For this week’s #tarottuesday, I decided to do a reading for the Steemit platform as a whole. There seems to be a lot of confusion and uncertainty, with many considering leaving the platform, and I wanted to ask the cards what can be done to improve the situation.
For this reading, I used the Everyday Witch Tarot and one of my favorite spreads, a modified version of the Bridge Spread from Little Red Tarot. One important thing to note about my reading style is that I do not read reversals. All possible interpretations of a card are inherent to that card, and I rely on the question’s context and the card’s placement in a spread to tell me how I ought to read that card. Another important note, when I have the time and inclination, I will include numerology and astrological connections in a reading, for increased nuance or clarity; I have done so here. Let’s dive in!
The Spread
For my version of the Bridge, the positions are as follows:
- 1: the present situation, where we are now at the height of the bridge
- 2 & 3: how we got here, what events led us here
- 4: subconscious or unknown influences in the water below, things we may not know which are impacting us
- 5: our next steps, what we can do to achieve a desirable result
- 6: potential outcome, what may happen if nothing changes
- 7: a guiding star in the sky above, what resources are available to us which we ought to remember?
Additionally, I always flip the deck to reveal the bottom card, bringing one last card to encapsulate the reading or illuminate the way forward.
The Cards
The cards I laid, in order, along with their astrological connections:
- 1: 8 of Swords ♃ in ♊️
- 2: 10 of Cups ♂️ in ♓️
- 3: The Hierophant ♉️
- 4: Ace of Swords 🌬 (air elemental)
- 5: 9 of Cups ♃ in ♓️
- 6: 4 of Coins ☉ in ♑️
- 7: The World ♄
- B: The Fool 🌬
The Interpretation
First, let’s look over the cards. There’s a good balance of major and minor arcana cards, the placement of which indicates that the problems facing the Steemit platform are not insurmountable—luck is on our sides, the cards suggest. There are no court cards, and given the question I asked, this indicates that both the problems and the solutions are not the responsibility of any one person; these are group issues, which the group can come together and solve.
Numerologically speaking, there is no dominant number in this reading, unless you re-classify the Fool card from 0 to 1, which some readers choose to do. If we do so in this case the dominant number becomes 1, which represents opportunity, potential, and new beginnings. Elementally, this reading contains no fire cards, indicating poor health. It is nearly balanced between earth and air (three cards each), and water. (two cards). The heavy finance focus brings confusion to those who aren’t as crypto-savvy. Instead of focusing on our relationships and shared humanity, we’ve become bogged down in gossip and arguments. More love and empathy is needed all around.
Next, we look at individual cards. The 8 of Swords, signifying our present situation, speaks of feeling trapped or uncertain. There is a lack of guidance. Vision has been lost, and now we are shaken. This card is linked to Jupiter in Gemini. Jupiter represents expansion, faith, and wealth. Gemini is characterized by flexibility, restlessness, and communication; Gemini is hard to pin down. Taken together with the meaning of this card, this suggests that many people joined Steemit from word of mouth recommendations, but now find themselves floundering or unsatisfied. What looked so good from outside has turned out slippery and erratic—when the price of STEEM is up and we make good connections with other users, everything feels great; when STEEM tanks and our favorite users talk about jumping ship, things start to get scary fast. Like the song, some of us are beginning to wonder “should I stay or should I go?”
The second and third cards, representing our journey to this point, are the 10 of Cups and the Hierophant. They back up this interpretation. The 10 of Cups is a sunny picnic with friends and family. It characterizes that initial excitement, the positive attitude we had coming in. It is linked with Mars in Pisces. Mars represents action and assertiveness, and Pisces is all about adaptability and creativity. Together, they speak to that adoption energy; we put ourselves out there, and it felt pretty great.
The Hierophant was our first hint of trouble. This card represents authority, tradition, and too much rigidity; its connection to Taurus, which is known for being hard-working and stubborn, just reinforces the issue. People started to butt heads over how things should be run. Too much spam and plagiarism, too many self-upvotes, people are too impatient to grow their accounts, bid-bots ruin everything, the trending page is garbage, free speech vs censorship, too many rules, not enough rules, and so on. Some of us chose sides and dug in our heels, and some were unsure who to follow. Who had the most authority? Who was right?
The Ace of Swords comes next, and it shows us any hidden influences on the situation. Placed here, it represents a lack of clarity which is interfering in our lives. A pure air elemental, it represents logic, gossip, and conflict. The knowledge barrier alone drives many redfish away in early days, and the wars between whales and witnesses alienate those minnows who are invested in community and the potential of the blockchain. Like Starbuck in Moby Dick, many of us are caught up in something that threatens our wellbeing, when we were just trying to do what we enjoy.
Following is the 9 of Cups, representing our ideal next steps towards a positive outcome. This card signifies emotional satisfaction and the need to be humble, especially for those who have a great deal in comparison to others. Any who have met with success on the platform are cautioned to ignore the urge to become catty or argumentative. This card is connected to Jupiter in Pisces. Here Jupiter represents luck, wealth, and generosity, while Pisces represents empathy and open-mindedness. We must be thankful for what we have achieved, and continue to approach others with an open heart, ready to support them.
If we ignore this calling towards generosity and empathy, things look dire. The 4 of Coins is not generally a very positive card, and here it is a clear warning: if we lack humility and choose to grasp onto what we have, Steemit will be overrun in miserly behaviors and greed. We will become bitter and unhappy. Spiritually speaking, what remains will be evil, and could taint those who remain. This card is linked with the Sun in Capricorn, representing the blindness of an over-inflated ego (the Sun) married to the worst excesses of ambition (Capricorn). This card, taken to extremes, can indicate spiritual rot—think of Ebenezer Scrooge before he was visited by the Ghosts of Christmas Past, Present, and Future. Yikes, right?
Thankfully, the spread is finished by our guiding star, the World. Phew! What a positive note to round out our symphony, so to speak. The cards are telling us to be open to diversity, to welcome all, to be joyful and celebrate what we have. We can mature, as a community. We can integrate lessons learned, and move forward with a greater commitment to positive engagement. The platform can still succeed, as long as we are willing to be radically open.
Yes, things will change. Yes, there will be growing pains, but the plethora of opinions and world-views and experiences—the sheer diversity of people—is ultimately a good thing. There is bad in this world, but there is also good, and we can choose it. We can refuse to be dragged down by the bad, and let the good buoy us up. Many of us, like 
The bottom of the deck has one last message for us. The Fool represents child-like curiosity, and the beauty of potential. Remember how good Steemit felt in the beginning? That sunny picnic with our friends? We can get back there. New Steemians are arriving everyday, still caught up in the wonder and excitement, and we can reach out to them and help them experience the good things about Steemit. We can create a sea change, if you’ll pardon the pun.
The Fool is also a pure air elemental, but in this case air represents communication—real, authentic communication in the public realm. If we come with honest intentions and do our best to communicate with each other as fellow humans, worthy of respect because we are living beings, we can turn this ship around.
So, that’s my reading for Steemit on #tarottuesday. Thanks for stopping by, and if you liked this post, please upvote, comment, and resteem!
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Pictures by me unless otherwise noted. Divider created by javehimself, and used with gratitude.
