Pregnant Pauses

Readers, please enjoy this guest blog post by Corrine Kenner, author of Tarot for Writers, Simple Fortunetelling with Tarot Cards, Tall Dark Stranger, and Crystals for Beginners.

“Am I pregnant?” “Will I have children?” “Should I have another baby?” During their twenties and thirties, most women think about babies—even if it’s just in passing—and pregnancy-related questions come up during a lot of tarot readings.

Here are the cards I look for when women are looking for the stork:

• The Empress—perpetually pregnant and beaming with pleasure—is almost always a sign that pregnancy is in the cards.
• The Fool is another card that illustrates the creation of new life. On one level, it suggests a leap of faith—which is a prerequisite to parenting. On another level, the card depicts a soul descending from heaven to the world of physical form below.
• Likewise, the Magician card can symbolize the process of transforming spirit into matter, while the Chariot could be an unborn soul traveling toward its destination. It’s surprising how often women will tell me that they can sense an unborn child’s approach shortly before they get pregnant.
• The four Aces all represent the possibility of pregnancy.
  • The Ace of Cups is a womb-like symbol that suggests a peaceful, planned pregnancy—or a conception that occurs after a few glasses of wine.
  • The Ace of Wands is powerful masculine energy that can also lead to pregnancy. It’s obviously phallic, and it symbolizes creativity and drive.
  • Because swords often suggest a doctor’s needle or a surgeon’s knife, the Ace of Swords can represent a pregnancy made possible by medical intervention, such as supplemental hormones or in vitro fertilization.
  • And the Ace of Pentacles shows a new life already underway, because it looks like a seed that’s been planted.
  • Any cards that show children, such as the Six of Cups, can indicate pregnancy and motherhood. The four pages, for example, are children. The Page of Wands and the Page of Swords are boys; the Page of Cups and the Page of Pentacles are girls.
  • And on a related note, the four queens are maternal figures.
    • The Queen of Cups slips naturally and easily into motherhood.
    • The Queen of Pentacles probably has a child already.
    • The Queen of Wands finds the prospect invigorating and exciting.
    • And the Queen of Swords understands the loss that can be associated with parenthood—but that’s a different discussion. In a pregnancy reading, I’ll usually just describe her as a symbol of wisdom.

Sadly, the Three of Swords often reveals a miscarriage—and when it falls on the table during a reading, it’s usually because the woman sitting on the other side has already lost a pregnancy. Sometimes, the Three of Swords can even confirm a woman’s suspicions that she had a miscarriage in the early days or weeks of a pregnancy. In either case, the Three of Swords acknowledges that loss, and it can actually offer a statistical reassurance that the next pregnancy will be successful.

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Our thanks to Corrine Kenner for her guest post! For more from Corrine, visit her author page for a full list of her books and articles.