Betrayal. ? Everyone has experienced this on some level in their life. Wouldn’t you like to be able to recognize the scenarios where betrayal may very likely occur, as and when they show up in your Tarot and Lenormand Readings?
Empowered in this manner, you can either totally avoid these situations, or be emotionally (or otherwise) prepared for them, or deal with them effectively as they take place.
Friends, sometimes even family, or random strangers betraying them for no apparent reason. Or maybe they feel that they have a reason, a justification, to do what they are doing to you.
It is a simple formula: you trust this person with something, a secret, or even yourself, and then this person just goes and does the one thing that you didn’t expect them to do. They share your secret with the person(s) that weren’t supposed to know. Or they do something that will hurt you terribly. All of this is done completely knowingly and willingly.
In fact, some of the times, they come to you and befriend you only to do this to you.
It’s happened to me several times. And I’m sure you’ve all gone through a version of this too!
Today, let’s look at the different cards, both from the Tarot and from the Lenormand, that can also depict betrayal in all its various shades.
Tarot Cards that can depict Betrayal, its forms, and effects on our Lives
There are several Tarot Cards that can depict the various shades of Betrayal, and how it shows up in our life. This doesn’t mean, of course, that these cards can only show betrayal. Like any other Tarot Card, it is all about the context of the question, coupled with the interpretation that you intuitively arrive upon, and within the parameter of the Spread that you’re using. Within this playing field, these cards can show up to depict the various kinds of betrayers, betrayals, and the effects these devastations have upon our lives.
Betrayal depicted in The Major Arcana of the Tarot Cards
The Major Arcana depict huge, top-level events and situations and circumstances and personalities — which may even have deeper spiritual and karmic ties. These cards aren’t to be taken lightly in any reading, including this discussion. Here, we see the big-picture scenarios that play out in our lives.
The Magician
The Magician is normally a person who is creative and loves to be in charge. But he also possesses the art of manipulating the energy to create the reality that he wants. That in and of itself makes him a master manipulator, someone who is capable of weaving an illusory world around you, making you believe anything and everything that he wants you to believe. He can, in turn, be a flirty sweet-talker, or a wily dominating person, using a combination of the various sides of this personality to have you in his complete thrall.
The High Priestess
She’s the Mistress of Secret Knowledge — someone who’s face doesn’t show what information she carries within her soul. She is a woman who intuitively knows what’s afoot. She uses her knowledge and her hidden skills, and the alluring mysterious nature of her personality to suck you into her web. She makes you trust her, and love her, and believe her, only to extract information from you. And when she is done manipulating you to get what she wants, she will dump you like a hot potato, turn around and walk away like she doesn’t even know you.
The Hermit
He’s your trusted mentor — the person you go to for guidance, advice, wisdom. He shares his experiences of life with you and gently nudges you in the right direction. But when his motives are questionable, he will use his position in your life to misguide you and put you on the wrong path with equal ease. He doesn’t feel any remorse — somewhere inside of his mind, he’s found a way to justify it long before he got you in the palm of his hands.
The Hanged Man
He is the quintessential “helpless victim” that can only rely on you to help him find a way to freedom. He is the person who is always stuck, unable to implement any of the hundreds and thousands of solutions that you come up with. He’ll have a problem for every solution that you have. But all along, he’s been hiding something behind his back. This persona that he’s been showing you is actually concealing a secret that he’s been holding on to, waiting to unleash it when you are the most vulnerable. This person milks his ’stuck’ situation to the most, getting what he wants out of you, and once he’s done with you, he’ll reveal his hidden hand, hurting you and betraying your trust in a way that you could never imagine.
The Devil
Oh, this guy already has a bad rep. But that’s what’ll suck you in. Especially if you believe that sometimes people don’t deserve the bad reputation that they carry. He’ll prey on that, and a lot more, just to get you to trust him. He’s the friend who’ll never insist that you smoke the joint but will also tell you that it’ll be such fun if you gave him company. He’s the friend who’ll sweet talk you into doing all of the things that you once thought were uncool, by convincing you to not knock it till you’ve tried it first. He’ll get you hooked on to things that you’ve never even liked in the first place, and then walk away telling you that he never made you do any of it, and that you did it all by your own volition.
The Tower
This right here is the story of betrayal as it happens. Coming in out of nowhere, it will shatter your world and throw you out onto the rocks of hurt and pain. Caught completely unawares, you won’t know what hit you until you’ve regained your balance, which may take some time too! But as the betrayal occurs and as you devolve in your shock and disbelief and denial, you cannot escape the pain and the hardship that it caused. Your world seems to come down around you, leaving you to pick up all the pieces and put them back together again. Ultimately, that is what betrayal is actually all about, isn’t it? It is making you think that you can trust someone or something, till in one sudden moment, you just can’t.
The Moon
Of course, this is the card of illusions, lies, deceptions — the fears and the beliefs that tie us into this shadowy world filled with unreal situations and people. Nothing in here is the truth — everything and everyone is something or someone else in disguise. And when you think you’ve unearthed the answer, well, guess again. This is the ultimate ‘smoke and mirrors’ experience — all disillusionment and deception. Here’s the situation where you won’t be sure of what’s real until many years later, and even then, you won’t be 100% sure.
Betrayal depicted in The Minor Arcana of the Tarot Cards
The Minor Arcana usually depict the everyday events of our lives. They still have a deep effect or significance over our lives, considering they are the everyday situations we go through. Here, we see the situations in some very specific areas of our life.
So, the Suit of Wands could talk about stuff that has to do with our passions and desires — which usually manifests in the area of our work and career, and also relationships. The Suit of Swords is all about the mind and the way our thoughts can make us or break us — showing up across the various areas of our lives. The Suit of Cups is all about feelings and emotions. So that Suit shows us situations dealing with feelings, and creativity, and emotions — usually manifesting in the areas of relationships, and areas where creative and intuitive energies are at play. And finally, the Suit of Pentacles is all about material things. Therefore, these images will talk about how material things, such as money, play various roles in the different aspects of our lives.
5 of Wands
This is the card of conflict. The betrayer can either be the cause of it, or can be someone who takes advantage of it. One way or the other, chaos and conflict are where he/she thrive. They like it when you’ve got way too many issues to handle — because then they can get away with a lot since you are distracted. This is a person who will strike when you are at the most busiest, and you will probably be too tired or too distracted to notice.
9 of Wands
This is how we put up barriers between ourselves and the world — especially after we’ve been hurt. We grow defensive and suspicious and put up a wall, just so we don’t go through a similar experience again. We embrace a skeptical worldview and often end up sounding jaded and sarcastic when we talk about being compassionate with others.
3 of Swords
This is the perfect symbolic depiction of what betrayal is all about, isn’t it? Every time I have this card in a spread, especially with a client that knows nothing about the Tarot, they gasp out loud. Because when they see this image, oh, they know! A heart that’s already torn in two different directions gets yet another sword thrust into it. This is when you trust that your friend or partner will have your back and won’t reveal your secrets or cheat on you, and you suddenly discover that they’ve been doing all that and more, all along. This is when you realize that the people you trusted weren’t worthy of that trust, to begin with, and it breaks your heart.
5 of Swords
And then, there are times when you will want to confront your betrayer. This is when he will use this opportunity to hurt you once again. Even when you confront him, he will tell you that he never made any false promises to you, and that he never forced you to do those things with him. He will use your vulnerabilities and your secrets to his advantage, and beat you down at every turn. He will now show you his true colors, unabashedly and with no remorse or shame on his part. Your words and accusations will fall flat — his loud voice will drown out your logical points. And in the end, you will realize that it is pointless to argue with him, and give up and walk away. When you do that, he’ll laugh and gloat and feel like he’s won.
7 of Swords
Oh, this one is shameless to the core. He won’t even hide what he is, but he’ll still get you to believe in his ’cause’. He’ll get you to trust him and even do borderline wrong things for him — he’s weaving you in, making you aid and abet him — that way, he’ll have something over you for when you’ll turn on him. And when you are completely in his grasp, when you (for some inexplicable reason) trust him completely, he will take what you have right from under your nose. And you will be totally helpless against it because you will know that you actually let him do it and get away with it.
5 of Cups
This the card showing how the feeling of hopelessness can engulf you once you experience betrayal from a close friend or a group of friends. Do you see those 3 Cups lying on the ground, the liquid spilling out of them? Those are the 3 Cups of friendship and celebration, the 3 Cups of camaraderie and companionship, that have now been upended and abandoned. The betrayer leaves behind him/her a river of tears and a black cloak of depression.
8 of Cups
You finally decide to walk away — from both the 3 Cups of Joy and the 5 Cups of Sadness. Betrayal has made you unable to trust in the basics of human compassion and understanding. You doubt yourself and your ability to judge people. You desire to spend time alone to deal with the hurt and pain, and to figure out a better way to identify and approach such similar situations when they show up in your life in the future.
5 of Pentacles
This card shows a story that is likely the result of a betrayal, but this one has a silver lining. Here you see that someone still sticks by your side through the tough times of your life. Perhaps, you may have ended up in a difficult position due to the betrayal of others. But this one friend shows himself/herself to be a true friend and sticks through the tough times with you.
Lenormand Cards that depict Betrayal
Lenormand cards are simple and to-the-point. They are direct with their messages, and they don’t sugar-coat what they have to say. As symbols go, they too have multiple meanings. Therefore, the context of the question asked matters very much in determining the interpretation of the card. So, while the following cards may also have betrayal as one of their meanings, it doesn’t necessarily mean that it is the only meaning.
Clouds
Clouds is the card of confusion. It is the fog that clogs your mind and makes you unable to see what lies ahead. This is the card that promises chaos and disagreements. And when the person who has these powers steps into your life, you can’t see things clearly. If you try, it is mad chaos and arguments. This is the card of gaslighting. This is the card of smoke and mirrors, and disillusionment. This is the person who creates all of this and more — and if you get into any argument with him, you will lose.
Snake
You will look at her and wonder what’s going on in her mind. She will be so sweet to you, praise you to your face in a way that you’ve never been praised before. She’ll puff up your ego, and make you feel like the King of the World. She will seduce you with her words, her deeds, her very presence. And before you know it, you will spill your secrets to her. Soon enough, of course, she will betray you. Make no mistake about it. That is who she is, and you can’t change her true nature.
Scythe
Sharp words, sudden actions, hurtful feelings that come out of nowhere, and all of this happens unexpectedly. With the Scythe, you can’t expect anything else, or anything less. It will be painful. It will be sharp. And it will catch you unawares. This is a person who never had a soft side, to begin with — but for some reason, you thought you could soften him up. Ha! He will prove it to you, once and for all, that people never really change. And when he turns his back on you and walks away, he really and truly won’t ever turn back to find out what happened to you. So don’t wait for him to develop a heart or a conscience.
Birds
Gossip. Tall tales. Tattle-tales. Rumors. Arguments. Bickering. Discussions. All of this to just laugh at you behind your back, about your deepest secrets. This is where (and how) everyone comes to know everything that you’ve shared with this person, about your life and your dreams and your fears and your hopes. You become a subject of mean-minded gossip. And the stories become more and more spicy as they spread. One day you’ll hear stuff about yourself that never even happened, described in a way that might even convince you that it actually happened.
Fox
Ah! He’s a clever little fellow. A tricky one, if I’ve ever met one. And most of all he has it all justified in his mind. He believes that what he is doing is for the sake of his survival in this world, and that without these moves, he would be totally forgotten. He won’t be worthy of your trust, and he will cheat you and cheat on you. With his cunning and wily ways, he will very likely get away with it as well. Don’t let him sweet talk you into doing anything. You will regret it.
Crossroads/Paths
This card shows a situation where options are being looked at and analyzed and planned and thought about. Within the context of relationship questions, this card can often spell disaster. Paired with certain cards, or showing up in certain spots in the spread, it can show someone who may very well be getting ready to betray you, or is already betraying you.
Mice
The card of theft and loss, and also anxiety — Mice will show up when you need to be very, very careful. Again, depending on which cards they are surrounded by, they can show losses and theft in those areas. They cause worry and anxiety, often along with theft and loss. Therefore, not unlike their real-life counterparts, these Mice aren’t a welcome sight.
Book
This is a card that can also talk about secrets that have been hidden for a while. So paired with the appropriate cards, this one can show a secretive person or a person who knows many secrets. It can be wise to be wary of such people — they aren’t averse to spilling those secrets to gain an upper hand in a situation.
What’s Next?
Well, once you know that these Tarot and Lenormand cards could also stand for betrayal, you will be in a position to recognize the culprits, the nature of their betrayals, and the devastating after-effects when you spot these cards in your reading. This puts you soundly in a position of power, and therefore in a place where you can make changes in the way things shape up.
I firmly believe in the fact that we have the ability to change the way things happen in our lives with our will, determination, and proactive actions. Perhaps, that is why the Universe has shown us the various ways in which we can become aware of what lies ahead of us, and given us the means and methods to do so.
Thus, in this case, we may not only be able to spot the betrayers and their betrayals before they actually take place, but we might also be prepared for them, or avoid them as the case may be — essentially enabling us to tackle these situations much better from a place of empowerment rather than victimhood.
Your Take…
Did these cards and their interpretations make sense to you? What have your experiences with these cards been like? Any additional traits or features that you’d like to add to this mix? Did you also have any other cards you’d like to add to this list? Talk to me in the comments section below, and share your thoughts!
