CB's cryptic triptych

[Charlie Brown]

I'm taking a trip later in the month to visit my family outside of Boston so that my mother can meet her new granddaughter.

"What do I need to beware of as a source of trouble during my upcoming trip?"

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[BreathingSince72]

Hi Charlie Brown,

You mentioned taking a new granddaughter to meet her grandmother. In the center, I see your mom (the Star)...excited and hopeful about how she can pour back into the family. She literally wants to give you the world. When the actual world card came up, I saw a vagina. I think I made this association likely because you mentioned a new granddaughter for your mom. In the center of what I said I saw, is a woman...hence the granddaughter. The final card, the Sun, shows me the two of them, thick as thieves, hanging together and enjoying one another like little children. So that’s my quick and dirty read based on visuals alone.

Now for my other view. You are hopeful about visiting your mom with your child, signified by the Star. It is like completing a project (World) because this is something you’ve wanted to do and the opportunity is finally here. The Sun card, to me symbolizes a situation that brings growth and joy. Why? Because the sun literally helps things to grow and because kids like to play in the sun. Come to think of it, the sun and the water in the Star make for a great summer water sport theme...but I don’t know if that’s a thing in Boston. Bottom line overall view is that this is a great opportunity to come together as a joyous family and really share yourselves with one another. (Gosh, I feel like my verbiage is sloppy). When tension mounts, think “play.”

Shoot, shoot, shoot, you asked about sources of trouble and I didn’t even touch that. Maybe avoid boating and wear sunscreen. But I have to tell you that I kept getting a sense of family drama, so when I said “think play, “ it was because I was thinking of travel related stress that was coupled with family tension. Something unresolved in a relationship between two of the women in your family. You do have the ability to keep it fun. We are all aging but is your mom very advanced in years?

[Rachelcat]

Well, I’m going to be very conventional here and say there will be no trouble! The Star is the one card with no down side, so your trip will be blessed and everything you want it to be. The World means everything will be fine on the travel and general life end of things, and the Sun says all will be well on the grandmother-granddaughter meeting end of things. It looks like a great time will be had by all!

[Charlie Brown]

Well, I'm getting ready to leave town for a bit, so I'm counting on you all to be good while old Charlie Brown is gone. This is my own interpretation of my triptych, which I did right when I drew it.

Initial thoughts on the star:

• water - something to do with the water
• nighttime - something to do with night, maybe jet lag or getting a good's night sleep at the hotel
• stillness - boredom, not doing enough
• there are eight stars - something with the number 8. fwiw, my trip will be 8 days long.
• nudity 1 - the woman is exposed and out in the open. Could this be some kind of warning against being too open or honest regarding something?
• nudity 2 - Could this be a warning about physical exposure and/or something about my body?
• Jugs - She's pouring out the jugs. Maybe this is telling me to be sure not to drink too much.

Adding The World and The Sun
All three cards feature nude figures, although the figures on the outer cards have little sashes.
Unlike The Star who is out in the open, the figures in the outer cards are either protected or sequestered. The woman in The World is walled off by her wreath while the figures in The Sun are behind a wall.

If The Star is a warning and the cards surrounding The Star are describing that warning, then it might make sense to read them in their more negative or "reversed" sense. So The World might be being stuck and The Sun might be something like depression, lack of energy, etc. Those interpretations pair sensibly with the ideas of boredom and honesty from above.

Interpretation 1: 8 days is too long of a trip, I'm stuck there bored out of my mind with all my solar ego energy feeling very inverted. A fastidious parsing of the question says that this is the source of the trouble, rather than the trouble itself, so the cards are likely a warning against acting out based on all of this. This interpretation is based on metaphorical nudity.

Interpretation 2: This interpretation is based on literal nudity and a more "upright" approach to the side cards. Looking at the spread, I'm particularly struck by the night vs. day relationship between The Star and The Sun. We usually think of The Star as a very positive card. It's strange to see it come up as a source of trouble. Maybe The Star is positive. Maybe it's all right by itself but only becomes a problem when it's placed in between those other two cards. In this spread, we have the difference between night and day and, also, the difference between The Star being fully exposed and the other cards being protected. The are protected by a small modicum of clothing and they are protected by barriers. So...it's fine to be naked and exposed at night but I need a small amount of clothing during the day and I need to be protected as I go out into the world and stand under the sun! In other words, this spread is an admonishment to make sure that I wear my sunscreen as I go out on the beach excursions, zoo trips, boat rides, and the like. I should also wear a bathing suit if I hope to avoid arrest.

[BreathingSince72]

It's a warning not to go skinny dipping!

[stronglove]

this is a bit late, because you are probably already in boston right now, but for what it’s worth, here’s my reading of your cards.

for some extra guidance on the cards i consulted my ‘meditations on the tarot’
tomberg tells me that the star is the arcanum of growth, after the tower has shown us the dangers of (the arcanum of) construction
so in this tryptich the star must symbolize your daughter, who has just started her life’s journey,
she is kneeling and pouring water, directed to the left, looking up at the world.
the world is like the finished product, the work of art created by all the previous arcana, the final accomplishment. here she stands for your mother, who, as a mother, has already accomplished her task of raising and nourishing her children. the same responsibulity/duty you now have toward your daughter.
the sun is the arcanum of intuition, according to tomberg; the accomplished union of intelligence and spontaneous wisdom. as thus it represents the next phase in the development of your daughter, it is her future, the connection and synthesis of head and heart (you can see the children in the card touch eachother there)

in regards to your question, what might be a source of trouble during your visit, i would say that both your mother and you should be aware that your daughter is at the center of everything. she is the new life that is developing, and it is her future, her transition to the next stage in her development, that needs to be supported. looking at the cards i would say that your mother should be aware that her role as a mother is at an end (the world) she is not the most significant person in your daughter’s life and should keep her distance. at the same time your daughter needs to be connected to her ancestors (look at her position in the spread!) so you would need to find a fine balance here, not excluding your mother from connecting to her granddaughter, but not giving her too much power/influence over her development either

i have no idea if this will make any sense to you, i hope it does.....

[Charlie Brown]

So, here's what happened. The cards were right on the money although our interpretations were not quite on the mark. This is one that might have actually been easier to read as a line, although the triptych method did give the answer.

First, Stronglove deserves a hat tip and I deserve a reprimand for not thinking that The Star could represent my daughter. Her name translates to Star and it often comes up as a signifier for her.

I did make sure to protect myself from the sun, so if that was the correct interpretation, we'll never know because ill-fate was avoided.

Having suffered though it, the big problem from the trip was my daughter's sleep habits being affected by some combination of the time difference and the strange place. Getting her to bed every night was a multi-hour ordeal of awfulness as she was disoriented and stuck between time zones.

Looking at the cards then, we do see The Star representing night time, embellished by The World and The Sun. The Sun contrasts day with night and the world refers to cycles.

As a line, that could easily be read as "Cycles of Night and Day" as being the source of trouble.

[BreathingSince72]

Well done, that!