Insight into a Student’s Academic Future
A student sought my insight into their academic life, so of course, I obliged. They wanted a past/present/future layout on how things have been going, where they are now, where they’ll be soon, and how to go about it. The future was quite vague, so I pulled another card to elaborate on what it meant. Doing this is known as pulling a clarifier.
Representing this person’s past academic affairs, we have The Emperor. This was the only Major card, which can emphasize this person’s strong foundation in schoolwork.
The Emperor is great for producing completed results and sticking to a consistent schedule. This person likely had trouble with a work/life balance, perhaps they don’t have much time for hobbies. Overall, it suggests that this student is familiar with taking a rigid, pragmatic approach to academic work, which has likely worked both to their benefit and against their well-being.
The present card, Two of Wands, sheds light on the current approach. Wands are suits representing creativity, ideas, enterprise and working. These two cards in tarot decks are commonly associated with duality and choice.
Coming after the simple materialization of the Aces, they show an example or ‘proof of concept’ of their suit. This card could be summed up as having to decide between two things, but it’s also a message: plan now before it’s too late. Two of Wands is a message that you are still in the planning stages of something – potentially study habits. There is promise here for strong schoolwork habits, especially as The Emperor provides a secure base. However, the querent will have to consider their options on their own.
The future card revealed Two of Pentacles, with its clarifier being Queen of Wands. Pentacles commonly signify things in relation to the material world. This includes money, food, living spaces, the physical body, or even time. The Unveiled Tarot depicts a mime juggling a set of balls, with one in the center of the card appearing as a grenade. It possesses Mercurial, trickster god qualities, usually denoting high highs and low lows.
The student might make a few incredible grades on exams and make others that are disappointing, or they’ll try to roll with the punches with mixed results. Because of the fun-loving nature of the card (the Rider-Waite deck depicts a man dancing), it could mean this student will end up shirking responsibilities in favor of excitement and distractions. Like with The Emperor that came before, this card in the future will challenge the querent to balance their life with their schoolwork.
All of this may appear foreboding and a little unsatisfying for someone’s academic future, and thankfully, the Queen of Wands was a clarifier. This is known as a court card, and they typically embody general vibes of situations or sometimes the role that somebody ends up playing. There are Kings, Queens, Knights, and Pages (younger men who attended knights in the medieval period), each of them serving as stages in their own journey.
Queens typically represent a learned and mature, yet still rebellious energy. They work like the Yang to the kings’ Yin. The Queen of Wands is represented in my deck as a movie director on set, calling all the shots. It represents the stage of the creative process where you’ve reached an epiphany, and everything about a project is coming into place. Combined with the Two of Pentacles, I would say that academic struggles may end up benefiting the querent. It may lead them to plan better study plans, or they’ll take everything as it comes and not let failure get to them too much.
The best advice I can give is that mistakes will be inevitable, but try to have fun with it. You still have what it takes to succeed, so don’t doubt yourself. Now to you, my dear reader: tell me what ails you.
These tarot cards titled The Emperor, Two of Wands and Two of Pentacles represent a student’s academic past, present and future.