🔮 A Note Before You Read:
Yesterday was Easter Sunday. Our tiny calico chose to sleep in my closet for most of last night instead of on my bed, a behavior that always seems to mark an energetic shift. I didn’t think much of it at the time.
Then this morning, I woke to the news that Pope Francis had passed. Something felt… different. I couldn’t quite place it. Maybe it was something. Maybe it was nothing. But I’ve learned to follow my curiosity when the air feels strange.
I found myself wondering what this meant energetically… for the Church, for the world, maybe even for all of us.
So I lit some sage, shuffled the cards, and here’s how it went.
Disclaimer:
This blog post contains my personal interpretations of a tarot reading. It is shared for entertainment, reflection, and spiritual insight. It is not intended as fortune telling, nor does it make any guaranteed predictions.
I’m still learning Tarot, so please bear with me. This is my interpretation.
TL;DR (Too Long; Didn’t Read)
No judgment if your attention span is hanging on by a thread (mine too). Here’s the short version of what the cards revealed. For the full journey including strange vibes, cat wisdom, and card-by-card insight, scroll on.
I started with one spread and somehow ended up doing three. I can’t tell you exactly why. I just followed the nudge. The cards didn’t hesitate. Neither did my cat. I used the classic Rider-Waite Smith deck for this reading.
💬 A Note on Timing and Respect
When I sat down to do this reading, I hesitated. I was concerned that posting something so soon after the Pope’s passing might come across as disrespectful or insensitive.
I may not be Catholic, but I still honor his life, his passing, and the very real emotions many are feeling right now.
This reading wasn’t intended to be a commentary on the man himself, but rather an exploration of the energetic and symbolic shifts happening collectively. The cards led me into larger themes about change, power, and spiritual transformation, and I followed them.
If you’re here reading this and feeling grief, uncertainty, or even spiritual tension… I see you. I feel it too. My intention is never to be dismissive. Only curious, open-hearted, and honest about what I witness through the cards.
🧭 Note: You can click on any of the spread titles or card names in the summary section below to jump to the full interpretation below. In case your brain is in “skimming is surviving” mode because same. 💙
First Spread: A Global Energy Check
- 💀 Death – Massive transformation. Endings that must happen for rebirth to begin. A bishop (or pope) literally on this card. Symbolism? Loud.
- 🙏 9 of Cups – What follows can be deeply, soulfully fulfilling. This isn’t surface-level peace. It’s real, heart-rooted contentment.
- ⚔️ Ace of Swords – But only if we dare to face the truth and wield it. Illusion has no place in what’s coming next.
Second Spread: Archetype & Impact of the Next Pope
- 🔓 4 of Pentacles (Reversed) – The grip is loosening. Control, power, and fear-based clinging are being forced to release whether willingly or not.
- 🌀 The Fool – A new beginning. A leap into the unknown. The old map no longer applies. We’re entering uncharted spiritual territory.
- 💧 5 of Cups (Reversed) – The grief is real, but healing is possible. The collective is beginning to turn toward what remains instead of what was lost.
- 👑 King of Cups – The potential for emotionally wise, compassionate leadership. The kind that leads with heart, not control.
- 🎉 3 of Cups – On the other side of all this? Joy. Community. Reconnection. The sacred rebuild together.
Third Spread: The Chaos Spread (aka “What the Hell Is This Timeline Doing?”)
- 🌟 The Star (Reversed) – False light fades. Illusions of hope without substance are being stripped away. The collective is letting go of performative healing.
- 🌱Ace of Pentacles – We think we want something real and stable, like a tangible new beginning we can actually trust.
- 🔍 7 of Cups (Reversed) – The fog is lifting. We’re craving clarity and rejecting illusion, even if the truth is hard to swallow.
- 🏚️ 4 of Wands (Reversed) – We long for connection and celebration… but don’t quite feel like we belong yet. Community feels distant, not denied.
- ⚖️ Temperance – What’s truly rising is balance, integration, and patient spiritual alchemy. Healing is happening beneath the surface slowly and with great care.
- 🚀 The Chariot – The wildcard. Ready or not, momentum is building. The energy is moving forward, driven by intention. The reins are in our hands if we choose to take them.
🔍 Deeper Dive: What the Cards Revealed Beneath the Surface
For those who want to explore the full reading, card by card, here’s the deeper reflection. This is where things got layered, symbolic, and in some cases… eerily direct. I’ve included some of my personal thoughts, intuitive nudges, and the energy I felt unfolding as each card appeared.
First Spread: A Global Energy Check
When I started this reading, it was with more of a feeling.
Something felt off. Like a shift was happening under the surface, and I couldn’t quite name it.
So I asked my guides through the cards to show me the bigger picture. What’s going on energetically right now, collectively? What are we moving through, consciously or unconsciously?
💀 Death: A Reminder that Endings Lead to Beginnings
I asked about the energy surrounding this moment in time globally, collectively.
The energies were not playing around.
The card that showed up?
Not subtle.
Not symbolic in the abstract.
It came right out of the gate and I just sat there like… “Are you kidding me? That? That’s the first card that comes up first of all the cards?”
Death.
Riding in on a white horse, wearing black armor, waving a banner of finality like a velvet curtain falling on the third act.
And there he is. A bishop (or pope) in the card imagery itself… hands raised, unable to stop what’s already in motion.
I know how this sounds.
If I hadn’t pulled the card myself, I’d probably be side-eyeing it too.
But I did. And here we are.
There’s a lot of symbolism in this card.
But overall, Death is not a card to fear.
It doesn’t necessarily point to a literal passing, but to the natural cycle of endings that create space for beginnings.
In this context, it doesn’t feel like personal loss.
It feels like systems bowing to the inevitable.
The Death card doesn’t ask for permission.
It doesn’t explain itself.
It just whispers, “It’s time.”
Time to let go of illusions of permanence.
Time to release structures that no longer serve.
Time to face the quiet rot beneath the surface.
🌀 Feels like:
The silence right after something shatters.
A door creaking open where a wall once stood.
The knowing that change is no longer optional.
It’s not resistance.
It’s resignation.
Even sacred authority cannot stop what’s already begun.
💀 Death – Card Snapshot:
⚰️ Upright: Endings • Transformation • Rebirth
🧨 Reversed: Resistance to change • Delayed grief • Spiritual stagnation
🕯️ Current vibe: The old world is bowing out. Whether anyone’s ready or not.
💬 Message: This is not punishment. This is release.
This is not to destroy, but to clear the path.
Let what no longer holds truth fall away.
You don’t have to drag the old world into the new one.
It’s okay to let it end.
🕯️ Reflection: What systems, beliefs, or illusions have we allowed to persist simply because they were familiar?
Where have we feared change, not because it was wrong, but because it meant losing control?
And are we brave enough now… to let the sacred unravel in order to rediscover what’s real?
Endings aren’t the enemy.
Avoiding them is.
🙏 9 of Cups – The Soulful Reward After the Fall
After the stark message of Death, this card arrived like a gentle hand on the shoulder.
The 9 of Cups is sometimes called the wish card. A symbol of emotional contentment, fulfillment, and deep personal satisfaction. But in this context? It feels bigger than a personal win. It feels like a vision of what’s possible after illusion gives way to truth.
Not flashy joy.
Not performative positivity.
But a quiet, soul-rooted kind of happiness. The kind that can only emerge when the mask has been dropped and you’re finally free to breathe.
🌀 Feels like:
Exhaling after a long-held breath.
Sunlight through a window on a quiet morning.
No more pretending. Just… being.🌞
🙏 9 of Cups – Card Snapshot:
💖Upright: Fulfillment • Satisfaction • Emotional richness
💔Reversed: Emptiness disguised as success • Superficial desires
🌈Current vibe: You’re allowed to want joy. You’re allowed to find it on your own terms.
💬 Message: You can still have what your heart longs for.
Not the version shaped by systems or shoulds, but the truth that belongs only to you.
Joy is still possible.
You don’t have to inherit your ancestors’ grief.
🕯️ Reflection: What does real fulfillment look like outside of expectation or tradition?
Can we allow ourselves to imagine a world not ruled by dogma or dominance, but by care, connection, and authenticity?
And after everything we’ve released…
Are we ready to receive something good?
⚔️ Ace of Swords: The Truth That Cuts Through Everything
After the release of Death and the soulful promise of the 9 of Cups, the Ace of Swords arrived like a thunderclap.
No softness here.
No gentle reminders.
Just a clean, immediate cleaving of illusion.
This card doesn’t ask if you’re ready.
It doesn’t wait for permission.
It simply presents a truth. Sharp, undeniable, and often uncomfortable.
Where the Death card clears the path, the Ace of Swords carves it.
This sword is clarity. But clarity comes with consequence.
Seeing the truth means we can no longer pretend we didn’t.
And in the collective moment we’re in, that kind of truth is revolutionary.
It’s the kind of card that cuts the puppet strings.
And asks: “Are you ready to move differently now?”
🌀 Feels like:
A cold gust of wind that wakes you up.
A flash of lightning in the dark.
The moment you see it, and can’t unsee it.
⚔️ Ace of Swords – Card Snapshot:
💡 Upright: Clarity • Truth • Breakthrough • Mental precision
🗡️ Reversed: Miscommunication • Denial • Willful blindness
🔥 Current vibe: The sword is in your hands. What you do with it matters.
💬 Message: You asked for truth.
Here it is.
Don’t dress it up. Don’t dull it down.
Use it. Speak it.
Let it change you.
🕯️ Reflection: What truths are we ready to name, even if they disrupt the stories we’ve been told?Where are we being invited to use our voice, our discernment, or our insight to cut through the noise?
What must be said, even if it shakes the foundations?
This isn’t just about revelation.
It’s about responsibility.
Spread 2: The Archetype & Impact of the Next Pope
After the first spread, I felt pulled to ask something more specific. I wasn’t looking for predictions, just… archetypal insight.
What kind of energy could the next pope represent? And how might that ripple out into the world?
🔓 4 of Pentacles (Reversed): The Grip Is Failing
This card opened the spread, and it was already in motion.
The 4 of Pentacles reversed shows us what happens when the grip can’t hold anymore.
Traditionally, this card upright symbolizes security, control, and holding on tightly (maybe too tightly) to power, money, or identity.
But reversed?
It’s release.
Or more accurately, forced release.
The kind that comes not from choice, but from necessity. From things falling apart because the hands holding them are tired, greedy, or built on illusion.
In the context of the next pope, this card speaks to the archetype of unraveling.
Whether the next spiritual figure loosens the grip willingly or is placed there to symbolize the collapse of control. Either way, the energy around the papacy is no longer about containment.
It’s about letting go.
Even if they don’t want to.
🌀 Feels like:
Clutching a handful of sand.
The tighter you hold it, the faster it slips through your fingers.
🔓 4 of Pentacles (Reversed) – Card Snapshot:
🧷 Upright: Security • Control • Possession • Boundaries
🌀 Reversed: Fear of loss • Greed exposed • Release (wanted or not)
🧨 Current vibe: The grip is breaking. What cannot be held must be let go.
💬 Message: What you cling to owns you.
If you cannot let go, the unraveling will do it for you.
This is not punishment.
It is release.
And release is freedom.
🕯️ Reflection: Where are we still clinging to structures because they feel safe, even when they no longer feel true?
Are we ready to admit that holding onto control isn’t the same as holding onto faith?
And what happens when the figure we place on a throne is no longer able to carry the weight we expect them to bear?
🌄 The Fool: Stepping Into the Unknown
Following the loosening grip of the 4 of Pentacles reversed, The Fool landed like a breath of fresh air and a bit of a dare.
This is the first card of the Major Arcana. Number zero. The beginning before the beginning. The Fool doesn’t come with a plan. He comes with trust. He walks forward without needing all the answers.
In this context?
He feels like the spiritual reset.
The energy of a new chapter. Not necessarily polished, not even entirely prepared, but moving anyway.
Whether the next pope embodies this archetype consciously or not, The Fool represents a crossing point: from the rigid structures of old… into something unpredictable, vulnerable, and potentially liberating.
Not everyone will be ready.
Not everyone will approve.
But The Fool doesn’t need approval.
Only the call to move forward.
🌀 Feels like:
Bare feet on dewy grass.
A packed bag and no destination.
The first inhale after you finally decide to go.
🌄 The Fool – Card Snapshot:
🎒 Upright: New journey • Trust • Curiosity • Sacred beginnings
🌀 Reversed: Recklessness • Naivety • Fear of change
🌬️ Current vibe: This is uncharted territory. But maybe that’s the point.
💬 Message: You don’t have to know the outcome to begin.
The old map won’t work where you’re going anyway.
Take what you’ve learned, but pack lightly.
This is a new road.
🕯️ Reflection: Where are we being asked to begin again, even if we’re uncertain?
Can we trust a path that doesn’t look like what came before?
And are we willing to walk into the unknown? Not as a failure of knowledge, but as an act of sacred courage?
🧩 Cards That Arrived Together: Grief, Wisdom, and Joy
Right after The Fool invited us into the unknown, three cards leapt out together while I was shuffling as if they had something to say in harmony.
They felt like an emotional arc:
- The healing of grief (5 of Cups Reversed)
- The emergence of compassionate leadership (King of Cups)
- The possibility of reconnection and joy (3 of Cups)
Here’s how I interpreted their collective message:
🕯️ 5 of Cups (Reversed) – Turning Toward What Remains
Traditionally, the 5 of Cups is grief. A focus on what’s been lost. But reversed? It’s a shift. A slow turning of the head. The realization that not everything is gone.
In this moment, it feels like the collective starting to look up again.
Maybe still hurting, but ready to see what’s still standing.
🌀 Feels like:
Red eyes after a long cry.
Someone handing you a cup you didn’t know was still there.
Message: You’ve mourned. You’ve cried. You’ve honored what was.
Now look to what remains. There’s still something worth holding.
👑 King of Cups – Leading From the Heart
This card carries emotional wisdom. The King of Cups doesn’t react. He responds. He feels deeply, but he’s steady. Grounded. Unshaken by chaos.
This isn’t the leader who tells you how to feel.
It’s the one who says, “You’re safe to feel, and I’ll hold space while you do.”
If the next leader carried this energy, even a little, it could shift everything.
🌀 Feels like:
A warm voice in a cold storm.
The one who stays calm while the rest of the world spins.
Message: You can lead with feeling. You can be strong because you’re soft.
Hold steady. And hold others.
🎉 3 of Cups – Joy Reawakens
The final card of the trio brought the uplift: celebration, connection, reunion. Not in some abstract future. Right here, between people.
This card reminded me that community is not lost.
Even when it feels fractured, the potential for reconnection is still alive.
🌀 Feels like:
Shared laughter. Clinking glasses.
Remembering what it’s like to belong again.
Message: You can lead with feeling. You can be strong because you’re soft.
Hold steady. And hold others.
🧵 Trio Notes: Grief, Wisdom & Joy
💔 5 of Cups (Reversed) – Healing begins. We’re turning from loss toward what still remains.
👑 King of Cups – Emotional maturity and heart-centered leadership rise as the steady hand through change.
🎉 3 of Cups – Community, connection, and celebration return. Not in spite of the pain, but because of what we’ve made it through.
🔮Current vibe:
Grief honored.
Truth held.
Joy reawakened.
We’re not out of the woods, but we’re walking together again. And for the first time in a long time, we believe we might make it.
🕯️ Collective Reflection:
This trio feels like a sacred arc: from sorrow, to emotional steadiness, to joyful reconnection.
It doesn’t pretend things haven’t been hard.
It just gently says:
“You don’t have to live in the grief forever. You can still lead with heart. You can still find joy again.”
🌀 Spread 3: The Chaos Spread
(a.k.a. What the Hell Is This Timeline Even Doing)
After the first two spreads, I wasn’t expecting to pull another one… but the energy had other plans. I kept feeling this buzzing question:
“Okay, but what’s actually going on here?”
So I pulled again.
This time to check the undercurrent.
The timeline-level weirdness. The tension behind the headlines. The stuff nobody’s saying out loud but everyone feels.
Here’s what the cards had to say.
🌟 The Star (Reversed) – When the Light Feels Lost
I pulled this as the opening card of the Chaos Spread, asking what energy is being released right now.
The Star is usually a card of hope. Of healing. Of divine guidance and soul-deep renewal. It’s that quiet moment after the storm when you look up and finally see light again.
But reversed?
It feels like a cosmic power outage.
Not because hope is gone forever, but because our connection to it has been fractured. This is the false light fading. The performative healing unraveling. The version of “faith” that asks you to smile while the world burns is flickering out.
This is what gets released when truth comes to the surface:
The illusion of hope.
And in this moment, it feels like we’re collectively realizing that the light we were following… maybe wasn’t light at all. Or maybe it was borrowed. Filtered. Manufactured.
🌀 Feels like:
The soft hum of spiritual fatigue.
A candle you thought went out until you cup your hands and see it still glows.
🌟 The Star – Card Snapshot:
💫 Upright: Hope • Healing • Spiritual guidance • Reconnection with self
🕳️ Reversed: Disillusionment • Spiritual disconnect • False hope exposed
🌌 Current vibe: The light isn’t gone. It’s just no longer coming from the places we were told to trust.
💬 Message: You’ve mistaken me for something external.
I’m not your savior. I’m not your celebrity.
I’m the light that’s always been within you.
But to find me, you must first mourn what wasn’t real.
🕯️ Reflection: Where have we clung to the idea of hope because it was comforting, not because it was true?
Where have we looked for light in places that were never meant to guide us?
And are we willing to reclaim that light—not as something to worship from afar, but something to remember in ourselves?
🧩 More Cards That Came Out Together: The Illusion of Safety
By this point in the reading, I was already feeling the emotional weight of everything that had come through. This wasn’t just a casual card pull. It was a journey. Heavy with endings, sharp with truth, and layered with grief and possibility.
But I still had more questions.
I wanted to understand what we’re collectively reaching for in the midst of this mess. What we think we want as the ground shifts beneath us.
So I pulled again.
And wouldn’t you know it… three cards came out together.
Loud. Direct. A bit conflicted.
Here’s what I saw next.
🌱 Ace of Pentacles – Give Us Something Real
This card is about new beginnings in the physical realm. Stability, resources, foundation. It represents something tangible, something that can actually grow.
And in this context?
It feels like a desperate wish: “Please, just give us something solid.”
After so much unraveling, we want something real. Something grounded.
We don’t want theories. We want food, shelter, clarity. Security that actually means something.
🌀 Feels like:
Hands in the dirt.
A heavy breath.
Hope you’re almost afraid to let yourself feel.
💬 Message: This seed is real. But it can’t grow in scorched ground.
You must first clear the false fields before you plant.
🌫️ 7 of Cups (Reversed) – The Fog Is Lifting
Upright, this card is illusion, fantasy, confusion, too many choices. Reversed, it’s the attempt to focus. To get clear. To finally see things as they are.
This card felt like the collective realizing just how much of our hope has been tangled in distraction and distortion.
We want clarity. We want truth.
But we’re still shaking off the fog.
🌀 Feels like:
Blinking in bright light.
Your mind still adjusting, but your heart already knows.
💬 Message: You’re not crazy. You’re just waking up.
Things are clearer now because the illusion is breaking.
Keep going.
🏚️ 4 of Wands (Reversed) – Still Outside the Celebration
This card is about belonging, unity, celebration, homecoming, but reversed it speaks to the painful feeling of being on the outside looking in.
We crave connection. Community. Joy.
But many of us still feel separate from it. Like we’re waiting to be invited to a party that may not even exist anymore.
In this reading, it landed like a sigh.
Yes, we want unity.
But we’re still healing the wounds that made us feel unworthy of it.
🌀 Feels like:
The echo of music in another room.
A key in your hand with no door in sight… yet.
💬 Message: You’re not crazy. You’re just waking up.
Things are clearer now because the illusion is breaking.
Keep going.
🧵 Trio Notes: Craving, Clarity & Disconnection
🌱 Ace of Pentacles – We want something solid to grow from.
🌫️ 7 of Cups (Reversed) – The illusions are breaking. We’re trying to see clearly now.
🏚️ 4 of Wands (Reversed) – We long for belonging but still feel outside the circle.
🕯️ Collective Reflection:
This trio feels like the collective ache laid bare.
We want truth. We want connection. We want safety.
But we’re still trying to shake off the stories that said we weren’t allowed to have them.
🔮 Current Vibe:
Grasping for solid ground.
Beginning to see.
Still aching to belong.
🌊 Temperance – Alchemy Beneath the Chaos
This card dropped like a soft exhale.
After all the unraveling, grief, longing, and disillusionment, Temperance arrived with quiet, radiant grace.
Not to fix everything.
Not to tie it up in a bow.
But to say: “Balance is possible.”
Temperance is the alchemist of the Major Arcana. The one who takes opposing forces and blends them into something healing, harmonious, and whole.
She doesn’t rush.
She doesn’t shout.
She just keeps pouring from cup to cup until it all starts to make sense again.
In this reading, she feels like a cosmic realignment.
An energetic reset.
The slow magic that reminds us that integration is sacred—and it takes time.
🌀 Feels like:
Warm water poured over raw nerves.
A quiet hand on your back saying, “You don’t have to rush this.“
🌊 Temperance – Card Snapshot:
🧪 Upright: Balance • Healing • Patience • Integration
⏳ Reversed: Imbalance • Overcorrection • Emotional whiplash
💧 Current vibe: The chaos cracked us open. Now we begin the long, slow pour back into wholeness.
💬 Message: Be patient with the process.
You are being rebalanced, not erased.
This is the art of becoming whole again.
🕯️ Reflection: Where have we been living in extremes—either spiritually, emotionally, or socially? Where might we need to slow down and let things simmer, rather than rushing toward resolution?
Can we allow healing to be imperfect and nonlinear… and still trust that it’s working?
⚔️ The Chariot – Forward, Even Now
Pulled as the wildcard of the Chaos Spread, this card came through like a sudden gust of wind. Powerful, focused, undeniable.
While everything else in this reading spoke to release, grief, unraveling, and slow healing…
The Chariot showed up like: “Cool. Now let’s move.”
This isn’t recklessness.
This is intentional momentum.
Where Temperance whispers, “Be still,”
The Chariot answers, “Now you know who you are. Let’s go.”
It’s the energy of alignment in motion. Heart, mind, body, spirit, all moving in the same direction.
And in this spread? It feels like a collective turning point.
A moment where we choose a path forward. Not perfectly, but with purpose.
🌀 Feels like:
Hands on the reins.
Dust rising behind you.
A voice inside saying, “You’re not lost. You’re on the way.”
⚔️ The Chariot – Card Snapshot:
🛡️ Upright: Momentum • Direction • Confidence • Willpower
⚠️ Reversed: Misalignment • Lack of control • Pushing too fast
🔥 Current vibe: The energy is rising. The path is opening. Move with intention.
💬 Message: You are not stuck. You are gathering.
The road is waiting, and you already carry what you need.
Don’t look back for a sign.
You are the sign.
🕯️ Reflection: Are we finally ready to move? Not just away from the past, but toward something new?
What would it look like to act from aligned clarity, not fear?
And are we willing to steer this momentum with both power and care?
🌌 Final Thoughts
This reading turned out to be far more layered and intense than I expected.
What started as curiosity became a deep dive into endings, awakenings, grief, healing, and the possibility of movement beyond it all.
The cards didn’t seem to offer comfort in the conventional sense.
They offered truth.
They spoke of unraveling illusions, releasing control, and reclaiming joy and clarity in new, unfamiliar ways.
It’s not easy.
But if we’re willing to sit with the discomfort, if we can hold grief and hope in the same breath, then maybe, just maybe, we can build something real from here.
Whether you’re feeling uncertain, exhausted, or quietly hopeful, please know this:
You’re not alone in this moment.
The chaos is part of the transition.
And the light you’re looking for?
It may be closer than you think.
🐾 Also, shoutout to my tiny feline calico oracle, for showing up at just the right moments and disappearing when the messages landed. She knows. 💜
🃏 Tarot Tips from the Trenches
Sometimes the most powerful readings aren’t the ones that give you clear answers… but the ones that leave you sitting quietly, blinking, going “…well, damn.”
Let the cards speak.
Let them be weird.
Let them be uncomfortable.
You don’t have to understand it all right away.
You just have to listen, and trust that clarity will catch up later.
Also?
Don’t be afraid to use a Sharpie if you need to.
Your deck. Your rules. Your healing.
Side note: If you’re wondering why a certain card image has been, uh, Sharpie-enhanced. It’s just a personal boundary I’ve set due to past experiences and the way I choose to interact with sacred imagery. Your deck, your rules.
my letters from beyond the fire 