I was going post this week about a recent SCOTUS case of personal interest, but Rex Tillerson’s sudden dismissal as U.S. Secretary of State this week forced my hand. It came out in the news last week that Russia had specifically nixed Donald Trump naming Mitt Romney, the defeated former U.S. presidential candidate, as his Secretary of State. It was known that Rex Tillerson, the former CEO of an oil company, had been awarded ‘The Order of Friendship’ by Vladimir Putin several years ago, so it’s reasonable to surmise that at some point, the Russians indicated to Trump that they would be happy to see Rex Tillerson in the role.
Last week, a former Russian spy now living in the UK was poisoned, along with his daughter. Investigators believe as many as 500 innocent people in the English town where they are currently residing may have been exposed to the same poison. The poison appears to be a nerve agent which had been developed in the former Soviet Union, leading to the reasonable speculation the Russian government was involved. Earlier this week, Secretary of State Tillerson issued a public statement supportive of UK Prime Minister Teresa May’s condemnation of Russia for this act. When I saw he made such a statement, I knew he wasn’t long for the job and by golly, within the next 24 hours or so, Donald Trump fired him via Twitter. His last official day on the job is March 31.
One of the marvelous things about divination is it allows you to be very nosy about what’s going on in people’s lives without asking them to their face or going digging. So I started with the question: “Why did Tillerson leave?” and I laid out six cards, three from the Robin Wood Tarot deck, three from the Gilded Reverie LeNormand deck. This was the result:
In his book Tarot: Plain and Simple, author Anthony Louis assigned to the Eight of Cups reversed, the meanings, ‘abandoning a valuable relationship’ and ‘turning your back on an important emotional alliance.’ Tillerson must have known that by issuing a public statement of support, however mild, to the UK government, he would be sacrificing his relationship with the Russian government. This card reversed can also mean ‘a difficult time is ending’ and ‘returning to a former relationship.’ Tillerson’s tenure as Secretary of State had been contentious and controversial. His effect at the State Department was like a scythe; he either fired people, cut positions, or they left the State Department because they didn’t like his leadership. The Eight of Cups reversed suggests he didn’t enjoy his tenure at the State Department, either. He likely missed the oil business, and will probably be returning to the business world. The Scythe card in the spread also clearly refers to the way he was fired; suddenly and swiftly, by Twitter message.
The next pair of cards is very interesting–Strength, reversed from the Tarot deck, which suggests weakness and vulnerability and the Letter from the LeNormand Fortune deck, which means a document of some kind. Another possible reason for leaving the Secretary of State position could be because someone has a document which exposes a weakness of his. OR, he may have in his possession, or have seen while he was Secretary of State, a document or a whole set of documents which exposes someone else’s vulnerability. Hmm.
The final pair of cards in this six-card spread is equally interesting, if somewhat disturbing. The Hierophant card in the Tarot deck represents conformity to the norms and structures of society; going along with what is expected of you, and happy to do so. Reversed, the Hierophant suggests someone in a rebellious mood. The rebel can be a wrecking ball. They want to challenge accepted norms and even tear down structures in society. The Flowers from the LeNormand Fortune deck represent a gift presented. Tillerson actually sees his reduction of the State Department as a gift to the country, and he may not be through with his rebellion-as-gift shtick. With this pair of cards in the reading, I wouldn’t be surprised if he rebels against his friendship with Putin, and his service to the Trump administration, and goes to Mueller with everything he knows; another ‘gift’ to the country. A person in a rebellious mood can do a lot of damage. Tillerson is a man in a rebellious mood.
I like to look at the final few cards from the LeNormand deck that I didn’t use in the reading, because sometimes these ‘throwaway’ cards can tell you something very important about the subject at hand. Those cards in this instance looked like this:
These final eight cards may reflect how Tillerson sees our current predicament. Sneaky, thieving behavior he didn’t know about before. Optimism about our future. Seeing the U.S.’ relationship with Russia approaching a denouement. Hearing the chatter, both harmless and ominous and knowing the truth behind much of it. In my next blog post, I will discuss the Supreme Court case reading I performed.