Life bursts forth! Streaming out of the strawberries, this incipient energy is present in many of the strongest, most active cards of the tarot deck. Jubilant and powerful, it flocks to any conduit that can manifest it. 

UPRIGHT MEANING

creation - expression - jubilation

When you see its energy turn up in a read, know that some facet of your life is anointed right now. You are charged with the same raw power that split open the first atoms of the universe.

REVERSED MEANING

disintegration - entropy - decay

Cast awry, the Strawberry begins to disintegrate, entropy spreading the disparate pieces in an ever-loosening spiral. The rot contaminates the smaller fruits in its orbit, and sooner their delicate flesh is breaking apart, spilling their guts into the cosmic current. Is it wasted potential? Something over before it began? No matter the cause, some part of your universe is falling apart. Let go.

Two fish swim languidly in a dark ocean, when suddenly before them plunge a rare and luminous key. Mystified, intrigued, they glide toward it, hoping for the answers to their subaquatic ruminations.

UPRIGHT MEANING

epiphany - curiosity - release

Sluicing your way through the murky waters, sometimes a way out can appear out of nowhere. A sudden solution is a gift from above, not one to be taken lightly. Did it emanate from within? Does a lucid epiphany lighten your path? Perhaps the key is a friend, or an object, dropped unexpectedly before your expressionless face. Whatever it is, trust it. Explore it. Let it unlock the hidden passageways of your life.

REVERSED MEANING

the depths - false hope - unknown forces

Reversed, quite a different scene unfolds. The key speeds to the surface of the ocean, pulled by a will beyond the mystified fish. A bright flash in the dark, it could be followed with ease, but it is an unknown force, dredged from the deepest gorges of the sea. Can you trust it? A fish, unperturbed, calls on its most ancient instincts before it changes course.

To the cat, the sun is just the sun; it offers its warmth and nurtures all living beings. The cat does not question the sun’s existence, it simply basks in its glow. If you have been wandering shadowed alleys, prowling from door to empty door, maybe it’s time to return to the sun.

UPRIGHT MEANING

awakening - enlightening - the source

Sometimes the simplest solutions are found on the edges of sunlit fields. Illuminate your path. One paw padding after the other, surrender to your animal instincts and take your journey one mincing step at a time. What awakens within you as the rays of the sun fill your eyes?

REVERSED MEANING

suspension - biding - two worlds

As night follows day, the wheel turns within our senses and perceptions. Dangling, suspended, totally at ease, the gentle cat feels both the rays of the sun and the beams of the moon. The sun obscures but does not change the stars’ positions, and the cat can wait until darkness falls to explore. For now, she bides. The breeze rustles her whiskers. A bird calls from afar.

The floating figure of the winged boar may at first appear as the rude mockery of an angel. But let this quiet beauty drift along the water, observe her placid face. Unlike her warring cousin the wild boar, she seems at peace defying reality, trailing a cloven hoof through the whispering sedge.

UPRIGHT MEANING

uncommon beauty - placidity - impossibility

When this card appears, reconsider the impossible. Return to those wild fantasies your brain made your rule out. A hope, a plan, however translucent, is beginning to take form. Don’t make any sudden movements, but keep your eyes fixed on the shimmering boar winging its way just beyond your reach.

REVERSED MEANING

illusion - stagnation - ephemera

Turned inverse, the dreamy figment of the boar seems to fade into the mist. Only its stolid tusks and outstretched wings maintain their earthly shape, slicing through the air that curls below. If you are chasing figures in the swamp, take care that you are not chasing ghosts. Make your escape before the sun sets beyond the brackish bog. The specter of the boar may lead you too deep into the dark.

A creaking wooden skiff splits the surface of the shimmering pond; trailing white petals rustle gently in the breeze. The harpist’s fingers graze the trembling strings, and strains of a long-forgotten memory curl around you. An old memory pieced together from another life. A perfect moment of peace. But the melody falters, the illusion fades, and your brief respite in a dream of the past finds an end.

UPRIGHT MEANING

daydream - nostalgia - incipient danger

Lost in a reverie, you complicate your waking life for the sake of a dream. The past is sweet, ever soothing, a reminder of gentler times. But you have forgotten the pain that bore you along the river, the bliss of your fugue makes you prone to repeat a mistake. Keep a steady course. Tell your harpist to stow his gear. Turbulent waters lie ahead.

REVERSED MEANING

illusion - stagnation - ephemera

Upside down, the flowers form a supple canopy over the upturned boat. The harpist and his instrument remain solidly affixed to the dinghy, and his companion is unfazed, contemplative, gazing out into the sun. Below? Above? swirls of mist obscure everything beyond this quiet pond. A deeper dream, a thicker mist, waits until nightfall to descend.

Two tiny elephants trek through the tall grass. The calf clasps the tail of its mother, peering about to ensure nothing gargantuan hides just out of view. To the tiny elephants, the grass is a wild world of its own. To the humans above, the grass is only a thought.

UPRIGHT MEANING

perspective - renewed wonder - inverted expectations

When you pull Tiny Elephants in a reading it asks you to acknowledge the perspective of your situation. Pay attention to the things around you. If your perspective feels like it has grown tired then get on the floor, stand on a chair - find a new way of looking. You will be surprised how fresh something old can feel when you look at it differently. There is wonder in small things and there is beauty in understanding another’s point of view.  

REVERSED MEANING

instinct - intuition - migration

Turned on their heads, the Tiny Elephants defy gravity with a nonchalant ease. Their journey continues, unperturbed by the disintegrating figures below. True to their nature, they trust their instincts from moment to moment, step by step. If you have assessed your path from every angle, done the hard work of shifting your perspective to another’s view, perhaps itís time to surrender to your animal intuition. Remember what brought you here in the first place. It is your gut, not your brain, that leads you through the long migration.

A plump little toad plops itself right in front of your path. As you stare at the Prismatic Toad you begin to realize that it might be the most wonderful little thing you have seen in your whole entire life. The closer you get, the more obsessed you become with your new slimy friend.

UPRIGHT MEANING

infatuation - delusion - distraction 

If you've pulled the Prismatic Toad in the reading it might be that you got a little too close to something that you didn't intend to get so wrapped up in. New things can be intoxicating and alluring, so much so that we can become obsessed and forget about the other important things around us. Don't let the toad become your whole world, there are other things of value just within reach.

REVERSED MEANING

dissatisfaction - ennui - monotony

Reversed, the Prismatic Toad encourages you to get lost in something new. Perhaps you are feeling the monotony of daily life and it has desaturated what was once full of color. It can be difficult to strike new life into something that feels overly familiar. Take the toad's advice and try to immerse yourself in the unfamiliar. It can be uncomfortable at first, but it will likely invigorate the parts that have recently felt dulled.

A graveyard of sleeping ships sprinkled across the forest floor paints a scene of another world forgotten. The world here has ended many times, but through small bangs and persistent whispers life has always found a way back.

UPRIGHT MEANING

rest - inspiration - growth

We expect things only grow in an upwards trajectory but this is not always the case. We search for inspiration expecting it to be where we once found it. While some parts of your inspiration may feel like they are withering now, new inspiration will grow in the shadows. It will plant seeds for future thoughts and future epiphanies and you will grow and find new paths. These are the things we learn from Sleeping Ships. And that is the beauty of being human - we are always growing, even when we’re resting.

REVERSED MEANING

sudden change - readjustments - patience

Upside down, the Sleeping Ships shake from the ground. While they may have been here for centuries, their roots are not firm enough to withhold any kind of sudden changes. Sleeping Ships shows up reversed when things may feel particularly unstable in the world and any extra turbulence is only going to add to the chaos. This doesn’t mean you can’t make the changes you want to make, it just asks for patience. The changes you hope to make will still have their chances, you just may need to take a longer winding path. 

Two crescent moons hang in an orange colored sky. Beneath the moons, a stone building sits on the shore and calls you forward. With no windows or doors it asks your mind to will it open.This is a place between here and there, a refuge, a revisiting of the collective unconscious.

UPRIGHT MEANING

reconnection - perspective shift - past lives

While life on earth can sometimes feel lack-luster, there is a space where we can still dream. The Dreamworld contains bothdreams and nightmares as they sparkle like scales in the water and offer glimpses into realities once not far from our own. Recall the power of this place and let it fill your voids. Do not let the trivialities of life dull your vision. What if our dreams are a direct link to our past lives and all we need is to remember that they too were once real?

REVERSED MEANING

nightmares - disillusionment - unexpected obstacles

Reversed, the surrealist structure in the Dreamworld takes on a nightmarish hue. You’ve seen this building a million times in dreams but you have never been able to enter it. No matter how hard you try to get closer the palace continues to stay out of reach. If this card shows up reversed it can often indicate an immense blockage that must be traversed for the sake of mental clarity.