem? This might be a negative card that just outlines the scenario, or it could be an uplifting message reminding you that every cloud has a silver lining.
• I drew the Knight of Swords - According to my book, Applied Tarot, a teenager (my son) is a brilliant (I know) force of nature (true) who is going through some turbulence in his life. All very true. Tell me something I don't know, cards! Let's keep going... 

Card 2: What Can I do?

• Here's an action you can take, a food you can eat, a place you could go, or something else that you personally can do to help improve your frustrating situation.
• I drew the Five of Swords - get into a fight? start an argument? change dysfunctional habits (whose? Mine or my kid's? It's a little late in the school year for that) This is a bit unclear, so maybe I'll just watch The War of the Roses, another suggestion from Applied Tarot.

Card 3: Who Can Help Me?

• This is a person in your life, or who will soon come into your life, who might be a great resource to reach out to. Ask them questions! In my neighbor's case he reached out to the cops and myself, but I'm not sure either of us are very helpful.
• I drew the King of Swords - This is a professional authority who knows everything about situations like this. Applied Tarot suggests a Lawyer, but I'm not sure who I would sue. The pandemic for causing my son's studies to crash? Fie on you, Covid! I'll see you in court! The King of Swords could also represent a research university, so maybe when he applies to colleges this fall he just has to ask them to please please please overlook this year's GPA and instead take a gander at his wicked-awesome 99th percentile 1550 SAT score (again, I'm a super proud mama.)

Card 4: Look Ahead to This

• This is the outcome card. It's the near future, or what might happen if we follow the advice in the preceding cards. Sometimes it's just the "tomorrow" card. Be an Annie and remind yourself that the Sun will come up tomorrow.
• I drew the Two of Wands - If this reading were for my son, this card would tell him to set some plans and pick up the momentum already. But this is about my frustrating day, not his, so this card might be telling me to stay positive. In the classic rider-waite tarot deck, a man stands on the shore watching the ships he's just launched sail away. Maybe I should look at my kid as one of the boats I'm launching, so even though it was a rough patch job on his educational hull this year, I just have to let him sail and trust that he'll find his bearings in the great big sea of post-secondary education. 

Bah, okay. Maybe I'll let this one go.  The two of wands also suggests eating Raspberry bars and watching Moneyball, so that sounds like a great distraction from frustration, as well.

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