Previously
Capella 1: https://articles.planetarycrafts.com/p/first-contact-prep-researching-capella
Capella 2: https://articles.planetarycrafts.com/p/meeting-capella
Capella 3: https://articles.planetarycrafts.com/p/capella-3-a-tea-party-and-a-cathedral
At this point I was struggling - to be honest, I’ve been dealing with a chronic illness for a while and the usual meds weren’t working, so I was in the middle of a medication transition that was not without its side effects.
Antares
We start with Antares, the same spread I used with Capella in the first article:
The Cards
I swear I shuffled thoroughly!
In one card, summarize a description of your character: Temperance
What should I know about you: 5 of Cups
What do you consider your strengths: 7 of Pentacles
What are your limits: The Empress
What Can you teach me: 3 of Pentacles
How do you see me: 8 of Cups
How can we best connect: 5 of Swords
How can we best collaborate: King of Pentacles
In one card, summarize our Journey: The Emperor
The Interpretation
Hilariously, we start with Temperance, the card at the heart of my hypothesis. Excellent, good. I found the 5 of Cups and the echo of the 8 of Cups interesting - the 5 of Cups is a card of loss, with a reminder that the loss isn’t complete, while the 8 of Cups is a retreat or rejection of the concept of relationships entirely.
When I want to know about someone and they pull out the 5 of Cups, that tells me that they deal with loss, especially relational or emotional loss, but are not a complete destroyer. There is a surprising level of sadness, and somehow it reminds me of the story of the Scorpion and the Frog, crossing the pond. The Scorpion convinces the Frog to give it a lift, since the frog can swim and it cannot. They are most of the way across when the scorpion stings the frog. The frog asks - Why do you do this? Now we both die! The scorpion responds ‘it is my nature to sting’.
The 7 of Pentacles recurs as its strength - the ability to understand and strategize over hard work already accomplished. To me, this speaks of ‘I won’t do the work for you, but I can make sure your next moves are the right ones.’
The Empress being a weakness is fine, and tells me that Alkaid is going to fill in where Antares cannot go.
The teaching being the 3 of Pentacles recurrence - building the big thing, working as a team - this conflicts with the scorpion and the frog story, but I suppose the importance for the 5 of Cups is not just the cups that have spilled, but also those cups (i.e., relationships) that are still standing. The flavors of the cards so far indicate an ability to be choosy, and choosing correctly to build the next thing.
How do you see me, as the 8 of Cups. Listen. Am I someone who tends not to ask for help, and try to do everything on my own? Yes, yes. Fine. Perhaps I AM someone who needs to learn how to select relationships, instead of letting the fear of rejection and loss keep me from ever reaching out.
Connecting as the 5 of Swords is interesting. I was wondering where the sword would come in - the heart of the scorpion would surely require some kind of sting, somewhere? For me, the 5 of Swords shows up when people are so concerned about being correct they burn emotional bridges. Not understanding how to regulate the desire for ‘being right’ vs. the need for conflict resolution if something is to move forward. This is a card of ‘success’ because everyone else is refusing to participate any longer, so you win by default.
How do we connect with this energy? What are the tasks, offerings, or perspectives that are asked for here? I think this is interesting paired with that 5 of Cups - 3 swords gathered, 2 abandoned, vs 3 cups tipped over, 2 left standing. There is a similar separation occurring in both cards, with a reminder to acknowledge what is separated and what is kept.
Honestly, not sure here, and I’ll keep poking.
Collaborating as the King of Pentacles is really interesting, especially since the Journey card is The Emperor. This was a key part of what I was asking for in my shameful/vulnerable request to Capella. There is a practical mastery here, and an empire to build, that matches what I’m looking for. Good.
Things to note: no wands. No passion, no creation, no fighting in the world of ideas. There is a clinicality to destruction here, and 3 pentacle cards give a practicality and physicality to these ideas as well. That gives another meaning to the Empress as a limit - no time for feelings, no care for abundance: the goal here is Emperor, not Empress work. However, to note, there are a few wands that DO speak to empire that I might have expected in the reading, and I wonder if they would have been present if there hadn’t been a need for the 3 Major Arcana that showed up (this is sometimes what I see happening in a spread - that a suit of cards gets overridden for bigger picture needs).
Conclusions
Antares doesn’t seem unwilling and he does seem useful as a method of discernment. He doesn’t necessarily feel ‘friendly’, and as someone who struggles in this area I think he can be a good ally. Not a frontline fighter, though.
Alkaid
I attached Alkaid to The Empress, although she’s never given me Empress energy. The Empress doesn’t feel as ‘self-focused’ as Alkaid is - she cares about herself and her ‘kids’, but doesn’t necessarily pay attention to the world at large. She’s not someone who needs a tarot reading as much as a little bit of communing time in a quiet place.
However, at this point although definitely amenable, she was vague about what she was going to offer. I think she knew what was coming, and that I wouldn’t listen to a warning. Like any bear mother, she was going to let me hit my limit and get me back on my feet if I got knocked down.
Hecate
Finally, I went with the theory that Hecate is the last ally I need. And here… oof. We’ll start with the reading.
Same spread as before. Have you memorized it yet? I almost have.
The Cards
In one card, summarize a description of your character: 6 of Pentacles
What should I know about you: 10 of Swords
What do you consider your strengths: 8 of Swords
What are your limits: The Hermit
What Can you teach me: Queen of Cups
How do you see me: 10 of Cups
How can we best connect: 10 of Pentacles
How can we best collaborate: The Star
In one card, summarize our Journey: The Hierophant
The Interpretation
And here is the lesson: When you ask questions of spirits, especially if you’re asking for help, you need to be prepared to hear a no. Does this obviously read like a no to you? Let me walk through it.
The 6 of Pentacles is telling me that they are the balancer of scales, that they are the one that gives… listen. Yes, I owe her something.
10 of Swords - I should know that we’re done. Betrayed, maybe, but beating a dead horse. This chapter is over, stop pushing, and let a new chapter (of learning, communication, or conflict) begin.
Strengths - Honestly, it felt like this got overridden to the 8 of Swords message of ‘You’re not a damsel in distress, honey, and your solutions are just two inches to the right of you’.
Limitations - The Hermit: She cannot walk this path with me.
Saying she teaches the Queen of Cups and she sees me as the 10 of Cups is a kinder way of saying ‘you’ve already finished the lesson plan I had for you’. Connecting as the 10 of Pentacles is interesting, as I think it’s saying ‘you need to look at my legacy, that’s where the connection is’.
Collaboration as The Star - for me The Star is about distant or subtle guidance, where the universe is already telling you things you might not be listening to. This is in opposition to The Hermit, the advisor that walks the path with you, shining the lantern ahead. This card also says that she’s already been pointing at where to go - I’ve just not been listening.
Having the Journey be the Hierophant is interesting too. It tells a different kind of story than The Emperor or the Lovers, being more about a certainty or rigidity of belief. Dang.
Just as much as I’m being told ‘no’, it also really feels like I’m being told that I haven’t been listening to what she HAS been trying to tell me. Something to chew on.
About those 10s: 10s in the minor arcana are completion of chapters, the finalization of the elemental energy the suit holds - for better or for worse. Having three cards out of nine in a spread being a 10 could be read as ‘finale!’ or ‘Biggest best project ever!’ instead of Done, but trust me here: the energy from these cards was not excitement or ‘finale’, but heavy and still. It’s good to let the energy of the reading guide you as well, especially when it doesn’t match your hopes or expectations.
Conclusions
I’m not going to lie, hearing no hurt. You want to think that all doors remain open forever, and bonking into one that has closed broke my heart a little. I don’t necessarily think her door is closed forever, but I do think I’ll need to do more work with the spirits she previously introduced to me before I can pick up working with her again.
In retrospect, I should have accepted the call of the Gorgons instead of letting myself get twisted up. But everyone makes mistakes, and part of my documentation of this process is to show people what it looks like to be a human doing the work.
Also, I still owe Hecate eggs.
Next Steps
Nevertheless, the talismanic preparation must continue. I’ve picked my components and have them ready to go, and I’m working on my imagery next. Work with the allies can pick up after the Big Ritual.
However.
The No is tough to recover from, and makes everything feel harder. Confidence is an important part of the work, and knowing that I’ve misunderstood something (as well as having to endure a very firm No Thank You) makes every step harder. With my health conditions as they are, I no longer know if I have enough resilience to finish the work.