Numerology Past, Present, and Future Spread

I was looking around on the Aeclectic Tarot Forum for a couple of good birthday spreads (it's a good friend of mine's birthday this week, and I want to try a few cool birthday-specific spreads for her) and this one, Numerology Past, Present, and Future, popped up because the word "birthday" is mentioned in the thread. It looked neat, and I don't know a lot about numerology, so I thought I would give it a try.


Click any pic in this blog post to check it out on Flickr to get a larger photo.

My birthday, 24 July 83, breaks down to some big numbers- my past section has 6 cards, my present has 7, and the future has 3.

Past

Emperor (reversed), 9 of Swords (reversed), 9 of Cups, 2 of Swords, 6 of Pentacles (reversed), Page of Swords

For me, the past was the most difficult of this spread. I don't want to break down every card in this blog post in great detail, but what I see here is my past desires to be successful, but not too successful. For example, I didn't want to fail any classes in school, but I didn't want to be too good at anything, either. I always self-evaluated myself harshly, and wouldn't fight it if, say, a teacher obviously made an error marking a project or test or quiz. I also see in this part of the spread being stuck between a rock and a hard place when my two closest friends in school had a monumental falling out- I tried very hard not to take either's side, for a number of reasons, including self preservation- and I also see that I wasn't able to really be a good friend to either of them because of this, but I also see success and contentment (of course, nobody's life is all doom and gloom! I accomplished some cool stuff in high school- I challenged for credit to have more art on my high school transcript, and I'm proud of the way my graduation solo was in ballet, stuff like that). The Page (of swords) solidifies for me that what I am to read from this spread is my time spent in school.

Present

In the present portion of this spread, I see a lot about work and my family. I think that the Empress is obviously my sister's pregnancy. The 2 of Wands picks up on the fact I actually am on staff at work for two different positions, and the 8 of Pentacles is an indicator that one of those positions (the one that I feel is more in line with my career path) is very laborious. I also see some of my workplace conflicts in the cards, and a hold-over of my self-depreciation.

Future

The future's a pretty short bit of this spread because of the way the numerology worked out, huh? Interestingly, all the cards in this bit are reversals and this is the second time I've seen one of these cards (the Ace of Wands from the Tell-Me deck was my daily tarot card today). Basically, I see a lot of delays in my (and my husband's) immediate future. We are yet to settle into our careers as my husband contines to work on his PhD, the 'old guys' at work will continue to fight me as I try to do modern things at work like digital media, and I will continue to neglect personal creative projects, like I usually do.

I thought this was an interesting spread, I was at first daunted by the sheer amount of cards in front of me (16 cards!!!) but it was worth the effort to do it. I wish I knew more about numerology, I can notice patterns but can't figure out what to do about them when they turn up in my spreads. All in all, a rewarding and fairly relevant spread to work with. I'd do it again, and will probably suggest it for my friend for her birthday!