Tarot and the Kentucky Derby II

I'm not one to encourage predictive tarot, in fact, I discourage it. So it may come as a surprise to some that the one predictive challenge that I will partake in regarding tarot is the Kentucky Derby Race.

I am not a gambler so there is no money in it for me, but heck, since I'm a tarot reader I am allowing myself this small annual predictive indulgence.

I only began making tarot predictions on the race beginning last year, and to my delight, my predicted horse won. (Read last year's predictive blog article here) Granted, that particular horse was the favorite to win, but lots of horse racing experts made predictions that said that American Pharoah would not win. The winner of a horse race is really anyone's guess. Despite my enjoyment in watching the race with my husband every year, I do not follow the horses all year nor do I understand statistics or the odds making process. So my prediction process is strictly visual and based on my understanding of the cards.

My daughter came for a visit this past week and we got to talking about my success in predicting last year's winner. It's a bit daunting to make an advanced public prediction especially when its associated with a professional reputation. But one thing about being a tarot reader is that we often go out on a limb to speak what we see even if it isn't always what ends up happening.

Although my 'official' draw for this race is only done in the hours before the race, yesterday we decided to try our hand at a joint predictive pre-pre-race effort.

I used the deck I used last year, the Buckland Romani Tarot, and my daughter used the Zombie Tarot. We pulled cards together from our respective decks with uncanny results. Last year's winner was no fuss, no muss. I pulled three cards and the winner was evident to me immediately. But during our little experiment yesterday we had no such luck. In fact, there was no apparent connection to any of the horse names, at all. It was very confusing and it became clear to us that the winner was not presenting itself to us by an association to its name. However, there were a few consistent elements that popped up in everyone of the four or five draws, and that was an implied upset, and the #8. Interestingly, the number eight appeared for both of us, every time.

It clearly appeared that there would be an upset, and we both got the impression that something unusual might happen. We decided that something was up with Gate #8. Lani is the name of the horse who is slated to be running from Gate #8.  So we decided that based on our results, something unexpected might happen from Gate eight, or, that whatever horse running from Gate #8 when the race takes place is the likely winner. I don't know if horses can change gates after they are posted in the paper, but if they do, Gate #8 appears to be the gate to watch. We were more connected to the number eight this time than associating the winner by its name which is how I predicted the winner last year. The only possible winner that struck us by virtue of its name was Suddenbreakingnews who is slated to depart from the #2 gate. We thought that Suddenbreakingnews might be a viable placement winner because the accompanying cards that appeared with the eights all suggested an unexpected turn of events. The Tower, the Death card from my deck, and the Six of Wands from my daughter's Zombie deck (which has an image of a newspaper with sudden news) all suggest some type of upset. We concluded it either was a possible indictment for Suddenbreakingnews to win, or that the #8 horse would do something considered big news, like be an unexpected winner. Of course it might be a suggestion that the #8 horse might be injured or some unfortunate development might result from gate 8; but since our intent was to predict a winning outcome, we were inclined to focus on a more positive outcome.

This morning, I did my 'official' predictive Kentucky Derby drawing and using the same deck I used last year (if it ain't broke don't fix it), I pulled three cards. The cards shown in the photo for this article are the three I pulled; Death, the Ace of Bolers or Wheels (Pentacles), and the #8 arcana card which in this case is Strength. Interpreting these three cards, The Death card again suggests an upset, (as we picked up on yesterday), the Ace of Bolers (pentacles) suggests a winner's circle or at least a chance at prosperity and very clearly, the #8 made it's appearance again!

Therefore, I am inclined to believe that the cards are suggesting a win for Lani, or whatever horse runs from the 8th gate, and/or, that something surprising occurs out of Gate #8. (And maybe Suddenbreakingnews will come in the top few.)

​It is also possible that after the race these results will make sense in a way that I had not understood, but that's what going out on a limb is all about. 

Fingers and toes crossed. Good luck everyone!