astrology reading cards & book

AstrologyReading Cards

Your Personal Guidance from the Stars

by

ALISON CHESTER-LAMBERT (astrologer)

and

RICHARD CROOKES (illustrator)

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Contents

How to Read the Cards 4

How Do the Astrology Reading Cards (ARC) Work? 6

The Planet Cards 10Chiron 12 Pluto 24Jupiter 14 Saturn 26Mars 16 Sun 28Mercury 18 Uranus 30Moon 20 Venus 32Neptune 22 Vesta 34

The Zodiac Sign Cards 36Aries 38 Libra 50Aquarius 40 Pisces 52Cancer 42 Sagittarius 54Capricorn 44 Scorpio 56Gemini 46 Taurus 58Leo 48 Virgo 60

The House Cards 62First House 64 Seventh House 76Second House 66 Eighth House 78Third House 68 Ninth House 80Fourth House 70 Tenth House 82Fifth House 72 Eleventh House 84Sixth House 74 Twelfth House 86

Notes on the Origins of the Cards 88

Artwork Acknowledgments 96

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How to Read the Cards

The deck is comprised of 36 cards, divided into three sets of12 cards each. The sets are called the Planet cards, the ZodiacSign cards and the House cards.

Ways in which you can read the ARC (Astrology Reading Cards)

• Lay the three sets out face down in front of you in threeseparate fans. Think of a question you would like theARC to help you with. With your question in minddraw one card from each of the fans. This means thatyou will draw a Planet card from one of the fans, a Zo-

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diac Sign card from another fan, and a House card fromthe third fan. It does not matter which order you selectthe cards in, just so long as you select one card fromeach of the three fans. Each card features a sentenceand images to aid interpretation. Put together, thesecards answer your question. For a deeper explanationof the cards you have drawn, read the relevant Zodiacsign, Planet and House pages of this book.

• You can ask another question by replacing the cardsinto their respective fan, shuffling them, and repeatingthe procedure.

• Alternatively, you could simply shuffle ALL the cardstogether and then draw just ONE card to inspire at thatmoment.

Initially, the cards may just describe your immediate cir-cumstances as you and the cards “get to know” each other andform your relationship. Once you’ve handled them for a while,they will become more flexible or obliging. They will learnfrom you, as you will learn from them.

The astrological energies are not used to being used likethis, but they are powerful and will quickly adapt. Once youand the cards are working in harmony, they will “come alive”and their magic will astound.

An explanation of what the different ‘sets’ represent

Planet Cards: They represent the part of your personalityengaged in the question or issue, the part ofyou that is activated or affected.

Zodiac Cards: The Zodiac Sign cards represent the universalenergy that colours the question or issue, the

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influence around you, or the general feelingaround the matter.

House Cards: These cards represent the area of your life af-fected by the question or issue, the sphere ofyour life the matter is playing out in.

So now that you know how to use the cards, you can justgo ahead and use them. However, you may find it useful toread the more detailed explanations in this book and get agreater understanding of the full potential of the AstrologyReading Cards.

How do these cards affect your Sun sign? For instance, if you are a Libran and

draw the Gemini card? Isn’t that wrong?

No, it isn’t wrong. Even though you were born when the Sunwas in Libra which means that Libra will remain your StarSign until you die, you come under different influences at dif-ferent times of the day, month or year. Those influences willstill be one of the 12 Zodiac signs. So if you are a Libran andyou pull the Gemini card, it just means that at that particulartime you are receiving a Gemini influence. Understandingthat will help you make the most of the Gemini talents avail-able at that time.


How Do the Astrology Reading Cards Work?

The magic of your unconscious connection to the universalastral realms will “lift” intuitive feeling and thoughts fromdeep within your mind, allowing you to instinctively choosethe cards that can best deliver the message from the divineCosmos. Because your unconscious select the cards, it willchoose the ones that most resonate with the current energiesand knowledge (gnosis) in your astral presence. !

All around the Earth, there are planets affecting us in dif-ferent ways. Whilst you are in our solar system, you cannotescape this influence. These cards allow you to experience avisual interpretation of your soul’s knowledge of this.

Each of us is immersed in an invisible sea of electricity andmagnetic field lines. Flows of energy and “intelligence” passdown these lines, washing over/through/around us. This isthe Cosmos and our spirit, soul, or unconscious “dialogues”with it constantly. On the “other side” is all future and all past,everything melted into oneness, but the future can be fore-told, if it is asked for.

The energies the cards describe are archetypal, whichmeans they are present in all life in the Universe. The cardsare symbols of these archetypes, and they will be constellatedto appear in your reading due to universal synchronicity.

Everything in the Cosmos is connected in a giant invisibleweb, and what happens in one part of the web can be felt inanother part. The Etruscans used egg yolks to divine the fu-ture. They would examine the condition of the stringy whitebit and the blemishes on the yolk and surmise things from

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that. The Egyptians used the liver of an animal, and the con-dition of different parts of it would tell them about the future.Present in all things is the connection with the universal en-ergy and the potential of the future.

The cards will show what your unconscious and the myste-rious Hand of Destiny deem important. By providing themwith a choice of all the archetypal, universal energies used inastrology, the most important energies at the moment youdrew the card will emerge.

How come the future isn’t always what we decide

it’s going to be? Why do we need cards to help us?

The unconscious side of us has a different schedule to theconscious side. It wants to get a certain experience by con-stellating into our lives those lessons the unconscious needs.It does this by manifesting outside events and influences thatoverride the efforts of the conscious to avoid them.

The Cosmos, or Collective Soul, which we are all part of, ismade up of different planes or other realms. One of these isour realm or life as we know it, but when we die we movethrough into others.

In the life we are currently living, it is necessary to gatherthe experience and wisdom that must be given back to theCollective Soul after death, so that the other realms gain andgrow into higher consciousness. What we learn—our accu-mulated wisdom—is transferred into the Collective Soul (inheaven if you like) and adds to all the other wisdom; therefore,our personal pain and struggle is a contribution to this largerstruggle. It is part of the growth and evolution of the Collec-tive Soul, which is preparing for evolution into a highersphere of consciousness.

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How can the ARC cards be useful?

Because there is a cosmic ”master plan,” we don’t have thatmuch autonomy in our decision making. But as long as wework with the Cosmos, we get to make some decisions forourselves, and if we keep making the right ones we get re-warded with easier choices and less pain ahead. It helps thento know what the Cosmos has in store for us, so we can beprepared to assist the process.

This is where the cards are useful, because when we ask thecards, we can understand what is going on and the deepermeaning to things affecting us. Richard and I have designedthe cards in such a way as to make available all of the universalenergies or possibilities, so that our unconscious has all pos-sibilities from which to choose the most appropriate for thereading.

Scientific research by Dr N. Campion, Senior Lecturer inthe School of Archaeology, History and Anthropology, Uni-versity of Wales Trinity St. David, has shown that astrology’sgreatest gift is that it makes life more meaningful and partic-ipants feel more empowered with its use. I certainly hope thisis the case with the ARC cards.

How can I contact Alison and Richard,and/or interact with other ARC users?

Through Facebook via the ‘Astrology Reading Cards’ page.

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The Planet Cards

The Planet cards represent the part of your personality

engaged in the question or issue,the part of you

that is activated or affected.

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Chiron describes the tender part of you that seeks orgives healing and eventually becomes wise through theexperience of such matters.

In mythology, Chiron was a half-horse/half-man char-acter who used his ancient knowledge of music, medi-cine, prophecy, fighting, and hunting to heal and teachseveral Greek heroes. Unlike his fellow centaurs, he wasgentle and wise, but despite this he was unfairly and cru-elly wounded by a stray, poisoned arrow. The great ironywas that despite all his wisdom and healing power, Chi-ron was unable to heal his own painful wound. Eventu-ally, he was released from his agony when Zeus allowedhim to pass into the underworld. So the Chiron part ofyou understands pain and suffering from a personalpoint of view, and this gives you both empathy and sym-pathy. In your past, there may be a disappointment forsomething that you would have liked, but it just wasn’tmeant to be. This seemed so unfair, but it taught you thelessons of gentleness and acceptance of yourself, as yourealised it wasn’t your fault. This is the philosophical sideof you that can accept and live with disillusionment inboth yourself and others in a kindly, healing way.

This may be a time of special meaning and deep re-flection on universal wisdom. You may be aware of apainful or poignant memory or someone with a problemmay have come to you for support or healing. You maylearn new skills in the healing field, which ultimately be-come a source of understanding, as you heal mental orphysical ills. This will change your ideals and a sensitive,softer side of you may emerge, as you gently forgive andgrow into your truth and wisdom.

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If you have drawn the Jupiter card, then the current universalenergy is focused on your confidence, courage, sense of self-belief, and potency.

When this part of you is activated, you have access to yourinner knowing (gnosis) and divine guidance. Your guardianangel is protecting you and filling you with faith, vision, andintuition. As your confidence rises you can “tune in,” gaininginsights into the future. Wild guesses seem to hit the nail onthe head, and you can prophesy accurately. You may dare toleap beyond your normal boundaries, forget any worries, andjust know that everything will turn out well. This is the partof you that shrugs off or turns a deaf ear to the warnings ofothers.

You will feel irritation at any limits or boundaries that yourbody or mind impose on you now, since you want to growwith the freedom to soar like an eagle into higher, breathtak-ing expansion, taking imaginative leaps to allow wonder andmagic in.

Material prosperity is often a matter of how rich you willallow yourself to become, since we can unconsciously limitourselves by not wanting to be greedy, or believing that weare not “worth” more. Your lucky streak is now activated, sothink rich and abundant!

Your conviction and sense of omnipotence are rallied, butbeware of arrogance, overconsumption, overexpansion, oroverly dangerous risks. You may well be right, but be carefulhow you assert that.

Your Jupiter represents growth in many forms. One formis growth of the body; but the mind and soul and spirit needgrowth, also. You now access your faith, understanding of di-vinity, the spirit of the law and philosophy, so you may chal-lenge or grow some of these beliefs. You may also be involvedwith higher education, travel, exploration, or teaching.

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The Zodiac Sign Cards

The Zodiac Sign cards represent the universal energy that colours

the question or issue,—the main influence around you,

or the general feeling around the matter.

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The Aquarian energy is technological and visionary. Itspeaks of the future and has ideals about how much betterthat future can be compared with the past. Popular mythol-ogy has long talked about the coming of the Age of Aquar-ius, with its Utopian vision of peace, freedom, and theunited brotherhood of humankind. This energy is alsoknown for its friendliness, camaraderie, and genuine inter-est in helping others. This zodiac sign bestows a rebelliousneed to break up existing paradigms and replace them withnew thinking, so don’t be surprised if you find yourselfwanting to get on a soap box and address a Greenpeace rallyat this time.

This energy values freedom above all else, and timespent alone is never a problem. Having said that, acquain-tances are important, so long as they do not make emo-tional demands. Information technology and science maynot be your usual choices, but with this energy aroundyou, you are encouraged to investigate how you can usethem to your advantage. Numerology and astrology mayalso be interesting.

There is a fixed quality to this energy and it can make onequite stubborn and intransigent. For although the Aquarianmantra is about change, Aquarius wants to change the restof the world and does not want to change itself. Those whoare Aquarian in nature are very good at telling everyone elsehow to transform, but they are completely unwilling to ac-cept any advice themselves.

You may encounter madcap or eclectic people at thistime, or perhaps you decide to go through a hippie or NewAge thing yourself, for whatever else can be said about theAquarius energy, it appeals to single-minded individualistswho are not afraid to be different. Now, go find your kaftanand placards. . .

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If this card appears in your reading, it suggests that theenergy around you is Aries. The matter is enthused withdynamic, impulsive energy. Like a soldier who races for-ward with his sword in hand to slay the dragon, or aknight who recklessly gallops into danger to save the fairmaiden, there is lots of restless movement and not muchthought.

It may be that you are filled with the fire of action, orperhaps you draw someone to you who acts in this way.There is something very swashbuckling, fairy-tale, andgallant in the air, reminiscent of Robin Hood or theKnights of the Round Table. Aries is competitive, likes afight or a battle for a worthy cause, and will always defendthe underdog. It leaps headlong into the fray, stoppingonly to pull the sword out of the stone.

This energy can be self-centred and pioneering to thepoint that it dislikes taking orders from others. Leadershipis naturally involved, but being part of a team effort is not.If it is unconstrained, then temper tantrums or aggressionmay appear and patience is pushed to the limits and be-yond.

It is unlikely that secrecy or deception is involved, sincethis energy is too naïve and impulsive to plot. It rushes inwhere angels fear to tread, and perhaps this impulsivenessdoes go overboard at times. It’s possible that Aries goestoo far without considering the consequences.

Winning is everything and having won, Aries moves on-wards and upwards for the next conquest. The Aries en-ergy that surrounds the matter in hand will facilitateactivity, action, results, and achievement, which is usefulif you want something done, but caution may be thrownto the wind.

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The House Cards

The House cards represent the area ofyour life affected by the question or issue,

the sphere of your life the matter is playing out in.

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The House cards describe the area of your life the matterwill be expressed in—for instance, your finances or yourhealth. In the case of the First House, this is the area ofyour life that is literally you, your life force, and what youradiate as you walk into a room. It is the way people seeyou or the initial impression you give when you firstmeet someone. You could say it is who the mirror showsyou to be.

If you have chosen a Planet card to go with this, thenit will be describing the part of your personality that isengaged in the matter. If you have a chosen a ZodiacSign card, it is describing the universal energy that iscurrently around you and at your disposal. Both of theseare having a big impact on you personally, for the areaof life this card is describing is your personal self. Theyare influencing how you handle yourself in this situation,or how you respond or react.

If you could imagine yourself like a house for a mo-ment, with different rooms being different parts of yourpersonality, then the part of you described by this cardis like the door of the house or the front garden. Thelook on your face may be obvious from time to time, andit is likely that you are making an impression on others,so you might want to be careful what you show them.

The energy field you naturally have around you at alltimes is also described by this card. Some would call ityour electromagnetic field, or your aura.

If you are starting something, such as a new project ora relationship, you will find that the Zodiac Sign andPlanet cards are important to this new beginning.

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The Second House card concerns the very real and con-crete things of substance that you consider your own,for they belong to you and no-one else, such things asyour possessions, money, income, and resources. Yourbody is certainly included in this, but so are your values,or the value you place on things. They are important be-cause they are truly yours, and you can control themcompletely.

We want these things to be permanent, stable, and se-cure, but if this area of life is implicated in the matter,either your security is involved or perhaps your potentialto lose or gain money. It may involve something that youown that is very close to your heart. Owning somethingaffirms our existence, giving a sense of safety and sub-stance. Our earning potential is important for our secu-rity, and this area of your life is important to you now.

The Planet card in this reading represents the part ofyour personality that is engaged in the matter, and theZodiac Sign card represents the energy around you.Both of these could be involved with your innate poten-tial to make money, gain possessions, secure somethingfor yourself, or perfect the body, and you could have con-siderable success in this area now.

Another interpretation could be that of desire, and ifthis is the case, then you want to own or possess thebeloved physically or lustily. Pay attention to your assets,desires, and needs now, and you can ensure the best out-come for yourself.

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