Today’s Overview:
An ornate cross, golden and set with precious jewels, hangs below the 6 of clubs.
In what way are you burdened? What weighs you down, what brings you suffering? For though the Cross on this card is jeweled and finely crafted, the meaning of the card is related more to the plain wooden crosses on which Jesus and others sentenced to die were crucified. As such, it can serve as a symbol of struggle, pain, suffering, shame and burden. The oppression is not just on the physical plane, but may indicate mental or emotional suffering.
It can also represent fate, destiny, or religious belief. It suggests the cost of adhering to a rigid belief system, no matter what the challenges.
It can indicate a person who is on a quest, and experiencing hardships, challenges and responsibilities. It can sometimes indicate a person who represents a hardship to you – a dependent adult child, for example.
In love, this card indicates disappointment. In health, it may refer to a long illness. And in career or finance, it generally indicates loss of job or money, difficulty finding a job, and being stressed and overloaded at work. Whatever it suggests, it is not referring to something that recently came about, or that is yet to come about. It refers to an issue that has pulled you down for a long time. The issue is known, and recognized – no surprises here. The cross you bear is all too familiar to you.
To touch on the energy of this card, see, in your mind’s eye, a figure with a wooden beam across her back, and two heavy buckets of water hanging on either side as she trudges up a hill under the glaring sun. In such circumstances, nothing more is possible. The burden is all.
What does the Cross mean for you? Though it may be hard to do, to draw this card is to be asked: What is so heavy in your life that it obliterates most or all other possibilities? This card asks you to look at what is hard to look at in your life, so you can know it, name it, and change it.
Additional insight into the meaning of this card in your life can be found through Numerology, through looking at your own life purpose or examining the number of this card, which is 9 (3 + 6 = 9).
In Numerology, the 9 indicates an interest in the betterment of humanity. It is the most selfless of the single-digit numbers. The 9 carries a certain mystique of being a servant to the greater good; but within that, it also carries a suggestion of the scapegoat, the one who suffers for the gain of others. One way to transform the meaning of this card in your life is to simply accept the burden it indicates, as sacred service. But if that is not in your nature, be true to yourself. You were not meant to live a life of burden, but to find joy in life.
So the 9 invites you to turn away from that passion for a better life for others and, for a time, to put your energy into bettering your own life. Those that serve must care for themselves, too, in order to be of service to others. The 9 invites you to be true to your own life purpose, and un-burden yourself in whatever way you must.
Today’s Action Steps:
It is hard to look honestly at what burdens your life, so be gentle with yourself. Today, it is enough to recognize the burden for what it is and give it a name. In the days and weeks to come, gently shift the burden away from you, in whatever way you can. Perhaps it is a long relationship that now brings you constant pain. Free yourself of it, with as much compassion as you can. Perhaps you are in financial straits, because someone you love uses money to numb their pain. Come to grips with this dynamic; you aren’t doing the other person any favors by helping them hide from their challenges, and you are doing yourself harm.
Seek support from a friend (probably a friend who has been telling you for months or years that this burden needs to change). The energy of the 9 is that of the last single-digit number. It is about endings. Let it help you bring about this needed ending in your life.
Summary For Today:
The Cross is one of the hardest cards to draw and deal with, but nothing can change until the burden it represents is acknowledged. Have faith; be strong. Though you may have told yourself you cannot rid yourself of this burden, you can. If others are responsible, let them own their own responsibility, and turn your face back to joy again.
Affirmation: The universe charges me with finding happiness, and I honor that challenge.
